“Grey…” Oliver’s voice is taut with anxiety, barely above a whisper.
I ignore him as I look, and my breath catches in my throat when I see it. There, at the end of the hallway, patrols the night security guard, flashlight in hand. He’s closer to them than I’d like, his footsteps echoing ominously in the quiet building. “Shit,” I mutter, fingers flying over the keyboard. “It’s the guard. He’s on his rounds, but he’s moving fast. You’ve got about a minute before he’ll be able to see you.”
“A minute?” Misha’s voice cracks with panic.
“Grey, what do we do?” Oliver whispers urgently.
“All right, listen up. I’m going to loop the camera feed for the hallway and disable the motion sensors near the exit. But you’ve got to movenow. Head for the back staircase, not the main exit.”
“Got it,” Oliver says, his voice hardening with determination.
I quickly do as I promised, looping the feed to show an empty corridor and shutting off the motion sensors near the exit as they go. I toggle back to the feed showing Misha and Oliver and watch as they backtrack, heading toward the staircase. The guard walks along on another feed, mere feet away from where they just were.
“He’s at the end of the hall,” I warn them, my fingers hovering over the controls. “Whatever you do, don’t make a sound.”
“Too late for that,” Misha mutters under his breath, his anxiety obvious.
Their breathing is labored over the earpiece, rapid and shallow. My own heart pounds in my chest as the guard pauses and shines his flashlight around, the beam slicing through the darkness.
“Hold your breath,” I whisper. “He’s checking the tanks.”
Even through the grainy feed, I see the guard’s brow furrowing as he inspects the tank closely.
“Come on, move on…” I mutter under my breath, fingers tapping nervously against the desk, my foot bouncing.
Finally, he does, shrugging as he continues his patrol circuit. But just as I think we’re in the clear, he passes the staircase where Misha and Oliver are hiding and stops, tilting his head as if listening.
My heart almost stops. “Stay still,” I hiss, gripping the edge of the desk, trying to keep calm. “He’s right outside.” I watch in horror as the guard slowly turns toward the staircase and aims his flashlight at the door. Frantically tapping on the keyboard, I bring up the building’s environmental controls.
“Hang tight,” I say, more to myself than to them. “I’m going to trigger a power surge in the east wing. It should distract him.”
My hands move in a blur as I override the system’s safeguards, routing extra power to the east wing’s lighting. Asecond later, the lights flicker violently in that part of the building, and an alarm starts to blare.
The guard spins around, his attention diverted, then takes off toward the flickering lights.
“Now! Go, go,go!” I urge them.
Oliver and Misha don’t hesitate as they burst through the stairwell door and sprint down the steps, the plastic bags in the buckets whipping dangerously as they go. I switch the camera feeds to track their progress, my nerves fraying with every second that passes.
“Down the stairs, through the service corridor, then out the back,” I instruct urgently. “The guard is occupied, but that won’t last long.”
They don’t respond, too focused on their escape to talk. Their breaths are heavy as they race through the building, the sound of their footsteps echoing in the stairwell.
I follow intently as they burst through the door at the bottom of the stairs and make a beeline for the service corridor. The back exit is just ahead, but they’re not out of the woods yet.
“Grey, the door. It’s locked!” Oliver’s voice is strained with panic.
I curse under my breath.
So much for my quick thinking.
“Hold on, I’m unlocking it now.”
I bypass the security protocols for the back door with ease and check once more for the guard, but he’s in a completely different part of the building.
“You’re clear,” I say, relief flooding me. “Get out of there,now!”
The door swings open, and they dash out into the night. My breath comes in ragged gasps as they disappear from view. I rise from my chair, sending it spinning, and pace away some of the tension.
