2003-07-23 - 8:33 a.m.
I peered down the dark hallway. "I can't see it," I whispered to Scott.
"Hand me the goggles." Scott made a motion for me to talk more quietly, then passed over the night-vision goggles. I gazed down the hallway again.
The door we were looking for was there. Number 37-D. Unfortunately, there was a keypad next to the door. Who knew if it was a code, which Scott could easily break, or something more technical, like a retinal or fingerprint scan?
I mimed this information to Scott, who took a few steps back from our corner to radio to Sandy and Ryan on the roof.
"Don't answer." he said softly. "It's going to take us a bit longer than expected. Can you get Sandy to create a diversion in the lobby when our target walks in? His ETA is 7 minutes. We need her to hold him for at least 5 minutes. Click twice if you copy."
*Click; click* came the radio. Scott nodded at me, pulled out his Luger, and stepped out into the hallway.
Meanwhile, upstairs.....
"Well, we didn't bring the big bag for nothin" faintly whispered Ryan, "We seem to have a soft roadblock downstairs and we need a Ginger Rogers... at least 5 minutes."
"Figures," returned Sandy, "OK, I'll take the bag and meet you at the Hotspot after. If I get sidetracked, don't wait more than 10 minutes for me... I'll figure something out and see you back at Gino's-- probably early morning."
"Sounds good. And Sandy-- you have an ETA of 6 minutes. No pressure, ok?" Ryan continued with a sly grin.
"Riiiiiight," was the retort, followed by the fffffp of a quick shot of air through her slightly pinched lips.
"Shhh, shhh" urged Ryan as he made a downward waving motion, noticeably trying to hold back a surge of laughter. He turned away sharply to re-focus and Sandy darted off into the stairwell.
When she made it to the lobby 5 minutes later, she was dressed in an incredible form-fitting outfit that seemed specially made for her now-revealed statuesque form. She was looking the perfect complement of high-class civility and shark searching for prey. The bag of trick was left in the bottom of the stairwell. She would come back for that later, but for now-- where was Shaw?...
Sandy took a quick glance in the huge mirror in the lobby, tucked a stray piece of hair under her wig, and adjusted her opera-length gloves. Just as she turned her diamond-necklace-come-digital-video-surveillance-mechanism, Shaw entered the building. Sandy quickly busied herself with looking at a painting, knowing her looks alone would bring Shaw to her.
Moments later, he approached. "�� ����?" he asked. "������� �. � ������ ���," Sandy cooed. "I. don't. speak. Russian." hissed Ryan on her earpiece. "It's hard to HELP YOU when I don't know what you're SAYING." Sandy smiled demurely and touched Shaw's arm lightly. "�� ������ �� ������� ������ ��� ��������?" Shaw nodded dumbly and followed Sandy into the stairwell.
Ryan gave Sandy a mental high five as she turned to Shaw and put her satin-gloved hand over his mouth. "�������� �� ����. ���� ����." she whispered as the chloroform from her glove seeped into his nostrils and he slumped over on the stairwell. Sandy ripped off the gloves, revealing latex gloves underneath, grabbed her bag from under the stairs, and rescued Shaw's keycard from his breast pocket before running back to the roof.
"How are we on time?" she gasped as she arrived. "We're good," said Ryan. "Jamie and Scott are still working on the code on 37-D." "We don't have a lot of time!" she whispered. "Someone is going to realize Shaw is unconscious in the hallway if he's not upstairs soon. And who knows if he was wired?? It could be sooner!!" Ryan looked grim and clicked the radio in S-O-S code, 3 short, 3 long, 3 short.
Downstairs, Scott turned sharply from his task at the keypad and looked wide-eyed at the radio. Hearing the clicks, Jamie had reached for them radio to turn it off, and fumbled, dropping it on the marble floor, where the battery popped off the back and slid across the hall into another door.
Jamie and Scott stared at each other, holding their respective breaths, as....
"Ryan, I've got the keycard, we can access the door. Tell Scott to STOP,"
Sandy said breathlessly as she ran up the stairs to the roof.
"I think we've actually got more pressing concerns right now."
"What. . . ?" An out of breath Sandy now stood before Ryan as he listened to the white noise on the other end of his radio. . .
Jamie stood frozen as she watched a shadow move under the door of 37-F.
"Jamie! MOVE!" hissed Scott as he hurriedly pulled his code-breaking devices out of the wall and shoved them back in his pocket.
"37-F? Scott, wait! I think. . ."
"NOW!" Scott pulled Jamie onto the fire escape just as the door to 37-F opened. A large, dark man peered out of the door, and looked up and down the hallway. As he closed the door without noticing the stray battery, a glint of metal on his hip caught the moonlight. . .
Sandy's eyes widened as the radio white noise continued. "ok, let's go." She turned on her heel and headed back for the stairwell.
