This was a serious breach. They had to find out who had done this and why.
“Which boxes were taken?” the DOP asked.
“J923 and T121.”
The DOP brought up the vault database and typed both numbers in. J923 contained the list of all the other depots, and T121 a list of all the primary members of the Project. Both were disturbing, the second considerably more than the first.
“Go over every square inch of that facility,” he ordered. “There has got to be some clue as to who these people are.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And make it quick. I don’t want this becoming a problem.”
For several seconds, the DOP stared out the windowed wall into the Cradle.
It’s them, he thought. The ones who had been an annoyance to the Project for years.
Somehow they had found out about the vaults and the information they contained. He knew they’d been in one of the facilities before-NB7 in eastern Oregon. But every piece of security footage from that night had been reviewed, and neither Captain Ash nor the woman who’d been with him when he rescued his kids had gone anywhere near NB7’s vault.
He picked up the phone again and called Ross. His first instructions were to assign extra protection to people on the list from box T121, and to put the depot security teams on high alert. Then he said, “Operation Pest Control is a go.”
There was a pause, then, “Yes, sir. But…”
“But what, Major?”
“These added measures are going to stretch us pretty thin. If you want Operation Pest Control to happen right away also, we’ll need to sacrifice in other areas.”
The DOP closed his eyes and stifled a groan of frustration. “As soon as feasible, then,” he ordered, and slammed the phone down.
Perez had been in error. Boxes J923 and T121 were not the only two that had been removed. In fact, the two boxes were of no importance at all to Olivia.
“These are the two we want to break into,” Olivia had instructed, indicating boxes J923 and T121. They would be the smokescreen, specifically chosen to throw her former employers off and force them to allot manpower away from what she was focused on. She then pointed at a box near the bottom: G306. “This one we use the master key on.”
Once they had the door to G306 open, Olivia removed the single sheet of paper from inside, slid the box back in place, and shut the door. She carefully folded the paper and put it in her pocket. No one would ever suspect the box had even been opened.
This was the only reason they had come to NB328.
19
I.D. MINUS 88 HOURS
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI
“There’s nothing here,” Blanton said.
Corey looked at his friend. “What do you mean, nothing?”
They were sitting in a booth at Old Tom’s Pub just off campus, Blanton’s laptop on the table. On the screen was the home page for Hidde-Kel Holdings.
“It’s just a bunch of corporate BS that doesn’t lead anywhere. It’s not tied to their company computer system at all. It’s just sitting on its own server all by itself.”
“All by itself?”
Blanton nodded. “Nothing else on that server at all. I’ve triple-checked.”
Corey wasn’t the computer expert that Blanton was, but like most kids his age, he had a basic understanding of how it all worked. “You can’t get into their internal systems from there?”
Blanton looked around. “Hey, hold it down. I’d rather not have a lot of people know about this, okay?”
“Sorry.” It was early evening, and the place was starting to fill up. “So you can’t get through?”
“Uh-uh. As far as I can tell, there’s no tie between them.”
“Dammit. I was really hoping you could get in that way.”
“Well, I can’t.” Blanton paused. “Not this way.”
Corey cocked his head. “There’s another?”
A smirk grew on his friend’s face. “This is like a challenge, you know?”
“Blanton, just tell me. Is there another way you can get me more information about them?”
“Of course there is.” Blanton began typing. “I was able to locate some of their business filings that had addresses on their main facilities. I should say, facility. Seems they only have one address.”
“You mean the one in Portland? That’s just a mail drop.”
“I don’t mean the one in Portland. I mean the one in Chicago.”
“Chicago? What address in Chicago? I didn’t find anything.”
“That’s because you’re not me.” Blanton hit one more key. A map of Chicago appeared on the screen with a red dot glowing northwest of downtown, right next to O’Hare Airport.
“That’s it?”
Instead of answering, Blanton zoomed in. The dot turned out to be in an industrial area tucked in the southeast corner between I-90 and I-294. The building itself was probably about ten thousand square feet, and, at least when the satellite photo was taken, had a nearly empty parking lot.
“The whole building is theirs?”
“Yep.”
“And you were able to get into their computer system?”
“Well, see, that’s the challenge. I know they have something inside. I could figure out that much. Couldn’t hack in, though. The only way to do that is if I got in close and tapped into their local signal.”
“You mean actually go up there.”
“Well, yeah.”
Blanton sounded like it had been more of an intellectual exercise than anything else, but the idea appealed to Corey. Chicago was only about five hours away by car. They could be there around midnight.
“We’ll take my car.”
Blanton had raised his glass of beer to his mouth. “Uh, excuse me?”
“Better if I drive. I’ve only had a sip. That’s your second.”
“Drive where?”
“Chicago.”
“I’m not going to Chicago.”
“Come on, Blanton. Didn’t you say this was a challenge? Don’t you want to follow that through?”
“Dude, I have class tomorrow.”
