Logan fiddled with the ends of his hair. He hadn’t bothered to cut it while in protective custody. “It would depend on when those computers were unhooked. If the Outsiders had already gained access, they won’t work.”
“How do we get you there without anyone knowing?”
His face lit up. “I rigged a device that feeds off the heat from the lamp. It’ll keep the tracer at a constant temperature.”
“If we wait until right after your keepers leave, we’ll have about twenty hours before the game is up.”
I considered the steps needed to get Logan to Sector D4. After I scouted out a computer, he could travel through the air shafts with me. However, what would we do with the Travas in the room?
Time to pay Anne-Jade a visit.
“You want to borrow what?” Anne-Jade sat behind her desk and blinked at me as if she could clear me from her vision.
I had waited until the ISF office emptied of her lieutenants before dropping in on her. Keeping close to the heating vent in case one of the others returned, I repeated my request. “A stungun, Anne-Jade. Not a kill-zapper. I need it to help Logan.” And when she didn’t answer, I added, “Trust me.”
“Stun guns can kill if set high enough.”
“I know.” Cogan had killed a Pop Cop by accident because the Pop Cop’s gun had been set to maximum. “Can’t you lock it at a certain level?”
She crumpled. There was no other way to describe it. One second sitting straight and being stubborn, the next a defeated slouch. “You have the worst timing.” Anne-Jade spun her monitor around so I could see it. The white screen had a row of black letters that read,Collect all the weapons from Inside and lock them in the safe, including your own.
“Is that?—”
“Yes. Orders from the Controllers.”
“Do you know they’re not?—”
“Yes. And they know exactly how many weapons we have because our inventory was in the computer.”
“But if you’re locking them?—”
“The floor of the safe has a weight sensor in case anyone decides to try to steal anything.”
My mind raced. “Then add in extra weight. You can’t lock up all the weapons that’s suicide.”
“I don’t have much time.” She pointed to the bottom of the screen. A small clock counted down. She had less than an hour. “If I don’t do as they say, they’ll gas Sector D2.”
“Sleeping gas?”
“I wish.”
I sorted through the potential problems. “If I find you the weight, will you loan me a stun gun?”
“Sure.”
Anne-Jade gave me the approximate weight of each weapon. While she called in her officers, I returned to the air shafts.
As I slid through them, memories of other panicked scrambles through the tight shafts replayed in my mind. I had hoped never to be in this situation again. In order to put a positive spin on my rushed descent to level one, I considered this trip practice. If the Outsiders did enter our world, we would have one advantage of being in familiar territory.
The best place to pick up items of various weights was in the recycling plant. I peered through the vents, searching for a pile away from the bustle of activity and near a vent. Part of me was glad to see people working to recycle the large amount of waste that had collected during the last six weeks, but the other half worried one of the workers would recognize me. Too bad I didn’t have time to don a pair of the drab gray overalls and boots.
A few people picked through a couple piles as if searching for something so at least in that regard, I wouldn’t be as noticeable. I spotted a mound of broken glass items. They would be heavy enough to stand in for the weapons.
Easing from the air shaft, I dropped to the floor with a light thump. My heart added its own thumping that I swore the entire recycling plant could hear. A couple people glanced over but resumed working. Careful of where I stepped, I tried to keep the glass pile between me and the others.
I filled my bag with a hefty amount—enough, I hoped for three or four weapons. The beauty of taking glass was Anne-Jade could break off pieces if they didn’t match the weight. Tying the bag to my belt, I climbed the wall, using the rivets. In the recycling plant, the air vents were at the top of the walls and not in the ceiling.
When I reached the vent, I pulled my body in. Except before I could draw in my legs, a hand clamped around my ankle and yanked.
