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Nolan and the rest of the team trailed Smythe down the dark hallway to a locked door on the right. Smythe blocked the electronic lock with his body to secretly enter a code, and the deadbolt gave way.

Nolan didn’t like this. Not that Smythe was acting odd, but why would anyone need a deadbolt on an interior door, much less on the door for a room used to play games? He supposed it could also serve as a storage space for event items, so he would reserve judgment for now.

Smythe pushed open the door, flipped on a light, then stood back. “Please enter, and I will give you instructions for your first game of the evening.”

“Hold up.” Nolan raised his hand. “Let me check this out before we all go piling in there.”

“By all means.” Smythe stood back.

Nolan stepped into a long, narrow room. One wall was covered with six gray metal lockers. Next to them stood a bookshelf, holding books and stacks of newspapers. Then came a closed, glass trophy case loaded with various shiny trophies next to a bulletin board with what looked like notices. The back half of the room was set up to resemble one side of a college dormitory room, including a twin-sized bed with storage drawers underneath.

Across from the lockers, a punching bag hung from the ceiling, with three pairs of gloves dangling from the cord. A bright wooden box sat on a table below the movie posters plastered on the wall.

“I don’t know if you’re familiar with the term escape room ,” Smythe said from the doorway, “but we’ve planned an escape room for you based on your academy days.”

Nolan moved back to the door as he ran through what he knew about escape rooms. He didn’t like them much. Not when he had to give over control of his life for an hour or so. Sure, it was up to him and whoever joined him to decide the actions they took to solve the puzzle and escape the room, but still, he was a prisoner of the game’s creator.

He looked at Smythe. “You’re going to lock us in here while we solve puzzles or look for clues to figure out how to get the door to unlock.”

“Exactly.” Smythe ran his gaze over the group. “How many of you have ever participated in one?”

Nolan raised his hand along with Reece and Jude.

“Good. Then you can help lead the others. We have cameras in the room, and I will be watching while you try to locate the clues. If you require help, all you need to do is call me on the cell phone we left for you, and I will give you a clue. You have one hour to solve the mystery. Any questions?”

No one spoke up.

“Dear me.” He palmed his forehead. “I forgot one of the most important things. I will not actually lock the door, so have no fear. If you need to exit to use the restroom or for any other reason, all I ask is that you let me know you’re leaving.”

Nolan had to admit that last bit gave him comfort in playing this game. One thing was for sure. He would find out who planned this night. And then what? Tell them it wasn’t fun for a group of former law enforcement officers to be put in a small room with the goal being to escape? At least not Nolan’s idea of fun, but the others were smiling as they entered the room, so he went along with them and stepped inside.

Gabe pivoted beside Nolan. “A blast from the past.”

Abby pointed at a handmade poster by the punching bag that said The fight may be tough, but so are you ! “Sounds like someone’s idea of a motivational pitch.”

Hayden tapped the movie posters one at a time. “ Men in Black , The Avengers , and The Hunger Games . We saw all of those right after we graduated from the police academy.”

Jude cast a quizzical look at the wall, then turned to take in the rest of the room. “Is this a mashup of a dorm room, the fitness room, and student lounge at OSP Academy?”

They had all graduated from the Oregon State Police sixteen-week training academy for law enforcement recruits in Salem. Took some doing, but they’d timed job hires so they could attend together.

“You are very perceptive, sir.” Smythe set the bag with their phones on a small table just inside the doorway and rested his hand on the doorknob. “Please call me if you have any questions.”

He pulled the door closed, and Nolan listened for the deadbolt, as it seemed the others were doing as well. No sound, but he couldn’t leave it at that and be able to relax and enjoy this game. He crossed the room and grabbed the knob. The door opened.

Satisfied, he turned to his team. “I guess the first question is, do you really want to do this? We can leave now if you don’t want to stay.”

“You kidding?” Jude asked. “The gauntlet has been thrown down. We’re not the type of team to run away from a challenge, even a pointless challenge like this one.”

“Anyway,” Reece added, “it could be fun.”

