Blackout Read online

  ‘Fifteen minutes.’

  ‘What?’ Jack looked at Charlie. ‘We don’t have enough time.’

  ‘Yes, we do.’ It took Charlie under a minute to pick the lock and open the door. ‘See?’

  ‘Wait,’ Wren whispered. ‘How do we know the apartment’s empty?’

  ‘He’s out for the evening,’ Obi said in their ears. ‘The Royal Opera House. Won’t be back for another couple of hours at least.’

  Jack peered in to the penthouse hallway. With the power off, at least they didn’t have to bother about the alarm.

  The three of them hurried inside.

  Charlie stopped at the security box on the wall and cut the main wires. ‘Just in case the power comes back,’ she whispered.

  Jack nodded and followed Wren through a set of doors.

  The lounge was minimalist with stark white walls and two black leather sofas facing each other. Apart from that, there was no other furniture. Not even a TV.

  ‘What happened?’ Obi said.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Jack said, adjusting his shoulder cam and shining his torch around the room.

  ‘What’s my uncle done to this place? It used to be really homely. Where’s the grandfather clock?’

  Obi’s mum and dad used to own the penthouse – along with a mansion or two – and, when his parents died, Obi’s uncle had made off with everything. Obi and his sister didn’t get a penny and that was something the Outlaws were going to change with this mission.

  ‘Which way is it?’ Jack asked.

  ‘The door to the right,’ Obi said.

  Charlie joined them as they marched across the lounge and through the door.

  They were now standing in a room filled with books. It seemed every available shelf was crammed full and the floor was covered with stacks of volumes. In the middle of the chaos was a leather, high-backed Oxford chair. A small side table was next to it with a multicoloured glass lamp.

  The contrast to the rest of the neat, minimalist apartment was striking.

  ‘That’s more like it,’ Obi said. ‘He obviously hasn’t touched this room. Looks exactly the same as it always did.’

  ‘Doesn’t seem as though he ever comes in here.’ Jack’s eyes flitted around the shelves, looking for cameras, then he aimed the beam of his torch at the far end of the room. On the wall, under a brass picture light, hung a dark oil painting. It was a portrait of a man in an old military uniform. Jack paused for a moment, soaking up every brushstroke. He adjusted his shoulder cam. ‘Are you seeing this? Who is it?’

  ‘That’s my great-great-grandad,’ Obi said. ‘He was a captain in the navy.’

  Jack took a few steps forward and his headset crackled. ‘Obi?’ He stepped back to the door. ‘Obi?’

  There was no answer.

  Jack looked at Charlie.

  ‘Obi,’ she said into her own headset, ‘can you hear us?’

  Still no answer.

  ‘It must have something to do with the blackouts,’ Charlie said.

  Wasting no more time, Jack, Charlie and Wren picked their way between stacks of books and stood in front of the painting.

  Charlie pressed a button on the side of the frame and swung it away from the wall. Buried in the plaster behind was a large safe, its electronic keypad lit up in green.

  ‘How’s that got power?’ Jack said.

  ‘It can run on its own backup battery for months.’ Charlie slipped a screwdriver from her pocket and undid the keypad panel.

  The safe would lock itself down permanently if they messed the next part up.

  Charlie looked at Jack. ‘This is going to take both of us,’ she reminded him. ‘Remember to keep an even pressure.’

  Jack put the torch in his mouth and together they carefully lifted the panel’s bottom edge away from the safe to allow Wren to peer underneath.

  ‘Is it?’ Charlie asked her.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Wren said.

  ‘Like we discussed?’

  Wren nodded. ‘Yep.’

  With her free hand, Charlie reached into her hip bag and passed Wren a set of wire cutters.

  Wren slid the cutters under the panel. ‘Which wire did you say it was?’

  ‘The blue one,’ Charlie said.

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘They’re both blue.’

  ‘What?’ Charlie peered behind the keypad. ‘That’s just brilliant.’

