by L. T. Ryan
“You think?” McKinnon asked.
Weinberger shrugged. “Best I can do. I’m not allowed on the fifth level. It makes sense. Besides, I’ve seen Dr. Sing get off on that floor a hundred times. She was working on something big for them.”
“What else do you know about Dr. Sing’s projects?”
“Not much.” Weinberger looked up at the ceiling as if the answers were written there. “They escorted her in and out a couple times a month. Sometimes she left late at night, looking like she’d spent hours pulling her hair out. She didn’t talk to the rest of us. There were rumors, but I don’t know how true they were.”
“What were the rumors about?” Any information might point them in the right direction.
“That she was working on some fancy new drug that would get us all a big paycheck.”
Bear handed Weinberger the papers from Bowser Freight. “These are the drugs they don’t want you seeing. Do you recognize any of them?”
Weinberger looked at the pages but handed them back. “No. I couldn’t tell you what they were for if you had a gun to my head.”
“Could arrange that,” Bear muttered under his breath as he pocketed the papers. “They’re for a miracle drug. Something that could cure cancer. Dr. Sing was doing clinical trials. I don’t know whether she was trying to fix a problem she created or make it worse. Either way, HealTek has our answers. And the evidence we need.”
“That place is like a fortress,” McKinnon said. “You need a keycard. There are cameras everywhere.”
“I’ve got a cousin in security,” Weinberger said. “He’s pointed the cameras in another direction once or twice. I can get you down to the fourth floor.”
McKinnon clicked her tongue a couple of times. “They’ll find out you helped us. You’ll be fired.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Weinberger looked resigned. “I have to do something to save my daughter.”
“When does your cousin start his shift?”
“Midnight every night.”
“Let him know we’re coming.”
McKinnon’s mouth pressed into a hard line. “I’m going with you.”
“You’re too weak.” Bear laid a hand on her shoulder. “Besides, I’ll need someone to bail me out if I get caught.”
She didn’t laugh. “Bear—”
“We need to hit them hard and fast. Take them by surprise.” He looked up at Weinberger, who had his phone out, and nodded. “We’re doing this tonight.”
41
Bear and Mr. Weinberger pulled into HealTek’s employee parking lot five minutes after midnight in Weinberger’s car. Bear’s truck would have attracted too much attention. It had to be on some internal HealTek BOLO by this point. Weinberger had insisted it wouldn’t matter either way. There were no cameras in the lot.
Bear surveyed the structure. Five stories tall. Weinberger had said the layout was basic. The upper levels consisted of offices, meeting rooms, a cafeteria, and a lounge. Everyone from number crunchers to board members and their lawyers were housed inside during work hours.
The scientists lived on the lower floors. Five levels below ground. Offices and laboratories and who knew what else. Weinberger had spent little time down there. He dropped items off and never stuck around to chat. The HealTek bigwigs kept scientists away from other employees so they wouldn’t spill company secrets.
“Two minutes.” Sweat lined Weinberger’s brow.
Bear nodded and remained silent. Weinberger’s cousin pulled through. He had provided them access to a side entrance and pointed the interior cameras in the opposite direction. According to Weinberger, his cousin had done this before. For employees who wanted to raid the cafeteria for food after a drunken night out. Employees who wanted to have sex who-knew-where. Employees brave enough to skim a couple bottles of pills off the top of the stack in the supplies room.
Bear slipped five hundred dollars from his pocket and handed it to Weinberger. “You’ll get your cut after.” He trusted the man—his motivation to save his daughter was as altruistic as it would get—but he wasn’t taking any chances.
Weinberger didn’t seem offended. He glanced at his phone. “Sixty seconds. Ready?”
“Let’s roll.”
Bear climbed out of the car and shut the door behind him. They darted across the parking lot. Bear stuck to the shadows. Weinberger followed suit.
The pair pressed themselves against the outside wall of the building, then made their way toward the side entrance.
