“You think? What if it doesn’t?” My heart pounded in my chest. “Maybe we can just sneak downstairs.”
“No. We can’t risk it. They might have more guys out front, watching the house. This way we’ll have a head start if they try to come after us.”
I was afraid she was going to say something like that. I watched as she grabbed the zip line’s handlebar, pulling it over the railing. Then she scanned the area.
“Okay. Coast is clear. Grab your rig. We need to go. Now!”
I grabbed the backpack, my hands so cold I could barely grip it. Lilli ran over and scooped up her own, shuffling it onto her back. Then she helped me fix mine.
“Ian? Lilli?” Dad’s voice broke in from downstairs. “Um, the gentlemen are on their way up. They said you don’t have to worry about the sensor.”
Ugh. We were out of time. I could hear footsteps on the stairs. I ran out onto the balcony with Lilli. She had the handlebar in her hands and motioned for me to grab on to her back.
“Is it going to hold both of us?” I asked. Surely there was some kind of weight limit on these things.
“I don’t know,” Lilli said. “We’re going to find out.”
The door handle rattled. They were trying to get in. I grabbed Lilli’s waist, holding on tight.
“Go, go, go!” I cried.
She leapt off the balcony. We shot into the air, flying across the backyard at breakneck speed. Too fast, I thought wildly as the tree at the end came zooming closer and closer. Too much weight. We were going to crash.
“Jump!” Lilli cried. “Now!”
Somehow I did, releasing my grip on her and hurtling toward the ground. Hard, fast. Coming in for a very ungraceful landing. I hit the ground sideways, jarring my ankle, then losing my balance and tumbling onto the grass, the air knocked from my lungs. For a moment, I just lay there stunned, trying desperately to catch my breath.
Lilli grabbed my arm. “Get up! Now!”
I scrambled to my feet, looking back at the house. The two men were standing on the balcony, bewildered expressions on their faces. “Where did they go?” one asked. Then the other pointed to the zip line. I heard the first man curse.
“We know you’re out there!” he called into the yard. “We need you to come back inside. Now! We promise we’ll explain everything.”
Yeah, right. We broke into a run, dashing down the greenbelt behind our house, then cutting through our neighbor’s yard, then across another street. In my mind, I pictured the men running back down the stairs and diving into the van to start pursuit. We had to be unpredictable. Find a complicated route they couldn’t follow by car.
We zagged through a park, then across another road. I could barely breathe I was so winded.
“What are we going to do?” I asked. “We can’t run forever.”
Lilli nodded, also out of breath. “I don’t know. We have to find somewhere to lay low until they leave.”
I racked my brain, trying to think of something. It wasn’t easy with the amount of panic running through me.
Then it dawned on me. “The arcade!” I cried. “Maddy will hide us!”
Lilli nodded. “Good idea! Let’s go!”
When we reached the arcade, the lights were off. The sign was dark. Of course. It was still only around noon, and Maddy didn’t open till late afternoon on weekdays, so she could get her art done during the morning hours. Something I hadn’t thought of when I made the suggestion to come here. Hopefully she was home. If not, we had no plan B.
I banged on the door while Lilli kept watch on the road. Every roar of a car’s engine made my blood freeze, and I kept imagining the white van turning the corner, pulling up beside us. What would they do if they found us? Take our equipment and leave? Or would they try to take us, too? How much did they know about what we were up to?
“Maddy!” I cried. “Open up! Please! It’s Ian and Lilli!”
After what seemed like an eternity, the door finally creaked open. Maddy stood on the other side, still dressed in her pajamas. She rubbed her eyes sleepily. “What are you guys doing here?” she asked. “You know I don’t open till two.”
“It’s an emergency,” I begged. “Please. We didn’t know where else to go.”
She opened the door wider, thankfully not asking any questions. We dove inside, and she shut the door behind us, locking it. I collapsed on the floor of the arcade, sucking in a much-needed breath. We were safe. At least for the moment.
Maddy put her hands on her hips. “Okay,” she said. “Do you mind telling me what’s going on? You two look like you’ve been running for your lives. Is everything okay?”
I realized we needed to come clean. We were totally out of our league here. And Maddy was the only adult I could trust not to immediately go to the police once we told our tale. And so, slowly, we told her everything. About Dragon Ops, Ikumi’s kidnapping, Hiro’s disappearance, the beta test, the guys showing up at our house.
When we had finished, Maddy let out a long whistle. “That’s quite a story,” she said.
“You believe us though, right?” I asked, not realizing until this moment how much we needed her to.
She nodded slowly. “Yes,” she said. “And I hate that you guys are mixed up in something like this. You’re just kids. You really should go to the police.”
“Come on,” I said. “You know they’d never believe us.”
“Probably not,” she agreed ruefully. I watched as she walked over and picked up the backpack containing my VR rig. “But you know, these things could have trackers in them,” she said. “In fact, I’m pretty sure they do. No way would any game company just hand out expensive equipment without a plan to get it back after the beta.”
I cringed. I hadn’t even thought
