“Aaricka is right, you are cute when you worry,” replied Quinn. “I’m not going to kiss you, though.”
“Oh, ha ha!”
“Pass me your wallet.”
“No!”
“Give me fifty dollars then. I’ll make sure she is ok.”
I extracted a fifty Urbis dollar note from my wallet and handed it to him. He gave it to the girl at the counter, and I watched as she put it in an envelope.
“There, problem solved,” he said when he came back. “I told her to give it to a blonde girl with pink streaks when she comes in tonight. That should cover the make-over.”
“But what about her job?”
“Her employers think she’s already in there, remember? When they check the system, they’ll see that she came back early from lunch. If anything, they’ll think she’s a model employee.”
I’d not thought of it that way.
“What do you want to do until the factory closes for the day?” I asked.
“I’m happy to sit here and drink coffee,” he replied.
After my fourth cup and second piece of cake, I had to switch to decaf. My hands were beginning to shake, and the caffeine had intensified my nerves about how Aaricka was doing.
The cafe emptied after the lunch rush and then got busy again as people began to pour out of the factory at five o’clock.
I left a big tip for the waitress who’d waited on us all day and followed Quinn out of the cafe. The back of the factory was as quiet as it had been this morning, but I noticed that someone had taken the grain-filled sacks away from the back door of the factory opposite. Grain still coated the floor from where I’d emptied the bag earlier for Quinn, although there were a number of footprints running through it.
“She said that she’d open the door when everyone went for home,” I said beginning to shiver. The sky had darkened considerably, and the temperature had dropped with it. It was almost pitch black when the door finally opened. Aaricka pushed the door back wide, and a second later, sirens began screaming.”
“Shit!” she said. “It must be an alarmed door. Let’s get out of here!”
She ran past us so quickly that it took a few moments to catch up with her. We ran past the other gold coloured factories and to the edge of the industrial estate where I found a wall to sit on to catch my breath. If the firefighters that were surely on their way saw us, it was unlikely they would link the open door to us. Of course, it meant that we would have to find another way in, as they were sure to close it.
“What now?” asked Quinn, irritably, his calm exterior beginning to crumble. It almost made me gleeful that he was the one that seemed worried now. Aaricka, on the other hand, was smiling. Something had happened, and I had a feeling I knew what it was.
“You’ve already got it, haven’t you?” I asked her.
“No, we’ve got no chance of getting anything. The whole place is full of so much machinery that I don’t understand, not to mention the hundreds of computers, that I could be there a month and still not know where to look.”
“But you’re smiling.” I pointed out.
She reached into her pocket and brought out a folded piece of paper, which she handed to me.
Giving her a quizzical look, I opened the piece of paper. It was a handwritten letter from the Queen of Hearts to someone I assumed worked in a high up position in Royal Technologies.
It read:
Dear Mr Flink,
I wanted to personally thank you in the matter of the confectionery businesses in the Spadelands and Diamondlands. As you know, it has always been a dream of mine to run my own candy empire, and without you, I wouldn’t have been able to fulfil my dream. Reprogramming the computer chips that ran the operations of those candy and chocolate factories, so that they stopped working after a couple of days was a stroke of genius. If only you supplied the machinery to all the factories in the other kingdoms, then we’d really see my venture take off. I’ll make sure you are rewarded handsomely for your time.
Thalia Heart Regina.
Thalia was the Queen of Hearts’ first name.
“So she’s doing this to other candy factories too,” I said aloud.
“It’s not just the candy factories. I’ve seen similar things happen to other businesses. This is what started the uprising in the Spadelands,” pointed out Quinn, who had been reading over my shoulder.
I looked at him. “It’s not just the Spadelands, though, is it? She’s doing it to the Diamonds too.”
“She’s doing it to the Clubs too, although you guys don’t have as much industry as we do. You guys grow food, and so there is little she can do to stop your trees growing,” replied Aaricka.
“Wanna bet? She got someone to turn our river to blood a few weeks ago, and just before that, she tried diverting it, so it ran through the Heartlands.”
Aaricka’s mouth formed a perfect o shape as she looked at me in disbelief. “You are shitting me!”
I shook my head.
“We need to bring that bitch down,” she said fiercely.
“I agree. She’s done enough to our people. What do you say, Juniper?”
They both looked at me, waiting for my reaction. I could see the trepidation on Aaricka’s face.
“I’m in!”
She ran to me and threw her arms around me, squeezing her body close to mine. Fireworks erupted within me as I felt her beautiful body holding on to me. Days of pent up feelings rushed to the surface as her body relaxed into mine. I was acutely aware of Quinn standing somewhere next to me, although the desire to kiss her was much stronger than the fear of being watched. This was my one opportunity, and I wasn’t going to miss it. I brought my lips to hers, and when she began to kiss me back, I completely forgot that Quinn was still there.
“Ahem!” I heard moments later. Aaricka pulled away and grinned.
“Sorry!” she apologised to Quinn.
“We still don’t have a plan to bring the queen down, and we still don’t have a computer chip,” Quinn reminded us.
