“I’m not sure about this-” Edam whispered, flat against the stone wall, “This is a legal offence! Breaking and entering!”

“Hmm, not really.” Saavi smiled, pulling on her balaclava. He had one too, and it didn’t help his idea that they were doing something criminal. “More like hacking and entering.”

Aside from some lawn lights bright enough for a football field, the house was as dark as the sky above it. It was a fortress of marble and glass, shaped like two LEGO blocks on top of each other, slightly misaligned. The whole structure was surrounded by a stone wall, complete with barbed wire. The Doctor clearly took no chances when it came to security.

Edam sat with his tablet in his lap, typing with trembling fingers. He’d only ever hacked propaganda websites, from a public computer, covering his tracks well. Just the thought of breaking into a house made his heart jump. “I’m telling you, this is not a good idea. This guy’s got every security system in the book!”

“Government must be paying him well.”

“That’s not the point here!”

“You can hack it, right?” Saavi said.

Edam nodded, taking a deep breath. Yes. He could hack it. The systems were complicated but the code was relatively simple. And if he disabled all the security, what was left? Just an open house anyone could walk into. Even a coward like him.

He began to type with renewed energy, and then he slowed down, frowning. “There’s one system I can’t get into.”

“Which one?”

He squinted at his screen, “I don’t… know. It’s hidden.”

“Have you disabled everything important?”

“I think so.”

“Good enough. Crouch down, let me get on your shoulders.”

“What?”

Saavi gestured with the wire-cutters, “Someone needs to get up there. Unless you want to get on my shoulders.”

Edam cringed. That would be even worse. He crouched down, flushing slightly as she climbed onto his shoulders. She set to work on the barbed wire, and he held onto her knees to steady her. A few seconds later, he felt her weight leave him as she pulled herself up and over the wall.

So much for second thoughts.

He followed. The soft grass muffled his landing. Saavi put a finger to her lips as they made for the house, throwing long shadows over the grass. The back door was already ajar, waiting for them. That was the trouble with expensive houses. They often relied wholly on electronics for their security. Edam and Saavi ditched their shoes at the door and stepped inside.

Even in the dark, Edam could tell he was surrounded by luxury. Unlike his own home, there was no risk of bumping into a chair, or hitting your toe against the sofa. There was more than enough room to move about. If Edam’s house was a pond, this was the ocean. And it made him wonder what it cost to buy a house like this.

Searching the ground floor, in the dark, with all its living rooms, studies, and closets took about half an hour. Saavi suggested they split up, but having her close was good for his nerves. They climbed the stairs, moving faster now. Edam glanced into the bedroom as he passed it. It was… empty.

“Saavi? Saavi?” he whispered, but she was no longer at his side. Instead, she was further down the corridor, standing still at a doorway. It was hard to read her expression in the dark, but she motioned for him to follow, before disappearing into the room. He shuffled down the corridor and joined her, eyes widening as he peered into the room.

Dr Ebert was slumped over his desk, sleeping soundly. Papers were scattered all over the room, as well as various metal tools, a face visor, and something like a hazmat suit. Edam could see all this because the room wasn’t dark. Something sat on a tripod at the end of the desk, small, glowing with purple light, and encased in metal.

No way.

Saavi picked up a rubber glove from the floor and slipped the object inside. Then she put the whole thing in her bag.

“Why would he have it here and not in a lab?” Edam mouthed. They had been expecting to find some papers or directions or something, but not the power-source itself.

“I suppose this is a lab of sorts.” Saavi shrugged, “Or maybe it’s for security.”

“So much for that.” Edam smiled.

Dr Ebert grunted in his sleep.

Saavi ransacked the drawers, stuffing every paper she could find into her bag. Once the drawers were empty, she tried to pry a few papers out from under his arm.

“What are you doing?” he hissed. They’d been lucky, but this was pushing it too far.

“Relax,” she said, in that way only she could pull off. The paper tore loose unexpectedly. Saavi took a step back, and her foot met with the face visor. She slipped, landing with a crash.

“Shit!” he whispered, helping her up.

Dr Ebert stirred. He lifted his head from the desk and squinted at them. Once realisation dawned on him, he opened his mouth to scream: “Code P-U-9-4! Lockdown Protocol!”

The house trembled. Saavi and Edam exchanged a glance. Bars came down over the study windows, and a siren screamed its ear-piercing cry.

They sprinted from the room, skipping steps as they scrambled down the stairs. The front door slammed itself shut just as they approached it, and the handle retracted into the door. “We’re trapped!” Edam yelled, as he tried to kick the door down. It didn’t budge. Saavi threw a chair against the glass wall, but it didn’t even scratch. Under the lockdown siren, Edam could hear a fainter noise - that of police sirens in the distance.

“Shit,” Edam said, a dry lump in his throat, “Shit. We’re done.”

Saavi shook her head, turning to him, “No, we’re not. You’re going to have to hack it, Edam! This was the hidden system. But it’s active now!”

“I can’t, I-”

“Edam,” she placed her hands on his shoulders, “relax.”

He nodded slowly, looking into her eyes. Deep breaths. Then he fell to his knees and got to work, pulling his tablet from his pocket. Saavi was right. Now that the system was active, he would be able to see it. And that meant he could hack it. He began to type, although he was wary of the footsteps on the upstairs landing.

“Alright, you rascals!” Dr Ebert growled, appearing in the staircase. “You give back what you stole!” Edam’s heart sank. It was difficult to tell in the dark, but he appeared to be holding a shotgun. And it was pointed right at them. Saavi put her hands up, walking towards him. “Yeah, that’s right.” he said, nodding, “Nice and easy now.”

She looked over her shoulder at Edam. “The lights,” she mouthed, and he nodded, his heart pounding in his chest. He knew what she was planning to do. It was a stretch but… a stretch was their best option right now.

When the Doctor and Saavi were face to face, Edam shut his eyes and turned on all the lights in the house, as bright as he could make them. And then he watched, jaw-open, as Saavi pushed the shotgun upwards, making him fire a slug into the ceiling, kicked him in the balls and snatched the gun from his hands. She looked over her shoulder again, “Edam! The door!”

Edam ignored the grunting and growling as he typed the last few commands into the tablet and the door swung open. Saavi whispered something to the Doctor before joining Edam at the door, breathing heavily. He gave Dr Ebert one last look - the old man was clutching his chest and moaning in pain. The shotgun was nowhere to be seen.

They slipped outside just as the house began to reflect shades of red and blue. Police sirens wailed further down the road, rapidly approaching. The train station wasn’t far from here - they would have to hop the wall where they’d cut the wire, then make a run for it.

“You still,” Edam panted, “you still call that hacking and entering?”

“Maybe not,” Saavi said, pulling herself up to the wall, “but it got the job done.”

Once they stopped to catch their breath, Edam looked back at the house, now swarmed with police cars out front. They would find Dr Ebert up against the wall, dazed. The old man would stammer something about thieves, and perhaps he would burst into tears tonight and many nights over, thinking about the confrontation.

About the thieves who had kicked him in the balls and stolen his work.

“Let’s go,” Saavi said, working up to a jog. She was smiling again. Edam shook his head as they sprinted over open land, towards the distant lights of the train station. He wasn’t an adrenaline-junkie like her. This was the last time she would convince him to do something so stupid. But they’d got the energy-source, right?

At least that was something to celebrate.