Indigo Incite (The Indigo Trilogy) (26 page)

There
was nothing more to say on the matter, and before he had a chance to hear
Henry’s reaction, he turned and followed Jesse out the door and down the second
set of steps. They walked down another hallway identical to the one they had
just come from and made casual small talk along the way. Jesse wasn’t nearly as
intimidating as Henry, but Tyler wasn’t fooled either; the man couldn’t be
trusted.

They
stopped at the end of the hallway, and Tyler watched carefully as Jesse slid
his access card through the security box, beside the door. The door slid open,
and Tyler followed Jesse into the room.

Tyler
grinned at the sight of his brother, who was leaning back in bed, his eyes on
an open book. Upon hearing Jesse’s entrance, Toby glanced up from the pages and
did a double take.

“You’re
here.” He set the book on the bed and swung his legs over the side.

Tyler
grinned. “I told you I’d find you.”

“I’ll
tell you what,” Jesse said, “I’ll leave you boys alone so you can get caught
up, and I’ll come back in an hour with dinner.”

“Thanks,
Jesse,” Toby said.

Jesse
smiled, nodded, and then was gone. The door slid shut with a resounding click.

Tyler
followed Toby’s gaze to the video camera mounted on the ceiling.
Watch what
you say
, Toby thought.

Gotcha
, Tyler replied silently. Their every
word would be monitored closely. The boys would have to engage in idle small
talk for a few minutes.

“So I
can’t believe you made it here,” Toby said.

“Yeah,
it was a long trip. You’re kinda out here in the middle of nowhere.”

“I
wouldn’t know. I haven’t been outside since I got here.”

“Well,
maybe we can work on that. You know, I think if these guys realize that they
can trust you, they might give you a little more freedom and wouldn’t keep you
locked up.” Silently he said,
Just go with it. Let them hear what they want
to hear
.

Facing
away from the camera, Toby winked in understanding. “Yeah, I don’t know. You
really want to work with these people?”

“I do.
What do we have going for us, back home? Nothing, that’s what! If we stay here
and work for them, we could actually have a place to call home. We could have a
purpose. We could finally put our powers to use and maybe help someone else
out, along the way. Each day will be an adventure.”

Wow,
I’m convinced
, Toby
thought.
Sounds good to me. Too bad they aren’t as honest as they pretend to
be
. Out loud, he said, “I don’t know. Maybe you’re right.”

“Of
course I’m right. This is a great opportunity. We have a chance for a new start
at life. I say we embrace it and take all these guys have to offer. After all,
what do we have to lose?”

Tyler
glanced discreetly from the camera and back to Toby.
Do you think they’re
getting all of this
? he asked silently.

I’m
sure they’re soaking up every word
, Toby thought.

They
were interrupted when the thoughts of someone other than his brother invaded
his mind.
Oh my gosh, Tyler! I knew I heard another voice, in here. You made
it!

He
smiled when he spotted her. She stood below the video camera, pressed against
the corner of the wall.
You must be Rebecka
, he thought.
My brother’s
told me a lot about you
.

She was
beautiful and could easily have been a model. Toby had given him a hard time
about falling for Liliana; he wondered just how close his brother and this girl
had become.

Hey,
brother
, Toby
thought,
pretend to take a nap so we can all chat silently and they don’t
get suspicious
.

“Would
you mind if I lie down for a bit, just until dinner?” Tyler asked. “I’m
exhausted from the trip.”

“Not a
problem. Go ahead and take the bed. I’ll just sit at the desk and read for a
bit.”

They
each took their unsuspecting positions, so that the watchful eyes in the
security room would hopefully ignore them, and then Tyler filled them in on
their plan.

Well,
I think it sounds like a good idea
, Toby thought.
We just need to think of a way to get
evidence.

Any
information that you might want is kept in Henry’s office
, Rebecka thought.
Anything of
real importance would be on his computer. I’ve watched him. To get on the
computer you have to have an access card and password.

Oh?
Could that be like the access card that I have hidden in my shoe?

Are
you kidding? That’s awesome!
Rebecka thought.
If you weren’t pretending to be asleep
right now and I was actually supposed to be here, I’d hug you.

I
can’t take all of the credit Eddie and Grace actually got the card, so you’ll
have to thank them when you see them. So what do you think? We wait until night
and then break into his office?

It’s
not as easy as all that
, Rebecka thought.
The surveillance cameras are monitored twenty-four
hours a day. The second they see us, they’ll have armed guards at the door.

So,
then we have to make sure they don’t see us
, Tyler thought.

Toby
drummed his fingers on the desk.
How do you propose we do that?

Can
we disable the cameras?
Tyler wondered.

We
could
, Rebecka
thought,
but as soon as the guard realizes that the cameras aren’t working,
he’ll have a dozen guards patrolling the halls to make sure everyone is where
they’re supposed to be.

Hmmm
, Tyler thought,
then I guess we
need to think of something else
.

They
each fell into silence while they tried to think of another idea.

Wait
a minute
! Toby
thought.
If we can’t disable the security cameras, why can’t we disable the
security guard?

Disable
the security guard? How do you plan to make that happen?
Tyler questioned silently.

The
same way they disabled me when I first got here. They keep sedatives in the
nurse’s office. Rebecka sometimes delivers desserts and coffee to the staff
members. If she can make the guard sleep for a while, then we can go wherever
we want.

That’s
a good idea
, Rebecka
thought,
but then we’re faced with the problem of getting the sedatives out
of the nurse’s office. Any ideas there?

