Blackout (3 page)

Jack wondered how much time they had left, but Obi still wasn’t responding to their calls.

Charlie finally turned off the soldering iron and checked her work. She had to get this right the first time. No room for mistakes. She looked at Jack. ‘Do
you
want to do it?’

‘No thanks,’ Jack said. ‘It’s all yours.’

Charlie took a breath and hit the microswitch.

The safe’s lock clicked.

All three of them let out an anxious breath.

‘Nice one.’ Jack opened the safe, shone the torch inside and stared for a moment.

‘What’s wrong?’ Charlie said.

Jack stepped aside. ‘See for yourself.’

Charlie’s eyes widened as she looked into the safe. ‘I don’t believe it.’

‘What?’ Wren stood on tiptoe. ‘Wait, where is it?’

The safe was empty.

‘Let’s get out of here,’ Jack muttered.

They hurried from the reading room and back into the lounge just as the lights flickered on in the buildings outside.

The three of them froze.

‘That’s all we need,’ Jack said.

‘Guys,’ came Obi’s urgent hiss in their ears. ‘Can you hear me?’

‘Yes,’ Jack said.

‘I’ve been trying to get hold of you.’

‘Power cuts.’

‘I know,’ Obi said. ‘I’ve had to reroute the signal through another mast. Anyway, never mind that, the night concierge has just turned up for his shift.’

Jack looked at the clock on the wall – thanks to all the delays they were seriously behind schedule. They should’ve been long gone by now.

They ran back down the hallway and Charlie went to step into the stairwell, but Jack held her back. ‘No,’ he said. ‘The cameras will be on too.’

‘What are we going to do then?’

Jack turned from her. ‘Obi, what’s happening?’

‘The night concierge is looking for the other one. He’s going into the back room.’

Jack grabbed the door handle and waited.

A few seconds later, Obi said, ‘He’s found him. Looks like he’s calling the police.’

There was nothing else for it. Jack glanced at Charlie and Wren. ‘Ready to run?’

They both nodded.

‘Hoods,’ he said.

The three of them pulled up their hoods and adjusted the bandanas over their noses and mouths, hiding their faces from the cameras.

Jack opened the door and ushered them out. As soon as the three of them stepped into the stairwell, the alarm sounded.

Jack cupped a hand over his ear, trying to block the noise. ‘Obi?’ he shouted. ‘Can we get out on the ground floor?’

‘No,’ Obi said. ‘No way for you to slip past unseen.’

Charlie looked at Jack. ‘Plan B?’

‘Great,’ Jack said with a feeling of dread. ‘This just keeps getting better.’ He pressed a finger to his ear again. ‘Slink, we can’t make it back to the ground floor. Exit’s blocked.’ He looked up the stairs. ‘Meet us up there as quick as you can.’ Jack motioned for Charlie and Wren to hurry up.

He always hated Plan B.

CHAPTER TWO

Jack, Charlie and Wren burst through the door and on to the roof of the building. The cold air stung Jack’s eyes as they ran to the north-east corner.

In the distance, he could hear the unmistakable sound of police sirens, and he gauged they’d be there in the next few minutes.

Jack squinted at the opposite rooftop. ‘Where is he?’

Suddenly, loud music blasted Jack’s eardrums. It was a particularly nasty dubstep track – one that seemed to have extra screeching and grinding sounds.

A silhouette appeared on the other building and the figure leapt over a low wall, did a forward roll and jumped to his feet.

Jack pressed a finger to his ear. ‘Slink?’

The music stopped.

‘Who else would it be?’

Jack glanced at Charlie. ‘Shoot the sarcastic idiot, would ya?’

‘My pleasure.’ Charlie unclipped a custom-built bow from her backpack, unfolded it and took aim at Slink. For a few seconds nothing moved, then she unleashed an arrow.

It flew in an arc and shot past Slink’s head, missing him by a few centimetres.

He scooped up the arrow and untied the fishing line. Attached to the line was fifteen metres of string, then rope and finally steel cable.

Slink hauled it over, fixed the cable to an anchor point on his building and Charlie did the same on theirs. Slink then used a ratchet to pull the cable taut, giving Jack, Charlie and Wren a zip line to escape on.

Jack’s chest tightened with anxiety. Now he was there, he wasn’t sure he could actually use it.

‘Me first,’ Wren said, practically bouncing with excitement.

Charlie folded the bow up and handed Wren something that looked like a stubby pair of bicycle handlebars, only in the middle was a wheel and a clamp.

She hooked the handlebars to the cable, tightened the clamp and nodded at Wren.

Wren slid her hands through the loops, securing her wrists.

‘Shouldn’t we have harnesses or something?’ Jack said, glancing over the edge of the building to the street below.

‘Where’s the fun in that?’ Slink said. ‘Harnesses are for weak people with no sense of adventure.’

‘No,’ Jack said, straightening up and looking at him. ‘Harnesses are for those of us who actually want to stay alive.’

‘You’re just chicken,’ Slink said. ‘Go for it, Wren. I’ll catch you on this side.’

Wren smiled at Jack, gripped the bars and, without hesitation, launched herself off the edge of the building.

Jack’s stomach lurched, but Wren let out a squeal of delight as she accelerated down the zip line, her legs kicking the air as if she were running on an invisible walkway.

Finally, she reached the other side and Slink helped her free her hands from the loops on the bars. ‘Go,’ he said.

Charlie used an attached cord in order to pull the handlebars quickly back up the zip line to the start. She motioned for Jack to go next.

