by R. M. Olson
“I missed you, Mama,” she whispered.
“I missed you too. More than I can say,” Ysbel whispered back, giving her a brief squeeze. “Now. You go and show that silly Uncle Lev how to get into the guards’ office. OK?”
“OK,” Olya whispered. She turned slowly, as if she didn’t want to let Ysbel out of her sight. Then, she walked briskly back to Lev. “Alright, come on. I’ll show you what we’re doing,” she said, and marched off down the hall.
He glanced back at Ysbel, whose face had gone hard once more. She ran a finger meaningfully across her throat. Lev sighed and nodded, then followed the eight-year-old into the corridor.
There was nothing about this situation he liked.
Olya moved quickly, and he had to walk fast to keep up with her. She glanced behind her every so often, giving him exasperated looks every time he fell too far behind.
He found himself speeding up just to avoid her annoyed glares.
They walked left from the library, around a corner, down a long hallway, and around another corner. She stopped abruptly, and he almost ran into her. He was rewarded with another glare.
“We have to get through that door,” she whispered. He nodded, and activated the lock pick. He held it up, waited until the lock clicked, and then gently pushed open the door.
“Alright,” he whispered. “I don’t know where I’m going after this. Your Mamochka said you knew where the cameras were, and how to get around them. So I’m going to have to follow you. But—” he gave her a wry look. “Your mama said she would take my head off with her bare hands if you got hurt. So please try not to get hurt.”
She gave him a speculative glance. Finally, she gestured for him to come closer. He knelt beside her, and she whispered, “You have to stay right behind me, OK? I’ll try to keep you safe, but I can’t if you’re going to be stupid.” She paused. “And, try to be careful. Because you told me about black holes yesterday, and you didn’t have time to finish.”
“I will,” he said gravely.
She gave a decisive nod, and gestured him to his feet.
“Follow me,” she whispered.
She was surprisingly light on her feet, for a kid. She moved quickly and quietly, and didn’t hesitate over her steps. Lev was hard-pressed to keep up with her.
One step forward. A pause. A quick dash to a door frame. Wait. One step to the left. Another. A third. A pause, and then another dash ahead.
He would have liked to study the setup as they went, but he was too occupied trying to put his feet down where Olya had put hers to get a good look at the cameras.
He’d just have to trust her, and hope she wouldn’t kill them both. Although, he thought wryly, if she were to only hurt herself, she’d end up killing both of them anyways.
At last they made it to the door of the guards’ room, and she gestured impatiently at the door.
“Quick,” she hissed. “You have about three seconds.”
He fumbled with his com, heard the lock click, and shoved the door open. They tumbled inside, and he pushed it closed behind them, and they both leaned against the door, panting. Finally, Olya turned to look at him. She had a supremely self-satisfied look on her face.
“I told you I could do it.”
“You did,” he said, with a slight smile.
The kid didn’t lack self-confidence, at any rate.
Then again, he’d been told the same thing.
He stood cautiously, brushing himself off, and glanced around the office. The desk itself was fairly clean, but there was a mug and a pair of handcuffs, a couple papers, and some old information chips of some sort scattered around on the top of it. He dropped Masha’s chip on the desk, and picked up the others gingerly. Presumably if they’d been left sitting on the desk they weren’t coded with heavy security, but you couldn’t be too careful.
“Tae,” he whispered into his com. “We’re in. How comfortable are you on the security blockers on our coms?”
“You shouldn’t set off any alarms,” Tae whispered back. “I programmed a write-around spoof into the coms before we came, so it should fool any security protocol permanently if it’s not actively tracked, and temporarily if it is.”
“Thanks.” He slotted one of the chips into his com and tapped the holoscreen on. It flipped up, glowing a faint green, and he scrolled quickly through the information.
Nothing too important here, just some prisoner schedules.
The next chip contained meal schedules, the third a schedule of pick-up and drop-off of supplies.
That would have come in handy earlier.
Now, though, he was looking for something else.
He tried Tae’s lock-pick on the desk drawers, and they clicked open.
A few more chips, but not what he was looking for.
He straightened and glanced around. They were running short on time. He had maybe fifteen minutes, and it would take him some time to get the files open and flip through them. Yes, he had a photographic memory, but he had to actually look at the documents first.
Behind the desk was a small cabinet. He opened it. It contained, among other things, a handful of chips, but when he slid each of them into his com, none of them were the guard schedule or the grounds map.
He swore quietly.
“My Mamochka said you shouldn’t say words like that.”
Lev jumped. He’d almost forgotten about the girl.
“What are you looking for?”
He sighed. “Olya. I’m sorry. I don’t have time to talk right now. Could you please wait quietly? I’ll be done soon.”
“OK. But can you tell me what you’re looking for first?”
“Olya—”
“I’m very good at looking for things. Mamochka said so.”
He sighed and bent down to her level, since apparently it was the only thing that would shut her up. “Olya. I’m looking for a chip that would have the information about guards schedules. It should also contain a compound map, and some information about the wall cannons and the towers. OK?”
