Page 53 of Dig Your Grave

“I walked the halls for the last ten minutes.Didn’t see anyone except maybe a custodian on the first floor.”

The lock clicked.We slipped inside, shutting the door behind us.

Carlisle’s office smelled of coffee and old textbooks.A large desk stood against the window, cluttered with papers, a laptop, a locked briefcase.Bookshelves lined the walls, featuring economic theory tomes and bound journals.

Anubis headed to the briefcase, producing the lock pick kit.“I’ll handle this.You check his laptop.”

I nodded, carefully opening the computer.As planned, Carlisle had left it asleep rather than fully shut down.Password-protected, but I typed a guess: the standard Edenvane staff login.No luck.

Anubis frowned, elbow-deep in picking the briefcase lock.“Try his birth year, or something else.We have a partial profile on him from the envelope.”

I typed in the year Carlisle was rumored to have graduated.To my shock, it worked.He’s either sloppy or has a trick up his sleeve.

The desktop loaded.Dozens of document icons showed up, including a folder labeled “Research FINAL.”

I swallowed.“This must be it.”

With a sinking heart, I copied the entire folder onto a USB drive.We had to show Sophie proof that we’d stolen it, or we’d lose all credibility.

Meanwhile, Anubis popped the briefcase open.Inside, neat stacks of typed notes, annotated references, some charts.He rifled through them quickly, pulling out a handful to wave at me.

“Looks like the real deal.We can take photos as evidence of theft, then put them back,” he whispered.

I nodded, feeling guilty.“Good idea.”

We snapped pictures with Anubis’ phone.But as I scrolled further into Carlisle’s laptop, I spotted a second folder titled “Backup.”The sub-folder was named “In case.”

A flicker of relief.Carlisle had taken precautions, likely storing the real data elsewhere.Perfect.

I left that folder untouched, only grabbing the “Research FINAL” for show.Then we carefully locked the briefcase back up, leaving no sign of tampering.

My phone buzzed, making me jolt.I hissed in annoyance, any noise in a quiet building was risky.Checking the screen, I saw a text from an unknown number:

Unknown:

“Skulls watchers spotted in the corridor.Hurry.”

I showed it to Anubis, panic swirling.“Someone’s helping us?Or messing with us?”

He didn’t hesitate.“Either way, we have to go, now.”

We shut Carlisle’s laptop, returning it to standby.Then we slipped out into the hallway.The overhead lights had been dimmed for the night.Footsteps echoed in the distance.

Holding my breath, I followed Anubis down a side stairwell.We heard voices above, muffled but urgent.I couldn’t make out words, but the tone was menacing.

Step by careful step, we crept onto the ground floor.The corridor stretched empty.Another door led outside.

“Come on,” Anubis breathed, guiding me through.

Outside, the crisp night air hit me like a shock.My legs wobbled from adrenaline.We sprinted across the quad, ducking behind a row of hedges.In the distance, I saw two figures in black coats slip into the building we’d just vacated.

A final wave of terror rushed over me.We’d done what the Skulls asked, but watchers might have tried to intercept or confirm our break-in.Maybe that was the real test: to see if we tried to double-cross them.

Once we were back in the caretaker’s cottage, hearts pounding, we reviewed the stolen files.Enough to satisfy Sophie, hopefully.We had the entire folder from Carlisle’s laptop, plus phone photos of his handwritten charts.

Anubis tossed the flash drive onto the table.“We’ll present this at the next Skulls meeting.They can do their own spin.Meanwhile, Carlisle still has his hidden backup.So hopefully, his real research remains intact.”

My limbs trembled.“We’re lying to an organization known for cruelty and secrets.If they catch us…”

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