Kingdom Keepers II(60)

“This is their room,” Finn declared. As Maybeck leaned his ear against the door, Finn sent a text.

Maybeck smiled and pulled away from the door. “Bull’s-eye!”

“You’re a better liar than I am,” Finn said.

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

“Charming. I meant to say you’re more charming than I am. You’re better with the ladies.”

“That goes without saying,” Maybeck said.

“There’s a room being cleaned, back toward the elevator.”

“I passed it,” Maybeck confirmed.

“I think you left your family’s Park Hoppers in this room, and your father’s in here asleep with a headache, which explains the DO NOT DISTURB sign.”

“I think you’re brilliant,” Maybeck said.

“Goes without saying. Can you pull it off?”

“This is me we’re talking about!” Maybeck boasted.

“Same question.”

“You’ll need to get yourself gone,” Maybeck said.

“I’ll hang at the next set of windows.”

“I’ll text you once I’m inside,” Maybeck said.

* * *

Less than five minutes later, Finn received the text message. He returned to the room and knocked softly. Maybeck opened the door.

The room held a big bed and a pair of bunks. Philby was drooling onto the pillow of the big bed. Willa slept peacefully on the lower bunk. They shook both kids, but to no avail: perma-sleep—Sleeping Beauty Syndrome.

“The one thing I remember,” said Maybeck, who yawned all of a sudden, “is how much I dreamed when they had me in this state. I dreamed of being locked up. I think I was dreaming what my DHI was seeing.”

Finn yawned reflexively. “Don’t get me tired, or we’ll end up like them.”

“A nap wouldn’t hurt,” Maybeck said, eyeing the bunk. “We could take turns. Ten minutes.”

“Do not go there.”

“I’m tired.”

“That’s the point. Hang on.” Finn sent Charlene a text message.

Finn: ready when u r.

angelface13: all set.





Both Maybeck and Finn heard the loud scratching sound at the same time. At first Finn thought it was a radio or TV in another room.

Maybeck hurried over and cracked the curtains. “Apes!” he hissed. He held up two fingers.

Two apes, Finn realized. Out on the balcony. The sliding door squeaked as one of the apes pulled on the handle from the outside.

Maybeck pointed to his own chest and then the closet. Seeing this signal, Finn hurried into the bathroom, stepped into the tub, and pulled the shower curtain closed. He heard the door swing open and the sounds of the two apes moving around the room. Were they looking for them? Had the maid told someone about letting Maybeck into the room?

A message from Charlene appeared on Finn’s screen.

angelface13: i’m in position, will push remote in 3, 2, 1…





The bathroom door was flung open. Finn could hear one of the two orangutans breathing hard, and the room suddenly smelled different. He reached up and turned the showerhead to face the curtains, his hand on the faucet.

Four hairy fingers appeared at the edge of the shower curtain. Finn felt as if he might pass out.

The shower curtain was jerked open.

Finn yanked the lever. Water roared into the face of an ugly orange ape. The ape slapped his own face, screamed, and jumped back.

Finn leaped from the tub, pulled a terrycloth robe from the back of the bathroom door, and tossed it over the ape. He then used the bathrobe’s belt to take a strong turn around the confused ape, pulled it tight, and knotted it around the ape’s legs. The orangutan fell over, kicking and thrashing and screaming, doing nothing but spinning in circles on the bathroom floor.

The second ape appeared at the doorway. Finn lunged for the other bathrobe, but it drew him closer to the ape, whose big mouth came open, teeth bared. Just as Finn feared the ape would strike, Maybeck leaped out of the bedroom closet and poked it with a hanger that he wielded as a sword.

This provoked the ape. It spun around to challenge Maybeck, giving Finn the extra seconds he needed to take hold of the robe and throw it over the orangutan. He and Maybeck made quick work of tying up this one as well. They dragged it into the bathroom and, as they shut the door, both apes were seen whirling angrily on the tile floor.

Finn shook Willa. Maybeck pulled on Philby’s arm. Both groaned and squirmed uncomfortably: they were awakening! Charlene had used the remote on the DHIs in the cages, and it had worked. The cages were now empty—the DHIs gone, zeroed out by the server. Maleficent and the Overtakers with her had to be terribly confused.

And angry.

The orangutans screamed loudly from the bathroom.