Chapter Forty-Four

Slash

This challenge certainly created an unusual experience for me. It was a blackout situation, which I’d been in before, but not in circumstances like this. I was completely dependent upon Lexi’s instructions for my every move. There was no one I trusted more than her, but not being in full control of my own actions wasn’t my preferred mode of operation.

I knew there were three other people in front of me, but the darkness was so oppressive, I couldn’t sense them at all. I could hear Lexi’s periodic broadcasts of instructions to each one of us, but otherwise it was eerily quiet.

I’d just moved into place and verified my ability to still talk to and hear Mia at the door. Lexi had started moving my mother forward again when there was a call from Mama at the front.

“I think I’ve found the first obstacle,” she shouted.

“What’s the obstacle?” Oscar yelled.

“It’s a red beam of light that shoots across the room at about knee height. The light is wavering like it is passing through some smoke or clouds.”

“That’s probably so you can see the beam,” Tito shouted. “Lasers are normally invisible to the eye unless they are reflected off something.”

“I heard that,” I shouted and then told Mia what my mother had found. I checked my watch and saw we were down to thirty-five minutes. This was going too slowly. We were running out of time.

We relayed information back and forth for a few minutes. Then Lexi told my mother there was a potential problem. The path made a left turn right at the spot the beam cut across, so the beam ran down the middle of the path. Fortunately, the path made a hairpin turn right there, so it would be possible for my mother to step over the beam and end up on the far side of the path where it looped back. Lexi told her where to step, and we waited.

After a minute, my mother shouted, “I made it.”

It took another ten minutes before we were all past the first obstacle safely. We were getting farther away from the door, so it was getting harder to communicate with Mia. I estimated my mother was over halfway to the platform. Lexi was moving Mama again when she encountered a waist-high laser beam. We relayed the information back to Mia and Lexi.

“Got it,” Mia yelled after I had to shout three times.

“Mia, wait,” I added. “Tell Lexi we’re almost out of time. We’re going to have to change strategy and take some chances or we’ll never make it.” My comment met silence, so I had no idea if she’d heard me.

After a minute, I heard Lexi talking. “Here’s the situation. Just beyond this beam is the first of the two gaps. To pass, you’ll have to bend under the beam and stand up on the far side as close to the beam as you dare to risk. Then you’ll need to take a large step or jump to bridge the gap. Unfortunately, the beam will prevent you from getting any sort of running start. Do you think you can do it, Juliette?”

“I’ll try.” There was a long pause, and then finally I heard my mother speak again. “Okay, I’m standing on the other side of the beam, but I lost my orientation as to where to take my giant step.”

We passed the message along, and then Lexi replied. “Juliette, turn right to about your one thirty position. Okay, that’s perfect. You can jump when ready.”

Suddenly, a red light illuminated off to my side, and I saw a blinking light start flashing from ahead of me.

“Oh, no!” my mother shouted. “I’m so sorry. I guess I didn’t take a big enough step and I fell off the path. Oscar, you might have to try and jump. It’s a bigger gap than I anticipated.”

“I will,” he replied. “Be careful on the way out, and don’t trip over anything.”

“I won’t. The bracelet gives me a little extra light to see things.”

I could see the blinking red light of my mother’s bracelet as she passed through the first laser beam on her way back to the exit door. There were no additional alarms or penalties when she did that.

Interesting.

Her movements gave me an idea. I was trying to flesh it out as Mama opened the exit door and the area was briefly illuminated. I squinted and managed to get a quick glimpse of my orientation in the room, the relative positions of Oscar and Tito, and the immediate path ahead.

Lexi’s screen must have been reactivated, because she started directing Oscar forward again, giving him a small correction.

“Okay, I’m past the beam and ready to jump,” Oscar declared. There was silence. “I’m across. I made it!” he shouted.

Suddenly the red light over the door came on and another flashing bracelet appeared. “Oh, no,” Oscar moaned. “I’m bloody sorry, blokes. I made the jump, but as I turned around to talk to you, I lost my balance and stepped off the path for a second. I can tell you, it isn’t too big of a jump, and I can see by the light of my flashing bracelet the path goes straight for a couple more steps after you cross, if that’s of any help.”

“That helps,” I called. “You did well, Oscar. We’ll take it from here.”

“Of that I have no doubt. Good luck, boys.”

