Trials in Walls of Ivy (Triskelion Trilogy Book 1)

by Deborah Jayne Pye

  Jay handed her a small bag and took my arm off hers. Bree took off sprinting toward the other side of the campus.

  “Chanel One,” He shouted, after her. He reached into his pocket and handed me an identical packet. “Another ear piece. You take the low levels, I’ll take the high. Stay in contact. Channel one, okay?”

  I rammed the tiny moulded piece of plastic in my ear and nodded to Jay. We sprinted toward the pulsating sounds of the party. Empty beer cans and cigarette butts scattered the floor of the main doors. I reached for the door, stepping over a forgotten pair of jeans. As it opened, the mingled sound of pounding music and drunken laughter doubled. Jay elbowed me gently, and indicated for me to turn the volume up on my earpiece. I was about to tell him I didn’t know how, when he ran for the stairs. I watched him take them two at a time as he disappeared from view.

  The first door I reached was the supervisor’s office. I knocked, but even if he was in, I knew he wouldn’t have heard me over the din. With no other option than brute force, I leaned back and slammed my shoulder into the door. The vibrations ricochet through my body. I clenched my teeth, took a deep breath and tried again. The door swung open violently, making me fall into the room. It was a mess with empty take away boxes, pop bottles. Whoever this supervisor was, they didn’t expect people to visit their office. If the bomb was hidden in here, it would take a week to find it. I ran to the desk, which was hidden in the corner under the mass of rubbish. I rummaged through each drawer and found more empty packets and papers.

  “Roz? Can you hear me?” I jumped as Bree’s whispering voice blasted my eardrum.

  “Yeah, you okay?”

  “I’m at the garage. Levins and Teresa are packing some stuff into a car. I’ve locked the doors so they can’t get out.”

  “Brilliant. I’m on the ground floor of the flats. I’m trying to find a key to get into all the rooms. This bloody supervisor’s a pig.”

  “Tell me about it. I saw him in the social bar once, think he tried it on with every female in the place.” I heard a metal clang on her end. “Right, that’s the second gate locked too. I’m on my way to you.”

  “See you in a minute,” I said.

  I slammed the final drawer shut. The universal key wasn’t there. I stood in the centre of the room and looked around. My heart fluttered when I spotted it. There, by the side of the door frame was a hook with a bunch of keys hanging from it. I ran and yanked them free.

  “How could I be so stupid?” I shouted to myself.

  “What?” Jay said, through the earpiece.

  “Nothing. I’ve found the supervisor’s key. I’m checking all the rooms now.”

  I ran from the room and unlocked the door directly opposite.

  “Good thinking. Every door up here is open. They’ve got one hell of a party going.”

  I laughed as I walked into the next room. It was the complete opposite of the supervisor’s office. Everything was stacked neatly in place. I crouched by a cupboard and opened it. Nothing that looked to be bomb shaped was inside. My stomach lurched as I realised, I had no idea what a bomb looked like. What was I looking for?

  “Hey, Jay?” I said

  “Yeah?”

  “What will the bomb look like? I have no idea what I’m looking for.”

  “I don’t either. Just look for something which looks out of place and could go boom.”

  “That’s comforting.”

  I left the doors open as I searched the rest of the ground floor. Each new room seemed to be in order. Cupboards were empty and corners were clear. The final door on the corridor led to the cellar. I unlocked it quickly, letting it swing open. It was pitch black. I felt along the rough brick wall for a light switch and shivered as cobwebs clung to my fingers. Finally, I found the square plastic switch. A single flickering bulb hung from the sloped ceiling on a long wire. With the keys gripped in my hand, I descended the wooden slat staircase.

  My eyes stared ahead as I tried in vain to ignore the mass of spiders in webs which lined the walls. The red bricks and uneven mortar gave the narrow staircase an eerie feel of neglect. This was a place students were not supposed to see.

  The wooden steps became narrow on one side, creating a bend. I followed through the last of the light until I reached an open black space. Through the staircase’s reflective light, I found the second light switch. I flicked it and gulped. The cellar was huge. It must have spanned the entire floor space of the tower block. Thick concrete pillars stood from floor to ceiling at equal distances apart.

