He nodded and turned his attention back to me. “Do you think this will work?”

“Only one way to find out,” I said as I jumped off the platform and together we ran for the door. We were outside in the cold night air within seconds, and I pushed myself to run faster. Even with our new reinforcements, we were going to be cutting it close to find our explosives in time.

The first one was located in the Roosevelt Building, and we took a sharp right and raced down the short path, through the dark playground and up the stairs to the wide glass double doors. I’d attended all my elementary-level classes in this building, and I knew the halls well. I gave the doors a firm yank, but nothing happened. I groaned in exasperation. Of course, the building was locked. I was just fumbling for my mom’s key when Elliot threw out a hand to stop me. I turned to see him pointing above the door, where a familiar black camera was mounted to the red brick. Bingo.

The next four explosives proved to be easier to find than I’d ever hoped. Instead of being hidden in the heart of the buildings, they were located outside. “Hidden in plain sight,” I muttered as I yanked the fifth and final one off the concrete wall of the Revere Building and carefully tucked it inside the backpack I’d found abandoned on the playground. The cloth over my mouth was making it hard to breathe, and I yanked it down around my neck so the cold night air could fill my lungs.

“We might actually pull this off,” Elliot said, just as we rounded a corner and ran full force into a group of security officers.

My face collided with the first officer’s chest plate, and my nose gave a sickening crunch. Black spots erupted momentarily in my vision as I was knocked flat on my back. A second later, I was blinking up into the faces of four very concerned security officers.

“Cadet Fitz,” said one, holding out a hand to help me up. “What are you doing out past curfew? Dressed like that? We had a Butterfly alert. It isn’t safe.” I let him help me up, my brain going a mile a minute as I worked to think my way out of this. A quick glance at Elliot revealed him clutching his right eye as another officer helped him to his feet. They obviously had no idea that we were supposed to be miles away inside a mountain. That was good. I could use that. I held my hand up to my nose to stem the stream of blood that I could feel running hot and wet down my chin.

“Oh geez,” said another officer. “She’s bleeding. We just made Commander Fitz’s kid bleed.”

“Can we get fired for that?” whispered another one.