"Hey, we need to be quiet. What if they do come down the hall. We don't want them to hear us," said Peter.

"I can't stand this," said Cindy.

"Yes you can. You are not alone. We are in this together," said Amanda.

"Hey, let's become a posse and take care of each other. We can be a posse of four, just like in the old Westerns. We can deputize ourselves and save the city," said Thibodeaux.

"How can four kids save New York City?" asked Cindy.

"Well so far it is just us and the looters. All the 'good guys' have hightailed it out of Dodge and we are the only ones here trying to figure things out," said Thibodeaux.

"Rappers watch Westerns?" asked Peter.

"Rappers watch all kinds of things to get their inspiration. Cuz rapping is nothing more than poetry and gang warfare is nothing more than a Western with no good guys," said Thibodeaux.

"If you say so," said Cindy.

"That's what my Mamma says," said Thibodeaux.

"So how about it? Are we going to be a posse? Are we going to fight the battle and save the City?" asked Thibodeaux.

"I think we should just concentrate on getting out of here. My mother would want me to get Cindy and Peter out of here as quickly as I can," said Amanda.

"If we don't save the City, I can never go home. I live here," said Cindy.

"You can stay with us in Connecticut," said Amanda.

"But doesn't everyone who lives in Connecticut, work in New York City?" asked Cindy. "Your mom and dad both work in New York. They won't have jobs if there is no city."

"Okay. Okay. We will save the city," said Amanda.

"That's my woman," said Thibodeaux.

"Your woman?" asked Amanda.

"It's just an expression. Boy you kids sure are touchy, but not matter, it's time to eat," said Thibodeaux.

"What did you find?" asked Amanda.

"We found bread and butter and cheese and fruit and brownies. How about that?" said Peter.

"And cokes. I brought cokes," said Thibodeaux.

"I am so hungry," said Cindy.

The newly minted posse of four sat down on the floor and ate ravenously. They had eaten nothing but cookies and peanuts all day.

Amanda was thinking how she would love to even have one of those awful school lunches. A lot of the things she did not like to eat would look pretty good right now.

"So what should we do first?" asked Amanda.

"I think we need to crack the pass code on that flash drive. Are you sure the bad guys left it?" asked Thibodeaux.

"No, but it was right where they were drinking. Right in the middle of their mess," said Peter. "The battery is really low. I don't know how much longer I will be able to be on the computer."

"Here, use this charger." Thibodeaux handed Peter a battery operated battery charger from the bag of goodies he got earlier in the day.

Peter plugged the battery operated charger onto the USB cable of his computer and the screen lit back up.

"What kind of code could they have?" asked Peter. "They could not memorize a long code."

"I have an idea. Why don't we all make a list of what we think the pass code could be and Peter can just keep on trying," said Cindy. "Look, here are some note pads and a couple of pens from the room desk. It can be a game."

The posse sat down on the floor and started brainstorming passwords. As soon as they had about ten, they handed their piece of paper to Peter and kept on writing down possible passwords. Peter kept entering them, but none of them seemed to work.

Everyone was getting discouraged.

"They are thieves and they are stealing jewels. Try thief, thieves, jewels. Tiffany's," said Amanda.

"How about heist?" said Cindy.

Peter kept on typing and suddenly he yelled, "That's it, it's heist."

Cindy started dancing around the room, rapping to "I'm smart. Hey I'm smart."

Amanda looked at Cindy in amazement. She was acting just like a little kid. But wait, she was a little kid.

"How did you know what that word meant?" asked Amanda.

"From PBS Kids. I watched it all the time when I was little," said Cindy.

"What's on the flash drive?" asked Thibodeaux.

"It's has all their plans. There is a schedule about when and where the bombs are supposed to go off and where the anthrax is and look, here is a map with all the targets marked. See, here is our theater. The bomb was down the block from our theater. And here is the schedule of the jewel robberies. Hey, it's all here," said Peter.

"Now we just need to find some good guys to give it to," said Amanda.

"But there are no good guys left in the city," said Thibodeaux.

"Well, we need to make a plan, but right now we need to sleep. We should wait until tomorrow to do anything because it is dark outside now," said Amanda.

"We have the night vision goggles," said Peter. "We can use them in the dark."

