Teen Spy: The Observer

Chapter 21

Minutes seem like hours to Kiara as she waits for Jessy to fall asleep after curfew. When she hears Jessy's deep, even breaths, she counts to two hundred, just to be sure, before slowly lifting the covers. Carful to not make a sound, she changes her pajamas for the clothes she had stashed underneath her pillow.

She grabs her shoes and as quietly as possible moves to the door barefooted, navigating the dark room by memory. When she exits the room, she pauses to put on her shoes and then, takes the stairs to the ground level, in case someone else is wandering about.

Kiara noticed earlier that the chaperones meet in the Breakfast and Dinner Area after curfew. Most of the walls of that building are made completely of glass, allowing whoever is inside a complete view of what surrounds them. And since it is in the middle of the compound, they will probably see her as she crosses to the Lunch Area.

That is why, when she exits her dorm building, she walks around it to its back and keeps the rest of the buildings between the Breakfast and Dinner Area and her. She also sticks to the shadows, the dark colors of her outfit helping her blend in.

The hardest parts are the gaps between one building and the next. In those moments, she can see the chaperones sitting in one of the tables talking and laughing about something. If she can see them, then so can they, if they turn at the right moment. Always conscious of their moves, Kiara quickly walks to her destination avoiding the strategically placed security cameras, which is no easy feat.

Lucky for her, the wall of the Dinner Area that faces the Lunch Area is the only one made of bricks. Kiara ignores the front doors since they are illuminated, leaving no shadow to hide in; locked and there is a security camera with a direct view of who enters the facility. It was clearly never an option.

Without losing time, she folds back into the shadows and walks the perimeter of the place until she finds the service door. This one is not as illuminated as the front one and is more hidden from view.

There are two figures gathered outside the door. When Kiara draws nearer, she confirms it is Sasha and Will, before stepping closer. Sasha is the first one to see her since she is posting guard and blocking most of Will's crouched down body. As she steps aside, Kiara sees Will working on the numerical security lock. He has a small tablet hooked up to the wires of the disassembled padlock.

"Security cameras deactivated" Will says when Kiara moves besides him, watching her surroundings. "Aaaand... we're in." He says, and Kiara hears the door unlocking.

Will turns the knob of the door and peaks inside. After declaring it's all clear, he enters first, followed by Sasha, and Kiara covers their backs, closing the door silently after she enters.

Kiara finds herself in a hallway. Everything is silent and dark inside. Sasha turns on the flashlight from her phone, raising her hand so it illuminates their way.

They walk from the exit hall containing various storage doors to the main area of the kitchen in silence. All Kiara can hear are their hushed footsteps and breaths. Once inside the buffet and sitting area, Sasha turns the flashlight off to not attract attention from outside. The light from the street and the moon is enough for them to see.

Will leads them to the restroom area, divided by a separating wall. Kiara sees two doors leading to each bathroom and an employee's door at the end, most probably a janitor's closet.

There is a keypad at one side of this last one and Will punches the access code. The door unlocks, and they enter. Once the door is closed, the stand in the opposite wall moves to the left showing the illuminated space behind. Kiara follows her team inside and moves to the right of Will, forming a single row. The door shuts close, and a panel appears in front of each one.

"Retina scans initiated. Please look forward." A voice says. A beam of light shots out of the panel passing over Kiara's eyes. "Retina scans complete. Place your hand on the panel to begin fingerprint analysis."

Kiara does as told.

When it finishes, the voice talks again: "Identities confirmed. Welcome Agents Hunter, McGreevy and Starling. Please take a sit to start the debriefing."

With that, the panels retract into the wall before it ascends to the roof letting Kiara and her team see the conference room behind. It contains a high table shaped as a halfmoon with a control panel in its center and three highchairs behind it. There are three television screens up front, one of them showing Agent Carville patiently waiting for the team to sit down and a long table on one side of the room holding different objects.

"Shall we begin?" Agent Carville asks.