Directly below, at the sealed doors to the private penthouse elevator, Beth Mansfield worked frantically beyond her means.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Hapax said in a terse whisper, “It’s been fifteen minutes. Someone’s going to find us.”
“Shut-up and give me a minute!” Beth said. She was struggling with what seemed to be thousands of colored wires that bore no resemblance whatsoever to the schematics she’d spent hours studying the night before. Seeing no other choice, she made a leap of faith, cut two wires and crossed them.
“Okay,” she said, “This should bring the elevator here.”
Not knowing whether he should be relieved or frightened, Hapax patted her on the shoulder. A series of small sparks flew out of the exposed wires, threatening to start a fire on the hotel carpet.
“Shit!” Beth blurted, “Get an extinguisher.”
“Wait a minute,” Hapax said as he eyed the door.
With a slight mechanical whoosh, the doors opened. Confident, she smiled smugly at Hapax. He, however, was staring wide-eyed at the open doors.
“What’s the matter?” Beth said, turning to look.
“No elevator,” Hapax said.
She looked at the empty shaft and slammed her palm into her forehead.
“Damn! Damn! Damn!” Beth said.
“Sh!” Hapax whispered.
“What?” She said.
“I heard something,” he said. He darted out of the elevator alcove, took a quick peek down the hall, then raced back, frantic.
“Security. Headed this way,” he said.
“Oh great, ” Beth said, looking this way and that. Quickly, she slammed the metal plate back on the wires, “That’s it. We go home.”
“Oh, the hell with it,” Hapax said, then he started heading towards the shaft.
“Are you crazy?” she said.
“Do we really have to go through that issue again? Look, we’re less than twenty feet away. There’s a ledge we can stand on. Maybe we can climb up,” Hapax said.
Incredulous, she watched him slip into the shaft and shimmy along the ledge.
“See?” Hapax said, “There’s a junction box in here. Maybe you can use it to bring the elevator up to the floor below us. We’ll crawl into the car from the exit hatch, then just ride it up. Now get in here.”
The footsteps of the security patrol just behind her, Beth inhaled, stepped onto the ledge of the shaft and cautiously inched her way towards Hapax. Quickly, she opened the large metallic box on the far wall, revealing a whole new series of colored wires. This time, however, there were a few buttons as well.
“Okay. I’ll call up the elevator first,” Beth said, pressing the bright green button. Suddenly, the doors swished closed, leaving them both in utter darkness.