CHAPTER 13
It was 3:22 on Friday afternoon. Ben and Jill and Robert were in the library, and Lyman had just left the room after his second visit to be sure no one was roaming the halls. He wouldn’t be back for at least five minutes, so the three Keepers risked a quick conference in the alcove—they were still keeping away from Robert during school hours so Lyman would continue to believe they were trying to conceal their collaboration.
Robert slid onto the bench next to Ben and whispered, “Have you checked this area for microphones?”
Ben nodded. “Twice.”
“Good.” Robert smiled. “So, you guys have any good ideas about how to use our money? I’ve got tons!”
“First of all,” said Jill crisply, “it’s not our money—there are rules.”
“Yeah, yeah, Miss Scrooge, I know all that, but there’s still a lot of cool stuff we could really use.”
Jill sniffed. “I suppose you want a big powerboat that’ll do seventy miles an hour—in case Lyman tries to steal the whole school one night and tow it out to sea.”
Robert made a fake smile. “Ha. Ha. Ha. You are so funny . . . looking. I’ll continue this discussion with the other three members of the finance team.”
Riding home from the bank on Thursday with Mrs. Keane, Jill had told Robert he’d been pretty rude to the banker, and that had led to an argument, and there had been a chill in the air ever since. Ben wanted to change the subject, but Jill kept talking.
“You heard Mr. Rydens, Robert. If we use any money, the decision has to be unanimous—all five of us have to sign every release form . . . just in case you forgot that little detail.”
“So, Robert,” Ben said quickly, “you never did tell us your theory about the north staircase room.”
Robert shook his head. “I don’t want to say until I look at all the artifacts in there myself.”
Jill rolled her eyes, and Ben knew what she was thinking. He was getting tired of Robert’s attitude too. Yes, the kid was amazingly smart, but still . . .
Jill jumped back in. “I don’t see how we’re going to get in there now—I mean, Lyman knows we have keys, he knows we know about his alarm system, so he’s probably adding new security measures all the time. He’d just love to catch us doing something against the school rules—or something illegal. Then we’d be totally messed.”
Ben agreed with what Jill was saying . . . but suddenly the edge of an idea appeared, then an entire little plan popped into his mind. In a flash he knew it could work—and he blurted out the whole idea before Robert saw it—or had time to come up with something even smarter.
“Listen,” he said, “how about today, right now, we go to every door and we peel off all of Lyman’s sensors, every single one of them! No way will he have enough spares to replace all of them, and it’ll take him at least a day to get more, right? We take his whole system down! And then we wait until three a.m.—even if he patrols the place himself tonight, he’ll be gone by then—and we show up, choose a door, and we’re in!”
Jill looked skeptical—and Ben saw she also looked hurt, like he’d turned against her. She frowned. “Well, I can’t sneak out at three in the morning—and, Benjamin, you’re staying on your dad’s boat. One tiny sound and he’ll hear you, you know he will.”
“So . . . ,” Robert said, “Pratt comes to my house for a sleepover. We can get out of my house easy, no problem. I really do need to see that stuff.”
Jill shook her head. “Too risky. It’s not worth it.” She clamped her jaw shut, which made her bottom lip stick out a little.
Ben knew that look. She’d made up her mind, and she wasn’t going to change it.
Robert turned and looked at Ben, one eyebrow raised. “What do you say, Pratt?”
He was asking, Are you with meon this . . . or with her?—and all three of them knew it.
Ben looked at Jill, hoping to bring her back in. Because he really did think this was a workable plan . . . and if Robert’s past successes were any indication, there might actually be something important under those stairs.
But Jill looked down at the library table, her jaw still clamped.
Ben made his choice. “I’ll ask my dad about a sleepover.”
Robert slapped Ben on the back. “Great! Now, there are twelve doors, including the ones in the Annex, and there are three of us, so each of us just has to—”
Jill stood up, tucking her papers into her backpack. “Divide those doors by two—count me out. See you Monday.”
“Come on, Jill,” said Ben, “don’t be like that. . . .”
“Like what?” she snapped. “Cautious? Intelligent? You’re the one who’s been telling everybody not to be impatient, not to rush things. Well, you’re on your own for this one . . . Pratt.”
Jill swung her book bag onto her shoulder and walked away.
Robert didn’t skip a beat. “So, then how about you pull the sensors off all the doors on the south and east sides, and I’ll get the doors on the north and west. And if Lyman sees us, so what? It’s not like he can shove us around, or go and report us for shutting down his private surveillance system. . . .” Then Robert noticed Ben’s face. “Hey,” he said, “don’t worry about Jill . . . she’ll be back, you know she will.”
Ben didn’t feel so sure about that—and as he and Robert left the library and split up, he wondered if he was making a mistake. He could still put the brakes on this thing . . . shut it off right now, then call Jill and apologize.
But Ben didn’t want to do that. After all, he’d sneaked out once before in the middle of the night, and it’d been fun . . . sort of. And with Robert along, it’d be even more of an adventure. Actually, it might be better just having the two of them for a job like this . . . and as long as they were super, super careful, what did they have to lose?
Ben was standing at the front door now, his stainless-steel ruler already in his hand. He looked both ways, pushed the door wide, and reached up, sliding the end of the ruler under the bottom edge of the sensor. It came loose and dropped to the floor. He picked it up and stuck it in his pocket.
Letting the door close, he walked quickly past the office and headed for the entrance by the bus driveway. One door was disarmed, and he needed to get to five others as quickly as possible—and also try to avoid being seen by Lyman. A plan was in motion, and the tall guy was going to get a big surprise.
Ben smiled at that thought, and then made a slight correction—My plan is in motion.