Wanted: A Leopold Blake Thriller (23 page)

“
Comment puis-je vous aider?
”

“
Bonjour,
I’m sorry, do you speak English?”

“Yes. How can I help?”

“I’m here to visit
Monsieur
Harris. Can you let me through?”

“Let me check the visitor log.”

Leopold stepped forward. “Sorry about this, by the way.”

The guard looked up. Leopold leaned across the desk, letting the Taser slip down into his hand. He held down the switch and jabbed the end into the man’s neck. After a moment of convulsing, Leopold pulled away and the gatekeeper flopped onto his front, his face slapping hard against the wood.

Acting quickly, the consultant unhooked the guard’s key card and removed his jacket. Slipping it over his own, Leopold zipped it up and fastened the key card to his belt. He dropped the Taser to the floor, its batteries depleted. Leopold took the back door and stepped out into the delivery yard, heading straight for the loading bay.

Ahead, past the dormant delivery trucks, stood a set of double doors. Leopold pushed through keeping his head down and prayed that nobody noticed his peculiar combination of puffer jacket and tailored trousers. The employees inside, many of whom were enjoying a late breakfast around the vending machines, paid him no notice as he slipped through the busy common room. 

He found the door that led through to the service corridors and followed the signs toward the surveillance office. From his previous visits under less drastic circumstances, Leopold knew all the support facilities were housed on the ground floor, with the upper stories dedicated to office space and server storage. His target was just around the corner.

He passed a handful of people in the corridors, most of whom glanced at the ‘Securitas’ logo stitched into his jacket before looking away. Nobody stopped to speak to him. He avoided looking at the cameras. A few feet ahead, a locked door marked with the words “
Danger d’Électrocution
” and a yellow triangular sign showing a stick figure getting struck by lightning. Leopold swiped the security guard’s key card over the magnetic reader and heard the lock click open.

Stepping through, Leopold found himself in a gloomy hallway and closed the door behind him. An untidy mass of multicolored wires ran in bunches along the wall, providing power to different areas of the building. He followed the cables through to a heavily air-conditioned room that was cold enough to make him shiver through both jackets. In the center of the room stood a wall of circuit breaker panels, mounted against a central support bracket. Each locked cabinet contained several dozen breakers, designed to shut down a particular circuit if it became overloaded.

Leopold pulled out Sophie’s cell phone, bringing up the schematics he had downloaded earlier. He selected the set of breakers he needed and forced the lock open with the knife. Leopold used the light from the phone’s screen to locate the circuits he’d have to disable – the ones that fed the security cameras. Simply flipping the switches wouldn’t work, as they were designed to automatically realign after a few seconds. Instead, Leopold took the knife and severed the cables, permanently disrupting the power supply.

Slipping the knife back into his pocket, Leopold turned his attention back to the cell phone. He downloaded a copy of the photographs he had taken in the art gallery and sent them via picture message to the last incoming number in the phone’s call history. Accompanying the photos, Leopold included the subject line: “Corner office. Top floor. 335962.”

He waited for the message to go through and put the phone away. Tossing the guard’s jacket in a trash can on his way out, Leopold headed for one of the stairwells that led to the upper floors.

Chapter 45
 
 

THE AUTOMATIC DOORS slid open and Mary led Sophie through to the cavernous lobby. Inside, the air conditioning was on full blast and the receptionist looked as though she was trying not to shiver. Her desk sat in the middle of the floor, and she looked up as the two women approached.

Mary smiled politely and took a seat in the waiting area, thumbing through the magazines that had been left out. At the far end of the room she could see the elevators and a door leading through to the stairs. Glancing up, she could make out at least four security cameras, each with blinking red lights. She tapped her fingers against the chair.

“What’s the plan?” asked Sophie.

“Keep an eye on those cameras,” said Mary, pointing. “When the lights go out, that means the power’s been cut. After that, we need to kick up a storm and divert the security guards down here while Leopold heads for the top floor.”

“What about that man with the gun? If he’s here, he’ll come for us too.”

“That’s the intention, I’m afraid. Don’t worry, I’ll keep us safe.”

Sophie didn’t look convinced.

“Just stay close, okay?” said Mary. “Look,” she pointed again. “The lights on the cameras have gone out. It’s time to move.”