“I say we go for it. Minus the heels.” Abby kicked off her shoes. “Everyone knows since we started the business we don’t have much time for fun. Seems like we’re always working to pay the bills.”

“Okay, I’m in,” Gabe said. “Not sure if I want to do it, but I’m up for a challenge. Besides, I’ll show you all the way to the finish.”

“Ooh.” Reece rubbed her hands together. “Challenge accepted.”

Nolan loved to do puzzles and ciphers. Always had. And his past escape-room experience had told him that they would have to be creative and able to solve puzzles to find their way out.

“You should know,” he closed the door, “escape room creators rarely put anything in the room that doesn’t have to do with the solution. Not that on the surface the item will be a direct clue, so when you find a lead, it won’t necessarily make sense at the time. It’s only when we put a bunch of the clues together that the solution comes to light.”

“Sounds intriguing,” Abby said.

“It can be a challenge,” he said. “Let’s split up and look for clues. Bring everything you find to the table with the box, and we’ll try to figure out what it means.”

They broke up as if they were exiting a team huddle and began searching.

Speakers mounted near the ceiling suddenly started blasting out, “Stronger,” sung by Kelly Clarkson.

“I remember this song,” Reece yelled above the music.

“How can you not?” Jude asked. “It was played on the radio nonstop.”

Nolan liked the song, but at this volume? It wiped everything out of his brain, and he could barely think.

The melody played three or four times and stopped as suddenly as it started.

Jude stared up at the speakers. “What was that all about?”

“Could just be to get us in the mood for the game,” Gabe said. “Or further emphasize the time frame like the posters and other memorabilia would indicate.”

Jude shook his head. “I don’t buy that. If so, why not keep playing it?”

“So, is it the words?” Nolan asked. “ What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger . What is it referring to? What might kill you or make you stronger?”

“The poster.” Abby pointed across the room. “ The fight may be tough, but so are you! Could it be the punching bag or even a sports game where you had to fight to get one of the trophies in the case?”

“Could be.” Nolan turned his attention to the trophy case. “What about the trophies? They all signify someone doing something great.”

Reece joined him at the case and tried to slide the glass open. A small metal lock kept it closed. “We need a key.”

“Let’s not waste time looking for one,” Nolan said. “I’ll grab the phone bag, and we can use our phones to enlarge the engraving on the trophies to see if it tells us anything.”

Nolan retrieved the bag and returned. He reached inside. Felt around. “No. Oh no.”

He pulled out a small cardboard box containing something heavy. He opened it. A lead weight taped inside. He dropped it then grabbed another and another. “Our phones are gone.”

Gabe looked up at one of the cameras. “You lied, man. Come in here and explain it.”

No response.

“My life is on my phone,” Hayden said. “We need to get him on the phone he left us, or I’m tearing this place apart until I find him.”

“We first have to find the phone,” Nolan said.

He didn’t have to tell his teammates twice. They dashed around, searching in and under things.

“Here it is.” Jude snatched it off the bookcase from behind a plant and held it up. “An old Motorola RAZR.”

“Make the call,” Nolan said.

Jude flipped it open. “It’s dead. Just for show.” He slammed it down.

“What about the door?” Gabe asked. “He lie about that and lock it? If so I’ll?—”

“I checked it. Remember? I’ll go find him.” Before Gabe could go off half-cocked, Nolan bolted across the room and twisted the knob. Didn’t budge. “Locked.”

Abby planted her hands on her hips. “He must’ve come back to lock it. Probably blasted the music so we couldn’t hear him.”

“Then we’re on our own,” Jude said.

“At least we’re safe.” Reece patted her purse. “I don’t suppose I’m the only one carrying.”

“Do you even need to ask?” Jude grinned. “The only thing we can do at this point is figure out the mystery to unlock the door.”

“Not the only thing.” Gabe glared at the door as if it were a living being and could see his response. “We could just break the thing down.”

Nolan stepped closer to his teammates. “Let’s not overreact and try figuring out the puzzle first. If that doesn’t work, then we do what Gabe says and bust out of here.”

