‘Leave that to me’, said Lomax. ‘I want to know if we get access to the computer room can you find the information we’re looking for?’
DD looked doubtful.
‘What do you need?’ asked Lomax patiently.
DD thought. ‘I would just need time. I’ve got all the gear I need here’ he said, glancing around the untidy room. ‘I just need time.’
‘OK DD, how much time?’ said Lomax through gritted teeth.
‘An hour should do it. But if we are breaking in, will we have all that time?’
‘Leave that to me’ said Lomax finally. ‘Your job is to disable their alarm system, or at least find out what we need to do in order to disable it.’
DD looked reluctant.
Lomax understood the young man’s fear. ‘You’ve been caught once, but I will be there with you all the way. But you must stick with me — understand?’
‘Don’t worry’ replied DD fervently. ‘I won’t let you out of my sight.’
‘Good’ said Lomax. ‘Just let me know when you’ve fixed the alarm. I’m going to turn in and get some sleep. You need some too before we go. We’ll set off around midnight.’
Lomax crouched down at the building adjacent to the Advanced Marine Agency headquarters. DD squatted beside him and watched as Lomax drew out a dark felt cloth and unrolled in on the ground. He and DD were wearing overshoes, dark boiler suits and surgical gloves.
‘We’re going to enter this building, get to the top and cross over to AMA’s building next door,’ whispered Lomax.
DD looked up into the night sky at the gap between the two buildings. ‘Bloody hell’ he gulped.
‘Quiet!’ admonished Lomax as he selected a small battery powered drill and fitted a bit. The bit went cleanly through the plastic surround of the window, hardly making a noise. Next Lomax threaded a long thin steel rod which was bent at ninety degrees about two centimetres from the end. He manipulated the rod until he felt it connect with the interior hook of the window mechanism. Levering the rod, he moved the locking mechanism to its open position.
Lomax carefully stowed away the tools, making sure that each was in its own felt compartment to reduce the risk of noise. Applying a blob of white plastic filler to the hole, he checked DD was ready. Carefully he pushed the window open. He stood up and with help from DD, climbed through the window. Once he was in the room he waited until his eyes had adjusted to the gloom before signalling to DD to crawl through. When they were both inside Lomax pulled the handle to lock the window.
Lomax used the flashlight to look around the small meeting room, signalling DD to be still. He moved to the door and opened it a short way to check outside. They headed through the darkened corridor towards the lift.
Stepping out of the lift on the top floor, Lomax hunted around for the door to the roof. DD found it first. It was locked and DD stepped aside to allow Lomax access. Lomax took out his lock pick tools from his rucksack and opened the door in two minutes. They made their way up a narrow flight of stairs, through another door and onto the flat roof.
DD looked over the parapet some fourteen floors below and started to feel dizzy. The distance to the building opposite, the object of their night’s activities, was less than twenty feet away. AMA’s roof was slightly lower than theirs. DD walked away from the edge and watched as Lomax brought out a thin rope which he attached to a lightweight triangular hook. Lomax coiled the rope at his feet before swinging it in an arc. DD was impressed that it took Lomax just one throw to find the rampart on the other building. As Lomax hauled back on the rope, DD could hear the hook snag tight on the ironwork set into the balustrade. Lomax secured the rope at his end and tied it off. Then without hesitation, he crawled over the parapet and prepared to inch his way over. DD watched with fascination as Lomax looped both legs around the rope and made his way across, hand over hand. The rope sagged alarmingly as Lomax reached the centre and DD realised he would have to follow him. DD looked away quickly as he felt another uncomfortable twinge of vertigo.
Soon Lomax had reached the other side and beckoned for DD to follow. He drew a deep breath, climbed over the wall and grabbed hold of the rope. Trying not to look down, he gently lowered himself onto it. Once he was in the correct prone position, he found that moving along the rope was relatively easy — memories of the course in Norfolk helped and he was surprised to find his fear receding. Lomax grabbed his hand as soon as he was near.
Before they set off again DD watched Lomax undo the locking mechanism and tug the rope sharply. The knot magically released itself from the far building. Lomax wound the rope into another neat coil before stowing it back in his rucksack.
They approached the roof door and Lomax opened it cautiously. DD had previously turned off the alarm for the building and was feeling confident. But even so he realised there might be other internal alarms he missed.
Lomax opened the door and waited to hear if any had been triggered. After two minutes they descended a similar narrow flight of stairs which emerged on the top floor, not far from the lift. This time they took the stairs to avoid alerting the night watchman.
They left the stairs on the ground floor and began to look for the computer room. After searching several identical corridors, DD asked Lomax to stop and give him a leg up. DD lifted one of the ceiling tiles and saw a bundle of data cables following the line of the corridor. From that point on it was an easy to trace the cables at the various corridor junctions. They led through to a room at the back of the building. A stout wooden door with its own separate alarm system was set into the wall next to it. The lock was a push button combination. DD was interested to see how Lomax would deal with this type of lock. Though he was used to hacking the most sophisticated computer defences, to his shame he knew next to nothing about door locks — electronic or otherwise.
Lomax reached into his rucksack and brought out a pen-like device attached by a cable to a three inch LCD screen. Lomax smeared a clear gel around the lock, switched on the screen, and dragged the pen through the gel. Immediately the screen showed the interior of the lock as a green maze. DD was impressed again with how prepared the man was. After a few scans of the lock, Lomax pressed four numbered keys on the face in a precise order. The lock clicked and Lomax turned the handle. He wiped the clear gel with a tissue before easing the door forward a fraction. Carefully he inspected the door jamb with his flashlight. But Lomax failed to spot a dull metal strip near the floor. As the door opened the circuit closed on a silent alarm.
Lomax opened the door wider and literally shoved DD inside. ‘Go, go, go DD! You’ve got forty minutes to get the info we need!’
The men had left no lookouts, another sign of sloppiness. Before he came out of the woods and into the clearing, Sean laid on the ground and began a rapid but quiet approach on his belly. Reaching the cabin wall he rose to peek through a gap under the curtains.
At first it was difficult to make out anything as one of the men had his back to the window blocking the view. Eventually he moved to reveal two other men. One stood in front of her and the one behind held her arms. They had not yet harmed her, but he could tell by the threatening way they stood that violence was imminent. The man in front was waving the red end of his cigarette under her chin and around her face, occasionally jabbing the air to emphasise a point.
Sean listened carefully, but couldn’t hear a single word of the conversation. Natasha looked distraught and tried to move back. The man with the cigarette advanced threateningly.
Sean tested the door handle. It was unlocked.
He entered the cabin like a whirlwind. On his way past the first man he aimed a savage elbow jab to the windpipe. The second man did not have time to react as Sean unleashed a crunching kick to the groin. As he was about to deliver a second punch to the head, he felt a crushing blow across his shoulders that sent him sprawling across the room. Before he could get up the cigarette man was landing hard kicks, aiming for his head. The blows landed with stunning force. Sean saw the man’s bulk fill his vision.