Chapter Forty-Seven
ANGEL SINCLAIR
“Not again,” Wally shouted. “Turn the light back on.”
“I can’t,” Mike said, cursing. “It’s out of power.”
“What kind of challenge gives you a dead battery?” Kira asked in frustration.
“Well, one thing is for sure,” Wally said. “We aren’t getting through that door if we don’t have any light.”
Someone slammed a fist against the wall, while others started grumbling.
“Wally, what did you see on the door before the light went out?” I called out.
“Some kind of colored wires,” Wally said. “I think we’re supposed to connect them.”
Jax told Mike to hand over the flashlight. He also tried to get it working, mostly by banging it, but repeated attempts failed to make it come back to life. Someone moaned the challenge was unfair. I was working my way toward Wally and the door when the light in the room came on, effectively blinding us.
“What the heck?” Mike exclaimed in astonishment.
I shielded my eyes with my hands, blinking rapidly, trying to get accustomed to the brightness.
“Who turned on the light?” Bo asked, squinting at me.
“Me.” When my eyes adjusted, I saw Frankie standing next to a light switch hidden behind a large hinged painting. She’d apparently swung it open to reveal the switch.
“Guess what I found, guys?” she said, grinning.
After a moment of shock, we jumped on Frankie, hugging and congratulating her. However, our excitement was short-lived when a voice came over the intercom.
“Once the timer expires, the door will remained locked for two hours,” the voice said.
We whirled around. Above the door, a new countdown timer, apparently just for this task, had illuminated. It showed 4:35 and was ticking down, indicating it must have activated when the light switch was thrown.
As a group, we rushed to the door, examining the wired panel. Like Wally said, instead of a door handle, there were two horizontal rows of ten colored wires coming out of the panel. The bottom row had the same colored wires as the top row.
I stared at it totally uncomprehending. “What are we supposed to do with that?”
Mike, who had knelt in front of the panel, looked at me over his shoulder. “I think we need to match the right combination of top wires to the bottom wires to unlock the door.”
“That’s an impossible task given the time constraints and the fact that there are way too many possibilities to try in that short of a time,” I said.
“You can figure it out, Angel,” Frankie said.
A combination. There had to be an answer.
I pressed my hand to my forehead, trying to think. “Okay, they know we can’t try them all randomly, so there must be a color-related clue in this room. We have a little less than four minutes to find it. Everyone get to work. In the meantime, Mike, start trying as many combinations as you can.”
“What if I get penalized?” he asked.
“Then we’ll each try a combination. Just try something.”
He turned back to the panel and started randomly connecting wires.
“I’ll go recheck the boxes of electronics to see if there is something in there that could give us a clue,” Jax said.
“I’ll help you,” Hala said, and they dashed down the corridor to retrieve the boxes.
We started looking at the paintings, the desk, the chair, everything, while the timer counted down. We found nothing.
Mike tried several combinations without penalty. It emboldened him, because he was working at a blindingly fast speed. Jax and Hala came skidding back in with the boxes.
“We’ve got nothing,” Jax said, dropping the box on the floor and rummaging through it. “No notes, no wires tied together, no clue that we could see.”
At least no one was panicking. Outwardly everyone remained calm. I was just glad no one could tell my heart was thumping wildly.
I moved closer to watch Mike, who was trying different combinations of the wires. He was incredibly nimble with his hands, but nothing was working and we were out of time. The timer started its countdown from under a minute.
Just as the timer hit thirty seconds, Kira suddenly pushed her way forward.
“I think I have this,” she said. “But I need some help. Quickly, help me unfasten any wires that are connected and let’s start fresh.”
Wally and I leaned forward to help, and in seconds we had all the wires all free.
“Okay, match the red, violet, blue, and green wires together,” she said. “Nothing else.”
I glanced up at the timer. Eleven seconds. I leaned over Mike’s shoulder and connected the blue wires while he worked on the green ones. Kira matched the violet, while Wally twisted the red ones together.
The timer froze on three seconds.
A loud click sounded, and the door slid open.
For a moment, we stared in disbelief until Wally shouted, “Yes!” and gave Kira a huge hug.
“Did we make it in time?” Frankie asked, looking around in bewilderment.
“We did,” Mike said. “By the skin of our freaking teeth.”
Shouting, cheering, and smacking each other on the back, we spilled across the doorway and into the next room.
“So, how did you figure it out?” Wally asked Kira.
“It was on the painting where Frankie found the hidden light switch,” she explained. “When she swung open the painting, the picture turned to face the wall, so none of us saw it. I just happened to swing it shut, and when I did, I saw there was a girl sitting there, holding a scroll. There was a poem written on the scroll. It said, ‘Roses are red/Violets are blue/Throw in a green and you’ll find your way through.’ I wasn’t sure if violet counted as a color or not, but when I got close enough to see the purple, I just went with it. It was risky, but it was our last chance.”
