“Uh, we have bodies coming your way. They just exited the elevator.” Ace sounded agitated.
I threw the pad of paper onto the desk and clicked off the flashlight. My spidey senses woke up and started bugging me. This was not a regular security check. I held my breath.
They stopped outside the door, and I was in motion in a flash. “Scramming,” I said in a breathy whisper as I stood on the chair.
I turned from the cameras, unzipped the bodysuit, pressed the notepad against my chest and re-zipped the bodysuit as I stepped onto the desk in one fluid motion. I began pulling myself up the rope just as the green indicator light next to the door lit up. They’d swiped the keycard. I gripped the rope more tightly and took two hard pulls. It would take me one more to climb into the vent. Good thing they had double lock entry into all the rooms in the building. Not only did you need to swipe a card, you also had to use a physical key. Even with that, I doubted I’d make it out.
Ace’s voice rang over the com, “Hurry, girl. That suit won’t hide you from real people eyes.”
I flipped my leg over the ledge of the vent opening and yanked myself inside with a quiet grunt. I was now cut off from my team. I gathered up the rope in a flash just as two people entered the room and switched on the light. There was no chance to put the cover on the vent. I kept my breathing shallow, not allowing my lungs to get the massive amounts of air they needed at the moment. Instead, I peered through the hole to see who had come into the room.
The first was dressed in the clothes that identified him as a Sécurité Un guard. His powerful muscles pushed on the uniform, threatening to burst through. The other was also large, but in jeans and a T-shirt, his face unshaven. I pressed myself against the metal and focused on breathing shallow breaths, hoping beyond hope that they wouldn’t look up. I was about to slide away when their words froze me to the spot.
“…wasn’t on him?” a deep male voice said. I imagined it must have been the man with the scruff. Was he talking about the drive?
“I’m sure,” a voice that sounded much younger said. It must have been the guard, though the voices didn’t match either man’s physique. “The boy said nothing was on Dufor.”
“And there had been no contact with anyone before your man got to him?”
“He followed him on the train, but there was nothing, no one. We’re sure no exchange was made before we disposed of him.”
So, his company had put a hit out on him. They knew he was going to betray them.
“And you’re sure the medical examiner found nothing on him either?” They had an in with the medical examiner, too?
I only had four minutes. I heard shuffling noises as they moved about the room looking for something.
“Yes. And this guy wasn’t the type to put the drive anywhere not sterile. I mean look at his office. Does this look like the office of a guy who’d put a drive in his underwear?”
I expected to hear a chuckle, but nothing. They definitely knew about the drive. What would have happened had I stayed on the train? Could I even have saved Dufor? I hadn’t sensed any danger. Had I become soft during all those months doing deskwork for Siron? Three and a half minutes.
“It has to be here then.”
“Tear this place apart until you find it.”
And the guy did. He threw the fake Matisses to the ground. He pulled the desk drawers out and dropped all the contents to the floor as he went through them. As he lifted the rug, a flash from my watch warned me that in two minutes the lasers would go live again, and I would be a sitting duck. Not to mention the two men would inevitably look up and notice the giant hole in the ceiling.
I didn’t bother putting the cover on the vent. I didn’t have the time. I moved as quickly and quietly as I could through the ducts, keeping my body off the venting, only allowing my elbows, thighs and toes to contact the metal in a flurry of motion. Something crashed in the room below me and I took the chance to push myself swiftly through the hard section of ducting, hoping the noise below covered my banging.
Just as I turned to climb up the last shaft, the alarms blared. I didn’t hesitate. I rushed to the top of the vent and pulled myself out. Red lights twirled on the roof of the building, and screeching sounded all around me. I pushed on my com as I ran across the roof.
“West side extraction route. Heading for adjacent building.” I would have to be super-fast not to get caught. I spoke up as I reached the edge of the roof. “I hope you’re there when I get there.”
I dug my fingers into the bricked exterior wall and lowered myself a few feet, using the grippy footies of the suit to help anchor me as I moved to the side and down three feet, under a foot-wide outcropping that housed something rumbling inside. I attached the same rope I’d used to lower myself into Dufor’s office to some lag bolts that attached the machine to the wall. Ignoring the pain in my fingertips, I gripped the jagged bricks and wedged