  I stepped down and stumbled. I looked to see the floor was an uneven stretch of packed dirt. The corners were dark with musty damp. I took a tentative step forward, wrapping my arms around myself as a sudden draught seemed to fill the room. Step after step took me through the enormous space. There was nothing here but supporting pillars and mouse poop. I huffed at myself and spun on the spot to leave the room.

  Then I saw it.

  There, hidden behind a far off pillar was a bundle on the floor. I ran toward it and dropped to my knees, causing lumps of packed dirt to crumble around me. A dirty cloth lay over the top of the bundle, camouflaging it. I pulled it away to reveal two contraptions. The first was a black box. Looking closely, I could see wires protruding from its back. I followed them to see they were wrapped around the concrete pillar. Every few inches, the wire was attached by a strange blob of plastacine. My heart sank as I saw a second set of wires. My eyes followed them under the packed soil. On my hands and knees I followed the newly disturbed trail of dirt to the next pillar. There again was a wire wrapped around a pillar with the strange looking plastacine. I scrambled back the black box and stared at it hopelessly.

  “Jay? Jay, I found it,” I shouted, down the ear piece.

  “What? I can’t hear you properly. You’re breaking up, Roz. Say again.” His reply crackled and broke off, cutting his speech.

  “I’m in the cellar. Jay, I’m in the cellar. Can you hear me?”

  “I can hear you,” Ash’s voice shouted through the earpiece. “I’m almost there. Owen’s in the hospital building, he’s going to be okay.”

  I sank back on my heels and let out a sigh of relief. “Thank god for that. Ash, could you get up stairs and tell Jay we need to evacuate this building?”

  “I’ll come help you.”

  “No, we don’t know how long we’ve. Go get everyone out,” I shouted.

  There was a long silence before Ash’s voice replied. “Alright. But, as soon as everyone’s moving out, I’m coming to help you. Stay on this line; I want you to talk me through what you are seeing.”

  “You’re not going to try to talk me through disarming it are you? I can tell you now, I won’t be any good at it.”

  “No, just give me an idea what we’re dealing with.” I could hear the music getting louder on his end. Screams of laughter and music almost muffled his voice.

  I examined the contraption as best I could. “It’s just a black box with wires coming out of it. There’s another thing next to it which looks weird.”

  “Turn the music off. Hey, I said turn that music off!” I could hear Jay shouting at the party goers. “What did you say, Roz? I can’t hear a bloody thing.”

  “I said it’s a black box with wires and another weird contraption next to it.”

  The music seemed to drift off. “Where do the wires go?” Ash asked.

  “Around each of the pillars. They’ve got some weird plastacine holding them in place.”

  “Shit! Roz, we have to get out of here. He’s going to bring the whole building down.” I could hear him running on the stairs. “What did you say the other thing next to it looked like?”

  I turned my attention to the second contraption. At first I thought it was a solid white plastic cube, but now saw it was hollow. A wire ran from the black box under the edge of the cube. With shaking hands, I gently lifted the edge. It lifted easily. Taking a shuddering breath, I placed both my hands on the white box and slowly lifted it. I
t came away without resistance. The blood drained from my face as I saw the contents. There, connected by a single wire was a transparent plastic cylinder. Inside it, was a mass of clear liquid.

  “Ash?” I said, my voice barely audible.

  “Roz, can you describe it? I’m almost there. This stupid bloody party has spilled onto the stairwell. ”

  “Ash, don’t come to me. Get everyone out. He’s put the toxin here.” I placed the plastic box to the side and put my hands flat to the floor beside the poison, leaning in to see closer.

  “How do you know? What does it look like?”

  “It’s a big tube of liquid, connected to the black box with a wire. What else could it be?”

  I heard him swear at the crowd as he tried to push his way through. “Get out of there, Roz. I’ll meet you at the front doors.”

  “No. We can’t just leave it. We have to disarm it.”

  “How the hell are we supposed to do that? We could set it off. Roz, just get out.” His voice broke as he shouted.

