"Ash, it's motion sensitive. It's not recording now. If it picked up motion in the room, it would start recording. But there's a delay. We'll use that to get to the glass."
Ash swallowed. "How long of a delay?"
"About a tenth of a second."
Thirty feet in a tenth of a second. Had she ever gone that fast before?
"You can do it, Ash."
"Here's a thought. You go, you disconnect the camera, and then I go."
Elsbeth craned her neck, looking back to the police outside the entrance. "We're wasting time."
"Okay, okay." Ash swallowed. There was no way to run across half the library that fast. She'd have to clear it in one quick jump. She could push off the concrete column at the end of the stack.
Elsbeth took her hand. "Come on."
No choice – Ash drew in a sharp breath and squeezed Elsbeth's fingers. In the silence of that moment, the robotic heartbeat of the clock ticked coldly away, tick, tick, tick, a countdown to her capture by the cops.
She let the breath ease out through clenched teeth, tick, and remembered the third Wile, tick.
This was it. Her iron will. She released Elsbeth's hand.
Ti–
Ash sprang for the column and planted her feet against it halfway up. Her body folded against the column until her fingertips brushed the vertical surface, then she pushed with everything she had. Tables and chairs flickered under her as she flew head-first to a column along the far wall. She caught the column and pushed to slow herself – but not hard enough. Her face hit the concrete. She crumpled against the column and dropped, like a sparrow flying into a closed window.
–ck.
Flat on her back against the thin carpet, Ash lost track of which way was up, and was still figuring it out when Elsbeth landed beside her.
The recording light on the camera above them came on, casting a soft red reflection on the windows, capturing nothing but an empty room.
Elsbeth gently propped Ash up. "Head first? Really?"
Ash wasn't ready to form words yet. She lifted the black fabric over her left eyebrow and probed, feeling jabs of pain, hoping her face wouldn't bruise.
"Just lie still for a moment." Still crouched low, Elsbeth drew her sword. It caught the dull yellow light from the windows and seemed to glow. With the flat of her hand against the back of the blade, she guided the tip along the seam of the lowest pane of glass. Once she had cut the pane free, she pulled it inside and propped it against the column.
She fit the sword back in its sheath, took Ash's face in her hands, and pulled her close. Are you able do Drake is how love ear?
Ash's mind was still fuzzy. What?
Elsbeth pressed her forehead to hers. Are you able to make it out of here?
Ash blinked. Oh... sure. She crept through the rectangular hole Elsbeth had made, onto the sidewalk. Elsbeth followed, and once outside, she fit the glass neatly back into place, pressing the corners with her palms. It looked good – Ash couldn't tell it had been cut. It might even last until some kid bumped it and it fell over and broke.
The police were around the corner. Ash could hear them breathing. Elsbeth started in the opposite direction, but Ash caught her hand. Ash pointed that direction, and put the V of two fingers to her eyes, saying there's a camera that way – no telepathy needed.
Elsbeth paused.
Ash pointed up. None of the roofs had cameras. Elsbeth nodded and clambered up by clinging to the library's brick facade with her fingertips, soundless and spiderlike.
Ash found holds on the edges of the bricks and climbed. Her little black slippers gripped better than ballet shoes... and she found that could support her weight with just a couple of fingers of one hand. That had to be her painful work with Punchy, finally paying off.
Once on the roof, Ash gazed at the open night sky and drew in a freeing breath. They had done it! Mr. Alexander could tear the library apart now. No prize for him.
She and Elsbeth darted away, and Ash couldn't help but leap a little higher, sail a little farther, and even though her left eye was pounding something fierce, as soon as she was a block away from the campus, she started laughing.
#
Ash woke to the sound of a knock on her bedroom door. She opened one eye. Her bedroom was still dark. She could have rolled over to see the clock, but she didn't want to know.
"Ash?" her dad said. "It's seven fifteen. Why are you still in bed?"
