Dangerous Reality Read Free Page A

ears.
    By the time we were both outside the service lift, my heart was charging like a rhino with the serious hump!
    ‘We did it!’ I exclaimed.
    ‘So far so good …’ came Liam’s cautious reply.
    Honestly! Sometimes he can put a real damper on things. Like two weeks ago. Listen to this. We were at the cinema watching a really funny movie – at least, I thought it was funny. And there was one bit which had me laughing so hard, I thought I’d bring back up my popcorn and hot dogs. And it wasn’t just me. The whole cinema was on the floor. I glanced across at Liam and d’you know something? He was smiling. I mean,
smiling
. And only just at that! Afterwards, when I asked him about it, d’you know what he said?
    ‘I thought it was hilarious!’
    ‘Why didn’t you laugh then?’ I asked, exasperated.
    ‘I did. I was laughing inside,’ Liam told me.
    ‘Why don’t you laugh on the outside too, like most normal people?’ I said.
    And then he gave me one of his smiles and didn’t answer. I hate it when he gives me one of his special smiles. It says, ‘I know something you don’t!’ all over it! It drives me nuts.
    ‘Come on then. What’re you waiting for?’ Liam asked impatiently.
    Which stopped me daydreaming, I can tell you. I took out Mum’s key card and held it up in front of the security panel. The security doors leading out to the service lift clicked open. We practically threw ourselves past the doors and I pressed the button to call the lift.
    ‘Almost there.’ I tried to sound reassuring, but my voice was a bit shaky.
    Telling myself to get a grip, I stepped into the lift to be followed by Liam. Once I pressed the button for the basement, I knew then that this was for real. I was going to see Mum’s top-secret project. At last. Finally. I’d
done
it!
    In the basement, I eyed the main double doors which led to the testing area. Just beyond them …
    ‘I want to go,’ Liam said suddenly. ‘Let’s go – now.’
    I couldn’t believe my ears. ‘You’re joking – right?’
    Liam shook his head.
    ‘D’you really want to leave? I mean, we’re here now,’ I asked carefully. ‘All we have to do is go through that door and we’ll see VIMS in action. You’re the one who’s been pestering me for a look at VIMS.’
    ‘But I don’t want us to get into trouble.’
    ‘We won’t get into trouble because Mum and the others won’t be down here yet.’ I glanced at my watch. ‘We have a good ten minutes before anyone else appears.’
    I could see that Liam was wavering. ‘Come on, Liam. We’ll just take a quick look at VIMS to see what all the fuss is about and then we’ll come out. OK?’
    ‘You’re sure we won’t get caught?’
    I grinned. Liam wasn’t going to bail on me! ‘Don’t worry. I’ve got it all figured out. No one will even know we were in the room.’
    And I did have it all figured out. It helps when your mum is one of the people chiefly responsible for the design of the testing area. The whole of the basement of the building was given over to the testing area – and it was huge. Bigger than a football pitch. There were a number of testing labs on one side of the basement. But at least half of the basement was given over to Testing Room One. And that was where the VIMS unit was. There were a number of fire exits all around the basement, some of which led into the corridors but some of which led directly to the outside of the building. I knew we couldn’t use those exits to sneak into the testing area from the road. They couldn’t be opened from outside, plus they were all alarmed.
    ‘Come on,’ I urged. ‘We don’t have long. We’ll go in, take a quick look around and then out again. The SAS would be proud of us.’
    ‘Well, OK. If you’re sure you know what you’re doing,’ Liam said doubtfully.
    ‘Don’t I always!’ I grinned.
    ‘No!’ Liam replied at once. ‘That’s the trouble.’
    I huffed indignantly. Liam’s lack of confidence in me was