“I need to see some ID from your friend.” She handed over Tom Flisher’s ID tag. He again studied it with his torch. “Okay, have a good night. Don’t be too long though. They’ll be locking up soon.” He handed the IDs back and opened the boom gate, waving them through. Jasmine put her foot on the accelerator as quick as she could and headed up the driveway.
“I can’t believe that worked. Talk about state of the art security.” Caleb laughed.
“Don’t get too excited, we’re only through the front gate. I’m sure there’s going to be more checkpoints to get through.” The car park was almost empty. She chose a spot near the front door, but a reasonable distance away. She envisioned them having to make a quick getaway and didn’t think she could run too far in her high heels; yet she didn’t want to bring unnecessary attention to the vehicle. She kept the two front doors unlocked and the key in the middle dashboard, again betting on needing to locate it in a hurry.
They walked up to the front door, their IDs hanging from around their necks. They held their heads up as high as possible and pretended to own the place, or at least be familiar with it. The front doors slid open as they approached them. Inside was an open foyer.
Directly ahead was a metal detector; they passed through and when there was no beeping, the guard waved them on, wishing them a good night. He took his seat again on a chair beside the wall and resumed his position, trying to stay awake.
On the other side of the detector was a row of elevators, six in total. Jasmine pressed the up button and they waited until one of the six lights lit up. At this time of night, it only took a few seconds.
They stepped inside and read the panel. Level 1 was ‘Administration’, Level 2 was ‘Sales and Marketing’. They continued reading through until they got to Level 6, ‘Research and Development’. They pressed the button and the doors closed.
When the doors opened again and a professional female voice announced ‘Level 6’, they could hear the sound of people moving about. Obviously, the scientists weren’t as punctual to leave. They walked along the corridor and gave a nod to the one person they saw.
At the end of a hall was a door marked ‘Laboratory 3’. There was no light shining underneath the door. Caleb tried the handle and it opened with ease. Inside it was dark, the only light filtering in through the uncovered windows. The room comprised of rows of benches, all having various beakers and machinery on top. On every counter was a computer, the screens black. The benches were designed to be used from both sides so there was no place to hide underneath them. Jasmine doubted whether security would actually inspect inside the labs, but she couldn’t be sure. They walked to the very end, to another door.
Caleb tried the handle and this one opened too. It revealed another dark room. This wasn’t a lab however; it was more of a storeroom with a few rows of shelves. Jasmine looked at the contents. They appeared to be various chemicals of different sorts. Most of them had the skull and crossbones on them, indicating a dangerous substance. She remembered Caleb’s pirate reference from earlier – it seemed appropriate now.
At the back of the storeroom it was pitch black. They found an area with their torch that was almost empty and sat down on the floor. Someone would have to go to the very last row of the room and walk down it to be able to see them. They thought this was the best hiding place they had come across. Jasmine looked around to see if she could spot any cameras on the ceiling. It was either too dark to see them or there weren’t any. She prayed it was the latter.
They waited there in the dark for a few hours, their ears straining to hear for sounds of people moving about outside or approaching the storeroom. Occasionally, they’d hear a faint noise in the distance, but it was difficult to tell if it was coming from inside or out. Eventually, Jasmine held her watch up to the torch. It was 9:00pm.
“It’s nine o’clock. Everyone should be gone by now,” she whispered.
“Let’s hope so.” They came out of their hiding place and stretched. It had been a tight fit. Jasmine pulled two sets of gloves out of her handbag and handed a pair to Caleb. She put one on each hand, they were the latex kind. She hoped the same kind the scientists used. At least then she could explain them away if need be.
They crept back into the lab and quietly opened the door. The corridor looked empty. All the lights except the emergency ones were now off. Caleb nodded back to Jasmine and she followed him. They tiptoed around the floor, trying to find any offices, but there were only labs. They found the steps. Jasmine went through first.
“You stay here, I’ll see if the door opens from the other side,” she whispered. Caleb closed the door softly so that it wouldn’t make a noise and waited for Jasmine to try and open it. She did, so it wasn’t self-locking. He followed her through, the door closing behind him. It was pitch black in the stairwell. Caleb pulled a small torch from his pocket and shone it on the stairs in front of them. They climbed two flights to the next floor before trying the door. Level 7 contained a few boardrooms and offices, but nothing of interest. They returned to the stairs and ascended another two flights.
They hit pay dirt. Level 8 contained the executive suites. Each person’s name was neatly etched on a strip attached to the door. Just outside of them was a small desk for their secretaries. Jasmine pulled out a piece of paper she had printed from the Avalon Laboratories website. It gave a short profile of all the executives. They matched up the names with the profiles, trying to find one for either the Chief Executive Officer or the Chief Financial Officer.
At the far end of the corridor and around a corner, they came to Peter Hensley’s office. He was listed on the website as the CFO. They tried the doorhandle; it was locked. They continued on, reading names along the way. Most of them were listed on the printout, but some weren’t. Obviously, not important enough to be of any note.
