by G. Adler
“Sorry, Byte. Not this time. This is a master key I made; it opens every door on the base.”
The others smile wide and pat me on the back.
I unlock the interior door, revealing the outside world. I point to the twilight sky and whisper, “On lusty gentlemen… and women!”
With a snigger, the five of us sneak out of the stockade and into the growing freedom of darkness.
Chapter 21 - Hayden
We make our way out of the confinement area and head east.
“My house is only a fifteen-minute walk across the base. Dad had the Department of Defense build him a house at the back edge of the property. Talk about an ego eh?”
Maya shrugs and comments.
“Given his status in the military, I am hardly surprised! My mom works in the cryptology department and she talks about the insanely smart General Jack Matthews all the time!”
Just as Maya makes her statement, we pass the administration building. I look at the reinforced walls and extra security cameras and clench my fists. I try to keep my legs moving but it is no use. Before I know what is happening, my feet are glued to the ground and I am glaring at the grey, concrete walls.
I feel a big hand gently pat my back but it feels far away. “What are you doing, Ghost?”
“Trying to will the building to fly apart like the lock on my cell, Tank.”
“Why?”
“In there is my father’s pet project. The life-distracting, money-wasting, child-ignoring project that he has been working on for the past twenty years. Whatever is in there has been more important than Little League, eighth grade graduation, and father-and-son picnics combined. Keeping his work a secret has been a crusade of his for…”
The words don’t leave my mouth before the idea forms in my mind. My eyes narrow even further and my breathing becomes heavy.
The gang circles around me, each of them placing a hand somewhere on my back.
Ethan is the first to speak. “Come on, Hayden. That asshole isn’t worth it. Let’s just go to the party and soak it all in. I’ll bet we could even find twins for you!”
“That’s a nice thought Bartender, but no chance.”
“Why not?”
Multiple bleeps finally come across my phone as service is restored. I hold it up to Ethan’s face and say, “THIS is why. No less than twenty-five people are requesting to upload my father’s hissy fit at the end of the evening.”
“So what? It’s no big deal!”
“No big deal? Are you insane? If twenty-five people are asking to upload it, then at least two hundred people have seen it!”
With a shaking head, I press the key on my app to authorize the uploads.
“What did you do that for? You could have just suppressed the video and been done with it!”
“At what cost, Bartender?”
“What do you mean?”
“I started my site to expose the truth. I promised myself that I would censor NOTHING. If I did, I would be no better than them. I can’t do that; it goes against everything I stand for!”
Tyrese pats me on the back and says, “I get it, Ghost and for what it’s worth: I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks, Tank but that isn’t enough. I want revenge.”
I stand that way with Tyrese for a few moments. My breathing comes in ragged wisps as I hear the ping of every uploaded file. I can feel Ethan and the two girls right behind me, but none of them seem to be breathing at the moment.
Finally, Tyrese grabs me by my shoulders and looks into my eyes. His expression is kind and full of sympathy. In a low and leveled voice he says, “He piled upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart’s shell upon it.”
I hear multiple gasps come from behind me, but Tyrese’s gaze never falters. My eyes soften for a moment but the rage that I feel inside surpasses anything else.
“What is that supposed to mean, Tank?” I ask, not attempting to hide my disdain.
“You know exactly what it means! Ahab lost everything on his quest to destroy the white whale. Do you really want to take the four of us down on the Pequod with you?”
“I’m not going in to destroy... whatever it is! I just want to see it, take a few pictures, you know… expose it to the world.”
“Or is it him you want to expose?”
I stare into his face and can see the care and concern.
“Your dad is a big wig, Ghost. If he is anything like you, he must be crazy smart and skilled, or at least, that’s what people believe about him. You don’t just want to expose his secret, you want to tarnish his name at the same time!”
That’s when the pinging starts over and over again.
I look back into his face and say, “You of all people should understand the value of respect. Sure we did what we did to Duts, but only after the four of you were stuck dealing with him for so long. This is my father we are talking about. He made me out to be a total loser.”
Ethan snorts and pats me on the back.
“So what, Hayden? My father thinks I’m an epic loser. He calls me Potsie all the time, whatever that means. Hell, he’s a total moron! Isn’t that the way it is with fathers and sons?”
“My dad and I aren’t like that!” Tyrese interjects.
“Shut up, Tank! That’s only because he is never around.” Ethan notes.
“Ouch. You might be right but that still hurts.” Tyrese sulks.
I shake my head and clench my hands into fists.
“You know what? Even if I forget all of that, which you know I can’t, the four of you have gone on and on about how famous and well-known my father is. So basically this is the total opposite of a ringing endorsement. How many world-renowned scientists do you know who have stood up in front of a couple of thousand people and told them what a fuck-tard their child is?”
All of them look at me and try to reply. Each of their mouths open and close, but no words come out.