I stepped forward and put my hand on her shoulder. “Excellent work, Kira. You kept your cool, and you figured it out. You and Frankie really saved us on that challenge.”
“I was just doing my part,” she said modestly. But her cheeks flushed happily, and I knew she was proud of what she’d done.
“Come on,” Jax said, urging us forward. “We’ve got more challenges to face and not much time left to finish them.
As we surveyed the environment of our new challenge, it seemed simple. We were in a small indoor basketball court with a door at the far end. A timer hung over the door and read 52. Fifty-two minutes. It was all the time we had left for whatever challenges still awaited us.
The light in the gym was dim, with the only illumination coming in from a single window high on the wall to the left of us. Old gym equipment decorated the gym, including basketballs, barbells, and climbing ropes that reached the ceiling.
Leaning against the right wall was a tall ladder. I did a full rotation, noting the wall next to the door we’d just gone through had a series of vertical mirrors and a ballet barre.
We walked easily to the far end of the gym to the door.
“Careful,” Jax called out as we got closer. “Watch where you step.”
On the floor across the room in front of the door was a horizontal, six-foot-deep red-painted strip that prevented them from gaining access to the door. Centered in front of the door almost ten feet away was another small red square that was about two by two feet wide. The door appeared to have a locking mechanism, but it was too far away to get a good look at it.
Bo stood next to the small red square and studied the door. “Why would a small red square be painted here in the middle of the floor?”
Mike walked up to the edge of the six-foot-thick red strip in front of the door, trying to determine what he could about the mechanism on the door.
“My guess is the challenge is twofold,” Wally said. “Get across the red zone and unlock the door.”
“Well, how are we going to unlock the door if we can’t stand close enough to unlock it?” Kira asked.
“There’s not enough light in here to be able to make out any details,” Mike said. “I can’t even see what kind of lock it is. It’s hidden in the shadows.”
“Okay, apparently we have multiple challenges,” I said. “Let’s identify everything we need to do so we can break up the challenges and figure out solutions. First we have to figure out how to reach the door and the lock without touching the red-painted area. Then we figure out what we need to unlock the door. I bet that’s what the ladder is for.”
As I was speaking, Jax and Bo were retrieving the ladder and carrying it back. Just from eyeballing it, I estimated it as sixteen feet. Interestingly, it didn’t appear to be adjustable. I wondered how that played into the challenge.
Bo and Jax maneuvered the ladder toward me when Bo almost stepped on the small red square. Wally grabbed his arm at the last second, saving him from stepping on it.
“Thanks, Wally,” Bo said, safely stepping over it and standing the ladder upright. He held it tightly to prevent it from toppling into the red-painted area.
“Okay, guys, ideas on how to best do this?” I asked.
Jax spoke. “It makes sense for us to place the ladder here and lean it up against the wall. Someone climbs up the ladder and takes a look at the lock on the door.”
He tried to position the ladder to reach the door at a lower angle, but the red square was precisely where he would need to set the ladder down so it could reach the door.
“Well, we now know the purpose of this small red square precisely in this spot,” he said in frustration. “It keeps us from putting the ladder’s base in the right spot so that we can easily access the lock. We have to put the ladder high on the wall or not use it at all.
“What if someone climbs the ladder and hangs upside down from the rungs?” Kira asked. “Could they reach?”
I shook my head. “Not from that angle. None of us is tall enough, not even Bo. Besides, even if we get the door open, how would the person hanging upside down on the ladder rung get through?”
“Maybe someone could swing on the climbing rope and fly in through the door?” Frankie suggested.
“First of all, we’d have to have the door open first,” I said. “But even if we get it open, the rope is too far away for us to swing through or get close enough to swing and jump, even if we were pushed.”
Jax stared intently at the ladder. “What if we had a rope?” he suggested. “We could lower someone down after they climbed on the ladder.”
“They’d have to hang upside down by their feet to reach the door,” Mike said. “That’s just crazy.”
“Actually it’s not that crazy,” I said. “A rope would work because we could pull the person back up and bring the ladder back to us as needed. But where would we get a rope?”
We all turned to look at the climbing ropes, but Bo shook his head. “They’re attached at the ceiling, and even if we could figure a way to detach them, it would be a long fall to the floor. Not a smart move.”
“What if some of us hold the ladder and someone else climbs up and cuts it down?” Frankie suggested.
We looked around the gym, but there were no tools that would permit us to cut the rope. Besides, this rope was too thick. I wasn’t sure we could tie it around someone’s ankles even if we wanted to.
“Wait. I have an idea,” Hala said, snapping her fingers.
To our astonishment, she raced back through the door from where we’d just come and disappeared.
“Where’s she going?” Mike asked.
