“They l-l-locked us in,” Collin said, trying the handle.
“Well that’s breaking all kinds of fire hazards,” Dane said. No one laughed. His attempt at lightening the mood fell flat and heavy. His friends’ collective worry settled on his shoulders, causing him to slump.
Alex’s concerned face made her look old enough for high school, somehow making her even prettier.
Penny and Paul hugged.
Dane’s heart thundered. He turned to Collin and Simone who were still inspecting the door.
“Guys, check the drawers and cabinets for a knife, scissors, or screwdriver,” Dane said, examining the keycard reader. “Anything I can use to pry this open.”
Dane thought it looked similar to a hotel room’s magnetic key slot. “Maybe a magnet could fry it.”
Simone pushed up her glasses. “If I can open the panel, I could rewire it and possibly activate it.”
“Let me give it a try.” Dane put his bracelet hand out, inches from the doorknob, and closed his eyes. He envisioned the deadbolt sliding open. Nothing happened. He tried again. Nothing.
“I think the wind moved the ball and not me.” Dane leaned his back to the door. “Sims, don’t you have something that’ll open it up?”
“My pack is in the van. Oh no! They’ll search the van and take all my gear.”
“No they won’t,” Penny said, opening cabinet drawers with Alex. “I put the stuff from the library and your backpack in my dad’s homemade boxes under the bench. Trust me, they’re well hidden.”
“Of course,” Paul said, “the boxes raise up into the back seat. They’ll never see them. Nice thinking, Pen Pen.”
“I can’t remember the last time you called me that,” Penny said.
“That’s sweet,” Alex said without any hint of sarcasm. “Nothing in here. They’re completely bare.”
“That’s strange,” Dane said. “Why wouldn’t there be food and supplies?”
Paul closed the refrigerator door. “Nothing in there either. Maybe whatever this place is, it’s no longer in use.”
“That would explain not seeing anyone but the soldiers,” Alex said.
Paul stared at the soda machine. “Anyone have change?”
“Just try it,” Dane said. “At my dad’s office sodas are free.”
Paul pressed one of the buttons and a can rattled into the dispenser. “Well, we have all the sodas we want. I guess that’s something.”
“Paul, you’re a genius,” Simone said, crossing to the soda machine.
“Mom says he is,” Penny said. “But he was twenty points off on the IQ test.”
“Seventeen,” Paul said. He opened the soda and took a long gulp.
“If we open the key slot,” Simone said. “I can use the refrigerator fan’s motor to fry it and the deadbolt will automatically open.”
“Or stay locked up for good,” Paul said.
Alex picked up the nearest chair. “Let’s just bust the window.”
“It has a double pane,” Dane said, “and wire in between.”
Collin walked up to Simone. “Your bracelet is lit up.”
“Do you hear that?” Simone said, staring at the soda machine’s logo front. She turned her back to it, beads of sweat on her forehead. She gave the universal sign for video camera.
They were being watched. Dane motioned everyone to a table closest to the door and furthest from the hidden camera. Once seated everyone leaned toward him. He spoke low and urgent, “They left us alone so we’d talk. Give them something.”
“They’ve most likely seen our bracelets,” Penny whispered.
Collin frowned. “I t-t-told Simone hers l-l-lit up.”
Dane put his hand on Collin’s shoulder and said, “No worries. I tried unlocking the door with mine before that.”
“Maybe they didn’t see them,” Alex said. “Let’s try to keep them hidden.”
“Right,” Dane said. “Sims, what did Agent Baker say to you before she was taken? I couldn’t make it out.”
Simone took her glasses off and rubbed her eyes. “Two things. One like a riddle and the other sentence nothing but gibberish.” She put her glasses back on.
“Hurry,” Collin said carefully. “Protocol is to separate and t-t-torture us.”
“If they’re after the bracelets,” Dane said, “they may simply cut off our wrists.”
Paul and Penny covered their bracelets.
Simone spoke quickly, quietly, “Okay. Agent Baker looked at the spy phone—”
“You still have it?” Alex asked.
“In my pocket.” Simone slipped her hand under the table checking to make sure. “But, at some point, it shut off and I can’t get it to power on. I think that’s what the clue is for.”
“Well, what did she say?” Alex asked.
Simone’s brow wrinkled. “Agent Baker said: With…three…his…creator…activates… him.”
