The Impossible Race: Cragbridge Hall, Volume 3 (36 page)

He looked behind him, risking a peek through the sheet metal, to see Abby and Carol only a few paces back.

The quads could move faster than Derick had expected. Great. They needed all the time they could get.

Without warning, Derick’s quad tipped and tumbled over. He crashed onto the floor, the sheet metal fumbling and rolling out of his grip with a thunderous clap. His quad had been tripped. A security bot grabbed his wrist. Derick pulled against it, but it was like wearing a pair of living handcuffs. “You need to evacuate,” it said, and started to pull him down the hallway. Another pair of bots waited for Abby and Carol.

“No!” Derick cried out. He kicked again, toppling the security bot before it could knock into the other quad. Abby and Carol moved past.

Derick tried to wrench free, but the bot held strong. Abby and Carol had to make it even if he couldn’t. But without him they would only have two keys and two spheres. That wouldn’t be enough to do anything. With his free hand, he reached inside the secret compartment in his pocket and pulled out his key and sphere. “Abby!” he yelled, and threw them. It was an awkward throw, but the two precious items arced toward the moving quad.

Abby caught the sphere, but the key had veered too far to the left and out of reach. She had to jump off the quad to retrieve it.

A security bot raised its gun to fire at Abby. Derick lunged to get in the way.

His world went black.

• • •

“No!” Abby yelled. She tried to race back to Derick, but Carol had come back for her.

Carol grabbed Abby and with a grunt and a yank pulled her back onto the quad. “I’m being the meanie friend right now, but look at all those security bots.” She pointed to a small crowd of bots that had gathered and started to fire on them. “Aaah!” Carol pulled the sheet of metal over them just in time. “So rude.” She shook her head.

Abby squirmed again. She had caught a glimpse of one robot towing a limp Derick down the hall. It was taking him away, out of the building, toward the gates—toward Muns.

“He’s not dead,” Carol said. “He’s just unconscious. In fact, this will probably make it so he’s safer than he would have been.”

It was nothing like the scene from the little saturn. There was no explosion of light. Maybe Carol was right. Maybe they had already changed everything and Derick would be safe.

“They caught Derick,” Abby said over the sync to the others. “A security bot is taking him out of the school.”

“We’ll get on that,” Anjum said. “I’m glad the two of you made it. We’re probably almost to you on our way to the avatar lab.”

“Just save him,” Abby said.

“You take care of the bomb,” Anjum said. “I’ll make sure we get Derick back.”

The quad raced down the hall much faster than Abby could have. It turned the corner and they passed by the array of robots controlled by Anjum and the others. Several of them raised their robot arms, cheering for them. They traveled farther down to see Jenkins swing and hit two more security bots. He waved with his free hand. “I thought I should keep the way open for you, madams.” He did a small robot bow inside his cockpit.

“Thank you, Jenkins,” Carol said. “Just saying that makes me feel like a rich lady at a manor.” She giggled.

“You’re very welcome,” Jenkins responded.

Carol giggled again. “Of course, the fact that you’re knocking down robots for me doesn’t make me feel much like a lady in a manor.”

“I don’t understand,” Jenkins admitted.

“Never mind,” Carol said.

Abby jumped off the quad and hit the secret point on the wall that opened the doorway into the basement. It was a specific spot on the crown molding against the ceiling. The two friends hurried down the corridors and ladders until they used a key to open up the entrance to the Bridge.

“We’ve got eight minutes,” Carol said. “Nothing like cutting it close.”

“Quick. The keys,” Abby said, motioning for Carol to join her.

Carol followed suit and they put their three keys in the Bridge. Abby also put in a sphere. It only required one sphere to see the present, but three to enter it. One would put less stress on the Bridge for now.

