Chapter 8 - The Locked Library
Everyone looked toward the doors.
The librarian, Mrs. Bennett - Maya's aunt - hurried from behind the desk.
"That's strange."
She pressed the release button.
Nothing happened.
Mason smiled as if he had expected it.
"Guess the system is glitching."
Maya stared at him. "What did you do?"
"Nothing."
He reached again for her laptop bag.
Ethan grabbed his wrist.
The room went still.
Mason's smile vanished.
"Take your hand off me."
"Back away from her."
Blake shoved Ethan from the side.
Ethan hit a table, knocking a stack of books to the floor.
Mrs. Bennett raised her voice. "Enough!"
Mason turned toward her with practiced innocence.
"He grabbed me first."
A camera above the circulation desk blinked red.
Maya saw it too.
She lifted her phone and began recording.
"Say that again," she said.
Mason's eyes narrowed.
"Put the phone down."
"No."
He stepped toward her.
The lights went out.
For two seconds, the library disappeared into darkness.
Someone crashed into a chair. Maya shouted.
Then emergency lights came on.
The laptop bag was gone.
So was Blake.
"Where is he?" Ethan demanded.
Mason spread his hands. "How would I know?"
The library doors suddenly unlocked.
Ethan ran into the hallway.
Blake was disappearing through the rear stairwell with Maya's bag.
Ethan chased him.
"Stop!"
Blake sprinted down two flights and cut through the auditorium corridor.
Ethan gained on him near the stage entrance.
Blake threw the bag.
It hit the wall.
The laptop slid across the floor and struck the base of a trophy case.
Ethan dropped beside it.
The screen was cracked.
Blake ran.
Maya arrived seconds later, breathing hard.
"The drive."
Ethan opened the laptop.
The USB port was empty.
They searched the floor.
Nothing.
Mason appeared at the far end of the corridor with Mr. Danner.
"There he is," Mason said. "He attacked Blake and stole Maya's computer."
Ethan stood slowly.
"You took the drive."
Mason blinked. "What drive?"
Danner pointed toward the office.
"Ethan. Now."
Maya stepped forward. "I recorded what happened in the library."
Danner turned to her.
"Give me your phone."
"No."
"School policy allows administrators to secure devices involved in disciplinary matters."
"Then call my father."
Danner's jaw clenched.
A new voice came from behind the auditorium doors.
"Or you could call me."
A gray-haired man in a maintenance uniform stepped into the corridor.
Ben Grant, the senior facilities manager.
He looked at Ethan, then at Danner.
"Because I saw the whole thing on the service monitor."
Danner went still.
May you like
Ben held up a small portable hard drive.
"And this time," he said, "I made a copy before anybody could delete it."
