The street was dark, the only light coming from the full moon and a few street lights casting a yellow glow. Ben sat in his car, trying to simultaneously calm down and amp himself up. His eyes were closed, and his listened to angry rock music while taking deep breaths. He nearly jumped out of his skin when the car door open, and someone sank into the seat next to him.
“Are you sure you want to do this? You seem really twitchy,” Harper noted, rolling her eyes.
“I’m fine,” he said, giving himself a shake. “You just startled me, is all. Haven’t you heard of knocking?”
She just rolled her eyes again, then studied the driveway at the end of the street. “So, it’s down there?”
“Yeah,” Ben replied, following her gaze.
“And this guy actually has the new VR headset? I thought they only made like, four beta models.”
Ben nodded, sitting up a little straighter. “Yeah, I’m sure. I work on weekends around the house, and I saw it in his office. He’s some bigwig at RiftStation, so he must have been able to talk his way into a headset. He told me he’d be out of town this week, so it’s the perfect time to take a look ourselves.”
Harper grinned, her crooked nose ring flashing in the dim light. “Then let’s do this. What’s the plan to get in?”
Ben pointed to the stone wall closing off the property, and the gate blocking the driveway. “I have a passcode to get in, but then if he checks the log for whatever reason, he’ll know I was here when I wasn’t supposed to be.”
“So we need to bypass the gate,” she finished, staring at the wall. “I think we can hop it. It’s not that tall.”
Ben stared at her.
“What?”
“Have you done this before?”
Harper smiled slyly. “Maybe.” She opened the car door, slipping out into the darkness. “Let’s go.”
They made their way down the street, trying to avoid the puddles of light from the streetlamps. The finally reached the corner of the wall; it looked much taller in person.
“Come on,” Harper said, gesturing to the wall. “Give me a boost.”
Ben opened his mouth to argue, but stopped at her glare. He laced his hands together, and she carefully stepped up. With a grunt, his hefted her up the wall. She sat perched on the top, and smiled down at him.
“Take my hand,” she said, reaching down. After a few false starts, they were both over the wall and trudging toward the house.
“Anything else we need to contend with? Dogs? Cameras? Laser beams?” Harper asked, looking much more comfortable than Ben felt.
“No, I don’t think so, and no,” he replied.
She
stopped. “You don’t think there are cameras, but you don’t
know?”
He shuffled his feet a bit, losing confidence in this
plan by the second. “Yeah…”
Harper sighed, then tapped her foot, thinking. “We’ll just have to keep our heads down, and try to avoid the main entrance. Here,” she said, swinging her backpack down and pulling out a baseball hat. “Wear this.”
He put the hat on, and Harper tugged it down over his face. She put on her own hat, and they continued on to the house. When they reached the back door, Harper peered through the glass.
“Looks ritzy, for a kitchen.”
“Yeah, like I said, he’s some tech bigwig. Whole place is nice,” Ben said, bending down to pull aside the doormat. “Damn it.”
“What?”
Ben rocked back on his heels, looking up at her. “He usually keeps a spare key under the doormat, but it’s not here.”
Harper sighed, then tested the door. “You never know,” she shrugged. The door was definitely locked. She glanced around, and noticed a garden gnome cheerfully watching them from the side of the path. She grinned, picking it up. “These things are so weird,” she said, weighing it in her hands. “But at least this one is the right size.”
“The right size for what…” Ben asked, but his question was answered as she punched the gnome through the window of the door. “What if that set off an alarm?” he whispered, angrily.
“Well, clearly it didn’t,” she shot back, as the house remained silent. “And now we can get in.” She carefully reached her arm through the broken window, and after a few seconds, was able to unbolt the door. “After you,” she said, smugly, holding the door open.
Ben glared at her, but led the way inside. They were only a few feet in when Harper stopped to survey the room. “I swear, this kitchen is bigger than my uncle’s apartment.”
Ben glanced at her. He couldn’t read the odd expression on her face. “Yeah, it’s pretty big.”
“Maybe he’s overcompensating,” she smirked. “Let’s go find the headset.”
Ben started off, leading her through various rooms and hallways until they reached the door to the home office. “Last I saw it, the headset was in here. Seriously, though, don’t touch anything else. I don’t want to get fired or anything.”
Harper laughed. “Sure, whatever.”
