“Thanks,” they replied in unison.
“That’s what I’m here for,” she said. “To make sure everything goes smoothly.”
Troop went to the bathroom with Kristi to put in the contact lens. The wiring and cameras in the lens were so microscopic Kristi wouldn’t have noticed them at all if she hadn’t known they were there.
She blinked her watering eyes a few times. She had just inserted a contact-cam into her right eye and it felt a bit awkward. Once Kristi got used to the feeling of having a contact on her right eye, she attempted to put in her left one.
“Darn it,” Kristi said after three fruitless tries.
“Here, let me try. I already got both of my lenses on.” Troop carefully took the contact lens she was having trouble with from the tip of her fingertip.
“Don’t blink,” he said. As he said the word, he delicately placed the contact onto her left eye with lightning quick speed.
“Hey!” Kristi said in surprise.
She blinked as soon as the contact-cam was securely in her eye to mitigate the discomfort.
“You’re welcome,” Troop said.
“You startled me. But thanks.”
“Should we bring anything with us aside from our slates?”
“I don’t think so. The less we have to carry the better.”
Kristi exited the bathroom and told Chelsa and Finn, “We’re leaving now. See you later.”
They nodded to show they heard.
New Genes Lab was an imposing building located near the edge of the city. A meticulously mowed lawn surrounded the entire perimeter of the building, preventing any chance of being able to sneak inside the lab without being taped by the surveillance cameras that dotted around the property.
Troop and Kristi strolled along the sidewalk passing in front of New Genes Lab, not daring to move any closer to the building for fear of attracting the wrong type of attention.
“Did you get a good look at the cameras?” Kristi asked Troop under her breath. “Perhaps the Filches can figure out the best way to evade the them if they know the cameras’ model.”
Troop followed her words and focused his gaze on the closest camera to them, which was only fifty feet away. They circled the property, taking note of the number of windows, stairs, entrances and anything else of interest.
New Genes Lab was a five-story, square-shaped building constructed of steel and black tinted windows. Overall, it looked very much like a black cube crouching in the middle of a vividly green patch of green surrounded by a seven-foot high chain linked fence. Even just thinking about how they were going to enter the lab made Kristi’s head hurt.
“Maybe there’s another way to solve the case without trespassing into the lab,” she said.
“If there’s another way to solve the case, we obviously aren’t aware of it.” Troop shaded his eyes from the glare reflecting off the glossy building. “So far, breaking and entering is the best lead we have to follow. If Stevey used to work at this lab and something traumatic involving the Accidents happened here causing him to go crazy, our best starting point would be here.”
“Yeah, but if this place made Stevey go whacko, what do you think it will do to us?”
“It can’t be that bad,” Troop said, sounding like he was both trying to reassure himself and Kristi at the same time.
“Is it just me, or has that red solar-car been following us for the past few minutes?” She threw a glance to her right. Yep, the solar-car was still there, with its blacked-out windows all rolled up.
Troop eyeballed the car. “I think so. I’m going to take that as a sign to go.”
They finished circling the lab and walked back onto the main road.
“Do you want to grab some dinner?” Troop asked.
“Do we have enough time?”
“Yeah. There’s still over an hour before curfew.”
“Okay then. That sandwich shop seems like a nice place.” Kristi pointed to Solomon’s Sandwich and sent Chelsa a quick instafication notifying her that they would be back in about an hour.
A little bell tinkled, announcing their arrival to the waitress who was chatting with her friend. She stood up and came to them.
“How many?”
“Two,” Troop said.
“This way.”
The waitress led them to a booth and flicked on the smart-glass imbedded into the table, displaying the menu.
“The shop will be closing in about forty-five minutes, alright?”
“We’ll be quick,” Kristi promised, then slid into the booth across from Troop.
The waitress wandered off to finish her conversation, leaving them to decide what they wanted to eat.
An old couple sat a few tables away from Troop and Kristi. Across from the couple was a single, middle-aged man who seemed pretty engrossed with his sandwich and soup; the couple was talking to each other animatedly, so Troop and Kristi basically had the whole restaurant to themselves.
The waitress came back to them a few minutes later once her friend left. “Have you decided what you would like?”
Kristi motioned for Troop to order first.
“Can I have the hummus sandwich with a side of tomato soup?”
The waitress noted his order and turned to Kristi. She still hadn’t made up her mind about what to order, so she said, “I’ll have the same.”
“Be back in a few minutes.” The waitress turned off the smart-glass and marched into the kitchen.
“Any ideas on how to enter the building?” Kristi asked, wording her question carefully so not to give away what they were planning on doing in case any snooping ears were around.
Troop’s face took on a concentrated look. He answered slowly, as if measuring each word out carefully, “Sometimes the best way to hide is in plain sight. Covers. We could use covers.”
“That’s definitely an idea we can work off,” Kristi said. “So my next question is: when and how will we get our covers?”
“Send an instafication to Hanson. He said he has plenty of connections and chances are he will be able to get us some covers. Also—”
“Here are your sandwiches and soup,” the waitress interrupted Troop’s sentence.
Kristi bit back a word of annoyance.
The waitress set down the food and went to attend the couple that had finished their meal. The couple, well into their sixties or even seventies, floated out the sandwich shop with a light spring in their steps; arthritis and osteoporosis were symptoms of the past.
Troop picked up where he left off, “Also, our host may be able to help us with the security problems. The cameras may be problematic.”
“I’ll send a message to Chelsa asking if she knows anyone who can help solve our security problems.” Kristi unlocked her electro-slate with her fingerprint while Troop munched on his sandwich. After selecting Chelsa’s contact, she wrote her a quick note:
Hey Chelsa,
Can you ask Jane and Nick if they can penetrate New Gene Lab’s security system with their hacking skills?
Chelsa responded within a few minutes:
They said probably yes, provided you can provide them with the necessary information. Exactly what type of hacking do they need to do?
Kristi replied:
I know there are definitely cameras and ID scanners.
Chelsa answered:
Jane wants you send her the footage you got with the contact-cams. If you use your electro-slate and “search for nearby devices” with it, the contact-cam will appear on the list of connected devices to the slate. To access the film from the camera, type in the password 6h8*_aH. Then send me the video and I’ll show it to Jane and Nick.