  Making sure he didn’t move the panel any further from the safe, Jack looked behind too and could see the anti-tamper contact switch. If they lifted the panel any further, the circuit would break and the safe would lock itself down. Wren was right though – both wires leading to it were blue. Charlie had thought one would be red.

  Jack straightened up and looked at her. ‘Ideas?’

  Charlie sighed. ‘Nope.’

  ‘Awesome.’ That meant there was a fifty per cent chance Wren would cut the right wire, and a fifty per cent chance she’d cut the wrong one. He looked at her. ‘You pick.’

  Wren looked shocked. ‘Serious?’

  ‘We’ve come this far.’ Jack scanned the room again, looking for any hidden security he hadn’t spotted. Still not seeing any, he turned back to Wren and nodded. ‘Do it.’

  Wren swallowed and reached behind the keypad. ‘Cutting.’

  Jack closed his eyes and held his breath.

  There was a snipping sound.

  For a full five seconds no one moved.

  ‘It’s OK,’ Wren said.

  Jack opened his eyes and saw she was now smiling. He grinned back at her.

  Charlie quickly lifted away the keypad panel. Next, she took out a portable soldering iron from her hip bag, flicked it on and started working on the circuit board inside.

  She joined several wires, removed a few components and then soldered a microswitch.

  Jack wondered how much time they had left, but Obi still wasn’t responding to their calls.

  Charlie finally turned off the soldering iron and checked her work. She had to get this right the first time. No room for mistakes. She looked at Jack. ‘Do you want to do it?’

  ‘No thanks,’ Jack said. ‘It’s all yours.’

  Charlie took a breath and hit the microswitch.

  The safe’s lock clicked.

  All three of them let out an anxious breath.

  ‘Nice one.’ Jack opened the safe, shone the torch inside and stared for a moment.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Charlie said.

  Jack stepped aside. ‘See for yourself.’

  Charlie’s eyes widened as she looked into the safe. ‘I don’t believe it.’

  ‘What?’ Wren stood on tiptoe. ‘Wait, where is it?’

  The safe was empty.

  ‘Let’s get out of here,’ Jack muttered.

  They hurried from the reading room and back into the lounge just as the lights flickered on in the buildings outside.

  The three of them froze.

  ‘That’s all we need,’ Jack said.

  ‘Guys,’ came Obi’s urgent hiss in their ears. ‘Can you hear me?’

  ‘Yes,’ Jack said.

  ‘I’ve been trying to get hold of you.’

  ‘Power cuts.’

  ‘I know,’ Obi said. ‘I’ve had to reroute the signal through another mast. Anyway, never mind that, the night concierge has just turned up for his shift.’

  Jack looked at the clock on the wall – thanks to all the delays they were seriously behind schedule. They should’ve been long gone by now.

  They ran back down the hallway and Charlie went to step into the stairwell, but Jack held her back. ‘No,’ he said. ‘The cameras will be on too.’

  ‘What are we going to do then?’

  Jack turned from her. ‘Obi, what’s happening?’

  ‘The night concierge is looking for the other one. He’s going into the back room.’

  Jack grabbed the door handle and waited.

  A few seconds later, Obi said, ‘He’s found him. Loo
ks like he’s calling the police.’

  There was nothing else for it. Jack glanced at Charlie and Wren. ‘Ready to run?’

  They both nodded.

  ‘Hoods,’ he said.

  The three of them pulled up their hoods and adjusted the bandanas over their noses and mouths, hiding their faces from the cameras.

  Jack opened the door and ushered them out. As soon as the three of them stepped into the stairwell, the alarm sounded.

  Jack cupped a hand over his ear, trying to block the noise. ‘Obi?’ he shouted. ‘Can we get out on the ground floor?’

  ‘No,’ Obi said. ‘No way for you to slip past unseen.’

  Charlie looked at Jack. ‘Plan B?’

  ‘Great,’ Jack said with a feeling of dread. ‘This just keeps getting better.’ He pressed a finger to his ear again. ‘Slink, we can’t make it back to the ground floor. Exit’s blocked.’ He looked up the stairs. ‘Meet us up there as quick as you can.’ Jack motioned for Charlie and Wren to hurry up.

