Chapter 4 - The Locked Laboratory
Daniel used one crutch to break the ceiling sprinkler.
Water exploded over them.
It did not clear the smoke, but it slowed its spread.
Sofia climbed onto the workstation and forced open the ventilation panel.
“There’s a maintenance shaft,” she said. “Jasmine, help me.”
The shaft was too narrow for Daniel’s injured leg.
Victoria searched the cabinets and found an emergency hammer locked behind glass. She smashed the case, then struck the laboratory door repeatedly near the electronic latch.
“You knew about the compass,” Jasmine said.
Victoria did not stop swinging.
“Not now.”
“How?”
“I said not now!”
The emergency hammer bent.
Daniel had begun coughing violently.
Jasmine used the metal edge of her father’s compass to remove the screws around the door-control panel.
Inside were six wires.
Sofia dropped from the workstation.
“Blue and yellow.”
“You’re sure?”
“No.”
Jasmine connected them.
The lock clicked.
Victoria pulled the door open, and all four stumbled into the corridor.
The smoke alarm began only after they escaped.
Teachers ran from nearby classrooms. Students poured toward the exits. Dr. Mercer arrived with security officers and stared at the smoke emerging from the laboratory.
“What happened?”
Before Jasmine could answer, Victoria stepped forward.
“She broke into the server room.”
Jasmine stared at her.
Victoria’s expression had changed again.
The frightened girl from inside the laboratory was gone.
In her place stood the school-board president’s daughter.
Controlled.
Untouchable.
“She triggered something in the system,” Victoria continued. “We could have died.”
Daniel slammed one crutch against the floor.
“You were locked in there too!”
“Because I tried to stop them.”
Sofia held up her encrypted drive.
“The server was accessed remotely. We have part of the log.”
Security Officer Grant reached for it.
Victoria moved faster.
She knocked the drive from Sofia’s hand.
It struck the wet floor.
A security officer stepped on it accidentally.
The casing cracked.
“You did that on purpose,” Sofia said.
Victoria looked down at the broken drive.
“No one will believe you.”
Jasmine stepped close enough that only Victoria could hear.
“They mentioned my father.”
Victoria’s eyes flickered.
“You’re hearing things.”
“You said they knew about the compass.”
“I never said that.”
“Yes, you did.”
“Prove it.”
Dr. Mercer ordered Jasmine, Daniel, and Sofia to his office.
Victoria followed ten minutes later with her mother.
Celeste Hale entered as if she owned the building.
In many ways, she did.
The Hale family had financed Westbridge’s science center, athletic field, scholarship fund, and new security system. Celeste had served as board president for nine years.
She sat beside Victoria and placed a leather folder on Dr. Mercer’s desk.
“My daughter has provided a statement.”
“Your daughter was present during an apparent attack on four students,” Dr. Mercer said.
“She was attempting to prevent unauthorized access.”
Sofia laughed.
Celeste looked at her.
“You are not a student here.”
“No. That’s why your family can’t threaten my scholarship.”
The room chilled.
Celeste opened the folder.
Inside were printed screenshots showing Jasmine’s account connected to the route server at 5:53 Friday morning.
The same time someone had altered the map.
Jasmine examined the pages.
“That isn’t possible.”
Celeste’s voice softened.
“Your login. Your home internet address. Your device identification.”
“I was asleep.”
“Can anyone prove that?”
“My mother.”
“Family testimony is not independent evidence.”
Daniel shifted in his chair.
“She saved my life.”
“This hearing concerns the danger she created before saving you.”
Victoria said nothing.
Dr. Mercer read the documents slowly.
Jasmine could see doubt settling into his face.
Celeste had arrived prepared.
Too prepared.
“Where did you obtain these?” he asked.
“An external cybersecurity firm examined the server.”
“Without my authorization?”
“The board has authority during a public-safety emergency.”
Sofia leaned across the desk.
“What firm?”
Celeste closed the folder.
“You’ll receive the report when appropriate.”
Jasmine looked at Victoria.
“Ask her about the black symbol.”
Victoria gripped the arms of her chair.
Celeste’s gaze moved sharply toward her daughter.
“What symbol?”
“The circle crossed by three roads.”
No one spoke.
Celeste recovered first.
“I have no idea what you mean.”
But Victoria did.
And so did Dr. Mercer.
Jasmine saw it in his face.
The principal stood too quickly.
“This meeting is over.”
“Dr. Mercer,” Jasmine said, “where have you seen that symbol?”
“I said the meeting is over.”
Celeste smiled faintly.
Jasmine understood.
The symbol was not only connected to her father.
It was connected to the school.
As security escorted Jasmine toward the exit, Dr. Mercer slipped a folded piece of paper into her hand.
She waited until she was outside to open it.
There were no words.
May you like
Only a hand-drawn map of the school basement.
A red mark had been placed beneath the oldest section of the library.
