22: Fireworks

While at work, Katie played up her illness. It was fairly convincing because she looked tired and pale, a result of her long flights and lack of sleep. They were expecting a fairly slow afternoon, so when Katie pretended to throw up in the toilet, her boss said she could take the rest of the day off to rest. Thanking him, Katie picked up her bag and headed for the station, stopping to pick up another large coffee. She had the most difficult role in the operation and she wanted to be as alert as possible. Instead of catching the train home, she headed for Riley's house, trying to remember the walking route she'd memorised. It wasn't too far, but the suburban streets wound back and forth quite a bit and she didn't want to get lost and lose time. She drank the majority of her coffee on the train to keep herself from falling asleep, and then decided to jog to the house, hoping the exercise would keep her awake.

P.E. was the last lesson before lunch and George had to enact his side of the plan before then. Unfortunately, he couldn't start until he got the word from ASIS. Break time dragged on without any contact and George fidgeted his way through biology, hoping his phone would beep. Riley seemed to think he'd bottled it and kept pestering him about when they were going to start.

"I'll ask to go to the toilet and you follow me a few minutes later," George whispered. "Then we'll meet up and start the show."

"Hurry up and ask, then. I'm bored," Riley moaned.

"Patience, I've got to wait for the right time," George snapped, wondering desperately if ASIS would ever message him.

The teacher had just launched into a speech about stem cells and sharks when George's phone buzzed loudly, attracting the attention of the class.

"Sorry," George said insincerely, pulling it out under the desk and reading the message quickly.

"I'm afraid 'sorry' doesn't cut it, young man," the teacher replied.

"May I go to the toilet? I'm bursting," George replied, jumping up and grabbing his bag without waiting for a reply.

"If you really have to," the teacher told him. "Come straight back, though."

George waited until he was out of the room and then flipped her off through the door. She didn't notice and he walked fast towards the toilets before pausing the nervously flicking through the contacts on his phone, checking the speed dial for the tenth time that day.

Riley appeared a few sweaty minutes later, looking happy.

"She wasn't pleased but I persuaded her," Riley told him. "Now, where are we heading?"

"I was thinking we'd hide in that stupid flower garden and lob them at the buildings," George grinned, finding his stride as they jogged out of the doors and into sunlight.

"Good plan," Riley said, rubbing his hands together in excitement. "We're going to be total legends after this."

The flower garden was in the surrounded on three sides by four-storey buildings, with the open side leading to the playing fields. There were benches and flower borders planted by the gardening club, and Riley made a point of trampling everything he could as they took cover behind the brickwork of a small raised pond.

"Okay," George said, taking off his backpack and pulling out the first box of fireworks. "I think the fuses are mostly ten or fifteen seconds, so light it, count to six or seven and then throw it upwards. If you hold it too long or throw too low you'll get burnt or it'll rebound," he explained, handing Riley a lighter and the first of the firecrackers. "Throw them all as soon as possible so we don't get spotted."

George knew there was no chance of them escaping since half of the school would be looking to see where the fireworks were coming from, but the plan asked for them to get caught. He still felt nervous as Riley lit the first fuse and gave him a thumbs-up.

"This one's to skipping P.E.!" Riley yelled before jumping up and throwing it overarm towards the nearest buildings. George had lit his own and was too busy concentrating on it to see where the firework exploded, but judging by Riley's whoop of happiness, it had been a success.

George threw his first one in the opposite direction, getting it quite high before it exploded. Riley was already being adventurous, holding three in his hand and lighting all the fuses simultaneously. George was afraid that he'd never be able to throw them, but he managed to get them all up in the air before they exploded. Some shouts were coming from the nearest buildings, but that didn't deter them. Lighting another, George took aim at a window where some pupils were staring, wide-eyed, but his throw was hopeless and the firework bounced off the wall before going off.

Before he could grab another one, Riley misjudged a throw and managed to throw one only a few feet up in the air. George scrambled for safety, expecting chaos as the firework detonated all of the others, but it landed harmlessly, making a loud crack that made George's ears ring. He hurried over and grabbed another one, but some teachers were starting to run towards them, so he made it the last one, lighting it quickly and throwing it wildly. He watched with horror as it sailed in a perfect arc towards the second floor and disappeared through an open window, sending everyone in the classroom scrambling for cover. As soon as it exploded, lighting up the room with sparks, he set off at a sprint, fear taking over. Riley was hot on his heels, but some P.E. teachers were on the playing fields and soon closed in. The fire alarm started wailing as one of them grabbed George by the ankle in a diving tackle, pulling him to the ground hard. Pain shot up both of George's arms as a pair of powerfully-built teenagers flattened Riley, but within a moment the teacher had grabbed his arms and was pulling them behind his back.

"For God's sake," George moaned, his arms on fire from the pain.

"You get what you deserve," the teacher replied, grabbing his collar and marching him towards the school buildings.