“Uh, no, you don’t. Tomorrow’s Sunday.”
“Okay, not really a class, but a study group.”
“Since when do you join study groups?”
“What?” Blanton said. “I can join a study group if I want.”
Corey suddenly realized the truth. “What’s her name?”
“Whose name?”
“The girl in your study group.”
Blanton blushed but shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Never mind. What time does it start?”
“Three.”
“In the afternoon?”
“Well, yeah. It’s not in the morning.”
“We’ll be back in plenty of time.”
“I’m not going to Chicago.”
“Who’s going to Chicago?” Jeannie asked as she walked up.
Corey scooted over so she could join them. “Blanton and I.”
“Oh, no. I’m not going.”
Jeannie looked at her boyfriend. “When?”
“As soon as I can get no-boy here out the door.”
“You’re going to Chicago tonight? Why do you want to do that?”
Corey explained about the building Blanton had found.
“Maybe you should pick another company to do the paper on,” Blanton suggested.
That was the simple solution, but Corey was way too curious about Hidde-Kel now to give up that easily. “Fine. I’ll go by myself. You don’t need to come.”
“I’ll go with you,” Jeannie offered.
Corey smiled and squeezed her hand. He then looked at Blanton. “Not up for the challenge, huh?”
His friend groaned. “I don’t want to miss my group tomorrow.”
“I already said we’d be back in time.”
“All right, all right. I’ll go. But we’re stopping at White Castle and you’re
buying.”
With the stop for food and another two for bathroom breaks, they didn’t reach Chicago until closer to one a.m. It took them another twenty minutes to get out to O’Hare Airport.
From there it was still a little tricky getting over to the area where the building was, but after a couple of wrong turns, Corey finally pulled his old Civic onto the right road. Driving slowly, both he and Jeannie read off building addresses.
“That’s got to be it over there,” she said, pointing ahead and to the left at a long, two-story brick structure.
The only sign on the building was an address number, the same that belonged to Hidde-Kel, according to what Blanton had found out. The parking lot beside it was sealed off by an eight-foot-high, chain-link fence with barbed wire strung across the top.
“Kind of fortress-like, don’t you think?” she said.
Corey drove about half a block past, then pulled to the side of the road and looked back. There was something unusual about the place, but it hadn’t been the barbed wire. He turned off the engine.
“You coming?” he asked as he opened his door.
“Hell, yeah,” she said. “What about Blanton?”
He nodded in the back at his unmoving friend. “We’ll let him sleep for now.”
As they walked down the street, it felt like there wasn’t anyone else around for miles. As they neared the building, they jogged across the street. Corey led Jeannie across a short expanse of brown grass to a row of leafless hedges in front of the windows.
There was no light on inside, which was odd, because in Corey’s albeit-limited experience, most businesses left some kind of light on inside. Not Hidde-Kel, apparently.
He looked around and found a wide spot between two of the bushes. He thought if he was careful, he could squeeze between them. He gave it a try and made it cleanly. Jeannie wasn’t quite as lucky.
“Ow!”
“You all right?” he asked.
She was clutching her neck just below her ear.
“Let me see.”
She moved her hand. There was a one-inch scratch where a branch had whipped up and caught her.
He moved around and kissed her on the lips. “That’ll make it feel better.”
“You think so?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.
He kissed her again, longer this time. “Better?”
“Yeah. I’ll live.”
With a playful grin, he turned and leaned against the window, cupping his hands around his eyes. What he was looking at was obviously intended to be a lobby. But Hidde-Kel’s lobby was devoid of any sign of use. There were no chairs, no magazines, no plants, no company name on the wall. Nothing. It almost looked as if the room had never been used.
Hearing footsteps on the street, Corey looked over. Blanton. He was walking down the road, munching on one of the White Castle burgers he hadn’t finished earlier.
“Over here,” Corey called out.
Blanton jerked to a stop, then headed over once he realized who it was. “Why the hell did you leave me there like that?”
“You were asleep.”
“You could have woken me up. I was starting to think maybe this whole trip was some kind of practical joke.”
“It just might be,” Corey said. “This is Hidde-Kel. But it looks empty.”
“Empty?”
Blanton pushed his way through the bushes, his backpack getting caught for a second before he finally reached them. He peeked through the window.
“That’s weird.”
“How old was the information you found?” Corey asked.
“Six months or so.”
“They could have moved out,” Jeannie said.
“I guess so, but what I found made it seem like they were going to be around for a while.”
Corey frowned. “Did any of the info mention what the building was supposed to be for?”
“Corporate offices.”
Jeannie glanced up and down the street. “Doesn’t quite seem like the setting for a corporate office, does it?”
Blanton pulled his backpack off his shoulders. “Maybe they just don’t use the front.” From inside the bag, he pulled out his laptop and flipped it open. Crouching down, he set it on his knees and began typing. After a few seconds, he looked back up. “The only Wi-Fi signals I’m getting are too weak to be coming from here.”
