Urban Outlaws (23 page)

He asked Charlie and she replied with, ‘Not sure. Depends how sensitive the camera is,’ which didn’t fill him with the greatest confidence.

‘Well,’ Jack said, resting a hand on Obi’s shoulder, ‘guess we don’t have a choice.’

Obi nudged the joystick and Shadow Bee edged forward.

Slink pressed the binoculars back to his eyes and froze, hardly breathing, as he watched.

Jack focused on the display. Obi was moving Shadow Bee as slowly as he could. Sweat trickled down his forehead and his hands started to shake.

Slink said, ‘I reckon you’ve got about a metre more before you’re clear.’

Jack held his breath, not wanting to even breathe on Obi. ‘Try to keep an equal pressure on the joysticks, and don’t make any sudden movements.’ He wondered what would happen if the camera detected them. Would an alarm sound? Would the guards rush out and lock the place down? Would they search the building until they found who was responsible? And, above all else, would they use those guns?

Jack shook himself.

‘Twenty centimetres,’ Slink said.

Obi’s whole arm now shook.

‘Ten centimetres . . .’

The shaking increased.

‘Almost there.’

Jack fought the urge to grab the joystick from Obi.

‘And . . . You’re clear.’

Obi released the joysticks and Shadow Bee hovered. He rubbed his arm.

Jack looked at the display. ‘No time to rest.’ Ahead, at the end of the corridor, between the toilets and the guards’ break room, was their target – the security terminal.

‘No way,’ Slink hissed.

Jack looked up at him. ‘What?’

‘Wren.’

‘Where?’

‘Come see.’

Jack glanced at the netbook display. Shadow Bee would be OK hovering for a moment. He scooted over to the skylight and peered into the underground chamber. Sure enough, Wren was at the other end in the office corridor. She crept along the hallway, opened an office door, peered around the corner and went inside.

‘What is she doing?’ Slink said.

‘Looking for Proteus.’

She was in the second from last office before the door to the main warehouse. Jack’s chest tightened. There was no security in the office hallway, but on the other side of the door to the main chamber was a pressure-sensitive mat.

‘She’s going to get us caught,’ Slink said.

‘She thinks she can destroy Proteus all by herself,’ Charlie said, scowling at Jack.

It was obvious she still blamed him for Wren’s rogue behaviour.

Wren came out of the office, closed the door and continued up the hallway, her head scanning from side to side.

Slink cupped his hands over his mouth and hissed, ‘
Wren
.’

Jack punched his arm. ‘They might have audio sensors.’ He glanced over at the guards, but they were playing cards and luckily none of them seemed to have heard it. Neither had the other three by the vans.

Jack watched as Wren continued down the hallway. If only he’d given her a headset.

‘Keep an eye on her.’ Jack slid behind Obi and looked at the netbook. ‘You have to be quick.’ For a few seconds he imagined Wren stepping on the mat and triggering the alarm.

Slink gripped the binoculars so hard his knuckles stretched white. ‘She’s going into the next office.’

That only left one more before she reached the main door to the chamber.

Obi pressed forward on Shadow Bee’s controls and the helicopter glided up the corridor.

Slink kept scanning between the offices at one end and Shadow Bee at the other.

Shadow Bee finally reached the security terminal and Jack’s initial assessment had been right – from this computer, you could shut down all the security in the building.

‘Oh, no.’ Jack’s heart sank.

The only problem was, to deactivate the security you needed a password.

The cursor blinked, waiting for input.

‘Obi,’ Slink whispered. ‘Hurry up. Wren’s just come out and gone into the last office.’

Obi stared at the screen. ‘It wants a password.’ He glanced up at Jack.

Slink lowered the binoculars. ‘You know it though, Jack, right?’

Jack shook his head. He had no idea.

Slink put the binoculars back to his face. ‘
Obi
. Guard.’

Obi turned Shadow Bee in time to see the break room door open and a guard step out. He cut the power and Shadow Bee fell to the carpet.

The guard’s feet moved past the camera.

Slink let out a puff of air. ‘He didn’t see it. He’s gone into the toilet.

Obi started up Shadow Bee and the little helicopter rose from the ground again, but now it moved slowly.

Jack looked at the power gauge.

The red bar indicated it was almost out of juice.

Obi pulled back on the joystick and Shadow Bee rose a few centimetres, dropped, then slowly rose again, a millimetre at a time.

‘What are you doing?’ Charlie said.

‘The battery’s almost dead.’

Jack glanced at Obi. Sweat poured from his forehead and into his eyes. ‘Stay still.’

Obi couldn’t risk letting go of the controls for even a nanosecond.

Jack wiped Obi’s brow with his sleeve.

‘Cheers.’

After what seemed an eternity, the security terminal screen filled Shadow Bee’s field of view again.

No time to waste – Obi had to hurry.

Jack pressed a finger to his ear. ‘Noble?’

Static crackled.

Jack tried again. ‘Noble?’

Still only static.

‘Wait,’ Charlie rifled through her bag and pulled out a cable attached to an antenna. She plugged it into Jack’s transmitter. ‘Try again.’

‘Noble?’

‘Hello?’

Jack let out a breath. ‘I need you to grab a list of popular passwords for this year.’

He heard Noble’s swift typing. ‘Got it.’

‘What’s top of the list?’

‘The most popular password is in fact “Password”.’

Jack nodded.
Typical
.

