by Katrina Cope
While he was waiting for her to have a good look at the pad, he retreated around the corner and off of the main street. Just as he moved into the dark alley out of sight, a person passed through the middle of the village, moving down the main road.
“Okay, Contender.” Eva’s voice carried through his headset.
“Just give us a minute, Puzzler. We have company.” Jayden whispered over the communicator.
“Copy. I’m here when you’re ready.”
When he thought the person had gone, he double-checked with the mirror, edging it around the corner of the building. Then he stuck his head around the corner for a clearer view. All was clear. Feeling his stomach ease slightly, he entered the street again with Aaron keeping watch.
“Ready, Puzzler?” he whispered into his headset.
“Copy. Now I have several different combinations for you to enter quickly.” She started rattling off the different combinations, and Jayden’s fingers entered them as fast as possible while checking the screen for the correct signal. Each one finished with a red flashing light, indicating they were incorrect.
Finally, after many combinations, the green light appeared. Jayden opened the door and slipped inside, with Aaron following closely behind. They were astounded by the amount of weaponry displayed before them. It was like a gun collector had gone mad. There was every kind of gun and rifle, many more than the two boys had ever seen before. Farther inside, there were grenades, missiles, and boxes of explosives.
“Alpha?” Jayden’s voice was shaky as he spoke.
“Copy, Contender.” Avando’s voice was firm and reassuring over Jayden’s headset.
“Can you see this?” Jayden’s voice rose slightly.
“Yes, I can. Unfortunately, it is as I suspected. I will need you to destroy it,” Avando told him.
“Destroy it?” Jayden queried in surprise.
“Yes. This is why you have been sent in. It is a great danger to our people.”
“Copy,” Jayden said, pulling himself out of his initial disbelief. “How would you like us to do that?”
“Well…” Avando sounded as though he was stroking his chin in thought. “Given all those explosives, the best way would be to blow it up.”
“Really?” The word tumbled out of Jayden’s mouth.
“Yes. There’s too much to do anything else.”
“Copy, Alpha.”
With Aaron’s help, Jayden set to work. They rigged all of the explosives, set all of them to blow in five minutes, then hurried for the main door. Jayden peered out the window near the door, checking to see if all was clear, then went to open it.
“What?” Jayden’s jaw dropped. Mounted on the door was a security pin pad. “Who puts a security lock on a room from the inside?” His voice tightened in panic. “Aaahhh. Puzzler?”
“Copy.” Eva’s voice rang clear in his ear.
“We need a code, and we need it now!” Jayden felt his panic rise.
“Just try the code that you entered last for getting in.” She stated it as though it was apparent.
“What was that?”
“C59835.”
He entered the code, but it didn’t work. “No good, Puzzler,” he said with dread filling his voice.
“Ah, okay.” Eva sounded surprised. “Show me the pad, and I’ll set to work.”
Jayden showed her the pad so she could copy it and get to work on the code. “Be quick, Puzzler. We only have four and a half minutes left to get out in one piece.”
“Copy,” she said.
Jayden’s heart thumped louder in his chest with each second that passed. At four minutes left, Eva spoke. “Try these,” she said, rattling off several different codes.
Jayden entered them quickly, still with no success. He worried the inside of his lip. “No good. Give us some more.” His voice tightened.
“Copy.” She silently went to work again. When three and a half minutes were left, her voice came over the headset again. “Right. Try these.” She ran through several more codes, again with no success.
“We need more, quickly.” Jayden wiped his brow with his sleeve. The sweat from the stress was starting to run down his face. He wiped it away and looked at Aaron anxiously, only to see his emotions mirrored in Aaron’s face. To make matters worse, the security alarm had gone off from not having the correct code put into the system before the required time. Terror crossed both boys’ faces at the same instant. “Now! We need the code, now!” He was yelling both from panic and the need to be heard over the alarm.
A few seconds later, Eva’s voice sounded over the headset. “Right, try these.” She called out a few more. Finally, one worked. The light turned green, and the alarm stopped with only two and a half minutes remaining to get far away from the building and out of harm’s way.
They opened the door to see soldiers running in their direction. Jayden saw a look of dread cross Aaron’s face as they glanced at each other. The only choice they had was to make a dash for it in full view of the soldiers. Voices yelled at them, followed by shooting.
Bullets hit the building behind them as they darted around the building’s side.
Before reaching the corner that would shield them from the bullets, Jayden felt himself falling. The ground rose rapidly, and the jolt of the impact jarred his body. He pulled his thoughts together and moved to get to his feet. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get up. He crawled forward in their original direction, glancing quickly over his shoulder to check on Aaron. He was also crawling along the ground. Great, he thought sarcastically, that’s not going to help us get out of here quickly.
He raised his rifle and started shooting back at the soldiers, slowing their advancement.
Aaron and Jayden continued to crawl. Their progress was painstakingly slow, and it frustrated Jayden more when he spotted them following them. He shot back at their pursuers, slowing them down. Then he continued crawling toward their exit. Jayden glanced at his watch. To his horror, he saw there were only thirty seconds left.