It was completely dark in the corridor. The only light source was a hazy green glow that emanated from the ‘Exit’ signs that occasionally marked fire escapes. Every now and then they would hear a noise, quickly turn their torch off and stay deathly still. The noise would stop and they’d continue on. The further they walked, the more anxious they were growing. It seemed to be a maze instead of an office.
“Hey, I think we’ve been here before,” Caleb whispered.
“Me too. Do you think the corridor loops around?”
“Yeah, it has to. I don’t think the CEO has his office on this floor. We checked every door and it’s not here.”
“Let’s find the stairs, try another floor.” They followed the ‘Exit’ signs until they reached the stairwell. They climbed another two flights until they reached Level 9. They opened the heavy fire door and looked around. It was dark like everywhere else, but there were no long corridors, just a short one. At the end was an antechamber with a desk. The plaque sitting on top read ‘Daphne Jones – PA’.
They crept up to the door behind. The brass label announced it was the office of ‘George Bailey – CEO’. Caleb tried the door handle. It didn’t budge.
Jasmine took the torch and starting scanning Daphne’s desk, looking in all the pen holders, paper clip tub, and then through each drawer. She found no sign of a key.
Pulling out the chair, she got down on her knees. She crawled underneath and felt all around the inside. Taped to the top right-hand corner was a small silver key. Jasmine felt it with her fingertips and tugged at it. It came away easily. She crawled out again and held it up for Caleb.
“Nice going!” He inserted the key into the doorknob and tried to turn it. It clicked and the handle turned around all the way. He opened the door slowly, trying to see what awaited them. The room was in semi-darkness; a large window covered most of one wall and let in plenty of moonlight.
The office was colossal, befitting of a CEO and considerably bigger than the other offices they had come across so far. In the centre was a dark oak desk, the surface was inlaid with black leather. Behind it was a high backed leather chair. Around the room were a lounge suite
and numerous bookcases. Jasmine scanned the titles of the books they contained. Most were science journals, but some were about business management and she spotted a number of self improvement guides. In the left-hand corner was a filing cabinet.
Caleb walked over and tried to open it. It was locked. “Guess it’s easier in the movies.” He shrugged. “Do you have a bobby pin?”
“Bobby pins are only in the movies too.” She smiled and pulled out the impressive office chair from the desk and sat down. It was comfortable and well worn. George Bailey had obviously spent a lot of time here.
Sitting on top of the desk was a computer and some files. She flicked through the folders. They were mainly budget reports and internal memos. She scanned through them, but nothing was deemed interesting. She moved the computer mouse, the black screen turned blue and a login box popped up. The username was pre-filled with ‘GBailey’. She checked to make sure the caps lock was off and moved the cursor into the password box. The line was blinking at her, waiting for her to start typing. She tried her luck and typed ‘password’. ‘Incorrect password entered.’ Caleb joined her and watched over her left shoulder. He was so close she could smell him. He smelled of Lynx deodorant.
“Try ‘God’,” he offered.
“Why would anyone use that as their password?”
“You’d be surprised.” She typed it in – incorrect again. She looked around the office for inspiration. There were no personal trinkets anywhere. No photo of the wife and kids, no awards, not even a calculator was on the desk. Jasmine was getting the impression that this was a man that didn’t like distractions. He was there to work. It shouldn’t need to feel like an extension of home. She guessed whatever his password was, it would be just as down-to-business as his desk. She thought for a moment and typed in ‘george’. The login box was replaced with a new one notifying her the computer was ‘Applying Personal Settings’.
Within a few minutes, the desktop appeared and lines of icons filled the screen.
“Caleb, pass me my bag please.” He picked her handbag up off the floor where she had left it and gave it to her. She opened a zip pocket and pulled out a USB drive. She plugged it into the front of the computer and clicked open the hard drive. Trying to be as quick as possible, she copied as much as would fit onto the USB drive. The computer was a new model and copied fast.
When the drive was full, she repeated the steps again with another USB drive pulled from her bag. She managed to get most of the hard drive copied – only leaving a few folders that were clearly administration only. She logged off the computer.
“Let’s go, there’s got to be something on these.” She replaced the chair underneath the desk. They opened the door, making sure the coast was clear before leaving. Jasmine crawled underneath the secretary’s desk and replaced the door key. They walked as quickly and as quietly as possible, back towards the stairwell.
Jasmine began the long walk. They may have taken the lift up to the sixth floor, but they would be walking all the way down. Caleb shone the torch on their path as they went. They continued down, back past each door, eight, then seven, then six, all the way down to the second level. As quiet as she was trying to be, the clicking of Jasmine’s high heels could still be heard on the concrete.
Suddenly, there was the sound of a door being opened. They stopped in their tracks. Caleb flicked the torch off. He stepped back against the wall, pulling Jasmine with him. There they stood – pasted to the wall and holding their breath. A light shone from above and scanned the opposite wall.
“Is anyone there?” a loud male voice echoed down the stairwell. The light continued to scan the area. Once it was finished with the far wall, it started on the left-hand side. “Hey, I know you’re there – identify yourself.”
Caleb nudged Jasmine, indicating they should slowly walk down the stairs, away from the light. With their backs still against the wall, they took a step down, then another. Jasmine was walking on tiptoes, trying not to let the heel of her shoe hit the ground and give them away. The light followed them and was getting brighter. They could hear the man’s footsteps.
