Page 58 of Shinji Takahashi: Into the Heart of the Storm

“All right, then, let’s go, before these two start arguing about screech owls.”

They started across the lot, toward the cluster of white buildings in the distance. Shinji still didn’t like how exposed he felt, out in the open, with nowhere to hide or obstacles to dart behind. At least it was dark; the clouds blocked out the moon and stars, and there were plenty of shadows to skulk through as they made their way toward the Hightower complex.

And then they ran into the real barrier.

Roux had been right; the simple barbed wire had just been for show. Once across the empty lot, a tall, high-tech security gate stretched away to either side, circling the compound. This one was made of black iron bars, with white stone pillars every twenty or so feet. There were no coils of barbed wire at the top, but the metal signs hanging from the fence readthis area is protected by video surveillance, with a picture of a security camera beneath it. Farther down, Shinji could see a security checkpoint near the road, the white guard station sitting in the light of a streetlamp. The whole fence and the area around it was also brightly lit; if anyone walked into that light, there would be nowhere to hide.

Shinji and the others crouched in the shadows a safe

distance away, staring at the iron barrier between them and Hightower.

“Pretty fancy gate,” Roux muttered. “Doesn’t look electrified, though. Which is good, ’cause I didn’t really want to have my eyeballs jolted out of my head.”

“Oh, I doubt the current would be high enough for that,” Phoebe said matter-of-factly. “The worst that would happen is that you might go blind.”

“We can probably climb it,” Shinji said. “It’s not that tall.”

“Not without tripping every alarm and alerting every camera in the area,” Roux shot back. “Those signs aren’t there for show.”

Shinji glared at him. “I meantafterwe disable whatever is watching the fence. Lucy can do that. Right?” He glanced over his shoulder at Lucy.

“Give me a second.” Stepping forward, she knelt and put Tinker on the ground. “He’ll have to get closer to talk to any electronics in the area, but he’s tiny. A camera will have a much harder time spotting him than if Shinji lurched up to the fence.”

“Since when do I lurch?”

She ignored him. “Tinker,” she whispered to the mechanical creature, “we have to somehow get through that fence. You know what to do?”

Tinker’s copper ears moved back and forth like mini satellite dishes. With a tinny squeak, he darted forward and immediately vanished into the scrub and dead grass.

Stepping back, Lucy pulled out her phone, the glow of the screen illuminating her face. “I should be able to talk to him,” she muttered, her thumbs moving across the surface. “If he sees anything weird or dangerous, he’ll let me…”

She trailed off, making Shinji tense. “What’s going on?”

“Tinker says there are things moving around on the other side of the fence,” she said, frowning. “Not cameras or sensors. Bigger things.”

“Security guards?” Oliver wondered.

“He’s not sure,” Lucy replied, still frowning in confusion as she texted. “But he knows what people are; if they were guards, I would expect him to say so.”

“Maybe they’re killer robots,” Roux joked.

“They’re not killer robots,” Lucy said without looking up. “But they’re small. And they’re…” She blinked, and her eyes got wide. “Flying?”

“Flying,” Oliver repeated. Shinji jerked up with a gasp.

“Drones,” he whispered. “I bet Hightower has drones patrolling the perimeter.”

As he spoke, something appeared, gliding along the fence line. It moved silently, two pairs of propellers pushing it forward like a ghost. A large camera eye scanned back and forth as it came toward them.

“Everyone, get down,” Oliver hissed. “Lucy,” he went on as they all flattened themselves to the dirt. “Call Tinker back, now.”

Lucy nodded, and Shinji held his breath, watching as

the sleek flying machine glided down the fence line, its four propellers whirring silently as it came.

“Okay,” Oliver muttered as the drone continued on like a giant metal insect. “Drones. Great. That’s not extravagant at all, Hightower.”

Roux watched the flying machine turn the corner of the fence and disappear from sight. “It looks like it’s on a set patrol route,” he observed. “So, even after the cameras get disabled, we’re gonna have to time it so that the drone doesn’t spot us as it circles around.”

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