I carefully watched his bracelet flashing as he broached the second beam and then the first, much as Mama had and headed out the side exit door.

I had a plan, and it was time to execute it.

As soon the door closed behind Oscar, I called out to Tito. “We need to move, and I have an idea. I don’t have time to explain it to you now, but here’s what I need you to do. When Lexi gets you close to the beam, stop and wave your arms. I’m going to ask Mia to tell Lexi to move me up close to you. I’ll explain the rest once I’m in position.”

“Verstanden,” he replied even as Lexi started giving him instructions.

As soon as there was a pause in Lexi’s instructions, I yelled as loud as I could, telling Mia to instruct Lexi to move me up next to Tito. Mia called something back to me, but it was too faint to comprehend. I just hoped she’d heard me correctly.

“Tito, take one more step and stop,” Lexi said over the loudspeakers. “You’re a half step short of the beam. Slash, I got your message. Mia said you want to be moved up next to Tito. If that’s correct, raise your right arm.”

I raised my right arm, so she continued. “Perfect. Then I need you to turn to the eleven thirty position and take one step. Good. Now turn to two o’clock. Stop. Go a bit more to the right, then take two steps. Turn left to the eight o’clock position. Perfect. Take one step, turn to the two o’clock position, and then a half step and you’ll be next to him.”

I followed her instructions until I sensed Tito’s presence. I was able to judge his location by how his shape blocked out the occasional flicker of the security beam that wavered in whatever mist the gamemaster was using to make it visible.

“Slash, you’re in position,” Lexi said. “Please note that we have less than twenty-five minutes.”

I loved how calm and logical she remained in a pressure situation—if it didn’t involve bugs, animals, water, or flying. It was one of the things I admired about her most.

But now it was time for drastic measures because I fully expected additional obstacles ahead, and we didn’t have time to locate and defeat all of them. It was an all-or-nothing gamble, but it was better than being bled to death by the clock. I’d committed the path to memory while viewing it in the control room, so I knew what I had to do and felt confident I could make it. The real challenge would be what lay ahead on that platform. I needed to save time to deal with that.

I reached out and touched Tito, my hand bumping against his shoulder. “This is going to sound crazy, but here’s what I need you to do. We don’t have time to continue as we are, so I’m going to take a long shot. It will require precise timing and your assistance. When I say, ‘go,’ I want you to step directly into the laser beam. Then step to the side so I can pass you while you’re blocking the beam. While you’re doing that, lean down and use your bracelet to help illuminate the gap for me to jump while keeping some part of your body in the beam. Can you do that?”

“I can, but we don’t have to sacrifice one of us to get through the beam. We can both go under it. It’ll give us another chance if it doesn’t work out.”

“I’ve considered that, but I also believe the path and the beam alarms are disabled while someone is exiting. That’s why I need you to step into the beam on purpose.”

“And if the path alarms are not disabled?” he asked.

“Then I’d better not make any mistakes,” I said grimly. I looked at the red laser beam wavering across the path. “From here, I’m going to try and get to the platform in just a few jumps. I intend to use the strobe light to help guide my way. I’ve pretty much memorized the path after this gap, so I know where I need to land.” I patted him on the shoulder. “Ready?”

“On your word.”

“Make sure that you take at least thirty seconds to get out the door. Go.”

Tito stepped into the beam, and his bracelet immediately started flashing red. He bent down close to the ground, so I stepped forward, vaguely seeing the dual ribbons of the path below my feet. Like Oscar had said, it wasn’t a big leap, and I easily bounded over. I turned briefly to Tito. “See you outside in a few minutes.”

“Viel Glück.”

Remembering the path, I lined myself up and took two steps as he headed for the exit door. There was a switchback at this location I needed to bypass. I turned on the strobe light to be sure of my direction. It flashed twice, and I leaped.

I heard Tito curse and worriedly froze in place. “What’s wrong?” I called out in German.

“The other strobe light,” Tito said. “I forgot to give it to you. I’ll leave it on the path in case you need it.”

“I don’t have the time to come back for it,” I called.

“I’ll leave it just the same. You’ve got this.”

I did, but I had to jump before he exited. If I landed this leap, I could jump straight to the platform and be safe.

I oriented myself and took a deep breath, flashed the strobe, and leaped into the darkness. Behind me, I saw the flare of Tito opening the exit door.