Thankfully, the Bridge seemed to be working fine. There were no initial side effects or consequences from looking into the future a little over twenty-four hours ago. Abby moved the controls on the Bridge and found two days before. She thought back. What time had the officers spoken with her? It had been late afternoon. She plugged in her best guess for a time and moved the perspective of the great invention to show the security gates. They were tall concrete walls, with a booth beside them for security guards and bots. Someone coming out or in had to pass through two large sets of doors, and be approved both times.

Abby had to scroll back and forth through time before she found the police officers entering campus. They walked beside the blond-bearded assistant from the gates to the doors to the Hall. He opened the door for them.

“Wait,” Carol said. “Right there.”

“Where?” Abby asked, rewinding.

“Right when the blond-bearded terrible dude opens the door. Watch his pockets.”

Abby gritted her teeth when she saw a police officer pass by the blond-bearded officer and drop a package into his pocket. “There it is,” Abby said.

“Now fast-forward,” Carol said. “Follow him.”

Abby knew she didn’t have much time. The Bridge couldn’t handle it. She sped through their hours of interrogation. She saw him speaking with other security officers, filing reports on Chief Shar, and finally going back to his quarters, where he pulled out the device. He’d had it on him the whole time he had been accusing his superior officer.

The security officer pulled out the chemicals he had stashed in a supply closet. Abby didn’t have time to find out when he stole them, but it really didn’t matter. The message at the end of the Race had said he used one of the robots in the lab. With his hacking skills, he could have stolen a bot out of the robotics room and slipped into the chemistry lab. He probably would have taken the time to make it look like another teacher, or Landon, was using the robot too—just in case anyone discovered him. He could have even programmed the security bot on duty to simply be in the wrong place. He could take care of any security footage. He could have even done it while he was assigned to watch over that hall.

He pulled out the package the police officer had smuggled in for him and unwrapped a vial. Carefully he assembled the tranquilizer bomb. And then he reached for more supplies. Abby’s heart sank.

“He made two bombs?” Carol blurted out, and palmed her forehead. “We stole three from Ruminex. He made two fakes and only returned one.”

“Now we have to find and stop two,” Abby said, her heart pounding.

“Double the work. Double the pressure.” Carol synced up with the rest of the team. “The freakshow made two bombs. This is going to go down to the wire.”

Anjum responded, “How can we help? We should be into the avatar lab in a few minutes. We can use the avatars to retrieve whatever bombs there are. Or we can retreat and try to retrieve them with these bots.”

“We should be able to get them with the Bridge,” Carol said. “But we’ll let you know if we need you.”

Abby used the Bridge to follow the blond-bearded security guard through the next day, but at night, he returned, grabbed one of the bombs and walked through the halls of the school. He said hello to all the security guards, and checked on all the bots. He did a thorough inspection of the auditorium. Bots lined the walls, making sure there was no foul play. But of course, he had probably programmed them. Underneath one of the seats about ten rows from the front, he strapped down a tranquilizer bomb.

Muns always had to make his revenge fitting. Derick and Rafa had first saved Abby’s grandfather in an auditorium. He had been held hostage there. And now the Spartans were supposed to be locked inside a virtual booth in this auditorium. Abby and all of her team would have been the first to be tranquilized.

“It’s time to get that bomb,” Abby said. She moved the setting on the Bridge to the present. There were a few security bots still on duty, rolling through the aisles. It looked like they were simply looking for any stray students, but the blond-bearded security officer had probably set them to guard the tranquilizer bomb.

Carol called out over the sync where they had found it.

The Bridge started to shake.

Abby moved the perspective of the Bridge close to the bomb and added two spheres. The Bridge tremored again. “Grab it,” Abby told Carol.

Carol moved to the other side of the room, and crawled from the basement of Cragbridge Hall into the auditorium. She stayed low to avoid being seen by the security bots. She spent several moments trying to pull at the thick tape used to strap the bomb down. She was trying to do it quietly so she wouldn’t draw any attention.

A security bot paused, then turned to roll toward the aisle. Perhaps it had heard her.

