“Maybe it’s not safe to hang out here,” said Jack. “Let’s go in the woods.”
“But what happened?” asked Stephen.
“I’ll tell you away from here,” said Jack.
They collected their gear and crept back to the the path in the woods. Just out of sight of the hotel, they formed a small circle to discuss the event.
“It was some kind of shock,” said Jack.
“Like electrified?” asked Ben.
“Yeah,” said Jack, “when I touched the rung above the ceiling, I felt it in my fingers. I think the backs of the rung had metal or something. At first I couldn’t let go and I thought that door was going to crush my hand.” Jack rubbed his left hand.
“What door?” said Ben.
“It was like a trap door that shut off the hole,” said Stephen. “It must have been triggered when he touched that ladder; it was moving fast.”
“You have to be grounded to get shocked,” said Ben.
“Maybe the other part of the ladder was electrified too,” said Jack. “All I know is I started to grab that rung and when my hand closed on it, I got shocked.”
A branch cracked behind Stephen and their heads snapped around. When they saw no threat Jack sighed and they all relaxed a bit. For a moment they were silent as they collected their thoughts.
Ben spoke first — “Do you think you could get it open?” he asked.
“What?” Jack was astonished. “You want to go back there? It’s a trap.”
“It’s not a trap,” said Stephen. “He doesn’t want us getting in, but he didn’t try to trap us.”
“But it’s dangerous,” argued Jack. “Even if we do get the panel open, who knows what else is there.”
“We’ll have to be careful,” said Ben, “but what you found just makes it even more likely that there’s something worth hiding in there.”
“Look at my hand.” Jack held up his palm to Ben and Stephen. A line of blisters stood out across the top of his palm. “This guy is not afraid to hurt us.”
“But it could have been worse,” countered Stephen. “I think he wanted us to get scared off, not hurt.”
Jack tried a different tack — “We
“The first thing they’ll ask is ‘Why didn’t you tell us about this before, Jack?’” said Ben. “I mean, we’re really deep in this now. No way we’re telling them we’ve been trying to figure out how to break in this hotel for days.”
“You gotta admit, this is the coolest thing you’ve ever seen,” said Stephen.
“No way — we’re not going near that place again.”
“Oh, come on,” said Ben. “We have to go back in a week, to see if anyone puts money there.”
“Yeah, they’ll probably figure out we broke in and shoot us,” said Jack.
“Oh please,” sighed Ben.
They argued all the way back to Jack’s house. His mom was out so they had no problem sneaking the ladder back into the garage. They had a late lunch of peanut-butter sandwiches while Jack put ice on his fingers.
Stephen was the first to bring up the hotel. In a hushed tone, he said “Look, we have to go back.” he looked at Ben. Turning to Jack — “You don’t have to go if you don’t want.”
“Yeah, right,” said Jack. “I’m not letting you guys get yourselves killed.”
“Hey!” said Ben, brightening. “What if we cut power to the place?”
“How are we going to do that?” asked Jack. “That’s probably more dangerous than the traps.”
“Besides, the hatch must be powered,” said Stephen. “We won’t be able to get in if we cut the power. Why don’t you just grow a pair, Jack?”
“Look,” said Jack, “this is simple — we’re not going back, and if you guys try, I’m going to tell my parents. It’s just too dangerous.”
The boys were silenced by the impasse.
When Ben awoke Saturday morning, he was in a good mood until Stephen reminded him of Jack’s threat. Their room shared a wall with Jack’s parents, so they conspired quietly.
“You gotta talk to him,” Stephen said to Ben.
“Yeah, I guess,” said Ben. “He seemed like his mind was made up.”
“There’s probably something really cool in there though,” said Stephen. “I gotta know.”
“Okay,” said Ben. He threw off his covers and checked the clock. It was seven in the morning. Cracking the door, he looked down the hall and noted that all the bedroom doors were closed. Ben slipped into the hallway and closed the door silently behind him. Tapping once on Jack’s door, he let himself in. On his bed, Jack studied the letter they had found.
“Hey,” said Ben.
“Hey,” Jack replied. “I think I figured part of this out.”
“Oh yeah?” said Ben.
“Yeah,” said Jack. “It has several riddles in it and there’s a code to it, too.”
“Yeah?”
“And he makes direct reference to the trap I hit, as well as others,” said Jack.
“Really?”
“Yeah,” said Jack. “Anyway, if I’m right, it means there’s another trap in that room.”
“Why would he tell us about the trap though?” asked Ben.
“I don’t know — maybe it’s an invitation, or maybe it’s an even bigger trap,” said Jack.
“Well I just wanted to tell you that Stephen and I will stay away, if that’s what you want,” offered Ben.
Jack studied his eyes. “Okay,” said Jack. “But I think we have to check it out a little more.”
“What made you change your mind?” asked Ben.
“I don’t know,” said Jack. “I guess I figure since he warned us here, and since we know we have to be more careful, we can probably stay safe enough. Besides, it’s a really cool letter, once you figure it out.”
“Cool,” said Ben. “I’ll go wake up sleeping beauty.”
“Oh, I bet he’s already awake,” said Jack.
“Huh?”
“He wakes up early to watch you as you’re still sleeping,” said Jack. “I saw him do it in the tent about a million times.”
“What?” said Ben.
Jack chuckled — “You’re dumb.”
“Very funny.”
Ben crept back to the guest room where Stephen was looking for clothes to put on.
“What did he say?” whispered Stephen.
“We’re on,” answered Ben. “He has seen the light.”
“You the man!” said Stephen. “Let’s keep moving so he doesn’t change this mind.”
After they boys cleaned up and had breakfast, they went back up to Jack’s room to plan. Huddled around the letter, they tried to predict what they’d find and how to counter it. Jack was keeping a list of the supplies they thought they would need.
“So, here’s what I think,” started Jack. “You see this code at the bottom that says ‘6C 1B 7F 80 0D 5F F6 CB?’”
“What the hell does that mean?” asked Stephen.
“It’s hexadecimal,” said Jack. Ben and Stephen looked for further explanation. “It’s a computer numbering system — base sixteen.” he continued, but they still looked at him blankly. “Don’t they teach you about computers at your fancy schools?” he taunted.
“Anyway,” started Jack, “Each of these digits is like four pieces of information. A zero or one — it’s called ‘binary.’”
