Gideon opened the box and put the lens in his eye. Blinking a few times, he nodded at Evren. “It works fine,” Gideon said. He pulled a safety shield over his eyes.
“We’ll be monitoring you from here. Everything you say or do, we’ll be able to hear and see on our screen,” Evren said. “If by chance you come upon a problem, we’ll be able to diagnose the best possible way to help you.”
Gideon nodded and turned to Suki, Bates, and Tern. “Are you three clear on our plan?” Gideon asked.
They all nodded. Bates seemed to be having mixed reactions toward Gideon. He scowled a lot but at the same time followed Gideon’s orders without questioning him.
Lena wondered what the plan was. Gideon had refused to let any Zoon, including her, in on what they were going to do. He refused to let Suki and Bates turn on their lenses until they were ready to leave. He also made sure they were always in the same room together.
Gideon crouched down on his glider. “Are you ready?”
Suki crouched and lowered her shield. Turning off the lights on her arm and glider, she said, “After you, Captain.”
Lena watched as they flew to the exit, her heart skipped a beat as Gideon flew out of sight. The Zoons cheered and hollered as they watched the group leave the building. They then formed a circle around Evren who projected a large hologram of the footage from their lenses. There was a screen for each team member’s lens. Gideon’s was blank, he hadn’t turned his on yet.
The roads they flew on were dark. Shadows bounced from the few lights that lit the streets. They were flying into a richer part of town, towards the shield that covered The Port. Suki took the lead and flew just below the skyline with the group close behind. She pointed to a tall building ahead. It was the tallest on the street and had a sign near the top that read “D-Tower.” Lena wondered what the D stood for but didn’t ask. The building was a simple rectangle that reached high into the sky. The surfaces were flat and boring.
“The basement houses one of the Priestess’ vaults,” Evren explained to Lena as if reading her mind. “She keeps stuff all over Mir, none of it in the same place. She thinks the citizens of Mir don’t know where she keeps her valuables. But, of course, the Zoons know.”
Lena saw Gideon’s screen activate as he blinked on his lens. They were nearing the tower and she could see everything he was seeing.
“Evren, can you show us where the guards are situated inside the building?” Gideon asked.
Evren cleared his throat and typed in a command. A new image popped up next to the four screens. It showed a see-through image of the building’s blueprints. Lena could see the outline of where walls and floors should have been. There were red dots where people were walking the corridors or sitting in offices. There were a couple dozen people in all.
“I’ll send the image to your lens,” Evren said. “Don’t go to the front. Go around to the back. There are fewer guards there.”
“Yes, I can see that. I hate having you constantly in my ear. Plus, I don’t want anyone to be able to intercept our communication. I’m turning you off,” Gideon said. Gideon turned off his microphone and motioned to Bates and Suki to do the same. Now Lena was frustrated. She could only see what they were doing and not hear them.
They moved to an alley adjacent to the side of the building. Suki and Gideon jumped off their gliders and secured them on the magnets attached to the back of their jackets. Sliding along the outside wall of the building they peeked around the corner to look at the back entrance. Gideon pointed to the guard, then signaled for Tern to go position himself on the other side of the building.
From Tern’s screen, Lena saw that he was flying over the building to reach the other side. She looked at Suki’s screen. Gideon signaled to Suki and she took something out of the bag she’d been carrying over her shoulder. It was an outfit. Lena raised her eyebrows at Evren who shrugged his shoulders. Through Gideon’s screen, they watched Suki put a blazer and slacks over her riding clothes. She handed her glider to Gideon and rounded the corner.
Lena looked at Suki’s screen. Suki approached the guard. He looked shocked to see someone wanting to enter through the back part of the building. He held his rifle to his chest and motioned her away. Lena wished she could hear what they were saying. She saw Suki’s finger point to the door and then both hands come together in a pleading gesture. The guard scowled and took a threatening step towards her. Behind the guard, Lena could see Tern sneak past him, use a device to open the door, and then creep inside the building. They watched as the guard ordered Suki away.
