22. Merlin
22
MERLIN
The tension in the room is almost a living, breathing thing. So thick you could cut through it.
“Yeah, it’s a pretty strange message she left for Merlin, and pretty damn cryptic too. But we can only assume since Leila specifically referenced Armatrout that she’s maybe referring to him kidnapping and holding Commander North hostage.
“So, based on that train of thought, we’re wanting to tap into StanCorp’s surveillance system and see if we can get eyeballs on what’s happening. Although, to be honest, we’re not even sure there’re cameras in Leila’s office,” Ace says to Tex. He’s got the call on speaker phone so we can all hear what the man has to say.
“Shouldn’t be too much of a hassle. Depending on what their security on the system is like, it may take a bit to get it, but I don’t foresee any major problems,” Tex replies.
“Could you find blueprints for us too, please? I don’t want to go in blind. I know the basic layout of reception, but I’ve barely been past that point except to escort Leila to her office,” I add.
“You got it. I’ll let you have that soonest.”
“Thanks, Tex. Appreciate it,” I reply.
“No thanks necessary. I’ll be in touch.” And then we’re listening to dead air.
The man never says goodbye. At first, we found it weird, but now? It’s no less weird, we’ve simply gotten used to it.
Since there’s not much to do until we hear back from Tex, we throw around some strategies and ideas on breaching the building. Not once does it occur to us to reach out to the police or any of the ABC agencies. All we see is one of us is in trouble, and we intend to take care of the threat.
True to his word, Tex is back on the line in what feels like forever but, in reality, isn’t long at all.
“I’ll give it to Stanton. He’s not skimped on his surveillance system. It’s proving to be a little trickier than I first thought, but I’m almost there. Give me a minute and I should be in.”
My stomach clenches as we wait impatiently, just like it always does when we’re about to go into a hostile situation.
Silence hangs tense and unbroken in the room as we listen to Tex do his thing.
“Yeah, you can play hard to get all you like, but we both know you can’t keep me out, baby. I’ll breach your defenses and reveal your secrets,” we hear Tex mumble, unable to bite back a grin despite the worry. “Come on, let me in. You know you want to.” The keys click rapid fire as his fingers fly over his keyboard, doing whatever computer wizardry he’s doing, and then we hear the magic words we’ve been waiting for. “Yes, you sweet thing.”
A long, low whistle can be heard clearly over the phone. “Yes, indeed, Phillip Stanton did not spare a penny on this set up. So, it took a bit longer than anticipated, but I’m in. Currently, I’m looking at the lobby. I’m combing through the system as we speak, so I can home in on anything in or near Leila’s or Stanton’s office.”
More furious clicking and then, payday. “All right then, it seems there’s video, but no audio in Leila’s office. It’s empty at the moment ...” Tex is silent for a couple of fraught minutes. Then he says, “Can’t see any sign of a struggle or anything out of the ordinary, except for her office phone being taken off the hook. No one’s in there, nothing disturbed. Let me see if I can find something for Stanton.”
Once again, he falls silent, tapping away at his keyboard. I can only imagine how fast his fingers must be flying over the keys, judging by the rapid fire tapping coming from his side.
“Shit. Not good.” His words have the room going electric.
“What’s not good, Tex?” I ask, nerves crawling at his words.
“We’ve got a situation, gentlemen. Leila, Stanton, and Mason are in Stanton’s office. Mason has a weapon — I’ll have to zoom in to see what make. Leila’s bound to one of the office chairs, and Stanton, well, Stanton’s on the floor in a crumpled heap.
“So I’m guessing Mason’s either knocked him out cold, or he’s shot him. Either way, things are not looking good. Mason’s got a good head of steam going by the way he’s flapping his free hand around, but the weapon’s firmly trained on Leila.”
That’s the moment my heart about stops beating. Knowing Mason, or Whitcomb — whatever the asshat wants to call himself — has a weapon aimed at my Leila makes me want to rip his arm off and beat him with it. There’s a buzzing in my ears at the image in my mind’s eye, and I don’t hear another word Tex says.
“Yo, Merlin, focus, brother. We need your head in the game, or you’re useless to us,” Ace says, snapping his fingers in front of my face.
“Yeah, sorry. Allowed myself to get distracted for a second there. Won’t happen again,” I reply.
“You can’t help Leila if it does,” Ace replies, a frown creasing his forehead as his assessing eyes roam my face.
