The House of Grey- Volume 4 (2 page)

Monson’s key card was in his hand even before he realized it. He motioned the blue plastic card towards the door sensor when—

“Grey! No!”

Casey jumped forward
,
smacking Monson’s hand away from the
card reader
knocking the blue plastic card to the ground. Monson rubbed at his smarting hand.

“Ouch
,
Casey
!
W
hat was that all about?”

“You can’t be serious
,
dude! Hello, this is an electronic lock. They
had
to program it to accept that thing
.
So
what do you think that means?”

“That someone has too much time on
his
hands?”

Casey slapped Monson upside
his
head
.
“Grey, you
are
seriously the dumbest smart person I have ever met. No dude, it means that they have a record of who
comes
and
goes
.”

Monson whistled
,
rubbing
at his head
.
“My bad
.
But then how are
we
going to get—”

Casey opened the door
without a problem
and glanced back
,
smirking over his shoulder.

“Boy Scout motto
,
mil
ord
,
”
s
aid Casey in his best British accent
.
“Always be prepared.”

“Don’t let him fool you
,
Grey,” cut in
Artorius.
“It was my idea.”

Casey tried his best to glare at
Artorius
but seemed to be finding it difficult to hold back his amusement.
The
trio
exited the front doors
into the
cool night air. The brilliant luster of thousands of stars littered the sky like diamonds in blackened rock. The residual light from sparsely
distributed
lamps
had
hardly
any
effect
on
the formidable darkness
.
W
hile
the blackness of the night was
imposing
,
it
also held a certain air of freedom.
Under
the cover of night,
Monson
could be anyone or anything and did not have to worry about searching eyes or judgmental hearts. He could be him.  Though to be him meant to be afraid of
the
darkness
that provided him his freedom
, as
that
darkness could be scary in its own right. He fought that feeling.  The presence of
his friends fortified him in
combat
ing
his fear of the dark
,
pushing it to a tucked
-
away
,
private place
where he could
leave
it to decay with other concerns like self-pity and doubt.

The lack of light
was
a great asset
for
any
nighttime
endeavor. They
would
be able to move with impunity as long as they avoided the security sweeps
. Monson hoped
this
would
not be too difficult to accomplish.

“So how did you guys keep the door from locking?”

Casey glanced at
Artorius
and said two words
.
“
A
penny?”

“Yeah, I placed a penny in the—”

“Shhh!” hissed Casey
,
pulling both Monson and
Artorius
toward
s the
brush.

“Case
—
what the heck
?
!
”

“Shh
h,
Arthur! Follow me.”

Casey,
Artorius
and Monson each took a step back
from
the light
ed
path
,
the latter two looking
at
Casey for direction. Casey’s head whipped
from side to side
a number of times until he abruptly move
d
towards a cement bench not far from where they were standing.  He broke out in a run as he neared the bench and then
,
launching himself over
a
hedge,
he disappeared into the darkness. Monson and
Artorius
followed his lead.

In retrospect, this was a very stupid move. There could have been any number of things waiting for the boys on the other side. Rocks, small trees, more benches,
and
rose bushes
,
just to name
a
few
,
were abundant on Coren’s property. Thankfully
,
all of the boys landed noiselessly on the semi
-
damp grass
,
popping up seconds after hitting the ground. They all flatten
ed
their bodies against the
hedge,
listening
while holding
their
breath
. Nothing happened.

“Casey
.
” Monson placed a hand on Casey’s shoulder
.
“Why are we—?”

“S
hush,
Grey
.
Wait for it.” Casey pointed towards
a section of
lighted
pathway
just under one
of the l
ampposts
. They watched the spot until a person popped out of seemingly nowhere.

Monson rubbed his eyes. That could not be right
, b
ut true enough, a girl dressed in black
, with
curly blonde hair tied in a half
-
ponytail
,
emerged from the darkness into the light looking
thoroughly
distraught and
after a moment,
incredibly relieved.  Monson squinted
at the girl only to recognize the face of Kylie Cormack. He took
note of
the
massive backpack strapped over
her
shoulder
s
and
, in her arms,
a large
box brimming with documents.

Monson saw the danger.
“Casey
,
please don’t
make a scene with
—what are you doing?”

Curious movements from Casey made Monson briefly forget his concerns. He watched as Casey ben
t
over
and starting digging around at the base of a shrub
. He came back holding a couple of rocks.

“Don’t even think about it
,
Casey!” Monson grabbed at
his
hand.

“Yeah Case, that
’s
not cool
,
”
w
hispered
Artorius
. “We can’t let you throw rocks at her.”

Casey did not utter a word, but put
up
a single finger.
Artorius
and Monson exchanged
a
look of concern
obvious
even
in
the lack of light.
The boys spied on Kylie for what felt like a long time
,
all the while
wondering why she was there
and,
for that matter,
how Casey knew she was coming. The boys strained
their eyes
staring
at the
scattered lamp
light along the main pathway
. Monson’s heart skipped a beat when he saw two
Men in Black
walking straight towards Kylie
,
who was oblivious
to
the
on
coming trouble.

“What do we do? Kylie
’
s going to get caught
,
” Monson
said,
a bit louder than he intended.

“I got it. Stay hidden.”

Monson reached out a hand
.
“Casey
,
wait!”

Casey was already gone, moving to
a nearby
opening in
the hedge
. Monson lost sight of
him
briefly as he travel
ed
like a phantom through grass and vegetation. When Monson finally
spotted
him
again
, Casey was already on the other
side
of the
hedge,
stalking the outskirts of the lighted areas. He moved with such stealth that Kylie did not notice his approach. Monson and
Artorius
ducked when a whistle and
tongue
cl
i
ck caused
Kylie
to jump.
Consequently, she
f
umbled the
box
in her arms
and dropped it
.

Monson whispered to
Artorius
, “What happened?”

“I think Casey threw a rock at her.”

Monson shrank back
.
“
Man,
your breath reeks
.
Hold up
—
I have a
T
ic
T
ac.”

“Shut up
,
Grey.”

Monson smiled “did he actually throw a rock at her?’

“No—well not at her.  I think he is trying to get her attention.”

On the other side of the main path
way leading
to The Barracks
,
Kylie was finally realizing how crap-tastic her own situation was becoming
as a
second rock thrown by Casey
landed at her side.  T
he rustle and crack
of heavy footsteps startled her and caused
her to spin around. She stared at the MIB
s
the moment she caught
sight
of them
.

“That’s her! Hey you
,
stop
!
” one of them yelled. They both started off after her.

Kylie ran as fast as she could, but
was
hampered by the large
backpack
and box.
While s
he had a decent head start
,
that distance was diminishing as the MIB closed the gap. She rounded a corner, taking off
through
one of the many paths
that
led away from The Barracks. The
men
followed
,
gaining
on her more quickly
. Monson felt his heart drop ever so slightly.  The conclusion was pretty clear. Kylie Coremack was going to be caught by Christopher Baroty’s MIB and then who knew what would happen to her.

A blur wearing blue jeans and a red shirt
sprang in front of
the MIB
like a magician’s apparition
. The
two
men did not have time to react
,
tripp
ing
over
themselves
and
falling flat on their faces.  Casey
watched
with
disdain. He
waited
for them to get back to their feet.

“Another rule break
er
,” said one of the MIB
, a dark hair,
dark
eye fellow with soft features. He
reach
ed
into his jacket
.
“You bratty little
rich
kids think you can do anything you want. Jim
,
you go after the
girl. I got this one.
”