by Mark Lemke
CHAPTER 56
?
I literally ran out of the SAS building, found the stairwell outside the main control room door as Hector had described, and went down a flight of stairs.? A secure door was on the landing.? I used Jerry's key card, and the door clicked open.? Inside I found a maze of conduits and wire runs hanging from the ceiling.? This must be the cable spreading room that Hector had described.? I hurried to the other side of the room, trying not to hit my head as I went, and found the door out, leading to the other stairwell.? I bounded up two stairs at a time to the back door of the control room.?
As the Old Man had said, it looked heavy and well reinforced.? I wasn't familiar with the control room layout, so I had to go with what the Old Man had told me.? I usually did more planning than this, but it couldn't be helped.? Speed and surprise were my best assets right now.
Just outside the door, I saw a hand geometry station near the keypad for the door. ?I had a key card but my hand would not be the one associated with it.? Damn it!? I immediately got out my cell phone and called the number for SAS.?
"Jerry, Nick.? We've got another problem.? There's a hand geometry station on the door to the control room.? Can you override it?"
"Yeah.? Things were happening so fast, I forgot that.? Wait one . . . " Jerry said.?
As I stood there, I flashed back to a previous mission.? No time.? No time.? My team was in trouble.? I had to move and I had to go in the door where they were and count on the fact that the enemy wasn't expecting me.? Only this time it wasn't Eric, it was Marti.? I had a visceral reaction to the flashback and almost threw up.? Part of my post-traumatic-stress-disorder.? At least, that's what the doc thought.? Get a grip!? Fuck it!
I heard Jerry talking to me again.? "Nick? Nick, are you there?"
"Sorry.? Yeah, I'm here . . . "
"I've disabled the hand geometry station.? You should be able to get in with just my key card."
"Good work.? Thanks!"
"Yeah, but you better hurry.? This isn't something I can hide from CAS.? They're going to be calling me in a minute to find out what's going on."
"Copy that," I said and hung up.
Gun in hand, I closed my eyes for a moment and slowed my breathing.? This barely took a few seconds, but it was time well spent.? I felt my muscles relax which was what I wanted right now.?
I opened my eyes and swiped the key card.? The control room door clicked open.? I pushed the heavy door open and slipped inside the nerve center of the nuclear station.? Despite my best efforts, the door closed with a dull thud, which sounded like a clap of thunder to me.? I looked to my right and saw the 10-foot-tall instrument panels that the Old Man had described.? I ducked behind them and worked my way round to the end.? It only took a few seconds.?
I peered around the corner and saw I was just outside what I assumed was the shift manager's office.? The door, which had a window in it, was closed and I couldn't see inside.? If I poked my head out too far the control room operators would surely see me.? I looked at my watch.? The five minutes I gave Red Two was almost up.? I waited, hoping none of the operators on watch would need to come behind these instrument panels for any reason.?
?