Chapter 4

I typed quickly: [No. Let them in. Set the surveillance cameras to their highest resolution and record everything!]

Then I slipped my phone into my pocket, slung my bag over my shoulder, and stepped out of the school into the blinding noonday sunlight.

-

Thick, expensive rugs muffled the footsteps of a handful of intruders on the 18th floor.

Ashley took the lead. She scanned the grand interior décor and crystal chandelier, burning with jealousy.

"Fuck that bitch! Why does she always get to stay in places this luxurious?" she muttered under her breath.

The students stared at the redwood doors lining the corridor and swallowed hard.

"This is way too luxurious for us, Ash. I don't really think we can stay here," one of the girls said nervously.

"Don't be a wuss!" Ashley snapped, puffing out her chest to hide her own growing anxiety.

She pointed at a large door with a floral engraving at the end of the corridor. "See that? That's the presidential suite! We're taking that one! It only fits ten people, so everyone else will have to pick another room!"

Eric dropped his luggage to the floor and clapped the dust from his hands. "I knew we could count on you, Ash. Regina wishes she could be on your level when it comes to brains. She really thinks being rich makes her invincible!"

Ashley pulled a black door draft stopper from her bag and placed it in Eric's hand. She had bought it from a hardware store just yesterday.

"Stuff this under the gap beneath the door and lock it. With this in place, nothing's getting in, not even if they break the door down!" she said with a grin.

The group crept toward the presidential suite.

Ashley's hand was slick with sweat as she gripped the hotel key card. Taking a deep breath, she pressed it against the card reader.

She had no idea the card had long since been deactivated. But Regina had already instructed the manager to unlock the door for them before their oh-so-secret plot began.

The lock beeped, and the door unlocked.

Ashley's eyes gleamed with manic intensity. She stepped back, then drove a powerful kick into the hardwood door with all her strength.

The door flew open and slammed against the wall.

Ashley strode into the room with her hands on her hips and shouted at the top of her lungs, "This room is now reserved for Middleton High's HAT Elite Class students as we prepare for the HAT exam!

"I advise all of you to start packing and move out. We have an important exam tomorrow, and you don't want to be the ones hindering the country's brightest talents from doing their—"

She trailed off before she could finish the word "duty."

The moment she saw who was inside, she froze.

More than 20 middle-aged adults in white dress shirts and slacks sat around a conference table. A projector displayed the words "St. Denise Branch HAT Exam Committee" like a glowing death sentence.

Each person wore an identification badge. The snow-haired elderly man on the left bore the title "State Educational Board Special Counsel." The bespectacled woman on the right, with her sharp gaze, wore a badge that read "HAT Confidentiality Special Agent."

At the center of the table sat the man who had been speaking before the interruption. Ashley didn't even need to read his identification badge. She had seen his picture on Middleton High's Wall of Honor before.

It was Ernest Nottingham, Chief of the St. Denise Education Board and Acting Director of the HAT Exam.