Chapter Twelve
"This is insane. You are insane. I'm insane for following you."
"Okay, Thomas? I understand that you're freaking out, I really do. And I appreciate that you're here to stick it out just to lend me a hand; it's an enormous help. But please understand when I say, in as caring a manner as I can, that I need you to shut up now."
Thomas grumbled quietly to himself but had to admit it was not the best time for lengthy debates on the subject of their mental well-being. The pair had walked a few blocks from where Nadia had parked her car to keep from arousing suspicion; they were now across the street from the Icarus Development building, doing their best to keep an eye out for Burgess while looking like anyone else would passing the time during the early evening. This, so far, had involved a great deal of standing around, leaning against a graffiti-ridden wall while talking about nothing in particular and occasionally listening in on those passing them by for ideas whenever their second course of action led them to a standstill. With the number of pubs, nightclubs and other establishments catering to those with a nightlife, the experience was, oddly, not as dull as they had expected.
Nadia checked her watch, seeing it was nearly eight o'clock and was secretly glad that Thomas had insisted they get something to eat after returning from Burgess' apartment with their notes on how to enter the building. Had they come immediately it would have been lighter out, which would have been both a good and bad thing, but she knew she would be starving by this point. And she simply did not do her best work when all she could think about was a pepperoni pizza.
Continuing to watch the exterior of the building, which seemed almost to have grown in height and stature since they last saw it, they pulled into the shadow of a concrete-potted plant as Burgess' hulking shape exited through the front doors. Striding to his car, which bore a striking resemblance to an army vehicle re-done entirely in black, he snarled at the unfortunate employee who had brought it around for him. Climbing in, he quickly peeled away from the curb and drove off in a great hurry; somehow the building was less imposing just for knowing he was no longer inside.
Nadia started across the street as casually as she could while towing her hesitant companion along behind her. Once safely out of the building's line of sight, she let Thomas work his nerve up while she peered around the corner to see what they were up against. The camera mentioned in Burgess' personal files was there all right; it made a steady hum as it panned from one side to the other, searching for would-be intruders. Just like Thomas and herself, she supposed, feeling faint amusement at the thought. Curiously, she saw no other means of security. She supposed that a guard would only complicate Burgess' slipping in and out during work hours, but it still seemed a little sloppy to her. If that was the case, though, then it was entirely possible that there would not be a guard until the night shift came on. They had a window, but they would have to be fast.
Turning to Thomas, she gave a thumbs up and started around the corner, only to feel herself being hauled backward.
She rounded on the young man with a frustrated expression. "Thomas, I swear, if..." She trailed off as he held up his hands in mock-surrender. "What?"
"Humour me for a second," he replied. "I need to see your notes, please."
Yanking them out of her pocket, she handed them to him, irritated, but cooperating. Thumbing through them quickly, he put his finger under a particular sentence and showed her; she felt her face flush as she realized she had forgotten about the hidden switch to deal with the camera.
She smiled sheepishly. "Oh. Right. Um... thanks."
Her friend only smiled patiently and moved to stand beside her as they re-read the excerpt they had copied from Burgess' files. It described the hidden switch as being tucked into a niche at about knee-height on the corner of the office building they presently stood beside; specifically, set into the corner they had between themselves and the I.D.I. building.
Squatting down, they began to feel along the wall for any openings. In the darkening twilight it was difficult to use their eyes; the spot was placed evenly between two streetlights and was not well-illuminated. Feeling her fingers slide across a gap in the concrete, Nadia waved Thomas over. He could not fit his fingers inside and, after attempting it, Nadia found that while hers would fit, she could not reach the button. Standing to prevent their legs from cramping, they rested against the wall for a moment.
Thomas smiled thinly. "Out of sight of the camera or any guards and impossible to press by accident. You could almost think they were trying to make sure it stayed hidden."
Nadia laughed quietly. "Not that most people would notice a back door's camera behaving oddly and think it had anything to do with them in the first place."
"True," he conceded. "Now how do we get at it?"
She frowned. "I can't imagine Burgess having any better luck than us, his hands are twice the size of yours at least. There has to be some kind of trick to this, something they've stashed nearby they can use to press the button."
He nodded in agreement, looking around. He noticed a concrete-potted plant not far up the street from them, nestled beneath a streetlight. It was similar to the one they had hid behind while Burgess took his leave, though it was in the opposite direction of the I.D.I. building. "How about in there?"
Nadia followed his gaze and grinned. "Works for me, let's have a look. Heck, we could use a branch off of the plant itself if we absolutely had to."
Moving to the bush-like plant, they poked around near the base of its stem, but found nothing. Moving up into the bush itself, they had to rely on only their sense of touch; despite the plant being below a source of light, its coarse leaves and clustered branches blocked any illumination from getting more than an inch or two inside. Ignoring the scrapes and splinters they were getting from the branches, the pair made a thorough check of the bush, but could not seem to get their arms in all the way to the centre due to the sheer size of the labyrinthine foliage. Squatting down to take a look at the stem again, Thomas saw a gap in the branches from the bottom. Reaching his hand through the gap, he felt his palm come into contact with something cold. Something metal. Grabbing a hold of it, he removed it carefully from inside its leafy prison and saw a foot-long steel rod in his hand.