This was totally not what Corey had expected. He’d set out to write a paper on a growing agriculture-related firm, and now he had what amounted to a mystery on his hands. There had to be some simple explanation, something that would probably make him feel like an idiot when he found out.
“I wonder if it’s possible to get inside,” he said.
Jeannie shrugged. “One way to find out.”
She moved past the windows to the concrete pathway and up to the steel front door. She gave it a yank.
“It’s locked.”
Corey headed past her to the side of the building where he’d seen a gate, but it was secured by a thick chain and padlock. The property next door also had a chain-link fence around its lot, but it was shorter, with no barbed wire on top. Even better, the gate meant to close it off was open.
With the other two trailing behind him, Corey walked into the lot and moved along the fence that separated the two properties. About three-quarters of the way back, he stopped, figuring they were far enough away from the street not to draw any attention if someone just happened to be driving by.
He waited for his two friends to catch up, then said, “You guys stay here. I’m hopping over.”
“You’re going alone?” Jeannie asked.
“Better if only one of us gets caught trespassing than all three.”
She stared at him. “Uh, excuse me. We’re all trespassing right now.”
He should have known better than to even suggest the solo trip. In the end, it was decided they’d all go.
One by one, they climbed over the fence and ran over to the Hidde-Kel building. There were no windows along the side, and only four doors. They tried each, and weren’t surprised to find they were all locked.
Along the back of the building was a large loading dock. Here there was a single, very wide opening at least a story and a half high that was currently closed off by a rolling metal door. Beside it was another normal-sized door. As with the others, both were locked.
The far side of the building was identical to the first they’d checked-four doors, none open. Corey hadn’t expected this to be easy, but he had been hoping.
“I guess that’s that,” Blanton said.
Corey ignored him and headed once more for the back of the building. He had seen one possibility. It was a bit more involved than what he would have liked, but he really wanted to see inside to make sure Hidde-Kel was gone.
The outer part of the loading dock had a six-foot wall on either side, but no roof. As the walls neared the actual building, they stairstepped upward in two-foot increments until they reached the roof.
“Give me a boost,” he said to Blanton.
Both Blanton and Jeannie looked at him.
Jeannie was the first to realize what he meant to do. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“I just want to see if there’s any way to look in.”
She grimaced, but said nothing else.
Blanton created a cradle with his hands, and gave Corey the boost. Once on top, Corey stayed in a crouch to maintain his balance as he worked his way along the brick, then up and up and up until he reached the roof.
“What do you see?” Jeannie called out.
Corey scanned the roof. “Several air ducts, some machinery…maybe air conditioners or heaters?” He continued to look, then smiled. “Hey, I think there’s an access door up here.”
“Corey, be careful!”
“Don’t worry.”
It wasn’t really an access door as much as it was an access hatch. When he pulled up on it, it moved a few inches, but then stopped. It felt more rusty than latched
from the inside, so he tried again. It groaned as it opened an additional half-inch. His third try opened more, then on the fourth, there was a pop. The hatch flew open, and Corey rolled back onto his ass.
“Everything all right?” Jeannie called out, her voice distant.
“Fine!” he yelled back.
He knelt beside the opening. There was a ladder that went down four feet to a metal catwalk, but beyond that, all was dark.
He sat back. Up to this point, he’d technically been involved in only a little exterior trespassing. Okay, and some breaking in. What he hadn’t done was actually enter anything. The moment he put any part of his body through that hole, that would all change.
While his head was saying, “Get the hell out of here,” his gut was telling him, “Just check it out.”
He decided to listen to his gut.
He lowered himself through the hole and climbed down the ladder. Testing the catwalk first, he moved onto it. Now that he was inside, he could see all the way to the nearest wall. There appeared to be another ladder there going down to ground level so that’s where he headed. Less than a minute later, he was standing on the floor.
There was an eerie silence to the place, a sense of desertion reinforced by the stale air. If Corey had to guess, he’d have said no one had been there for at least several days. Devoid of people, yes, but not empty. Even with limited visibility, he could make out several large objects looming in the darkness.
Staying near the wall, he made his way toward the back. When he was about fifty feet from the end of the building, there were no more objects filling the space and the area beside him appeared to be empty. He reached the back wall, then felt his way along the inside of the metal roll door, to the small man-sized entrance at the other end. By touch, he unbolted two deadbolts, and pulled the door open.
Jeannie and Blanton turned in surprise from the other end of the dock near the wall he’d gone up.
“You made it,” Jeannie said, relieved.
Corey gave her a smile, and looked at Blanton. “You wouldn’t have a flashlight in that bag, would you?”
Blanton shook his head. “No, but my laptop screen works pretty well.”
They used the illumination from Blanton’s computer to locate several light switches near the door. One by one they began flipping them on, and soon there was enough light for them to see.
Exit 9 pe-2 Page 14
