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“Mia, what’s going on?” I yelled.

She stuck her head back in the room, and I could hear shouting, although from my location, I couldn’t hear what was being said.

“You’re not going to believe this,” Mia said, popping back into the control room. “It’s bat-poop crazy.”

Nope. I just couldn’t deal with that right now. “What is it, Mia? What’s there?”

“Security laser beams. Just like in the movies.”

Chapter Forty-Four

Slash

This challenge certainly created an unusual experience for me. It was a blackout situation, which I’d been in before, but not in circumstances like this. I was completely dependent upon Lexi’s instructions for my every move. There was no one I trusted more than her, but not being in full control of my own actions wasn’t my preferred mode of operation.

I knew there were three other people in front of me, but the darkness was so oppressive, I couldn’t sense them at all. I could hear Lexi’s periodic broadcasts of instructions to each one of us, but otherwise it was eerily quiet.

I’d just moved into place and verified my ability to still talk to and hear Mia at the door. Lexi had started moving my mother forward again when there was a call from Mama at the front.

“I think I’ve found the first obstacle,” she shouted.

“What’s the obstacle?” Oscar yelled.

“It’s a red beam of light that shoots across the room at about knee height. The light is wavering like it is passing through some smoke or clouds.”

“That’s probably so you can see the beam,” Tito shouted. “Lasers are normally invisible to the eye unless they are reflected off something.”

“I heard that,” I shouted and then told Mia what my mother had found. I checked my watch and saw we were down to thirty-five minutes. This was going too slowly. We were running out of time.

We relayed information back and forth for a few minutes. Then Lexi told my mother there was a potential problem. The path made a left turn right at the spot the beam cut across, so the beam ran down the middle of the path. Fortunately, the path made a hairpin turn right there, so it would be possible for my mother to step over the beam and end up on the far side of the path where it looped back. Lexi told her where to step, and we waited.

After a minute, my mother shouted, “I made it.”

It took another ten minutes before we were all past the first obstacle safely. We were getting farther away from the door, so it was getting harder to communicate with Mia. I estimated my mother was over halfway to the platform. Lexi was moving Mama again when she encountered a waist-high laser beam. We relayed the information back to Mia and Lexi.

“Got it,” Mia yelled after I had to shout three times.

“Mia, wait,” I added. “Tell Lexi we’re almost out of time. We’re going to have to change strategy and take some chances or we’ll never make it.” My comment met silence, so I had no idea if she’d heard me.

After a minute, I heard Lexi talking. “Here’s the situation. Just beyond this beam is the first of the two gaps. To pass, you’ll have to bend under the beam and stand up on the far side as close to the beam as you dare to risk. Then you’ll need to take a large step or jump to bridge the gap. Unfortunately, the beam will prevent you from getting any sort of running start. Do you think you can do it, Juliette?”

“I’ll try.” There was a long pause, and then finally I heard my mother speak again. “Okay, I’m standing on the other side of the beam, but I lost my orientation as to where to take my giant step.”

We passed the message along, and then Lexi replied. “Juliette, turn right to about your one thirty position. Okay, that’s perfect. You can jump when ready.”

Suddenly, a red light illuminated off to my side, and I saw a blinking light start flashing from ahead of me.

“Oh, no!” my mother shouted. “I’m so sorry. I guess I didn’t take a big enough step and I fell off the path. Oscar, you might have to try and jump. It’s a bigger gap than I anticipated.”

“I will,” he replied. “Be careful on the way out, and don’t trip over anything.”

“I won’t. The bracelet gives me a little extra light to see things.”

I could see the blinking red light of my mother’s bracelet as she passed through the first laser beam on her way back to the exit door. There were no additional alarms or penalties when she did that.

Interesting.

Her movements gave me an idea. I was trying to flesh it out as Mama opened the exit door and the area was briefly illuminated. I squinted and managed to get a quick glimpse of my orientation in the room, the relative positions of Oscar and Tito, and the immediate path ahead.