by Erin Rickman
“I have the goods,” Atlas mumbled, tapping on his backpack strap.
“It’s a temperature gun, not cocaine, Atlas,” I snorted, noticing for the first time in a while that I could see my breath in the air.
“Both are risky,” he countered.
We walked in silence to the building, which was already open; it was too early for the desk to have a person operating it. We decided to drop our stuff at the office before playing with buttons. Once we had done such, we were in the elevator. The quiet hum of the music played in our ears, and the coffee was warm in our hands. It was glaringly obvious which buttons require a fob, as next to them there was an additional metallic circle. Atlas took out his phone, opening the notes section.
“Hit me with it, B.”
I reeled off the floors that required a fob; this was the lowest two levels minus three and minus two then a few of the higher levels from level twenty-nine to thirty-two with a random one of seventeen in the middle. Just as we had finished the list, the elevator dropped to floor three from our seventh floor. Atlas was quick to click the ground floor button, so we could descend after, avoiding suspicion. On level three, Alina walked in.
“Morning you two, you’re in early,” she noted.
“Yeah, Blaire is just coming with me while I have a cigarette break, we had a breakthrough a few weeks ago, so she’s giving me a second opinion on some paperwork.”
Atlas found it far too easy to lie; he was a smooth talker. I remained silent, knowing if I were to extend on it, I would blow our cover. Alina spoke about how Van Wick had informed her of such breakthrough and raved that he was lucky to have such a good team. We thanked her as the elevator arrived at the ground floor and binged, allowing us to step out.
Once we had cleared the elevator and got outside, Atlas sparked up a cigarette. I didn't realise he had the packet on him, but as he once said, he expected daily breakthroughs. I watched him as he took a drag, the end burning. I noticed the bruise on his cheek was gone, and again, his stubble was growing. I never found the act of smoking attractive, but anything he did had my hormones going wild. I reflected on how easy he found it to lie, which was a dangerous skill. Would he ever be able to lie to me that easy?
“B, what are you thinking about?” he quizzed, curious.
I shrugged and answered honestly. “How good you are at lying.”
He laughed. “Only when I need to be. I will never lie to you if that’s what you’re wondering.”
I waved him off, but it became apparent that he saw right through me; he went to speak again but didn’t, showing he didn’t want to push the matter. I was thankful for it, but it brought to my attention how well he knew me. Although we had only been in each other’s company for just over seven months, he could read me like a book. I understood that generally, most people could, I’m not closed off or complex to work out.
After a few minutes, Atlas finished his cigarette and announced that we should go back into the office. I agreed, taking the last sip of my coffee. On the walk up, Atlas made a point that took me off guard.
“We haven’t been on our first date yet.”
Although I had only been officially on the market for just over a week, it felt like a date was long overdue. I suppose the feelings had been developing for a prolonged period of time, despite my recent break-up.
“What do you say? I’ll take you out somewhere Saturday? Hopefully, we can celebrate finding our friends too. If that doesn’t call for a date, then I don’t know what will,” Atlas stated with confidence.
He had every reason to be confident; he was good at this sort of stuff and would spend numerous weekends with different women. It wasn’t a secret that I had romantic feelings for him; I had ended my relationship because of this, after all. So, there was no reason for me to turn him down.
“Sure,” I agreed, blushing. I felt uncomfortable, but in the right way, I would take any excuse to spend time with Atlas; though a date started to make things that little bit more official.
I turned to get a quick glance at him. I moved a curly brown lock out of my eyesight and tucked it behind my ear, allowing for a better view. He was smiling, biting on his lower lip. His actions made it evident that he too was out of his comfort zone, despite his glossy tone when he spoke. I supposed that, to him, dates were a means to an end for bedding women, but this time there was much more than a tango in the cotton streets on the line. A meaningful connection was something he had never prepared for or expected. Despite his fantastic personality, he was used to using his looks where a glance was all he needed to get what he wanted with a woman, which was never a romantic relationship. Now, he had to use his personality to get him somewhere. To me, this wasn’t an issue as I already knew him; he didn’t need to impress me, but when something is a new experience, anyone would be nervous—even Atlas.
