Recurrence

by Dave Norem

  Doing it without making a mess was more difficult, but others had been helping create the mess all day. The most irritating part was doing it in his stocking feet so that he didn’t leave any footprints on the seat. He had to push his shoes up ahead of himself, and then put them back on while crouched in the dark.

  He had to double-check the aisles before the climb, and then do it quickly so that someone didn’t walk in on him. Doing this without knocking down telltale debris, and then replacing the tile quickly, was exerting. That and waiting while crouched in the limited space above the solid divider wall for hours were the hardest parts. Coming down would be easier and he could leave his shoes on.

  After his eyes adjusted to the gloom above the ceiling, he could see light from both of the restrooms below. He knew it would not be difficult to look down and spy on anyone in the ladies’ room, but he only took a quick look when it was empty.

  He didn’t turn on his walkie-talkie until after 10:00 o’clock. During his wait, there had been more than enough noise from the store below. He could have worked without anybody hearing him, unless they were in one of the bathrooms below while he was directly above them. He stayed in place though, afraid he’d dislodge something and give himself away.

  When the cleaning crew-member arrived, it was with a radio playing colored gospel music while he or she worked, and it covered what little noise he might have made above that area. Several minutes after everything was quiet he clicked his transmit button twice, indicating his area was clear. It was another twenty minutes before he received the all-clear signal from John.

  Cramer laid out his tools, turned on his light, and unstrapped the roll of cable from his body. He immediately noticed an object lying near the junction box, but partly covered. He chuckled to himself as he picked up a Craftsman #2 Phillips screwdriver; the originally clear handle yellowed with age. It had probably been up there since the store was built and he guessed it to be older than the building by many years.

  He pocketed the screwdriver and continued his work, cutting first the phone wires and then the power-line wires one at a time. After he was finished, he signaled with his transmit button and turned off the light. He received an acknowledgement click and then waited the agreed-on fifteen minutes before receiving another all-clear click. This was the most dangerous time since they had no way of knowing if there was a previously undetected backup system. For all he knew the place might be silently surrounded.

  After the second all-clear signal, he turned his small flashlight back on and secured the end of his cable near the cut lines. He strung it across to a spot near the wall and set it down. Using the hammer, he tried driving a gutter nail up through the roof, but after two inches he hit something solid that he couldn’t penetrate. He was able to work the nail free and use it again in another spot. After four more tries and two stuck nails, he broke through. He wiggled the nail and then felt John grab and wiggle it from the roof above, a sign that things were on track.

  With both of them working the nail, it was soon free. John forced a quarter-inch dowel-rod down through the hole with his body-weight. Then they both worked it around in an orbit, enlarging the hole until it too was free. After John pulled the dowel back out, Cramer fed the end of his cable up through the hole. With him feeding it, John quickly pulled all of the free cable up onto the roof. He would finish the outside work while Cramer carried on below.

  Cramer worked across by counting ceiling tiles until he should be above the counting room; then found wires running to a light fixture nearby. He shut off his flashlight for a couple minutes and waited for his eyes to adjust. Easing up the edge of a ceiling tile, he saw a faint light below. Peering through the crack, he saw that he was only one tile off from where he wanted to be, and he would still be over a solid wall.

  Like over the restrooms, the interior walls were only ceiling high and the suspended ceiling was laid over the entire thing: a cheap-shot construction shortcut. The roof itself was supported by pre-fabricated steel rod-and-angle trusses placed at ten-foot intervals. Fortunately for him, they were positioned and spaced right and he wouldn’t have to crawl through or under any of them.

  Most of the suspension wires were tight and the grid held his spread weight with only slight tension. He could venture out over the ceiling fixture but John, thirty pounds heavier than Cramer’s one-fifty-five, would have to stay over the walls or crawl across—and work from a truss.

  He worked his way over to the light fixture and removed the scanty piece of insulation batting that was covering it. While moving across, he’d noticed that there was very little insulation anywhere above the ceiling, and most of it was blanketing light fixtures.

  There were spider webs of wires and cables of all kinds for lights, switches, intercoms, alarms, and telephones. He was glad to see this, knowing one more small cable wasn’t likely to be noticed even if someone did look up here for something.

  Cramer eased up one side of the tile he’d just crossed and shined his light down into the room. By stretching out and putting his head down to the base of the incandescent ceiling fixture, he could see down into part of the room through an unused screw-hole. What he saw pleased him immensely: the front of the vault, both of its dials, and the handle were visible.

  The fact that it had two dials was not good news though, and he hoped that the miniature camera lens was as good as his man said it would be. At least now, he knew what was needed.

  After moving back to the wall, he completely removed the ceiling tile he had raised before, and then lowered himself into the room—directly onto a table top. The faint light he’d seen was coming from a small light fixture in the back hall. It was diffused through frosted glass in both of the receiving room doors.

