The Gender Game Bella Forrest (best young adult book series TXT) 📖

the furthest wall. That person ended up being Richard, his two wives seating themselves on either side of him, while King Maxen sat at the head on the opposite end, his bodyguards occupying the chairs immediately next to him. The rest of us chose our seats. Everybody was obviously hungry. We were all seated and settled by seven-twenty… Leaving us ten minutes.

The king rose to his feet. He didn't need to tap a glass to call for silence. Everyone's eyes were already fixed on him.

He beamed around the table. "I am delighted to be here for this momentous occasion. More than anything, tonight is a celebration of you fine gentlemen. With your intelligence and determination, we have made progress this year many predicted impossible. It is you who are the building blocks of our society. You are the future. The lives of our future generations are in your hands. This year, you have all demonstrated that you are fully capable of bearing such a responsibility, and I anticipate you will do your nation proud for years to come. Thank you for your service to mankind."

Everybody clapped. The king, raising his glass, sat down. "Now, let us feast!"

His speech hadn't lasted long. It was seven twenty-four now. Dinner was to be served early. Servers piled into the room and began to assist the guests in laying appetizers on their plates… and then Lee's phone went off.

Now seven twenty-six.

Lee pulled the phone from his pocket, making a show of embarrassment. "Violet, it's your aunt. She couldn't have called at a worse time." He turned to Simon—who sat on the other side of him—apologetically, as well as the other men looking our way. "Excuse us for a minute."

Lee betrayed his nerves as he gripped my hand far more firmly than necessary to lead me toward the exit. We stopped at the door, still in clear view of everyone, where he "accepted" the call and handed me the phone.

"Are you out of the hospital yet?" I asked of my imaginary aunt. "Oh. Since when? Did you ask the doctor about that?"

My heart was in my throat as I spent the next minute conversing with myself. Then two minutes. Then three minutes…

And then came the blast.

I felt the heat as Lee jerked me through the doors and out of the room. Shouts and screams erupted amidst the explosion, chilling me to the bone. Lee raced faster down the hallway than I’d thought him capable of. I yanked off my heels and strapped them to an arm in order to keep up. We reached the reception area. Now it was time to part ways. Lee pointed to the stairwell and I darted for it, not even checking to see which direction Lee headed in. I didn't have a split second to waste. I had only fifteen minutes to blow open the casing around the egg and then reach the roof.

I raced up the staircase as fast as my legs could carry me. By the time I'd reached the top, I had burned through almost two minutes.

Panting, I raced along the corridor to the egg room. I stopped outside it, staring at the closed door.

Crap.

Before I'd had to page Lee for it to open, but now… I stopped panicking as I pushed at the door. It was already open. Of course, Lee had thought of this.

Emerging in the familiar lab, I hurtled across the room toward the egg. I stood on the nearest table beneath the light fitting and, reaching into the small handbag that had remained hanging from my arm since I left the taxi, I drew out the tools. My hands were shaking as I began to work on the screws. Even though I was several floors up, I could hear the noise from below. Block it out. Focus.

I loosened the first bolt, then the second and third, until I arrived at the last one. I quickly realized that I had made a grave mistake when replacing this fitting last time. The teeth of the screw were damaged, chipped. Which meant that none of my tools could gain a grip on it, and I had no leverage to open it.

But I had already opened the others successfully. Inserting my fingers at the edge of the fitting, I pulled downward and managed to create a gap large enough to fit a hand through. I felt for the package and found it where I'd left it. Gripping it, I coaxed it out, pressing downward against the fitting to make the gap wider. As I slipped it through, the edge of the fitting must have been too sharp and it caused a tear in the foil package—two small red cylinders fell to the floor.

I leapt off the table and scooped them up, praying that they hadn't been damaged. I planted them on the table where I emptied the rest of the bag's contents. There were five red cylinders altogether, a wire that split into five at one end, with a black button-like object at the other end, and a small black device with a round red button in the center of it: the activator.

I checked my watch.

Eight minutes.

I can do this.

Recalling Lee's detailed instructions, I began to set up the bomb. Each cylinder contained a sticky pad which allowed it to attach to the glass around the egg. Then I clipped the split wire into the ends of each of the cylinders before switching on a button at the base. It began to flash. I took the activator in my hands, and pressed a switch on this one too. It also began to flash.

Six minutes.

I hurried backward to the other end of the room, as far as I could, and ducked beneath a table. Then, closing my eyes, I pressed the activator.

Nothing happened.

I waited for ten seconds—even though Lee said that it was supposed to go off within three. The ten seconds turned into twenty, and then I could wait no longer.

Dammit.

Whether the cylinders were faulty to begin