Chapter 13: Page Two

Alex raced along the corridor, with the solutions to the second page of Peach's office. He was tempted to use his "Blading Away" function of his shoes, but decided that seeing the place was crowded, it would have just looked weird.

He arrived. The office was empty. It had taken Alex five minutes to race to Charlie's office and drop off his bag, and another five to hurry through the busy corridors to Peach's office. So, he assumed that Peach and Munchie would still be in the library.

Alex slipped into the office and headed straight towards the far walls, where all the books were lined up in a boo case. There were five rows, with a break in the middle.

The third book had to be pulled. Beginning where? Does the break count as a starting point as well? If it did, that meant that there were twenty third books to try. If Alex was going to find the right one, he had to hurry. They were bound to be back soon.

Alex made a decision. He pulled the third book on the top row, on the left of the break. Nothing. Third boo of the top row on the right. Nothing. Third book of second row on left. Nothing. So on. Until he cot to the third book of the forth row on the right of the break.

Once Alex had pulled that book, a red cover, titled – Body Elements, the bookcase suddenly slid aside smoothly, revealing a number pad. The number pad was your typical security PIN pad with a twist.

There was paper covering every number save 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, and 9.

Alex smiled. It couldn't be easier. They were the numbers of the security code. Alex tapped in the number sequence, and the false wall split in half and slid to either side, revealing a large spacey room with corridors branching off on either side.

As Alex entered the room, the bookcase slid in place behind him. He would worry about getting out later, but at that moment, he was interested in the layout of the room.

There was a chair in front of the tables, which had Bunsen burners and vials of chemicals bubbling, setting, heating, cooling on them. The chair however; wasn't your ordinary chair. It was one of those comfortable reclining ones that the shrinks' have, with the strange addition of metal cuffs. The cuffs were along the arms, the legs, and where the neck and waist were.

Alex felt a chilled, shiver run down his back. Must have been torture for poor Amy Collins. They weren't willing at all, despite Peach and her assistant's claims. These people were out of their minds.

Alex took snapshots of the chair and the tables of the experiments, then proceeded down the corridor to his right.

The corridor was lined with barred doors that had no peep-holes, so Alex had no idea what was going on behind them, besides he had left his ID card in his bag in Charlie's office.

Alex took photos of the cell doors – they couldn't be anything else – and snuck across to the opposite corridor; which was more of the same thing. Until he experimentally pushed at the third door from the end.

That door was like the others around it, with the exception of the swipe card lock control mechanism. It had a green light, whilst all the others were red.

The door swung open smoothly; to reveal a room with its three wall covered with TV monitors showing the various cells, recording the movements within. Alex was lucky he hadn't been inside one, otherwise his cover would have been blown.

Alex took snapshots of these monitors, including close-ups of the ones where the prisoners were showing. Thankfully, the photos were self-sending. Alex didn't want to think of how much time it would take for that amount of photos going through to Don at the same time.

When he had finally finished his first exploration, Alex glanced down at his watch. An hour had passed. Strange how time flies when you're having fun.

Alex decided it was time for him to leave the secret laboratory, and headed for the concealed door, ready to go out. But…There was no handle.

Alex pushed at the door. It wouldn't budge. Alex ran his hands swiftly, but carefully, across the cold, smooth stone that the door was made of for anything irregular.

After what took to be five minutes – it felt like five hours – Alex found it. A slight bump, right in the centre of the door. He pushed the bump, and the door swung inwards, starting him. If it weren't for the quick reflexes he had developed form his previous assignments and karate practice, Alex would have ended up hurt pretty badly. As it was, the door, had just missed him by a millimetre.

Alex stepped back through the doorway, and back into the office of his suspect, Peter Peach. Alex was lucky, the office was empty. He turned around, and saw that the door hadn't closed yet. Alex reached towards the security PIN pad, pulling the concealing doors back into position. Once closed, the bookcase started to slide back together, one centimetre per second. Too slow.

It may have been the adrenaline that was still pumping through Alex's veins at that moment, but whatever it was, Alex was very alert, his senses had never been more awake. So heightened they were, that he could hear the slight grinding of Peach's office door handle turning. The bookcase was only half-way closed.

Hurry up! Alex silently urged it, nervously staring at the sliding halves. The handle was continually turning. Three-quarters of the way closed, the door opened a crack. Closing, closing, closing…

Whoosh! The office door swung open, just as the bookcase slid shut completely, after what seemed lie an eternity. To reveal Munchie and Peach in the door way.

"Alex!" Peach exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Page two is completed Professor," Alex said, placing the sheet on Peach's desk, and walked out of the office as calmly as he could manage, feeling Munchie's eyes, stabbing daggers into his back, as she closed the door firmly, and locked it.

Alex allowed a sigh of relief escape, before whipping out his phone and eavesdropped on Peach and Munchie.

"—on't trust him," Munchie's voice was saying.

"He's just a kid. How's he supposed to do anything."

"It's not wise to discount every possibility."

"I don't believe –"

At that point, footsteps were getting closer to the office door, and Alex had to get on his feet, least he got caught eavesdropping.