Deliver Us From Evil (A. Shaw 2)

Frank’s voice once more came over the headset. “The building’s video surveillance is on a monitored loop but we’ve remotely frozen the security cameras in the delivery elevator and outside Kuchin’s penthouse. The elevator isn’t typically used after hours and the guards won’t expect any change on that camera or outside Kuchin’s place since he’s out of town. But they do make periodic rounds. The next one is sixty minutes from now. After that you’re on your own.”

They took the elevator to the top floor. The doors opened to reveal a small entry foyer with a steel door and a security pad mounted on the wall next to this portal. Shaw looked in the corner at the surveillance camera and waved, though he muttered under his breath a little prayer that Frank had indeed managed to freeze the feed. He motioned Reggie to video the security pad.

“Got the picture?” asked Shaw into his headset. “It’s a retina recognition system like our research said.”

“Got it. Have her stand closer so we can get a better look and confirm the manufacturer.”

Shaw motioned for Reggie to stand immediately in front of the retina-reader bubble.

“Okay, we’re good,” said Frank. “Get the laser ready, Shaw. We cut the juice to the building in five seconds. There’s a backup battery for the security system, but we’re sending a calibrated power spike right behind the power cut that’ll burn that backup out. But we have to turn the power back on quickly or it’ll trigger an emergency response.”

“Understood.”

Shaw pulled the laser from a holder on his belt and pointed it straight at the retina reader.

“On my mark,” said Frank. “Five… four… three…”

Right after the count of one the power to the building vanished and they were in complete darkness inside the enclosed foyer. The red power light on the retina reader went out. Shaw powered up the laser and pointed it right at the reader. The red beam shot into the glass disc, filling it with a reflected crimson color. A moment later the power came back on.

The door clicked open.

Reggie looked at Shaw as he put the laser away. He said, “Little flaw in this particular system we discovered awhile back. Power off, power on, and in that millisecond of start-up it’ll read a laser point set at a specific frequency as if it were an authorized retina.”

“Pretty cool,” she said with admiration.

“Well, it’s not really a flaw.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean we have a good working relationship with some major security hardware firms. We do some stuff for them from time to time and they leave back doors like this for us.”

Reggie shook her head while Shaw pulled the steel door all the way open. “Fifty-nine minutes and counting. Let’s get to it.”

Shaw slipped a miniaturized laminated set of floor plans from his pocket and looked at them using a low-power penlight. “Keep away from the windows,” he advised. “Just in case Kuchin has real eyeballs on the place from another building. Even without any lights on we could be seen with the right surveillance equipment.”

“Too bad.”

“Why?”

“I wanted to check out the views.”

They searched quickly but methodically, and on their bellies when they had to get close to the window line. After thirty minutes they had found nothing helpful.

They stood in the middle of Kuchin’s bedroom. Reggie looked disappointed, but Shaw seemed curious.

“What is it?” she finally asked, noting his puzzled look.

“I used the laser to mark out the square footage of the place as we went along, but according to these plans we’re about fifteen hundred square feet short.”

“How can that be?”

Shaw spent five minutes pacing off parameters. “Center core is off,” he finally said.

“What does that mean?”

“That means there’s some hidden space in the interior block of this penthouse and it’s too big just to be the HVAC equipment. That’s usually in the ceiling in places like this anyway.”

After some more searching they reached the end of the hall and stared at the elaborate built-in cabinet there. “Why do I think that thing’s set on a pivot?” said Shaw to Reggie. “You see it, Frank?” he said into his headset.