“Ok, I have been thinking over this part since yesterday. Isn’t it a bit… complicated? Why don’t we just pull the fire alarm?” Liz asked as we hurried down the hallway, back towards the conference room. “Wouldn’t that be the easiest way to get us all out?”
“Probably,” I agreed. “But my concern is that their evacuation protocols probably mean someone will check that all the rooms are empty, and they might notice that Dr. Hoffman is missing, or even find her tied up before we all have a chance to get away. Too risky. Better to delay that particular discovery as long as possible. Also, we don’t really want emergency services showing up right now.”
“That makes sense, I suppose,” I could hear the hesitation in her voice.
“Look, this is probably the last chance we will have to talk somewhat openly. So, let me say this while I can: there is still time for you to leave.”
“We talked about this. For hours,” she said it with a calm finality. “It won’t work that way, and you know it. We proceed with the plan.”
I opened my mouth to protest but thought better of it. It would be a waste of breath; she had already decided.
“You made the preparations, then?”
“Of course,” she nodded. “Just like we discussed.”
“Alright, then. Here we go.”
We reached the door to the conference room and slipped quietly inside. The room was still dimly lit, and it looked like Tom was about half-way through his presentation. Well, we had made it long on purpose, in case we had needed to buy more time. People were politely pretending to pay attention, but mostly they were focused on the food. Good. It meant they likely wouldn’t mind if things ended early. Hell, they would probably thank me. I caught Tom’s eye and signalled for him to wrap things up. Briefly distracted, he stumbled over his words, but recovered and finished going over the current slide, then he smiled and gestured for someone to bring up the lights.
“And that concludes my presentation for today. Thank you all so much for your time. Please help yourself to a snack, and we will be around with demonstration wares and to answer any questions you might have.”
People applauded politely as Tom closed his slideshow and stepped away from the podium. He moved though the crowd with a carefully casual stride. He had nearly reached us at the back when Duncan Armstrong intercepted him.
“A fine pitch, Fitzgibbon,” he clapped Tom on the shoulder. “There are a few items that I am very interested in. Your prices seem to be significantly better than your competitors. How do you manage that?”
“Oh, well, we have some exclusive supplier deals. You know how it is,” he glanced back at me, helplessly.
“Of course, of course,” Dr. Armstrong chuckled. “Well, you and I should discuss bulk orders in…”
“Oh Mr. Fitzgibbon, I am so sorry,” I burst into the conversation, voice quavering slightly as I spoke.
“Ms. Higgins, what’s wrong?” Tom turned, as if surprised.
“Oh, you are going to fire me for this, I just know it,” a single tear ran down my cheek. “But it isn’t my fault, I swear!”
“Please calm down and tell me what happened.”
“We went back to the car to get some of the promotional items,” Liz jumped in. “And… well, it’s gone.”
“Gone? What do you mean, gone?” Tom raised his voice very slightly, the edge sharpening.
“We think someone must have stolen it from the street. I am sorry,” Liz dropped her eyes to the ground.
“There were thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise in there!” Tom shouted, drawing the attention of the room, before taking a deep breath and lowering his tone. “This is ridiculous. We haven’t even been parked there that long. How could someone have stolen it so quickly? I thought I told you to lock the doors?”
“I did. I know I did,” I sobbed.
“Look, maybe this isn’t as bad as you are thinking, boss,” Luke approached from behind Tom, putting a hand on his shoulder. “It is probably just some sort of misunderstanding. Maybe they just forgot where we parked. Remember last month, in San Diego?”
Tom smacked his forehead,
“Of course,” he turned to me with a glare. “If you have disrupted this presentation for nothing, then I will see to it that this is the last time you are allowed out in the field. Understand me?”
I wiped my eyes,
“I can show you.”
“You’d better,” he turned back to Armstrong, his face apologetic. “I am sorry you had to see that little family squabble. It is so hard to get good help these days, as I am sure you are well aware. I just need to go make sure this is taken care of. But please help yourself to some food, it will only take a few minutes and then I will be back to discuss our products, if that is alright?”
“Of course, of course,” Armstrong smiled, slightly awkwardly. “The crime in this city is just absurd, lately, so I completely understand your concerns. I will be right here when you get back. I hope your vehicle is where you left it.”
“It had better be,” Tom glowered at me.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
The four of us turned to find Tanya hovering by the door.
“Is something the matter?” she asked, meeting Liz’s eye meaningfully.
“Nothing serious,” Liz feigned a laugh. “We are just having a bit of trouble finding our car. I am sure it is nothing. You can escort us out of the building to check, can’t you?”
Liz put her hand on Tanya’s shoulder, turning her away from the rest of the group, towards the door. As she did, I watched her quickly slip the key card back into the receptionist’s hand.
“I… um, of course,” Tanya stammered. “Please follow me.”
We trailed behind her, back to the elevator. There was tense silence as we waited and finally, Tom turned to me,
“You know that we will be having a serious conversation about this when we get back to the office, correct?”
“I know,” I said quietly.
“This is the sort of sloppy mistake that we have come to expect from you and…”
I kind of started to tune him out there. He was milking this a bit, honestly, but I couldn’t really do much but play along, at this point. I wasn’t sure if it was just nerves causing him to overdo it, or if he was enjoying chewing me out. At a guess, it was probably a bit of both. So, I was grateful for more than one reason when the door finally opened, and we stepped out into the lobby. Tom finally ended his tirade and turned his attention to Tanya, who seemed to be trying to melt into the floor, to get out of the awkward situation she had found herself in.