“I don’t know,” I answered. “But we can’t waste any more time. I suggest we get some light on the locking mechanism so, at the very least, we can see what we need to do to get the lock open.”
“How are we going to do that?” Bo asked. “There’s only one small window up there.” He pointed up at the window in the corner of the gym where a sliver of light was shining through and hitting the gym floor. “There’s no other light in here.”
“Not again.” Frankie sighed dramatically. “What’s with the no-light, dim-light thing?”
“It’s like they’re purposefully making it hard for us to see the lock,” Kira said. “Why?”
I watched Jax turn around in a slow circle, surveying everything in the gym. Suddenly, he ran over to one of the ballet mirrors and ripped one of them off the wall.
“What are you doing?” Frankie cried aghast.
As soon as I saw him coming back with the mirror, I knew exactly what he had in mind. I ran to meet him where the sunbeam struck the floor.
“Over here,” I said.
“This should get us some light,” Jax said setting the mirror on the floor.
Together we positioned the mirror and, with some adjustments, cast a direct reflection of light onto the door mechanism.
“Okay, that’s just smart thinking, dude,” Mike said as he got as close to the red strip as possible, peering at the door to see if they could make out what was on it.
“It’s a numerical keypad with digits ranging from zero to nine,” Kira reported excitedly. “Looks like a punch-in combination.”
I looked up at the timer, which read 40.
“Okay. We’re running out of time,” I said. “We need to find the numerical clue. It has to be here somewhere. Spread out and look around.”
Everyone started lugging various gym equipment near the red zone in front of the door, examining it for numbers, as we tried to brainstorm a solution. Suddenly Hala appeared with several ropes wrapped around her body.
We stared at her.
“Where did you get those?” Bo finally asked.
She smiled. “The tents.”
“You ran all the way back to the first challenge to get those?” Jax said.
“I’m a fast runner,” she said, taking off the ropes and dropping them at her feet.
“But what about the periodic table challenge?” Wally asked. “How did you get from the platform through the door?”
“I remembered the pattern,” she said. “Plus, you forget, I’ve been doing gymnastics for years. If Bo could make the jump, I knew I could do it, too. And I did. Anyway, here’s my idea. We tie one of the ropes to the top of the ladder so we can lower it slowly to the wall and then pull it back afterward as desired. I will climb up the ladder and tie one of the other ropes around my ankles, so I can hang upside down from the ladder. Someone on this side can lower me to the lock so I can see what’s there. Just don’t drop me on my head. I’m used to hanging upside down. Plus, I’m light, which will make it easier for you guys to raise and lower me.”
“That could work,” Mike said thoughtfully. “But not unless we find the combination for the door lock.”
“There’s a combination lock on the door?” Hala asked.
“A punch-in-number lock,” Bo explained. “The problem is, however, even if we do get the door unlocked, how would we get everyone through after we pull you and the ladder back up?”
“That’s easy,” Hala said, looking around as if she couldn’t understand why we were clueless. “Once I unlock the door and open it, you pull me up and I’ll untie the rope from my ankles and climb back down the ladder on this side. I’m going to jump across the red zone, and Bo, you’re going to have to help me. You stand as close as possible to the red zone with your hands cupped. I’ll take a running start and jump into your hands with one foot. All I need from you is a giant push to get to the other side. After the platform jump, this one will be a breeze. When I get there, throw some weights through the door after I get out of the way. Then slide the ladder down to me and I’ll prop my side up with the weights. You do the same on this side and we’ll use it to walk across the zone. Nothing touches the red zone. Simple, right?”
It was far from simple, but it was a pretty ingenious, as well as ambitious, plan. But it would be all for nothing if we couldn’t find the combination to the door lock.
“Let’s do it,” I said with resolve. “But first, everyone look for a series of numbers that could be the combination.”
Wally, Mike, and Kira were already examining the gym equipment for strings of numbers or some kind of code. Jax, Frankie, and I walked around the gym looking for some clue to jump out at us, while Bo and Hala worked out their part of the plan.
Once again, it was Frankie who saved us.
“Hey, what’s that up there?” she said squinting at something high on the wall to the left of the door.
I followed her gaze. It was a dark shape sticking out from the wall. It was barely visible at that height and in that dark corner. Jax joined me, and we strained our eyes to see what it was. I decided to put some light on it, so on my instruction, Jax and Wally reoriented the mirror toward that corner. The light revealed a thin black metal shape of unknown significance that didn’t appear to yield any clues. Disappointed, I was just about to tell Jax to put down the mirror when Frankie shouted at me.
“Angel, wait. Look at the shadow the shape casts.”
Frowning, my gaze moved from the shape itself to its shadow. I saw at once why she was so excited. The shadow clearly resembled the Greek letter pi.
And just like that, we had the combination.