Page 97 of No Escape

He bowed, so I interpreted that as a yes. “Do you need something?”

He bowed again.

“Directions?”

He didn’t move, which I took as a no.

“Maybe he needs the other strobe light,” Mia said from her position by the open door. “Tito was yelling that he left it on the track. Maybe his burned out.”

I turned back to the screen and pressed my mic button. “Do you need the other strobe light?”

Slash bowed quickly, confirming Mia’s hunch. Before I could even think of what options we had, Mia shouted at me, “I’ll get it for him.”

“Wait, Mia!” I called out, but she’d already disappeared.

Worried, I flicked the light on for the first section of the room and thought for a moment she wasn’t there. Then I spotted her on her hands and knees, crawling along the path. She approached a sharp left turn and, before I could say anything, swerved following the path. How was she doing that in the dark?

I turned on my mic again. “Mia, you have a curvy stretch ahead of you, so be careful. Slash, Mia’s going to get you the other strobe light. I don’t know if there’s enough time, or exactly how she’s going to get it to you, but we’re going to try.”

I watched Mia flawlessly navigate the curvy stretch on her hands and knees and then another straight patch. “Stop, Mia. You’re approaching the first laser beam. It’s knee high, so you will have to crawl on your belly to go under it. Then the path turns ninety degrees left. You’ll have to remain on your belly as the beam will be just above your head. I’ll tell you when you are clear to resume crawling.”

She waved, so I presumed she understood. I wasn’t sure how she was following the path, but I didn’t care. She was making remarkably good time, which meant she was giving us a fighting chance.

She finally cleared the first laser. “Mia, you’re clear and can resume crawling,” I said.

Mia accelerated, twisting her way down the path toward the second laser. Several paces short of the second beam, she stopped and stood up.

My anxiety spiked. “Mia, what are you doing?”

She held her arms above her head, and I saw she had the strobe light in her hand. Success! She’d found it. Now how would she get it to Slash?

She was facing in the direction of Slash, and a quick glance showed Slash was facing her, probably turning to the sound of her voice. I presumed, or hoped, they were talking to each other. I desperately wished I could hear what they were saying. I flipped back to Mia just in time to see her cock her arm and throw the strobe light toward Slash.

Holy hail Mary!

She’d thrown him the strobe light in complete darkness. It would be a stroke of luck if she threw it in the right direction, let alone if Slash was able to catch or corral it before it rolled off the platform.

I flipped my view over to Slash. To my surprise, he was already facing the disc again. Did he have the strobe light? He acted like he was working on a puzzle moving forward and back again. I had no idea what was going on.

I checked the clock—just under five minutes remained. “Mia, start crawling back here as carefully as you can. There won’t be time for me to guide you and get the code, so you’re on your own. Just stay low and use your hands on the track to guide you.”

I debated whether to tell Slash the time when I saw him start doing jumping jacks on the platform.

He had the code!

My fingers shook as I hit the mic button. “Slash, I see you and I’m counting. The first number is…four. Is that correct?”

He bowed and started jumping again. I scrambled to keep up.

“The second number is eight.” I paused, but he didn’t confirm with a bow, nor did he continue, so I assumed I was wrong. “Seven?”

He bowed and started jumping again. In seconds I had the three-digit code—476. Slash sat down, so I knew that it was. Now, all we needed was Mia. I dreaded even looking to see where she was. My stomach dropped when the clock indicated we only had forty-five seconds left.

I tried to climb down from the chair, but it was awkward to squeeze around the controller console that I couldn’t figure out how to raise. I didn’t have time to figure it out. Somehow, I managed to squish past. I hopped off the steps and staggered toward the door to the blackout room, my back and legs stiff from sitting for so long.

“Mia!” I shouted into the darkness.

“What?” she said, crawling into view and coming to a stand.

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