Easy.
The curtain pulled back, and Xia stood, smiling at him.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
“My throat hurts a bit, and I’m a little sore all over, but not bad,” he managed.
“Good. When the code wears off, you’ll feel it more, but you should be home before that happens,” she said quietly. Then she spoke in a normal volume. “Well, I’m sorry you had to go through that. It happens sometimes. I just need to check a few things before I okay you to have the chip removed.” As she talked she reached into a side pocket of her lab coat and pulled out the ID. She moved around him to check the monitors. As she did, she put her hand on the bed next to his leg, leaving the ID when she lifted her hand. He moved his leg over the card.
Xia started typing on her pad, erasing his information from the test, and when she was finished, there would be no proof he was part of it. “Well, I think everything is fine,” Xia said. “Also, I do have to tell you, that while we will have to remove the test chip, you are eligible for a discounted chip upgrade as thanks for taking part in the test.”
“Thanks,” Two-Step said.
Xia moved close to him and whispered. “You’re clear. Remember, the stairwell is just past the restroom. Come out before the lobby and take the elevator the rest of the way. Good luck.”
Two-Step smiled at her.
“All right,” Xia said in a normal volume. “I have to get back to the test. There will be someone by shortly to take care of the chip removal.”
He stood and stretched, testing his legs. He wasn’t sure how well they would work after going through the overload. Confident he could make it down a few flights of stairs without any trouble, he went looking for the nurse. He found him sitting at a desk, working.
“Excuse me. Could you point me to the restroom?” Two-Step asked.
Without looking up, the nurse said, “Just down that hall to your left.”
Afraid the nurse would look up if he said thank you, he hurried down the hall and to the stairwell. Once in the stairwell, he heard someone running down the stairs below him. The sound gave him a sense of urgency and he increased his speed. He reached the second floor and exited the stairwell, trying to walk at a natural gait. Before he got to the elevators, the alarms went off.
“That can’t be good,” he said out loud.
He ran to the elevators and frantically pushed the button.
“Due to the emergency, the elevators are currently not in service,” a voice said, emanating from a speaker near the button.
He ran back to the stairwell. Could he still just walk out of the lobby now? There was a good chance no one would be allowed to leave the building. He knew Jacob and Sandy were going to use the delivery tunnels on the first sublevel. He would have to take the same route.
The whole stairwell filled with the wailing of the alarms and the flashing of the red lights above each door. Through the sound, he thought he heard someone running on the stairs below. Before he got to the first sublevel landing, he slowed and peered down the stairwell.
Relief hit him. “Jacob! Sandy!” he yelled and ran to them.
They were waiting at a set of double doors, both holding guns.
“Hurry,” Sandy said.
“I’m so glad to see you two,” he said.
Jacob reached in his backpack and took out a gun. He held it out for Two-Step. “Here, you might need this.”
Chapter 57
Two-Step took the gun. “I hope not,” he said, over the alarm.
“The way my day’s been going,” Jacob said, leaving the conclusion unspoken and trying to block out the image of Slade handcuffed to the door.
“Yeah, you don’t look too good,” Two-Step said.
“Kat, do you have visual? It would nice to see what’s on the other side of these doors.” Sandy said.
“Can’t help you,” Kat said.
“I’ll take the door on the right, Two-Step you take the left. Just be ready for anything,” Jacob said. He took a deep breath and readied himself. When he saw Sandy and Two-Step were ready, he said, “Now.”
The hallway was empty.
He took two pairs of zip cuffs from his backpack. He joined the zip cuffs together and then zip tied the free end to the door handles.
“That should keep people out. Let’s go,” he said. “Two-Step, you take up the rear, and keep an eye out behind us.”
The delivery tunnels were not far away. When he worked for the company, Jacob would often come down here during his lunch and have some of his nic-stem. It was the only place in the building it was allowed, or at least tolerated. He knew the area well. Well enough to know that they would run into security before they got to the loading docks. After that, the tunnel ran for three blocks before coming out on a street at the edge of the Your Better Life Corporate Zone. There was a checkpoint at the mouth of the tunnel, but once they got past that, they would be in the city and on their way home.
“These alarms are driving me crazy,” Two-Step said.
They came to a turn in the hallway next to a pair of double doors with a flashing alarm light above them. “Stop,” Jacob said. “The security station is to the right of those doors. Usually, there were two guys there. Sometimes three. The problem is, the station is back a little, so there’s no way to get the jump on them.”
“The loading docks are on the other side of the door?” Sandy asked.
“Yes.”
“Any security out there?”
“Always one or two at a station just outside