Jude nodded. “The lockers seem obvious to me. These should have padlocks but don’t, so it’s like we’re meant to open them.”

They descended on the lockers, and each person pulled up on a hasp.

“Locked.” Gabe looked at the others. “All of them.”

Reece made her way down the row. “They’re numbered. Wait! Seventeen. That was my academy locker number.”

“Mine was one,” Nolan said.

“You’re on my left and four is on my right.”

“That’s me.” Abby ran over there.

Jude, Gabe, and Hayden located their numbers too.

“Maybe we all have to be at the right locker and open them at the same time,” Nolan said. “Let’s try it on the count of three.”

He counted. They pulled. Nothing budged.

Jude frowned. “So much for that idea.”

“So back to the poster then.” Abby looked around. “ The fight may be tough, but so are you ! Time to try the punching bag in the corner.”

Nearest to the bag, Gabe grabbed a pair of gloves and handed them to her, then slipped his hand into one. “There’s something in here.” He pulled out small pieces of paper. He dropped the glove and jostled the papers. “Letters. Just a bunch of letters cut out of a newspaper or magazine.”

Abby took her hand from her glove. “Mine are numbers.”

“Check the other ones.” Nolan turned his attention back to the trophies. “I wasn’t a jock, but could they be from championships or records set by any of you in high school?”

“Not me.” Gabe moved to the table holding the wooden box and laid the papers on the table. “I was too into motorcycles and chicks to be bothered with sports.”

“I played basketball,” Reece said.

“You gotta know I wasn’t tall enough to do anything except make posters for the pep squad.” Laughing, Abby joined Gabe and let a handful of papers filter down onto the table. “These are the cutout numbers from my glove but the other ones were empty.”

“I was a football fanatic.” Hayden crossed over to the case.

“Me too,” Jude said, coming up behind them. “Quarterback, in fact. I set several passing records.” He leaned closer to the trophy case. “Nothing I recognize in there.”

Nolan stepped back. “Hayden, check out the trophies to see if any of them are related to you.”

“We won state one year and got a big trophy.” Hayden took Nolan’s place in front of the trophy case. “Nope. Not in there. These look like individual trophies and not all look sports-related.”

What in the world is going on here?

“Maybe these letters and numbers will tell us something,” Abby said.

“I suppose they could help find the key to the trophy case.” Nolan stepped over to Abby and Gabe.

Abby tapped the wooden box on the table. “Could be in here, but it’s locked too. Looks like some fancy smart combination lock.”

Hayden joined her and lifted the lock to study it. “You’re right. Our host can access it remotely and open it at any time.”

Reece grinned at him over her shoulder. “Being our resident geek, you would know that.”

Hayden rolled his eyes as he often did when being called a geek, but the shoe fit. He’d helped them all with computer issues in college and when they’d attended police academy together. Now, he’d taken that role in their team, and Nolan couldn’t be more grateful to have someone with exceptional computer skills on his side.

Abby moved a few pieces of paper around. “I’m assuming this is going to spell out a message of some sort. Do you think it’s related to the academy or boxing since we found it in the glove or something else?”

“Not sure.” Gabe shoved around nearby letters, then looked up. “If you go by the ink colors and background, we can sort this into words. So far I’ve got the, is, and to .”

“The numbers could be a date.” Nolan rearranged the scraps until he formed a date.

“That’s our academy graduation day,” Abby said, still moving letters around. “I’ve got best .”

“And yet ,” Gabe said.

Nolan shifted the last four letters. “ Come .”

“The best is yet to come,” Abby cried out but didn’t need to explain as they all used this saying to help get through tough days at the academy.

Nolan spun. “What else are we missing related to the academy? Maybe specific to graduation.”

“The bookshelf,” Reece called out. “Our class graduation picture.”

Abby charged over to the bookshelf and grabbed the framed picture. She flipped it over and ran her fingers along the back. “There’s something in here.”