Katie felt like an idiot as she hid behind a bush in the Kurjaks' garden. She'd hoped there was a more convenient hiding place nearby, but nothing presented itself. They employed a full-time security guard watching the house, so her only option was to approach from the street behind and go garden-hopping, which made her glad she'd worn a pair of jean shorts instead of a skirt. She was waiting for Maria to leave the house, which was easy enough, but crouching behind a bush trying not to get too much soil on her trainers wasn't exactly her favourite place to be, and Maria was taking absolutely ages. According to her phone, it took more than an hour of hiding before a taxi pulled up and Maria got in. The moment Katie was sure she'd gone, she straightened up a little and stretched her legs, trying to get the feeling back. It took five minutes, but she needed to be in top form for the next stage. Once her legs were feeling okay again, she slipped on a pair of leather gloves, grabbed the strap of her bag tightly in one hand and set off at a sprint for the front of the house, covering the thirty yards of lawn in less than four seconds, then skirted around, heading at full pelt for the little booth that the security guard sat in. He saw her and shouted something, but she'd covered the distance between them in two seconds and launched a flying kick that hit him in the chest. Her legs jarred from the momentum, but he hit the wooden wall hard and she landed unsteadily. Winded, he tried to reach for the panic button, but Katie was faster and knocked him cold with a strike to the side of the head.

Looking around and panting, she couldn't see anyone else guarding the house, so she paused to gag and tie up the guard with duct tape from her bag before walking calmly up to the house. George had made a copy of the front door key which allowed her to get in, but he didn't know the security alarm code. It began beeping as soon as she was in and she found the control box in a cupboard on the left. There was no override and no tell-tale wear on the number keys, so she used her remaining time before the alarm sounded to follow George's instructions to find the garage, where she reached up and flicked off the alarm circuit breakers. The alarm stopped instantly, but it wasn't a subtle method. Zach would know someone had been in the house, which was a problem if she couldn't find what she was looking for.

With the house to herself, she locked the front door and headed for Zach's study, heart pounding. George had told her every detail about the house from the layout to what was normally in the fridge, but she still found her stomach churning with nerves as she located the door to the study and used her lock gun to open it.

Having suffered similar injuries before, George was sure that his arms were just sore and nothing more serious, but they were still uncomfortable as he sat on a wooden chair outside the principal's office. Riley sat next to him, a huge grin on his face despite the bloody tissue jammed up his nose to stem the bleeding. George grinned back, pleased that the plan was going well. He'd heard the school secretary ringing Riley's parents and demanding that they come into school to pick him up, since he was expelled with immediate effect. George had expected to be suspended or something, but expulsion was a surprise. He suspected it was a consequence of the firework he'd accidentally thrown into a classroom; although nobody had been hurt, a couple of girls had gone into hysterics and had been sent home, and an expensive projector had been destroyed.

His arms ached, but he managed to send a quick message to Katie explaining the situation, hoping it wouldn't distract her, and as soon as it was sent he got a reply letting him know it was all going well at her end.

Pushing his phone back into his trouser pocket, George did his best to look innocent when Zach arrived, not sure how he was going to react. In the end, Zach said nothing and just listened to the secretary when she said they were still waiting for his wife to arrive. He took a seat next to Riley and asked him what had happened, occasionally laughing when Riley told him about the funnier bits and earning a stern look from the secretary.

Maria arrived shortly afterwards and the three of them went straight into the principal's office, but with the door shut George couldn't hear anything. The secretary had been trying Alice for the past ten minutes without success, so George just sat quietly and tried not to get into any more trouble, not that the school could do anything else to him.

There were raised voices in the office a few minutes later and Maria burst out, her hand gripping Riley's wrist as she half-dragged him towards the exit. Zach followed, looking sheepish, but when he spotted George he stopped.

"Hey sport, what's happened to your aunt?" he asked.

"They can't get through," George explained, pointing a thumb at the secretary.

"Well, if you don't think she'll mind, we'll give you a ride back to ours and you can catch the train back? Better than sitting here all day, and I bet your aunt would appreciate not being dragged away from the office."

George realised that this was a flaw in the plan. While ASIS trusted Alice, they couldn't be sure that she wouldn't tip Zach off without their knowledge, so she'd been kept out of the plan. Unfortunately, this meant that she didn't know that George would need to be picked up, and since she was out of contact, there was no logical reason for George to turn down Zach's offer.

"Sounds good," George replied, getting to his feet and rubbing his arms a bit. "Anywhere's better than this dump."

Zach let out a laugh and showed his childish side by making an obscene gesture towards the secretary on the way out. George burst into giggles and was still gasping by the time they got to the car. He settled in beside Riley and exchanged a high five, which got him a look from Maria.

"We're dropping you off at the nearest station, understand?" she said sternly as Zach backed the car out of the space and headed for the way out.

"Come on, we'll at least take him back to the one nearest us," Zach replied in a voice that suggested he didn't want to be defied.

Maria didn't reply, but George was expecting the police to move in and arrest them at any moment. Nothing came and before long they were on the main road out of the city centre, and George was wondering what his next step should be.