✽✽✽
I entered the lab after my lunch break and noticed that Van Wick was concentrating on a sample in the centrifuge. I took this as my chance to crank up the thermostat. I changed the heat from eighteen degree celsius to thirty-two while walking past the device.
It took around an hour, but eventually, I started to feel the warmth and my internal body temperature rose. Maybe the heat I had chosen was a bit excessive, but it should get results. A couple of minutes later, I glanced up to Van Wick as he let out a groan.
“God, it’s hotter than the damn desert in here,” he bellowed. “Did you turn the thermostat up?”
I glanced at him, trying to act coy. “No, of course not.”
He walked over to the thermostat, looking at the temperature and sighing. “Damn thing must be broken again, I thought site management had fixed it.” He walked over to it, turning the heat down.
I started waving my hands in front of my face in a fanning motion. “It’s sweltering in here, I wouldn’t normally ask, but can I take my lab coat off?”
“You know the rules—”
“Do you want me to get heatstroke?”
He pondered for a moment. “I want to make this very clear, I don’t normally recommend it, but you’re right. Though, if you take your lab coat off, you must do some paperwork at the computer. It should only take half an hour for it to cool down. I shouldn't complete practical work alone, so, I will join you.”
At that, he walked over to one of the shelves, grabbed two stacks of paperwork and placed one at each computer. He shedded his lab coat and draped it over the back of the chair, eyeing me as he did so. As he then concentrated on loading the PC (comptures were not his strong point), I pulled out my phone to send a quick text to Atlas so he could make his move.
After a few minutes, Atlas came bursting through the lab like he had done on the day of his discovery. “Boss-man, quick, you’ve got to see what I found.”
At that Van Wick went to grab his lab coat and my eyes widened, quicker than I could react, Atlas grabbed his arm. “We don’t have time to get dressed, this is remarkable.”
Atlas dragged him, to which the older man grunted and sighed, he followed him out the room quickly. I waited for them both to fully exit the lab before reaching into Van Wick’s coat pocket and grabbing his lanyard, attached was the fob. I quickly threw on my lab coat and slid it into the pocket. With haste I ran towards the office, entering just as Atlas and Van Wick had made it to Atlas’ computer.
“What’s so remarkable?” Van Wick asked, looking at Atlas’ screen.
“So, you know I said the RNA would need additional bases to aid with synthesising proteins for the DNA?”
“Yes?” Van Wick responded with scepticism.
“Well, it does,” Atlas confirmed, acting proud at his underwhelming discovery.
Van Wick sighed. “Well, that was a given.”
“Yeah but now we know for sure,” Atlas defended.
At that Van Wick turned, walking past me to leave the room and head back to the lab. I quickly reached into my pocket, throwing the lanyard at Atlas so he could shove it in his bag.
&n
bsp; Kenji looked between us but decided to ignore the flying lanyard, his eyes resting on Atlas. “Given you’re so intelligent, I would have thought you would have come up with something a bit better.” Then he turned to his paperwork, not willing to listen to some witty reply by Atlas.
I laughed while Atlas feigned hurt. To avoid suspicion with Van Wick, I quickly left, knowing he would need my fob to get back in the lab.
I jogged towards the lab and found Van Wick around thirty seconds later. “Compared to his last discovery that was pretty anti-climatic,” I joked.
He grunted unamused. “That boy gets far too excited over ordeals that go without saying.”
When we reached the lab, I used my fob to let us in. I clocked the thermostat, reading that the room temperature had fallen to twenty-six. I had to ensure Van Wick didn’t put his lab coat on again today to avoid him noticing the missing lanyard. Van Wick had his back turned on his journey to the computer; I bumped the temperature up to thirty-two again.