Evren gripped Lena’s arm, then relaxed it when Tern made it into the building without incident. “I was sure the guard would hear that,” Evren said.
“Me, too. How did he get the door open?” Lena asked.
“Oh, that was just a little something I made to sneak into locked places.”
On Gideon’s screen, Suki rounded the corner to where he waited for her. Handing Suki her glider, Gideon grabbed his glider off his back. They mounted and flew up several stories of the building. Bates went ahead and met them there. They leaned into the building’s shadows and waited. A window opened and Tern pulled them into a room and led them into a stairwell.
Flying downward, they traveled level after level toward the basement of the facility, avoiding the red blinking lights as they went. When they arrived, Suki peeked around the corner of the stairwell into the security room where the vault entrance was located. Guards stood on each side of the vault door, another sat at a desk several feet in front.
The door they guarded looked impenetrable. Lena saw from the blueprint that a forcefield encased the walls. Gideon motioned to Suki. From his screen, Lena watched as Suki leaned her glider against the wall, smiled, and grabbed a bottle out of her satchel. She winked and rounded the corner.
Suki’s screen tilted as if she were stumbling. They saw her hand on the wall and then the bottle obscured part of the screen as she took a drink. The guard at the security desk stood. Walking to her he grabbed the bottle from her hand. She fell into him, the jacket of his uniform filling the screen. The jacket pulled away as the guard grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the seat behind his desk. She sat and pulled another bottle appeared in her hand. Lena let out a snort of amusement.
“I wonder what else she has in that satchel of hers,” Evren said, chuckling.
The guard yanked the bottle from her hand and confiscated her satchel. The guards at the vault grinned at each other. Suki’s screen tilted again, this time toward the vault. The two guards smiled at Suki. The screen then tilted up until Suki’s feet were flying over the top of it. The view whirred until Suki righted herself, the image only at the height of the guards’ knees.
The screen rocked back and forth and Lena saw Suki’s hands peeking at the bottom of the screen as she scrambled forward towards the vault. “This is making me nauseous,” Evren muttered, turning his face away from the screen. Lena ignored him. The two vault guards now looked at her in interest while the original guard yelled at her to get up.
The screen tilted up to the faces of the two guards at the vault. Suki placed her hand on the door and used it and the two guards to steady herself as she stood. As soon as she touched the door, lights flashed and every red dot on the blueprints started moving towards the vault.
Chapter Twenty
Now Lena was gripping Evren’s arm. Suki’s screen showed the desk guard put his hands to his ears then removing one to motion to the vault guards to take Suki away.
Taking Suki by the arms, they pulled her up and dragged her through a door on the opposite side of the room. Lena watched Suki’s feed as they pulled her up several flights of stairs and pushed her out the front entrance to the building. Suki fell to the ground. Lena could see the guards shaking their heads before closing the doors behind them. The feed turned and revealed the two front entrance guards who motioned for her to leave. Lena saw the footage tilt side to side as Suki stood and continued her drunken charade until she had turned the
building’s corner. Then Lena saw her hands brush off her pants and Lena could tell she was now walking steadily.
From Gideon’s screen, Lena saw Gideon peaked around the corner. The alarms were still blaring. Lena watched Gideon’s hands move to open his insignia. His insignia screen showed an image of the vaults controls.
Lena laughed. “Suki planted a camera in the room,” Lena said to no one in particular. Evren typed furiously into the hologram and a sunscreen opened revealing footage from the camera’s Suki had planted around the room. Lena saw the red dot’s moving down the stairway where Gideon, Tern and Bates were hiding. From Gideon’s screen she saw Bates pointing up. Tern looked up the stairs and readied himself for a fight.
Gideon screen moved back to the his insignia where her could see the guard enter the codes to turn off the alarm and then reset them. One of the screens Suki had planted showed the guards talk into a com device and all the red dots returned to their original locations. Gideon’s hand motioned for Bates to make himself comfortable. Tern already stood with ease against the stairwell wall.