Weinberger leaned closer and whispered, “Ten seconds.”
Bear moved faster.
As soon as they were within a foot of the entryway, the door buzzed. Bear pushed it open and stepped inside. Weinberger followed. The lights inside the building were dim, both in Bear’s favor and against it. It’d be hard for someone to spot him, but he’d also have to keep his eyes peeled.
Weinberger took the lead. He navigated his way to the stairwell. They climbed two floors and headed straight to the security offices. He knocked twice on the door, paused, then knocked again.
The man who opened it to greet them looked nothing like Weinberger. He was at least ten years younger, fit and attractive. He had a well-manicured beard, and hair that swooped to one side.
Eddie sized Bear up. After a few seconds of staring Bear in the eye, he nodded, then turned to his cousin. “Payment?”
Weinberger handed over the wad of cash and watched as Eddie counted it. “It’s all there.”
“Just habit, man. Don’t be offended.” Eddie stuffed the money in his pocket, then looked back up at Bear. “You’re a big guy.”
“That a problem?”
Eddie shrugged. “Not for me. I don’t suffer from Gigantasophobia.” He turned and grabbed a pile of clothes off a shelf, tossing them to Bear. “But these might be a little snug.”
Bear inspected the security uniform. He hadn’t expected to go in with a disguise. This could buy him a few more seconds if he ran into trouble. He peeled off his clothes. “Thanks.”
“No problem. You’ve got ten minutes before my partner comes back. After that, don’t bother knocking on the door again. Got it?”
“Where is he?”
“Who?”
“Your partner. Where is he right now?”
“Number two.” Eddie grinned. “Every night, like clockwork. Tell you the truth, I think he jacks off in there or something. No one is that regular.”
“How do I—”
“No.” Eddie plugged his ears with his index fingers. “No, no. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t know you, where you’re going, or what you’re trying to do once you get there. I get you in. The rest is up to you. The uniform was for the extra hundred you threw in.” He checked his watch. “You’ve got nine minutes. Do what you gotta do. Discuss it amongst yourselves.”
Bear watched as Eddie turned his back on them and walked the length of the room. He settled in front of a pair of monitors and put on his headphones.
Bear finished putting on the security uniform. It pinched at the shoulders but otherwise fit. He handed his clothes to Weinberger. “Take these, get back to the car, and get out of here.”
“Don’t want me to wait for you?”
“Appreciate the thought. Not worth you getting caught.”
“They’ll catch me, anyway.” He produced his keycard and handed it over. “If not tonight, then tomorrow, or the day after.”
Bear approached Eddie and tapped him on the shoulder. The man took out one earbud and looked up at him. “You got seven minutes.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Bear pulled another hundred out of his pocket and waved it in front of him. “Can you wipe Weinberger’s logs for tonight so no one knows he was here?”
Eddie glared at him. “I told you, I get you in, the rest—”
Bear pulled out another two hundred. “It’s a hell of a bonus, man.”
Eddie snatched the money from Bear. “Six minutes. Get out of here.”
Bear figured that was
as good as it was going to get. He pushed Weinberger back toward the door, grabbing a roll of duct tape on the way out. It always worked for MacGyver.
“Go ahead of me,” Bear said. “Head straight for the car. Take my clothes to the sheriff. I’ll pick them up from her later. Then stay with your kid.”
“Should I go to work tomorrow?” Weinberger asked.
“Just act like everything is normal unless you hear otherwise, got it?”
The man nodded, then hurried down the hallway and through the doors to the stairwell. Bear gave him a sixty-second head start before following him back down to the first floor. There was a special elevator to the lower levels, only accessed by passing in front of the main security desk at the entrance. He would have to time everything perfectly.
A bolt of excitement clawed through his body. It’d been a while since he’d done an undercover gig. He pulled the hat labeled SECURITY over his brow to obscure his face from the cameras.
Bear pushed through the doors and jogged down the stairwell. He collected his thoughts before exiting onto the first floor.
