Chapter 55 Chapter 55

Chapter 55 Chapter 55
Misty

I am sitting at a coffee house, across from Alpha Enterprises. My palms are sweating, and I had just finished my third cup of coffee and we have only done surveillance. Beck was now in; disguised as a plumber, in a rented van with a homemade decal. I had discovered the opportunity last night, apparently the 66th floor woman’s bathroom had an issue so we jumped into action, creating a fake business and bidding on the job, just to gain entrance. The clog was cleared and now Beck was moving through the building to the power grid within it. We were really doing this. Tonight we were getting into this fucker’s head. I wanted him to know that we had the ability to cripple his business. I glanced at the minimized screen of Creedon in his office before initiating the lock on the next door that would usually need a key card for anyone to pass through. I changed the other minimized screen to a new camera to follow Beck moving through the hallways, noting the time stamps as he entered the frame of each one and deleted the info before the action that would trigger them to look at the footage. As if it never took place. My fingers raced over the keys as the barista siddled up to the table asking if I wanted a refill. I nodded just to get her to move on. She took my empty cup and kept moving. I had chosen a table in the far corner nearest to the side exit.

Beck’s voice finally came over my right earbud. On the left I had the radio calls to the security coms that randomly chirped about perimeter checks and shift changes since I had been here. They didn’t suspect anything.

“Tell me again the layout,” he asked. 

He was worried about getting something wrong. I smiled because imagining the grande malo oso ‘big bad bear’ just as nervous as I was, humanized him to me. I liked seeing all sides of this male. This side made me realize that at his core, he was just a man. One that had real human feelings and emotions. I’d save the thought for later though because it was show time.

“Two panels to the right, there is a screen, the tech gloves you are wearing will allow you to access the power override and set the timer.” It was one of the few things in the building that needed a direct passcode, I wouldn’t be able to remotely access it for the plan we had stayed up until three in the morning mapping out. I tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear under my hood. I deleted the info on the last camera on his way in after giving him access to the room. I was blind in here, I’d have to rely on Beck to be my eyes. It was show time.

“I’ve got it,” his gruff voice let me know, but I wasn’t ignorant to the strain in his voice. He really was worried about this.

“Click on the gear symbol for settings,” I instructed.

“Done.”

“Scroll through the options to manual override.”

“How many fucking options does this shit have.” he grumbled.

“A lot,” I admitted.

“Got it. It wants a passcode.”

“4, 1, 3, 1, 5,” I answered with the code. Buttons beeped in the background. “You should have three options, pick time setting.” Another beep sounded.

“Select, time delay.” Another beep and my anticipation and anxiety rose but I kept quiet as the barista set another cup on the table and I just nodded my thanks.

“What the actual,” Beck complained about the complicated choices placed before him.

I cut him off. “Under shut off choose All power, Under delay put 20 mins, then 20 mins again for the resurge.”

More beeps.

“Select the settings button and choose, remote override with clearance,” I continued.

“Read it all back to me,” I instructed. This had to be perfect.

The strain in his voice was evident, this wasn’t the type of war he was accustomed to fighting but he trusted me, so he was putting himself in this possibly very dangerous situation, one were one click and it would all go wrong.

He recited it all back flawlessly.

“Engage,” I said, giving him the go ahead.

One beep sounded and my heartrate skittered before I blurted, “Now get the fuck out!” I tracked him through the building deleting footage until he came back to the woman’s bathroom, entered and grabbed the bag of tools and exited again. He wandered back through the building and its levels of clearance, shoving a clipboard in the face of someone and getting a signature before exiting the building, he got into the van at the 15 minute mark. 

“I’ll meet you at the pick up location," I told him, as I waited for the show to begin.

Creedon’s new assistant stepped into his office with his evening coffee. I had watched her pick it up here while Beck did the plumbing work. It wasn’t a professional job, more like we poured enough drano down the pipes to make the fix believable, they would need a new plumber within the month. 

Beck was breathing hard taking the stairs two at a time, but he forced his steps to a casual pace when he got to the parking garage. The cameras had to see normalcy. It had taken him 15 minutes to descend the building and get into the van. He pulled out and I watched as a tense altercation between Creedon and the mousy girl who had become his assistant in the last two weeks unfolded. Without sound not much could be known. But, even though I knew Creedon liked a shot of caramel in his latte and for it to be extra dry, she could have asked for a Carmel cappuccino and it would have been closer to the ‘latte‘ he ordered and she asked for vanilla instead. The assistant scampered out of the room.

Creedon’s posture said it all, as his fits clenched, Just a moment after he brought the phone to his ear. Phase 2 initiated, Adelaide’s correspondence with The Lords and Sons had come though. I grinned. He was being ruined at every path.

The assistant rushed back in holding out her phone… make that phase 3 we were into. My study of the algorithm and of his team’s response time seemed impeccable. The mousy woman trembled where she stood. I glanced at the footage of Beck leaving the garage. He was safe. I let out a sigh and grabbed the now room temperature coffee, to give me something to do as I watched our masterpiece unfold.

His assistant held out her phone with shaking hands. He took it from her and I knew what he was viewing by the tick in his jaw, the Tik Tok I had blasted. ‘We know what you did," along with receipts of some of his wrong doings came across the screen. ‘We are coming for you’ was how that social media attack ended. I sat back in my chair, high on the ‘go fuck yourself’ message. I watched his fingers curl around the phone. Witnessed it lose its integrity and fall apart. 

The next second, everything went dark.