“We’ll be right back; we are only parked a couple of blocks away,” he said.
“Do you want me to put in a call to the police, while you are out?” Tanya suggested.
“No, no. Let’s make sure that there is something to report, first. It would only compound this embarrassment if we discovered it was simply on the other side of the street this whole time,” Tom forced a chuckle. “Please, just wait for us here, alright? When we get back, I will let you know what the next steps should be.”
“Alright,” Tanya nodded politely and took her place back behind the reception desk.
She was in for a long wait.
I breathed a little easier as we stepped out of the double glass doors and onto the sidewalk. We were out of the building, so the riskiest part was behind us, now. The thought had barely crossed my mind when I heard the shout behind us.
“Wait, Mr. Fitzgibbon! One moment please, sir!”
I didn’t recognize the voice, but I did recognize the tone. Tom hesitated and was about to stop, but I put a hand on his shoulder.
“Keep walking, you don’t hear him,” I said quietly.
“You think they’ve made us?” he replied.
“Oh, absolutely.”
The suppressed urgency in the guard’s voice was unmistakable. He was clearly trying, and failing, to act nonchalant, hoping that he could call us back without a fuss if he didn’t tip his hand.
“What do we do?” Luke asked.
“Just keep walking. Don’t speed up, don’t slow down. If we bolt, they’ll give chase immediately. The longer they hesitate, the more time it buys us. Wait for them to make the next move,” I kept my voice quiet, listening behind us as I spoke.
We were still a little over a block from the car and the less sprinting we had to do, the better. We weren’t dressed for it.
“What are you waiting for? Stop them!”
That voice I did recognize. It seemed that Dr. Hoffman was either craftier or luckier than I had given her credit for.
“Ok, now we run,” I instructed.
I could hear the pounding feet of the security staff chasing after us as we sprinted for the car and hoped that we had enough of a lead to get there before they caught up. I hated running in dress clothes. But, then again, I hated doing almost everything in dress clothes. As we approached the vehicle, I called ahead,
“Tom, you are driving, Luke passenger seat. I will take the back and watch for pursuit, got it?”
“Yeah,” Tom panted. “But next time we park closer.”
“At least you don’t have to do this in heels!” Liz observed.
“Enough bickering. Focus on running,” I barked. “I hope you remember your pursuit driving, Tom.”
“Of course I do,” he snorted.
As we neared the vehicle, I heard Tom hit the key fob and the doors unlocked. The two men jumped into the front and Liz tossed her case into the back before diving in herself. I slammed the door behind me and looked back to see two of the security staff only about ten paces back.
“Go, now!” I instructed.
Tom stepped on the gas and the car lurched out into the busy street, cutting off a car that leaned on its horn in frustration. Still, we made it into the street and pulled far enough away that I was no longer concerned about the guys on foot. The black SUV that had just pulled out from the parking garage under the laboratory building, however, was another matter.
“We have someone on our tail, Tom. We need to get out of this heavy traffic and shake them, before we can change cars.”
“I know. Give me a minute.”
Tom took a sharp right at the next intersection, trying to head for a less congested area of town.
“I am surprised that they are following us at all,” Luke noted. “Why not just call the cops and let them handle it?”
“We stole their top-secret prototype. I suspect they are a little bit pissed about it,” I craned my neck to see the SUV still behind us. A faint wail of sirens sounded in the distance. “Come on, Tom. You need to lose them, now. If the cops get here before you do, we could get boxed in.”
“I’m trying, just give me a minute,” he snarled, taking a sharp left and cutting off several cars in the oncoming lane to do so.
“I appreciate the enthusiasm, but us getting t-boned isn’t going to help anything,” Liz clutched at her seatbelt.
“I know what I am doing,” Tom replied, curtly.
“How did Hoffman even get free so quickly?” Liz turned to me.
“I have no idea. Maybe somebody stumbled across her, or maybe she worked her way free on her own. Either way, I’m actually kind of impressed by how quickly she took control of the situation,” I laughed. “Maybe Wallace should have offered her a job, instead of going to all this trouble.”
It took almost 15 minutes and several more wild turns before we were finally sure that we had lost our tail and could head for the secondary vehicle. It had originally been set up out of an abundance of caution, but I was very glad for it now, because the cops would certainly be keeping their eye out for this car. Tom pulled into the mostly vacant lot in an industrial area and stopped the car next to the retention pond.
“Alright,” Tom cut the ignition and shifted the car into neutral. “Let’s get things cleaned up here, and then we can get back to base.”
He climbed out of the car and strode over to our second vehicle, across the lot. I watched as he opened the door and retrieved something from the glove box. I knew what he had stored in their before we left, which meant that we didn’t have much time left.
“Tom, come help me over here, will you?” I called from behind the car. “Or are you going to make me push this thing into the pond all by myself?”
Tom hesitated, glanced down at his pocket, then shook himself.
“Right, let’s get this taken care of quickly, then,” he grumbled, removing his hand from handle of the gun in his pocket and taking up a position on the right side of the car, opposite me.
“Everyone out and clear?” I called.
Luke and Liz confirmed they were.
“The sample case is secure, and you rolled down all the windows?”
“Of course,” Liz called out. “Let’s get this over with.”
I nodded,
“Ok, Tom, count of three?”
On one, Tom and I shoved the car over the curb, and let it roll down the hill into the pond. As it sank out of sight, Tom muttered,
“Well, that is one problem taken care of. Now, we just need to wrap things up.”