“Any plans tonight?” I asked in an attempt to make conversation.
“Blaire, we have been working together for months now, you know I do not talk about my personal life.”
I muttered a quick ‘sorry’, but it went unacknowledged by the older man. Although he had made the occasional small talk centered around me, he never deeply cared for it. Instead, uncomfortable with the silence, I asked a different question, “How do you think this virus mutated an extra-base?”
He shrugged, his eyes not leaving the computer. “It is clearly due to a mutation, but exactly how that occurred is questionable. It was not a natural mutation.”
“Like chemical warfare?” I asked, which was not an unreasonable suggestion in my head.
He scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous. Probably more of a scientific accident.”
At that, the conversation drew to a close. I caught a glimpse of Van Wick through my peripheral vision. His countenance was red with a layer of light moisture. There was no way he was going to put his lab coat on again until five pm when we finished. We sat in tranquillity for a while, the sound of pens scribbling and mouses clicking as we caught up on overdue paperwork.
I looked at the time. “Another hour left of work.”
“Is it four already?” Van Wick asked, surprised. “I forgot, I have an important meeting. You can’t stay in the lab unsupervised yet, so go back to the office, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
At that, he grabbed his lab coat and left the lab. I just had to pray he didn’t require the fob and therefore notice it was missing. I planned to get into work early again tomorrow to plant the lanyard around the computer area, making it seem like he had absent-mindedly placed it. At that, I closed down everything necessary to leave the lab and grabbed my coat. I was already tired, and that was without spending a late night here searching for missing people.
Chapter Twelve
That Evening
Atlas sat at his desk, leant back on his chair, his feet on Kenji’s empty workstation. If Kenji saw such disrespect for his working area, he would probably throw Atlas across the room. In his hand, he held a wrap, filled with chicken. It was peri peri, and the smell made that evident. He was chewing loudly, scrolling through his phone while humming to himself.
I turned my nose up. “Are you quite alright there, chewing on your carcass?”
“Yes, what’s your issue with my delicious carcass?” he mumbled, glancing at me.
“Animals have feelings too, you know,” I mumbled petulantly.
He snorted. “Yeah, and so do I. That feeling is hungry,” he dragged out.
I rolled my eyes as he popped the last bit of his wrap in his mouth, and, as if to push his agenda, he sucked on each finger, then flicked out his hand and let out an obnoxious sigh of content. I ignored his attempt to rile me up, checking the time. It was now seven thirty pm, and the time to start exploring was drawing near.
“So,” I started the subject change, “where are we going to start with our investigation?”
“Top floor down? Not that it matters.”
I agreed. Atlas lent down and reached into his backpack; he pulled out the box that contained the thermal imaging gun. Within minutes, he had it on and was pointing it around the room.
“We should probably check it works through the walls, as we don’t want to risk getting caught for nothing,” I suggested.
Atlas agreed. He grabbed his phone and called me as he walked out the room. I started to move around; at every new position I stood in he responded that he could see my heat signature. Then, he returned to grab Van Wicks lanyard from his bag, and we went to the lab. We completed the same process to ensure if someone was held in a more dense and secure area, we could pick up the heat signature. Atlas informed me it was much more faint, but he could still see it.
“Right then,” he started as I walked out the lab door, “let’s find our friends.”
We headed to the elevator and got in. “Moment of truth,” he stated, pulling out the lanyard which he had placed in his back pocket.
He tapped the fob on the small metallic pad which was situated next to the button for floor thirty-two, then slowly pressed the button. I felt my heart rate speeding up, and the world moved in slow motion. It flashed red once, then twice and on the third went green. Bingo. Atlas slowly glanced at me, a small devilish smile creeping on his face. I couldn’t help but grin back.
The ascent to floor thirty-two felt longer than any journey I had ever made. My blood pumped so much my vision jolted, and the sound pulsed in my ears as if it was aloud. I tapped my foot as a way to calm my nerves and release the developing adrenaline.