Ben opened the door, and they crept into the office. It was dark, but Ben edged his way over to the desk and flicked on a lamp. The office was huge, with rows and rows of bookshelves, a massive, cluttered desk with glowing monitor, and a cushy office chair turned away from them, as if someone got up in a hurry and it spun around.
Harper whistled, looking around at the packed shelves. “Look at all this,” she said, crossing to a bookshelf and peering at the figurines. “How much is all this worth? Some of these are still in the box.”
Ben glanced over. “Oh, yeah, he’s really proud of his collection. I think it’s worth a few thousand, at least.”
Harper shook her head. “Rich people are weird.”
“Ah ha!”
Harper turned around, and saw Ben triumphantly holding up the VR headset.
“Here we are. Let’s see…” Ben murmured, pressing a few buttons. The headset lit up, and he grinned. “I think it’s good to go.” He held it out to her. “Ladies first.”
“That is such a sexist attitude,” Harper said, but she still walked over and snatched the headset.
“And that seems a bit hypocritical,” said a new voice from the other side of the chair.
They both yelped, and Harper dropped the headset. It clattered to the floor, but their eyes were glued on the chair.
Frozen to the spot, they watched as the office chair slowly turned, revealing a woman dressed all in black watching them. She was very petite, which explained why they hadn’t seen her before.
“I’ve always despised women who rail against sexism while expecting chivalry,” she mused, staring at Harper with clear, piercing eyes. “And the men who lose their good sense to impress them.” Her gaze flicked to Ben, and she smiled. It wasn’t very friendly.
“Wh-wh-who are you?” Ben stammered. “What are you doing here?”
“Probably not the same thing you are here for,” she spectulated. “You have no idea what your boss has in this office, do you?”
“M-m-my boss? You kn-know, who I-”
“Am? Yes, I know who you are. I am curious,” she said, tilting her head slightly, “how you got in here. I know the owner of this fine house removes the extra keys while he is away, and I doubt you have your own.”
“We broke the window with a gnome,” Ben said in a rush, feeling compelled to tell the truth.
Harper jabbed him with her elbow. “Shut up,” she hissed. Her eyes darted around the room, trying to find a way out.
“Forced entry via gnome? Well, that’s a new one to me,” the woman said, drawing their attention back to her. She tapped her chin with her finger. “You happen to be in luck. I already turned off the security cameras, so your B&E will go unnoticed. You didn’t touch anything?” she asked, sharply.
They shoot their heads. “Just the gnome. And the door,” Ben answered.
“Well, that’s something.” She considered them. “I think you’ll be fine, as long as you wipe down the door and take the gnome as you leave.”
“Why do we have to take the gnome?”
She just waved at them, clearly finished with their exchange. “Off you go.”
Ben turned to leave, but Harper stood her ground, glaring at the woman. “What are you doing here?”
The woman smiled sweetly, and Ben felt more scared than ever. “Me? I’m just here, collecting some very interesting information.”
“What kind of information?” Harper asked, shaking off Ben’s hand as he tried to pull her to the door.
The woman’s eyes flashed. “That’s classified.”
Harper met her eyes for a few more moments, then let herself be dragged away.
They hurried through the house, wiping down the door as they left. Ben almost left the complicit gnome on the path, but the woman’s words echoed in his mind and he brought it with. They walked back to the wall, their ascent and descent made more cumbersome by the lawn ornament. Finally, they reached Ben’s car, and slunk inside.
He finally broke the silence. “What do we do now?”
Harper shot him a look. “What do you mean?”
He shrugged, avoiding her gaze. “Do we tell someone? About… her?”
“And admit we broke in, too? Are you stupid? We get out of here, we dump the gnome, and pretend nothing happened.” Harper stared down the street at the gated driveway.
Ben nodded absently, turning his car on and slowly pulling out onto the deserted street. He drove for a while, not sure where he wanted to go, what to do. Harper finally told him to stop, and she got out and tossed the gnome in a dumpster.
Finally, he drove her home. He parked in a visitor’s spot in the apartment parking lot, waiting for her to leave.
“RiftStation has government contracts, right?”
The question surprised him. He looked at Harper, but her face was blank.
“Yeah, I think so. Why?”
“Just something she said. ‘It’s classified.’” She shook her head. “Forget it. Forget this whole night.” She got out of the car, then leaned over. “See you in calc tomorrow.”
Ben just nodded, and watched as she walked away, worry clouding his mind. He didn’t think he’d forget this night as long as he lived.
© The Lightning Tower, 2020