She freed the backing. “A key. It has a key taped to it. Small, like it would fit the trophy case lock.”

Reece ripped the key from the cardboard and inserted it into the lock. “It’s turning. We’ve got it! We can open the case.”

She removed the lock and slid the door open.

Jude reached in, took out a nearby trophy, and gave it a good looking over. “This is for you, Nolan. It’s for the Victor G. Atiyeh Award.”

He felt his face flush. The award was given to each basic class and was named after the former Oregon governor who’d helped make the academy a reality. The recipient was selected by students and staff for criteria of excellence.

“There wasn’t a trophy for this,” Nolan said. “So someone had to have had this made just for tonight.”

“Reece and Jude, you both got awards,” Abby said. “See if your name is on any of those?”

Reece bumped Hayden out of the way with her hip. She removed a trophy and followed Jude’s lead, checking it out thoroughly. “Has my name on it for the marksmanship award.”

“Looks like mine is on the top shelf.” Jude reached into the case. “What in the world? It won’t budge. It’s attached to the shelf somehow.”

“Don’t be a wuss,” Gabe called out. “Pull harder.”

“Yeah, your motto,” Jude said, sarcasm liberally coating his words. “If it doesn’t work at first, use brute force and shove harder.”

“Is there any other way?” Gabe chuckled.

Jude put both hands on the top of the trophy and pulled it forward. The trophy remained attached, but pivoted on the shelf. “This is like you see for hidden passages on TV and in movies when they pull on something on a bookshelf and a hidden door opens.”

“No door opening,” Nolan said. “But the lock on the wooden box is whirring.”

The padlock suddenly dropped open. Nolan opened the box lid to reveal a stack of jigsaw puzzle pieces. He dumped them out and set the box on a chair to free up the table.

“Are you kidding me?” Gabe asked. “Another puzzle to solve?”

“But we have a secret weapon here,” Nolan said. “Hayden does puzzles all the time.”

“Out of my way, peeps.” Hayden strode toward them. “Let the master get to work.”

Abby spread out the pieces. “Um, Hayden. These are like toddler-sized pieces. I think we can handle it.”

“But not as fast as me. Still, I’ll let you work with me. Separate out the edge pieces, and I’ll start putting them together.”

They set to work, Hayden’s intensity as fierce as if this lead might help him find one of the lost people they were hired to search for.

He soon had the frame done and began filling in the pieces by color. “I see crime scene tape and someone squatted in a Tyvek suit.”

“That’s me!” Abby cried out. “Remember when you made fun of me because I was so excited about forensics and shining my blue light around? But what does it mean?”

“Maybe we’re supposed to find a blue light,” Nolan said, already moving toward the bookshelf.

Hayden beat him there, found a flashlight, and turned it on. “It’s a black light. Kill the lights so we can see if it clarifies something.”

Jude flipped the switch on the wall, plunging the windowless room into complete darkness except for the beam of blue light.

Hayden waved it around the room but stopped on one of the lockers. “Someone’s written something here.” He focused the beam on the upper part of the lockers.

“ The right order is the key to everything .” Nolan read aloud. “It could mean we need to open the lockers in numerical order.”

“Let’s try it.” Abby headed for her locker. “You’re number one so you go first, then me with number four.”

They scrambled to their respective lockers, Jude flipping on the light switch on the way. After a few missteps, they lifted the latches in order. The first five didn’t open.

“One more to go,” Jude said, the last number belonging to him. He pulled up the latch, and his door swung open.

“Whoa.” He lurched back.

“Dude,” Gabe said. “He is so dead.”

Nolan bolted down the line until he caught sight of their local mayor squeezed into the locker. His purple-colored skin told Nolan all he needed to know.

“We need to get out of here and call the sheriff,” he said, but as soon as the words left his mouth he wished they could be calling anyone but Sheriff Mina Park.

She was the most amazing woman he’d ever met, but she didn’t think he was quite so amazing. Their summer fling had ended badly, and he didn’t have a clue how she would react to seeing him again, not to mention finding him with a dead body.