Page 53 of No Escape

I didn’t have a better idea, so I walked over to the machine and inserted the card. The screen leaped to life and asked for a PIN. Everyone crowded around trying to see.

“A PIN. Really? Is nothing ever straightforward around here?” Clarissa said with a sigh.

“Maybe we have to solve another puzzle in order to get it,” Alessa suggested.

“Possibly.” I watched the blinking message asking for the PIN. “Unless someone recalls seeing a four-digit number somewhere.”

“Four digits,” Mia said. “The final score. Wasn’t the final score a four-digit number?”

“Si, it was,” I said. “Is it still displayed on the panel?”

Mia ran over to the panel. “Oh, no! It’s gone. The number is gone.”

“I remember the first two numbers were six and three,” I said, “but I’m not sure about the rest.”

“It ended in a zero,” Clarissa said. “I’m pretty sure of that.”

“Well, that gives me a place to start,” I said. “I’ll take this from here. But we’re running out of time, so everyone else, please get back to your puzzles. We need them solved as soon as possible.”

As everyone dispersed, I methodically went through the numbers for the PIN until I arrived at the right number—6370. The machine flashed, and to my relief, the cash slot opened. However, instead of cash, a tray popped out holding two metal darts about eight inches long with plastic feathers.

I picked the darts up carefully, examining them. I wasn’t sure what to do with them at this point, so I headed over to see how things were going at the puzzle table.

“What are those?” Alessa asked, pointing at the darts.

“That’s what came out of the ATM.”

Mia held a palm-size puzzle piece in her hand for a moment before Clarissa reached over and snatched it from her, sliding it into place.

“Do you know what to do with them?” Alessa asked.

“Not yet,” I admitted. “I’m hoping you’ll give me a clue.” I took a closer look at the puzzle, realizing they’d finished more than half of it. “Good work.”

“It’s mostly Clarissa,” Alessa admitted. “She has mad puzzle skills.”

“That’s kind of you to say,” Clarissa said, not lifting her eyes from the puzzle. “Although I’ll admit this one is tougher than most. It doesn’t have a lot of pieces, maybe thirty-five or forty, but there are no straight edges, and we don’t know the shape of the assembled puzzle. It isn’t square or rectangular, I can tell you that. That means we have no edge or corner pieces to provide reference points.”

Interesting how Lexi and her mom weren’t as different as she believed.

I studied the puzzle further, noting another difficulty. “There are only black pieces on a white background, so you can’t even assemble the puzzle using the background. That has to be extra difficult.”

“It is,” Alessa agreed. “But we’re making progress.”

They were, but clearly because of Clarissa’s wicked puzzle skills. I had a feeling there was a lot more to my mother-in-law than I, and possibly her daughter, knew. I put the darts aside and helped them work the puzzle. It was assembled quickly with five of us working on it. When it was finished, we stepped back and studied it.

The message was clear. An arrow pierced the outline of a balloon.

“We have to shoot the balloons with the darts,” Alessa said, looking up at the ceiling. “I presume the gold disc is hidden in one of them. But there are only two darts and a lot of balloons.”

I looked at the clock. “And only twenty-five minutes to go. I don’t see how we could pierce all of them in that time frame with just two darts.” I walked over to Winston. “How are you doing on the chess game?”

“I have the solution—checkmate in two moves. It was the only possible solution, and I checked everything I could think of. But I don’t know what to do next.”

We all gathered around the chess table. “Can you show me your solution?” I asked.

“Should I move the pieces?” Winston asked. When I nodded, he picked up the queen. “The first move is the queen to the F6 square, putting the black king in check from the white bishop. There are only two moves black can make at this point, but if he makes either one, the knight to E7 produces a mate.”

“Well done,” I said and was rewarded with a smile from my father-in-law. Was I sensing a slight thaw in our relationship or was it wishful thinking?

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