  He always hated Plan B.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Jack, Charlie and Wren burst through the door and on to the roof of the building. The cold air stung Jack’s eyes as they ran to the north-east corner.

  In the distance, he could hear the unmistakable sound of police sirens, and he gauged they’d be there in the next few minutes.

  Jack squinted at the opposite rooftop. ‘Where is he?’

  Suddenly, loud music blasted Jack’s eardrums. It was a particularly nasty dubstep track – one that seemed to have extra screeching and grinding sounds.

  A silhouette appeared on the other building and the figure leapt over a low wall, did a forward roll and jumped to his feet.

  Jack pressed a finger to his ear. ‘Slink?’

  The music stopped.

  ‘Who else would it be?’

  Jack glanced at Charlie. ‘Shoot the sarcastic idiot, would ya?’

  ‘My pleasure.’ Charlie unclipped a custom-built bow from her backpack, unfolded it and took aim at Slink. For a few seconds nothing moved, then she unleashed an arrow.

  It flew in an arc and shot past Slink’s head, missing him by a few centimetres.

  He scooped up the arrow and untied the fishing line. Attached to the line was fifteen metres of string, then rope and finally steel cable.

  Slink hauled it over, fixed the cable to an anchor point on his building and Charlie did the same on theirs. Slink then used a ratchet to pull the cable taut, giving Jack, Charlie and Wren a zip line to escape on.

  Jack’s chest tightened with anxiety. Now he was there, he wasn’t sure he could actually use it.

  ‘Me first,’ Wren said, practically bouncing with excitement.

  Charlie folded the bow up and handed Wren something that looked like a stubby pair of bicycle handlebars, only in the middle was a wheel and a clamp.

  She hooked the handlebars to the cable, tightened the clamp and nodded at Wren.

  Wren slid her hands through the loops, securing her wrists.

  ‘Shouldn’t we have harnesses or something?’ Jack said, glancing over the edge of the building to the street below.

  ‘Where’s the fun in that?’ Slink said. ‘Harnesses are for weak people with no sense of adventure.’

  ‘No,’ Jack said, straightening up and looking at him. ‘Harnesses are for those of us who actually want to stay alive.’

  ‘You’re just chicken,’ Slink said. ‘Go for it, Wren. I’ll catch you on this side.’

  Wren smiled at Jack, gripped the bars and, without hesitation, launched herself off the edge of the building.

  Jack’s stomach lurched, but Wren let out a squeal of delight as she accelerated down the zip line, her legs kicking the air as if she were running on an invisible walkway.

  Finally, she reached the other side and Slink helped her free her hands from the loops on the bars. ‘Go,’ he said.

  Charlie used an attached cord in order to pull the handlebars quickly back up the zip line to the start. She motioned for Jack to go next.

  Jack looked at the roof-exit door. If he was on his own, could he make it down the stairs, somehow get past the front desk and escape before the police arrived?

  As if in answer, the police sirens stopped and he heard the screech of tyres.

  Car doors slammed.

  Slink peered down. ‘The cops are going into your building.’ He looked up. ‘I think you should hurry.’

  Jack didn’t move. How long before the police realised they were on the roof?

  Charlie grabbed his arm and shook him. ‘Jack.’

  He looked at her for a moment, then at Slink and Wren on the opposite rooftop.

  ‘Running out of time,’ Obi said. ‘The cops are on their way up to you.’

  Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin. ‘Heads you go first, tails I go. Agreed?’ Before Charlie could answer, Jack tossed the coin into the air, caught it and showed her the result – heads. He stepped back. ‘Go.’

  Charlie hesitated.

  ‘No time for an argument,’ Jack said.

  Charlie slipped her hands through the loops, gripped the bars with both hands and threw herself off the ledge of the building.

  Even though this backup plan had been his idea, Jack was regretting it.

  A lot.

  He considered just letting himself get caught, but that would be very stupid. The others would have all sorts of hassle breaking him out again. He gazed across London. Huge areas of it were completely dark.

