Yoko peered through the peephole of the door to check that there was no one in the hallway. She pointed to the security camera above the elevator, then pointed to the stairs. The three quickly slipped out and followed her lead. Once they were on ground level, they exited through the parking garage door. Yoko opened the rear hatch of the SUV and tossed her gear into the car, while Izzie took the front passenger seat, and Maggie got in the back. Yoko was the designated driver, since she was the most familiar with the layout of the outer perimeter of the property.
They drove down the main road, then turned off when they came upon the construction site entrance. No gates, no personnel, no lights. At the moment, there was little to be secured. A NOTRESPASSINGsign was the only deterrent, and for these women, there was no such thing.
Yoko parked in a secluded spot and turned the vehicle around in order to make for a quick exit. She looked at Maggie in the rearview mirror. “Ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be!”
Yoko got out of the driver’s seat, and Izzie got behind the wheel. Maggie was right on Yoko’s heels.
“Follow me.” Yoko jerked her head in the direction of their target, approximately a hundred yards away. She carefully looked ahead of each step to be sure there were no booby traps. So far it appeared to be clear. They continued in a crouched position until they were against the fence. Yoko scanned the top. No barbwire. No trip wires.
Yoko formed a stirrup of her hands to boost Maggie up ahead of her. Once Maggie was on the other side, Yoko scaled the chain-links like an Olympic champion. Yoko made a circle, indicating Maggie should take photos of the outside perimeter of the vehicle, while Yoko slithered to the second truck. Each started clicking away.
The crunch of approaching footsteps in the gravel made them freeze in place. A bright flashlight preceded a voice calling out.
“Hello? Anybody there?”
Yoko and Maggie quickly slipped under the trucks and hunched behind a wheel of the massive vehicle. The footsteps moved closer, and the voice grew louder.
“Hello?”
Yoko reached around for a rock and tossed it away from where she and Maggie remained in a prone position. The flashlight immediately turned toward the noise of the stone hitting the fence.
“Dang raccoons,” the voice grumbled.
Yoko peered from under the running boards and watched the boots retreat from the area, following the path light. They waited until they could no longer see any signs of movement, human or otherwise. Yoko listened carefully for any other disruptions. It seemed as if they were clear to finish their task and finish it quickly. They scrambled back to the fence; Yoko gave Maggie a leg up and then followed her to the other side. They swiftly moved toward the awaiting vehicle, which was already in gear.
The two hopped in the back as Izzie put the pedal to the metal and tore over the rough road surface. They held their breaths until they were well beyond the construction site.
“Woo-hoo!” Maggie cried out. “That was something! I don’t remember the last time I broke into a facilities yard.”
“Weren’t you at that concrete manufacturer in the Caribbean?”
“No. You guys went without me. You never let me have any fun.” Maggie feigned a whine.
“Wasn’t this fun?” Yoko asked as she began to disrobe in the car.
“Alright. I’ll admit it. Yes. But boy, am I pooped.”
“You deserve a good night’s sleep,” Izzie said as she was nearing the Suite Inn. “What’s on your agenda for tomorrow?”
“I hope to get over to see Jeremy again. Find out if he has any more info, or if he’s had another visitor from the sheriff’s office.”
“Good. I’ll keep pumping Regina for whatever information I can glean. But to be honest, I don’t think she has much access to anything other than processing invoices,” Izzie said. “I wonder if Charles or Fergus have figured out a way for me to circumvent the big, red, eye-spy camera.”
“We can log into the mainframe and check when we get back,” Yoko suggested.
By the time they returned, it was two-thirty in the morning. In spite of her jet lag and lack of sleep, Maggie was wide awake.
“See? I told you it was the adrenaline,” Yoko said, grinning. The three women entered Yoko’s studio suite to return their ninja outfits.
“And if you noticed, I did not open my bag of chips, which I shall do right now.”
Izzie opened her laptop and logged into the mainframe. There was a message waiting for her from Charles:
9:27–9:31 a glitch will occur in CCTV system. You have four minutes to get in and out. That is the maximum time before everything goes into lock-down. Including you. Let’s reconvene at 6 am tomorrow. Some interesting developments.
“Oh, boy,” Izzie said, exhaling. “We are having another call early tomorrow morning. Charles and Fergus arranged for a blackout of their security system tomorrow morning.”
