Rift – 8

You can read the previous part here: Part 7

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2 April 2052

“. . . and that’s why this climb is so treacherous. In fact,” Cara groaned, “It’s not that hard with freakin’ equipment. Why didn’t we get any?”

“For the last time, Cara, this was a last-minute plan!” Rachel sounded exasperated. “And we’re almost at the top!”

“Yeah, after a damn hour of climbing!”

“Shut up! Someone’s going to hear us, and then you’ll be climbing straight up to heaven!” Rachel hissed.

“Are we there yet?” Cara asked.

It was another fifteen minutes before Rachel’s hand touched the top. Cara followed her, complaining every step of the way. She paused to look at the grand clock in the middle of the town. “It’s one-twenty, Rach! Whatever you think’s gonna happen, it has to happen fast!”

“I don’t see any open windows,” Rachel said, sounding disappointed as they inched across the cable.

Cara pulled out the rock she had grabbed on the ground from her pocket. “Watch,” she said.

She flung the rock at the nearest window and shattered it. The girls inched toward the window. Rachel and Cara carefully snipped the cable using wire cutters that Rachel had brought. Then they threw it through the window and inched into the Cipher Tower. Cara and Rachel snuck around the tower, trying to find a clue. They found an elevator and got into it. Cara pressed the button to go to the top floor, and the elevator slowly took them up to the top. The doors of the elevator opened, and the two stepped out. Almost instantly, an alarm sounded.

Rachel and Cara recoiled in surprise and then took in their surroundings. There were eleven doors next to them. Rachel and Cara tried to go inside one and found that it was locked.

Cara grabbed the lock that she had used earlier, and then smashed the door using it. She went inside, and the first alarm stopped sounding. “That was–,” Rachel was cut off by an even louder alarm, this one coming from inside the room.

“Quick, grab the earmuffs!” Cara shouted over the wailing of the alarm.

“What earmuffs?” Rachel yelled.

“Those!” Cara picked up two pairs of earmuffs from a table nearby and tossed a pair to Rachel. 

“These are headphones,” Rachel said.

“So?” Cara asked. “They’re canceling out the noise.”

“They seem to be some sort of communication system,” Rachel guessed.

“Could be,” Cara agreed.

They stepped into the room and saw a massive computer. This computer was protected by a massive dome, which had a glass door on one side of it. The rest of the dome was covered with gadgets.

Cara looked around the rest of the room. All of the doors seemed to lead to the massive chamber, and she noticed that one of them was not rigged up to the alarm system. That must have been the door that they were supposed to use. Suddenly, the light on the alarm stopped blinking. Cara and Rachel took off their noise-canceling headphones and heard sirens blaring. These sounded more distant and definitely more familiar. 

Rachel’s sights fell on a sign that said ‘Office Of The Director.’ She pointed to it.

Cara’s eyes drifted to a board just below the sign. Rachel followed her line of sight and saw that there was writing on the board. Writing that said: ‘Director is Active.’

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You can read the next part here: Part 9