Because she had only fallen asleep at six-thirty. She and Elsbeth had crept through her open window, then she had stashed her wicked black pajamas under her bed, climbed under the covers, and lay awake for an hour, too amped to settle herself down.
She pulled the sheets off her head.
"Time to get up." Dad clicked on the bedroom light, and his eyes grew wide. "What happened to your face?"
"Nice, Dad." He had to mean the bruise. Still, it was a hell of a thing to say to a girl, first thing in the morning. "I got up to go to the bathroom and my foot got caught in the blanket. I tripped and hit my head on the dresser." She'd come up with that lie last night. It was better than saying she'd thrown herself into a concrete pillar.
She sat up and found her reflection in the dresser mirror.
The bruise wasn't just a bruise any more. "Oh, no!" She staggered to the mirror. The dark smudge above her left eyebrow had puffed up, surrounded by swollen red, and the circle of soft skin under her eye had turned a nasty bluish-black.
"Let me see." Dad grabbed her head and turned her face back and forth. "Jesus. That's quite a shiner."
"Be careful!" Ash cried. "Don't manhandle me."
"It looks awful. You've never done that before."
It hurt, too. And she would never be able to cover it. "Dad... can I stay home today?"
"Skip school?" Dad frowned. "Maybe I should take you to the doctor."
"No, no. It's just..." Ash stared at herself in the mirror. "By the end of the day, everyone's going to be calling me Rocky or Champ or something." She shook her head. "Social suicide."
"Nope," Dad said. "You go to the doctor or you go to school. Just tell your friends, 'You should see the other guy.'"
Ash stared at him, icy. "That's not funny, Dad."
Dad grinned. "Mule will love it."
"That's not funny, either."
Dad sighed. "Tell you what. You can go in late. I'll take you on my way to work."
Ash slumped. That meant an hour, no more. "Seriously?"
Dad put his arm around her. "Take what you can get, kiddo."
#
Spencer Marsh had hoped that he'd be able to get some work done this morning, since the press release for the Mule vs. Drake vid wasn’t finished yet. He had arrived at the Falcon's closet three minutes after the main building opened, forty minutes before first period. The campus was still dark this early, and the closet was freezing in the mornings, but it was usually good quiet time.
Not today, though. The principal had an enormous bug up his butt about something, and wouldn't get off the phone. Spencer had tried to tune it out... until certain intriguing words piqued his interest. Words like "target."
"We don't know the status of the target. It's very possible they acquired it last night. I know. I know!"
The principal's voice cranked up an octave. Spencer had never heard the man lose his cool before, but today could be the day.
"It's not the disconnected entrance camera. It's the secondary camera system. All hidden, all medium-wave infrared. Our visitors clearly didn't know it was there. Of course it was my idea. Two subjects. Yes, two! One is... of a certain diminutive stature. We'll run biometrics, but let's just say she's already familiar to me. That's right... a student. No. We don't know the other one."
Spencer stared at the vent, his work forgotten. A hidden camera system! It was a scandal – an egregious violation of student rights. If word of that got out, it would rock the whole school, the whole community–
Wait a minute. A student? Of a certain diminutive stature? That had t
o be–
"Already done. The arrest warrant was issued two hours ago. One of our judges on the east coast. Drug trafficking. The police are on their way to the home. That's right. This should be over very quickly."
Spencer's mind was spinning. A hidden-camera scandal was one thing. A student getting arrested was another. That would be footage of the century. And it had to be happening right now, this morning...
There was no time to waste. After checking the student directory, Spencer grabbed his video camera and raced out of the building. As he unlocked his bicycle, he tried to guess how many blocks it was to Ashley Prue's house, and whether or not he could get there in time.
27
Ash had dressed, combed her hair over her eye, and was about to go downstairs for some breakfast. She stopped to look out her bedroom window. This time of year, the sun rose late, and now, the sky was just beginning to lighten. The streetlights were still on, and the streets shone with recent rain. The view outside just made her want to climb back in bed, and her fatigue clawed at her muscles that much harder.
