Chapter dedi to @dida567 for adding this story to her reading list! Thank you so much; my Who's Reading bar is now overflowing! cx It means a lot to me!
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|| Erin ||
"How's the analysis going?" Nikki asks curiously from the doorway. I swivel on my seat to face her, sighing. "Not as smoothly as I thought. Either this thing is rigged to open only to Jason or Theo, or our analyzer is glitching."
"Oh," she mutters, plopping down on the chair next to mine. "Can I see?"
I hand her the earpiece, and she barely even turns it around in her hands. "Why don't we give Mr. Moore a surprise call? Maybe we can pry some info out of him."
"You think?" I ask dubiously. She shrugs and says something along the lines of 'Why not?'
"Do you really think he'd talk to us?" I add.
"No, but it's worth a try," she answers. I hesitantly find the 'on' switch and turn the earpiece on. At first we only hear silence, but then Jason mutters, "What?"
"We need you to tell us how to open this earpiece," Nikki informs him firmly. We can hear him laugh in the background. "You think I'd actually tell you that?"
"Well, yeah," she says. I would've slammed my head on the table if only it wasn't covered with keyboards.
"Y-you're kidding!" he chokes out.
"No, we're not," she replies solemnly. And then she bends the mini microphone towards the speaker and we hear high-pitched feedback ring out.
"Argh!" Jason exclaims. "Whatever you're doing, turn it off!"
"No, siree!" Nikki cooes mockingly. As if to prove her point, she only pushes the microphone closer, and the feedback rises to a level that could send someone to the asylum just from listening to it for a minute.
"F-fine!" he exclaims grudingly. "But turn it off first!"
"Nope!" Nikki replies, popping the 'p'. He mutters something under his breath before saying, "Fine. Listen carefully because I will only say it once.
"Right under the microphone head, you will feel this miniscule bump in the metal. Press it three times, and then a hatch right behind the speaker will pop out. You will find a small button. Press it."
"Okay... okay... there!" I exclaim, having found the button he instructed and clicking it. Nikki beams victoriously, but then we hear Jason choking on laughter in the background.
"What?" Nikki demands, irritated. "What is it now, you laughing buffoon?!"
"Nothing, except for you two 'super agents' falling for one of the oldest tricks in the book." He finishes laughing and adds, "You just pressed the self-destruct button, idiot!"
"What?!" I exclaim, glancing down at the blinking red dot that starts accelerating every passing second. With a suppressed yelp, I fling it out the window, where it explodes in midair, taking a portion of the frame with it.
"That little jerk..." Nikki mutters under her breath. "I can't believe we fell for that trick."
"Me too," I mumble. "That means we can't analyze it anymore. Sorry."
"Nah, no biggie," she says, batting my apology aside. "Just get ready for tomorrow. Sara and Alicia are heading over to the Samsung store, while Hana, you and I are gonna give the crime scene another visit."
"Right," I reply, turning off my desk light and pushing my chair back. "Now that you mention getting ready, I'm hungry. Wanna join me for a midnight snack?"
YOU ARE READING
The S.H.A.N.E. Game (editing)
Akcja[ highest ranking: #43 Action ] Sara Williams, Hana Minami, Alicia Denver, Nikki Connor and Erin West – can you guess their acronym? – are not as girly and gentle as their names give away. They are the Maroon Jackets. They are the equivale...
