The other guard was roving, moving rather swiftly on this cold night. His or her route appeared to be a circuit of the mansion’s exterior. The revolution took almost exactly three minutes. The guard disappeared inside for 27 minutes before making the same journey again. From his current location, Gage couldn’t tell which door the guard entered for the interim period.
During the 27-minute wait between the guard’s two revolutions, Gage combatted the cold by eating a protein bar and drinking from the small thermos of hot coffee he’d brought. After seeing the guard make his or her second circuit with the same loping gait, Gage climbed down and moved once again.
It took him a few minutes to get his stiff joints working.
Once he did, Gage went deeper into the woods and headed west before changing his direction to the northeast. It was important he stay well away from the guard at what must have been the back gate to the compound. He traveled the entire length of back wall until he passed its end, then he moved east to view the estate from the northeastern side.
It was here that Gage caught a break.
The northeastern edge of the estate was hillier, and those hills extended outside of the wall. Gage was able to find a vantage point that didn’t require him climbing a tree. Here, he once again produced his thermal imaging scope before checking his watch. If the rover was predictable, Gage predicted he or she would appear in the next six minutes. Before then, Gage checked on the rear guard, finding him still inside the warm little guard hut as evidenced by the bright orange windows. He probably had a space heater running inside, supported by the noticeable heat radiating from the top of the building.
From this viewpoint, Gage was also able to see the front gate, where another guard building was visible—not unlike the one at the Vogel estate, only smaller. Gage had seen this one from the road and from here could only see one person stirring.
Movement caught Gage’s eye and, sure enough, the rover emerged from a side door of the mansion and headed out in the same clockwise direction for the three minute circuit. Gage checked his watch—it had been 27 minutes—he’d been out here for an hour. From this distance, Gage could tell the loping guard was male.
A male with a very predictable routine.
Hunter used to always say, “Avoid routines. Routines will get you killed.”
For a man who lived by so many patterns in his day-to-day life, the colonel was correct. Of course, he was referencing areas of danger. It was obvious that the head guard, or maybe even Boden himself, stipulated this inside guard to rove the estate every half hour. Because of his timetable, it provided Gage a timeframe of exactly when to strike.
* * *
While the roving guard was on his route, Gage pulled out the inexpensive voltmeter, unwinding the wires to both leads and flipping the switch for low light illumination so he could see the analog scale. He then removed his fence cutters, a coil of insulated wire, and electrical gloves. As soon as the rover reappeared—his route having taken 2 minutes 53 seconds—Gage readied for action.
Inside the rover went, right on time. Gage grounded the black lead on the steel stanchion and touched the red lead to the razor wire.
The needle on the scale jumped, registering 5,700 volts—easily enough to ruin Gage’s evening.
He had no way of knowing if there was any sort of tamper device built into the razor wire. With one roving guard and a rear guard who actually pissed on the wall, Gage doubted it. For now, he needed to cut the electrified razor wire. Once done, he’d wait for a reaction.
Gage unwound the heavy gauge insulated wire. He also took out a roll of electrical tape and the splicing pliers. Gage cut a three-meter section of the insulated wire and used the splicing pliers to create a long copper nipple at each end. The copper wire was soft, making it easy to bend. After donning the insulated gloves, Gage carefully attached the wire to the fence, creating a second pathway. He wrapped electrical tape around each end to make certain the connection was tight. Then he watched. No movement from any of the guards. This told him there probably wasn’t any sort of motion or tamper feature on the razor wire.
The acid test was yet to come.
He checked his own watch—17 minutes until the roving guard was due to move again.
Gage prepared his cutters by putting them in place and covering them with a towel. There would be a loud pop when the steel gave way and Gage was counting on the towel to mitigate the sound at least a little bit. He stuffed both ends of the towel as tightly around the cutters as he could. Then, using every ounce of his 205 pounds, he forced the cutters through the steel of the fence. This was not an easy process and it took over a minute, with Gage turning and twisting. Finally, with sweat dripping from his face—despite the temperature—the fence popped and gave way.
It had been under a fair amount of tension, worrying Gage that perhaps he’d lost his electrical connection. He eased backward, eyeing both ends of his second circuit. It was intact, thanks to the slack he’d built in. He didn’t know if anyone had heard the pop, so he waited. One minute. Two minutes.
No response.
There were just under 13 minutes remaining before the roving guard was due to exit his post. Gage removed most items from his pack, hiding them under some wet leaves.