It was go-time.
42
Bear preferred knowing a building’s layout before he broke inside. This time, he was flying blind.
He spotted the cameras along the hallway and ducked his head low. He had a general sense of where the front door was. He walked north. Whenever he was forced to take turns, he’d correct his trajectory as soon as possible. There were few navigational signs. And dressed as a security guard, he needed to pretend to know where he was going.
A squeak of shoes down the hall caught his attention. He didn’t hear any banter. Another guard doing a solo round. Weinberger had told them there were two dozen guards at all times, working in pairs on each floor. They switched off and searched the building every hour. Bear had avoided them so far. His luck had run out.
Bear was a quarter of the way down the hall when the other man turned the corner. Bear noticed when the guard spotted him. The guy tilted his head forward as if to get a better look at his face. The hat was a godsend as much as the uniform. If Bear could avoid the man’s gaze long enough, he could pass him by without any trouble.
When the guard sped up, Bear knew that wasn’t possible. A camera was in the middle of the hall. Someone would notice if he neutralized the man here. He needed to be smart about his next move.
That’s when he spotted the bathroom halfway down the hall. If he could make it there before the other guy, he’d be able to slip in without being held up. And if he couldn’t, he’d use the bathroom’s lack of cameras to his advantage.
Bear sped up. He tried to not look suspicious, but he also wanted to seem like he was on a mission. As long as you looked like you knew what you were doing, most people didn’t question it. A wave of panic crashed over him. What if the guards had already been warned? What if they were on the lookout for him?
The other man was ten feet away. Bear pushed through the door to the restroom and barreled into a stall. He slammed the door and latched it. He sat down and didn’t bother dropping his pants. If this guy knew what he was up to, it wouldn’t do him any good to be caught with his boxers around his ankles.
Bear heard another squeak of the man’s sneaker as he halted outside the bathroom. A few seconds ticked by. The door opened. The guard stepped up to the urinal. “Hey, man. What’s up?”
This dude was breaking the most sacred rule of the men’s room. Don’t make conversation. “Hey, man.”
“Busy night?”
“Not so far.” Bear remained seated and leaned forward to get a glimpse of the guy through the cracks. All he saw was the left side of his body. “You?”
“Quiet, as usual.” There was a beat of silence, and then the man pulled up his zipper. “Hey, do I know you? Didn’t recognize you.”
“Yeah, man. Been working here for a year.” Bear forced a laugh. “I work up on three.”
“What are you doing down here?”
“Someone blew up the bathroom on the third and the second floor. Had to find a new one.”
“Ah, man. That sucks. But you know you’re not supposed to be down here, right? You could get written up.”
Bear shifted as the man walked to the sink and washed his hands. He was peering at Bear’s stall with a funny look on his face. “I know. Look, don’t tell Eddie, will you? He’s been on my back for the last week.”
“Eddie? That dude’s chill. You just got to slip him a twenty every once in a while.”
“Really? All right. I’ll take your word for it.”
“You really shouldn’t be down here, though. If Jamison catches you—”
“I know, I know. Look, I just really gotta go. Can’t do it with an audience, you know? Soon as I’m out of here, I’ll head back up. Drinks are on me next time we go out, all right?”
The man shook the excess water from his hands, then grabbed a paper towel. “Yeah, all right. But you owe me.”
“You got it, chief.”
Bear waited for the guard to leave before breathing a sigh of relief. Then he waited an extra two minutes. If Bear ran into him again, he doubted he’d be so lucky. The guy seemed like a nosy prick.
After the two minutes had elapsed, Bear waited another thirty seconds before pushing through the door, back into the hallway. It was clear. He kept his head down and walked toward the main security desk. And when he turned the corner, there it was.
Two men sat behind a bank of computers. One was reading a book while the other was playing on his phone. Neither of them noticed when Bear slipped behind them. He stuck to the wall and headed for the far end of the entrance. He only dared to take a full breath once he reached the elevators. According to Weinberger, these were the only ones that went downstairs.