He looked at Obi. ‘Try it.’

Obi considered for a moment, then pushed forward.

Shadow Bee stuttered but he managed to guide the tip of the wooden rod to the keyboard.
P
. . .
A
. . .
S
. . .
S
. . .
W
. . .
It was painful how slowly Shadow Bee moved between keys.
O
. . .
R
. . .
D
. . .
Shadow Bee jerked back. Obi regained control and hit the Enter key.

Password denied. Two more attempts remaining.

Slink glanced over at the screen, his eyes wide and fearful.

‘Where’s Wren?’ Charlie said.

‘Still in the last office. Hopefully, she’s taking a nap.’

Jack asked Noble for the next most common password, then focused on the display.

Without hesitation, Obi glided Shadow Bee over the keyboard and started to type.

This one seemed a little easier but each second meant Shadow Bee’s controls became more and more sluggish, like it was flying through soup.
Q
. . .
W
. . .
E
. . .
R
. . .
T
. . .
Y
. . .
Enter.

Password denied. One more attempt remaining.

‘No good,’ Jack said into his headset.

‘
Guard
.’

Obi cut Shadow Bee’s power and it dropped to the floor.

Once again, they watched as the guard’s polished shoes stepped past and, by some miracle, he still didn’t spot Shadow Bee on the carpet.

Not the most attentive guard in the world
, Jack thought.
Mind you, who’d be on the lookout for a miniature stealth helicopter
?

‘Safe,’ Slink said. He turned and looked at the other end of the warehouse. ‘Wren’s back out.’ He groaned. ‘She’s going straight for the main door. No, don’t do it, you idiot.’

Obi hit the power on Shadow Bee.

They had one more attempt before Wren triggered the pressure-sensitive mat on the other side of that door.

‘The third most popular password this year is “Monkey”,’ Noble said.

Jack nodded at Obi.

Shadow Bee moved painfully slow now, as if it was trying to drag a weight. ‘Come on, come on,’ Obi urged it, his fingers tight on the controls.

‘She’s heading towards the main door.’ Slink sounded resigned to their fate.

The security display filled the view again.

Obi moved the wooden finger over the ‘M’ key and Jack grabbed his arm, stopping him.

Slink glanced at them. ‘What are you doing? Hurry up.’

Jack ignored him. Something didn’t feel right and this time he refused to ignore it.

As Shadow Bee backed away from the keyboard, Jack thought of Proteus. The cameras. The lasers. The security guards. ‘No,’ he said under his breath. ‘Monkey’ wasn’t the password. ‘Noble, tell me the rest of them.’ Noble quickly recited the list of passwords but none of them stood out.

Shadow Bee stuttered and flew sharply to the right.

Obi fought the controls and got the helicopter back in front of the keyboard.

Shadow Bee dropped again, wobbled, its blades scraping the display.

‘
Jack
,’ Slink hissed, ‘what are you doing? She’s almost there.’

‘Under the desk,’ Jack said in calm voice.

Obi frowned. ‘Huh?’

‘Under the desk,’ Jack repeated.

Obi’s eyes widened as he understood. He lowered Shadow Bee below the keyboard and tipped the nose upward.

Jack smiled and let out a huge sigh.

He was right. Taped to the underside of the desk was the password:
FORTRESS GATEWAY
.

Thank God, because no one would ever have guessed that one.

Shadow Bee backed up, rose above the keyboard, shook for a moment, and the finger pressed
F
. . . and again
O
. . . then,
R
. . .
T
. . .
R
. . .
E
. . .
S
. . .
S
. . .
G
. . .

It was agonisingly slow work.

Slink’s voice was almost a screech. ‘Jack, Wren’s opening the door.’

A
. . .
T
. . .
E
. . .
W
. . .
A
. . .

‘She’s walking through.’

Jack noticed Slink’s body go rigid out of the corner of his eye.

Obi guided Shadow Bee to the final letter,
Y
, and then pressed the Enter key.

Password accepted. Security disengaged.

Shadow Bee’s power died and the screen went black.

Slink gasped and fell backwards, lying flat on his back, his chest rising and falling. ‘Too. Close.’

•   •   •

When they’d recovered, Jack peered into the chamber, working out a new plan of how to get down there.

He looked underneath the rim of the grate. The lasers were deactivated. Next, he scanned over the internal structure. The crossbeams were too far down and they couldn’t reach them without ropes.

Finally, he straightened up and looked at Slink. ‘We’re going to have to abseil down there. Find an anchor point.’

Slink nodded, pulled off his backpack, and slid out a coil of rope. He also removed two harnesses and tossed one to Jack.

Jack unclipped the extra antenna from his headset, then stood and left the closet to give Slink room to work.

While stepping into the harness, he spoke to Charlie and Obi, ‘We can’t all go down there. We’ve only got two of these harnesses with us. Obi, go back to the front of the theatre and keep a look out for Del Sarto. Stay out of sight. Charlie, go down the alley and wait there.’

Charlie frowned. ‘Wait for what exactly?’

‘Us. We’ll find a way to get you inside.’

‘How?’

Jack fastened the harness and tightened the straps. ‘You’ve still got the explosives?’

She tapped her bag. ‘Yep.’

‘We’ll use those on the coolant tanks. That should speed things up a bit.’

Charlie nodded. ‘You still haven’t explained how you’re going to get me inside. Remember the guards?’