Crimson Red, Cerulean Blue
Chapter 18

(Lucas)

Kari was apparently a hermit.

Or at least that was my first impression when Tim led me toone of the caves lining the cliffs on the east side of the island.

“Kari lives here?” I squinted at the rock face, hesitating.“How’s a hacker supposed to live in there?”

“You’ll see,” Tim said simply, then scampered up the side ofthe cliff as easily as if he were strolling down a flat, paved street. Ben andLeah followed with equal ease. They’d probably made this trip a million timesbefore.

I had an ever so slightly more difficult time attempting toscale the cliff.

Leah burst out laughing at my efforts, then pretty much hitthe ground gasping when I lost my grip and slid down. I gritted my teeth andtried again, trying to keep from turning red.

“You might want to use the stairs, mister,” Tim called down,obviously trying to keep from meeting the same fate as Leah. “To your right.”

I looked right. There was a series of carved out holes inthe rock, like a ladder of sorts, obviously there to help idiots like me scalethe cliff.

So that was how they did it.

I climbed up, trying to look as dignified as possible, whichwasn’t really all that dignified if you think about it. “So. Where’s Kari?”

“In there. You can go by yourself. We still gotta go replacefood, you know,” Tim replied. “Well, see you around, Lucas. Or not.”

“Yeah. Thanks for the help,” I told them, flashing them asmile. My mouth wasn’t used to moving that way, though, so it came out as moreof a grimace.

This is what happenswhen you’ve been in the army too long, I thought. Sheesh.

Tim didn’t seem bothered by it, though, just nodded and sliddown the cliff, taking his friends with him. I watched them until they vanishedinto the distance, then turned around to face the cave.

Pushing the pink curtain out of the way (who puts pinkcurtains in caves, anyway?), I stepped inside. The sound of fingers tappingaway at a keyboard instantly came to me, beating out a rhythm I didn’t know anddidn’t understand.

“Hey, there, hon,” a girl’s voice called sweetly, the tappingnever stopping. “Don’t move, kay? I’ve got fifty million different trapspointed at you right now. So why don’t you tell me your name and why you’rehere? You have thirty seconds.”

My first thought was: Youknow, some people just put out Welcome mats.

My second thought was: Fiftymillion? Uh, yeah, right.

What I actually said: “My name’s Lucas and I’m here to seeKari Shine.”

There was a pause.

“Then leave that sword of yours at the door and come on in.”

I looked at my sword. Was she serious?

“Today, if you please.”

I left it there.

Kari was sitting in a comfortable-looking chair, in front ofa million different screens and blinking lights. Wires and little chips werestrewn everywhere on the floor. The remains of about a million instant noodleshad been carelessly tossed in the now overflowing wastebasket, along with acouple of bent or broken eating utensils. Kari herself didn’t look at me,instead merely continuing to type away at her computer.

“How in the world did you get electricity in here?” I askedbefore I could stop myself.

“That’s for me to know and you to not replace out.” She spunaround to face me, a smile on her lips.

My first impression of Kari was that she was pretty. Verypretty. The kind of pretty that I instantly understood to be used to heradvantage. Slender build, glossy blond hair in pigtails tied with blue ribbonsthat matched her eyes, which gleamed with mischief. I instantly disliked her.

“So, sweetie, since you came all this way, why don’t youtell me what you came for?” She twirled a lock of her hair around her finger,still smiling that smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Because I know youmust want something.”

“I need a hacker,” was my response. “Will you do it?”

“Well, now, that depends on all sorts of things. First ofall, who are you really?”

“I’ll pay you,” I replied, not quite answering the question.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Kari noted. “The mysterioustype, then. And you’ll pay me, as well. Tell me then, Lucas, what type of workdo you want done?”

I hesitated, not wanting to trust her with any kind of information, let alone thetype of info I was about to give her. “Can you open electronic locks?”

“From here? No. For that, I have to be at the location.Why?” Her eyes twinkled mischievously.

“I need an electronic lock opened.”

“Where?”

“Will you do it?” I persisted.

“If you’re so desperate, then of course I will. For a price,of course.”

“How much?”

Her eyes met mine. “Well, for a job like this, where Iactually have to be on location, I’d say…five hundred Lures.”

I instantly shook my head. “Too much.”

“Oh, so you did your homework. A very good job to you. Howabout a hundred, then?”

A hundred was reasonable, so I nodded.

“Then it’s determined. Now, where is the lock you so badlywant opened?”

“Yellowton,” I grudgingly told her. “The main prison there.”

Her eyes flashed with an emotion I couldn’t catch.“Yellowton? Surely you know that the only prisoners they keep in Yellowtonare…”

“Will you help me, or not?”

“Oh, of course.” She smirked. “And don’t worry, Lucas dear,I won’t tell. You can count on me.”

Somehow, I doubted that.

“Oh, but of course you don’t trust me. You’re obviously anoutlaw, that I can tell. After all, you want to break into a prison that onlyhouses…” She let the end of the sentence dangle, still smirking, and stood up,sweeping past me on her way to the door. The scent of perfume followed her, andI fought the urge to sneeze.

She turned at the curtain. “Are you coming? Or do you planon staying in there all day?”

I didn’t budge. “I was actually wondering if you had anyfirst-aid kits in here.”

Her gaze landed on my arm, which, sadly, was still stingingfrom the salt water. Which was bad. I really didn’t need an infected arm addedto my problems.

“Oh, of course. Silly me.” Kari swept past me again andstarted digging into one of the piles of junk that littered the ground. Asecond later, a first-aid kit was soaring through the air toward me. I pluckedit out of the air and started pulling things out of it.

“Hurry it up, all right, hon? If we’re going to do this, Iwant to attack at the shift change. Which would be in…” She checked her watch.“Oh, about an hour.”

I didn’t answer, but took note of this sentence. She wasgood. The shift changes occurred at different times every day for the Yellowtonprison, to prevent people like me from breaking in and out, and you needed aseriously high security clearance to know this. The guards themselves didn’tknow until the second they had to go, upon which they’d receive a message ontheir walkie-talkies. I should know, I’d been on guard duty a lot more timesthan I’d have liked.

But then again, that was what I was paying her for. To helpme save the one person I’d promised to protect against all odds.

I’m coming for you,Violet. Don’t worry.

“Hmm? Did you say something?” Kari tilted her head to oneside, giving me a questioning look.

“No,” I instantly responded, realizing I’d said it out loud.I finished wrapping the bandage around my arm and stood up.

“All right. We can go.”

“Splendid,” she smiled. “Now, let’s go rescue whoever it isyou need to rescue.”