  I leaned forward and tried to peer underneath the cylinder. The wire disappeared through a small hole on the base. I followed it to the black box; again, it disappeared through a small, simple hole. Leaning over the contraption without touching it, I searched for the other wires. They were different. Each wire which ran off toward a pillar was connected to the black box by a tiny cube.

  My heart skipped. “Ash! I think the wire connecting the toxin can be cut.”

  “How do you know that?” His voice was louder as he got closer to the ground floor.

  “The others are connected with little cubes. The toxin is just a simple wire. So, I was thinking…”

  My voice froze and I scrambled backwards across the floor. A cloud of dust floated up from the disturbed packed dirt. In the top right corner of the black box, a red light began to blink. The reflection flared up the pillar it stood against.

  “Ash. It turned on!” I shouted.

  “Get the hell out of there! We can’t disarm a bomb, Roz. We need to move.”

  “What about all the people?”

  “I have an idea. Just get out, now.”

  I watched as the blinking light slowly flickered on and off. I ran my fingers over the surface of the box. I couldn’t find any switches or openings. This bomb was going to go off and there was nothing I could do about it. As if in response, the light blinked faster. I curled my leg around and pulled free the small knife from my boot. The wire connecting the toxin was thin. I was sure I could cut through it.

  A wailing sound ripped through the air. I crammed my arms over my head and waited for the ceiling to crash down on top of me. Seconds passed. The sound of thunder filled the air and dust began to fall through the room. I opened one eye to see the black box still in place. The red light continued to blink, faster and faster. I sat back numb, recognising the sound of the fire alarm. Ash must have set it to evacuate the party. The sound of thundering feet on stairs continued to vibrate through the walls.

  “They’re on their way out now. You too, Roz,” Ash shouted, through the earpiece.

  I watched as the red light blinked faster and faster.

  “On my way.”

  I took the knife in my hand and sucked in a breath. Not letting myself think too much about what I was about to do, I stabbed the knife into the dirt, cleaving the wire in two. I held my breath as the black box continued to blink. I watched the cylinder and waited for a reaction, blowing out the breath of relief when it remained still.

  “Roz, where the feck are you?” Bree shouted. “I’m out here with Ash and Jay. Get your arse out here now.”

  “On my way,” I said, as I gently picked up the transparent canister of liquid. I held it at arm’s reach as I made my way back through the room. As I got to the door, I looked back to the black box. The red light was blinking frantically. My feet slammed against the splintering wood, propelling me to the ground floor as fast as they could take me. The roaring wail of the fire alarm made me flinch as I crashed through the door and into the hallway. I ran along the tiled floor toward the main doors, shoving lingering students to move with me.

  “What are you doing? Get out,” I shouted, as I pushed. They shrugged and followed me, lazily. I twisted and opened the door with my back, holding the door open while the drunk students stumbled out.

  “Roz! Finally,” Ash shouted, as he ran toward me. I staggered back with the force of him wrapping his arms around me. “Come on. We’ve been trying to get all these idiots back, but,” he stared at my outstretched hands, “what is that?”

  I nodded for him to move as I walked. “I think it’s the toxin. I couldn’t do anything with the bomb. Is there anyone else left in there?”

  He took the cylinder from me in one hand, and then grabbed my hand with the other. He took off at a run and pulled me with him. “Shouldn’t be. We’ve been trying to get them all over to the Keep. It looks to be the safest place right now, its deserted. Warwick’s in there now trying to reach someone.”

  I looked through the night to see hordes of people casually walking toward the old castle. They were still laughing, some carrying bottles and cans. I watched as Bree and Jay pushed their way through the crowd to reach us.

  “You took your bloody time,” Bree shouted. “Thought we were going to have to go in there and drag you out.”

  “Sorry, I wanted to get this free first.” I nodded toward the cylinder in Ash’s hands. “We don’t have much time; the blinking was pretty fast by the time I was leaving.”

