Saff Keiding slunk through the bushes. Any moment now, he’d be exposed. The searchlights on the turrets of the Flaring were blinding white, but with a green camouflage jacket and black pants, he’d be hard to see.
A voice came out of his All-Ear. “Eagle, we have code red on Snake.” Eagle was Saff. A fitting title for their leader. One of his collaborators was trying to tell him that Thomas Webner had been discovered.
“New plan.” Saff turned around and with his back to the light could see his colleagues creeping through the dense forest. “Everybody in?” he asked into his All-Ear. This was followed by a chorus of “yes”s and “yup”s.
“Okay,” he continued. “We cover west and send Crocodile out. Doc search. Then I come in flanked by Snare, Donkey, Arrow, and Vine.”
“Okay,” said Crocodile.
“What about me?” Antelope, their best scout, called out.
Saff frowned. “You try to get inside the Flaring. It should be locked, but I trust you have your lock gun?”
“Got it.”
“Good. Now start . . . Formation Capybara.”
“Formation Capybara?” Vine asked. She had no liking for rodents.
“I don’t know! It was the first thing on my mind!”
“Okay,” Arrow butted in. “Will do.” They started Formation Capybara.
Saff took out the guards easily enough. All he had to do was hold his dragon-shaped necklace pendant and think what he wanted to do. Bursts of purple shot out of the pendant, and the guards passed out. Saff had no idea how he got this power or even what it was, but if he could use it reliably, he didn’t care about either of those things. It worked. That’s what mattered.
☬
Crocodile had by now gotten himself into the Flaring and was recording documents on his iPhone 7G. He didn’t know which documents Saff wanted, but didn’t care. He wanted to get as much information as needed and then get out.
Sapphire Jay Keiding, he thought. If the Flaring doesn’t kill you, I will. It was brought to mind jokingly, but there was a grain of truth in it. Now, with all the documents loaded, he tucked his head down and ran.
☬
Antelope tried to disable the searchlights, but of course, she got caught. Just after making it up the turret, she discovered herself to be in a room with two other people. She was starting to take down the circuit board when she had to sneeze.
Not now, she thought, but she felt it coming on strong. NOT NOW! Then she sneezed.
“What have we here?” A short man poked his head under the desk where Antelope was hiding.
“It’s Kelly Demanson! You know, the thief from Starbucks?” This was a woman.
Dang.
Kelly was Antelope’s real name. After joining Saff, she had adopted Antelope due to her slight stature and extreme agility.
“So it is,” the man muttered. “So it is.”
“Do you remember me, Kelly?” the woman asked.
“All too well. You’re Sarah Gill from the Spire.”
“I am. Allow me to introduce my accomplice, Tim Carey.”
Antelope nodded briskly. Sarah started to walk her away. “I guess it’s over then,” she whispered into her hand.
“What’s in your hand?” Sarah asked. “Tim, confiscate it!”
“It’s an All-Ear!” he exclaimed.
“That means there are others,” Sarah said. “There are others.
☬
“I guess it’s all over now,” came Antelope’s disembodied voice from Saff’s All-Ear.
“Code Red Antelope!” he cried. His All-Ear picked it up and broadcasted it to Snare, Vine, Donkey, and Arrow. A few minutes later, Snare trotted up beside him. Snare––a tall, skinny boy with an uncanny ability to disappear into the woods, only to reappear with his Taser in your back––had been on many missions before joining Saff, so Saff trusted him with second-in-command. If something happened to Saff, Snare would become Kestrel.
“Do it,” said Saff. Snare nodded and disappeared.
☬
A scream pierced the night. An electric shock followed, so powerful that Saff jumped––quite literally––out of his boots. hurriedly replacing them on his feet, a message came through his All-Ear.
“Rescued Antelope. Send Vine in to help us out.” It was Snare.
“Vine?” he asked into his All-Ear. When no reply came, he asked again, panicked this time. “VINE?” Again. “VINE!” Then he slouched forward. Not with despair. He had been hit in the back of the head. Before he blacked out, he thought If only Cheetah were here.
Cheetah had been Saff’s former second-in-command. She had gone missing in action and he’d never found her.
She’d know what to do.
☬
Back at the Flaring, Snare hid with Antelope in an old boiler room.
“I hope he comes through,” Snare murmured.
“He’ll come through, Snare,” said Antelope. “He always does.”