“Exactly! When you take away everything else, the esteemed General Matthews is nothing more than a bully with a badge and a budget!”
Ethan jabs me it the ribs and smiles. “I thought the three Bs were booze, Buicks and boobs. I think I like those more!”
“Not now, Bartender.
“Sorry, Ghost.”
I continue my rant. “In the meanwhile, my father has been able to trade on his name for years. He uses the American taxpayers’ money to fund research that nobody has ever seen.”
Joo-Eun looks up to the sky. Her eyes flutter up and down like she is scrolling through a webpage. “He’s doing something with artificial intelligence and neuron conduction. His most recent paper about synaptic transmission in artificial media was very interesting.”
I stare down at Joo-Eun with a puzzled expression. “Was any of that English?”
“All of it, actually.”
“Oh Hayden-pie. You know I love you and your schemes, but you don’t need your soapbox with us.” Maya notes.
“What are you talking about?
“This isn’t about your father’s secret project. You don’t need to go on and on about how secrets are bad and all that. We were all there and heard what he said.” She then reaches out and rubs my arm up and down.
I fight back the tears by biting down on my lip. She hugs my arm and looks me in the eye.
“But you also have to remember that breaking into your Dad’s lab is going to take things to a whole new level.”
My jaw becomes more set with every word she says.
“That is fine by me. HE took things to a new level with what he did.”
“An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind.” Tyrese comments.
“And it is well known that when someone loses a sense, the
others become more acute. Maybe my father needs to lose something before he realizes what he really has!”
Tyrese sighs. “Hayden, I can see the rage and frustration building inside of you, but what you are considering goes beyond just a prank. I’ve listened to my father tell me about other Black Ops guys who broke the rules. The American military does not like being exposed and it will defend itself against anyone who tries to do otherwise. What you want to do is going to be considered a Federal offence. Punishment won’t just fall on your father but on you and the rest of us as well.”
I step away from the four of them and glare.
“Are you guys serious? After everything I risked to help you guys? YOU brought ME to your team, to your school! You wanted someone to bring the four of you together to achieve a goal. Look at everything we accomplished as a team! Now you are going to start quibbling over legalities and moralities? The five of us totally decimated Duts. Are you getting sheepish all of a sudden and considering backing away? The cops could be at each of your houses right now to charge you with harassment! I thought you guys were committed. I thought we were a team!”
Each of them stares down at their feet. None of them raise their heads to look me in the eye.
The anger that I feel redoubles. My hands start to shake and my body becomes stiff and rigid. “FUCK YOU ALL! I WAS THERE FOR YOU!”
None of them speaks.
My fury becomes white hot and my voice becomes a grated whisper. “Fine. I see the way it is. Go home to your mommies and daddies. I’m going in.”
I take a step away from them and head towards the high-security door. Each step away from the gang makes my legs feel like they weigh thousands of pounds. I let the memories from the auditorium fuel my ambition.
I reach the door and immediately recognize a problem. It requires a keycard, retinal scan and passcode, none of which I actually have. I touch the electrical box behind the assembly and see that it is welded shut. I stare at the door like it is my worst enemy and wiggle my right fist at it. “Guess I’m going to have to deal with you the old-fashioned way…”
I gauge the distance between me and the door, set my feet in the ground, and get ready to strike right above the lock. I control my breath and narrow my focus. Just before I spin around with a back kick, I feel a steady hand on my back. I whip around instead with my fist raised, only to find the gang behind me. Joo-Eun steps forward and looks at the door.
“Hayden, that is a two-inch-thick piece of solid steel. The amount of force required to shatter it would cause the bones in your ankles to splinter to bits, along with most of your shin. I do not think striking it will yield the results you want.”
“I don’t need to shatter it, Guts, just open it!”
“Ghosty-Wosty, do you really think that these doors are like the school’s? The slide bolt in these types is five inches long and two inches thick…” Maya notes.
“So basically half as big as your minimum right?” Ethan teases.
“Shut up, Bartender! My point is that there is no way to break through it. However, there are alternatives to brute strength…”
She reaches into her back pocket and pulls out a tube of lipstick. I stare at her with eyes wide and say, “I don’t think that you can charm your way in. It’s a computer system, Maya.”
Maya mimics my last sentence as she presses down on the cap of the lipstick. Multiple thin, blue beams emanate from inside. They revolve around the security system and then snake their way back inside the tube.
Maya touches another button and aims the tube at the wall. A complete computer system appears as if being broadcast by an LCD screen. It is about twenty inches wide and about three feet tall.
“Ugh, I hate doing this on concrete walls. It always makes a mess of my nails! You owe me a manicure for this, Ghost!”
She then moves her hands like lightning all over the wall. I stare at her with eyes wide. She smiles appreciatively. “I built this little system when I was twelve. I got sick of my mom trying to take my tech away.”
