‘It’s an elevator,’ said Pan.
‘Yeah, thanks, Pandora,’ said Jen. ‘I can see it’s an elevator. But an elevator to where?’
There was a glass panel screening off the interior of the elevator. On the rear wall was a row of buttons.
‘Let’s go,’ said Pan. ‘I don’t like this.’
‘Come on,’ Jen replied. ‘Don’t chicken out now. A freakin’ elevator, for Chrissake.’ She pressed her face against the glass. ‘I would’ve been really freaked if there was an up button,’ she said. ‘But look.’
Pan joined her at the glass. Four buttons, marked one to four. The cliff on which the Infirmary sat must have four floors beneath its surface. The Infirmary was sitting on top of . . . well, who knew? There had to be at least four rooms buried in the mountain, but possibly there were entire floors, each containing a number of rooms. What was down there?
‘What do you think?’ Jen said. ‘All the way down to the bottom floor, or do you want to check out level two first?’
‘Are you crazy?’ said Pan. ‘We have no idea what or who is down there. Apart from Dr Morgan.’
‘Yes, I am crazy,’ said Jen. ‘We don’t know what’s down there and there’s no chance of finding out unless we go now. Think it’ll do any good if we just rock up to Dr Morgan tomorrow and ask? “Hey, Doc. We were prowling around here last night and noticed your express elevator to hell. Care to take us on a tour?’’’
‘We’re bound to get caught. They could kill us.’
‘Oh, please. Don’t be so paranoid. You only live once.’
‘Tell that to Cara.’
‘Look. You go, if you like. Maybe that’s better. At least one of us would still have this information if they catch me.’
‘Don’t be stupid. I’m not leaving you here.’
‘I feel safer already.’
It was then Pan noticed the panel on the right-hand side of the glass doors. There was a box etched into the glass and inside that, an outline of a hand. There was nothing else. No handle. No call button. No instructions.
‘So how do we get in, Jen?’ she said, pointing to the panel. ‘It looks like some kind of fingerprint recognition technology.’
‘You’ve watched too many CSI shows, Pandora. Come on. How would The School have that kind of technology?’
‘Who knows what level of technology The School has?’
‘Well, I’m going to try it.’ Jen lifted her hand to the outline.
‘Wait,’ Pan hissed. ‘Are you nuts, Jen? If that is fingerprint identification, you are going to set off alarms because you don’t have authority. Let’s get out of here. We’ve got information, we’ve got that file. Let’s not take any more risks.’
Jen smiled. ‘How did you think we were going to get out past the motion detector?’ she said.
‘Well, I assumed you had a plan.’
Jen’s smile broadened. ‘Never assume, Pandora. True, I did have a plan. That was to bust out of the ward’s doors, set off the alarm and then run like hell. You know? Like we did it last time?’
‘Oh, terrific.’
‘Works for me. So, it doesn’t matter if I set off an alarm now, does it?’ Jen didn’t wait for a reply, but pressed her palm against the outline in the panel. For a second or two, nothing happened. Then a red light flashed on the elevator’s control panel, indicating the lift was moving up to the ground floor. Two seconds later they were blasted by the piercing shriek of a siren. Jen pulled her hand away.
‘You’re right, I’m wrong,’ she said. ‘Back to my original plan. Run like hell.’
The lights came on as the girls started running, a flickering series of fluorescents that lit up first the corridor they were in and then the connecting corridors. They raced past the nurses’ station and turned in to the ward. This too was fully illuminated. Jen passed Pan and reached the French doors first. She laughed as she opened the latch and slid the door to one side.
‘What the hell’s so funny, Jen?’ Pan panted.
Jen turned in the gap and grabbed Pan’s hand. ‘Everything,’ she said.
Then another alarm blared, the alarm set off by the motion detector. Jen laughed harder. ‘God, I love this. Thanks for bringing me along. I wouldn’t have missed this excitement for the world.’
It took them only fifteen seconds to reach the steps leading down to The School and, once again, Jen led the way.
Pan was acutely aware of the drop to her left and the fact that, in bare feet, the steps were more treacherous. Her boots banged against her chest and made it difficult to see where she was stepping, but there was no time to stop and put them on. She ran as fast as she could, the sounds of two alarms fading slightly as she descended.
Even as they reached the bottom of the steps, it was clear they were being pursued. Mixed in with the sounds of the alarms was a hubbub of voices. From somewhere above, a series of flashlight beams crisscrossed the landscape. No rush torches this time, thought Pan. We are enough of a threat for them to reveal they have hi-tech torches. The beams were brilliant and focused; there had to be at least ten of them.