“Hurry, Carol,” Abby whispered. “A bot is coming.”

Carol moved her lips, obviously mouthing words she wanted to say but couldn’t. She had to be quiet.

The bot approached her aisle.

The Bridge shuddered.

“Oh, it’s impossible to do this quietly,” Carol whispered in frustration, then pulled on the tape with all her might. It ripped clean of the seat with a loud GRRRRAAAATT.

All the bots in the room turned their heads toward the sound. The bot who had been investigating reached the right row and raised his stun gun.

“Oh dearie,” Carol said, getting up and running toward it. That was the direction she had come into the auditorium from, and the direction she had to go to get back into the basement.

The Bridge shook again, rattling the metal branches that crept up into the ceiling. Abby shifted the perspective of the Bridge closer to Carol.

All the security bots raised their guns, but the closest bot fired.

The instant Carol crossed in, Abby turned one of the keys. A fraction of a second longer, and Carol would have been out cold.

“Whew!” Carol sighed. “That was crazy close.” She looked down at her hands and the tranquilizer bomb. “Where do we put this thing?” she asked.

Abby hadn’t thought about that. “I don’t care as long as it’s somewhere else away from people and far away from here.”

Carol nodded several times. “Yeah, I don’t want this thing to blow up in my face. My face is way too stunning for that.”

“Help me turn the keys back,” Abby said. They had to be turned in unison to gain access to the past or present. As soon as they twisted the keys together, the Bridge rumbled and rattled. It hadn’t been given enough time to calm.

“That really doesn’t sound good,” Carol said. “We’d better hurry.”

Abby nodded as she began to change the Bridge settings.

“Remember the part about this bomb killing anyone who is right next to it when it explodes?” Carol said. “I really don’t want to die right now.” She shook her head, her hands still firmly holding the tranquilizer bomb. “I bet you’re not super fond of the idea either.”

Abby shook her head. “Let’s get rid of it.”

The Bridge shook again, loud and deep.

The Sahara Desert filled the other side of the room. Where there had been the dim cold floor of the basement, miles of sand dunes rose and fell under a scorching sun. A wave of suffocating heat overtook the room, making it feel like an arid wasteland. “We don’t have much time,” Abby said. “Hurry, throw it in.”

Carol hurled the tranquilizer bomb into the sand. “Sorry if there are any cacti and lizards out there! You might take a long nap.”

The Bridge rumbled hard, its branches creaking and shaking, but Abby couldn’t shut it down. She pulled two spheres to relieve some of the pressure, but went back to searching for the blond-bearded security officer in the recent past. She found the spot when he set the bomb in the auditorium, then fast-forwarded.

“I was kind of hoping we could see the big explosion in the desert,” Carol complained.

“No time for that,” Abby said, checking the time. “We still have another bomb, and only three minutes.”

The Bridge rattled, shaking the entire room. It was a small earthquake in the basement. A piece of metal fell to the floor.

“It’s falling apart,” Carol said.

Abby didn’t answer. She watched as the security guard took the next bomb out of his quarters and looked up at the security tower. It was a perfect place for the tranquilizer bomb to go off. It would explode over the entire campus and the tranquilizing cloud would settle over it all. Plus, the second place Muns had kept Grandpa captive was in the
Hindenburg
, high in the air. The top of the tower was the highest place on school grounds.

“It’s on the tower,” Carol announced through her rings to the rest of the team.

The Bridge quaked and more metal fell off its branches.

“One more,” Abby said.

The entire Bridge shifted an inch along the floor and several entire branches fell from their places. One nearly crashed onto Abby.

Carol pulled the keys. The scene of the tower faded.

“We need to get the other tranquilizer bomb!” Abby yelled, reaching for the keys.

“No,” Carol said. “Then there wouldn’t be a Bridge left here and Muns would win. There has to be another way.”

“Like what?” Abby asked.

“I have no idea.”