Bear used the man’s keycard to call the elevator. It arrived with a ding. The sound reverberated around the room. There was no way the guys at the front desk didn’t hear that. Bear stepped inside the elevator without looking up and hit the close door button. Then he pushed the button for the fifth floor.
Nothing happened.
He pushed it again. Even waved the card against the reader as he pushed it for a third time. Nothing. Weinberger had told him he didn’t have access to the fifth floor. Bear had been hoping he’d never tried kind of like he’d never tried to go looking for those lot numbers he wasn’t allowed to see.
As Bear went to press the button for the fourth floor—he hoped he’d figure out a way to the next level, even if it meant crawling through air ducts—the doors to the elevator opened and a guard stood there. He stared at Bear with an inquisitive look. Thank God it was someone other than the guy from the bathroom.
“Having trouble?” He was a little older than Bear. Short, thin, and gangly. Like he’d never really grown into his body.
“Yeah, man. Sorry. Trying to get to the fifth floor. Pass isn’t working.”
“You’re not allowed on the fifth.”
“Normally, I’m not.” Bear pulled out the empty envelope he had stashed Eddie’s money in. “This guy gave me this letter to deliver to the fifth floor. Told me if I didn’t screw it up, he’d give me an extra two hundred bucks. I could really use the money, man.”
“What guy?”
“Huh?”
“What guy gave you the letter?”
Bear scrambled for a name. “I can’t remember. It was a weird last name. Started with a P? Or a B? I’m terrible with names.”
“Pachulski?”
Bear was sweating now, which added to his performance. It would be all over if they caught him this close to the fifth floor. The other guard at the security desk would sound the alarm. Bear’d be screwed. “Yeah, that’s him.”
“Pachulski trusted you to go to the fifth floor and didn’t even give you a pass for it?” There was an awkward silence, then the guard cracked a smile and started laughing. “Sounds like him. He’s such a douche sometimes. I can get you to the fifth floor, but I can’t let you out of my sight. You give me f
ifty bucks and we’ll call it even.”
“You got it, man.”
The guard stepped into the elevator and held his pass to the reader. It blinked green, and he hit the button for the fifth floor. The elevator started to move. Bear tipped his head back in relief. Almost there. Just a few seconds longer.
The doors opened with another ding. Bear scanned the barely lit hallway. He didn’t see any cameras. Didn’t mean they weren’t there. HealTek had plenty to hide, but they sure as hell had this floor covered.
“Thanks again, man,” Bear said. “Really appreciate this.”
“No prob—”
Bear didn’t let the guy finish. He wrapped an arm around the guard’s neck and held tight while the man struggled. After about twenty seconds, the guy went limp, and Bear used his recently pilfered roll of duct tape to bind his hands and legs and tape his mouth shut. Then he dragged the unconscious man down the hallway and threw him into a janitor’s closet.
Weinberger’s knowledge had helped him get this far. Now Bear was on his own. It wouldn’t be long before the other guard realized his partner was missing. Bear checked every room on the floor until he found what he was looking for.
And now the real work began.
43
The door had a placard with Dr. Sing’s name on it. Above the handle was a keypad, which Bear pried from the door. He yanked the wires free. The doorhandle twisted under his hand. He had to work fast. What if the keypad had triggered an alarm upstairs?
Bear shut the door behind him. This office was much bigger than the one Sing had at the hospital, and it came with its own lab. Beakers and Bunsen burners and boiler plates lined the table.
Sing’s desk was covered in leather-bound notebooks, just like the ones Mandy had seen locked away in the secret compartment in the doctor’s hospital office. Bear and McKinnon had found Sing dead an hour later. She couldn’t have brought the notebooks here. Was it Jeremy Olsen? His buddy? Or someone else?
Whoever it was, they were suspect one in her murder.