One Step Outside [Book 1]

Chapter 8 B and E 101

"Heather stop. Guys we can't go now, I think Heather has sleep deprivation." Heather was on the hotel floor in their room laughing hysterically.

"Jiffy corn mix!" she gasps and resumes laughing and rolling around. "Polly want a cracker?" she shrieks as she holds out an imaginary cracker. Bianca shakes her head as she picks up Heather and places her on the bed.

"Relax kiddo, I know the time change is a huge jump for you. It's almost eight o'clock here, you can sleep now." Heather laughs one more time as her eyes began to droop. The next moment, she was passed out.

Heather's eyes open. She rubs her nose and stretches, "What time is it?" she mutters to herself. She grabs her phone from her bag. Ten o' clock a.m.? What? Oh right. Heather quickly did the math. Tai wan was twelve hours ahead. One a.m. Perfect. Just perfect. Heather looks to her right to see Bianca asleep next to her, her bright blonde hair all messed up and her mouth drooling. Heather struggles to hold in laughter. Heather glances over Bianca to see Evan awake on his computer with Kodi leaning against him fast asleep. Evan looks over straight at Heather.

"You're awake." He whispers. Heather slides of the bed and stretches.

"You think? It's ten o' clock back at home."

"Well, this is a great time to start your mission." Heather nods in agreement. She tiptoes over to Bianca as Evan wakes Kodi up gently and quietly. Once Kodi was up, heather leans really close to Bianca's ear and was about to shout but her mouth was covered by Bianca's hand.

"Good try kid." she mumbles in her sleep. Heather quickly pulls away from her hand as she sits up.

"How did she know?" Heather questions Evan.

"Years of Spy training."

"Yeah kid, if you want to do that on someone," Bianca yawns, "do it on Spyjoe, he'll freak out."

"But he's one of the oldest members."

"Oldest doesn't always mean wisest." Heather laughs.

"Alright then. Evan, can we go?" Evan stands up and looks out the window.

"Not through the entrance. The desk people will wonder why we're leaving in the middle of the night. We'll need a different path to get to point A from point B without being spotted."

Kodi perks up on her bed, "Our hang gliders!" she suggests.

"Since when do we have hang gliders?" Heather inquires.

"Kodi made them not too long ago." Bianca informs. "You were here when she made them."

"I thought she was making tents..."
"That's stupid." Bianca retorts.

"I know."

Evan opens the window and puts his leg outside of it. "Great idea Kodi," he says while he mounted his empty backpack on his back. "Guys, the backpack is the hang glider. Just jump and it'll deploy automatically. It should be programmed to Taipei 101." Evan throws himself out the window before anyone else could beat him to it. Heather dashes to the window to see Evan falling, then suddenly the backpack disappears and a large triangle covers his body, "See you there!" he calls, barely audible over the wind. Heather takes her hair out of a half-braid and ties it up into regular braid.

Bianca walks up behind her and helps put on her dark blue empty backpack, "Be safe. Try not to run into any birds or buildings." Bianca has worry in her voice.

"I'll be fine." Heather insists. She takes a huge breath and jumps. The wind hit her in the face like a tornado, she finds herself falling through the sky. Eleven stories zipping past her eyes like a bullet. Heather jerks to the side as the hang glider deploys on her back. She starts soaring after Evan who was many yards away from the hotel. Looking back, Heather hears the same sound that had sounded when Heather's hang glider deployed. She infers that Bianca was not far behind. Heather hears the sound once more, Kodi.

Heather throws her hands out in front of her. Knowing it was not wise to scream, she just smiles. Her mouth was dry from her opening for so long. Large and small building fly under her, people don't even glance up to notice her. Street food aroma rises into the air, making Heather drift off a little. Remembering quickly, she shakes her head to keep herself awake. Heather squints her eyes as she sees a large approaching building, about a mile away. That must be Taipei 101! Heather's mouth drops open. Then quickly closes it after she swallows a bug. Bianca appears next to her, face amused.

"How'd you catch up to me?" Heather mouths, hoping she doesn't swallow another bug.

Bianca smiles, clicks a button on her backpack, and she shoots ahead of Heather.

Rockets! Of course! Kodi has thought of everything! Heather copies what Bianca did and flies far past her, catching up to Evan quickly. Heather stops just before she passes Evan. She didn't want to get on his bad side. Evan starts to tip down so Heather attempts to copy, only to jerk to the side. Bianca flies up next to her and grabs the handlebar to help steady. Bianca guides Heather down after Evan.

Evan lands first as Heather and Bianca touch down second. Kodi was the last as she flips in her glider to her backpack. She helps the other's flip in their gliders as well. Heather looks up to take the tower all in.

"Heather! Snap out of it, we have to go! We'll be spotted if we don't move." Evan instructs as he ushers the girls into a corner. "Okay, remember, Eye of Halionox, it's on either the eighty-first floor or eightieth. Heather, take the bottom."

"Why the bottom?"

"it's the easiest."

"No, give me the hardest."

"Ugh fine, take the middle. Bianca can take the top, me and Kodi will take the bottom."

Bianca smiles slyly, "Why? So, you can ki-."

"Let's go." Evan interrupts, giving Bianca a death stare. Heather breathes nervously, Bianca places her hand on her shoulder and dashes to the left. Kodi and Evan dash to the right. Heather has to climb up. She clicks her backpack to her so it wouldn't fall off, throws a grappling hook that Evan had given her a long time ago, and shoots it up as far as it can. Thankfully, the bushes around the back keep her from being seen. Once she checks the grip of the hook, she begins to climb. At least I'm not afraid of heights. About halfway up, Heather could see halfway across the city! Looking down to the left, she sees Bianca sneaking her way into the building. Looking up, Heather sees Evan and Kodi scaling up the building with another rope.

Thinking fast, Heather takes her glass-cutter and slits a circle in the glass. Silently removing it, she makes her way into the one-thousand-thirty-seven-foot building. The room she appears to be in spice shop. Sharp scents confused Heather's smell. She normally has a great sense of smell. Better than most spies, as Bianca found that out many weeks ago when she was first being trained. Pulling down her night vision glasses Kodi made years ago. The walls were a dark crimson red. The desk stands at the farthest right corner and spices were lined up against the wall. Heather takes a quick glance at them, unfortunately, they are all in Taiwanese, so she couldn't read it. Heather slips toward the door and picks the lock. The door slides open, and Heather steps out. Floors upon floors where all around with white marble floors.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Heather made her way toward the higher floors. She couldn't take the stairs due to may leaving footprints. Hopefully, there are no security guards on the eightieth or eighty-first floor. About a half an hour later, Heather arrives at the floor she was assigned to.

Floor 80. Heather reads to herself. She starts to poke around, looking for the Eye. A light shines in front of her and instinctively she ducks down behind a bush.

"Heather?"