  He switched his flashlight on again and inspected the ceiling fixture from the bottom. It was a typical two-bulb bedroom fixture with a dusty frosted globe and oversized bulbs. He determined that his camera could be mounted in the fixture base and anyone looking up would be blinded enough by the light that it wouldn’t be noticed. He decided that when he did it he would make a three or four-hole pattern so that it wouldn’t be noticed as an odd hole. He made a quick inspection of the door locks on the receiving room doors and then the vault door itself. He tried the handle, but of course it was locked.

  He looked the dials over close enough and long enough to memorize the pattern of the numbers in case the camera wouldn’t be able to read-in that close. Both of the counting room doors knob-locked from the inside and he eased into the back hall.

  After listening for any sounds, he went back to the men’s room and checked for signs of his passage. He picked up and pocketed a few tiny particles of ceiling tile that might well have fallen under normal conditions. With time to spare, he went through the offices looking for anything that might help or hinder them.

  He received the cable-ready signal from John and retreated, locking the doors behind him. Using the counting table that he’d come down onto, he pulled himself back up and crossed over the ceiling, back to his cable. In a few more minutes everything was connected. He signaled and returned to the counting room.

  He picked up the few small pieces of ceiling tile that had fallen there too, and stood on the counting table waiting for the ten-minute all clear; prepared to go either way. The signal came, and he carefully replaced the tile, dusting off the table when he’d finished. His conclusion was that any other debris that might fall wouldn’t really be noticeable unless you were looking specifically for it.

  Satisfied that nothing looked out of place, he keyed the transmit button with an all-done signal. The answering signal came just a couple minutes later. He tried the alarm key to make sure that it worked the switch, and then let himself out through the emergency exit. It was 1:30 AM.

  Seconds later he was at the downspout, pulling the cable free. With a dime-store miniature keyhole-light clamped in his teeth, He removed the pieces of tape f
rom the switches, stuck the pieces in his shirt pocket, and flipped the switches to the “ON” position. No alarms sounded so he quickly secured them with new tape, folded the cable, and stuffed it back up into the pipe. By 1:35 he had signaled again, and was waiting behind a semi-trailer at the far end of the dock.

  John picked him up within a minute and they rode through side streets for a few blocks and then through a residential area—in silence. From there they circled back to the main highway where they were less likely to be noticed.

  Not too long before Cramer began his work between the roof and ceiling, and after the store had closed, John had started his part of it. First, he had to make sure that all of the stragglers were gone from the store and the parking lots. When he was sure it was safe, he staggered into the dock area as if he were drunk and bumped into each of the three semi-tractors in turn. He paused long enough at each one to listen and feel for movement. If any were occupied, the occupants were either in a deep sleep or didn’t want to know who was out there.

  He attempted to access the roof by climbing to the top of the loose trailer, but he couldn’t reach it. He climbed back down and looked around for something to elevate him at least another two feet. The back of the building was recessed to accommodate the docks and he spotted a pile of debris alongside a drive-up ramp on the inside corner. He found what he was looking for in the pile, an extra-long wooden pallet.

  He lugged the pallet to the empty trailer and wedged it up between the rear door of the trailer and the building. Returning to the trash pile, he found some lengths of steel banding, two were still clamped in a complete loop.

  He carried them and one other band back to the trailer and ascended the back of it high enough to brace himself on the ledge at the bottom of the doors. Then he looped the first two bands around the ends of the skid, tied the two together with the third, and bent the ends over to help keep the knot intact. After a brief rest, he continued his climb to the top of the trailer. Just as he reached for it, he received his first all-clear signal from Cramer. There would be more to come. He gave an acknowledgement and pulled himself on up.

  He hoisted the pallet up to where he wanted it, tilted from the back corner of the trailer roof to the wall of the building, and was able to climb onto the roof. He grabbed the banding and pulled the heavy pallet up after himself, vowing to have a grappling hook the next time. He made a quick check from the perimeter of the roof for pedestrians and to make sure no cars were arriving in packs. Satisfied, he gave his fifteen-minute all-clear signal.

  He untied the banding and carried it over to the corner above where he’d found it, and left it there. Staying low, he peered over each side of the building in turn, checking traffic patterns.

  He transmitted another all-clear signal and waited a minute, but didn’t get a response. He hadn’t gotten a haul-ass signal either, so he wasn’t overly concerned. In just a few seconds, he felt a vibration in the roof near him and moved closer to it. He could tell Cramer was trying to drive the long spike up through the roof. After several more attempts in the same area, the point came through.

  During the time that Cramer was making his excursion after feeding the cable through, John had straightened it out on the roof to make sure there were no kinks, stripped back the outer insulation, and cut the ends to different lengths. He worked it through the wall vents and into the gutter, constantly checking for traffic.

  He pulled the ends back over the roof ledge, stripped them, and wired in the miniature switches he’s brought for the job; connecting them with small wire-nuts. He taped over all of the spaced-out joints, creating one long slender tape-joint with a row of switches at the end. Had the individual joints been the same length, both joints and switches would have been too bulky to fit down the drainpipe. He checked to be sure the switches were all in the ‘OFF’ position and taped each of them in place. He had to work intermittently so that he wouldn’t show a profile whenever any traffic or pedestrians were in the area.