From the sub-screen Lena watched the vault guards responsible for removing Suki, return to the security room the same way they had left. They were laughing. As they walked past the desk, one of the guards motioned to the bottle Suki had left. The desk guard grabbed it and took a swig.
From Bates screen Lena saw Gideon smile. Lena realized it must have been part of the plan.
Lena continued watching the sub-screen. The guard held out the bottle offering the others a drink. The vault guards readily accepted. They took turns taking a drink before putting it back on the desk and standing back at attention against the vault.
A shot of Bates’ annoyed face glared at them through Gideon’s screen. Lena almost thought it was directed towards her, but then Gideon held up his hand signaling patience.
Lena turned back to watch the guards on the sub-screen. The desk guard swayed and slumped forward onto the desk, unconscious. The other two vault guards slumped to the ground then fell over sideways. All three appeared unconscious.
Bates’ screen showed Gideon motion to Tern who slipped into the shadows.
Lena watched Tern’s screen as he raised his hand to the vault’s control panel and deactivated the security system, then used the unlocking device to open the vault’s door. It was huge. It looked like a museum. Light’s turned on a section at a time until the whole room lit up. There were hundreds of items in the room. Each under its own protective force field. Gideon and Bates entered the security room. Gideon hopped on his glider. He motioned to Bates who nodded. Lena really wished she could hear them.
Gideon and Bates hopped on their gliders. The two of them each took a side of the room. Starting at the front they flew at top speed as they looked for the stone. Manuscripts, golden statues, things that looked like old technology, and things Lena had never seen before flashed by on the screen.
There were paintings and coins and hundreds of items Lena didn’t recognize, but Gideon’s footage didn’t pause to examine any of them. He was looking for one thing only. A stone. His footage finally stopped and focused on what Lena assumed was the stone. It was spherical and looked much like the gem on her necklace. This one, however, was larger—nearly the size of her hand. It was a clear purple while hers was crystal clear.
Spinning on his glider, Gideon motioned to Bates. They landed in front of the case.
Bates put his hand to the forcefield and quickly pulled it away. It required an insignia scan. Bates flew out of the vault and grabbed the security guard. He pulled him to the case and scanned the guard’s insignia. It denied the unconscious guard access and at the same time triggered an alarm. Lights started flashing.
Lena’s eyes jumped from screen to screen.
Bates jumped off his glider, grabbed it and threw it through the forcefield. The glider shot sparks into the air. The forcefield glowed brighter. The glider burst into flames and the forcefield disappeared. Grabbing the stone, Bates bolted on foot towards the vault exit. It was too late. Two guards ran into the vault towards them.
Tern, who had been standing next to the doorway out of the guards view, snuck up behind the guards, knocking both unconscious. Lena watched the red dots as more guards ran towards the vault. They would be surrounded if they didn’t hurry. Bates tossed the stone to Gideon, motioning for Gideon to go ahead of them. Gideon shook his head and threw the stone to Tern. If what Tern said was true about him being able to sneak anywhere without being seen, Lena knew he would be able to stay hidden from the guards. From his screen, Lena could see he was standing still as guards were running past him without looking in his direction.
Gideon pulled something circular out of his pocket and lowered his helmet’s eye-shield to cover his entire face. The guards filed into the room and surrounded him and Bates. The screen dimmed indicating that Bates had lowered his eye-shield as well. His hands were up in the air. The guards motioned Gideon and Bates onto their knees. Gideon raised his hands and knelt. Bates followed. The guards were closing in on them with guns pointed. Gideon waited until all the red dots running towards them had entered the security room, if not the vault. Gideon threw the object. Smoke filled the room. As soon as the guards breathed it, they dropped to the floor unconscious. Gideon grabbed Bates’ arm. They made their way through the maze of unconscious bodies to the stairwell. Tern met them. Tern had somehow retrieved Suki’s glider and he handed it to Bates before jumping on his own.
The only guards left in the building were at the two main entrances. Two red dots marked their positions.The three of them ascended the stairs and flew to the same window they’d entered through. Suki was waiting for them on the ground below. Bates motioned for her to jump on the back of the glider. She grabbed him around the waist as they jetted into the darkened streets of Arc. Gideon and Tern followed behind them.
