“Get the rope out and tie off,” he said. The glass came away from the frame, sliding to the roof and cracking a little. I winced at the noise.
“We’re going to go down through that? Seriously?” We’d just been chased by guards, climbed up the side of the warehouse. Now Kieran wanted to drop down on a rope? What was he, Batman?
“There’s gotta be a better way,” I said. “We were going to look for stairs or something, remember?”
Still crouched down, Kieran tied one end of the rope around a stainless steel pipe.
“I’m not going to break my neck falling through a skylight,” I said. Enough of this Hollywood action-hero stuff. Then Kieran reached into his jacket pocket, opened his palm and offered me a couple of pills.
“Fine,” he said. “Need some courage?”
“Your meds? Are you nuts?” I said. Even in the dim moonlight, I could see his expression tighten up.
“Then screw you. Go home. I don’t need you anymore.”
“Screw that. I want my share of the money from this. And it had better be worthwhile.”
Kieran just laughed. “The big score. You really did this just for the money? You are just a little criminal, aren’t you? What happened to all your ideals, Boy Scout?”
He took two of the pills and stuffed the rest back in his pocket. Then, before I could say anything else, he grabbed the rope with two hands and lowered himself through the skylight. I watched the rope shake as he slid jerkily down it. Pretty soon, Kieran had disappeared out of the range of my headlamp and was lost in the darkness.
Now it was back to me. I’d come this far. It seemed stupid to back out now. But Kieran was different tonight. I was into taking chances but being smart about it. Calculating the odds. Kieran was just going for it. Like he didn’t care about getting hurt. Didn’t care about anything except getting into this building. Maybe that was my problem. Maybe I needed to be a little more like him, a little more radical.
Before I could change my mind, I grabbed the rope. No harness, no safety. I put my weight onto the rope and let it start to slide through my gloved hands. I dropped down, and pretty soon I was surrounded by the dark space.
The descent felt like forever. I figured I must be near the bottom, and my arms were starting to hurt, so I let the rope go faster. But I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hang on for. I built up more speed than I expected and hit the ground pretty hard. I found myself on all fours on a dirty concrete floor. I looked up. I was in the middle of a vast, dark room.
Thick steel girders came down from the roof, marching across the huge expanse of the warehouse. Aside from those, there wasn’t much here. Some garbage on the floor, construction waste, packing materials. I moved my headlamp, trying to find something, anything that might look like a crate. But the warehouse was really empty. It took me a second to realize what this meant.
There was nothing here. No crates of smartphones. Nothing.
Then I heard something on the other side of the warehouse. I ran toward it. Kieran had some explaining to do.
It was easy to find him. The light from Kieran’s headlamp was bobbing around crazily against the wall. As I got closer, I could hear him muttering. He was so absorbed in what he was doing that he didn’t notice me approach. I held up and watched for a second, trying to make sense of what I was seeing.
Kieran was standing in front of a set of plain double doors. They were faded and dirty and had a large chain with a padlock across them. Kieran was looking at a printout, maybe the warehouse blueprint we’d looked at in his room. But he’d made all sorts of scribbled notes on it. Then Kieran dropped the blueprint and smashed at the locked door in front of him with the hammer and chisel. That’s what I must have heard earlier. A few strong blows, and the lock gave way, cracking open.
I stepped forward, calling Kieran’s name. I was pissed about the money, but more than that I wanted some answers. Where were the smartphones? Why would he lie to me? When he heard my voice, Kieran whirled around. The hammer was still in his hand. He pointed it at me.
“You keep surprising me, Bex. Not in a good way.”
“Where are the smartphones?” I said.
“You still don’t get it, do you?” sneered Kieran. “There never were any smartphones. I just used that as bait. I figured you’d only help me out if there was money involved.”
“But why did you need to get in here?”
“It’s really simple, Bex.” Kieran laughed, high-pitched and sharp. His face looked pale and sweaty. “I’m in it for revenge.”
His smile snapped away like a light switching off.
“Now get the hell out.” He pointed the hammer at me. I wanted to ask more questions, but that wasn’t going to happen. I put up my hands and backed away.
“All right, I’m out,” I said. “You’re on your own.” I kept backing up until I saw Kieran turn toward the door. Then I clicked off my headlamp and crouched down behind one of the big pillars. And watched. It was hard for me to figure out what was going on with only the light from Kieran’s headlamp in the distance. But it was enough.
Kieran kept trying to shove the door open. Despite smashing the lock, it seemed stuck. Maybe it hadn’t been opened in a while. Then I heard Kieran yell in frustration. He kicked the door until it finally cracked open. I watched him grab his backpack and push his way through the broken door. Now the ware-house was completely silent and dark. I crouched, trying to think this through.
I had a choice. I could follow Kieran, or I could bail. I could go right now, take off into the darkness. Leave all of Kieran’s problems behind.
But I couldn’t let go of the feeling that I was responsible. I’d gotten Kieran into this place. The way he talked about revenge didn’t sound good. Against who? His dad was the only link to this place. That’s when everything came into focus.
I ran toward the broken door.
Chapter Fourteen
Kieran was going to do something crazy. Something to hurt his dad.
And I was the only one who could stop him.
I hit the broken door hard, shoving through it like a linebacker slamming another player. I stumbled into a hallway. A brightly lit, clean hallway.
This part of the building was definitely not abandoned. I realized that I must be in that small building I’d seen earlier from the roof. The one that shared a wall with the warehouse. It was still a working office, with desks, computers. Security cameras.
Still running, I reached the end of the long hallway, where it split in two directions. On the right the hallway ended in a waiting area. Big floor-to-ceiling windows looked out into the night. To the left, there was a door labeled Operations and Security. A crack of light spilled out from inside. I wondered where the guards were, and how long it would take for them to show up. I figured we had a couple of minutes to get out of here. At most.
I gently pushed the door open. It was a huge office with a dozen desks spread across it. Racks of overhead lights were shining brightly. It took a second for my eyes to adjust. And then I saw him.
Kieran was sitting at one of the desks farthest away from me. His back was to me, and his shoulders were shaking. I couldn’t tell if he was crying or laughing. “Kieran?” I said.
He spun around in the chair. His eyes were red, and his cheeks were wet with tears.
Kieran looked at me and closed his eyes. “Just leave me alone.”
“Let me help you, man. What’s going on?” I took a step toward him.
“Get back!” Kieran said. He’d gone from crying to yelling in a split second. “You shouldn’t have followed me. You screwed up the plan.”
“Take it easy. What plan, Kieran?” I said. Kieran shook his head, staring off into space.
I wanted to get over to him, try and talk him down. We needed to get out of here before we were busted. I kept thinking about the security cameras I’d seen in the hallway. We didn’t have much time. Maybe I was imagining it, but I thought I could hear the wail of distant sirens.
