The Mysterious Benedict Society

the passage.

The marble shot over Jackson’s head, struck the stone floor in the distance with a satisfying click, bounced off the far wall, and skittered around the corner. Jackson spat out his licorice and barked, “Who’s there?” Not waiting for an answer, he ran down the passage and around the corner, and Kate dashed to the door he’d been guarding. Next to it was a numeric keypad. She hadn’t counted on that, but if Mr. Curtain hadn’t changed the codes again. . . . Her fingers flew across the numbers.

The door opened. Kate leaped inside.

Only then did she realize she was in an elevator. An elevator? Of course! How else would Mr. Curtain get up to the Whispering Gallery in his wheelchair? He must not let his Messengers use it — he did like his secrets, didn’t he? Probably enjoyed the thought of the children laboring up all those steps, too. As the door slid closed, Kate saw the tower steps through an open doorway across the passage. Jackson had been guarding both entrances.

There were only a few buttons inside the elevator. They were unlabeled, but it wasn’t hard to guess that the top button would be for an entrance outside the Whispering Gallery, and the one below it — that would surely be the computer room. Kate stared longingly at the button . . . but of course she couldn’t press it. She couldn’t use the elevator. Jackson was sure to hear it. He was probably already coming back down the passage.

And so Kate improvised. She emptied her bucket, flipped it over, and standing atop it on her tiptoes, unscrewed the maintenance panel above her. She’d never worked so quickly in her life. In no time she’d tied her rope in place, gathered her bucket and things, and disappeared though the panel into the elevator shaft above.

No sooner had Kate replaced the panel below her than the elevator door opened. Kate held perfectly still. She heard Jackson grunt. The door closed again.

Kate flicked on her penlight. The elevator cables stretched high above her, disappearing into blackness. She took off her shoes and socks, slid the socks over her hands to protect them, then put her shoes back on. With her penlight clamped between her teeth, she started up, wasting no time. She had a very long, very difficult climb ahead of her.

It was a very long, very difficult way to go only to be disappointed. Despite the socks, the cable hurt her hands; the climb was exhausting; and when at last Kate came to a set of doors near the top, she found them impossible to pry open or peek through. Above them another set of doors (which must open onto the passageway outside the Whispering Gallery) proved equally immovable. Then, squeezing past the winch and machinery at the top of the elevator shaft (if the elevator had started just then, she’d have been killed), Kate discovered that a vent cover she’d spotted was welded shut. The vent was too tiny to climb through, anyway. She did manage to peer down through it, if only to make the following, discouraging mental notes:

In the foyer: two Recruiters, very big and dangerous-looking, both wearing shock-watches. Behind them: thick metal door, three manual locks in addition to an electronic keypad, one of the locks a combination. Air ducts: too small for Constance to fit through, even if greased. Ceiling: inaccessible. Windows: none.

No windows, Kate thought, and no hope for entry. She couldn’t even get to the room outside the computer room, much less into the computer room itself. It was hard to resist a sigh. She’d had grand visions of sabotaging the Whisperer, destroying its computers all by herself. Ripping out cables, crushing components, stealing mysterious gizmos that could not be replaced. Not only would she be regarded as a hero, she would prove once and for all that she could do everything alone — that she needed no one’s help. But now she saw she could do no such thing. Not this time.

Kate stiffened. In her disappointment she had let her mind wander, and only now became aware that one of the Recruiters was peering into the darkness in her direction.

“McCraig,” the Recruiter said to his partner, “do you see something odd behind the vent there?”

McCraig pulled out a flashlight. Nothing behind the vent. “Probably a mouse.”

“A talking mouse?”

“That’s not coming from the vent, you idiot. That’s the Executives coming up the steps. Got a new one taking the tour tonight, remember?”

Kate, who had pulled back just in time, also heard the voices. They were just on the other side of the wall.

“— part of your training,” S.Q. was saying, his voice growing louder. “After I show you the ropes up here, you and I meet with Mr. Curtain so he can explain some things to you.”

“Yes, you’ve already said that,” said a testy voice. Martina Crowe. “But why are you coming to the meeting? You’ve been an Executive for almost a year now.”

“Well, you probably haven’t noticed,” S.Q. said, “but I’m a little slow on the pick-up. Mr. Curtain sometimes has me sit in on these tutorials, to refresh my memory about certain things.”

Kate heard a derisive snort, then Jackson’s voice saying, “Hold on, you two.” She leaned and peeked through the vent again, but couldn’t see him. The entrance from the tower steps was out of view.

“McCraig,” she heard Jackson say to the Recruiter. “Everything fine up here? Nothing unusual going on tonight?”

“I’m telling you, Jackson,” said S.Q.’s voice, “it was probably a mouse.”

“We got mice, too,” said McCraig. “Other than that all’s fine.”

“Jackson takes his guard duty very seriously,” S.Q. said knowingly.

“Hey, it’s Mr. Curtain who wants security stepped up,” Jackson snapped. “You got a problem with Mr. Curtain, S.Q.?”

“Of course not! I was just saying . . .”

Kate didn’t hear the rest. She was already easing her way down the elevator shaft again. She needed to beat Jackson back down so she could slip out. And then? What was this about a meeting with Mr. Curtain? Maybe the night didn’t have to be an entire loss. The trouble would be finding a way to eavesdrop on his office. Too risky going into the Institute Control Building. But maybe she could find another way.