head.
All the lights were dark in the house. I slinked up the back porch, choosing it because it had less street view than the front.
The back door was solid carved wood, parting in the middle to slide to either side, and powered by pneumatics. In other words, it was a bit on the fancy side. Which, in this case, translated to easy to open. All I had to do was get into the control panel for the doors and cut the hose that held the air pressure. Of course, that led to the issue of it being obvious that someone had broken in, which usually wasn’t a problem. But right now, I wanted to leave it as a mystery as to how the coffee disappeared.
“What are you looking for?” Kelsie’s voice whispered near my ear.
“The little hidden panel that holds the mechanics for the door,” I responded, feeling around with my bare fingertips for an edge, a seam or something.
“What does it look like?”
That actually made me pause to give her a look. “I don’t know, Kelsie! Each one is custom built for the door.”
Kelsie started searching around next to me for it. “Here’s something.”
I turned and looked, finding an almost invisible rectangle low in the wall roughly fifteen centimeters by twenty centimeters. Grabbing the knife I kept in my pocket, I worked the thin blade down into the crack, finding it a tight fit. Whoever had built this box did a hell of a job.
I finally got the lid off after working it back and forth for a minute or two. A quick look over my shoulder showed the coast was clear. Kelsie produced a tiny and direct light to shine into the box. Inside was an assortment of hoses and fittings that controlled the air pressure that opened and shut the door. Taking my knife, I picked the fattest hose, that was usually the one, and was about to slice it.
“Drake, what are you doing?”
“Cutting the hose to let off the air pressure so we can get in?” I was paused, holding my blade against the hose while she was talking.
“But then they’ll know someone was here!”
I nodded. “No kidding. Yes, they’ll figure that out first thing in the morning.”
“Well, isn’t there another way to do this?”
I shrugged. “Probably. I rarely have time to mess around with it long enough to figure out an alternative method.”
“Get out of the way, let me look,” Kelsie said, nudging me out of the way. Her hair blew into my face as she did, filling my nose with the sweet scent of her shampoo as I fought a sneeze.
With a chuckle, I held my hands up in surrender and wiggled out of the way. Just enough to give her room. I didn’t mind her being pressed up against my side at all.
A second later, “Ah ha!” she said in a loud whisper. An instant later, the control box was lit up like daylight.
“Hey! Turn that off! Hurry!” I whispered urgently, trying to shield the light with my hands so we didn’t let the whole street know what we were up to.
The light flicked off. “Sorry. Wrong lever.”
I snorted. I was going to let her have another minute or so, then I was going to say “hell with it” and cut the line. The longer we sat out here on the porch in the open, the more likely we’d be seen.
A few seconds later, there was a hiss. I looked at her, then grabbed the doors and pulled them apart as easily as air. Kelsie wore a triumphant smirk.
“What would you do without me?” she asked.
“Have a much simpler life?” I grinned, earning another hit.
Cautiously, I stuck my head in the room, checking for any signs that the Magistrate or his wife were awake. I was greeted with absolute silence and darkness. A narrow beam of moonlight slipped through the edge around the curtains in the kitchen as the only light. That was fine, that’s the only place I really needed light since I was the one going for the coffee beans.
Closing my eyes, I barely remembered to commandeer Kelsie’s tiny light for when I was in the kitchen. I didn’t want to turn the light on yet for risk of someone walking by and
All the lights were dark in the house. I slinked up the back porch, choosing it because it had less street view than the front.
The back door was solid carved wood, parting in the middle to slide to either side, and powered by pneumatics. In other words, it was a bit on the fancy side. Which, in this case, translated to easy to open. All I had to do was get into the control panel for the doors and cut the hose that held the air pressure. Of course, that led to the issue of it being obvious that someone had broken in, which usually wasn’t a problem. But right now, I wanted to leave it as a mystery as to how the coffee disappeared.
“What are you looking for?” Kelsie’s voice whispered near my ear.
“The little hidden panel that holds the mechanics for the door,” I responded, feeling around with my bare fingertips for an edge, a seam or something.
“What does it look like?”
That actually made me pause to give her a look. “I don’t know, Kelsie! Each one is custom built for the door.”
Kelsie started searching around next to me for it. “Here’s something.”
I turned and looked, finding an almost invisible rectangle low in the wall roughly fifteen centimeters by twenty centimeters. Grabbing the knife I kept in my pocket, I worked the thin blade down into the crack, finding it a tight fit. Whoever had built this box did a hell of a job.
I finally got the lid off after working it back and forth for a minute or two. A quick look over my shoulder showed the coast was clear. Kelsie produced a tiny and direct light to shine into the box. Inside was an assortment of hoses and fittings that controlled the air pressure that opened and shut the door. Taking my knife, I picked the fattest hose, that was usually the one, and was about to slice it.
“Drake, what are you doing?”
“Cutting the hose to let off the air pressure so we can get in?” I was paused, holding my blade against the hose while she was talking.
“But then they’ll know someone was here!”
I nodded. “No kidding. Yes, they’ll figure that out first thing in the morning.”
“Well, isn’t there another way to do this?”
I shrugged. “Probably. I rarely have time to mess around with it long enough to figure out an alternative method.”
“Get out of the way, let me look,” Kelsie said, nudging me out of the way. Her hair blew into my face as she did, filling my nose with the sweet scent of her shampoo as I fought a sneeze.
With a chuckle, I held my hands up in surrender and wiggled out of the way. Just enough to give her room. I didn’t mind her being pressed up against my side at all.
A second later, “Ah ha!” she said in a loud whisper. An instant later, the control box was lit up like daylight.
“Hey! Turn that off! Hurry!” I whispered urgently, trying to shield the light with my hands so we didn’t let the whole street know what we were up to.
The light flicked off. “Sorry. Wrong lever.”
I snorted. I was going to let her have another minute or so, then I was going to say “hell with it” and cut the line. The longer we sat out here on the porch in the open, the more likely we’d be seen.
A few seconds later, there was a hiss. I looked at her, then grabbed the doors and pulled them apart as easily as air. Kelsie wore a triumphant smirk.
“What would you do without me?” she asked.
“Have a much simpler life?” I grinned, earning another hit.
Cautiously, I stuck my head in the room, checking for any signs that the Magistrate or his wife were awake. I was greeted with absolute silence and darkness. A narrow beam of moonlight slipped through the edge around the curtains in the kitchen as the only light. That was fine, that’s the only place I really needed light since I was the one going for the coffee beans.
Closing my eyes, I barely remembered to commandeer Kelsie’s tiny light for when I was in the kitchen. I didn’t want to turn the light on yet for risk of someone walking by and
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