The police sergeant got to her feet and walked over to the reception desk.

“You speak English?” she asked.

The receptionist nodded.

“Good. Now listen, I demand to speak to whoever the hell runs this place. I made some, erm” she glanced down at some of the corporate literature spread across the desk, “I made some big investments that didn’t work out. I lost a lot of money. I need to speak with someone, now.”

The receptionist sighed. “You have an account representative?” she asked, looking at Mary’s crumpled clothes. “You need to speak to them about our policies on how we handle our clients’ money. There is nothing I can do from here.”

Mary slapped both palms down on the desk. “Hey, don’t handle me. I lost a lot of money thanks to your company’s incompetence. And not just me, either.” She waved Sophie over. “Her too.”

“
Madame
, please. I can’t help you. Please arrange an appointment with your account executive. I’m sure he will be able to help both you and your daughter.”

Sophie bit her lip and looked away.

Mary resisted the urge to slap the receptionist across the head. “We’re not going anywhere, you understand?” She noticed some of the other people in the lobby start to pay attention. “Get the CEO down here, right now. It’s about time you big corporations started taking some accountability for all the pain and misery you’ve caused.”

“Yeah, we’re not going anywhere,” said Sophie, approximating an American accent. “And she’s my sister.”

“Make sure you get that last bit right,” said Mary. “And don’t go trying to palm us off on someone else. We demand to see the boss.”

The receptionist rolled her eyes and lifted her telephone. “
Bonjour, oui, c’est moi. Envoyez sécurité maintenant, s’il vous plait. Merci.
” She hung up. “Security are on the way. Please leave.”

Mary smiled. “Bring it on.”

Chapter 46
 
 

THE EARBUD CRACKLED and Reiniger heard the orders come through. Two women were causing a scene in the lobby and the security cameras were malfunctioning. The assassin swore as he reached the ground floor. Blake had obviously created an diversion, but without surveillance to cover the rest of the building, Reiniger knew the cop and the girl were the only leads he had.
 

He would just have to persuade them to cooperate.

Chapter 47
 
 

HALF A DOZEN uniformed guards strode across the lobby in Mary and Sophie’s direction. A few paces behind them, the German was barking orders. He was still dressed in the charcoal suit, a slight bulge in his jacket giving away the handgun he wore holstered to his ribs. The guards began to fan out.

“Time to go,” said Mary, grabbing hold of Sophie’s wrist.

“Ow!”

“Just follow me.”

The police sergeant dragged the younger woman away from the reception desk, heading toward a set of doors that led through to some of the lower offices. Mary noticed a suit approaching the entrance from behind the glass, reaching for his key card. They broke into a jog, catching hold of the door as he passed through.

“
Hé, toi!
”

“Keep moving!” Mary snatched the man’s pass out of his hand as they barged past, slamming the door behind them.

Ahead, an open plan office stretched out to the edge of the building, broken up by a series of partitions. The room was crammed full of workers hunched over their desks, with others scurrying between meeting rooms carrying stacks of paper. Nobody looked up.

“Where now?” asked Sophie, out of breath.

Mary looked through the glass door panels and saw the guards approaching from fifty feet away. “We need to hide, to keep them focused on us for as long as possible. Leopold won’t need long.”

“What if they catch us?”

“Don’t think about that.” She started walking, keeping a fast pace, and aimed for the fire exits at the far wall. “If we can get onto the next floor, we might have better luck.”

They pushed on, weaving between the desks. A few of the employees gave them puzzled looks, but nobody interfered. As they reached the halfway point, Mary heard raised voices and turned her head. The German and his team of guards had arrived.

“Keep going, nearly there,” she said, speeding up. Allowing herself one more glance, she saw the German lock eyes with her from across the room. She quickly faced forward again. “Try not to look back. Through here.”

They reached the far end of the office and Mary pushed through a heavy wooden fire door, leading to a set of concrete stairs. She looked up.

“These go all the way to the top. We need to keep the guards on the lower levels if we can.”

“There should be plenty of meeting rooms to hide in,” said Sophie.

“Let’s hope so.” Mary sucked in a deep breath before heading off, feeling her legs start to burn.

Chapter 48
 
 

REINIGER LED THE six guards across the office floor and through to the stairwell. He paused as they reached the steps.