It was still dark when Silke tapped softly on the door. Although we knew it had to be her, we all sat up and held our breath. Aretha squealed and ran to her, as soon as she saw her blonde head entering the cabin. Again, I worried about Aretha and wanted to keep her out of harm’s way. That might be a bit harder after what Tara had seen last night. Tara was smart; she would use it to manipulate me! I would have to outsmart Miss Smartypants!
‘Silke, have you got a car you can use?’ I asked as soon as she had shut the door.
‘Of course, Iago,’ she replied, smiling.
‘Phew, that saves us a 7 km walk today!’ I looked around, grinning. ‘OK, where can you pick us up? It needs to be somewhere where we won’t be spotted.’
Silke bent her head, thinking. ‘I think it’s best if you make your way over the small hill, behind the hangar and through the little wood. The road passes the side of the wood. I could stop to pick you up vithout being seen.’
‘We’d better leave soon,’ I said looking around at the others, ‘before it gets too light.’
‘Silke, when will you be able to meet us?’ Cam asked hopefully.
‘I’ll have to eat breakfast vith my father, but he wakes early and leaves early, so I should be finished in less than two hours.’ She looked at her watch. ‘I should be able to meet you at eight o’clock. Is that OK?’
‘Great! Now, go before they see you!’ I said, physically turning her towards the door.
‘See you later,’ she whispered and ran softly back towards the house.
‘We’ve got a bit of time to kill,’ I said, ‘so while we each take our turn in the bathroom, the others should do some investigating. We need to find a way of getting into CERN.
Charlie went to the small bathroom first. We all watched her go and only after she had shut the door we got to work. I got out my phone and opened my browser. I typed in “CERN security” and in 0.28 seconds, I got back 2700 results. Scanning down the page, one of the titles caught my eye. Following the link “Hackers breach CERN security,” I began to speed read. The story was about the Greek Security Team - some hackers from Greece who had managed to break into an important webpage at CERN. Apparently, they were only one step away from the program which controls the LHC. I looked up from my screen, astonished.
‘Renny, Cam, you seen this?’ I asked quietly. Cam ignored me; he seemed to be totally wrapped up in something on his screen. Renny shuffled over and peeped at my screen. ‘Yeah, cool huh?’ he snickered. ‘Read about it! You should have read the blogs; they were heroes, just for one day.’
‘Renny?’ I asked, turning my head towards him, as the screws in my mind turned. ‘Do you think it would be possible to leave a message for the Greek Security Team on a blog somewhere?’ Renny scratched his head, ‘I would have to post on a few, but if they’ve got a “sweeper” out there, they should pick it up. What do you want to ask them?’
‘For their help!’ I grinned. ‘If they can get into CERN’s systems, then surely they can help us access the main security grid. Who knows what else they can do for us?’
‘Yeah,’ grinned Renny as the penny dropped. ‘Yeah dude…I’ll get on it.’ He flopped down opposite me.
‘Don’t get so carried away you forget to wash yourself!’ I joked. Renny needed to be reminded about personal hygiene!
Charlie emerged from the small bathroom and Tara and Aretha raced each other to get there. Of course, Tara got there first, but a quick glare from Charlie made her offer to let Aretha have first turn. Tara skulked back to her seat. She picked up her phone and started typing.
‘Hey Iago,’ she called, ‘looks like they’re having an open day at the computer centre today.’
‘At CERN?’ I asked, surprised.
‘No, at the Kennedy Space Centre…! Of course at CERN, idiot!’ The last word was almost whispered under her breath. I sat up suddenly; this was just too good to be true. Swivelling her screen towards me, she grinned triumphantly. Miss Smartypants had just solved one of my problems.
Grinning smugly in her direction, I said, ‘Tara, this one is made for you and Aretha. Silke can take you to the open day. Who would ever suspect two sweet girls and their au pair? Of course it will be deep cover,’ I laughed, ‘you’ll actually have to pretend to be a sweet girl!’ My cousin punched me hard in the arm. ‘See what I mean!’ I joked, though I made sure I stepped away from her this time. She could be really mean, sometimes.
A crash somewhere just behind me made me jump. Turning my head, I saw Cam banging his fist against the side of the plane and Charlie trying to comfort him.
‘What is it Cam?’ I asked, unsure whether I wanted to hear the answer.