by A. L Long
Thinking about what I was doing, I decided to use my common sense and contact the guys for assistance. The last thing I wanted was to get caught with no way to call in re-enforcements. Making my way back to my 4-Runner, I remained close to the trees lining the drive until I was safely at the fence. Getting back over the wall was going to be a lot harder than getting in when I came over it. I needed to find a different way other than the way I got in. Keeping my body flush with the brick fence, I was finally able to get over by placing my foot where a brick had fallen out and hoisting my body over to the other side.
~****~
“We need to be careful on how we approach this, guys,” I confessed. “If Gabrielle is inside the estate, who knows where she is?”
Drawing a pretty basic map of the estate, I showed the guys the best way to get inside the walls. Unless they had another plan on how to get inside through the front gate without raising suspicion, crossing over the wall was going to be the best way in. While Sly and Cop was discussing an alternate plan, Peter was up at the whiteboard studying the map I had drawn. Scratching his head, I tried to figure out what the hell he was thinking.
Dying to know, I walked up to him and asked, completely puzzled, “I know you have something in mind. What are you thinking, boss?”
Turning to face the guys, who were seated around the conference table, he placed his hands on the wood surface of the table and said, “How do you guys feel about being fake security personnel?” Everyone began talking among themselves when Peter cleared his throat to continue. “My thought is this: we have the equipment to jam the signal to the main house for the security gate. When anyone questions why we are there, all we have to do is tell them that we got notification through the system that something was going on with the gate. When they try to open it, it won’t work. Three of us will pretend to be working on the gate while the rest of us stake out the property and find out if Agent Jackson is inside.”
Peter had an excellent plan. I guess that is why we work for him and not the other way around. We all headed to the back of the shop to prepare the black van that was parked in the back lot. Finding the right decal to stick on the side of the van, Gainer and Ash worked on getting it applied, while Cop and I gathered the equipment we needed, which included the jamming equipment for the gate.
~****~
Arriving at the estate, the sun was beginning to set, which Peter said would be the opportune time for something to go wrong with the gate. He figured that hired security would be willing to let us do what we needed if we were already there, instead of trying to contact someone else. It really was an excellent plan as long as it went accordingly with no hiccups.
Waiting by the gate, Ash worked on getting the jammer in position. When Ash gave a thumb up, signaling that he was ready, Peter made the call and waited for someone to answer.
“What is your business?” a masculine voice on the other end greeted Peter.
“This is Home Security. We got notification that your gate is not operational,” Peter answered confidently.
“That’s inaccurate. There is nothing wrong with the gate.”
Peter waited a moment, counting with his fingers. When three of his fingers were held up, the arrogant gentleman got back on the line. “My mistake. It seems there is a problem with the gate working properly. Do what you need to do to repair it.”
With a nod, Peter replied, “We will have it working in no time.”
Gathering what we needed to appear like we knew what we were doing, we began pretending to repair the gate by locating the manual override. It took three of us to pull the gate open. Little did the security team in the house know that the camera was also down, allowing for Sly, Cop, and me to enter the grounds unnoticed. When we were safely inside, Peter turned the camera back on, letting security think that everything was on the up and up.
While Peter, Ash, and Gainer did their thing at the gate, we walked up the drive close to the tree line to stay out of sight. The last time I was here, I scanned the area and took note of surveillance devices, which ended up being none. Seems Mr. Crawford only cared about who was coming through the gate and nothing else.
When we got close to the house, the Tahoe that was parked on the side was no longer there. This was not good. It led me to believe that either Gabrielle left on her own or they hid it out of sight in the event someone came looking for her. If I had to guess it was the latter.
~****~
As great as the plan was, we left empty handed. Unless Gabrielle was hidden away in a closet and Elliott Crawford was with her, neither one of them were inside the large house. Our suspicion was confirmed when Cop checked out the four-car garage and found that one of the stalls was empty. At least we knew we were at the right place. The black sedan that I found the plate on was parked inside, along with an older Mercedes and a black Escalade.
Regrouping, we put our heads together to figure out where Gabrielle could have been taken. Gateway Rehabilitation came to mind. It was the only place that we hadn’t thought of. Now we were re-evaluating our initial plan. Getting inside was going to take some thought. There were still some road blocks we needed to get through. Going back to square one, I headed back to the back room where I did my best thinking. Booting up my computer, I remembered the information that Graham had shared about the security at Gateway. Going back to the sequence of numbers and symbols that I had written down, I realized that Graham gave me a bunch of bullshit only to steer me away from my first instinct about the code.
