Jim stood and snapped his fingers at the man. “Hello? Excuse me?” The guard’s face jerked downward and stared at him. “If I need to call in reinforcements? Do you guys have enough people standing by to handle the job?”
The guard nodded. “Give us a heads up before they get here. We need to ensure they’re on the approved list of contractor personnel.”
Jim nodded. “Understood.” He turned back to the truck and secretly keyed his coms. “Did you catch that?”
“I see where you’re going and it won’t work.” Gregg made smacking noises as he chewed and worked. “They would definitely do a head count going in. And out. There’s no way to sneak Bridger out amongst a small crowd.”
Jim stood up and stretched his back. He glanced to the parking lot and the increasing number of people who’d come to work early. “Christ you guys are already busy. It’s only 4:30 in the morning.”
The guard nodded slightly. “Intelligence never sleeps.”
Jim tried not to laugh at the comment. He picked up another box of equipment and turned for the ramp. “Let’s light this candle.”
The pair worked their way back to the lower level and the guard held the door open as Jim stepped through.
“…and the nun says, ‘Who said I was a woman?’ Get it? She said…” Deric trailed off.
“What’s going on?” Jim asked, dropping the box on the table.
“Just checking if this guy is even human. I think he’s a terminator or something.” Deric dug through the box of junk. “No sense of humor at all.”
Jim pulled an oscilloscope and attached it to the exposed circuit board. “Okay. We have the proper square wave. I need you to go to the different sensors and give me a voltage check.”
Deric stared at him and shook his head. “Dude, there’s like thirteen thousand different sensors in this building.”
Jim nodded. “Better get moving then, huh?”
Deric stammered and stared at the two guards. “We have to check them ALL?”
Jim shook his head. “I’ll direct you to the problem ones. There’s only a handful.” He gave him a silly grin and Deric blew his breath out, feeling he had dodged a bullet.
He turned to the escort and motioned toward the door. “Shall we?”
The guard seemed to hesitate. He glanced at his supervisor, who nodded. “We are relieved in a few moments. Perhaps it would be best if you waited for the reliefs to get here.”
Deric shrugged. “Who am I to argue.” He eyed Jim, who nodded.
“We can wait a few minutes. If you want to clue in your relief on what’s going on, I’d really appreciate it. I don’t want anybody getting roughed up for doing their job.”
Gregg came over the coms quietly. “That might be our ticket. Wait for the guards to leave then slip Bridger in long enough to walk out.”
Jim and Deric both nodded to themselves, wishing they could reply.
BOBBY SNAPPED THE last picture then closed the document. “I think that’s it.”
“They’re about to do a guard shift. You need to be ready to move.”
“I need an exit strategy.” He pulled the SD card from the side of the camera then checked its internal memory. He placed it on the desk where he had inadvertently left it earlier then slipped to the door. “I’m ready to move.”
“We have movement all over the place, Bridger. Wait one.” Bobby blew his breath out hard and waited until Gregg came back. “You’re gonna have to be quick. People are moving all over the place.”
Bobby placed his hand on the door handle, squeezing the brushed metal in preparation. “Standing by.”
“Don’t forget your clearance badge.”
Bridger frowned as he pulled the fake credentials from his breast pocket. He clipped it to his coveralls and waited.
“In three, two, one…move!”
Bridger yanked the door open and bolted for the stairwell directly in front of him. “Door!”
He heard it click just prior to reaching for the handle. “Move it Bridger. System resetting in five, four, three, two…” Bobby slid to a stop on a landing between levels and froze. “System active.”
He could feel his hands squeezing open and shut with anticipation. “I can hear people in the stairwell,” he whispered. “Tell me I’m clear to the lower levels.”
“Not yet you’re not. The system will reset in five, four, three, two…GO!”
Bobby took the stairs two and three at a time, passing the fourth floor landing and reaching the third before the system threatened to come back.
“Active in five, four, three, two…”
Bobby hit hard on the landing between the third and fourth floors just as Gregg yelled “Stop!” He prayed that his attempt at pushing it didn’t cost them.
“They’re doing the guard change now. It should only be a few minutes,” Gregg announced. “Oh no…no, no, no…you’ve got incoming.”
Bridger fought the urge to growl and maintained his frozen position. “Where and when?”
“Two incoming from the third floor stairwell.”
“Shit,” Bobby muttered. “And with employees entering, you can’t tell if they’re security or not.”
“Nope. I lost track of the Cerberus guys nearly an hour ago.” Gregg leaned closer to his computer screen. “System resetting in five, four, three…”
Bobby heard the steel door open below him and held his breath. Two male voices echoed in the concrete and steel stairwell and he heard the scratching of leather soles on the non-slip pads as the two men began climbing the stairs.
“They’re coming up,” Bridger whispered.
“Play them, Bobby. It’s your only chance.”
Bobby suddenly began turning slowly, looking upward toward the ceiling.
“Can I help you?” A male voice asked.
Bobby glanced toward the man, a surprised look on his face. “I’m sorry. My supervisor sent me to check out the stairwell sensors…but damned if I can locate them.”
The man stepped up closer to Bobby and reached out toward him. “Who are you?”
Bobby gave him another surprised look then suddenly smiled. “Sorry. I’m one of the techs sent to repair your security systems. We got a work order and…” He pulled his fake security badge from his coveralls and handed it to the man. “I’m Brian.