“Then what was that little blue light show?”
“Oh, that is the internal system scan that I designed. I’m going to solve your entry issues.”
“Trust her, Ghost. She’s done that for a lot of guys!” Ethan kids.
“I’m going to kill you when this is over, Bartender.” Maya manipulates the data like a PhD astrophysicist. A few moments later and she taps the button on the lipstick once more. She then walks over to the security system and enters a twelve-digit sequence.
“I’ve programmed this to mimic your father’s entry codes. Watch this!”
A pink beam comes out from the lipstick this time. Maya points it at the card reader and the beam slides inside. Within moments the card reader flashes green. The retinal scanner then pops forward and awaits input. Maya presses the lipstick tube against it and taps the button one last time. Within seconds we hear the click of disengaging and the automatic door slides inward.
“Tadaa!” Maya says as she flourishes a bow, followed by a sexy little curtsy.
I wrap my hand around the smooth, metal handle and wait for the alarm. Nothing happens. With my heart racing, I grab Maya and plant a massive kiss on her lips. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
Maya smiles and webs the fingers of her right hand with mine. “I think you just did.”
I look back at the rest of the guys and sigh while hanging my head. “I’m sorry for what I said before. You guys don’t have to do this to prove anything.”
Tyrese puts his right arm across my shoulders and says, “We know that, Ghost. We want to be here.”
I look at their faces and they all nod in unison.
The smile across my face is so wide that my cheeks start to hurt. We all huddle together to enjoy the moment. Finally, Ethan says, “Now that the mushy stuff is over with, we have a super-mega secret project to expose. God I love the smell of conspiracies in the morning!”
Joo-Eun looks at her watch and says, “It’s only twenty-one forty-five. Technically it is still evening!”
We all laugh and then turn our attention back to the door. We walk on tiptoe as we carefully go through. All of the lights are off and there is no security in sight. The semi-circle reception desk is sitting empty and the four computer screens at the desk are black.
“Maya, can you find out where my Dad’s lab is located? Movies and television tell me that it will be on either the top floor or below ground but you never know, right?”
Maya pulls out her lipstick computer and projects it on the wall once more. She taps a few buttons and pulls up a schematic for the entire building. “This is the official blueprint of the installation. From what I can learn, there is no secret lab here.”
I shake my head vehemently. “No way! I know it’s here! I recognize this area from the stories that asshole has told around the dinner table. We are definitely in the right place. Let’s go in a little deeper. I know we’ll find something.”
We leave the reception area and go into the first room on the right. It is roughly the size of our school gym and is filled with row upon row of cubicles. Each one has a standard office desk, black swivel chair, and a computer.
Maya crinkles her nose and sticks out her tongue. “How inspiring. I hope my mom doesn’t actually work in one of these!”
Ethan steps forward and points to something at the far end of the massive room. “Maya, can you call up the blueprint of this room?”
Maya quickly puts the map up on the wall. Ethan thinks for a second and points to an area.
“Maya, zoom in on this section.”
The map shows a huge ventilation duct. He squints at the back of the room and then returns to the map a few times. I touch him on the shoulder and ask, “What are you thinking, Bartender?”
“I’m wondering why there is supposed to be one duct but I see two.”
I walk over to the two grates and gasp. “It’s this one! This is our ticket in!”
The gang rushes over and looks up and down. They stare at me with puzzled looks stitched across their faces.
“What? You guys don’t see it?”
“Ghost, you know that I normally don’t threaten violence unless I have to, but in this case…” Tyrese says in a frustrated tone.
“They appear exactly the same to me as well, Tyrese.” Joo-Eun comments.
“The grates, yes. But look at the bolts! The ones on the left are a standard Phillips head. But the ones on the right look like the puzzle locks they put on custom car rims!”
Maya steps forward and points her lipstick at the grate. The blue light jumps out from the end but returns just as quickly. Maya stares down at it and grimaces. “That shouldn’t be possible?”
“What?”
“The walls of the shaft are magnetically shielded with enough power to block anything that I try to send down to probe it.”
I stare at the heads of the bolts and check my backpack. I grab a few different sizes and try to wedge them in but it is no use. Joo-Eun pulls out her notebook and sketches something. She then does the same thing with the other nine. She pours over the drawings for a few moments and says, “The holes are geometrically designed so that only the correct puzzle key will open them. Each of them is also a unique pattern using a similar design.”
Tyrese claps me on the back and says, “We’ll find another way in.”
I shake my head and say, “No, this is it. I can feel it.”
Ethan steps forward and says, “Well then, I guess it’s up to me. I’m glad I brought the right key!”
The four of us turn and stare at him like he just told us that he likes country music.
“Step aside, step aside. The bartender is in and drinks are being served!”