She nodded cheerfully. “OK.”
He stood and went back to his search, shaking his head.
Ten minutes, maybe.
If he didn’t find it, he’d have to come back again tomorrow night, and they were already low on time. They couldn’t plan the time of the riot without the schedules, and if they didn’t get that—
“Is this what you’re looking for?”
He jumped again. The damn kid was quieter than he’d expected.
She was holding out a chip. He frowned.
“Where did you get that?”
“Over there.” She pointed upwards, and he saw a small door he hadn’t noticed, swinging open on its hinges.
“What—”
“You said you were looking for a chip with the guards’ schedules and the map of the compound,” she said patiently. “So it had to be somewhere where the guards could get it. And since the guards don’t have chip slots in their coms, they’d probably have to scan it in as they walked past, so it wouldn’t be in the desk, obviously. And the door over there goes out to the grounds, so I thought it must be in one of those cupboards up there.” She shrugged, as if it was self-evident.
He stared at her.
He could, he supposed, have figured that out himself. Should have, probably.
“Was I right?” she asked.
He slipped the chip into the com. An overview of a long line of figures and diagrams popped up on his holoscreen.
He looked back at Olya and raised his eyebrows.
“Good job,” he said. “I think you found it.”
“Are you going to steal it?”
“No. They’ll notice. We need it back exactly where you found it.”
“I’ll put it back,” she said. “I know exactly where it goes. I was watching when I took it.”
And, he realized, she probably had been.
He turned back to the screen, scanning quickly through the pages. There were three-hundred-some-odd, and he
scrolled through them as rapidly as he dared.
Finally, when he was certain he’d be able to recall the information he needed, he pulled the chip back out and handed it to Olya.
“Here,” he whispered. “Put it back, and then let’s go.”
She had just closed the cupboard and was turning around when he heard the faint ‘click’ of a lock from the other side of the room.
He grabbed Olya by the arm, panic jolting through him, and pulled her down beside him, ducking behind the desk.
The door swung open, and the ancient artificial lights flickered stubbornly to life.
Lev held his breath, hoping the whining buzz of the overhead light would be enough to hide the sound of their breathing.
There were unhurried footsteps on the hard floor. They crossed over to the desk and stopped.
Lev could see the guard’s boots through the thin legs of the desk. The bulk of it concealed them for the moment, but if the guard bent over or took one more step—
The guard yawned, and there was the sound of someone groping around on the desk.
Had he put everything back where he found it? He was fairly certain he had … He glanced down. Olya was watching him with large, slightly frightened eyes. He tried to give her a reassuring smile, but he wasn’t sure it worked.
The guard mumbled a curse, and the desk creaked as he heaved himself up to sit on top of it.
Lev clenched his teeth.
If he looked behind him, to where he and Olya were crouched behind the desk, he’d kill them.
The guard yawned again, then crossed one leg over the other and leaned back. Lev could see the back of his head now, his fingers curled loosely around the edge of the desk, his weigh back on his hands, and as he leaned back, the light caught on a familiar silhouette.
Lev cursed silently.
It was Zhurov. Of course it was Zhurov.
Another glance at Olya told him she’d figured out the same thing he just had.
They were going to die.
“Damn,” the guard muttered to himself, “plaguing night shifts. I must have left it in the damn drawer.”
The guard shifted his weight on the desk, and Lev’s heart jumped into his throat. He clenched his teeth.
He could get Olya out. The door to the compound was still locked, but if he threw himself forward and dragged her along, he could get it unlocked and shove her through before the guard was able to grab him.
He’d be beaten to death, of course. Not a proposition he really wanted to think about. But he’d get the kid out.
Looking down at her, he realized that even without Ysbel’s threats, he’d have done it.
He caught the girl’s eye and mouthed silently, I’m going to push you out the door. When you get out, run as fast as you can. Don’t wait for me.
She frowned at him.
The guard’s weight was on the edge of the desk now, heavy boots just above the floor.
She shook her head, her face set in determination. Then she grabbed his arm and lifted it to the desk drawer.
He was too surprised to resist.
The lock clicked softly as it touched his com, the sound hidden by the noise of the guard straighten his uniform.
Olya! No! He mouthed.
She ignored him and slid the drawer open a crack, then reached her small hand into it.
Lev sat frozen, not daring to move.
He could still grab her, get her out the door—
She pulled her hand back, fist clenched tightly.
The guard slid off the desk, and Olya flung her handful of chips. They scattered across the floor at Zhurov’s feet, as if he’d knocked them off as he stood, and he swore, bending down.
“Damn warden, leaving her damn chips everywhere,” he grumbled.
Olya grabbed Lev’s sleeve and tugged him towards the door. He rose cautiously into a crouch and followed her.
They were in full view of the guard now, but his head was down, his meaty hands scrabbling on the rough floor for the tiny chips.
Lev touched his com to the door handle.
It clicked, and for half a second Zhurov shifted, as if he was going to look up. Lev put his hands on Olya’s shoulders, ready to shove her through and slam the door behind her.
The guard turned back to the chips.
