Shatterproof Read Online Free PDF Page A

asked.
    The guard started to flip through the cameras in the room.
    Atticus already knew who Vanek was trailing. He quietly backed away from Rommel and the others to the computer terminal they had been using. He typed in Rommel’s password and found the menu he was looking for.
    Time to flip the switch.
    The lights went out, then came back on a second later as the backup generator kicked in.
    There’s more than one switch!
    Atticus killed the generator with five keystrokes, but the lights came on once again as the batteries took over.
    Rommel turned around and glared at him.
    “What are you doing?” he shouted, striding toward Atticus.
    Atticus continued typing. He had to change the password before he hit the last switch or they would have the system back up in seconds.
    “Step away from that keyboard!” Rommel lunged for him.
    As Atticus dodged the enraged security chief, he managed to flip the final switch. The security room and the museum were plunged into complete darkness. Rommel started bellowing out orders. “Code red! Secure the rooms! We need lights! Find the boy!”
    Atticus crawled as far away from the shouts as he could. He had positioned himself so he was facing the security door, but now in the pitch-black he wasn’t sure if he was moving in the right direction. A flashlight flicked on, then another. The beams started to comb the room.
    “I can’t reboot the system!” someone shouted. “The passcode doesn’t work!”
    “The boy!” Rommel said. “Find him!”
    Atticus started hyperventilating. His heart was slamming in his chest. They would be on him any second.
    A flashlight beam swept along the far wall.
    The door!
    He crawled as fast as he could.

Dan was crawling, too.
    The sudden blackout caused pandemonium in the Jubilee room. People screamed and rushed the exit as the dark enveloped them. Dan was knocked to the floor. As he got to his hands and knees he was smacked down again. Someone stepped on his face. Another person clomped over his back. He was terrified, but not because of the dark, or the stampede. A second before the lights went out, he had seen the triumphant face of Milos Vanek staring right at him.
    Dan crawled over to a wall and curled into a fetal position to make his body the smallest possible target. Every time someone kicked or bumped against him, he wondered if it was Milos Vanek catching up with him at long last.
    The guards shouted for everyone to relax and stay where they were, but their commands were drowned out by the general hysteria.
    Dan took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.
Think! This isn’t over yet. I’m ten feet away from the diamond in a pitch-black room.
He watched the guards’ flashlight beams, trying to gauge where they were and what they were doing. What he saw was not good. All of the beams were concentrated around the Jubilee case. There was a sweep of light and Dan saw the guards illuminated. They had their guns drawn.
    His heart sank.
Even if I got past them, I’d still have to get the case open.
    His Bluetooth pinged. “Dan?” It was Amy. She sounded out of breath.
    “What?”
    “Milos Vanek is in the museum!”
    “I know. He’s in the room with me somewhere,” Dan said, his eyes still fixed on the cluster of guards around the diamond. “Where are you?”
    “I’m with Atticus. He managed to slip out of security after switching off the lights. Rommel and the guards are looking for us. The police just arrived to secure the building. Atticus says the lights could come back on at any minute.”
    “Then get out,” Dan said.
    “What about the diamond? What about you?”
    “I’ve got a plan. See you at the car.” Dan pocketed the phone and looked at the silhouettes of the guards surrounding the case.
    What’s the worst that could happen
? he thought as he crawled toward the Jubilee.
    An unseen hand reached out from the darkness and grabbed Dan’s arm in a viselike grip. Dan tore himself away and jumped to his feet. The