Blackout (19 page)

Obi touched the mouse pad and pushed his finger forward. Robbie also moved forward. Obi swept his finger left and right. Robbie followed his commands. Obi stopped and looked at Jack. ‘All good.’

‘OK,’ Jack said. ‘Let’s go have a look.’

Noble opened the passenger door and set Robbie down outside.

Obi pushed his finger forward and Robbie raced through the trees.

Wren gasped. ‘He’s fast.’

Robbie weaved between the trunks, rolled up a fallen log, jumped into the air and landed on a dirt track.

‘Woohoo,’ Obi shouted.

‘Shhh,’ Jack hissed, waving for Noble to shut the door again.

Obi guided Robbie along the outer wall. ‘Up here there’s another way into the grounds. Ten metres or so. It’s the only way through, apart from the main entrance.’

A little while later, Robbie stopped outside a gate in the wall and turned to face it.

‘Can you scan that?’ Jack said.

Obi tilted the cameras up. There was an old-fashioned lock in the ironwork, but it also had a thick padlock and chain.

‘I can get through,’ Charlie said. ‘But I’ll have to use a saw.’

‘That’s no good,’ Jack said. ‘Sawing will attract too much attention.’

‘Can you tilt the camera up a bit more?’ Noble said.

Obi pulled back on one of the joysticks and the camera moved up.

There was no way through.

‘I can get over that,’ Slink said.

‘
You
might be able to,’ Jack said, ‘but the rest of us can’t. How are we going to get in?’

‘Hinges,’ Charlie said.

They all looked at her.

‘Show me the hinges.’

The image turned to the left and moved down the gate.

Charlie pointed. ‘That’s the weak point. I can break through those silently.’ She rifled through her bag and pulled out a thick, flat iron bar. She stood up. ‘Give me five minutes.’

‘I’ll come with you,’ Slink said.

They climbed out of the van and disappeared through the trees.

Noble was now sitting in the driver’s seat, making sure no one was watching them.

Jack kept his attention on the netbook display and a couple of minutes later Charlie and Slink jogged into view.

Slink leapt up the gate and scaled the wall. He held on to the spikes and peered into the garden. He gave Charlie a thumbs-up and she set to work.

She jammed the iron bar between the hinge and wall and pulled. After a few seconds, she shook her head and tried again, this time bracing her feet against the brickwork.

She yanked hard and stumbled back.

Robbie shifted position and they could see Charlie had broken the first hinge off.

She knelt down and jammed the bar behind the second hinge. She glanced up at Slink, then heaved. The second hinge came away more easily.

Charlie turned, grinned into the camera and swung the gate open.

Slink jumped down and the two of them stared into the garden.

‘It all looks quiet,’ Charlie whispered.

Without hesitation, and before the other two got any ideas, Jack asked Obi to guide Robbie through the gate and over the lawn towards the house.

A couple of minutes later, the van door opened and Charlie and Slink climbed back in.

‘I thought for a minute that you two were going to look at the house,’ Jack said.

‘We did consider it,’ Charlie said. ‘It seems deserted.’

Jack glanced at the display – sure enough, there were no lights on. The house was completely dark. Chateau Gailan was indeed empty.

But they couldn’t be too careful. Besides, just because no one was home, didn’t mean there wasn’t any other security, like cameras, watching them.

Obi guided Robbie along a gravel path and around to the rear of the mansion.

A manicured lawn stretched into the distance, flanked by sculpted hedgerows. In the centre was a large circular fountain.

Obi stopped Robbie and hesitated.

‘What’s wrong?’ Jack said.

‘I’m not sure of the best way to go.’ He swung the camera to the back door. ‘Either through the pantry, down the hallway, then to Dad’s old office or . . .’ He pointed the camera to the right side of the building and aimed it at a tall window, ‘we just go straight through that way.’

Jack looked at Charlie. ‘Ideas?’

She leant over Obi’s shoulder and peered at the image. ‘Is there a burglar alarm?’

‘I think so.’

‘Where is it?’

‘The keypad is by the front door.’

Charlie sat back. ‘Can I see the office window?’

Obi guided Robbie to the window and panned the camera up and down. From their viewpoint, they couldn’t see any other signs of security.

No wires.

No sensors.

Nothing.

Charlie frowned. ‘OK, go to the front of the house.’

Obi steered Robbie down the side of the building and round to the front. It had a large impressive oak door with a brass knocker and handle.

There was still no sign of security and Robbie was too low to the ground to get a good look through the windows.

Jack glanced at Charlie. ‘Well?’

She shrugged. ‘I don’t know, Jack. We could just go for it.’

Jack cocked an eyebrow at her. ‘OK, which way then? Office window or front door?’

‘Both.’ Noble turned in his seat to look at them. ‘Go both ways.’

‘He’s right,’ Jack said. ‘Charlie has the best chance at deactivating the alarm control panel. I’ll go with her through the front door. Meantime, Slink and Wren can get into the office through the window at the back and see if the safe is in there. That way, if Charlie has any problems with the alarm, we’ll still have got a good look at the place.’ He turned to Obi. ‘Use Robbie to patrol the grounds. Any movement, let us know.’

Charlie handed them all headsets.

‘I’ll stay and keep an eye out here,’ Noble said. ‘Make sure we don’t get any unwanted visitors.’

‘Me too,’ Obi said. ‘I’ll use Robbie to patrol the grounds.’

Jack, Charlie, Slink and Wren climbed out of the ice-cream van and hurried through the trees.

They reached the gate and jogged silently across the lawn.

