Page 80 of Girl, Empty
‘Got it.It’ll take an hour for us to get there.’
‘Done.And Mia, bring everything.’
‘Everything?’
Ella thought about all of the locked rooms she’d seen in the past few days.All of the technologies that Calvin Roth had rendered useless.‘Battering rams, crowbars, bolt cutters.I don't care if you have to raid a construction site.Tonight we're going old school.He might be able to hack a bank vault, but that smug son of a bitch can’t hack through a sledgehammer.’
‘Fuck technology.That’s what you’re saying?’
‘That’s what I’m saying.We go in like it’s 1985.’
‘On it.And Dark?If you get there before us, don't go in alone.You hear me?Do not go in that building without backup.’
Ella killed the call without answering, because they both knew she’d be lying if she agreed.She floored the gas and got close to 100 miles an hour.
One hour left, and that was 59 minutes too long.
***
Kevin Wolfe’s drive to Elan was a ghost run.MLK Day had rendered the interstate an empty river of asphalt, and Kevin made the fifteen-mile journey in twelve minutes flat.Maybe hewouldbe back before Sandra’s chicken had gone cold.
He left his car in his personal spot by the main entrance – the only vehicle in a lot designed for 500, then he began the ritual of entrance.At the glass doors, Kevin swiped his keycard and entered the marble lobby.He found the elevator, swiped again, and pushed the button for the sixth floor.Server Room 42A was on the top floor of the main administrative wing, which was an area he really didn't want to visit, especially not in this weather because he had to cross the roof to get there.In these winds, one violent gust could blow him a hundred feet to the pavement below.
Another checkpoint followed after the elevator.He swiped the door with his keycard, then followed the corridor down to the service stairwell that led to the roof.Up one more flight, pushing through a heavy door marked ‘Roof Access – Alarm Will Sound.’Except the alarm didn't sound.Kevin had disabled it years ago when he'd built a new room up here for the servers.He subscribed to the Japanese philosophy of extension; build vertically, not horizontally.Use all that empty space between our heads and the clouds.
The cold air stung his face as he exited out onto the roof.He pulled up the collar of his jacket, shut the door behind him, and made his way across the roof.It was a beautiful view from up here, and happened to be the tallest building within a couple of miles.In downtown Indianapolis, he wouldn't have even touched the halfway point of some of the monoliths they had down there, but just outside of the city, Elan could reign supreme, height-wise.
Kevin reached what he called the server hut.People joked that it looked like Elan had built a garage on top of the building, which they pretty much had.Kevin was about to swipe his way into the hut when his cell chirped.
He fished it out.
Not another server error, thankfully.
A call from an unknown number.
Maybe it was the IT guy.He must have got the same error.
‘Kevin speaking,’ he answered.
‘Hi, Mr.Kevin Wolfe?My name’s Agent Ripley and I’m working with State police.Are you in a safe place?’
‘Police?No, I’m not in a safe place.Far from it.’
‘Where are you?’
‘Why are you asking this?Is this some kind of a joke?’
‘No, sir.We have reason to believe you might be a target.Can you get somewhere safe and wait for us?’
‘A target?A target of what?’A gust of wind nearly tore the phone from his hand.He turned his back to the gale and fumbled with his keycard, swiping it at the server hut's reader.‘I think you might have the wrong person.’
‘We don’t, sir.Can you tell us where you are?This is very important.’
Kevin stepped across the threshold into humming server room.He was about to tell this cop just how ridiculous she sounded when his brain registered the anomaly.
The shadow.The shape that didn't belong, standing between the server racks, with a long piece of metal held in its hand.
And then there was silence.