Pulling my notes from the pile of paperwork that was on the desk, I found what I was looking for and began trying to break the code. Really clearing my mind, I studied the information and finally was able to break it. At least I hoped I did. There was only one true way to find out and that was to test it. Getting into the system by breaking the external firewall, I began typing the codes, making sure to get them exactly right. One missed letter or symbol would boot me out and I would never be able to get in again. There were fifteen codes in all, and being very careful with each sequence I entered, I was down to the last code.
Entering the last letter, I hit enter and waited for the set of codes to download and ultimately break the firewall, which would let me in. It was like having Christmas and the Fourth of July all in one. File after file began downloading on my computer. There must have been at least a hundred of them. Connecting an external hard drive to my laptop, I began saving all of the files on it. If for whatever reason my computer should crash, I wanted to make sure that at the very least, I had the files from Gateway that would give us access to their security system. Not even Graham would be able to stop our entrance once we were in.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Gabrielle
Coming to with a headache the size of Manhattan, I found myself strapped to a bed unable to move. The room was a sterile white, like something you would see from a sci-fi movie. Even the furniture was white. Staring up at the bright fluorescent light, I tried to remember how the hell I got here. The last thing I remembered was having my purse removed from my shoulder and my father telling me that he was sorry it had to be this way, and that it was the only way I would be able to understand why he did what he did. Nothing he could have told me could have changed the way I felt about him.
Trying desperately to break free, I heard someone coming, and as they got closer to the door, I could also hear their voices. One of the voices I had no problem in recognizing, but the other, I wasn’t sure. I just wanted to disappear. I would have given anything just to do so. I focused on the door and watched as the handle slowly moved. It was like watching everything in slow motion. When the two men stepped in, one my father and the other a doctor I assumed, based on his white coat, I made my body tall. There was no way I was going to let these men know how scared I actually was.
Taking a deep breath, I asked with anger, “What am I doing here, Crawford, and where am I?”
As the doctor closed the door, my father walked over to the bed, placing his
hands on the bed rail. It was only after the doctor joined us that he let me in on the big secret. “I’m going to give you a new life.”
I had no idea what the hell he was talking about, but whatever it was, I wanted no part of it. “What makes you think I want a new life? My life is just fine the way it is.”
“That may be so, but what I have planned will change your life forever.” His eyes were cold and calculated. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I knew it smelled like shit.
When a nurse walked into the room, pushing a tray with several items on it, I knew there was no way I was going to make it out of this. It would take a miracle. While I watched her closely, she began preparing a vial, which I knew was for me. I tried working against my restraints, but there was no way I would be able to break free. Trying desperately to convince Crawford that he was making a mistake, it was like their hearing was cut off. Tapping the vial lightly, she placed it on the small tray that was sitting on the bedside table and grabbed an alcohol swab. Thinking to myself that she wasn’t very smart, I lifted my leg and the tray went flying off of the table and onto the floor. Even though the shot didn’t break like I wanted it to, the tip of the needle did, and so did the liquid bottle that contained whatever she was going to shoot in my body.
As the nurse cussed and picked up the items from the floor, my father and the doctor worked on getting my legs restrained. I hated the fact that I was helpless, but more than that, I hated the fact that there was nothing I could do about it. Whatever my father had in store for me, I knew it was going to be bad. If he really did plan on giving me a new life, I had a pretty good idea what was waiting for me.
“You need to stop fighting this, Gabrielle. You will not win.” The sound of his voice pulled me from my thoughts as I watched him leave the room with the doctor and the nurse following close behind.
If I was going to get out of here, I needed to figure out something fast before they returned. Looking around the room and then to the restraints around my ankles, I saw what appeared to be a pair of small medical scissors lying between my legs. I just found my way out of here, but the problem was, I couldn’t get to them. The restraints were too tight around my wrists and there was no way I was going to be able to contort my legs enough to bring them close enough to my hands.
Leaning back on the bed, I remembered that with every other hospital bed there had to be a button somewhere along the side that would allow me to move either the head or the foot. Pulling on the restraint, which caused it to cut into my wrist, I was able to get to the set of buttons located on the side of the bed that controlled the position of the bed. With the tip of my finger, I pressed one of the buttons, hoping that it would be the one for the foot of the bed. When the head of the bed began to move, I could have screamed. But after moving the head of the bed, I realized that it gave me enough slack in the strap that I was able to reach the button for the foot of the bed.
As I held the button, my knees began to come up also, creating enough slack in the straps that I was actually able to get my feet free. I had to laugh to myself. I guess they didn’t take into account that having the restraints tied to the frame of the bed wasn’t a good idea, especially considering the possibility of getting to the bed’s adjustment controls.
