“Are Nick and Jane still busy?” Troop asked.
“Nope.” Nick strode into the room. “Just finished putting away the last of the equipment.”
“Here’s your slate. I saved the film clip under the name InTheLab.”
“How long does the clip run?”
“A bit over ten minutes. I hope that’s not too long.”
“No, not at all.” Nick accepted the electro-slate containing the precious video. “I’ll get started with the override. Keep an eye on the public news-screen. When your video starts playing, start to make your way to the safe place. Oh wait, I haven’t given you directions to the safe place, have I?”
Troop shook his head.
“Alright, you remember Solomon’s Sandwich, right?”
“Yeah.”
“A few blocks away from the sandwich shop is a city park. In the park there is a Meditation Garden.”
Kristi cut him off. “Oh, I know the place you’re talking about.”
“Beneath one of the benches is a trapdoor that leads to an underground shelter,” Nick said. “Stay in there until a Revealer member comes and gets you. I’ll send for someone to fetch you guys if Jane or I can’t do it ourselves.”
Jane coughed gently, interrupting Nick. “I think we better hurry with the news-screen override. The Searchers have reached the fifteenth floor already.”
The couple disappeared from the living room, retreating back into the electro-room. Finn resumed his position by the window while Chelsa and Kristi conversed quietly. Troop fingered the straps of his backpack. He had packed lightly, taking nothing more than a few granola bars, water bottles and an electro-slate; he shouldn’t need anything else if all went according to the plan.
Some time passed, and he wondered if Nick and Jane were actually capable of overriding the system. What if they overestimated their skills? Troop thought.
Knock! Knock!
Everyone swiveled their head to the door.
“This is the Homeland Security conducting an official door-to-door search. Open up,” barked a sharp voice.
“It’s not us,” Kristi said. “Not yet.”
Some of the tension deflated from the room. There was the sound of a door being thrown open a few units down. Finn pried the window open, preparing an escape route.
Knock! Knock!
The rapping noise sounded louder. Troop guessed the Searchers were two units away from the Filches’ quarters. Nick or Jane, please hurry up and get the film playing on the new-screens.
“Open up! This is Homeland Security conducting a door-to-door search.” The voice sounded even closer.
Troop slung on his backpack, ready to flee at any second. He paused mid-action, though, when he saw Finn drop his crutches out the window.
“What are you doing?” There was no way Finn had just accidently lost his crutches in one go.
“Storing my crutches where I can retrieve them later. You didn’t think I was going to carry my crutches and descend the apartment at the same time, did you? I was planning on getting out of here via the fire escape unless you have a better idea.”
Troop poked his head out the window, spotting the crutches piled together in some hydrangea bushes; one of them appeared to be crooked, though Troop wasn’t positive, since he was thirty-seven stories above the ground; he had to squint to see the crutches far below him.
“I hope your crutches are covered by insurance,” Troop said.
Finn made a “whatever” face.
Knock! Knock!
All occupants in the living room froze. There was no mistaking it. The Searchers were here.
“Out. Everybody out the windows now,” Troop said, his voice terse.
“Homeland Security conducting a door-to-door search. Open up!” bellowed a masculine voice on the other side of the door.
Nick and Jane came thundering into the room.
“Okay,” Jane said. “Hold on a second.” She turned to Troop, Kristi, Chelsa and Finn and said in a quiet voice, “The override is taking longer than we thought. We’ll keep on trying, but in the meantime, get out of here.”
“Open up!” a Searcher commanded. “We will break in forcefully if you do not cooperate.”
“Coming.” Jane motioned for the group to hurry up and leave.
Chelsa clambered out the window, followed by Finn with some difficulties. Ghost mewed plaintively, watching his owner leave without him. Jane stroked the top of his head, comforting the leopard.
Troop indicated for Kristi to go out the window before him.
“If you do not open up in ten seconds, we will shoot down the door!” This was followed by some pounding to emphasize the point.
Troop hastened and climbed over the windowsill; the door was bashed down a split second later. He ducked down, pressing his body against the wall and finding some footing on the fire escape. He looked up and saw Nick drawing the blinds over the window.
“You guys managing alright?” Troop asked.
“More or less,” Kristi replied.
“My bad leg is throwing me off balance,” Finn said. His knuckles were a chalky white from squeezing the railings.
Troop held his breath, watching Finn perilously climb down the fire escape with his paralyzed leg hanging limply. Kristi shortly joined Finn on the platform on the thirty-sixth floor.
“It’s working,” Kristi said. “Troop, you’re film is playing on the public news-screens.”
Troop took a glance at the nearest news-screen. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Debbie the reporter was reporting some type of new product being recalled. He was about to tell Kristi this when the news-screen began to blink on and off. Then Debbie was replaced by the video Troop had created earlier.
He descended a few more rungs of the rusty fire escape and observed the citizens milling the streets of Klisbury. A few were watching the news-screens and scratching their heads in confusion, but most still hadn’t noticed the hijacked screens yet.
Troop counted how far he’d descended. Twenty floors left before we’re home free, he thought. Provided no one on the streets spots us making an escape. When he cast another look to the news-screen, Debbie’s face was back on.
“Sorry for the minor broadcasting incident that occurred just a few seconds ago,” Debbie said. “Everything is under—”
Her words were chopped off when Troop’s film began to play again on the screen. Troop felt his sneakers slip on the edge of a platform and he barely saved himself from free falling fifteen stories. His fingers scrabbled against the window ledge nearest to him.
“This is the truth,” a voice boomed out from the public speakers lining the streets below him. With a start, Troop realized it was his voice being projected from the speakers. Somehow, Nick and Jane must’ve manipulated the speakers into playing above the standard set volume in addition to overriding the public news-screens.
Nine floors left. So far so good; no one has noticed us yet. Troop resisted the temptation to watch his film being played. From the sounds coming from the streets, it seemed that the citizens had finally notice something was amiss with the news-screens. Five floors to go. I think we’re actually going to pull this off.
chapter forty-eight
Kristi was worried. She knew Finn was tiring, even though he worked hard not to show it.
“Three more levels to go,” she muttered to herself, thankful they were low enough on the fire escape to be blocked by the trees planted along the edge of the apartment complex. “Three more left, three more left, three more left,” she chanted under her breath. “Two more levels left, two more left.”