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“What now?” Mick shouted.
“It can be done”– Ryan said.
“Well how, how?” Shannon wondered, now completely panicked.
“Fifteen seconds”– Lee, announced, not easing the panic.
“You have three enclosures with three pigs in each. Then put one big enclosure around all of them and that has nine in”– Ryan talked as fast as he could, whilst trying to make sure he convinced them of his answer.
“Five seconds”– Lee, announced.
“Cut the red one!” Shannon replied instantly but refrained from screaming.
Lee quickly moved the scissors from the yellow wire to the red and snipped the red wire straight away. The clocked stopped on three seconds. Lee lay flat out on the floor, taking several deep breathes and wiping the sweat of his brow. Shannon, who had been leaning on the table with both hands, lowered herself into the nearest chair and gave off a huge sigh of relief.
“Oh, wow!” Rachel gave her first genuine smile for what seemed like forever to her. And she went over to Ryan to give him a big hug. “Thanks Ryan. I promise I’ll never accuse you of murder again”– she said during the hug.
“I only hope I’ve improved your opinion of British people!”
“You have that”– Rachel said with another smile as she broke off the hug.
“Sorry to interrupt your celebrations”– the loudspeaker voice boomed out once again. “But there is another bomb in the library. It’s clock is ticking.”
After they heard a noise of one of the doors being unlocked, Mick and Lee rushed out of the dining room, closely followed by Rachel and Shannon.
“Are you okay to make your own way there?” Ryan checked with Lori as he was heading out himself.
“Yeah sure, just get up there. I’ll follow as quick as I can”– Lori replied. Her asthma was coming on in fits and starts, and she was growing increasingly appreciative of the bag in her hand.
Once again Lee was the first to get to the bomb. He quickly climbed up the stairs and into the library followed by Mick, Rachel, Shannon and Ryan.
“Okay here’s the riddle”– Lee started speaking as soon as the other three got into the room. “If in a family meeting there is a mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece and cousin, is it possible that only four people are present. Cut the red wire for yes or the yellow wire for no. You have just under two minutes left guys.”
“That sounds like something you could work out reasonably easily if you had plenty of time”– Shannon remarked.
“Everybody just think it through, one step at a time”– Mick suggested.
At this point Lori made it into the room. She saw Lee sat next to the bomb. And whilst having the bag over her mouth she gestured for him to pass her the piece of paper with the riddle on it. He did so and Lori read it herself without disturbing anybody’s thinking time.
“Anybody got anything yet?” Mick asked frantically.
“Sorry guys, my mind is blanking out on me”– Rachel answered.
“I have a feeling it can be. But can’t think how”– added Shannon.
“I think so too. It sounds like it could be true. But right now, I just can’t get my head around, how”– Ryan said.
“So if none of us can think of how it can be done, shall we answer no?” Lee asked – already with scissors in his hand.
“That’s a tough call”– Mick suggested.
“Thirty seconds left”– Lee announced.
Lori began to wave frantically and bang on a table to attract the others attention. Her asthma was at it’s worst.
“What is it Lori?” Ryan asked and went over to her.
Lori couldn’t talk at all. So she just made the thumbs up sign.
“Are you okay?” Ryan guessed in a very unsure manner at the meaning of the signals.
Lori shook her head. She pointed at the piece of paper with the riddle on. And then she repeated the thumbs up sign.
“Can it be done?” Ryan was much more convinced of his answer this time.
“Ten seconds left”– Lee told them.
“Are you sure?” Ryan checked with Lori.
Lori nodded frantically. Then she pointed to herself. After that she pointed to one of her ears. And at last she pointed to the paper.
“You, your ear, riddle? You’ve heard it before?” Ryan continued the game of charades.
Lori nodded frantically and happily.
“Cut the red!” Ryan yelled at Lee who did as he was told and stopped the countdown with two seconds left on the clock.
“Yeah I’ve heard it before”– Lori spoke fluently. It took her and the others a few moments to realize just how bizarre it was for her to be speaking fluently, all of a sudden. “Wow, I guess asthma really is made worse by stressful, anxious moments”– she said as the other five looked at her in disbelief.
“Well, I’d keep hold of that bag then... if I were you...”The sickeningly familiar voice came across the loudspeaker. “You guessed it. There’s another bomb. This one’s in the games room. No time to waste.”
Getting to the games room from the library meant going down two flights of stairs. And the six of them charged down the stairs as fast as they could. Ryan and Lee got to the games room first. It was Ryan who first spotted the bomb. But Lee took it upon himself to continue the role of reading out the riddle and snipping the wire.
“Two babies are given birth to by the same woman on the same day. Is it possible that they are not twins?” Lee read out the riddle, by which time Mick had joined them in the room and Shannon and Rachel were just about to come in. “Red for yes, yellow for no. Ninety seconds left.”
“It sounds like it should be a yes. But I’m not sure why, yet ”– Ryan remarked.
“I feel that there’s something obvious we’re missing”– Mick added.
“Well, let’s think it through”– Ryan suggested at the same time as Shannon and Rachel entered the room.
“You can’t be a twin if you weren’t born at the same time or if you were...”
“A triplet.” Rachel surprised herself – not to mention the rest of the group with her clarity of thought.
“Good enough for me”– Mick enthused.
“Oh wow, Rachel comes to the party at just the right time”– Ryan filed Mick with enthusiasm.
“And you said you couldn’t think of anything right now”– Shannon said with a smile to Rachel.
“That was just a bizarre moment of clarity, trust me. I’m already at the point of having a completely confused mind.”
“So red wire then?” Lee checked and got confirmation from the four of them just as Lori came into the room.
“How are we doing?” Lori asked as soon as she entered.
“Don’t worry mate. We don’t need you this time. Rachel pulled one out of the fire”– Ryan put Lori at ease.
“Sorry guys! More often than not I’m pretty fit. I promise. Just that being in the middle of an asthma – she puffed a few breathes into the bag – being in the middle of an asthma attack really isn’t conducive to running up and down the stairs.”
“Hey don’t worry about it. You have just saved our lives a couple of minutes ago”– Shannon told her.
The uplift in the mood was brought to a halt by the loudspeaker voice.
“Oh isn’t this pleasant. Everybody is starting to get along. Just to top it off, I can assure you there are no more bombs in the house. But if any of you do notice a hissing sound, that’ll be the gas that’s just about to start rendering you all unconscious.” Just as he was finishing speaking the only door to the games room was shut and locked from the outside. Steel shutters slammed down over the three windows. The six of them felt they were completely trapped. And indeed they were.
“This is getting fucking ridiculous. What the hell is this?” Lee screamed and grabbed a pool sign and hurled it across the room.
Ryan and Shannon desperately and sadly searched around the room for some way to escape. Rachel resumed her position from the dining room, leaning up against a wall and then slid down it until she was sat on the floor, head in her hands and crying. Lori grabbed a chair and sat down before she fell down and did her best to calmly accept her fate.
“Who the fuck, are you?” Mick screamed out. “Are you at least going to tell us who is doing this to us?
All we know so far, is that you are a sick, power craving coward, who likes to mess with people’s lives!”
The gassed filled the room quickly. And soon they were all beginning to feel weak.
“Good luck everyone.” Ryan said solemnly.
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