3:59 Read Free

Top secret stuff, but Josie guessed it was the ultradense deuterium her mom used in most of her experiments. If so, it might be a few days before her mom surfaced from the lab.
    “Right.” Her mom paused. “Okay, well, drive safely. I’ll call you later.”
    Josie clicked off her phone. Part of her was relieved when her mom worked late: the tension between them recently had been almost unbearable. But since her dad had moved out, the house was lonely, and the idea of spending another night there by herself was incredibly depressing.
    Her mood sinking like lead in water, Josie flipped on the radio. It was programmed to the AM news station.
    “From the evidence at the scene,” a man said in a cool academic voice, “we have determined that the attacks were not caused by a bear. They appear to be the work of a predatory cat of some kind.”
    A reporter cut into the prerecorded statement. “When pressed for information, Captain Wherry stated that local investigators are targeting known collectors of exotic animals in hopes of finding the cause of the recent attacks. For WPTN, I’m Morgan Curón.”
    Josie rolled her eyes. A cat? Really? Sixteen dead bodies and all the authorities could come up with was an exotic cat?
    Maybe Penelope was right: it
was
a cover-up.
    “Time for weather on the nines,” the news anchor said in his overly cheerful radio voice. “And we’re looking at glorious weather for this April fifteenth.”
    Josie’s stomach dropped. Today was April fifteenth?
    Holy crap, no wonder Nick had looked so upset when she left. Today was their one-year anniversary.
    And Josie had completely forgotten.
    Shit, shit, shit. Major relationship screwup. How could she have forgotten? It was just a few weeks ago that she and Nick had been at the mall and he’d pointed out a necklace he thought she might like in the window of a chain jewelry store. Entwined hearts with little red stones at the apex of each. No wonder he’d been acting so weird that afternoon. He was waiting for her to wish him a happy anniversary so he could give her the necklace.
    She reached for her phone; she needed to talk to him right that second. But he’d be in the middle of practice. Damn. She’d have to wait until after her shift and then maybe they could celebrate tomorrow?
    She was the worst girlfriend ever.
    Josie sped around a corner, tapping the brakes as lightly as possible so as not to lose momentum, and veered onto Leeland Road. Another glance at the time. 3:50 p.m. Ten minutes. She pushed Nick and their anniversary from her mind. There was nothing she could do about it, and right now she had to focus on getting to work. As long as she didn’t get caught at the railroad crossing she was totally going to make it.
    Wishful thinking. Josie heard the peal of bells before she even saw the flashing lights. Train coming.
    Crap.
    Option A: slam both feet onto the accelerator and pray her car had enough power to slip under the rapidly descending crossing arm. Option B: slow down and wait for the train. Option A: decent chance of a gruesome, fiery death. Option B: decent chance she’d get fired.
    Kind of a close call, but after a moment’s hesitation, Josie hit the brakes and screeched to a stop just as the railroad-crossing arm locked into place across the road.
    It didn’t take long for Josie to regret her sensible decision. Immediately, she realized it was a government transport train leaving Fort Meade. Probably the same one that had just delivered the shipment to her mom.
    Oh, the irony.
    Josie counted the cars as they ambled by.
Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen
. She checked the clock. 3:57 p.m. “Come on!” she said through clenched teeth.
    Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four
. Josie leaned over the steering wheel and craned her neck, trying to get a view of the rails stretching south through the thick greenery of forest that hugged both sides of the road. She could barely see twenty feet down the tracks. Was there an end in