"Hang on, let's be reasonable for a second," Ryan began. "We can't blow this. I'm sure they're fine."
"You don't know that, though do you?" Sandy said darkly.
"Hey. A few more seconds and I'm sure we'll all be back online. Nice digs, by the way. . ."
"What's so dang funny?" Scott quizzed in an increasingly heavy whisper, following Jamie's snicker.
"Uhh...check out the window," came the reply.
"You have GOT to be kidding me..." Scott returned as he glanced directly behind him, "well, let's go. If the window is already cracked then we probably won't be tripping any connection."
"Wait," Jamie inserted, "You go. I'm going to stay here and see if we get any more curiosity from our neighbors. Besides I need to get that battery back and re-establish a connection with the others... unless you have an extra battery on you?"
"What is this-- Ocean's Eleven?" Scott snapped back, "Who carries extra batteries? That's why we check the equipment BEFORE we start. Fine... I'm going then. I'll try to hurry. See if you can find out how much time we have and tap the window when you have an answer. Tap three times if there's trouble."
And with that Scott stepped out onto the ledge beside the fire escape, which was just wide enough for the ball of his feet to provide support. A couple quick shuffles, and he slid the window wider, braced against the frame, and shimmied inside.
Back on the roof the faint sound of static continued. "Alright, it's been forever since we've heard anything. I don't care what you say, I'm going down there," Sandy said as she started to rise from her crouched position.
Ryan grabbed her arm and gave a piercing stare, squinting his eyes as if taking aim for the laser that would emit from his pupils and which already had Sandy frozen in her tracks. The motionless moment that followed seemed like it lasted an eternity, when the static suddenly ceased.
"Check, check-- come in. This is J. Are you reading me? Come in." came the squawk over the radio.
"Copy, this is Ryan. Status?" came the reply.
"Close call, but we're still a go. How much time do we have?" the box called back.
"Sandy bought a good bit of time. Probably twenty-five minutes, but we have to make a crash exit. The Target is out, and will sound alarm when he comes to," Ryan informed.
Just then Sandy grabbed the radio. "Gotta go" she breathed, and flipped it off, while at the same time making a hush gesture to Ryan with her index finger to her lips. "Someone is on the stairs."
The door swung open and the sound of two men chatting entered the roof area.
"Well I don't care what you say, I ain't gonna take that no more-- and that's that," gruffed one of the pair, "now hand over that lighter."
"Fine. That's your deal, but it ain't a BIG deal, is all. I'll leave it alone now," the other man said. His voice was not so scratchy as his friend, and not half as mean, either.
"Good," insisted the first man. He paused as the click of the lighter broke into the conversation. "Not a bad night out, though," he continued, "too bad we're pullin double duty. I could go for drink right about now."
"At least we get a break for a smoke. I was feeling cramped in that room," his partner voiced.
The unidentified duo had moved closer to the edge where Ryan and Sandy lay hidden behind a three foot metal roof vent. They could see the smoke drift over their hiding spot as they stared upward, pressed as tightly as possible against the frame of the vent...
As Scott shimmied back through the window and made his way down the hallway, Jamie wondered why Sandy and Ryan had so abruptly snapped off their radio in mid-conversation. It made her a little worried, and as she was on the fire escape already, she decided to go up and check out the roof.
About 6 flights up, she rolled her eyes and knelt down to her back pack. Her radio was still silent, and now who knows where Scott was? "This is WHY we don't split UP," Jamie scolded herself. "Why didn't I go with Scott?" A quick survey of the side of the building showed her that she only had 5 more stories to go.
She took a minute to enjoy the view of Geneva from the 43rd floor, and kept climbing.
Once she got to the top she froze. Two voices - NOT Sandy's and Ryan's. She listened harder. They spoke English. She hoped she hadn't made too much noise clambering up the metal fire esape. Pulling her black skull cap down and thanking her stars for the hundredth time that Sandy was always the one in wigs and corsets, she peered up over the side of the building and nearly gasped aloud.
The two men were smoking cigarettes not two feet from where Sandy and Ryan were lying like sardines next to a metal air vent. Sandy's eyes were as big as saucers. She tapped Ryan and pointed towards Jamie. He motioned for her to GET DOWN.
Jamie ducked back down on the fire escape, breathing hard and thinking furiously. She thought about sending Scott a text message on his phone, but what if it wasn't on vibrate? She didn't even know where he was.
After about 8 minutes of fervent thinking, she heard a door close from the roof, and as she looked up, Ryan's blue eyes were staring down at her.
"Close call," he said. "They've gone back inside."
"Who WERE they?" Jamie asked. "And what were they talking about???"
"More importantly right now; WHERE IS SCOTT?" Sandy demanded. "We have got to get out of this building."
"I don't know," Jamie stammered. "I left him."
"WHAT??!?" Sandy and Ryan said in unison.
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