Fuck! He was right too. Finding that letter had only added to our problems and we were no closer to solving any of them.
“That’s not strictly true,” replied Aaricka, cryptically. “This wasn’t the only thing I found out when I was in there. I also found out that I was right about the queen’s candy factory. It does use the same chip as ours, and I found out the location of said factory!”
“Where is it?” asked Quinn.
“Look behind you!”
Quinn and I both turned our heads to look at the building we had just run past. Over the entrance was a sign reading “Thalia Candy, Inc.”
“She named the candy brand after herself?” asked Quinn incredulously.
Just then a fire engine with its sirens blazing screamed past us, no doubt going to see why the fire exit had been opened at Royal Technologies. In the distance, the noise of the siren mixed with the noise of the factory’s alarm.
“How are we gonna get in?” I asked, pointing to the candy factory. “Everyone will have left by now, so we can’t steal a pass card this time.”
As I watched the entrance, a lone guard appeared from it, attracted, no doubt, by the cacophony of noise that was now blaring out down the street.
“Here,” said Quinn throwing us both something from his bag. I unfolded the black material to find an over the head mask. He pulled a third and put it on, before pushing his long hair into it. Aaricka and I followed suit. The guard walked to the front of the forecourt, his head firmly set to his left, in the direction of the fire engine.
We ran behind him and filed into the building’s reception through the door he had emerged from.
Aaricka pointed to a door marked No Entry, and we followed her through it.
It brought us out onto the massive factory floor, which was easily three times the size of the one in Charlesville. There were so many machines here, and none of them looked like the mixers that Aaricka had shown me in the Spade factory.
I followed Aaricka as she ran around the strange machines, confident that she knew what she was looking for. Along the far wall, we came to machines that I recognised after all. She found the computer terminal relatively quickly, and it only took a press of a button to eject the chip.
She carefully placed it in her pocket and held her hand up for a high-five. I’d rather have kissed her again, but I high-fived her all the same. I turned to find Quinn messing about with something a little further up from where we were standing.
“What are you doing?” I whispered loudly.
“If they find that chip gone in the morning, they’ll be mad, but they only have to walk next door to get another one. I’m making sure that it will take more than five minutes to get this place up and running.”
He was pouring some thick dark brown liquid over some cogs.
“What is that?” asked Aaricka when she saw what he was doing.
“It’s very strong glue. They’ll never get it off. They’ll have to replace this whole unit.”
I watched as he went from machine to machine, pouring the viscous liquid into each, ruining it for good. Even though the Queen of Hearts deserved everything she got, I was beginning to feel uncomfortable with how much time it was taking. If I got caught in here, the Queen wouldn’t hesitate to go for the death penalty for me. She’d ordered it for my youngest sister for much less than this.
“I think we should go,” I hissed.
Then, as if the building itself had heard me, the lights went off, and we were plunged into darkness.
“Let’s get out of here,” said Aaricka grabbing my hand. I reached out for Quinn, and let Aaricka guide us through the inky blackness.
“The door’s locked,” said Aaricka stopping suddenly, causing Quinn to crash into me.
“It’s can’t be. It was open when we came in.”
“I bet the guard went home. He’ll have turned the night system on. I think we are here for the night.”
I heard Aaricka sigh in front of me. The risk of us getting caught had gone up to about a hundred percent, and Aaricka would have to spend the night away from Nikka. It was something we had planned for, but I knew Aaricka didn’t want to do it.
I couldn’t see a thing and worse still, I couldn’t remember if I’d seen another exit from this room.
“Aaricka, you are our only chance to get out of here. You are the only one of us that can see in the dark.”
“I’m on it!” Aaricka gave my hand a squeeze before letting go completely. I could barely hear her as she crept around the factory floor with her feline grace.
I could hear Quinn’s soft breathing beside me and my own, which was heavier than usual, thanks to my nerves about the situation; but the rest of the factory was silent. I strained my ears to hear anything, but she was just too damn quiet.
“Aaricka,” I whispered loudly into the darkness. When she didn’t reply, I called her name again.
Still no response.
I could feel my heart beating, thumping heavily in my chest at the thought of her being lost. Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder and nearly jumped a mile before her warm lips found mine, and I instantly knew it was she.
“There’s no way out,” she said after pulling away. I grabbed around in the darkness for a second before finding her hand. Holding it tightly, I knew I wasn’t going to let her go again.
“There has to be!” I said, the panic rising again.
“Nope. The only way out is through that door, and it’s not going to open until tomorrow morning when the workers come in to start their shift.”
“And at that point, we’ll be rumbled,” I replied.
“We may as well try and sleep and figure it all out in the morning,” said Quinn. “I know it’s early, but I can’t think of anything we can do right now. We might find that ideas come to us after a good night’s sleep.”
It can’t have been much later that seven or eight o’clock, but with nothing else to do, sleeping would at least pass the time. I found a bit of floor, and using my bag as a pillow, closed my eyes. I heard Quinn doing the same thing about five feet away from where I was.
