CHAPTER SEVEN
Night Shift
Madison was quickly dressed in her uniform and aboard the train, then the bus, and eventually to Lake View. She clocked in ten minutes early. Perfect timing. Two guards were already there. The newbie, Jack, was the fourth to arrive and right at the start of the shift.
She recruited the newbie and took him with her on the first check of the perimeter and halls. The heavy protective vest she wore was a blessing in the cold walk around the outside of the building. The lot was quiet, and well covered in a thick blanket of snow except for the few spaces where cars had been parked. All the gates were secured and the doors locked.
Madison and Jack moved inside to continue their rounds. The halls were silent on the night shift. There was usually music during the day for the customers since they were wary of the lifeless halls of safes and vaults.
Each guard was assigned certain areas of the building. Madison's was the farthest hall in the facility, where one of the more valuable cases trusted to Lake View was kept. That particular safe earned a double check by her during their time in the hall.
Their rounds completed, Madison and Jack headed back to the security office. The other two guards readied for their turn at the perimeter and halls as they reviewed the scheduled reboot of the system for that night.
"That's tonight, isn't it?" Jack growled
"Not a big deal," Madison moved to encourage him. "Five minutes of extra vigilance and then the rest of the night is piece of cake." She wasn't herself ready for the procedure. She regretted not paying more attention during the briefing earlier in the week.
"Caleb and I will start at the front of the building and work our way through the halls," Waylon began to relate the plan for the five minutes of downed systems. "You two keep an eye on the monitors and radio us of any malfunctions. We expect the cameras to have a few glitches, but they shouldn't lose power. The alarm will sound when the system is taken down and again when it is reactivated. Other than that, we shouldn't notice any difference."
Waylon was the senior guard on duty, Madison in command under him. Caleb and Jack were newer recruits, Caleb with one year more experience than Jack. Waylon and Jack were the largest of the group, Jack having a stronger build than the aging Waylon. Caleb was a smaller man but not at all weak in appearance or structure.
The two left the office and Madison watched their trek as they shifted across the display of monitors. They were the only activity to be found among the wall of screens.
At one-thirty, the alarm sounded its first cry for three shrill bleats, then went silent. The system was off-line.
Half of the monitors went down following the deafening siren. They were the hall cameras. The individual safes were still being recorded. Madison picked up the radio and related the news to Waylon.
"Hall monitoring is off-line," she announced when he confirmed his connection.
"Unexpected but not a surprise," the older man said with a mellow tone. "Let me know when they are back up."
Jack looked to Madison with a nervous frown. "What do we do now?"
"Keep watching the ones we still have. I'll show you a trick." She scanned the glowing screens until she came across what she was looking for. "See here?" She pointed at one with a shadow of movement. Jack narrowed his big brown eyes and gave a nod. "That is where Waylon and Caleb are. The white walls reflect shadows and the cameras aimed at the safes will pick that up. We're far from blind."
Jack followed the trace shadows as they moved across several more screens. He gave another nod and settled in his chair. "So they do keep you around for more than your looks," he teased with a cocky smile.
Madison and Jack studied the limited monitors repeatedly. The only movement was that of the two guards continuing their check of the halls. Those five minutes seemed to drag.
Another malfunction soon joined the party. Every other hall light went out. The office went dark with only the working monitors casting a faint illumination across the small room.
"Talk to me, Madison," Waylon's voice barked from the radio.
She grabbed it and peered at the screens. "It looks like we're experiencing a few more set backs than expected. Either the second breaker is down or the system has us limping on reduced power."
"The system has nothing to do with it. The only lighting it has any control over is the vault floods. They're off."
"I don't know what to tell you, sir. Nothing here explains why we're losing lights."
Waylon's radio chirped, but he didn't make a reply. Madison waited for him to come back and watched the screen that hinted at his location. He was unmoving in his place.
Caleb's voice broke the silence, "What do you have in hall three?"
Jack pointed at one of the screens in question, "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
"I have movement in area two of hall three. Confirm movement," she related, her tone level. "What is your location?"
Caleb's hushed voice came moments later, "Copy movement. Stand by."
Madison intently studied the collection of screens. She kept tabs on the two guards, confident their activity was not what was being reflected two screens down. She bit her lip as she forced herself to await Waylon's orders. She had to sit tight unless he deemed otherwise. It might just be another glitch.
A chirp of the radio pierced the silence of the security office. Madison and Jack both stared at the inactive radio, then turned back to the screens. The guards had neared the area of interest.
Madison picked up the radio and made a quick check, "Requesting update." When she released the switch, the usual confirmation click didn't sound. She gave the switch two more tries. The radio was dead. Communications were down.