Jack looked at the roof-exit door. If he was on his own, could he make it down the stairs, somehow get past the front desk and escape before the police arrived?

As if in answer, the police sirens stopped and he heard the screech of tyres.

Car doors slammed.

Slink peered down. ‘The cops are going into your building.’ He looked up. ‘I think you should hurry.’

Jack didn’t move. How long before the police realised they were on the roof?

Charlie grabbed his arm and shook him. ‘Jack.’

He looked at her for a moment, then at Slink and Wren on the opposite rooftop.

‘Running out of time,’ Obi said. ‘The cops are on their way up to you.’

Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin. ‘Heads you go first, tails I go. Agreed?’ Before Charlie could answer, Jack tossed the coin into the air, caught it and showed her the result – heads. He stepped back. ‘Go.’

Charlie hesitated.

‘No time for an argument,’ Jack said.

Charlie slipped her hands through the loops, gripped the bars with both hands and threw herself off the ledge of the building.

Even though this backup plan had been his idea, Jack was regretting it.

A lot
.

He considered just letting himself get caught, but that would be
very
stupid. The others would have all sorts of hassle breaking him out again. He gazed across London. Huge areas of it were completely dark.

No
, Jack thought. There really wasn’t a decision this time. He had to get back to the bunker and find out what was going on with these blackouts.

Charlie landed on the opposite roof and let go of the bars.

Jack adjusted his hood and bandana, making sure his face was hidden, then grabbed the string and hauled the bars back.

His stomach twisted into knots as he reached up and slipped his hands through the loops. The handle­­­bar grips were still warm from Wren and Charlie using them.

He swallowed and, with a surge of determination, Jack stepped on to the ledge of the building. He hesitated again and did what he knew he shouldn’t have – looked down.

The road below seemed like a hundred miles away.

‘Oh God.’

‘You’ve done more dangerous things than this,’ Slink said in his ear.

He was right – a while back, Jack had jumped off a building with nothing but a parachute. Only thing was, that time he hadn’t had long to think about it – he’d just jumped. Plus, bullets whizzing past your head made you do crazy things.

‘It’s easy,’ Wren said.

Yeah, right
.

Suddenly, there was a shout.

Jack looked over the edge of the building. In the street below were several police cars and officers.

One policeman had his hands cupped around his mouth. He shouted, ‘Don’t do it. Stay right there.’

A small crowd of onlookers gathered and pointed up at Jack.

Brilliant.
Now he had an audience.

The door to the roof burst open behind Jack and a couple of cops ran straight for him.

No time left
.

Jack took a quick breath and, keeping his eyes locked on Slink, dropped off the ledge.

There was a collective gasp from the onlookers below.

The cold air forced Jack to squint and his stomach dropped as he accelerated down the zip line. He felt the wind pushing from the right, trying to tear him free.

Jack closed his eyes and, after what seemed like forever, he reached the other building. Slink grabbed hold of him and Jack wobbled on his feet as he unclipped the handlebars from the wire.

Taking deep breaths, Jack looked at Charlie.

‘See?’ she said. ‘That was fun. No?’

‘No.’

Slink handed her the bars and she slid them into her backpack.

Jack looked at the other roof – the cops were standing at the edge of the building, their mouths open in astonishment.

‘Use the cable,’ Slink jeered.

One of the police officers lifted a radio to his mouth.

Jack looked down at the street as another police car pulled to the kerb and several officers surrounded the building they were on.

‘Time to go.’

They hurried to a door, opened it and went inside.

One flight of stairs down, Jack held up his hand, stopping the others.

They listened as, ten or so floors below them, a door banged open and several heavy-booted feet ran up the stairs.

Slink threw open the door behind them and they ran through.

In the hallway, Jack, Charlie, Slink and Wren stayed still and listened. They could hear shouting and the boots echoing in the stairwell.

They sounded like they were only a floor or two below them already.

Jack looked at the lift – it was in use – the numbers increasing on the display. It seemed as though the entire Metropolitan Police Force was on the hunt.

Charlie opened her bag and quickly handed them all a pair of thick-rimmed glasses.

‘Obi,’ Jack whispered, ‘are you ready?’

‘Yep.’

Everyone kept still, listening to the police running up the stairs.

They were passing their floor now.

Jack held up a hand, indicating that everyone should pull back close against the wall, but he needn’t have worried – the police moved on up, not stopping to check individual floors.

Jack heard the door to the roof open and close again. He looked at the lift – it was almost at their floor. The police officers would have to get off here, because the only way to the roof was via the stairs. ‘OK, Obi,
now
.’

Suddenly, all the power to the building went out.

Jack slipped on his glasses and pressed a button on the arm. A tiny display flickered to life – showing an image of the hallway ahead bathed in green.

Charlie’s ‘night-glasses’ were an ultraportable night-vision device. Each pair had a tiny camera mounted on them that could see in very low light. Above the camera was a special infrared bulb, and in front of the right lens was a screen.

Jack turned to the others. They looked weird, almost alien, with their eyes glowing a bright green from under their hoods. ‘Follow me,’ he whispered.

They had to be quick. The police officers stuck in the lift were dealt with, but the ones on the roof would have torches. It wouldn’t be long until they realised the Outlaws weren’t up there and came to investigate the rest of the building.

Jack opened the door to the stairwell and they hurried down as quietly and quickly as they could.

Halfway to the bottom, they heard the door to the roof bang open again.

‘Faster,’ Jack urged the others and they increased their pace.