~****~
After getting free, the first thing that I needed was to find some different clothes. Wearing a hospital gown was a dead giveaway that I was a patient here. Carefully opening the door, I looked down the hall, which was a surprise, considering that the room I was being held in was all white. Other than the white tiled floor, everything else in the hallway was very colorful, including the paintings that hung on the light green walls.
I had no idea where to go, but going right seemed like the best option considering there were women's voices coming from the other direction. With the voices coming closer, I knew I needed to get out of sight. Trying each door I passed, I finally came upon one that was open. Slipping inside, I carefully closed the door and pressed my ear to it to listen for the women to pass. As I waited for what seemed like forever, I scanned my surroundings to find out where I was. When I switched on the light, I could see that I was actually in a supply closet. I hit pay dirt when I saw that the shelves were lined with blue scrubs of different sizes. Finding my size, I removed the paper-thin gown and began slipping on the scrubs. Even though I didn’t have any shoes, there were shoe covers that would hide my bare feet.
I turned the handle to the door slowly and pulled it toward me. Looking down the hall where I had heard the voices and seeing no one, I had my chance to get out of this place. Trying to remain calm, I acted like I belonged there. I even went as far as to grab a medical chart that was placed in a wall-mounted file holder just outside one of the doors. Opening it up and pretending to read the information, at least I knew where I was. I was taken to Gateway. What my father had planned for me finally sunk in. He wanted to give me a new life by changing my identity.
“Oh, hell no,” I hissed, not realizing that I had said it out loud.
I had to find a way out of here. The longer I stayed in this place, the more I risked getting caught. Walking at a fast speed, I looked down the hall, trying desperately to find my escape. Reaching the end, I was met with another hallway. Looking to my right, I saw what appeared to be a reception desk. There was a girl sitting in front of a computer and another watching what she was doing. I stepped back behind the wall and tried to figure out what my next move was. When the two girls began heading across the way, I knew it was my chance to make a break through the glass doors.
Passing the reception desk, it must have been my lucky day. Sitting on the desk was a set of keys that must have belonged to one of the girls. Snatching them up, I headed to the door. I was out of the building in a flash. All I had to do was to find the car that belonged to these keys. Punching the key fob, I looked around the parking lot and listened to the sound of the door beep. There were only a few cars, so when a beep sounded, it wasn’t hard to find the owner.
Running to the car, my luck ran out. The keys matched up to a puke green slug bug. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but a Volkswagen Bug didn’t come even close. Reaching the car, I opened to door and got inside. The minute I put the key in the ignition, I knew this wasn’t good. Not only was there only an eighth of a tank of gas, but the damn thing was a stick. I never took the time to learn how to drive one, nor did I have the desire to. Using my common sense, I turned on the engine and pressed in the clutch along with the brake and put the car in reverse. Slowly, I let off the brake and put my foot on the gas. The minute I released the clutch, the damn car died.
After several attempts, I was finally able to back the car out of the parking spot enough to drive forward. If I kept going the way I was, it would be next year by the time I got through the security gate. I could have kicked myself in the ass for not learning how to drive a stick.
When I finally reached the gate, I knew I had wasted too much time. The guard came out of his little booth with his weapon raised on me before I had even reached the exit. Watching him come upon me, I had only two options. Either I could stop the car and surrender, or I could plow through the gate and let fate take its course. Thinking that option two was better than option one. I laid my foot on the gas, released the clutch, and prayed that I wouldn’t kill the engine.
Like lightning, away I went. The outcome wasn’t what I had expected as I crashed the car into the steel gate. I must have hit it a lot harder than I thought. The last thing I remembered was hitting my head on the steering wheel and watching everything in front of me suddenly go black. God, how I wished I had learned to drive a stick.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Chavez
Sitting and waiting on the other side of the security fence was one place I didn’t want to be. I had no idea what was going on behind that gate. What worried me the most was that I didn’t have any idea if Gabrielle was even here. When I was ready to say the hell with it and get inside the facility
myself, Peter finally showed up with the van. He figured that if the plan worked at Elliott’s estate, surely it would work here. The difference being, we had to distract the guard at the gate so that we could jam the gate’s operation. We also had to convince the guard that we needed to check out the rest of the security to make sure it was working properly. Hopefully the guard wouldn’t get wind that we weren’t who we said we were.
Making sure that my 4-Runner was out of sight, I got in the back of the van and got ready for our plan. Since we were being careful not to cause any suspicion, the only men in the van were Peter, Sly, Gainer, and me. The rest of the guys hung back in case we needed reinforcements.