‘Follow me, Pandora,’ said Jen, turning to her right. Pan obeyed without question. To step out into the area away from the cliff would be like stepping onto a floodlit stage. There would be no way to escape detection. But Jen was keeping them in the shadow of the cliff where, for a time at least, they couldn’t be seen. Not until the pursuers caught up with them.
Already Pan’s feet were hurting. The rocks that she had spent so much time clearing during her physical activities program were not the problem. It was the small stones that bit into the soles of her feet. She cursed her stupidity for not insisting the two of them put their boots on before they tried to activate the elevator, just in case they had to run for their lives. She gritted her teeth and put one foot in front of the other, but both girls had slowed considerably. Their pursuers wouldn’t have such limitations on their movements. Pan glanced over her shoulder and saw the beam from a torch issue from the area where the bottom of the steps must lie. She forced her legs to keep pumping away.
She had no idea where Jen was going until she saw the dark bulk of a pile of stones loom up before her. The monument to Cara and Nate. Jen slipped behind it, Pan following a few seconds later. The cairn would protect them . . . for a while. When their pursuers had explored the surrounding areas and found nothing there would be only one place where the intruders could be hiding. Jen had bought them a little time, but not enough.
‘Get your boots on, Pandora,’ Jen ordered, slipping her head through the necklace of her own laces. Pan sat on the floor and pulled on her boots. The soles of her feet were tender and slick. Blood. She winced as the pain pierced her adrenaline high.
‘So what now, Jen?’ she asked as she tied her laces. ‘We can’t stay here forever. What are we going to do, just walk out of here?’
‘Exactly that,’ Jen replied. She took the file from inside her jacket and placed it on the ground. Then she removed one of the larger stones from the cairn and placed that next to the file. Jen reached into her pocket and removed the lock picks, placing them deep inside the small cave she had created in the side of the cairn. The file followed it and then she replaced the stone. In the dark it was difficult to see whether she had managed to hide them sufficiently, but it would have to do.
‘We walk straight into the search party,’ she continued.
‘They’ll know it was us in the Infirmary.’
‘Yeah, but they won’t be able to prove it. It’s not unlikely that a couple of friends of Cara and Nate would visit the monument when they couldn’t sleep. We were sad, we came to pay our respects and then we saw the commotion.’
‘It won’t work. We are going to be deep in the shit.’
‘We are deep in the shit, Pandora. Right here and now. But that don’t mean we can’t be confident in wading through it.’ She stepped out from behind the cairn and strode out onto the running area.
‘Hey!’ she yelled. ‘What’s going on?’
Pan had no option. She followed.
The crisscrossing beams of light froze for a second and then swerved towards the girls, who held their hands to their eyes against the bright torch lights.
‘Stay there. Do not move,’ came a voice from the darkness.
‘What’s going on?’ Jen repeated, but no one replied. The lights converged on the two girls, illuminating them in an ever-increasing pool of brightness. There were six or seven torch-holders. How many people were in the Infirmary? thought Pan. We saw no one, yet half a dozen people are here. Just how many secrets does The School possess? What lengths will they go to in order to protect them?
‘Put your hands on your heads,’ barked a voice. ‘NOW!’
‘Piss off,’ said Jen. ‘Whatever happened to “please”? Put your hands on your head if you want, but I’m doing nothing.’
The group circled the girls, the torches still directed firmly into their eyes. As a result, Pan could make out only a series of dark silhouettes. For a moment there was stillness, and then one of the shapes moved towards Jen and grabbed her arm. She didn’t hesitate. She leaned in towards the man and pivoted, turning her hip into his stomach. His own momentum caused him to tumble and then he flew through the air, landing on his back. He grunted as the hard ground punched air from his lungs. Then he groaned and lay still. Jen held up her hands.
‘No one touches me without my permission,’ she said. ‘That’s a simple fact and one I’d be happy to demonstrate again if any of you guys want to test it further. Do you?’
There was no reply.
‘What is it with you?’ Jen continued. ‘Can’t a couple of girls take a walk at night without being molested by creeps? I thought we’d done away with all that old-world shit.’
A dark shape pushed through the circle and into the spotlight. Even before Pan recognised him, she heard the trademark sniff. Gwynne put his hands on his hips and looked at the man who had got gingerly to his knees.
‘Not clever,’ he said, as if to himself. Then he turned his eyes to Jen. ‘Follow me, Jennifer,’ he said. ‘You too, Pandora. Please.’
Jen smiled.
‘Hey, Gwynne,’ she said. ‘How are ya? And look, since you asked so nicely, I’d be delighted to follow you. Maybe you can explain what’s going on here and how a couple of innocent students can be attacked in the middle of the night.’
Gwynne sniffed, but didn’t reply. He turned away and walked off into the darkness.
The girls followed.