The Turn: Chapter Nineteen

The Turn

Chapter Nineteen

~Called Out~

Two Years before the Turn

Zara stepped out of the black vehicle and started walking briskly toward the building. She wore a black business suit with a skirt and black two inch heels. Her hair recently brushed up into a bun. There was no makeup on her face except for a slight coloring of her lips. She wore a pair of glasses and a clip on ID on her coat. Her strides were long and even as her heels clicked on the walkway. She walked confidently with a clipboard in her arm.

There were quicker uneven clicks as Vicky walked slightly behind Zara to her right. She tried desperately to keep up with Zara, often almost tripping over her own feet. She wore a similar suit to Zara’s. Thick rimmed glasses donned her face and her hair was in a single ponytail.

Chaud was on Zara’s left. He wore a simple suit and dyed his hair black. In his left hand he carried a briefcase. Unlike Vicky, he wasn’t a complete mess.

Zara walked confidently up to the guards at the door. They looked confused as to her presence but they didn’t question. Zara found that if you acted like you belonged somewhere people rarely asked questions. She walked directly up to the front desk.

Hina sat at the desk. She spun in her chair as she talked to someone on the phone. Once her eyes fell on the coming threat and her entourage, she sat up hung up the phone and organized things on her desk.

“Where’s your boss?” Zara asked.

Hina rolled her eyes and picked up the phone, “Mr. Peterson, sir? The Health Inspector is here. I know they’re a week early but they’re here. Alright,” she hung up the phone, “He’ll be right with you. If you care to sit down—hey! Where are you going!? You can’t go that way!”

Zara walked away from the desk and started walking down one of the hallways that looked like a main artery. Her people followed her. People gathered at the doors of their offices to see what the commotion was all about. The elevator door at the far end of the hallway opened. A bald man walked out in a blue suit.

“Hello,” he seemed a little surprised. He held out a hand to shake hers, “You’re the Health Inspector?”

“Names Ross,” she said only giving their last names. She also did not take Peterson’s hand, “This is my assistant Vang and my partner Banks.”

“Sup,” Banks muttered on Zara’s left.

Peterson awkwardly pulled back his hand. He smiled, “We weren’t expecting you until next week.”

“Of course you weren’t,” Zara turned around and started walking back the way she came. Peterson walked quickly after the group of three, “That’s the whole reason; catch you off your guard. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that sorry excuse. ‘We weren’t expecting you until next week’. It means they have something to hide and they haven hid it yet.”

“You look a little young to be a Health Inspector,” Peterson tried to make conversation.

Another thing Zara learned was that if you acted older than you were, people tended to believe whatever age you told them you were, within reason of course, “I’m 29 and I plan to stay single, Mr. Peterson.”

“Ouch,” Banks muttered.

“Banks! Start your search down there! I’ll take this section!” Zara commanded.

Banks nodded and walked down a hallway. Mr. Peterson tried to stop him but Zara called his attention to another matter. Vang stumbled after the two taking notes on all the things that Zara saw wrong. Chaud walked down the hallway. He could feel the eyes of the employees on him. When he reached the end of the hallway, there was a stairwell. The door was code locked. Earlier Chaud had hacked into the system and found out all the codes. He typed in the code and opened the door.

Casually he made his way down a flight of stairs to an electrical box. He set down his suitcase and opened it. It carried a lot of different things; one being a pair of latex gloves. He slipped on the gloves and pulled out a bobby pin. It wasn’t the most advanced weapon but it was all he could scrounge up in less than twenty-four hours. He picked the lock and opened the electrical box. He took a moment to look at the wiring then he nodded to himself and got to work. Chaud browsed through his suit case and pulled out a small electrical device. He put an ear piece in his ear and started moving wires around.

Outside, an electric van drove up. Deontay got out of the van and walked into the building. Hina told him that one of the outdoor cameras weren’t working and he got to work. He set a ladder against the building. As he was up there, he pulled out a small satellite and attached it to the cords coming from the camera. Deontay aimed the little satellite toward the coffee shop across the street.

Across the street, Naru walked into the small coffee shop where he ordered a latte. He sat at an outside table. He brought his laptop out of the backpack on his back. Slowly, he sipped the coffee. His computer screen was blank. A white square blinked off and on in the upper left hand corner. Naru sat back in his chair and waited.

Naru noticed a man in a black suit and a wide brimmed hat walk to a phone booth. There was something strangely familiar about him. The man briefly looked over his shoulder. He picked up the receiver and dialed 911. He waited casually as the call connected.

“Hello? What is your emergency?”

The man turned his back to Naru, “There are men with guns. There are also six kids.”

“Okay? Wait? Do the kids have guns? Where are you now, sir?”