  Although things were quieter now, it was still early, and he had to watch for the police cruiser too. They didn’t disappoint him, cruising through at ten minutes after midnight. The driver slowed only long enough to shine his spotlight on the emergency door, and then moved on through without bothering to shine the light on the three rigs, dock-doors or the loose trailer at the far end.

  After feeding the cable along the gutter, John worked it down the drainpipe, occasionally hanging up on what he guessed was small sticks or leaves fallen from the trees up on the bluff. He had doubled two feet of cable at the end, and the loop slowed his progress. When it showed at the bottom, he pulled it back up just enough so that it wouldn’t protrude.

  He worked the slack back out of the cable along the gutter, covering it with leaves as he went. It was expensive cable -designed for underground telephone use- and could survive the wet environment. Back across the roof, he pushed the excess cable back down through the hole onto the ceiling below. He hoped Cramer would check it before he left the building, but had forgotten to mention it.

  Next, he sealed the hole from a small can of roofing cement that he’d prepared and brought for the purpose, spreading it with a putty knife supplied by the store. It wouldn’t do for a roof leak to show up where their wires came through.

  He finished on top by spreading damp leaves over the cable and the spot where it entered the roof. He pressed a few into dabs of roofing cement so they wouldn’t blow away.

  He checked for traffic and then returned to the other side where he threw the banding back down onto the pile of trash. He carried the pallet along the roof past an air handling system and set it down where it would be out of sight from the rear of the building. He was surprised to find two more pallets and a pile of construction debris there too.

  He lowered himself over the edge and pushed out, dropping to the trailer roof. It was a relatively short fall, but he slipped and nearly fell off when the wet bottoms of his shoes hit the bare aluminum. “Damned leaves,” he muttered from his hands and knees.

  The rest of the descent was easy, and he made it back to the car in the theatre parking lot at 1:15. He eased the car out and moved it over near an open restaurant-and-tavern with the name Red*Spot flickering in neon inside the window. There were still a few cars in the parking lot and Country-and-Western music could be heard blaring through the closed door. They hadn’t even noticed the business before—when it was closed.

  He had no sooner shut off the ignition when he got the finished-inside signal. He responded with his own signal and waited, watching for traffic and trying to spot Cramer as he worked the switches at the downspout. Even though he knew Cramer was there, probably hunched over with a penlight in his teeth, he could only spot faint movement in the shadows.

  He didn’t remember if Cramer was wearing red or brown. Both were their typical night-work colors: not as conspicuous as black but just as effective. The movement he saw was near ground level and was no more than what a cat or dog might have made in passing. In less than another five minutes, he received Cramer’s finished-outside signal and was rolling out of the parking lot.

  He cruised back through the access and past the emergency door and truck docks. When he turned into the street and saw that it was clear, he sent his ready signal and looped back into the lot, arriving at the back corner just in time to pick up his partner.

  After they both relaxed John said, “No real problems on the outside.”

  “Everything’s good inside too, but we’ll have to go back in at least twice before we’re ready. You will fit up in there, but you’ll have to stay over the walls. I’ll install the camera.” Cramer slumped down in the seat, exhausted.

  After a minute of silence, he continued, “There’s two dials on the vault door. It was the two-man, two-combination, thing in the notes that threw us both off. As soon as I saw the dual-dials it all made sense.”

  John nodded, “Aha, mystery sol
ved. When you came out and switched the alarm back on I never saw you at all, even with your light.”

  From his slumped position, Cramer tapped the dash with his fingers. “Smooth as cream, that’s me.”

  John only had one more question for him on the way out of town. “How are we going to run power and signal lines to the camera and monitor, from the store?”

  “The camera will be battery powered and I believe the monitor will too. If I have to, I’ll tap into power from the light fixture. We’re going to watch from up there anyway.”

  John tapped the steering wheel. “That solves the major problems, but it still sounds pretty risky.”

  “We’ll do what it takes. There’s actually a plywood ceiling over the vault and the vault itself is solid enough to support us and muffle any sound or movement. You don’t have to worry about anything falling through either.

  “That sounds better,” John replied.

  A few days later, they were in Rockville to pick up the camera and monitor.

  Cramer’s face was red with white blotches. “You want three thousand dollars! For two pieces?”

  The fat, older, bald-headed man in the checkered shirt wasn’t perturbed by his anger. “Son, this is the latest-technology, high-resolution Hitachi camera and Sony monitor. We’ve done business before, so I know you’re a repeat customer.”

  “You can do Better. Think about it,” Cramer growled.

  Thirty minutes later, they left with the Hitachi Camera and a twelve-inch Heath-Kit monochrome television, to use as a monitor.

  “I had him unhook the speaker in this thing just to make sure there wouldn’t be any sound out of it,” Cramer said while indicating the TV. “The resolution’s just as good as the Sony and it has a big built-in battery pack. Hand built by my electronics guru friend back there too.”

  John said, “Fifteen hundred is a lot better than three thousand too.”

  “Yeah, and seven-fifty back if we return them both in good shape,” Cramer replied.