Page 51 of Agency
At a time like this, though, when I was on the verge of having nothing but a rope to keep me from going splat on the concrete below? Even my heart was racing nearly as fast as it had last night in the back of Andrew and Jericho’s SUV.
So, Ialmostprayed. Because, if anyone really was up there listening, they’d probably just laugh and shake their head. Before denying me, of course, and maybe making my rope snap.
Better not to take any chances and alert anyone upstairs.
Maintaining an “L” shape with my body just like they’d taught in boot, and keeping my hands at twelve and six, I went over the edge. With wind rushing by even more fiercely than before and cars honking with a sudden immediacy, I was suspended over the city far below with nothing but some nylon rope and an almost-prayer to keep me from going splat.
Steady, quiet, and smooth, I made my way down the side of the building. This was the easy part–getting in. Only one floor to go. The hard part would be what followed, after I’d handled my client in the penthouse.
I glanced back and down. Ten feet below, light streamed through the glass door and out onto the unoccupied balcony.
I dropped another five feet, braked with my twelve-o’clock hand. With the other, I unzipped my fanny pack and fished out my burner, dialed the number I’d earlier typed in.
The phone rang. Twice. Then the line disconnected.
Deep within the building’s sub-basement, an explosion went off. Not that I heard the explosion, of course. Small enough, and far enough away, thekaboomwould have been inaudible to anyone who wasn’t in the immediate vicinity.
But, it didn’t matter who heard the little pack of homemade explosives going off. What mattered was that I’d read the schematics the Agency’s “IT Department” had managed to retrieve from the city systems, and I saw the effect as the explosion took out the electrical breakers for the entire hotel.
Below me, the lights cut out, along with every light in the whole building.
You’d be surprised by what kind of information a halfway decent hacker can pull. Information like where main electrical junctions, backup generators, and transformers are.
“Hello?” I asked under my breath as I tucked my burner back away. “Anyone there? No? So sorry, have a great night.”
Lowering myself the rest of the way and dropping into a crouch on the balcony, I un-clipped from the line and began to fish out my glass cutter even as men’s muffled, indistinct voices came from inside. Movement within, too. Barely more than shadows, two tall, broad, masculine shapes met in the middle of what looked like a central living area just beyond the room I was breaking into.
“Fuck. You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
“You call the desk yet?”
“Hold on.” One of the shapes moved away. “Phones are out, too. You have a number for the desk?”
Then, a woman’s voice as I attached the suction cup to the sliding glass door and began to cut a circle just above where they’d set a length of wood as a manual blocker.
“What’s going on?” a young woman asked, her voice carrying the hint of an accent. “Power’s still on for the rest of the city.” Stella, was my guess.
“Not sure. Get back in your room, though.”
“Why? Is something wrong?” she asked. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought her voice trembled as she spoke. “What’s the matter, Thomas?”
“I said to get back in your room, Stella. Go. We’re just being cautious.”
Wooden block gone, I tried the door. Unlocked. I slid the glass door open and drew my Ruger, flicked off the safety. My breath was like a jet engine turbine in my ears as I stepped inside, and I could practically feel the blood pulsating through my veins as my adrenaline rushed and rushed.
“Fine, fine,” she said, her voice surprisingly conciliatory for the leader of the BGC. “There’s a card over there on the desk that concierge left, though. Don’t say I never help.”
“Sure,” began one of the men, pronouncing the wore as “shore.” When he continued, his voice sounded tense. “I’ll check the front and see if the power’s out for the whole floor.”
Was that?
No.
No, couldn’t be.
But, still, his voice was familiar sounding enough that I drew up short as my mouth went dry.
A moment later, a door closed somewhere within the penthouse, but still not too far away. “Thomas, you call.”
