Sebastian chortled.
“I think we should take that as aGo for it,” Alice said.
“I agree, but we’ll take some precautions anyway.”
“How do we do that?”
“We open the door without opening the door. Get Sebastian out of the way.”
Alice moved forward, grabbed Sebastian, and hugged him close.
Owen took the mag-rez out of his jacket and fired two shots into the center of door number six.
Wood cracked and splintered. Sebastian chortled enthusiastically, wriggled free of Alice’s grasp, and bounced down to the floor.
Alice looked at the holes that had appeared in the lower portion of the door panel. “Well, the good news is that no poison vapor seems to have been released.”
“Maybe because we didn’t open the door,” Owen said.
“Right.” She cleared her throat. “You just shot a couple of holes in it instead. Does that come under the heading of a calculated risk?”
“More like the heading of no other options. Let’s see what we’ve got.”
He went forward and used the handle of the mag-rez to knock out a large chunk of the lower half of the door panel and then paused to aim his phone flashlight into the opening.
“Looks like a tool shed,” he announced.
“Really? I suppose it makes sense the Gamer would have his construction tools handy rather than hauling them back and forth.”
“We might be able to use the tools, but I don’t want to risk touching the doorknob.”
Alice moved closer, looked into the opening, and saw an array of precisely arranged saws, hammers, drills, and other assorted construction gear.
“None of the doors open into a third game, do they?” she said, suddenly understanding.
“Yardley never intended for his victims to get out of this room, assuming they got this far. We won’t escape by opening a door, so we might as well try going through a wall.”
“Using Yardley’s tools. Brilliant.”
“More like another calculated risk,” Owen said. “What do you think?”
It dawned on her that he was asking for her opinion.Partners,she thought. They were in this together.
“I’m not much good with a gun,” she said, “but I do know how to use basic tools. Cadence Ballantine considered that kind of knowledge important for a truly balanced life.” She surveyed the room. “Where do we start?”
“We’ll need a hammer.”
She eyed the partially destroyed door. “We’re going to need a bigger hole to crawl through to get to the tools.”
Owen looked at Sebastian. “I think a hole the size of a dust bunny will be large enough.”
“You want Sebastian to bring out a hammer? He won’t understand.”
“You can guide him.”
“I’ll try,” she said.
“If it doesn’t work, we’ll have to make a much bigger hole in this door, and I’d rather not risk it.”
