“We better get back.”
I crack the bathroom door when they leave, making sure the coast is clear. No one is in sight, and the desk has been moved to the other side of the room.
We grab a few more essentials, hoist our packs onto our backs, and run them to the end of the corridor.
“We can leave them here,” Aerin says, “and grab them on our way out.”
“What if we end up going in a different direction?”
“Then I guess we won’t have them,” she says. “Either that or we double back.”
“Will we have time?”
“I don’t know, Talen. I’ve never blown up a geothermal generator before. Honestly, I don’t really want to risk the time to come back for anything if we don’t come this way.”
“All right.” I think about all the important items we could be leaving behind, but there isn’t much I can do about it. I lay my pack down near hers, and we head for the panel in the floor that leads to the generator.
Again, the hallway is lit, but no one is around. We stick close to the walls and duck into doorways and adjacent hallways whenever we can, just to be safe. Regardless of our presence here before, no one has bothered to place guards in key places, which I take as a sign that there simply aren’t very many guards here.
My father will come with more though. He never goes anywhere without them.
We slip inside the generator room and make our way across the catwalk. Aerin checks out the map and the generator specs while I stand guard.
“I can override the cooling system,” Aerin says. “There’s a kill switch, and I can jam it so no one can just walk up and switch it back on. As long as no one notices too soon, it should overheat and blow.”
“You don’t sound very confident.”
“Like I said, this is all new to me.”
“How long will it take?”
“Just a few minutes to rig it,” she says. “If you mean how long before it blows, I don’t know. I’d have to know how much pressure this geyser is producing, the size of the pipes leading up from it, and…well, you understand.”
“No time for that.”
“No.”
“Did you see another way out?”
“I did,” she says, “but I don’t think it’s a viable option.”
“Why not?”
“We’d have to go through the offices to the north,” she says. “I don’t think we’d get very far without being seen.”
“Stick with the usual route, then?”
“Yes.”
I look toward the double doors leading to the offices where we overheard the conversation about my father’s visit. Lights shine from the windows in the top of the door, but I see no movement from the other side. I hear the clanging of metal on metal as Aerin jams the cooling system, and then she’s at my side.
“Let’s get out of here,” Aerin says. “If I’m reading the gauges right, the cooling system is already running hot. This may happen fast.”
As soon as we start up the catwalk, the door leading back to the ladder opens, and armed guards step through. Behind us, I hear the office doors open.
“Well, isn’t this a nice little reunion?”
It has been years since I’ve heard his voice, but I don’t have to turn around to know my father is behind me. Aerin lets out a yelp as she is grabbed from behind and forced to the ground.