  No, Jack thought. There really wasn’t a decision this time. He had to get back to the bunker and find out what was going on with these blackouts.

  Charlie landed on the opposite roof and let go of the bars.

  Jack adjusted his hood and bandana, making sure his face was hidden, then grabbed the string and hauled the bars back.

  His stomach twisted into knots as he reached up and slipped his hands through the loops. The handle­­­bar grips were still warm from Wren and Charlie using them.

  He swallowed and, with a surge of determination, Jack stepped on to the ledge of the building. He hesitated again and did what he knew he shouldn’t have – looked down.

  The road below seemed like a hundred miles away.

  ‘Oh God.’

  ‘You’ve done more dangerous things than this,’ Slink said in his ear.

  He was right – a while back, Jack had jumped off a building with nothing but a parachute. Only thing was, that time he hadn’t had long to think about it – he’d just jumped. Plus, bullets whizzing past your head made you do crazy things.

  ‘It’s easy,’ Wren said.

  Yeah, right.

  Suddenly, there was a shout.

  Jack looked over the edge of the building. In the street below were several police cars and officers.

  One policeman had his hands cupped around his mouth. He shouted, ‘Don’t do it. Stay right there.’

  A small crowd of onlookers gathered and pointed up at Jack.

  Brilliant. Now he had an audience.

  The door to the roof burst open behind Jack and a couple of cops ran straight for him.

  No time left.

  Jack took a quick breath and, keeping his eyes locked on Slink, dropped off the ledge.

  There was a collective gasp from the onlookers below.

  The cold air forced Jack to squint and his stomach dropped as he accelerated down the zip line. He felt the wind pushing from the right, trying to tear him free.

  Jack closed his eyes and, after what seemed like forever, he reached the other building. Slink grabbed hold of him and Jack wobbled on his feet as he unclipped the handlebars from the wire.

  Taking deep breaths, Jack looked at Charlie.

  ‘See?’ she said. ‘That was fun. No?’

  ‘No.’

  Slink handed her the bars and she slid them into her backpack.

  Jack looked at the other roof – the cops were standing at the edge of the building, their mouths open in astonishment. />
  ‘Use the cable,’ Slink jeered.

  One of the police officers lifted a radio to his mouth.

  Jack looked down at the street as another police car pulled to the kerb and several officers surrounded the building they were on.

  ‘Time to go.’

  They hurried to a door, opened it and went inside.

  One flight of stairs down, Jack held up his hand, stopping the others.

  They listened as, ten or so floors below them, a door banged open and several heavy-booted feet ran up the stairs.

  Slink threw open the door behind them and they ran through.

  In the hallway, Jack, Charlie, Slink and Wren stayed still and listened. They could hear shouting and the boots echoing in the stairwell.

  They sounded like they were only a floor or two below them already.

  Jack looked at the lift – it was in use – the numbers increasing on the display. It seemed as though the entire Metropolitan Police Force was on the hunt.

  Charlie opened her bag and quickly handed them all a pair of thick-rimmed glasses.

  ‘Obi,’ Jack whispered, ‘are you ready?’

  ‘Yep.’

  Everyone kept still, listening to the police running up the stairs.

  They were passing their floor now.

  Jack held up a hand, indicating that everyone should pull back close against the wall, but he needn’t have worried – the police moved on up, not stopping to check individual floors.

  Jack heard the door to the roof open and close again. He looked at the lift – it was almost at their floor. The police officers would have to get off here, because the only way to the roof was via the stairs. ‘OK, Obi, now.’

  Suddenly, all the power to the building went out.

  Jack slipped on his glasses and pressed a button on the arm. A tiny display flickered to life – showing an image of the hallway ahead bathed in green.

  Charlie’s ‘night-glasses’ were an ultraportable night-vision device. Each pair had a tiny camera mounted on them that could see in very low light. Above the camera was a special infrared bulb, and in front of the right lens was a screen.

  Jack turned to the others. They looked weird, almost alien, with their eyes glowing a bright green from under their hoods. ‘Follow me,’ he whispered.