"So far, so good,"
said the man in charge. He stood in a darkened room directly across the street
from the building Pia had just entered. "Now she and her friend have to
make it down two floors, avoiding the security guards in the process, and get
into the attorney's office."
Kerry scrubbed a hand over
his face. "Sometimes you take this reality thing a bit too far. Would it
have hurt anything to let the guards know what the hell's going on?"
"Yes, Kerry, it would
have because one of them is on Demarco's payroll. And before you ask, we don't
know which one it is. Our informant didn't have a name."
"Well you could figure
it was the man responsible for checking the fourth floor."
"They use a rotating
system so that no one guard covers a specific floor."
Kerry nodded.
"Excellent idea from a security stand point, lousy as far as we're
concerned. But if one works for Demarco he'll be certain to check that floor
even if it takes him off rotation for a few minutes."
"Undoubtedly, and he'll
notify Demarco when Pia and her friend are on it, which should be right about
now unless they run into trouble on the way down."
* * * *
"Someone should tell
the maintenance crew to rinse their mops better," Tito whispered under his
breath.
Pia clapped a hand over his
mouth as she pressed the stethoscope to the door. A moment later she cracked
the door open a fraction of an inch, then enough to slip into the hallway. Tito
was behind her a second later. She pointed to the exit at the far end of the
hall. He nodded, followed in her footsteps, and then waited, every sense on
alert, as she disarmed the alarm so that they could get into the fire exit
stairwell.
"Any more security we
have to worry about between here and our destination?" he asked quietly.
"The door to hall when
we get down there, and of course any more guards." She gave him a pointed
look. "You, il mio dolce, get to deal with them if we do."
Tito cocked an eyebrow. "Won't
that sort of give the game away?"
"Hopefully there won't
be a problem. They're on a half hour rotation schedule, which should give us
time to get in and out unless I run into any more surprises."
"I'll take your word
for it."
* * * *
"Demarco's here, let
the games begin," Kerry's superior said as he headed to the door. When
Kerry started to follow, the man shook his head. "I'm afraid you're too personally
involved at this point. You stay here."
"Like hell," Kerry
growled.
The man sighed. "It's
here or I have one of my men escort you to the station house and sit on you
until this is over. You're choice."
"Here," Kerry
replied shortly, not intending to do that.
"Watch him," the
man said succinctly to one of the officers before leaving the room with the
rest of his men in tow.
"Sorry, Kerry,"
the officer said, leaning against the door, arms crossed.
"Not your fault. Now
move please."
"No can do."
Kerry shrugged. "Shit
happens." He crossed to the side door of the room and was through it
before the officer realized what he was doing. In no time at all he was heading
up the fire stairs to the next floor and then out of the building via the fire
escape.
Rounding the corner out of
the alley moments later, he watched from the shadows as a man stepped out of a
dark car and strode to the entrance of the attorney's building. Because he knew
they were there, he was able to spot the cops who were on surveillance. He
hoped Demarco hadn't.
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