When they got to the house, Jack and Charlie headed to the front door, while Slink and Wren ran round the back.

Once everyone was in position Jack spoke into his headset. ‘Slink, can you see any security now you have a better view?’

There was a short pause before Slink said, ‘Yeah. There’s a sensor on this window.’

Jack looked at Charlie. ‘Well?’

Charlie cupped her hands over the glass panel in the front door and peered into the hallway. ‘I can see the alarm on the wall.’ She swore under her breath.

‘What’s wrong?’ Jack said.

‘It’s old. Never seen that type before.’

‘Old is good though, right?’ Jack said. ‘Isn’t it easier to crack?’

‘I’m used to systems that are a little more advanced.’ Charlie pulled back, slid a wallet of lock picks from her bag and set to work on the front door.

Jack pressed a finger to his ear. ‘Slink?’

‘I can get this window open easily. No problems.’

‘Wait until we say.’ Jack glanced around to make doubly sure there were no cameras.

There was a click as Charlie unlocked the door. She straightened up.

Jack nodded at her. ‘Go.’

She opened the door and the beeps from the alarm started. Charlie jogged over to the panel.

‘Go, Slink,’ Jack said into his microphone, and he hurried in after her.

Charlie was right – the alarm box on the wall had huge grey buttons and looked like an antique typewriter.

The beeps started speeding up.

‘So?’ Jack said, looking between Charlie and the panel.

Charlie pulled off the cover and peered inside at the components. She frowned, muttering under her breath as her eyes traced the paths of the wires.

The beeps grew faster.

How much time did they have left? Twenty seconds? Ten?

‘Would you like some help?’

Jack leapt back and spun around.

Noble strode over to them. ‘Ah, the Go-Secure two-thousand,’ he said. ‘I remember when these first came out.’ He glanced at Charlie. ‘May I?’

Charlie stepped aside.

The beeps were so fast now that it would be only a matter of seconds before the alarm went off.

‘They don’t make them like this any more,’ Noble said, peering inside the box.

Jack’s stomach knotted.

Noble cleared his throat. ‘Now, let’s see.’ He gripped either side with both hands. The rapid beeps turned into one long tone. With a swift movement, Noble ripped the box off the wall, breaking all the wires and bringing a chunk of plaster with it.

Jack stared in disbelief.

Noble glanced up at the ceiling and listened for a moment. Finally, he said, ‘That should do it,’ and tossed the alarm box out of the front door and on to the gravel driveway. Noble bowed. ‘See you back at the van,’ he said and strode from the house.

Jack had to snap himself back to reality. ‘Slink?’ he whispered into his headset.

‘We’ve found the –’ Slink hesitated. ‘Erm, safe?’

Jack and Charlie hurried down the corridor and through the last door on the right.

The office was wood-panelled and several oil paintings hung on the walls. A large desk sat next to the window.

Slink had pulled back one of the wood panels from the wall to reveal a metal door, two metres tall, one wide, with a large dial in the centre and a handle.

‘That’s not a safe,’ Charlie said. ‘That’s a flipping vault.’

There was a scraping sound and Jack wheeled around as Robbie came trundling into the room.

Jack said into his microphone, ‘Obi, you’re supposed to be patrolling the perimeter.’

‘I had to see.’

Robbie’s camera tilted up.

Jack walked over to the vault door and stood next to Charlie.

She knelt down and unzipped her bag. She put on a pair of headphones that were attached to a microphone inside a suction cup. She pressed the cup to the vault door and started to rotate the dial slowly.

Charlie closed her eyes as she listened to the mechanism inside.

Jack held his breath.

Charlie stopped and mouthed the number ‘nine’ to him. She then turned the dial slowly the other way and stopped again.

‘Twenty-seven.’

She rotated the dial back in the opposite direction.

‘Seventeen.’

There was a click.

She grabbed the handle and unlocked the door.

Charlie put the microphone and headphones back in her bag and stood up.

Jack glanced at the others, then swung the vault door fully open.

It was empty.

Nothing but bare shelves.

Robbie rolled forward and the camera looked from left to right, up and down.

‘Well, that’s just brilliant.’ Slink leant into Robbie’s camera, his face a few centimetres away. ‘Empty again.’

‘We have company,’ Noble said in their ears. ‘Main driveway.’

Jack spun around. ‘Get out of here,’ he said to the others and he sprinted from the office and down the hallway.

He reached the front door and peered out in time to see a car coming up the driveway.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The car followed the curve of the driveway, heading straight towards the house.

Jack pressed a finger to his ear. ‘Obi, who’s this?’

‘My uncle.’

‘What? I thought you said he was in London?’

‘He was.’

Jack glanced at the burglar alarm box on the ground in front of the steps. There wasn’t enough time to grab it and get back inside without being seen.

He slammed the front door shut and ran down the hallway. When he got to the office, he was stunned to see Charlie was still there.

‘What are you doing?’ he said. ‘Get out of here.’

‘Wait a minute.’ Charlie turned slowly on the spot, her eyes narrowed and scanning the room. ‘It has to be here somewhere. I know it.’

‘What are you on about? We have to go.’

‘No,’ Charlie waved a finger at the vault. ‘This can’t be where he kept a copy of the will.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because Obi said his dad never trusted his uncle.’ Charlie’s eyes moved around the room, still searching for something.

‘Charlie, we don’t have time for this.’ Jack grabbed her arm, but she pulled away from him.

She ran to the far side of the room and lifted a painting of an old boat from the wall. She looked behind it, then lowered it back into place and moved to a portrait of a French general.