Dane was glad no one repeated it. The room was probably bugged, maybe beneath this very table. They should be using their secret language. But Penny wouldn’t understand. “What was the gibberish?”
“Did it have to do with the phone?” Paul asked.
Simone shook her head. “Baker had been eyeing the lead soldier guy. But she was way out of it, delirious.”
Penny placed her hand on Simone’s. “Just tell us what she said.”
Simone opened her mouth—
A large bang caused everyone to jerk back.
The lead soldier stormed into the break room. Two soldiers followed with machine guns.
But Dane couldn’t take his eyes off what the lead guy was carrying. It turned the office break room back into The Break Room.
Large electric sparks flew from the end of the rod-like weapon.
The door closed and locked behind the three. One of the soldiers turned off the lights so that there was nothing but the red glow of the vending machine. Its light washed over the lead soldier. The reflection of the electric blue sparks danced on his face. Freddy, Jason, Myers, and Leatherface had nothing on this guy.
Dane followed Collin’s gaze. The two soldiers walked around the table stopping in front of the soda machine.
Under the table, Dane grabbed his thighs unable to keep his legs from trembling. Whatever this mad man was about to do to them, he didn’t want it seen by the soda machine’s hidden camera.
Blue sparks intensified the leader’s crazed eyes.
30
“Sir Jeffrey will pay.” Brim picked up his hat, dusted it free of this planet’s grime, and fit it onto his head. White smears from the diminutive humans’ chemical weapon covered his duster.
Mirk kicked the twisted casing of the CL-27 Launcher, its indicator lights going dark.
Brim knelt. His long jacket draped around filth. His yellow fingernail punched in the code.
“The car’s particle annihilation sequence was successful,” Mirk said.
“That is all that seems to be functioning accurately.” Brim rose. “The Watchers are helping the younglings.”
“Yes,” Mirk said. “The Watchers must believe the fledglings are the chosen as well.” His shades reflected the launcher rising slightly off the ground.
“We will be relegated to another dimension if we do not succeed,” Brim said. “Implausibly, there are worse destinations than this desecrated rock.”
“Krimson will assist us,” Mirk said.
Brim tried to brush chemical flecks from his jacket, only smearing them further. “That is not desirable.”
“I concur.”
The launcher vibrated, shimmering with blue light. Molecules broke away and faded from this time and space.
“We will modify the miniscule inconveniences and retrieve the talismans.” Brim crushed the white substance between his thumb and finger. “We will not be re-allocated.”
“My abilities,” Mirk said, “are uncommonly inconsistent.”
“As are mine,” Brim said. “Simply The Watchers in
truding.”
“I am not so sure,” Mirk said. “It is common for the talismans’ chosen to develop abilities.”
Brim wiped his hand on an unstained portion of his duster. “But I sense the young have yet to return to the dwelling of this time’s portal.”
“They are vulnerable,” Mirk said. “Krimson will be pleased to know the boy with the weak leg has a favorable aura.”
“Extremely.” Brim sneered. “I know the floral plant is pink again and inside your pocket.”
“Strictly research,” Mirk said. “The better we know this planet’s current time, the easier to bend it to our designs.”
The launcher shimmered a peak of blue before evaporating from this dimension’s plane.
31
Dane couldn’t take his eyes off the blue sparks, the only light visible in The Break Room. Under the table, he wiped his palms on his shorts.
The mad man crept closer in. Wielding his overcharged cattle prod. The man belted a menacing laugh. The two soldiers by the vending machine found this amusing.
The mad leader grabbed Dane’s chair and whirled it around. Its metal feet screeched the scream lodged in his throat.
The mad man’s free hand squeezed into Dane’s shoulder. Fingers penetrated between flesh and bone.
Pain surged along Dane’s arm. He clinched his jaw, somehow keeping a yelp at bay. Sparks danced inches from his face, the sound of electric current filled his ears. He wanted to go home. He wanted his mommy.
Dane fought off the childish yearning. It would bring on tears if he let it go further. He slipped his hand over his bracelet.
Sparks jumped and pulsed between him and those insane eyes. Psychotic, trained killers surrounded him and his friends. He had to concentrate to keep his bladder from releasing. It didn’t help that one of the soldiers moved from the vending machine to the door. Dane followed his