  The four of us turned and looked at the building. The swirling orange light lit the area as the fire alarm continued to scream. We waited in silence as the crowd began to lounge on the grass. They continued to drink and talk, joking around unaware of the danger. We were the only ones which knew what was about to happen.

  The alarm stopped. It was like a pause before the storm. The rumble began at my feet. Through the gravel path, I could feel the ground quake. Ash gripped me tighter against his body as we stood back, shielding our eyes as the ground floor windows exploded. The crowd around us separated. Some ran to stand with us out of reach, some ran away, screaming. The windows of the second, third and fourth floors exploded simultaneously, showering the surrounding grass. The rumbling grew deeper as a cloud of dust engulfed the building. Bone splitting crunches stabbed the air, bearing down on us savagely. We watched as the high levels fell to be swallowed by the erupting cloud of destruction.

  As fast as it began, it ended. The cloud of dust lingered in the air as the first sight of the rubble came into view. We stepped forward as one, slowly walking to the edge of the dust cloud.

  “We were just in time,” I said. “Are we sure everyone got out?”

  Ash rubbed my arm and held me close. “They all got out. This could’ve been a lot worse if you hadn’t got this out though.” He held up the cylinder of toxin.

  Bree began to laugh and sat on the grass cross legged. She sat watching the dust settle over the mountain of rubble. Jay sat beside her. I pulled Ash down to the ground as we took our place.

  Jay took Bree’s hand. “Here’s to teamwork.”

  Bree clasped my hand and held it up. “Teamwork.”

  I held Ash’s hand as the four of us sat and watched. We had done it. The bomb had gone off, but we got everyone out and the toxin away. The people around us began to move in closer, each edging toward the mound. Dust was still thick in the air, blocking the view of the rubble.

  All movement halted as my heart sank.

  My hand fell flat to the floor and I felt a second quake rumble through me.

  “Another?” Bree asked.

  The gravel clattered on the path as the sound of rumbling grew louder. Ear splitting booms ripped through the campus. Two, three, four, the explosions seemed to surround us. Screams and panicked cries rang through the crowd as they ran in all directions. Ash pulled me to my feet, his hand tight, protectively around my shoulders. I clung to him as the continuing rumbling reverberated t
hrough my legs and up my spine. Where ever it was coming from, it was close. They were close.

  A girl screamed and pointed to my left. The four of us span to see the science buildings engulfed in smoke and dust. Like dominoes, lab after lab crumbled to the ground. I gripped my arm over my stomach as a wave of dread filled me. I’d tied Fern up in there. I had restrained her.

  The rumbling grew stronger from behind. We twisted again to see a dust explosion erupting from the far side of the campus.

  “What the hell is happening? Do you think he’s going to blow up the whole university?” Bree shouted, over the screaming students.

  The four of us stood closer together, not knowing which direction to run. I watched, speechless, as students pushed and shoved each other out of the way as panic took them. A girl tripped to the floor as a mob of guys rushed past her. She screamed as people trampled her in the rush to escape. Jay lunged forward and pulled her to her feet. Streaks of blood crossed her tear lined face. She gripped his jacket, clinging to safety.

  I turned slowly, taking in the scene of destruction. The row of science labs were now a smoking line of rubble. Fires were beginning to push through the dust and bricks. In the distance, black smoke billowed toward the sky. From where, I had no idea. I jumped as a loud boom once again echoed through the campus. It had come from the direction of the far smoke.

  “How many has he set?” I shouted, over the chaos.

  “That sounds like explosions,” Jay said, “but, not the same as the bombs. What do you think it was?”

  Ash dropped his head into his hands. “That’s the direction of the garages. I think that’s the cars exploding.”

  I looked to Bree as her face paled. She had locked Levins and Teresa in there. Her eyes met mine as tears welled. I turned away, unable to see the reflection of myself.

  We were murderers.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Dawn was still fresh when the first signs of help arrived. We all stood in groups, helpless, clueless of what to do next. The helicopter arrived first. It lowered over our heads as we scrambled to clear the grass. Its heavy rotating blades stirred up dust, forcing us to shield our eyes. We stood with the mass of students in a circle surrounding the vehicle.