scattered all around. I paused for a moment, imagining a rocket engine strapped to that thing, flames gushing down over where we stood, funneling down the tunnel we had just come up. The black-and-white photos I’d looked at when I’d been researching this place didn’t do it justice. I thought about taking some pictures to post on the Citycrawler website. Nobody would believe that I’d gotten in. Then I realized that I didn’t want any evidence of what were doing.
“C’mon,” said Kieran. “Enough sightseeing.” He was right. We pulled dry clothes out of the garbage bags in our backpacks. We both dressed the same, in dark hoodies, black cargo pants, black boots. Then we carefully closed up the metal grate, placing the broken padlock back together so no one would suspect a thing.
I got a bearing using the gps and the map on my smartphone. I pointed in the direction we needed to go. Silently, Kieran and I ran across the facility grounds. We stuck to the shadows, clinging to the sides of big dark buildings. In the distance, I could see lights glowing in a few places. It felt like we were creeping through a strange city during a power outage.
I paused to stop and check the map. Cradling the phone in my hand, I tried to keep the light from the screen from giving us away. We were about halfway to our target, the gigantic ware-house that loomed up in the distance. The trouble was, we were on the south side of the warehouse. According to the information Kieran had given me, there was an old loading dock on the north side that we could probably break in through. So now we just had to get around to the other side of the warehouse.
I was distracted by trying to figure out the best way to do this now that I could see things on the ground. That’s why I hadn’t noticed the low, mechanical noise in the distance. But then the noise got louder. I realized what it was when I saw the headlights. A truck. A guard. Coming our way.
Chapter Twelve
We were in the open, exposed between buildings. The truck was coming our way, and there was no way that they’d miss us.
“Lights off,” hissed Kieran. We both shut off the headlamps and ran. The ground was uneven, and we both kept tripping and stumbling. All the while, the growling of the truck engine grew louder behind us. Kieran veered to the left, around the side of something that looked like a massive metal radiator. With the radiator in between us and the truck, we sank to the ground and caught our breath. I peered around the side to see if I could catch sight of the guard. No luck. Then Kieran pointed up. There were a series of ridges up the side of the radiator. Handholds, not great but usable. We scrambled up about six feet, then carefully looked over the top.
In the distance, we could see that the guard truck had stopped. The engine was still idling. Then a searchlight mounted on the roof flicked on and moved back and forth over part of the fence.
“That’s pretty close to where we came in,” whispered Kieran.
“Not that close,” I said. But as we watched, the searchlight slid over to the place that we had just come through. I stopped breathing. The searchlight paused for a second, then moved on. Had we succeeded in covering our tracks?
The truck started up again. Only now it was moving right toward our hiding place.
“Think we’ll get lucky? He’ll just go past us?” I whispered to Kieran.
The truck kept coming.
“I don’t feel lucky,” Kieran said. He dropped off the radiator and ran. He was headed across a wide-open patch of ground toward the big warehouse. I took off after Kieran, keeping the radiator between us and the truck.
We sprinted across together like we were racing at a track meet. Each second in the open meant another chance we could be spotted. The distance seemed to stretch out forever. I was sure that any second now I would be surrounded by a ball of light and hear the guards barking orders at us.
Kieran and I hit the side of the ware-house at the same time. My chest heaved for air, and I crumpled to the ground. I couldn’t move until I caught my breath, even though I knew we were in deep trouble. This was the south side of the warehouse. The only possible entrance was on the north side of the massive building. Circling around would take forever. And we’d probably be spotted by the guard.
Kieran was starting to panic, looking for a way in. There were no obvious doors. The windows at ground level were boarded up with big plywood sheets. Some of the aluminum siding was loose. But when Kieran tried pulling it off, it made a sound like thunder. He stopped, fast.
Then I remembered something. I had copied the map of the DMA site onto the phone back at Kieran’s house. But I’d also copied a satellite photograph onto the phone. Zooming in on a grainy picture of the warehouse roof, I looked for anything that might give us a clue about how to get in. I frantically scrolled around the tiny picture on my screen.
There it was. In the satellite image, it was only a dark blob on the side of the warehouse. But it might be a fire escape, something we could use. I looked up at the side of the warehouse towering over me. I barely saw it by the faint light of the moon. But there it was. A black metal ladder running all the way up to the roof. Only problem was that the bottom of the ladder was about eight feet off the ground.
Suddenly, Kieran hissed at me.
“What happened to the truck?” He was right. The engine noise was gone. I heard my heart beating in my ears.
A spotlight snapped on and splashed across the side of the warehouse just above us. Did they know we were here? Or were they just on patrol, and we were in the wrong place at the wrong time? Didn’t matter. Kieran and I flattened ourselves against the ground.
The spotlight moved across the side of the warehouse.
I thought about our options. If we got up and ran, the guards would definitely catch us out in the open. If we waited, we might not be spotted. Or maybe we’d be nailed by that spotlight. The way our luck was going, I didn’t want to risk it. So the only direction left to go was up. Straight up.
If we could time it right, we could dodge the spotlight. Getting to the bottom of the ladder was the problem. I whispered my plan to Kieran. Then we waited until the spotlight beam hesitated for a moment, locking onto something near the roof of the warehouse.
“Now,” I said to Kieran. He stood up, and I stepped into his cradled hands. Then I stretched for the bottom rung. My fingers brushed the cold metal of the ladder. Pulling myself up, I hooked my feet onto the ladder.
The spotlight was slowly sliding back toward us.
Hanging on with one arm, I reached down with the other toward Kieran. He leaped and grabbed my arm. I pulled up, hard. It felt like my shoulder was going to pop out for a second. But then Kieran had a grip on the ladder. I scrambled up with Kieran right behind me.
We tumbled over the edge of the roof just as the spotlight flashed under-neath us.
“Shit! Did they see us?” whispered Kieran. I shook my head. I didn’t know. We waited for sirens, for shouts, for something. Then we heard the engine of the guard truck start up again and growl off into the distance. We were safe. For now.
Chapter Thirteen
We took a moment to look around. Now the night seemed calm and quiet except for our breathing. Gray clouds scudded across the moon, making shadows crawl over the rooftop. The huge roof was punctuated by skylights and ventilator shafts. Looking over the side, I could see a smaller building next to this one. It shared a wall with the big main warehouse. I noticed a few lights glowing in the small building. That was weird. I thought this part of the facility was supposed to be shut down.
I turned to ask Kieran if he knew anything about it, but he had slipped away. It took me a second to find him. He was bent over, working on one of the massive skylights. The skylight was the size and shape of a small green- house. Kieran was using his knife to pop out a big glass pane from the frame.
