The Tree of Knowledge by Daniel Miller (room on the broom read aloud .txt) 📕

never have to play with the fear of losing. You play to win. You have nothing to protect, so you can play your best chess, whereas your opponent has everything to protect. That is what makes a swindle—the art of winning from a losing position—possible.’”

Gabe and Brick leaned forward in their chairs and stared at Turner, searching to find the professor’s meaning.

“Sergeant, we are in a ‘losing position’ right now. The police are after us. We are short on friends, resources, and time, and our enemy knows we are coming. If we attempt to infiltrate the compound by force, they will be ready, and they will capture us or kill us. In life as in chess, the way to win is a ‘swindle.’”

“Hmmmph.” Brick growled his assent and made his way to the diagram, signaling Turner to return to his seat. Turner, knowing Brick’s distaste for losing, obliged.

“Thank you for those inspirational words, Professor. OK, let’s review one more time. Both the book and everything we want to know about Cristina Culebra are at Fix headquarters. Our friend Gabe here has been kind enough to duplicate a top-clearance employee key card, which will give us access to the building at night.”

Gabe sarcastically bowed from his wheelchair.

“All you have to do is swipe and you’re in the building. Puddles, even you can’t screw this up. Now that I think about it, do I need to go over swiping with you?”

Albert rocked his head back in mock laughter. “Har, har, har.”

Brick pinned a blown-up image of the building and a rudimentary layout of Fix headquarters to the wall on top of the game tree. Albert marveled at the sheer footprint of the building. The entrance, made of polished steel, formed a trapezoid from which sprang massive glass corridors divided into three sections, like the body of a moth or other winged insect. The building’s design affected a unique sleek beauty, but Albert couldn’t help but sense a certain isolation and emptiness to the complex. As though a giant alien spaceship had set down years ago undisturbed.

Brick pointed to the layout. “Angus believes that the book will either be here, in their R&D department where General Moloch and his team are probably frantically attempting to decode it, if they haven’t already, or in Cristina Culebra’s office. Gabe?”

He gestured to Gabe to take over the presentation. Gabe took the last bite of his cardboard pepperoni slice, rolled his chair up to the chart, and wiped the remaining pizza grease onto his pants. He pointed to a large space in the top-floor corner of the building plan.

“Cristina’s office is here. As Brick mentioned, we will be able to get into the building using the employee key card. Unfortunately, that is just one of the security protocols. According to our sources, it appears that Fix has installed some type of two-factor authentication once you get inside the building that controls access to the various sectors. The issue is that we don’t know what the information required to enter these sectors is, and apparently it varies by what sector you’re trying to access. It could be questions about the company like when it was founded, its mission, etcetera, or it could be personal information about a given employee like birth date, first car, or pet’s name. Rumor has it that in certain sectors there are logic questions that could only be solved by people with experience in the field that work in the building. I’ve prepared binders for you with information on Fix Industries, employee profiles, as well as answers to common logic puzzles in case you come up against any of this.”

Albert and Turner simultaneously scoffed at the mention of answers to logic puzzles. The idea that either of them would need help in that area struck them as absurd.

Brick ignored the haughty professors and took over the presentation. “Angus and Ying, you will take Moloch. His department is in the East Wing over here. Albert, you will access Cristina’s office. Gabe and I will be monitoring the security systems to make sure you’re in clean and head off any trouble if it comes.”

“Where are you going to be while we’re doing all of the dirty work?” joked Ying, sitting cross-legged on the bed like she was at a slumber party.

Brick smiled and patted her on the shoulder. “I’ll be driving the getaway car. We’ll rendezvous on the north side of campus at five a.m.”

The group nodded.

Brick clapped his hands in one thunderous clap. “OK, now that we’ve got that done, I suggest we all hit the sack so that we’re well rested for tomorrow.”

Brick, Gabe, and Turner rose from Ying’s bed in unison and exited the room. Albert trailed slightly behind, tidying up the loose wrappers, pizza boxes, and cans as he left.

After tossing the last piece of trash in the bin, Albert turned to see Ying sitting on the mauve floral blanket at the edge of her bed, her head hung and her fingertips running across her mouth.

“You OK?”

Ying looked up slowly, biting her nails as she turned. “Yeah, I’m just . . .”

Albert hesitated and then reentered the room and sat down on the bed next to her, his hands folded in his lap and legs shaking. He never knew what to do in these situations. Do I hug her? Do I pat her on the back?

“You’re going to do great tomorrow,” he said, barely lifting his eyes.

Ying’s lips curled upward in a half smile, and she softly bumped Albert’s shoulder with her shoulder, tilting her head toward him slightly. “Yeah, thanks.”

Albert turned toward her. “Just think about it. Whatever security system they’ve got is based on logic. You’ll have the world’s greatest logician right by your side, and you’re no slouch yourself.”

“I guess.” She moved her hands to her legs as if to keep them from jumping back into her mouth. She bit her lip and looked up at him. He watched as she mustered the strength to say something.

“Would you mind just holding