Bradley was the first person at the shed on Tuesday afternoon. He unlocked the door, flipped the light switch that Hashemi had reluctantly repaired, and got to work mixing paints, inks, and powders. Every few minutes, he would use the small tabletop ultraviolet lamp to check the legibility of the ink. The ink had to be strong enough to be read under faint UV light, but weak enough to be invisible in regular lighting. And, of course, it had to be completely formulated in two days.
Bradley’s face and hands were covered in ink by the time Jackson and Charlie entered the shed an hour later. “You look like you got into a fight with a highlighter,” Jackson said.
Bradley rubbed his forehead, getting even more fluorescent paint on his face. “This would be a lot easier with Megan’s help.”
“You know how Hash gets under pressure. We need her to work with him on the tablets.” Jackson sat beside Bradley while Charlie settled down by the bundles of PVC pipe stacked against the wall. “Anyway, I thought all the Art Geeks mixed their own paint.”
“Mr. Jonas won’t let us anymore. Last time Lizzie tried, they had to fumigate the art room.”
Jackson scooted his chair a little farther from the table. “Have you tried the ink with the watches?” he asked.
Bradley turned off the lamp, then pulled a watch from a nearby box. He pressed a button on the side, allowing a tiny ray of UV light to beam out of the watch casing. He held it close to the paper, and the ink lit up. “They’ll have to write very lightly on their skin, but it should work.”
“And how long will the ink last?”
“Two hours, I think.” Bradley nodded toward a container of black ink. “Just about as long as disappearing ink lasts by itself.”
“Good job,” Jackson said. He took the watch from Bradley. “I can’t believe Hash finally got something out of beta. On time.”
“Technically, Megan took over working on the watches so Hashemi could finish the tablets.”
Jackson dropped the watch back in the box, then noticed the UV dust clinging to his hand.
“Sorry,” Bradley said. “That powder gets everywhere.”
Jackson rubbed a few of the powder granules between his fingers. Then he reached over and turned on the lamp. The UV powder went from white to lime green.
“Can you grind this powder up any more?” Jackson asked.
“I think so.”
“Good. The finer the better,” Jackson said. “Let me know if you run into any issues.” He crossed the room and knelt beside Charlie. “Do me a favor. When you get a chance, can you text —”
“Already done,” Charlie said as he squinted at Hashemi’s scrawled schematics for the two PVC stands. “She’s on her way. So are Rob and Thom.”
Jackson picked up a pipe. “I wonder how many times Hash designed these stands.”
“He’d probably still be at it if the tablets didn’t need more of his attention,” Charlie said. “You two are a lot alike, you know. You’re both insane planners.”
“At least my projects get out of beta.”
“And how’s that plan to kiss Gaby coming along?”
Jackson grabbed a tape measure. “We are not having this conversation.”
“Believe me, I don’t want details. It’s kind of gross, actually. I’ve smelled her breath in the morning.”
“Charlie …”
“You know I’m making a killing by betting against you.”
“Does everyone at school know that I haven’t kissed Gaby yet?”
“No one but the crew. And the Environmental Action Team. And a few of the Herald reporters. And —”
“Charlie!”
He laughed. “All kidding aside, you really are a good planner.” He looked at the PVC pipe in his hand. “Much better than me.”
“You’re good at it too. We came up with this plan together, remember?”
“I’m okay at it. And I’m getting better. But you’re the best.” He looked toward Bradley. “They deserve the best.”
Jackson nodded a few times. “Thanks. We make a good team.” Then he grinned. “Enough of the mushy stuff. Let’s get to work.”
Charlie read the schematics while Jackson cut the pieces for the two tripod bases for the tablet stands. They had just completed the first one when Rob and Thom entered the shed. “You’re late,” Jackson said.
“Yeah, and what are you going to do about it?” Rob replied. “What do you need us to do?”
“You mean, other than leave?” Jackson rose so he was eye level with Rob. “Grab a couple of the UV watches and some ink from Bradley. You need to practice writing lightly on your hand. It has to be light enough to —”
Jackson stopped as the shed door flung open. Megan ran to the group. “Guys. We have … a problem,” she said between ragged breaths.
“Are you okay?” Jackson asked. “You sound like you ran all the way here.”
“I did,” she said. “It’s about … the security … system.”
Jackson eyed Rob and Thom. “Can this wait?”
She shook her head and sucked in a deep breath. “Can’t. Running out … of time….”
“Catch your breath,” Jackson said. “Charlie, grab her a stool.”
Rob crossed his arms. “What’s she talking about?”
“Might as well tell them about the Mutara Nebula,” Charlie said as he returned with a stool. “Victor and Kayla will find out when they try to log into the system.”
“Okay.” Jackson loosened his tie. “Keith Sinclair bought a new hard drive for the NVR.”
“What? And you knew about this?” Rob asked.
“Knew about it?” Charlie grinned. “We planned it.”
“It wasn’t just bad luck that Serena saw us in the garden yesterday morning,” Jackson said. “Serena’s sister has been dropping her off early all year. We knew she was going to be passing by at that exact moment. We wanted to give her a little motivation to make sure she reached out to Keith about the hard drive.”
Rob’s brow furrowed. “You’re telling me that you wanted the school to have a working security system?”
“No, but we didn’t have much choice,” Jackson said. “We thought it would be best if everyone operated on a level playing field.”
“You’re trying to trick us,” Thom said.
“No, I’m evening the odds,” Jackson said. “Now that the hard drive is being replaced, Mr. James and Dr. Kelsey will be able to use the NVR again. They can monitor everything from anywhere. So either we all avoid the cameras, or we all get caught.” He turned to Megan. “Unless you’ve heard something new.”
“No. Keith bought the hard drive, all right,” she said, her breath now under control. “I called the security company again to verify it. The problem is, they’re going to install it tomorrow morning. The appointment’s during first period.”
“What?” Jackson glanced at the PVC tripod base. “When we checked with the security company, they said the earliest they could be there was Thursday. We don’t have enough time to finish the frames and sneak them in before the cameras go live tomorrow.”
“Keith must have paid extra to have them move up the installation date,” she said. “I talked to a few friends. He’s not working for Kelsey anymore — he’s already been moved back to study hall.”
“Charlie, is there any way …”
Charlie was already shaking his head. “Even if we could get these frames finished today, there’s no way to smuggle them in before first period. The Environmental Action Team won’t be ready.”
“I know Samuel’s already back at college,” Megan said. “But maybe we could cancel the school’s installation appointment and Ray could pretend to —”
“There’s no way we could afford an NVR hard drive, much less forge the security documents for him to fake being a technician.” Jackson spun his pencil between his fingers. “We’ve got to sneak in tomorrow morning. It’s then or not at all.”
“Yeah, and ‘not at all’ isn’t really an option.” Charlie leaned against the table. “But I think we can make it work.”
“Okay, you tell Gaby. I’ll tell the others,” Jackson said. “And look on the bright side, guys. Most plans have a major speed bump or two. We’re just getting ours out of the way now.”