Read Shadowplay: Book One of the Starcrown Chronicles Page 13

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  It took Mark’s mind a moment to register what he was seeing. The light had just gone out—the fence was down! Shaking himself out of his stunned immobility he lunged forward, fighting the cramps that wanted to cripple his legs. He was on the far side of the pole in a moment. Grabbing his first tool he started to loosen one of the restraining bolts on the cover plate at its base. While he worked he realized that it was taking too long! As soon as he removed the first bolt he jammed the handle of the flex-wrench into the narrow opening and heaved. The cover plate resisted briefly then popped loose and fell to the ground. Switching tools he began probing the circuitry within.

  He had no idea how much time had passed or how long he had left. His mind was completely focused on the task in front of him and his hands moved almost with a will of their own. He had to find the right circuit. Probe deeper. It had to be the right one. Where was it? No, not this circuit ... that one. Disconnect. Now bypass the next circuit and connect the first path with the other one. Remove the control card. Now cross connect the remaining two. And ... he was done!

  Mark sat back on his heels, his breath coming in ragged gasps, and looked up. The blue indicator light was back on—and his collar had not activated!

  He became aware of a sudden explosion of activity in the compound. With trembling fingers he picked up the cover plate and put it back in position as best he could. It would pass at a glance. He snapped the control card in two, flicked the pieces deep into the woods behind him and slowly crawled back through the perimeter fence. His collar still didn’t activate!

  As he drew up against the rear of the slave quarters he could hear voices on the other side of the building shouting back and forth to each other. He couldn’t quite make out what they were saying but he had a good idea what was causing all the excitement. He was suddenly aware of just how exposed he was. He had to figure out something quickly before someone looked behind the building and saw him.