to happen with the power?’
‘My brother’s doing it.’
‘Your brother? Does he work for the electricity company?’
‘Not exactly. He’s doing it from home.’
‘How?’
‘He’s hacked into their grid. He’s really good at that sort of thing. You’d never know he was . . .’
‘He was what?’
‘Nothing. He’s hacked into their system, anyway. Call him when you need the power cut, let it ring three times, then hang up. Have you got a phone?’ he asked.
Millie waved her mobile at him.
‘Great. Here’s his number. It’s pay as you go, so it can’t be traced.’
‘Good.’ Millie keyed the number into her phone.
‘We should swap numbers as well,’ Jake added, and they did.
‘So, when you run off with the guards, we call your brother and hang up after three rings. That’s the signal to cut the power to the alarms and the cameras, but not the doors. Has he
isolated those?’
‘Of course.’
‘We go through the main doors. We get up to the third floor, and then the airlock doors will still open, because the power to them stays on.’ Millie felt she had to go over
everything step by step, in case she’d forgotten something.
‘Once the cats are free, they run down three flights of stairs and into the woods, from which point, they’re on their own,’ said Millie rather sadly.
Jake frowned.
‘They wouldn’t want it any other way,’ Max assured them. ‘They will want to be alone after all this time cooped up in jail.’
‘Then we make a run for it, too. But if there’s any time at all, we’ll try to get some proof of what’s been going on from Arthur Shepard’s office, which is
here.’ Millie shone a faint beam of light on the map and pointed at it.
‘But if we can’t get it, it doesn’t matter,’ said Max. ‘We’re not going to get caught doing it.’
‘Agreed,’ said Millie. But her eyes burned at the prospect of letting Shepard get away with it. ‘Is everyone ready?’ she asked.
‘Ready,’ said the other two.
‘Then let’s go to work,’ she said, flicking off the torch.
A few hundred yards away, Arthur Shepard’s ears should have been burning, were there any truth in the old wives’ tale. He was still in his office, even though it
had gone eleven o’clock at night. He was waiting for a van to arrive at eleven fifteen, to ship the cats off to another laboratory in Lincolnshire where no one would find them – at
least not for a while. Not until it didn’t matter, anyway. He had been at work since dawn finalising these arrangements and smoothing things over with his boss, another rich yet unpleasant
men, and he was extremely tired and cross. He looked at the clock on the wall and felt his eyelids droop, simply too heavy to stay open much longer.
A few miles away, an unmarked white van turned merrily down a small road which the driver erroneously thought would lead him to the Haverham laboratory. He would drive several
more miles before he realised his mistake, performed a U-turn, and drove back to the main road to try again.
Chapter Twenty
Jake and Millie agreed to stay in telephone contact throughout the evening. Millie wondered if they should have prearranged a signal to let the other one know if they were
caught, but she hadn’t wanted to suggest it, in case she jinxed the mission, so she stayed quiet. If she didn’t hear from Jake at all for four hours, she decided, she’d call the
police. Surely the most trouble they could get into was for trespassing and being a nuisance? Millie felt cold at the thought of what her dad would say if he found out that she’d been lying
to him, wandering the countryside in the middle of the night and trying to break into a building.
They edged to the very outskirts of the forest, only a tiny distance away from the lab, almost exactly where Millie had first seen the man and his crate of cats. Jake ran off, hoping to bump
into the security men on their rounds. Millie and Max stood poised, until their
‘My brother’s doing it.’
‘Your brother? Does he work for the electricity company?’
‘Not exactly. He’s doing it from home.’
‘How?’
‘He’s hacked into their grid. He’s really good at that sort of thing. You’d never know he was . . .’
‘He was what?’
‘Nothing. He’s hacked into their system, anyway. Call him when you need the power cut, let it ring three times, then hang up. Have you got a phone?’ he asked.
Millie waved her mobile at him.
‘Great. Here’s his number. It’s pay as you go, so it can’t be traced.’
‘Good.’ Millie keyed the number into her phone.
‘We should swap numbers as well,’ Jake added, and they did.
‘So, when you run off with the guards, we call your brother and hang up after three rings. That’s the signal to cut the power to the alarms and the cameras, but not the doors. Has he
isolated those?’
‘Of course.’
‘We go through the main doors. We get up to the third floor, and then the airlock doors will still open, because the power to them stays on.’ Millie felt she had to go over
everything step by step, in case she’d forgotten something.
‘Once the cats are free, they run down three flights of stairs and into the woods, from which point, they’re on their own,’ said Millie rather sadly.
Jake frowned.
‘They wouldn’t want it any other way,’ Max assured them. ‘They will want to be alone after all this time cooped up in jail.’
‘Then we make a run for it, too. But if there’s any time at all, we’ll try to get some proof of what’s been going on from Arthur Shepard’s office, which is
here.’ Millie shone a faint beam of light on the map and pointed at it.
‘But if we can’t get it, it doesn’t matter,’ said Max. ‘We’re not going to get caught doing it.’
‘Agreed,’ said Millie. But her eyes burned at the prospect of letting Shepard get away with it. ‘Is everyone ready?’ she asked.
‘Ready,’ said the other two.
‘Then let’s go to work,’ she said, flicking off the torch.
A few hundred yards away, Arthur Shepard’s ears should have been burning, were there any truth in the old wives’ tale. He was still in his office, even though it
had gone eleven o’clock at night. He was waiting for a van to arrive at eleven fifteen, to ship the cats off to another laboratory in Lincolnshire where no one would find them – at
least not for a while. Not until it didn’t matter, anyway. He had been at work since dawn finalising these arrangements and smoothing things over with his boss, another rich yet unpleasant
men, and he was extremely tired and cross. He looked at the clock on the wall and felt his eyelids droop, simply too heavy to stay open much longer.
A few miles away, an unmarked white van turned merrily down a small road which the driver erroneously thought would lead him to the Haverham laboratory. He would drive several
more miles before he realised his mistake, performed a U-turn, and drove back to the main road to try again.
Chapter Twenty
Jake and Millie agreed to stay in telephone contact throughout the evening. Millie wondered if they should have prearranged a signal to let the other one know if they were
caught, but she hadn’t wanted to suggest it, in case she jinxed the mission, so she stayed quiet. If she didn’t hear from Jake at all for four hours, she decided, she’d call the
police. Surely the most trouble they could get into was for trespassing and being a nuisance? Millie felt cold at the thought of what her dad would say if he found out that she’d been lying
to him, wandering the countryside in the middle of the night and trying to break into a building.
They edged to the very outskirts of the forest, only a tiny distance away from the lab, almost exactly where Millie had first seen the man and his crate of cats. Jake ran off, hoping to bump
into the security men on their rounds. Millie and Max stood poised, until their
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