After what felt like forever, Lena heard the sound of the gliders. Gideon, Tern, and Bates with Suki on the glider, flew into the old performance hall. All four of them were safe. Tern tossed the stone to Evren.
Evren turned it over in his hand, analyzing each side. He looked up and smiled. “Welcome to the Zoons,” Evren said.
***
Suki raised her hands in triumph. Zoons cheered all around them. Jumping from the balconies onto their gliders, they soared in a whirlwind around them, celebrating at the tops of their lungs.
“To the underground!” Bates yelled into the chaos. Zoons cheered even louder as they zipped past Lena into the darkened hallways leading away from the theater. Suki motioned for Lena to grab a glider. Lena groaned, but stepped back onto her glider and followed Suki into the hallway and down a path that led to underground tunnels.
The tunnels were made out of rough, unfinished blocks. Lights blinked on as they flew, lighting up each damp section of the tunnel. They hadn’t flown long when the tunnel opened up into a huge underground room.
Uptempo music blasted Lena’s ears. It’s electronic beat rebounding off the cement walls of the place.
“We call this the Underground,” Suki yelled over the music, stepping off her glider.
Bright lights blinked to the beat of the music, causing Lena to squint. She dismounted from her glider and left it at the entrance they had just come through.
Gideon glided next to her and jumped off his glider. “What is this place?” he asked.
“We think it used to be some kind of underground airship hanger for the people attending the theater. It was closed off, but some of the kids found it a few years back. Right after we’d formed the Centizoons. We opened the access back up and made it into a club of sorts,” Suki said stepping toward the crowd.
“Not everyone here is a Zoon?” Lena yelled over the music as she watched a security guard let a group of punked out youth enter the room from what looked like an outside exit.
“Don’t worry. Evren will have his system running interference for potential threats. I and the other Zoons will be on guard,” Suki said.
>
Gideon studied the room. Lena followed his gaze. She recognized some of the Zoons walking around the room. They looked inconspicuous but nodded in reassurance when Gideon looked at them. They were watching out for them.
“Do you expect any threat?” Gideon asked.
“Na,” Suki said. “We can be picky about who we let into the club.”
“What kind of club is this?” Gideon asked.
“It’s a little bit of everything. Come see for yourself,” Suki said motioning for them to follow her through tightly pressed groups of people dancing. Once off the dance floor, she led them across the hanger to a spot crowded with more people. Suki pushed through the crowd. As soon as they saw her, the crowd parted around her and it wasn’t hard to get to the front of wherever they were going.
They stopped at a forcefield railing. In front of them was what looked like a racetrack. A solid bright green line was drawn on the floor with red dotted lines around it forming what looked like lanes. Lena looked down the track. A bright, white light arched over it and curved in the distance, but Lena still couldn’t see where it went. All of the sudden, Lena heard the howling of air when it’s being forced to move. In a flash, Lena saw a person fly by her, followed closely by several others. Each wore their own distinct colors. The wind they created blew Lena’s hair across her face. The crowd cheered and booed as the racers passed out of sight. Lena pushed her hair back. A bell sounded and the announcer called out a winner. Once again the air was filled with boo’s and cheers. Names flashed in neon lights across the air above them.
“I’m guessing this club isn’t legal,” Gideon said with a smirk.
Suki shrugged nonchalantly as the announcer called for more racers. “Legal, not legal. What does it matter anymore?” Suki smiled before hopping over the railing to the track with her glider under her arm.
Chapter Twenty-One
Suki took off her jacket and threw it at Lena. Her prosthetic arm lit up bright purple. She raised her hand and and the crowd cheered. The starting line was a row of bright lights projected on the ground in front of her. Someone from the side threw Suki goggles and a helmet that matched her neon arm. Soon she was surrounded by other contestants. Bates was there, his racing color was a dark blue. He rode a new glider, this one shaped like a knife.
The Mir Chronicles- The Complete Series Page 32
