Jay Budgett: The Indigo Thief

Just then, the door to our landing was kicked open, and six guns were immediately pointed at my face. My chest tightened.

“Well, hey,” I said, trying to keep things casual. Sage curled into the space between the door and the wall, hiding in the shadows. “It’s nice of you guys to—uh—help us out… in a weird way.”

Kindred shoved her gun in a guard’s face. “ON THE GROUND!” She fired a round of bullets in the air. “ALL OF YOU! GET ON THE GROUND!” She took a deep breath. “Dears,” she added quickly.

Three men turned their guns toward her. “DROP YOUR WEAPON,” one shouted.

Kindred’s hands shook as she dropped her gun. She pulled off a pink flip-flop, and tore its strap. A crumbled gum wrapper fell into her hands—one of Bertha’s bombs. If she set it off, the whole stairwell was going down.

Like a giant bomb shelter. If the bomb exploded, the Light House’s walls would absorb its force, and the building would implode, collapse in on itself. The guards exchanged confused looks, but kept their guns focused on her chest.

Kindred held the wrapper in the air. “Two kilotons,” she said. “At least, that’s what they tell me.”

“Horse shit,” muttered one of the guards.

“It’s your choice, dear.” She moved to slam it against the ground. “Not like I have a wife and kids… What do I care if we die?”

“WAIT!”

Kindred smiled. “Hand over the guns, dears, or we’re all dead.” They passed them over without hesitation. She pushed past the men into the hall. “Now, if you’ll excuse us…” We moved past the guards, slammed the door shut behind us, and hurried down the hall, now fully armed.

Outside the central security office, more guards waited, but again Kindred led us through. A giant 360-degree screen wrapped the central security office’s walls, showing footage from cameras across the fortress. Sparky immediately pointed to one image—reinforcements closing in. The Light House was surrounded. Within minutes, the reinforcements would be inside.

Sparky ran to a keyboard in the corner and clapped his fingers on the keys. The massive screen went black, then a flood of green scrolling ones and zeroes appeared. Sparky was hacking the system. Occasionally, Tim slapped a claw on the keyboard and Sparky gave an approving nod.

Suddenly the screen flashed to an outside view of the building. Guards hurried toward the fortress, but before they could get there, sheets of metal slammed over doors and windows. Sparky had activated the bomb threat protocol. The guards threw themselves at the doors, calling for backup.

Sparky stared at the guards. “No use calling your friends,” he said. “I’ve blocked all signals within a one-mile radius.” He smiled at the keyboard. “This thing’s got some wicked controls.”

Kindred nodded. “It’s wicked, all right.” She raised the gum wrapper bomb in one hand. “I say we still take this place down.”

Sage nodded. “To the ground.”

“But first,” I said, not wanting them to forget about Charlie, “the others.”

We were so close. I’d see her in minutes.

“GET ON THE GROUND!”

A guard stood in the doorway, his gun aimed at Sparky, his finger caressing the trigger. Sparky started spinning in his chair—a feeble attempt to dodge the bullets, I guessed.

The guard fired.

Kindred fired too.

The guard fell to the floor. Blood pooled around his limp body.

“Oh—oh my god,” said Kindred. “Oh, dear.” She threw a hand over her mouth and sobbed as she stared at the man she’d killed.

Sparky hung forward in his seat. I ran over to him. In the folds of his arms, I saw Tim—bleeding.

“He—he was hanging on my chest,” said Sparky. “I—I thought if I spun, the bullets might miss me.” Tim’s eyes were closed. “They did,” he said. “But one got Tim… caught him in the arm. Caught him real good.”

“We don’t have much time,” said Sage quietly. She might’ve been blind, but she saw us falling apart better than anyone. “They’ll kill them if we don’t get there fast enough. Once they figure out the building is in lockdown, they’ll realize there’s no escape. And they’ll kill all of them.” Her blind eyes bore into mine. “Charlie, too.”

I grabbed Kindred’s flip-flop, and she placed the gum wrapper bomb in my hand. Her eyes were still trained on the man she’d killed.

“The twentieth floor,” said Sage to Kindred and Sparky, though I wasn’t sure either was listening. “Meet us at the twentieth floor. In twenty minutes,” she said. She pulled me out the door. I ran toward the stairs, but Sage shook her head. “Too many guards out there. Probably all waiting for us in the stairwell still. We’ll have to take the elevator.”

The elevator came only seconds after she called it. It seemed too easy, and a pit formed in my stomach. Something bad was going to happen. We climbed into the elevator, and I pressed the button for the eleventh floor.

Toward Dove, toward Bertha, toward Mila, toward Phoenix.

Toward Charlie.

The elevator chimed, and its doors opened.

Red sniper dots lit its back wall.

The guns fired.

Sage shoved me to the ground as bullets poured in. They’d known we were coming. I slipped Sage a gun as we ducked to the elevator’s side, and we both fired back at the guards. Sage handled the gun almost better than I did.

The red dots disappeared, and the gunfire ceased. We jammed the “Hold Door” button and waited for another round of retaliation, but none came. I poked my head out past the elevator’s door. Ahead, a desk sat empty in a corridor. Behind it, a door sat propped open and a retina scanner screeched. Where were all the guards who’d been firing at us?

Sage pointed ahead. “This way.”

As we hurried down the hallway, there was no one in sight—the guards were gone. Sage pushed past an empty desk and a screeching scanner, and I followed. We hurried down the line of cells. A door at the end of the hall stood open.

“FOR CHRIST’S SAKE.” It was Bertha’s unmistakable voice, shouting through the barred slots of one of the cell doors. “IT’S ABOUT TIME—”

Sage slammed the slot shut as she passed. She continued running down the hall and I followed her lead. Bertha and the others could wait. First, we had to find Charlie.

Sage ran straight for the open cell door, and cursed when she reached it. She wrapped her fingers along the doorway’s cold metal frame. “They got her,” she said quietly.

“What? What do you mean?” I scanned the room. My heart sank in my chest. No one was there. The cell sat empty.

“They must’ve taken her to the chancellor’s chambers,” said Sage. “They’ve been carting her between the two for a couple of days now.”

Now I understood why the guards had ceased fire—and why we had so easily avoided being shot. They hadn’t been trying to kill us at all; they’d merely been stalling us while they took Charlie hostage. My chest felt tight again, and I swallowed. “Where are the chancellor’s chambers?”

“One floor above us,” said Sage through pursed lips.

“We just rode past it.” Sage nodded. “We’ll—we’ll find her,” I said, hoping Sage didn’t detect the uncertainty in my voice. “Let’s get the others first.”

Bertha slapped me hard when Sage finally unlocked her door.

“Ran right past me!” she muttered. She grabbed the pink flip-flop I still held in my hand and slammed it across my chest. “And I have absolutely zero doubt you laughed about my flip-flops too… Probably thought Kindred was wearing them for sport.” She turned the sandal in her hand and examined its torn strap. “You get the bomb out?”