Avando’s voice came over the headset. “Contender! You really need to hurry. You’re still in the danger zone.”
Jayden didn’t respond but continued moving as fast as he could, with Aaron in close pursuit.
Fifteen seconds. “Come on, Contender!” Avando called over the headset.
They were already going as fast as they could, so all that they could do was to continue at that speed. Ten seconds… five… Then it happened. There was one brilliant flash accompanied by a tremendous whoosh, which flooded over them.
“Contender?” Avando spoke over the communicator. “Contender?” Urgency pierced his voice. “Come in, Contender! Contender?”
- Chapter Two -
Brendan Turns Schizophrenic
It was the beginning of a new school year for Liam at Ernest State College, the government school for the gifted. The year before, he managed to excel at everything except Tae Kwon Do, which he only scraped through with a pass. He was glad that even though the school had a proud reputation for the sport, students weren’t removed for lack of excellence in that particular area. Liam assumed that the school had just come to the conclusion that often the gifted were left with a severe lack of coordination, and he was right. So as long as they could see the students trying, they did not cancel their scholarships due to incompetence in Tae Kwon Do.
Liam was relieved. He adored the school and was proud to have been chosen for a scholarship. It was the only way to be accepted there.
He sat in his least favorite class, working on his two left feet. He had made it to the next level in one year. What was really annoying him was that his little sister Gemma had only been at the school for a month, and she was already in the same Tae Kwon Do class. She had taken to the sport as though she had been practicing in secret her whole life.
Thinking about that made him look in her direction. There she was, already perfecting the kicks and punches better than he could. It annoyed him so much that it made him feel
sick. Her long dark-brown hair lay in a plait down her back, and she looked like a natural. It wasn’t that he didn’t like her—in fact, he was very fond of her. It just annoyed him that she was good at so many things.
I must be the only one in my family who isn’t good at anything physical, he thought to himself. Even his good friends Hayley and Dryden had been moved up to the next level, not to mention their friend Brendan, who was accelerating through the Tae Kwon Do levels at a ridiculous pace. Brendan was progressing so rapidly that it was almost as though he had done it before.
When class finished, Gemma went over to Liam as he was toweling himself down and getting the moisture out of his hair. “Great lesson, huh, bro?”
“Yeah. Great.” Sarcasm oozed from his voice. “If you don’t have two left feet.”
“You should practice more. Then you might discover you actually have a right foot like the rest of us,” she teased. Her pale-blue eyes shone with mischief.
“Yeah, well. We can’t all be great at everything like you,” he snapped back, jealousy causing his ears to warm. He threw a towel over his shoulder, ready to leave.
Gemma didn’t seem upset by his harshness. “You know you’re better at some things than me,” she said, sounding encouraging and placing a comforting hand on his sweaty shoulder. “I’ll see you later.” She walked out the door to get ready for her next lesson, and Liam headed for the shower.
The next lesson was science with Professor Henry Klarance, in the science building, room A. Even though the room had technically been part of the school for many years, the room and building were completely new, because only six months ago the building had been blown up. To this day, they hadn’t informed Ernest State who was responsible.
They still hadn’t found the culprit, but nothing else had happened to the school since. The school had written the attack off as a warning to stay away, as it had occurred on the same day that some senior students from the school had interfered in a terrorist attack on a train station. However, even with the warning, Liam was pretty sure that the students would interfere again if the opportunity arrived, as they’d managed to save hundreds of lives that day.
He entered the lab before class to find Professor Klarance standing up front with the back of his thin silhouette facing toward the classroom. He was drawing diagrams and pictures on the whiteboard in preparation for the day’s class. The professor looked up, saw Liam enter, and acknowledged him with a nod. His ears were quite large, and the movement reminded Liam of Dumbo, the flying baby elephant from the stories of his childhood. Such an observation would typically cause Liam to smile, yet the annoyance from his last lesson still burned deep.
He returned the gesture to be polite to his family group’s teacher then turned to find his friends Hayley, Dryden, and Brendan already there with their equipment out, ready to start. He trudged over to sit with them.
Seeing his grumpy face, Hayley said, “So, another good Tae Kwon Do lesson?” She had her curly red hair pulled back from her face into a ponytail.
“Ha ha. Always one to make a wisecrack,” he snapped.
She grinned at him, pushing her freckly cheeks out wide. “So it went well, did it?”
“Oh, it was all right,” he said, cheering up a little. “It just annoys me to see Gemma getting better than me like you two did, and she’s only been doing it a little while.”
“Cheer up, genius!” Hayley said, her voice filled with optimism. “You’ll get better… one day.”
“Gee, thanks,” he retorted as Dryden and Brendan laughed, although he had to finish with a smile. Hayley had that knack.
He looked at all the equipment for the lesson lying on the bench. There were different-sized balloons, masking tape, fishing line, drinking straws, a long tape measure, and large textbooks. He placed his pad of paper and pencil on the bench alongside his friends’.
“So what are we working on today?” Liam asked the group while taking in the odd assortment.
“Today, we are working on something fun,” Dryden said.