Downstairs, she sat at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal. The cereal was far too crunchy. Chewing it made her eye hurt.
Elsbeth emerged from her downstairs bedroom, wearing pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. She came straight for Ash and put a hand on her shoulder. "Upstairs. Now." She squeezed.
Ash swallowed. Something was up. They marched down the hall, past the faint smell of aftershave coming from Dad's room, and up the stairs. As they crossed into Ash's bedroom, there was a firm knock on the front door. Ash's bedroom window curtains flickered faintly, red and blue, as if there was a rave going on in the street outside.
Elsbeth ignored it. "Something's gone wrong, Ash."
"Someone's at the door."
Elsbeth gripped Ash's arms. "Listen to me. We need to disappear for a while. Right now."
Ash snapped awake. "What do you mean?"
"Take the page and slip away. I'll find you later."
What was Elsbeth talking about?
Ash heard the front door open. After a pause, her father said, "Yes?"
"Seattle Police," said a gruff man's voice. "We have a warrant for the arrest of Ashley Prue."
A bolt of panic shot through her.
Elsbeth held Ash close. Calm down. Choose your reaction. Elsbeth opened Ash's underwear drawer and withdrew the box that held the switchblade. Take this. Ash took it and opened it. The page, still folded, was nestled under the knife.
Downstairs, Ash's father said, "Is this... is this some kind of joke?"
Elsbeth closed the box and pressed Ash's hands around it. Go where you won't be found. Where you've never been. I'll buy you some time.
Ash couldn't let Elsbeth go. You have to come with me!
Elsbeth pried herself from Ash's arms and threw back the window curtains. Red and blue lights flashed on the ceiling. Elsbeth stepped up, her bare feet on the sill for a moment, then she leapt into the morning gloom.
Ash dropped the box and raced to the window. Elsbeth was gone.
There were four police cars in the street. In the dull, shadowless twilight, their lights colored the trees blue and red. Three officers in dark blue stood nearby, one behind an open driver's side door, talking into a radio receiver.
Ash's heart went into overdrive and felt like it would explode. She couldn't breath. The police! In a panic, she regretted every bad thing she had ever done in her life. She had jaywalked on the way to school. She had pocketed a candy bar – she'd put it back before she left the convenience store, but she was going to steal it.
I broke into my school. And now I'm going to jail.
She had to calm down, or she would pass out. She drew in a breath and held it, counting. Again: in for five, hold for ten, out for twelve. She felt herself settling, almost detaching–
Outside, a streetlight blew out, raining shattered glass to the curb two houses down. All the officers spun toward the sound.
Ash knew it had to be Elsbeth. She searched the street for her, and as she breathed, time did that thing it did, stretching like a rubber band. The last of the streetlight's falling shards glittered red and blue as they sank like dust motes. They struck the asphalt and scattered, spreading, slow as fog, the noise softening and fading. The officers stared, frozen.
Ash saw Elsbeth vaulting over the hood of a police car, her body inverted, her bare feet reaching. As the officers watched the falling glass, she leapt by one of them and snatched the nightstick he had tucked under his arm.
Elsbeth's feet came down briefly on the curb, and she somersaulted over the second police car. In mid-air, she swung the nightstick – a black baton with a cross-handle – down on the car's windshield. The windshield shivered for a microsecond and became a spider's web of white fragments, still clinging to the frame but misshapen, sagging in the middle.
The officer slowly looked down at his elbow, where the nightstick had been.
Elsbeth's fingers touched the spinning red lights on the car's roof, guiding her body's arc. She landed on the car's trunk like a gymnast, knees bending, and flung herself to the third car. As she sailed over it, she smashed its windshield with the nightstick.
The officers were turning... still turning... to the sound of the first windshield.
All except one. Standing at the open driver's door of the fourth police car, an officer – the only woman – stared narrow-eyed at the space behind Elsbeth, as if trying hard to see a ghost.
Barely three feet from the woman, Elsbeth destroyed the windshield of the final car. Elsbeth floated over the car's lights and skidded to a stop on the car's trunk...
