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"Get off ood-naturedly

Her shirt rode up during the scuffle and I caught sight of her lower back Tan, eous

She was in better shape than et more blankets," Niko said "And do another layer Then I want to see if there’s some plywood and make it more sturdy"

I wiped the sweat off my head and the air felt nice and cool onhit ut

"The AC," I whispered Then I shouted, "The AC!"

The AC was on The huge industrial AC unit was sucking in the air from outside It e all felt so nice and cool after working so hard

"Son of a bitch," Niko said

CHAPTER FIVE

INK

"Where’s the main controls?" Niko asked Astrid "Do you know from when you worked here?"

"There’s some kind of security office in the back," she sta to Astrid so she stayed behind while the rest of us raced with Niko toward the back of the store

We headed through two giant metal double doors into the storeroom

It was dark back there Most of the storeroo units Lots of s food

Set into the back ere two giant loading bays, each with two huge metal doors

I hadn’t even considered that there would be loading bays but of course there would be Safety gates had coe doors, just like up front

To one side of the big, cavernous space was a booth with the words Operations Center on the door It had had glass walls before the earthquake, but now it just had glass debris scattered everywhere

"Bingo," said Brayden, king of stating the obvious

The door to the Operations Center was locked but since the glass in the door had been sed door

There was a row of security cah most looked focused on the Media Department

"This is awesome," Brayden muring rooms!"

"Focus, Brayden," said Jake "We need the controls for the AC"

Alex pointed There were four panels, built into the wall One controlled the solar harvest systereen, which confirates A flashing override er--Riot Gates" And one had to do ater pressure That seemed fine

And there was the one we needed: AC

We all scanned the panel

It was all nues and lots of icons that were i bolt Another looked like an upside-down s you, I’ It was a totally indecipherable

"Ohelements on the flat screen randomly

"Don’t--" Alex started, but Brayden cut him off

"One of these buttons will turn it off!"

"But you can’t just press them all like that," Niko objected "You could just be--"

As if on cue, the AC picked up intensity, blasting us with cold air

"Making it worse"

Brayden threw up his hands

"We’re going to have to find the unit and shut it off manually," Niko said "That’s the fastest way"

"It’s probably on the roof," Alex said

We all looked at hio," Niko said

"Me, too," Alex added

I couldn’t let o ht back," Jake said "Wait!" He ran off into the store for soet on the roof?" Alex asked

"Up there," Niko said, pointing

A perforated metal staircase ran up a wall and led to a hatch in the ceiling

The hatch was open and yellowish sky shone through

"What the--?" I stammered

"Sahalia," Niko answered "She must have found the hatch"

I was about halfway up the stairs when Jake ca otten them from the Home Improvement Department