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Maggy pointed to the left with her hand, and we followed her until we reached a spot where the wall was only a few steps away from the bushes.
How were we going to get over the high stone wall? Jack looked at his wristwatch with a tense expression, and it was as if I could hear the ticking of the clock hand all the way here. My heartbeat had at least doubled its average pace by now.
He counted down the last ten seconds with his fingers for us to see. Then we all stared spellbound at the gate, so far away now that we could only make out shadows. But the lights that indicated the gate's opening could not be overlooked.
At that moment, Maggy and Aspasia ran, pulled something large and long from under the leaves, and sprinted further out into the open with it. The rest of us hastily followed. The countdown had begun for the ten minutes in which thirteen people had to climb over the wall and into the ventilation system. I wondered if it would go well. It was too late for doubts anyway, so I pushed them aside and focused instead on what was happening before me. Alex was now crouching next to me. Although he had avoided me during the last week, he was extremely glued to me tonight.
Now I realized it was a long wooden ladder the Amazons had just leaned against the wall, then waved us out of the bushes one by one. Jack was the first to climb over, followed by Rick, Jordy, and Chris. By the time it was my turn, I'm sure five minutes had passed, and my palms were sweaty. Too hastily, I climbed up the rungs, followed by Alex. But in my haste, I missed the second to last step, and my hand slipped. Helplessly, I rowed my arm and felt the second hand threatening to also come loose.
A soft cry escaped my throat, and just in time, I felt two strong arms holding me and placing me back on the ladder.
Out of breath, I closed my eyes briefly. Alex pushed himself close to my back behind me.
"I told you not to come with us. Why didn't you listen to me?" he whispered sourly. My shock was instantly forgotten, and my eyes shot to him instead. Furious, I looked at him. A growl manifested inside me before I turned away and climbed the last few stairs to the top. There, Rick faced me with worried eyes. I would have loved to tell him that everything was okay, but for one thing, my soft cry had already been one sound too many, and for another, we were running out of time.
My brother held me by one arm while I slid down the wall. I had to let myself fall the last bit but was then caught by Jack and Jordy, who cushioned my fall.
Alex landed on the floor just beside me. He was furious.
Instead of getting into a fight with him, I turned to Chris, who was already standing outside the entrance to the ventilation system just behind the museum's welcome center. This would lead us through its shafts from the entrance hall into the ship's interior, which rose into the night sky not far from us. Together, we removed the cover. The entrance was as narrow as the ventilation tunnels but still high enough to stand in. Still, we would all have to climb in one at a time.
I climbed right in to avoid losing time, and the others followed me. Just in time, I heard the cover being placed back on the entrance behind me so the guards couldn't see from the outside that we were in here.
Now, it was up to me to lead us inside the ship. We didn't know where to look for the women. Hopefully, we would find them on the way through the ship.
Since we had not switched on any lights, out of fear one could see this by the lattices of the shafts, I groped myself step by step in perfect darkness forward. Before my eyes, it was black, and I slid with my hand along the shaft wall for orientation. Only our breathing could be heard. Despite the cold in these metal tubes, the air quickly became moist and warm.
Suddenly, voices were heard, and I froze in motion, just like the other twelve behind me. Chris put a hand on my shoulder reassuringly, but even with that, he could not activate my breathing, which I had temporarily suspended. By my estimation, we were currently in the part of the small building on the pier through which one had to pass to even get on board.
Apparently, the shift change had occurred, and the new crew was on their way to their posts. None of us moved or made a sound until we could be sure they had all gone through.
Gasping for air, I again put one foot in front of the other. Very carefully. We followed a slight incline. Suddenly, the tunnel in front of us became lower and lower, until finally, we could only move forward on all fours, the men even partly on their stomachs.
This blindness was starting to get to me. Since I was leading our group, I had to take good care that no vertical shaft opened up before us, and I fell into the depths. So I also crawled forward on my stomach, one arm always stretched out far in front of me so that I could feel an unexpected hole in time.
Were we actually well enough prepared for this action here? We had not been able to find any exact plans for the Intrepid Museum's ventilation system. We had no choice but to follow our noses. Nevertheless, I would have liked to know more about the course of this pipe system.
But, well, it had been my own idea, and there was no alternative.
Suddenly, my fingers hit a metal wall in front of me. To my right and left, however, there were shafts, which probably meant that we had now reached the ship. The question was whether we wanted to crawl toward the stern or the bow.
The aircraft carrier was divided into three compartments: Hangar 1, Hangar 2, and Hangar 3. The only entrance leading on board was into Hangar 1, so if we turned right, we would pass through the other two compartments.
Without thinking too long, I turned to the right and saw a glimmer of light not far ahead. There must be one of the grids through which air was transported into the halls. Hastily, I crawled toward it. Finally, we could find out where we were.
Fortunately, the interior of the ship was illuminated, and even though it wasn't fully bright, it was reassuring and took away some of the panic the feeling of blindness had caused in me.
Just before reaching the grate, I stopped and turned to my brother, who could now see me in the dimmed light. As a sign that we had to be even quieter and more careful from now on, I put my index finger to my lips. He nodded silently at me, looked back at Alex, and informed him with the same gesture.
Like a cat, I crawled toward the grate. To the right of it, another shaft branched off. It probably led to one of the three exit towers that existed.
As soon as I reached the cone of light, I lay down on my stomach and peered alertly into the space far below me.
In the dim light, I recognized the large propeller that was used to power the aircraft carrier and was later presented as an exhibit. So we were on the right track and were just outside Hangar 2. I would have loved to cheer with joy, but the smile I gave Chris had to suffice for now.
Once again, I examined the inside of the ship, looking for prisoners or guards, but this hall seemed deserted.
For the next hour, we crawled from grate to grate, passing by two other exits and freezing in motion with fear whenever we heard a noise below us or a metal part of the shaft creaking slightly from our weight.