“You’re right. I know it. Like I said, it won’t happen again.” Ace nods at my words, then turns back to listen as Tex speaks again.
“I’ve sent a link to the blueprints to your phone, Ace. It’s pretty detailed and comprehensive and should get you where you need to go with no problems. But you can always reach out if you need more, or something else.”
“Thanks, Tex. We’ll have a look at it now. We’ll be in touch, but let us know if anything changes before we’re ready to head out, yeah?” Ace replies.
“You know it. Later.” Tex once again hangs up on us.
“Merlin, grab your laptop and let’s check out those blueprints so we can get this show on the road,” Ace says, clearly as eager to get going as I am.
Wordlessly, I turn and dash from the room to collect my laptop from my home office. Returning, I place it down on my dining room table, and he takes a seat in front of the thing. We all gather round and study the floor plans when he gets them up on the screen.
We discuss the best entry point to give us the shortest route to their suite of offices, and the one with the least chance of being spotted. Throwing ideas around, we put a solid extraction plan together, happy we’ve covered all the angles. We’re about to head out when Ace points out it’s only courteous to alert Stanton’s head of security to the threat in the building to avoid any hassles with security in our pursuit of rescuing Leila and Stanton, and apprehending Mason.
“Yeah, you’re right. And I should have thought of that,” I say, as I rub the back of my neck to ease the tension sitting there. Bless them, no one says a word. “I’ll get on that immediately. Let’s roll — I’ll call while we’re on the move.”
I head for my bedroom, opening one of the closets to access my gun safe. I grab a bag with gear – comms, protective wear, and all kinds of spare gear I keep on hand. Always at the ready, as Leila would say.
“Let’s roll,” I say, as I get back to the others.
Grabbing my phone, I dial StanCorp’s switchboard instead of Leila’s direct office number. I hold my breath, praying Lucy’ll answer and, as luck would have it, that’s exactly who does.
“StanCorp head office, good day. This is Lucy speaking. How may I assist you?”
“Lucy, hey. It’s Kyle Jackson — from this morning ...”
“Oh, hi, Mr. Jackson. How may I assist you?”
Lying through my teeth, I say, “I chatted with Leila — Ms. Asherton — earlier, and I just need to follow up something with your head of security. Do you think you could put me through real quick?”
“Yes, of course. That’s no problem. Please hold while I transfer your call to Mr. Bridges,” she replies.
“Thank you, I ‘ppreciate it.” Bingo. Now I have the name of the man whose day is about to get a whole lot worse. Whether is because of a genuine situation or a wild goose chase based on a hunch, remains yet to be seen.
“It’s my pleasure. You’re going through. Have a good day.” Canned elevator music assaults my ears as I hold to speak to Mr. Bridges.
“Security.” The voice on the other end is no-nonsense and to the point.
“Yeah, could I speak to Mr. Bridges, please?”
“Sure, just a second.” I hear the man cover the mouthpiece of the phone but still hear his muffled, “Paul, phone for you.” Then I hear buttons being pushed and the line rings in my ear again.
“Bridges.” Apparently one word to answer the phone is the order of the day.
“Hey there. This is Kyle Jackson, I’m a friend of Leila Asherton’s. I was wondering if I could come see you about a rather urgent matter. I can be there in roughly twenty minutes.”
“Can I ask what this is about?” he asks.
“It’s sensitive and not something I care to discuss over the phone. I’d prefer to do so in person. And I think you’re really going to want to hear what I have to tell you since it affects your CEO’s safety.”
“Sir, if you’re threat—” the man says, tone harsh.
“No, nothing like that,” I interrupt. “Or rather, not from me at any rate. I’m on my way, we’ll talk when I get there, yeah?”
He’s silent for so long I check to see if the line is still connected. “I’ll alert the front desk,” is all he finally replies, and with that he hangs up.
In what feels like forever, but is more like fifteen minutes, we arrive at the StanCorp offices. As if Lady Luck is smiling down on us, a car is just pulling out of a parking space as we’re searching for one. Parked and itching to get going, I hop out. Leaning into Ace’s SUV, I nod toward Kansas’s vehicle pulled up beside us. “I’m going to head in, see if I can get things rolling with Bridges. As soon as Kansas finds a spot come find me. I’ll leave instructions at the desk — just ask for Lucy.”
True to his word, Bridges notified the front desk to let me on up, and in no time at all I’m standing in his office. My skin is crawling with nerves at how much time has passed since I received Leila’s message. All I can do is pray that we won’t be too late.