Chapter 25
“The Guardians will probably be patrolling this neighborhood looking for us. The best way in is through the window I climbed out of.”
“I think I can break in through the delivery entrance,” Will said as he followed close to me and we skirted the shrubs I’d fallen into earlier.
“We can’t risk setting off any alarms. The window is our best bet,” I argued.
We’d reached the spot where broken glass had littered the ground, but there was no sign of the destruction the Guardians had left behind with the blast from their stunners. I looked up to the window above. A temporary replacement covered the opening, but just as I suspected, it hadn’t been fully repaired. The office was dark, the building likely closed up for hours.
“How do you expect to get up there?” Will asked with skepticism in his tone.
After a few minutes more of argued whispering, I was standing on Will’s shoulders, precariously balancing as he shifted side to side, holding onto my legs.
“Hold still,” I hissed, trying to jam a knife blade under the edge of the window.
Will grunted. “Hurry up!” I could hear the strain in his voice.
Trying to be as quiet as possible, I popped the window inward. The rigid plastic sheet clattered to the floor. My heart jumped. I ducked my head down, causing Will to stumble and nearly drop me. I teetered there, holding my breath for several seconds, waiting for someone to come, but the room above remained in silent darkness.
“Boost me up if you can.” I whispered down.
“Easy for you to say,” he groaned as he put both hands under my bare feet and pushed me upwards. I heard a few more stifled groans from below as I shimmied myself through the window, tumbling onto the floor. We certainly weren’t the quietest cat burglars, but so far, no alarms had sounded. We were almost home free.
I stuck my head out the window. “Toss me my boots.” Will tossed one and then the other boot up to me, and I slipped them on and tied them tight. “Wait there and keep watch,” I ordered. I reached into the small pack of supplies Father Stavros had given me and turned on a beacon. A yellow glow illuminated the room. I stuck my head out the window one more time. “If someone comes, signal me and then run.”
“It’s not like I’m going to ditch you now.” Despite his hoarse whisper, I heard the frustration in his voice. If he wanted to prove his loyalty to me, it would take more than him playing watch dog. At the same time, there was no need for both of us to get caught breaking into a medical office and stealing valuable medicine, an offense I was certain would send us straight to a work camp…if I wasn’t handed over to the Industry and subjected to having my brain probed. It wouldn’t matter that I had paid a small fortune to the traitorous Doctor Cohen. Vice President Malevich would see to it that I never saw the light of day again. And if he caught Will …the thought made me shudder as I tiptoed across the room toward the drug cabinet.
I tugged at the handle of the steel doors, but they didn’t budge. The only way into the cabinet was to either break the lock or duplicate the cypher code. Since breaking in would likely set off an alarm, I shone the beacon on the keypad and studied the numbers carefully, my eyes focusing in with intense clarity. There were four keys that carried finger print smudges. I closed my eyes and tried to think back to the pattern that Doctor Cohen had used when punching in the numbers. A flash of a memory came to mind. Up, down, left, right. Maybe? My pulse pounded in my ears as I punched in the numbers, but instead of the door opening, a red light began to flash and a beeping sound counted down to an obvious alarm. Sweat beaded on my forehead. I pulled on the handle again. The cabinet rattled but refused to slide open.
My heart pounded against my ribs. Up, left, right, down? I tried again. At first, nothing happened. Then the beeping stopped, the red light went to green, and a small click sounded as the cabinet slid open. Yes! I was in. I grabbed the canister marked Syntoxin and stuffed it into my bag. A second canister lay next to it. Sam would need a second round of treatment in a few months. Showing my face in Albany again was out of the question. I grabbed the other container and slipped it into my bag.
I turned out my beacon and went to the window, looking out into the pitch black night. “Will?” I called softly.
“It’s about time. Did you get it?”
“Yes. I’m coming down. Catch.” I tossed the pack down to him, adjusting my vision to the shadows and spotting him crouching in the shrubs below. I climbed out the window and hung onto the sill, dangling for a moment.
“Let go. I’ll catch you,” he offered.
“Move out of the way. I’ll drop into the shrubs.”
“You’ll get all scratched up. Just let go. I’ve got you.”
Darn if my fingers weren’t slipping. I wanted to argue, but it seemed pointless under the circumstances. I let go and fell into a pair of sturdy arms, drawing an “Ooof” from Will’s lips. He set me on my feet but held me around the waist for a few seconds longer than necessary before he let go. I pulled away.
“Let’s get out of here before the Guardians come back this way.”
We ducked into the shadows of the buildings along Trinity Street, already having planned to sneak aboard one of the cargo ships leaving port at first light.
It was well past midnight by the time we reached the docks. The air was chilled and damp, the sky clouded over. A dull haze from the full moon added enough light for us to navigate, but created dark shadows in which we remained hidden. It was forbidden to be on the streets after midnight, a law enforced by a double regimen of Guardians who patrolled the city, their stunners set to kill and programmed to fire, no questions asked.
Will and I remained silent, both keenly aware of the risk we were taking and the consequences if we got caught. Checking to be sure that there was no one around, we crossed under the overpassing highway and made our way to the freight yard, checking shipping containers in search of one that was unlocked and empty. Luckily, the padre had a connection on the freighter Sophia, and arrangements had been made for a space in the hull of the ship to be a safe haven for us to hide until the ship docked and we would be miles from Albany. The freighters would be locked down tight for the night, but come morning, these containers were set to be loaded. A piece of intelligence passed along courtesy of Father Stavros.
When I was just about to give up, Will pulled open a large iron door, both of us cringing at the loud squeak of the hinges. I couldn’t see inside the large metal box and a prickle ran up my spine. Being closed in with someone I wasn’t sure I could trust—in a dark, cold space, with only one way out—suddenly didn’t seem like a very good idea.