"We're not doing this," she grumbled as she got to her feet.
Jack turned from the monitors, "What's happening?"
She grabbed a second flashlight and another clip for her sidearm. "I'm not sure," she said as she tested the weighty light, then hung it from her belt. "I'll go check. Stay here."
"Madison?" His voice was drenched with concern. She turned to him and found him pointing at one of the screens. "Should I make the call?"
Leaning over Jack, she followed his aim. Her breath caught at what she found. One of the guards was down, his glossy black shoes in plain view of one of the safe cameras. It was Waylon.
She quickly searched the remaining screens, "Where's Caleb?" She recognized his shadow on the next screen, one hall down from Waylon. He was still on the move.
"Make the call," Madison nodded to Jack. "Make the call and stay put. See if you can get those radios back up." The newbie didn't argue, returning her nod with a nervous one.
The halls were disturbingly quiet as she hugged the walls and spirited towards Caleb. Her heart was in her throat when she took the first turn and merged into the long, curved hall that stretched across the width of the facility. This hall held the full-sized vaults and all the safe halls branched off from it. She was three halls down from her colleague when a figure jumped out of the shadows at her.
Madison whipped out the secondary flashlight and struck at the black garbed figure grazing him with it. It was just enough to slow his attack. She was then able to counter his movement, catching his arm as it came at her. Ducking out of his faltering aim, she noticed something in his clutched hand. It was some type of a syringe. She dodged it again when he reformed.
She wrestled with the bulky man for what seemed like ages. Madison somehow managed to take hold of the syringe and break it from his grasp. With a quick movement, she turned it on him and stuck it in his shoulder. His strength began to wane and he gradually sunk to the floor, relinquishing his hold on her.
Standing readied over the inanimate intruder, she awaited another attack. He remained still. She cautiously searched him over, briefly checking several of his many flapped pockets on his military-like attire. The armored vest was covered in smaller pockets with
few contents. His thick, black pants had four large pouch-like pockets, mostly full of assorted tools and items that meant little to her. There were, however, three more syringes like the one he had pulled from his shoulder and was now resting atop his relaxed palm.
Madison checked for a pulse. He had one. It was slow, but steady. She concluded, and honestly hoped, the dose was a tranquilizer or sedative.
Getting on with matters, she moved on down the hall until she came to a junction of the safe hall where she knew she would find Caleb. Taking a deep breath, she peered around the corner.
There was a struggle going on in the hall. Another man in black operative wear was getting the upper hand. She rushed to the scene and to Caleb's aid. She noted a syringe crushed on the floor, its clear liquid dosage smeared amongst the glass of the broken vial. Madison called to Caleb to let him know it was her coming behind him. He pressed against the taller man and she pulled her sidearm, shouting for the man to stand down.
The intruder stumbled Caleb and knocked him back, pulling a gun of his own and took aim at the young guard. Madison and Caleb converged on the foe and his gun went off. Caleb slowed with a yelp but continued to fight against the dark attacker.
The two guards overpowered the armed suspect. He fell to one knee when Madison struck his other with the butt of her pistol. He cried out a curse at her, then Caleb dropped him with a blow from his flashlight, knocking him out cold.
"Are you all right?" She quickly saw to her colleague. He was clutching his bleeding arm.
Caleb gave an heavy nod and leaned against the wall. "I think so. I don't know about Waylon, though." He gestured to the next hall, "He was down one hall over. I couldn't get to him." He panted, the expression on his face told of his pain, and not just physical.
They retraced their steps to the hall where they found Waylon. He was unconscious but appeared unscathed. His pulse was slow and steady like the first intruder Madison had come across.
The two half carried, half dragged the older guard to the security office. Once inside, Jack grabbed the emergency kits and got right to work on Caleb's arm. He confirmed that he had already contacted the police and they should be arriving any moment. The five minute time frame was long passed and the systems had not rebooted. They were completely on their own until the police could come.
Jack informed Madison that there was still one other intruder in the building. The individual was nearing the eighth safe hall. She instructed the newbie to lock himself and the others within the security office. Then she set out to intercept the person. She had an inkling as to what they were after.
It didn't take long for her to cover the distance. She moved quickly, her steps hardly giving any sound to her rushed pace. Her sidearm was readied as she held it two-handed and pointed downward at the floor.
She crossed the seventh hall and came to a sudden stop. The third black garbed man was coming up that hall. He froze in place beneath an outed light. He nearly blended in with the dimmed corridor.
"Stay where you are," she warned with her pistol trained on him.
He raised his hands in acknowledgement. Other than that, he didn't move. Instead, he softly spoke to her, "You're not supposed to be here."
Madison's world came to a stand still at the tragically familiar voice. "Skyler?"