... and stared across the street, at the landscaped bushes of a neighboring front yard. Elsbeth froze that way, eyes locked on something in the distance.
What was she staring at?
Half a second went by. The officers turned to the fourth car, and two started toward it. The officer closest to Elsbeth, her hair in a tight bun, her face locked in an expression of angry shock, reared back her own nightstick, took two jerky steps toward Elsbeth, and slammed it on Elsbeth's thigh.
Elsbeth rolled off the car and fell into the street.
Ash choked back a scream.
Whatever spell had been cast onto time shattered, and the sound of broken glass echoed in Ash's ears. The officers swarmed over Elsbeth. They picked her up and pressed her to the trunk of the final police car, and Ash could see that her leg dangled, knee bent, her toes not touching the ground.
She couldn't stand on her own. Not after that baton blow to her leg.
Ninjas aren't strong.
Ash had to do something. She set a foot on the window sill, ready to launch herself at the crowd around Elsbeth.
But she hesitated.
The officers pinned Elsbeth's hands behind her back and locked her wrists in handcuffs. They spoke to her and to each other, their voices overlapping, muddling.
"What the hell just happened?"
"Just stay there, miss."
"I don't know."
"Don't move."
"Jesus, look at the cruisers."
"I saw it, but I don't believe it."
Elsbeth turned her head, her cheek pressed against powder-blue metal, and gazed at Ash. Her eyes held pain, shining in the flashing lights.
Ash had thought that her third Wile test had been in the library, last night. She had been wrong. It was right now.
Her mentor needed her. And she dared not wait for the perfect moment.
Ash leaned out the window, searching for the right place to attack. Throw herself into the crowd of officers? Disable the one remaining police car? Cause a distraction, as Elsbeth had with the streetlight? She couldn't think of anything that wouldn't get her arrested... or dead.
How could she get Elsbeth out of there?
The star. It lay under the bed with her black pajamas. She could throw it from the window, and–
What? Kill somebody?
She couldn't let them take Elsbeth
. There had to be a way... but what?
The electric charge in Ash's body, the energizing need to act, intensified to panic. She didn't know what to do!
Officers on either side of Elsbeth carried her by the shoulders to the first, undamaged police car, and placed her carefully in the back seat. She didn't resist them.
I'm missing my chance, Ash thought. It's all falling apart, right now–
Motion across the street caught her eye. In the growing light of dawn, she saw a boy slinking through the bushes of the neighboring yard. Elsbeth must have seen him, Ash thought. That's why she hesitated. That's why the police caught her.
Who was he? What was he doing?
An authoritative voice came from downstairs. "We're taking your sister-in-law in, Mr. Prue. And you can look over the warrant all you want. Your daughter is coming with us, too."
Ash had no more time to think. She picked up the box that held the switchblade and the page and dropped it into her open backpack. She zipped the pack shut and crept into the hall.
Downstairs, two officers stood at the front door with her father. He was silent, one hand pressed to his forehead. Ash crept into the bathroom.
She stood on the toilet, opened the window, and pushed on the screen until it popped out. She grabbed its edge, worked it back inside and dropped it on the bathroom rug. The view outside was of the narrow side yard and the house next door.
Ash heard the crackling voice of a radio coming from the back yard. "Confirmed damage to three vehicles. Backup is on the way." The police had the house surrounded.
The window was only about ten inches wide. Ash stuffed her backpack through and hung onto it as she climbed out. Pretty tight. She sat on the sill, her legs inside the bathroom and the track pinching her thighs, and slipped the backpack on.
She managed to pull her legs through one at a time and crouch on the sill. She released her grip, and before she could fall, she launched herself with her legs to the roof of the neighboring house.
She crept over the shingles until she could see the street. Elsbeth still sat in the back of the police car, as if locked in a vault.
Two more police cars pulled up. The officers got out and stared at the damage.
Ninja Girl: The Nine Wiles Page 14