Aaricka lay down next to me, resting her head on my chest and draping her hand over my stomach. I’d have given all my money to be in this position anywhere but where we were with Quinn lying not far away.
“I’m sorry I’ve gotten you into this, Juniper. I know how this is going to affect your family.”
I hugged her closer. She felt bad for me, but if we got caught, she’d probably never see Nikka again. The thought must have crossed her mind, and yet, she chose to apologise to me. I used the hand she wasn‘t resting on to stroke her head. Like a real cat, I could hear the lightest of purrs emanating from the back of her throat.
I loved the feel of her, the weight of her body on mine and it wasn’t long before her breathing became heavier, telling me she was asleep. I’d drunk way too much coffee to sleep any time soon, so I just lay still, enjoying the one night I’d get to spend with her because tomorrow it would all be over.
10th February
Light flooded the room, waking all of us instantly. Aaricka was up on her feet before I’d even realised what was happening.
“Fuck!”
We’d waited too late to come up with a plan. Not that I could think of any plan anyway. A quick scan of the room confirmed what Aaricka had said last night. The door we had come in was the only way in and out.
Pain gripped me as I stood from sleeping on a cold hard floor all night. Looking at Quinn, I knew he felt the same way I did. I could hear people entering the building from the other side. Panic gripped me, rendering me unable to come to a decision about what to do. Sure, we could run and hide, but logically, with only one way out, we’d be spotted pretty quickly. Even if we tried sneaking out once everyone had come through the door, they’d notice the glue all over the machinery and be looking out for us right from the start. I frantically scanned the area looking for some lab coats or something to disguise ourselves, but it was too late. The doors were opening, and we hadn’t moved. I grabbed hold of Aaricka’s hand with the thought of doing something, but what? She was as paralysed with indecision as I was.
The door opened fully to reveal a different guard than had locked up last night. His look of shock at seeing us made him hesitate for a second, but he recovered quickly and started barking into a walkie-talkie.
Within seconds, more guards appeared, and I knew we had lost our chance.
Behind me, I felt Quinn nudge me, and when I turned, I saw he’d changed into his horse form.
Pulling Aaricka back towards me, I lifted her quickly onto Quinn’s back before vaulting up behind her. Quinn tore through the guards at full pelt and out the front door to freedom.
He didn’t slow down until we were far beyond the wall of the industrial estate and out in the moorlands. A couple of hours and we would be home!
“Mommy!” shouted Nikka, flinging herself at Aaricka when we entered Iris’s room. Iris did a similar thing with Quinn, which made me squirm with embarrassment.
“Can we stay here? Iris is so much fun. We played with dolls.”
“We need to get home, Cupcake.” Aaricka turned to me. “Can we borrow your unicorn again?”
My heart fell as I realised she was talking about leaving for good without me. I’d not known either of them for long, but they had become so important to me that the thought of losing them was almost too much to bear. And yet, what else could I do but let them go. Aaricka had family there and a job to do. It had been so difficult to get the computer chip, I could hardly ask her to stay here with me and let her town go to ruin. She was a warrior, and I couldn’t stand in her way.
“I’ll book you on the Urbis Express. You’ll have to change at Notston, but it will be much more comfortable than flying by unicorn again.”
“Thank you,” she said, hugging me. My heart melted. I could hardly bear it. I took them back to my room to
pack while I went to inform my mother. She was the one that made all the bookings for the Urbis Express.
“Come in!” My mother’s voice rang out through the door.
I opened it and found her sitting at a writing desk.
“Hello, Mother. I’ve come to ask you to book two tickets on the Urbis Express going to Charlesville. It’s a small village in the Spade Kingdom.”
“This wouldn’t be for the adorable little bundle of fun I saw Iris with yesterday and her equally attractive mother would it?”
“You knew?”
“I honestly don’t know why you’re surprised. I do have eyes, you know. I don’t know why you children think you can get things past me.”
I had to laugh. She was right. I don’t know why I thought I could get anything past her. I’d not succeeded before, so I don’t know why I thought this time would be any different.
“Just one question before you leave. This girl, I know you were out with her all night. I don’t know where and I have a suspicion I don’t want to know, but is there any possibility she could be a danger to the Clubs?”
“No, quite the opposite. She is not a threat to us.”
“I’m sorry, I had to ask, Juniper. I’ve always trusted you to do the right thing, but I know why you went over to the Spadelands and bringing two of them back here wasn’t it. I can only think of one reason why you would choose to do so. How do you feel about this girl?”
“I’m not sure.” And it was true. My emotions were so messed up that I wasn’t sure how I was feeling at all.
“There is a zeppelin to Notston, leaving in an hour. You can catch it if you are quick.”
“Thank you, Mother.”
I walked through the castle quickly. An hour to get ready and get to the Urbis Express station was cutting it close.
I told Aaricka the timescale, asking her to meet me by the main entrance in ten minutes, and then ran down to the kitchens to rustle up some food for them for their journey.
Seven of Clubs (War and Suits Book 6) Page 9