Holding it up so Nadia could see, he asked the most relevant question he could think of. "Think this will fit?"
Pushing a few outer branches out of her field of vision, she grinned when she saw his prize. "I'm thinking it will, but we won't know unless we try."
Turning from the bush, they smiled sheepishly at a group that had gathered to watch them, made up mostly of young adults a few years younger than themselves, then hurried past them and back to their corner. Giving the group a few minutes to joke around about their antics, the pair waited for them to move off, then gave the metal rod a try. As they had hoped, when they fitted it into the narrow gap in the concrete, the piece of metal slid inside without complaint. Feeling it press against something at the back of the crevice-like opening, they quickly withdrew their steel instrument and peered around the corner; sure enough, the camera was slowly whirring its way to one side. Once its field of vision was firmly fixated on the alley behind the building, Nadia grabbed Thomas' hand and half-tiptoed, half-sprinted to the doors; she was incredibly thankful that the door opened inwards, as she had not put her gloves on prior to the mad dash. Barging it open with her shoulder, she and Thomas moved further inside just to be certain the camera could not see them.
The hallway they entered was grander than they had expected given that it was little more than a back door. The walls and floor were a polished dark stone, complete with veins of other mineral colours running through it. Soft orange lighting was provided by sconces spaced evenly along the hall's length and lamps hanging from the virtually invisible ceiling, reflecting softly off of the hall's gleaming surfaces. Thomas and Nadia glanced at one another and each gave a soft whistle before laughing nervously.
Feeling the need to keep
them moving, Nadia broke their silence first. "All right; before we do anything else, we need to find disguises. There probably aren't any cameras here, or along Burgess' route when he leaves, but there are bound to be plenty in other areas. We can't just go walking around as we are."
Thomas nodded. "Agreed. Any ideas where we should start?"
"Not just yet," she admitted. "I'm hoping that inspiration will come along as we go."
"We're so going to get caught," he muttered, pinching the space between his eyes.
"Hush you. Don't jinx us yet, we've only just got inside."
Proceeding down the hallway as carefully as they could, feeling like any incautious movement could somehow smudge the immaculate polish of the floor, they were only too grateful when they spied a door leading off of the main thoroughfare.
Nadia opened the door a crack, having retrieved her gloves from her purse, and got the lay of the land. She could see lockers and benches; a changing room of some kind. Listening intently over the sound of her crashing heartbeat, she heard no noise from inside. Nodding at Thomas, she pushed the door fully open. After a moment's pause, she found she had closed her eyes in an involuntary flinch, as if expecting a violent reaction. Blushing softly, she expected some manner of joking remark from Thomas, but found he was doing the same thing. Stifling a giggle, she took a breath and kept a straight face; she'd let this one go without teasing him. Tapping her friend on the shoulder, he opened his eyes and blushed a little himself before following her inside, closing the door quietly behind them.
Inside the changing room, for a changing room it was, they saw a dramatic difference in the decor; white tile and regular concrete walls abruptly replaced the polished grandeur of the previous hallway. More importantly, they saw that some of the lockers were open and held what they hoped to be spare guard uniforms. Thomas rolled his eyes at Nadia's 'I told you so' grin and moved to take a look at one of the uniforms that appeared to be in his size. Nadia moved to examine them as well, but found they were all in men’s sizes. Realizing the obvious truth as to why that would be, she looked around for a door leading to the women's change-room, but found none.
Thomas sat on one of the benches and began removing his shoes, but paused as he saw her looking around in frustration. "What's the matter?"
She looked back toward him hesitantly and was relieved to see he was still clothed. "I don't think the men's and women's rooms are connected."
"Oh," was about all he could manage, realizing he hadn't even thought of it. "Maybe it's across the hall?"
A quick check through the door they had entered proved his theory incorrect. "Nope. Oh, this is bad. We can't go around with only one of us in disguise!"
Thomas did not answer immediately, which peeved her slightly, but her interest was piqued as he started thumbing through the lockers. Pulling out a uniform a few sizes smaller than his own, he held it up so she could see. "How about this?"
"You already have a disguise. Besides, that would never fit you."
He rolled his eyes. "Cute. I meant for you, silly."
She grimaced as she looked it over. "It's still going to be a bit too big, especially around the shoulders and waist. Don't even get me started about the pants."
"Yes, but we can fix some of that. I really don't see how we have much choice, either. We can't go wandering around looking for where the women change; besides, how would that look, a male guard hanging around the entrance to the lady's room?"
She looked at him incredulously for a moment, then sighed as she silently agreed with him. "All right, all right, fine. But you had better not peek while I'm changing."
He placed one hand over his heart, and the other in the air. "Scout's honour."