"Right now, we need to sleep. It is cold and dark in here and I don't want to do anything else until we are warm," said Amanda.

"I will sleep in the room next door," said Thibodeaux.

"No, we need to stick together. Now everyone help me load up our backpacks just in case we need to run. We need to pack up all the important things so we can leave quickly," said Amanda.

"We need to put some batteries into these walkie-talkies and set them up to the same channel," said Thibodeaux. "We all need to have one in our pocket in case we get lost."

"How do you know about walkie-talkies? Aren't those really old fashioned?" asked Cindy.

"All my friends in New Orleans had them when I was young. They are a lot cheaper than cell phones and our Mamma's wouldn't allow us to go too far out of the neighborhood so they worked just fine," said Thibodeaux.

The posse sat on the floor, putting the synchronized walkie-talkies into their pockets and repacking their backpacks to include the batteries, cell phone chargers, pepper spray, and night vision goggles. Then they stuffed food and water into the room that was left in the backpacks.

"Okay, now we need to practice wearing these night vision goggles," said Thibodeaux.

"What?" asked Amanda.

"Everyone put one on and turn off the lights and see if they work," said Thibodeaux.

"Hey, they need batteries," said Peter.

"So put them in. They use Triple A."

"How did you know how to get all this stuff. All the different batteries?" asked Cindy.

"I do all the shopping for my aunt," said Thibodeaux.

"Your aunt uses night vision goggles?" Amanda was incredulous but then she looked at Thibodeaux. "I think it is great that you are so smart."

So the posse put on their night vision goggles and very quietly practiced walking around the room wearing them. They worked. The night vision goggles could have been a lot of fun, if anyone had been in the mood for fun.

By then everyone was very cold and there was nothing left to do but go to bed.

"I hate going to bed without watching TV," said Amanda.

"Me too," everyone said in unison.

But no TV or not, it was very dark and cold, so everyone was soon fast asleep.

Chapter VIII.

Amanda woke up. It was pitch dark in the room, but she could hear people running through the hallways. She quickly woke up the others and told them to be very quiet.

Amanda quickly went to lock the door to the adjoining room. Then she moved the desk chair under the door to the hallway to block it from being entered.

Amanda smelled smoke. She peered out the window and saw that the building next door was on fire.

"We have to get out of here. The building next door is on fire and there is no fire department in the city," said Amanda.

"Where are we going to go?" Cindy sounded very scared.

"I don't think our building is on fire yet, but we have to go," said Amanda.

"Go where?" asked Peter.

"We can go to my aunt's house," said Thibodeaux.

"It's too far and it is too dark," said Amanda.

"We can go to my apartment," said Cindy.

"Cindy's place is the closest, so that's what we will do," said Amanda.

"Where?" asked Thibodeaux.

"Cindy and her mother live at 16th and Third and if we can get over there, Cindy has keys," said Amanda. "But there will be looters out there so we need to stay together and keep our pepper spray handy."

"I don't know how to use pepper spray," said Cindy.

"Just hold it and press," said Thibodeaux.

"Everyone get your coats and backpacks. And use the bathroom. This may be the last bathroom we see for a while," Amanda said.

"Are you for real?" asked Thibodeaux.

"Oh, do people from New Orleans not need to go to the bathroom?" asked Amanda.

"I just never had a girl tell me to go to the bathroom before. Everything we do, it's go to the bathroom, pack water...hey, it's okay. It's good you are thinking," said Thibodeaux.

"I have to think. I have a lot of responsibilities. Three little kids to take care of," said Amanda.

"Hey, I'm not little, I'm twelve too," said Thibodeaux.

"I'm taking care of myself," said Peter.

"Stop it. I'm scared. Don't fight!" said Cindy.

"I'm sorry," Amanda told Cindy. "Come on, stand by the door and listen."

"Put on your goggles," said Thibodeaux. "We don't want to use flashlights cuz we don't want folks to see us."

The group of four stood at the door with their backpacks on, wearing their goggles. Amanda touched the door. It was cool. She listened and could not hear anything. She was trying to remember something she had never paid attention to in school-what to do in case of a fire.

"Does everyone have their pepper spray in their pocket?" asked Amanda.

The others nodded.