If we found our friends and they were safe, this would open a never-ending battle against a company, and I’ve seen enough T.V to know we would have mysterious deaths in six months time. If we got caught, and they were the source of our friends’ disappearance, then we would end up in the same place, whether that be dead or alive. If we got caught and the facility was not at the core of the issue, we would then lose our jobs and our friends would still be missing. It was then it occurred, this was dangerous, and no outcome would be a real win.
Eventually, the elevator binged, and I took in a deep breath before stepping out. As I entered the floor, it was eerie and quiet. Atlas looked left and right before nodding to go left. I followed him, the echo of my feet seeming louder than they had ever done before in this building. It was odd to see such a busy building so empty. The whole situation made me feel uneasy, so, I had decided that if lights started to flicker then I would retreat, hard and fast.
Atlas held up the gun, creating a routine. Scan a room, sigh because it was empty, turn the other way and scan another room, sigh because it was empty, and walk forward to the next, repeating the process. After half an hour, we found ourselves back at the elevator. In this time, the lack of a heat signature both comforted me and bought terror. We were alone, meaning the chances of being caught was slowly becoming less likely. However, with each empty room came an increase in the realisation that our friends might not be here.
We arrived on floor thirty-one. Even though our last level was unsuccessful, the tension was still extremely high. Atlas continued with his process while I stood next to him, my eyes constantly scanning the floor we were on for signs of people.
“Blaire,” Atlas whispered harshly to get my attention.
I spun around, and he was staring at the gun monitor, which was pointed at a door. I looked at the screen; a deep red blob was glaring at us.
I glanced at Atlas, my heart in my throat. “Do you think...?”
He shrugged. “Only one way to find out.”
I watched as he lowered the temperature gun and stepped with a light footing towards the door. My heart was pounding as he reached for the handle.
Thud, thud, thud.
Atlas slowly opened the door, walking into the area and I followed suit. His hands fumbled along the wall until he hit the switch.
The room brightened, and I not
ed the objects in the area. Mops, disinfectant, blue roll, rags and further cleaning equipment. We had found a supply room. As my eyes scanned around, I saw a large metal object; I took the heat gun off of Atlas and pointed it.
“Well done, genius,” I said sarcastically, “you found the boiler room.”
Atlas snatched the gun off of me with a grunt. “C’mon, let’s go.”
I spun around, ready to exit, when a yelp of surprise left Atlas’ mouth. As he had turned in the disorganised and cramped room, he had lost his footing. In the process he stepped back, his foot going into the mop bucket with a loud crack of the plastic. He flung an arm out to grab a shelf, steading himself but causing a racket of clashing metal in the process. I was sure the noise would get us caught.
My head snapped around the door frame; my hand outstretched behind me to stop him walking forward. I waited, my eyes flicking between left and right to scan the corridor so violently that it almost made me feel sea-sick. After a few moments, a wave of relief washed over me; we had gotten away with it.
“Will you be careful,” I snapped. “Our necks could have been on the line.”
“Sorry.” He smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Can you not be yourself... for five minutes?” I harshly whispered, imitating Shrek speaking to Donkey.
“Shrek? Really, Blaire?” he mumbled, unamused.
“It won a BAFTA, Atlas.”
I stepped out into the corridor, and Atlas followed suit. I watched as he stepped aside so I could close the door. It creaked slightly and made a small thud. We continued the process of searching the rooms and hoped we would find something soon.
Hours later, we had worked through the top few floors and found ourselves on level seventeen. It was around eleven-thirty now, Atlas and I rounded a corner. He paused, throwing his arm out to stop me in our tracks.
“Do you hear that?” he whispered, rolling up his sleeves.
I listened intently, the sound of shoes echoing on the empty floor, slowly getting louder and louder. We were going to get caught. At that, my eyes widened, and I looked to Atlas, his expression mirroring mine. Panic.