When she finally allowed Thomas to turn his face from the corner, he saw a baggy-looking guard standing in the middle of the room, limbs obscured by too-long sleeves and with cap askew. He would have laughed, but the look on Nadia's face suggested it would be unwise. The shirt hung over her shoulders loosely, but it was around her waist that it was baggiest; she could have worn a sweater under it and still had room for her purse against her skin. He could tell she had swapped the pants from the uniform he had found for a slightly larger pair; these fit her hips better than the first pair must have, but the legs were almost clownishly baggy and too long.
She looked at him with an expression that dared him to make light of the situation. "Yes, I know, I look ridiculous. Don't you say a word."
He shook his head. "You don't look ridiculous."
"Well, I feel ridiculous."
He pointed at the slack material. "May I?"
She sighed and nodded, holding up her arms; these, too, were encased in too-large sleeves that extended past her fingers. Thomas, doing his best not to make her uncomfortable, smoothed the material back. Gathering it into a fold on each side, he let her get a hold of it. "All right, tuck that under your belt. It's not perfect, but it should make it look like it fits. From the front, anyway."
Following his instructions, she did feel a little better, though her over-long sleeves made it hard for her to use her fingers with their usual dexterity. She rolled them back, frowning as they flopped back over her wrists and hands. "I still feel like I'm wearing some long-lost brother's hand-me-downs."
Laughing softly, Thomas attended to those next, folding them to one side as he had done with her shirt before rolling the sleeves up to hold it in place. He did the same to her pant legs and by the time they were done, she could pass for wearing a woman's uniform. So long as she wasn't closely inspected, anyway.
He stood back to admire his handiwork. "See? Not so bad."
She tugged at her adjusted clothing gently, frowning slightly. "I guess so, but these will never stay in place if we have to run." She rummaged through her purse, producing some spare hair clips. Attaching them to the folds on her sleeves and pant-legs, she nodded in satisfaction at her more secure attire.
Thomas chuckled. "Good idea. If anyone asks, you can say you're trying some new accessories or something fashion-related like that."
She rolled her eyes. "You're such a guy, Thomas. Mock my style if you like, but I feel much better."
"I am a guy, Nadia," he replied. "And let's not forget that you looked like one a few minutes ago, too."
She giggled softly. "I did, didn't I? Think I'll pass for a security guard with my accessories?"
He grinned, turning to a mirror to adjust his collar. "I think most businesses would be proud to have a security guard that flattered their uniform as well as you do."
Nadia was thankful that he had his attention focused on his own appearance; he did not see the blush that rose to her face, or the embarrassed look it brought with it. "Well, I had a good tailor. But we're wasting time. The quicker we're out of here, the better."
Thomas nodded, moving to the door with her and letting her precede him back into the polished hallway. Coming around a corner, they saw a camera ahead; pulling the uniform's caps lower onto their heads to better obscure their faces, they did their best to walk like they were supposed to be there. Holding their breath as they passed the electronic device, they let it out in involuntary gasps as they saw what lay past the camera's sight. The elevators. Normally, not the most intimidating of things, but when the hallway was staffed by half a dozen guards blocking access to the aforementioned method of transporation from either approach, it became more worrying.
Thomas nudged Nadia's arm gently and pointed out that the stairwell was located within the guard's secure area as well. She groaned softly. The lack of security at the doors made sense now; they didn't need to post guards at every entrance if all of the important stuff was above ground floor. Swallowing hard, she took Thomas' hand and started forward, keeping her hat low and silently hoping with every fibre of her being that she was not about to be in a vast amount of trouble. The guards, holding a conversation amongst themselves about a show being held down at the National Arts Centre, glanced at their uniforms and waved them on without
so much as a second look. Nevertheless, it was not until they had stepped into the first elevator past the guards that the pair resumed breathing.
Nadia, realizing she was still holding Thomas' hand, let go and forced a grin past her nerves. "Well, we're in."
Thomas nodded, only able to manage a shaky smile for himself. "Yeah, we are. Can we leave yet?"
She rolled her eyes. "No, we can't leave. We need to decide on where we should start looking. What we're looking for is pretty sensitive stuff, so I'm going to go ahead assume it would be in Burgess' office. Unfortunately, we don't know which floor that's on."
Thomas tilted his head to one side, deciding it was better to help and get this over with as quickly as possible than to slow them down and prolong the experience. "Wouldn't it be near the top? I mean, isn't that where the big shots usually are?"
Nadia frowned, thoughtfully this time. "I don't think so. Normally I imagine you would be right, but if you're the chief of security you need to be able to address issues as they come up. In a building like this, most issues are coming from the ground floor, so you need to be nearer to that." She sighed before continuing. "I think we're going to have to check the lower floors one at a time until we find it. But we'll have to do a quick round of each floor, even if it isn't the right one. If we stop at each floor to poke our heads out, look around, and keep going up, someone is going to notice."
He fidgeted with his collar again, nodding at her assessment of the situation. She was definitely right about that, but that didn't change the fact that they had a lot of building to cover and no idea how much time they had to work with. Worse, he felt one of his bad feelings coming on, the sort that told him they should be gone sooner rather than later. Admittedly, his feelings had been wrong before, like at Black's apartment. He hoped he would be wrong again. But he doubted it.
In Icarus' Shadow Page 22