Agent 57 (Book 2)

14. Language Mr. Stevenson

Cody's POV

"What kind of traps exactly?" I ask, moving closer to peer at the screens as Ryder continues to type, bringing up the security camera feed.

"Well...nothing as bad as the ones in her room," Ryder says, eyes glued to the screen.

"What's in her room?" Devin questions.

"Lots of things. One of them being that the floors are electrified."

"What?!" Both me and Devin yell in unison.

"Not all the time," Ryder explains as if that fact makes it all better. "Just whenever she chooses to arm it."

"I'm never going into her room," Devin states, a horrified look on his face.

"I found Jason," Ryder announces and I turn to look at the screen. "He took her to the farthest bathroom he could think of." He laughs as he zooms in the camera. "He's on the third floor. He appears to be stuck in the hallway while she's trapped in the bathroom. I guess you don't have to worry about him killing her."

He laughs evilly as he switches camera views. "I hope she's not claustrophobic."

I roll my eyes at him and stare at the screens as he goes clicking through the different camera angles, trying to find Thirteen.

"Wait, go back," I order as something catches my eye. He clicks back a screen. "What is that?" I ask, pointing to the metal wall at the end of the hallway.

"It's a metal barricade." He says simply before switching through the cameras again. "It separates the floors."

"You mean we're stuck on the second floor?"

"Yep." He says, his tone of voice saying it's no big deal while I stare at him in shock.

"Can't you open the barricade?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"It only opens after the lockdown has been lifted. As I said before, Thirteen's the only one who can lift the lockdown. We can only stay on the second floor."

I pull my phone out of my pocket and immediately begin to dial Jason's number. We need to be able to communicate.

"That won't do you any good," Ryder says simply.

"Why?"

"Signal jammer." He states. "It turns on when the lock down's initiated so that no one can call for back up."

"That's the stupidest thing she could possibly add," Devin interjects.

"Is it really?" Ryder questions. "I mean this is Thirteen's house."

"Point taken," I say as I push my phone back into my pocket.

"Found Chase and Thirteen's assistant Megan," Ryder says and we stare at the screen. "They're on the first floor in the conference room." He grabs hold of the landline telephone on the desk next to him.

"I thought phones don't work." Devin points out.

"These phones are all connected to each other," Ryder mutters as he punches in a number. "You can use these phones to make a call but you can only call one of the other rooms in this house."

I watch the screen as Chase moves towards the phone sitting on the long table in the conference room. He picks it up and Ryder switches the phone in our room to speaker.

"Hey, how's it going?"

"Ryder what the hell is going on?"

"That's not a very nice reply," Ryder grumbles but Chase still hears him judging by the string of curse words that follow. "Short version, Thirteen locked down the house for reasons still unknown to us. I've got Cody and Devin with me right now as well as Henri, Jason and Elaine are currently trapped on the third floor. Please tell me Thirteen is somewhere near you."