Chapter 3 - The Missing Device
The timing equipment from the championship was scheduled to be returned to Grant Precision Sports on Monday morning.
Noah discovered this by searching the digital calendar maintained by the media club. The company’s technician would collect the gates, chips, backup sensors, and control units from a storage room beneath the gymnasium.
“If the original data still exists, it will be in one of those devices,” Noah said.
Willa looked around the empty media room.
“We cannot steal school equipment.”
“We’re not stealing it. We’re documenting it before someone destroys the evidence.”
“That sounds like something people say before they steal school equipment.”
Noah almost smiled.
Lena sat at the editing desk, turning a pencil between her fingers.
“My cousin works at track events,” she said. “Each timing gate has a removable chip. The main computer records the results, but the chip creates a separate backup.”
Willa remembered Coach Mercer locking devices in the metal cabinet.
“If the backup shows the real time, then we can prove the official result was changed.”
“The equipment room is locked,” Noah said.
Lena placed a small brass key on the desk.
“My father is an assistant caretaker.”
Willa stared at it.
“Did he give you that?”
“No.”
“Does he know you have it?”
“No.”
“This is getting worse.”
Lena leaned forward.
“Your mother may lose her job because you finished first. Victoria slapped you during practice yesterday, and Coach Mercer called it an accident. At what point does following every rule become helping them?”
Willa had no answer.
They entered the gymnasium after evening study period.
The corridors were nearly empty. Rain tapped against the narrow windows near the ceiling. Somewhere above them, a basketball bounced in slow, lonely intervals.
Lena unlocked the equipment room.
Inside, metal shelves held hurdles, stopwatches, cones, medical bags, and electronic timing components.
Noah used his phone flashlight.
Willa found the cabinet Coach Mercer had locked.
It was open.
Most of the devices were gone.
“There should be six chips,” Noah said, checking the inventory record.
They found five.
One slot in the carrying case was empty.
Willa examined the labels.
Each chip had a serial number and a handwritten event code.
The missing chip belonged to the championship final.
Someone had removed the only device containing the evidence they needed.
Footsteps sounded outside.
The three students froze.
The door handle moved.
Lena switched off the flashlight.
Coach Mercer entered.
Light from the corridor stretched across the floor.
He carried a paper bag in one hand.
Willa, Noah, and Lena hid behind a tall rack of folded mats.
Coach Mercer crossed the room and opened the metal cabinet.
He removed a small black chip from his coat pocket.
The missing device.
Willa held her breath.
He placed it on a workbench and took a hammer from a toolbox.
Noah slowly raised his camera.
The coach lifted the hammer.
A voice came through his phone.
He stopped and answered.
“Yes?”
A woman spoke, but Willa could hear only fragments.
Coach Mercer glanced toward the doorway.
“No, the girl has footage.”
A pause.
“I warned her.”
Another pause.
Coach Mercer’s expression hardened.
“Her mother’s position is already being handled.”
Willa’s hand tightened around the metal rack.
The woman said something else.
“No,” the coach replied. “I will destroy the backup tonight.”
The call ended.
He raised the hammer again.
Before he could strike, a basketball crashed into the hallway outside.
Coach Mercer turned sharply.
Noah had thrown it through the open door.
The three students ran.
Coach Mercer shouted behind them.
Willa grabbed the chip from the workbench as she passed.
She pushed through the door and raced into the dark corridor.
The coach pursued them.
They reached the stairwell.
Lena and Noah escaped through the emergency exit, but Willa’s coat caught on the door handle.
Coach Mercer seized her arm.
“Give it to me.”
Willa pulled away.
The chip slipped from her hand.
It struck the floor and slid beneath a radiator.
Coach Mercer dropped to one knee.
Willa kicked the emergency door closed between them and ran into the rain.
She believed the chip had been lost.
But later that night, Noah examined his footage.
The chip had not remained beneath the radiator.
Someone else had picked it up after they left.
A shadow appeared at the edge of the recording.
May you like
A hand reached beneath the metal pipes.
On one finger was a black championship ring.