Tyler
grinned.
I’ll bet we can come up with a plan.

*****

“How was
dinner?” Jesse asked.

“It was
great, thanks,” Tyler replied. “I haven’t had a meal that good in a long time.”

“That’s
good to hear. You ready to go up and see Henry? He’s waiting for you.”

“Sure.
Lead the way.”

Toby
interrupted their departure. “Hey, Jesse, I’ve got a bit of a headache. Do you
think I could get some medicine or something from the nurse?”

“Sure
thing. Come on with us. I’ll drop you off on the way. You can stay there until
I come back down.”

The
nurse’s office was located in the center of the hallway. Tyler had been briefed
on the layout of the tunnels. The rooms in this hallway were the sleeping
quarters for all of the residents. The hallway above, where Tyler had first
entered, held Henry’s office, the offices of other agents and officials, and
the kitchen. There was a third tunnel, which Tyler hadn’t yet seen, that held
labs and testing facilities. Rebecka had explained that the third tunnel also
held a second exit to the outside world.

Jesse
made sure that the nurse was in her office and left Toby in her care. Then
Tyler followed him toward the end of the hallway to the staircase. Tyler’s
target was the security room. Rebecka had said that it was the last room in the
hall across from the stairs.

Tyler
knew that a guard sat behind the closed door with a careful eye trained on the
surveillance monitors. The goal was to distract the guard, long enough for
Rebecka to swipe enough sedatives from the nurse’s office. Each step of their
plan had to be timed with exact precision or they would all be caught.

Jesse
led the way up the stairs and Tyler followed close behind. When he made it to
the fourth step, he knew it was now or never. The cameras would catch his every
move, so he had to make the fall look believable, but he also didn’t want to
fall so hard that he might actually break something. With a holler, he slipped
forward. He fell on his hands and face and then half-rolled, half-slid and came
to a stop at the bottom. His leg stuck out in an awkward angle. Unsure if the
guard had seen the fall, he decided to call out for good measure, “Ow! Ow! My
ankle! I think it’s broken!”

Jesse
hurried down the stairs and knelt by his side. At the same time, the door to
the security room opened and the young guard, who appeared to be eighteen or
nineteen, came out to kneel by his other side.

Okay,
Toby, the guard’s out. Tell Rebecka to do her thing
, Tyler silently called to his
brother. According to the plan, Toby would lie on a cot and keep the nurse
distracted. The medicine cabinets were located in a back room. Rebecka would
teleport in, locate the needed sedatives, and hopefully get out before she was
noticed.

“Man,
are you okay?” Jesse asked.

“I don’t
know. My ankle really hurts.”

“Dude,
that was an awesome fall,” the guard said. “I saw it all on camera. I mean,
don’t get me wrong. It looked like it really hurt, but it was pretty funny.” Jesse
glared at the guard who said, “Yeah, I’ll just shut up now, sorry.”

“It’s
okay,” Tyler said. “I admit it wasn’t one of my finer moves.” He made a show of
rotating his ankle and winced sharply as though in pain.

Jesse sighed.
“I should get the nurse.”

“No, if
anything, I should at least be able to walk down there on my own. Do you think
you can help me stand?”

“Yeah,
yeah. Here. We can each take an arm.” Jesse indicated to the guard that he
should help. They each took an elbow and assisted Tyler to a standing position.
He slowly attempted to put weight on his “hurt” ankle and immediately lifted
it.

“Ow!
This sucks.”

“Maybe
you just need to walk it out,” Jesse said. “I’ll help you walk down to the
nurse.”

“Yeah,
sure. Maybe if we just take it real slow.”

“Do you
need me?” the guard asked. “Cuz, I should be in the control room right now.”

“You’re
in there by yourself?” Jesse asked. “No one’s watching the cameras?”

“Nope. Most
of the time there’s only one guard on duty in there.”

He
narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Your brother’s in the nurse’s office right
now.”

“Yeah,
he had a headache.”

“Hmm…convenient.”

Toby,
Jesse knows that something’s up. Tell Rebecka to get out of there—now
, Tyler thought.

Stall
him for a minute,
Toby thought back.
She’s still trying to find the right medicine.

I don’t
know if I can. Tell her to hurry.

Jesse
turned to the guard. “Get back in the control room and see if there’s anything
suspicious going on in the nurse’s office.”

“The
nurse’s office?” the guard questioned. “What am I looking for?”

“I don’t
know. I just have a strange feeling that these two might be up to something.”
Jesse stared intently at Tyler in an obvious attempt to read his thoughts.

“I just
fell
down the stairs,” Tyler said. “Believe me, I wouldn’t hurt my ankle on purpose.
We aren’t
up
to anything.”

“Well,
we’ll see about that.” Jesse turned to the guard and snapped, “Go on. What are
you waiting for?”

“Are you
okay if I let go of your arm?” the guard asked.

“Yeah,
I’m fine,” Tyler assured him. The guard slowly released his arm, and when he
was confident that the patient wouldn’t fall over, he hurried back to the
control room.

Toby,
tell her to get out now!
Tyler thought.

She’s
got it
, Toby thought
back.

The
guard poked his head out of the security room. “I don’t see anything unusual,
Jesse. His twin was lying on a cot, and the nurse was with him. It all looked
fine.”

“Okay,
well, that’s good. Still, keep a close eye on those monitors from now on. I
want to make sure that nothing gets past us.”

“You got
it, Jesse. I’m all over it.” He returned to his post and the door slid shut.