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With a practiced grace, Nixy landed silently on the floor and sidled towards the chamber. She inched open the door. The room beyond was filled with dying sunlight, and the criss-crossing beams of at least twenty moving lasers. This was not going to be easy.

She waited a few moments until the paths of the lasers repeated, and then a few more seconds as she memorised the pattern. It was more complex than Nixy had anticipated, but her confidence wasn't knocked in the slightest. She had tackled harder training exercises last term. With Matt's voice instructing in her ear, she made her way cautiously into the room.

"Three steps left... jump half twist... duck... flip forwards..." Nixy executed each move with perfect accuracy, narrowly missing the beams that were sweeping the floor like search lights. Every inch of floor she covered was an inch closer to the Rose. She could see it gleaming in the last rays of sun, sending twinkling specks of red scattering across the paintings on each wall. She could almost reach it...

"Nixy, look out! Dead ahead!" Her heart skipped a beat as she saw four laser beams scything across the room towards her. They were too high to jump, but too low to crouch under. She had only seconds to decide what to do. But what? Without a moment to spare, Nixy launched herself into a flying kick, twisting so that her streamlined body only just missed the top beam. She landed on her knees right next to the Rose's podium. In her earpiece, she heard Matt and Jonny exhale sighs of relief.

"Je-sus! Nice one!"

"I'm not out yet." Nixy muttered. But a smile spread across her face all the same. She reached out a gloved hand for the Rose, and remembered to take a lump of clay from her pocket. It was the exact weight of the Rose. As quick as was possible, she swapped the clay for the priceless jewel and released a breath she didn't realise she had been holding.

"Get me out of here Jonny."

"Right. The door to the chamber is alarmed, and there are two guards outside it. They're armed, so be careful. You have three minutes to get the hell out of there before the rest of security arrives. Straight down the corridor and through the fire escape at the end. Should open with a good kick. We'll be waiting."

"See you outside." Avoiding the lasers, Nixy ran full pelt towards the doors and crashed through them, taking the guards on the other side completely by surprise. A shrill klaxon pierced the silent evening. Nixy did a roundhouse kick into the first guards stomach and elbowed the other full in the face, knocking him to the floor. Then she ran. The sound of many footfalls echoed in the corridor behind her as she exploded through the fire doors and straight into the open door of the Mercedes outside. In a screech of asphalt, the trio disappeared into the sunset, leaving six guards staring after them in despair.