“You’ll figure it out. Oh, and don’t forget the one at the coffee shop,” the man hung up the phone and walked away.

“There we go,” Chaud muttered as he attached the device.

“Got the satellite up,” Deontay muttered as he played with the wires.

Naru sighed, “Bout time.”

“You worried, bud?” Deontay smiled.

“No,” Naru shook his head, “it’s just that this thing—”

“Makes you feel edgy?” Chaud finished his sentence, “Yeah, I’ve heard it before.”

“How’s it looking?” Deontay asked.

“Should be about seven minutes,” Chaud reported.

Naru gripped his latte, “Seven?”

“I’m working with sub-par equipment here,” Chaud defended himself, “Just keep busy for seven minutes. We’ll be fine.”

I hope, Chaud thought to himself. He couldn’t help think of the man he saw in Zara’s hotel.

The device started blinking. It made a whirr sound as it kicked into gear. Data started showing up on Naru’s computer screen. It was all in computer language but Naru could pick up excerpts here and there. He sipped his latte and sat back and let the data from the building get sent and stored into the computer. Anything electrical that happened in that building was being duplicated. While he gave off a disinterested vibe, he was always watching for any suspicious behavior.

A man pulled up in a limo. The driver got out and walked into the building. The passenger sat in the back and waited. Naru tried to get a good look at the man but couldn’t see very well through the tinted window.

The driver walked in as Zara was discussing about the conditions of the building. Mr. Peterson looked surprised at the coming man and interrupted Zara as she was speaking. Mr. Peterson looked around the shadow of a man.

“Is Mr. Scar not with you?” he asked.

The driver smiled. He shook Mr. Peterson’s hand and whispered something in the man’s ear. Zara shifted uneasily as she saw the exchange.

“We may have just been made out,” she said quietly.

The driver and Zara briefly made eye contact before the man left. When the doors closed behind him Mr. Peterson turned around. He was obviously not happy.

“So you work for the legendary Tower?” he said, hands on hips, “What a shame. I was beginning to like you.”

The guards that were scattered around the place ran at her and Vicky. Two of them ran up to the front desk toward Hina. Hina stood up, hands in the air.

“What are you doing?! I work here, you—!”

One of the guards brought out his gun and shot at her. Hina fell against her chair and to the ground. Upon seeing that, Zara reached behind her and pulled out a gun from a harness strapped to her back. She fired at two guards, wounding one in the leg and grazing the other in the arm. The injured one got his gun and fired back. Zara and Vicky jumped apart. Zara hid behind in a small inlet in the wall and Vicky dove behind the desk. Vicky quickly checked for Hina’s pulse before taking out her gun. She fired her weapon at a few guards that were coming at her.

“We’re on our own,” Zara said into her ear piece. It was code for ‘to each his own’ meaning they were now individually responsible for escaping. She had no plan B.

Deontay started to make his way down from the ladder. He collapsed it and headed for his van. The two guards at the door walked after him, guns drawn. Deontay placed the ladder in the back of the opened truck. He climbed in and closed the door behind him. The engine revved up and the van started to speed away. A police car, its sirens blaring, crashed into the truck. The guards fired at the truck as more police cars came.

Police officers got out of their car and threatened to fire. The guards placed their weapons down. A few officers turned their attention on Deontay. He groaned and raised his hands off the steering wheel.

Naru saw the ordeal in front. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small thumb drive. Naru plugged it in and started typing feverishly. When he was done, he closed the laptop and tucked it under his arm. He dumped the laptop in the garbage and popped the flash drive in his mouth.

“Hold it right there! Let me see your hands!” a female officer shouted.

Naru sighed and put his hands in the air. The female officer handcuffed him and dragged him to a police car. Officers stormed the building demanding that the guns be put down. Zara swore under her breath as she placed down her gun and kicked it away from her. Vicky looked at Zara for guidance as an officer handcuffed her but Zara didn’t look in her direction. Chaud heard the footsteps of officers coming down the stairs. An officer threw him into the side wall as they handcuffed him and pushed him up the stairs.

A block away, a limo sat and watched the goings on. The driver scowled.

“How did those Tower nobodies get on out tail this quick?” Scar complained.

“I left a few bread crumbs,” the driver muttered, “How did the police get here so fast?”

“Bread crumbs?” Scar raised an eyebrow, “I thought you said that was a bad idea.”

“I guess I just wanted to see who I was up against,” the driver pulled out and drove off.

Scar though he heard something he didn’t like, “What? What you were up against?”

The driver looked in his mirror, “Did I say that? I meant ‘we’, what were ‘we’ up against.”

Scar shrugged it off, “I guess they aren’t going to be that much trouble for the New Order.”

“I beg to differ,” the driver smiled, “I think we’ll have to be very careful here on out.”