He gestured at Olya, and she slipped through the door. He followed, hardly daring to breathe. He pulled the door silently closed behind them, thanking the Lady, the Consort, all the Saints, and whoever it was who kept the hinges greased.
Then he followed Olya in a silent sprint down the corridor.
They didn’t stop running until they reached the library and had closed the door behind them.
He looked at the girl.
She was looking at him.
They stared at each other for a moment. Then they burst into silent peals of laughter, bending over and clutching their stomachs. Finally, Lev sank down against the wall, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.
“You’re pretty smart, Olya,” he whispered.
She smiled, in that self-satisfied way of hers. “Well, you’re probably pretty smart too,” she conceded. “But that was a pretty dumb idea to throw me out of the door and stay inside. You probably would have gotten beaten up.”
“I probably would have,” he said gravely. His muscles still felt weak at the thought of what would have happened to him—worse, what would have happened to Olya if he hadn’t gotten her out in time. “But I suspect your mama would have done worse if I’d come back without you.”
“You wouldn’t have left without me,” she said, her voice confident. “I know you wouldn’t have. That’s why I went with you. That’s what I told Mamochka, and Mama.”
He just looked at her for a moment.
“How did you know I wouldn’t leave you?” he asked at last, quietly.
She shrugged. “Because when I asked you those questions about the black hole, you didn’t tell me to be quiet. You listened to me. And you bend down when you talk to me. I think it’s silly, but people who don’t care about kids don’t do that.”
“Ah.” He had to swallow hard at the strange lump in his throat. “Well. I’m glad we didn’t have to find out who would have been beat up. Shall we go back to your mama and Mamochka now?”
She cocked her head to one side, studying him. “OK. We can go back,” she said finally. “But you have to tell them that I was the one who found the chip.”
“I will,” he said, and despite everything that had happened that night, he found he was smiling.
He was still smiling after Olya and Ysbel had made their tearful goodbyes and they’d gotten Olya back through the partition to Tanya, after they’d finished their brief conference and made their way back to their cells.
“Thank you,” said Ysbel, when the cell door had clicked shut behind them. “For bringing me back my daughter.”
He smiled a little wider. “Ysbel, you have an extraordinary daughter,” he said. “I don’t think I’d have gotten back here without her, to be honest.”
Ysbel smiled back, and for a moment, just a moment, he thought that they understood each other perfectly.
It took him almost an hour to scan through the documents in his memory, trying to parse out the information that they needed. Then he hit his com.
“Tae, Masha, Jez. Are you there?”
Three “yes”’s of varying degrees of exhaustion, worry, and cockiness came back through the com.
“Listen. We’re going to want to stage this in the morning, right around the time they let the first shift out for fresh air. The second shift will just be starting breakfast. On our side, Radic is going to get the riot started. He said at this point, it’s only a matter of getting people in the same room at the same time. What’s the set up for your sector?”
“We’ll pass the weapons into the cells tomorrow night, in between the last two prisoner counts. Our people will take two each, and leave the weapons for your sector under the dish sink, like we dis
cussed.”
“And I’ll start a fight,” said Jez. “I’m good at starting fights.” There was a dangerous excitement in her voice he hadn’t heard there in a long time. He hadn’t realized how much he missed it. He smiled to himself.
“Yes, Jez. Thank you. We’re all aware of that.”
“Once the guards step in to rescue her, we start taking hostages. You’ll need to have your hostages by that point as well, and get the guards to open the external locks to the courtyard. We’ll get the locks between the different compounds open, and that should make the brawl even bigger. Ivan will direct the hostages back to where the wall guns won’t reach us, and then we’re home free.”
“How many guards on the floor tomorrow morning?” asked Masha. Lev closed his eyes for a moment, picturing the document.
“We’re aiming for right at the shift change. So—” he paused, calculating the numbers in his head. “Depending on timing, there will be roughly fifty guards per sector. Once trouble starts, they’ll send in everyone they have, which will end up at closer to one hundred, maybe one twenty, again, depending on timing. It will be vital to get the first fifty guards in each sector locked down as soon as possible.”
“Good,” said Masha. “Ysbel. The prisoners know how to use the weapons?”
“As much as they can be,” she grumbled.
“Tanya?”
“I will echo my wife. Most of these people are intellectual political prisoners. Most of them are not used to weapons. Except, of course, the ones who want to kill Jez, and the ones who, thanks to Lev, want to kill each other.” She paused. “Are the rest of you aware, by the way, of what Jez did to Vlatka?”
“Do we want to know?” asked Tae.
“Maybe not,” conceded Tanya.
Lev paused for a moment, thinking. Was there anything he was missing?
There probably was, honestly—he hadn’t gotten a full night’s sleep in two weeks. But hopefully it wasn’t anything too important.
There were a few moments of silence. Finally Masha spoke.
“This is going to be dangerous. There are more unknowns than I like in a job like this.” She paused. “But if I were to pick a crew, this is the crew I’d pick. If anyone can pull this off—”
“You did pick us,” Jez pointed out helpfully.
