Once he had arrived at the front entrance of the Algarotti factory, Jeff went to work on the stainless steel lock on the glass front door. From his messenger bag, he retrieved a home-fashioned L-shaped strip of copper and a custom-made pick with a tulipwood handle and aluminum blade. Thirteen seconds after working the lock, he turned the tumbler and opened the door. The lobby reminded him of a credit union office – white walls, grey carpet, fluorescent lights and clear plastic racks with printed collateral. After a quick snarl of his nose, he sprinted to the administrative offices.
He rummaged through Scot’s desk drawers, finding nothing of interest until he reached the largest one. Instead of files, he found personal items – toothbrush, toothpaste, razor and a gi, a garment worn for mixed martial arts. Explains the cauliflower ears. Closing the drawer, Jeff grabbed a couple of sample bottles of water on top of the desk and stuffed them into his messenger bag. For the road.
He decided to check out Victor’s office. Before he could head down the hall, however, he saw the door to that office opening.
Jeff bolted into the bathroom. What the hell? No one’s supposed to be here today. He texted “SOS” to Virginia and Emory. He was about to text more when he heard someone at Scot’s desk.
He inched the bathroom door open just enough to see who would be coming from Victor’s office. It was Scot. Victor’s assistant was now sitting at his desk, typing at the computer.
Great! No telling how long he’s going to be there. How am I supposed to get out? He closed the door and texted Virginia and Emory again. “Scot’s here. I’m stuck in bathroom near his desk. I could use a distraction.”
As the minutes droned by, Jeff kept his ear to the door, waiting for an opportunity to escape. What’s taking them so long? I left the front door unlocked.
At last, the keyboard tapping stopped. Is he finally leaving? Jeff cracked the door again.
Now turned away from the computer monitor, Scot touched his desk in several places as if he were killing ants. He opened the large desk drawer.
Damn! He must’ve realize someone went through his desk. Or, stupid me, that I took his water.
Scot’s eyes darted around the room, and they landed on the bathroom door.
Jeff let the bathroom door close all the way. He stood against the wall, hoping he could hide behind the door when Scot opened it and sneak out while he was checking the stalls for the intruder.
He could hear Scot coming closer. He flattened himself against the wall as much as he could and held his breath. The handle to the bathroom door turned. The door cracked open.
CRASH!
A distant sound he couldn’t decipher made Jeff jump. What was that?
The door closed once again.
Jeff released his breath in a quiet sigh as he realized Scot had left to investigate the source of the noise. He opened the door a crack, and saw no one around. He stepped out of the bathroom and sprinted to Victor’s office.
Jeff walked past the small desk in the corner and glanced at the only thing on it – a photo of Victor and Ian smiling within a white frame. He continued to Victor’s desk and rifled through the drawers. He discovered that one was locked. No problem. He opened it in one swift motion of his lock pick. “Well, look what we have here.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and took a picture of the .32 caliber revolver inside the desk drawer.
As his thoughts flagellated him for his poor choices, Emory realized that he no longer heard voices. Did they pass by? They must have. He waited a moment longer before creeping from the break room in search of a way out. I should’ve asked him where he planned to go once he was inside.
He found his way to the lobby. From where he stood, there were three corridors, including the one that he had just walked through. He peeked down the other two – one leading to the administrative offices and one to ancillary offices – looking for any signs of Jeff.
Maybe he’s trapped somewhere, hiding like I was. Emory pulled out his phone to see if Jeff had texted again. He had! Emory noticed the time the message was sent as he opened it. I must’ve been on the truck. I didn’t even feel it.
The message read, “Scot’s here. I’m stuck in bathroom near his desk. I could use a distraction.”
Emory pocketed his phone and eyed a standalone display that held an assortment of company brochures. He kicked out one of its legs, and the plastic rack crashed to the ground, fanning brochures across the floor.
Emory ran out the front door and into the surrounding woods, hiding behind a thick pine tree. He peered to the side of the trunk to see if anyone followed him out. Two seconds later, he saw Scot exiting the building. Emory watched as Victor’s assistant stood in place and pushed up his glasses to look around for a brief moment before returning inside.
Emory leaned his back against the tree to calm himself, but he yelped when he saw a man now standing in front of him. “Jeff! You startled the crap out of me.”
“You came. Thanks for the distraction.”
