Page 94 of Knight Moves

I followed her gaze. It was a dark shape sticking out from the wall. It was barely visible at that height and in that dark corner. Jax joined me, and we strained our eyes to see what it was. I decided to put some light on it, so on my instruction, Jax and Wally reoriented the mirror toward that corner. The light revealed a thin black metal shape of unknown significance that didn’t appear to yield any clues. Disappointed, I was just about to tell Jax to put down the mirror when Frankie shouted at me.

“Angel, wait. Look at the shadow the shape casts.”

Frowning, my gaze moved from the shape itself to its shadow. I saw at once why she was so excited. The shadow clearly resembled the Greek letter pi.

And just like that, we had the combination.

Chapter Forty-Eight

ANGEL SINCLAIR

Hala tied one of the ropes to the top rung of the ladder and connected two more together to make a long enough rope to lower her down by her ankles so she could reach the door. Bo and Jax carefully positioned the ladder between the moat and the small red square and lowered the ladder against the wall. Propping their feet against the ladder feet to keep it from slipping, they grabbed the other ends of the ropes.

Hala started to climb, stopping just short of the wall.

I watched her, not realizing I was holding my breath until I suddenly gasped for air. My nerves were at a breaking point. The timer showed 27. I wasn’t sure that would be enough time to execute the plan.

Showing remarkable calm and poise, Hala tied the ropes around her ankles and then carefully slipped through the rungs until she was hanging underneath the ladder.

“Hold on tight, guys,” she warned as she arched her back and let go.

Bo and Jax grimaced when the rope swung and ladder slid slightly under her weight.

“Whoa,” Mike shouted as they almost lost control of the ladder. The rest of us tried to help Bo and Jax by steadying the ladder the best we could on either side, but Hala swung back and forth wildly, banging into the wall.

“You okay there, Hala?” Jax called. I could see the strain on his face from holding the rope and keeping the ladder in place with his feet. Bo said nothing, but his face was red, and his biceps bulged from the effort.

“I’m okay,” she called back. “Just lower me a little bit more.”

Slowly, they lowered her until she could reach the door.

“I can reach it,” she called out. “Give me the numbers.”

Just as I started to give her the digits of pi, Bo sneezed and his grip on the rope slipped. Hala started to fall and instinctively shot out her hand to protect her head, her fingers lightly touching the floor in the red zone.

The voice over the intercom boomed, “Miss Youseff, you have incurred a five-minute penalty.”

Everyone automatically looked at the timer. 22.

“Dang it. I’m sorry, Hala,” Bo said. I could tell he was really upset with himself, but Jax kept him and us focused.

“Shake it off, Bo,” he said. “Keep your heads in the game, everyone. Pull her up and let’s start over.”

Working together, we pulled Hala back up to the door while I recited the numbers of pi for her. “Three, one, four, one, five, nine, two, six.”

As she punched in the number six, the door abruptly swung open to sunlight.

We cheered, but it was half-hearted. The challenge was far from over.

Jax and Bo quickly pulled Hala up, and she removed the ropes from her ankles, adeptly scrambling down the ladder.

“Okay, Bo, we need to get me across first,” Hala said. “After that, throw the weights over as soon as I get out of the way.”

Nodding, Bo positioned himself at the edge of the red zone in front of the now open door and bent down, interlacing his fingers. “I’m not going to fail you this time, Hala,” he said grimly.

She smiled at him. “You didn’t fail me, Bo. Don’t worry, we’re going to finish this.”

She backed up to get a running start and raced forward, stepping precisely into his hands. Bo straightened and boosted her over. She flew through the door but landed awkwardly on the other side. She was slow to get up and limped a little.

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