Frank nodded and reluctantly took the device.
“What do I do? I mean, how will I know you’ve gotten in?”
Patton held up his cell phone.
“I’ll text you. Trust me, Frank. I’ve done this stuff for years.”
Patton exited the truck and quickly disappeared into the night. It was a three-minute walk to the city building from where they’d parked, but it took Patton ten minutes. He was in enemy territory now. He couldn’t take any chances. Patton finally reached the building and searched around for his entry point. Most of the building was complete but there was still a lot of finishing work to be done. On the south side of the building there was a large air conditioning unit that wasn’t yet in operation. The workers had merely set the AC unit in front of where it would hook up to the building’s high tech ventilation system.
Patton looked around one last time and then pulled the AC unit away from the opening. He had to hunch as he walked, but he quickly made it to the end of the large duct. In front of him was a large, metal intake grate, which he simply kicked open. The room he found himself in was mostly dark. Patton had no idea if the building had a round-the-clock security detail—there were probably two or three guards at the most. He would deal with that problem if it cropped up, but first things first—he had to find the surveillance equipment.
Patton made his way to the main floor with no incident. If he was going to be surprised by security, this was the place. He crouched and quickly moved through the doorway that led into the lobby. It was a big, open space, open all the way to the top of the building. In the front of the lobby was an elevated desk where visitors got information and signed in. Sparse furnishings were spaced throughout the rest of the space.
Patton made his way to his left. Above him was a short set of stairs that led up to some offices. This was the area from where the security guard had approached him the day before. As Patton approached the stairs, he heard radio static. He quickly ducked behind the large desk and waited for the security guard to approach. To Patton’s relief, the guard walked quickly through the lobby and down the stairs he’d just ascended. Patton charged up the steps and ducked into the first enclosed room he could find. He peered out again slowly. Straight ahead of him was a long hallway with several doors on both sides.
Patton bolted down the hallway when he saw the way was clear. He reached a door that was secured with an electronic keypad. A placard told him it was the security office. He investigated the keypad and found it to be a relatively cheap model. He figured there was no alarm attached to it so he smashed the digital monitor with a small hammer and pried the face off.
Patton heard footsteps and breathing behind him. He heard the static crackle of a portable two-way radio. He turned but saw no one, but figured someone was on their way towards the security office. Patton kicked the keypad debris out of sight and dove to his left into a small alcove. He crouched and waited.
The sound of footsteps got closer, and eventually, the guard who’d earlier walked by Patton was standing in front of him. The guard went to type in the code, but paused when he saw there were no buttons. Without warning, Patton exploded out of his crouch and struck the security guard’s jaw with a palm punch. The big man dropped like a wet towel and Patton’s momentum carried him up and almost over the now unconscious man. Patton pulled himself up and returned to his work at the control panel.
With a jerk he pried it open with his tool, revealing a small green motherboard. He pried at the board and pulled a series of wires off of its back. Patton stripped the wires with his teeth. He removed an electronic device, about the size of a cell phone, out of his cargo pocket. He hooked the device to the bare wires with the device’s gator clamps. The screen lit up and it beeped. Patton entered a code and he heard the door click. Patton and one of his Delta Force comrades designed the device because unit members were often slowed down by these types of locks. Rather than fiddling with random-number generators, which could take minutes to find the right codes, they used an electric surge, which burned out the wires and rendered the locks useless.
Before entering the office, Patton pulled two sets of flex cuffs from his pack. With the smaller set he bound the security guard’s wrists. With the larger set, he bound the guard’s feet. He then pulled out a rectangular object. It was like duct tape, but was much stronger. He pulled off the plastic backing and covered the guard’s mouth. Patton then retrieved the guard’s radio and entered the security office.
Frank was nervous. It had been almost an hour since Patton left. There was no sign of him, no text—nothing on the iPad. Two police cars had trolled by, causing Frank to hunch down in his seat. The big man sighed. Since returning from California, he had made it a point to be around other people as much as possible. It was moments of solitude like this that forced him to think of her. Think of her cold body rotting in the ground… he shook himself out of that thought. It was just too sad and disturbing.
Frank’s parents had been good, God-fearing people who took their kids to church every Sunday. His father served as a deacon in their Baptist congregation for a time. His mother and older sisters had sung in the choir. But church and thoughts of God had never grown on Frank. Once he left for college, he left his parents’ religion behind. Shontae had tried to get him to go a few times, and he’d reluctantly gone a few times early on in their marriage, but as he began to climb the company ladder, he worked on Sundays, partly because he wanted an excuse not to go to church.
Now that she was gone, though, he couldn’t help but generate a faith that maybe there was something out there. He didn’t want to imagine his wife lying there in that cold and dark grave.
His phone buzzed. It was a text from Patton.
“Turn on iPad. Unlock code 5549. Open ‘Cyberlink’ program.”
Frank activated the iPad and found the app. The program window opened with the obligatory “Loading” bar. When the program finished loading, the screen broke into eight panels, each showing images from one of the many surveillance cameras on the premises.
He hit reply on the text and typed, “It’s running. How’d you do that?”
After a moment the reply “Don’t worry about that and watch my ass. ;)” came. Frank smiled and set down the phone.
“Bastard,” he thought out loud, shaking his head. He picked up the iPad and scanned all eight panels. For now, Patton was home free.
Luckily for Patton, the man he’d knocked unconscious was tasked to man the surveillance room. Patton half expected some flunky rent-a-cop to be sitting in here asleep, his feet up on the desk. Instead, he found the room empty. He sat at the desk He activated the computer and scanned files. Under the “Archive” file folder, he found an icon with the date of his wife’s appearance under it. He double-clicked it and waited for it to open. Luckily for him, the system was digital and it stored files hour by hour. He clicked through the cameras and found the one he thought was closest to Jennifer’s office and clicked “Play.”
He watched then fast-forwarded frame by frame. After a few moments he saw a glimpse of her and his heart seemed to skip a beat. In one frame she was looking up, not right at the camera, but to where he could clearly see her face. Tears stung at his eyes and his breaths began to get shallower. He wiped at his eyes and tried to regain his focus. Skimming through the hour logs, he clicked on 3 P.M. and clicked “Play”. Forwarding through it again, he saw her walk in and out of her office a few times. Not satisfied that this was the correct file, he clicked on the 4 P.M. time file. Just past halfway through the video, he saw her walk into her office and then walk back out with her attaché case and her purse. It hadn’t been time for her to sign out and go home so he was confused that she was carrying all of her things.