“Hey, stop right there! Security!” The light beam hit them. They started running down the stairs, not caring about staying out of sight or being quiet anymore. Their aim now was to get outside and to the car. They started taking the stairs two at a time, trying to gain a lead.
Jasmine estimated the security guard had been at least three flights above them when they started running. She doubted whether he could make up that distance, but she wasn’t about to hang around and find out.
They reached the end of the stairwell and opened the door. They found themselves outside the building. It wasn’t too dark, high security lights flooded the place with yellow beams. They could see the car park in the distance and ran towards it. They heard the security guard open the door not long after they did. It banged loudly behind him.
They ran parallel to the building, past the dark windows. Caleb was convinced there were more security guards in there watching – coming to their colleague’s aid. They could hear heavy thuds behind them as the guard kept up the chase. Caleb thought his heart was going to pound straight out of his chest.
They kept running. Jasmine could see her car getting closer and closer. She thanked herself for having the foresight to not lock the doors. She was getting out of breath, not having had this much exercise since her high school days, when the PE teacher had made them do laps around the oval every week.
They were only a few metres from the car now; still they could hear the security guard’s heavy footsteps behind them. Jasmine stole a glance backwards; she was surprised to see that the guard was slowing down. She turned her head back to the car and her heart skipped a beat. Three security guards flanked the car. They weren’t running, just waiting.
Caleb pointed down the driveway and starting running for the gate. It was their only chance to get out. They were tiring fast, gasping for each breath. The guards caught on to their plan and gave chase. They were easily reached. Jasmine felt a strong arm wrap around her waist, the other collected her arms and held them against her chest. It took two men to stop Caleb. They grabbed his suit jacket from the back and yanked him backwards. Each man grabbed an arm and twisted them behind him.
“Let us go!” Jasmine screamed.
“You’re trespassing on private property. We’re not letting you go until we hand you over to the police.” The guards dragged them back up to the main building, entering through the foyer and into a large room – the guard’s station. They hadn’t noticed this room when they had cleared the metal detector.
They pushed Jasmine and Caleb onto two chairs. The fourth guard joined them, still panting for breath, and closed the door behind them.
One guard stood by the door, another sat down in the corner, leaving the other two standing in front of them. They all wore black uniforms, a security logo embroidered on the left breast pocket. The two standing before them were heavily built, muscles clearly bulged under their uniform. The blonde one was the first to speak.
“Who are you?”
“Check our IDs, we work here. I’m Kate, this is Tom.” He came close and lifted their lanyards to his face for a closer inspection. He pulled them off over their heads and gave them to his balding partner. He took them and walked over to a computer that was sitting in the corner. He typed in the names.
“Nope, these names don’t register.”
“They’re spelt incorrectly. It was a mix-up with human resources. They couldn’t read my writing.” Caleb spoke with a commanding voice. “It should be Tom Fisher and Kate Winter. We’ve been trying to get it fixed up for ages.”
The balding one squinted back at the computer. “Nope, unless you’ve both had major plastic surgery, you ain’t Tom Fisher and Kate Winter. They’re lying, boss.”
The blonde one scowled at them. “The bag, the girl had a bag.” He looked around the room and pointed to the floor where it was sitting. The guard that was stand
ing by the door handed over Jasmine’s handbag. He opened it and rifled through.
In preparation for this, Jasmine had left everything personal at home. All the bag contained were a few tissues, a screwdriver, disposable camera and a nail file. Caleb looked at her nervously. He was sure they would find the USB drives. If they were to find that, then there would be a lot more incriminating evidence than there currently was. Jasmine gave him a look back, trying to be reassuring.
She couldn’t risk losing the drives. As Caleb had been fiddling with the CEO’s door, she had slipped them inside her bra – one in each cup – hoping no one would dare look there.
The guard was getting frustrated; he tipped the entire contents of the bag onto the floor.
“Hey! Be careful with that!” Jasmine said angrily. She got a glare for her troubles. He walked up to her and leaned over until his face with directly in front of hers. He stared at her and scowled.
“What are you doing here? The truth now, I don’t have time for fairy tales.”
She returned his stare and did not avert her eyes. “It was a prank. We wanted to see whether we could break into Fort Knox here.”
The guard pulled back and tried Caleb. “Now you.”
“It’s just like she said – a prank. Worked pretty well too.” He smiled.
“I want your names, your real ones. It’s going to go so much better for you if you co-operate. Then I might not have to use my fists.” He made a fist with his hand and punched the air to prove his point.
“Caleb Marshall,” he blurted. The guard smiled and looked at Jasmine.
“Jasmine Parker,” she said reluctantly. She hadn’t thought Caleb would cave in so quickly. Master criminal he wasn’t.
The guard said nothing more, but if looks could kill, then they would have been reduced to a pile of ashes. He walked towards the small desk with the balding guard following. They spoke quietly to each other. Jasmine strained to hear, but couldn’t make out what they were saying. Every so often they would glance back at their prisoners, making sure they were behaving.
Ashes to Ashes Page 14