“What?” Liam asked.
“Air power for transportation,” Dryden said, almost standing.
“Meaning?” Liam was puzzled by why Dryden was so enthusiastic.
“Using the force of the air to propel a vehicle,” Hayley said.
“Oh.” Liam looked up to where Professor Klarance was still writing on the whiteboard and saw a diagram involving all of the equipment on the bench and including the chairs. He suddenly understood why chairs were lying everywhere, when usually the lab was clear.
Professor Klarance put down his whiteboard marker and turned to address the students. “Morning, students.” Without waiting for a response, he continued, “For those of you who don’t already know, today, we are working on air power and its ability to move things in the form of transportation. We will be working with balloons as the vehicle, but instead of having them fly all over the room, we will be flying them along the fishing line. You’ll find all of the instructions on the board behind me. It is a fairly straightforward experiment, but if you happen to need any help, let me know.” The professor moved in a way that confirmed that the conversation was over.
Brendan looked at the diagram and started setting up the chairs, dividing the heavy textbooks and placing them evenly on each chair. He seemed distracted, working quietly and efficiently and without saying a word.
“What’s up with you today, Brendan?” Hayley’s curiosity always got the better of her. “You seem quieter than normal.”
“Oh. Do I?” Brendan’s pale face held an expression of thought.
“Ah, yeah,” Liam said. “You didn’t even give me any advice on how to improve my Tae Kwon Do.”
“Oh, I thought Hayley had that one pretty well covered. I guess I’m just worried about all the work that we have coming up. We have so many assignments due already.”
Dryden worked in the background, organizing the fishing-line cables from chair to chair and making sure they were taut. He left one end in a bow that could easily be untied and refastened.
“Don’t worry about it,” Liam reassured Brendan. “We can work on several of them together to help each other out a little.”
“Oh. Yeah.” He appeared a little surprised. “That’s right. Of course we can.”
Liam’s brow furrowed in confusion. He was sure Brendan knew this. Liam nodded as he blew up a balloon. He felt his face flush from lack of oxygen. Hayley taped a straw straight up and down its side.
“Well, yeah,” Hayley said, sounding astonished and casting a strange look at Brendan. “We always do.”
Once they secured the straw to the balloon, they followed the instructions and let it down. Then they did the same to a couple of other balloons for backups.
Brendan seemed to notice Hayley’s frustration. “I know, I know. I guess I am just having pre-jitters.”
“Well, don’t be stupid. Work with us,” Dryden said. “Then you can stop stressing.”
When all the balloons had straws attached, Hayley untied one end of the fishing wire then threaded the fishing line through the straw on a balloon. Dryden then retied the fishing line and made sure it was taut again.
Liam refilled the balloon, secured the end with his fingers, and held it down on one end of the fishing line with the open side of the balloon closest to the chair.
Once ready, he let it go, and the balloon moved along the line for quite some distance.
They completed the experiment several times with different-sized balloons, documenting the distances and variables until the lesson was finished.
“I’m going to get some morning tea. I’m famished.” Liam turned to the others. “Anyone else coming?”
“Count me in,” Dryden said, his face beaming at the mention of food.
“Yep, me too.” Hayley turned to head in the direction of the dining room.
“Um. I’ve got to go and work on something.” Brendan started to head in the opposite direction.
“What
?” Hayley didn’t hide her surprise. “Do you ever eat?”
A stunned look crossed Brendan’s face. “Well, yeah. Sure.” He sounded hesitant.
“When?” She took an intimidating step toward him.
“All the time.” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Hmm. Just not with us.” She lifted her lightly freckled nose in distaste.
Brendan looked uncomfortable and ran his hand through his hair. “Sorry. I will shortly. I promise.”
“We’ll see,” she snapped, spinning to face the other direction then joining Liam and Dryden as they headed toward the dining room.
When they were out of earshot, Dryden gazed at her. “What’s your problem with him?”
“What do you mean?” she asked. Her eyes looked greener as they filled with innocence. “I like him.”
Both Dryden and Liam gave her an unconvinced look and asked together, “Really?”
They had reached the dining room and started choosing from an assortment of delicious-looking muffins.
“Of course.” She looked confused.
“Then why are you so snappy with him?” Dryden studied her as they made their way toward one of the empty dining tables, pulled out a plastic-topped chair each, and sat down.
“Haven’t you ever noticed how strange he can be sometimes?” she asked while looking at them curiously.
“How could we miss it when you point it out all the time?” Dryden fiddled with his muffin paper. “But aren’t we all a little strange sometimes? Like, you have your days.” He cast her a cheeky glance.
“Ooooo. It’s like that, is it?” she snapped and glared at him, her eyes flashing fire. She chomped her muffin.
Liam laughed. “That got your back up, didn’t it?”
She glared at him, giving him a disapproving female look. “I was joking, genius!” She laughed heartily. “I know everyone is a little strange in their own way, but he just has moments that are totally out of character. Seriously, though, haven’t you noticed?”
“Yeah, sometimes.” Liam nodded. “But it hasn’t worried me.”