“You’re…” Emory gasped. “…welcome.” He grabbed at his heart, which was again banging against his ribcage.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Let’s go. Emory’s fingers dug into his pec, trying to keep his heart in its place.
Jeff could see the tremor in Emory’s hands and the rapid rise of and fall of his chest. He placed his hands on the special agent’s shoulders. “No, you’re not. Are you having a panic attack?”
Emory nodded.
“Can’t you hold it in until we get to the car?” When Emory growled at him, Jeff had his answer. “Forget I asked. Your pills!”
“Took…a pill. Has…hasn’t…kicked in yet.”
“All right. I’ve been reading about this. I need to calm you down.” Jeff took a deep breath. “Okay. Here goes.” He calmed his voice to a soothing tone. “Picture yourself at a beautiful beach on a remote island, gentle waves lapping at your heels as you lie on the white sand, mojito in hand.” Jeff waited for a few seconds but heard no change in his breathing and still saw the trembling in his hands. “Okay, what’s your happy place?” Emory couldn’t answer, so he took a guess. “Imagine you’re at a shooting range, having a grand old time blowing the heads off targets one after another. You can’t miss. Now imagine your fears, anything that scares you or holds you back, have become the targets. Just like before, you can’t miss. You’re taking them out one by one until there are no more targets. All of your fears, every little thing that causes you stress, they’re all gone. All that’s left is the elation over what you’ve accomplished.”
Jeff stopped talking. Emory was no longer gasping or clutching his chest. He grinned and squeezed Emory’s shoulders. “It worked!”
“Yeah, it did.” Emory smiled as his body relaxed. Actually, I think my pill just kicked in.
“I’m the Miracle Worker. You know, you should consider getting that medication in injections. That way, I could just shoot you with a dart gun the next time you have an attack.”
Emory sneered at him. “I’ll consider it.”
“Are you okay to walk now?”
“I’m fine.” Emory started back to the car with Jeff at his side.
“Who told you this place would be empty today?”
“Scot. Did he see you?”
“Almost. Hey, did you know Victor has a door to the outside?”
“He does? I just remember seeing a closet door in his office.”
“It’s not a closet.” Jeff took out his phone and showed him the photos he had taken. “Look what I found in Victor’s desk.”
“That’s a .32 caliber. The same type of gun that was used to kill Rick’s dog.”
Jeff scowled at him. “Holding onto that bit of information, were you?”
Emory didn’t respond.
“I thought we were partners.”
Emory stopped and pointed at Jeff’s chest, shy of touching it. “You’re not my partner. I have a partner.”
“And where is he?” Jeff looked around with his hands spread. “He’s certainly not here helping you.”
“Helping me what? Helping me by trying to talk me into breaking the law?”
“I hate to have to tell you this, but you did break the law.”
“Technically, I didn’t.” Emory started walking again.
“What, because I picked the lock and you didn’t? You know as well as I do that’s a bogus argument.”
“No. I entered through the back door, which was wide open.”
Jeff grabbed Emory’s arm. “Stop stealing from my playbook, and get that smug look off your face.”
“I’m not smug. I’m just right.” Emory jerked free and continued walking.
“You know, this whole helping-each-other-out thing was a big mistake!” Jeff hastened his stride to get ahead of Emory.
“Agreed!”
The PI hurled himself around and jabbed his finger into Emory’s chest. “You think you’re hot shit because you have a badge. We do the same thing, but you look down on me because I’m not employed by the government. Big deal! I’m you without the badge!”
“Why do you do it?” asked Emory.
“Do what?”
“Your job.”
Jeff threw out his arms. “Why do you think?”
Emory explained, “I joined the bureau to help people – to be part of the greater good.”
Jeff rolled his beautiful eyes. “You’re such a saint.”
“I’m not saying I’m a saint, but my reasons are at the very least bordering on altruistic. Yours are greed and, in this case, competitiveness.”
“I’m done here.” Jeff started walking again. “We’ll take you into town, and you can rent a car or hitchhike or take a bus or whatever. I really don’t care.”
Emory followed a few steps behind Jeff as they plodded through the remaining woods to Virginia’s car. The PI dropped and crouched behind a tree, motioning Emory to do the same. Emory complied and stayed low as he made his way forward to see what had alarmed him. Once he was behind Jeff, he could see a truck on the road just above where Virginia parked her car. Virginia was now standing outside her car talking to the foreman.