Page 100 of Not Quite Dead Yet

He found it, pressing the tape over the lens, winding the spare around the back of the camera.

‘Nailed it,’ Jet said, patting him on the back.

‘They don’t record sound, right?’

‘Just picture.’

‘They’re gonna know someone was here, though.’ Billy glanced over his shoulder, wincing as the wind rattled the trees, throwing whispers at them. ‘That the cameras were tampered with.’

‘Nah, I doubt Dad even checks them,’ Jet said. ‘Unless he has reason to.’

Billy nodded. ‘Let’s not give him a reason to, then.’

‘Yep,’ Jet agreed. ‘We’ll leave everything as we find it. Don’t worry, they’ll never know.’

Billy pointed to the lock on the front door, the building pitch black behind the glass.

‘Got the key?’ he asked.

Jet pressed her lips together. ‘Not exactly.’

‘Did TV teach you how to pick a lock, Jet?’ Billy shot her a look.

‘Don’t need to. There’s a lockbox.’ She pointed to the little black box mounted against the wall, behind a plant pot, a combination lock across its face. ‘But I love your faith in me as a master criminal. Let’s keep that energy going.’

She shuffled the pot out a few inches, bent down, started sliding the numbers of the lock.

‘Emily’s birthday again?’ Billy asked.

‘No.’ Jet strained, the plant tickling her face. ‘It’s actually justzero–zero–zero–zero.Kept telling Dad that wasn’t very secure. Got it.’

She pulled the front of the lockbox open, scrabbled inside for the key. Passed it to Billy, who slid it into the lock.

‘OK, don’t freak out,’ Jet warned him. ‘The alarm will start to beep. But it’s fine, I know the code to disable it before it goes off. And thatisEmily’s birthday again.’

‘Won’t freak out.’ Billy twisted the key and pushed open the heavy door.

The alarm woke up, started to chirp, ushering them through into the darkness inside.

Billy held the door for Jet, his hand on her back, closed it behind her.

‘OK.’ She approached the alarm, eye height on the inside wall, its screen illuminated, counting down.57 seconds, 56. System armed,it said.Enter code?

Yes, she was going to. Pressed the rubber buttons:022492 enter.

The alarm beeped at her, in between the chirps.

Code attempt 1 of 3,it said.

Jet’s heart made a break for it, thrumming in the base of her throat.

‘Fuck.’ She smacked her fist against the wall. ‘They’ve changed the code.’

‘OK.’ Billy’s voice behind her, breathy and panicked. ‘Now I’m freaking out. Try something else? Another birthday?’

40 seconds. 39.

Jet tried Luke’s next:051695 enter.

---