Page 33 of Ignite: Tony's Story
Mara calls down from the top of the RV, where she’s set up with her laptop and a pair of binoculars. “They’re pulling in.”
Quinn looks at me and waggles his eyebrows. “It’s Showtime.” He goes inside where we have about a dozen monitors set up to watch all the security cameras.
I listen as Luis pulls up to the security gate and passes their credentials to the guard. Luis, who is dressed as a guard himself, explains why they’re there.
“I’ve got Dr. Wallace and three staff members. You should be expecting them.”
The guard types something into his tablet, which I can see on one of my monitors, and pulls up the visitor schedule where I’ve made some additions. The guard will see a VIP board member on the schedule, and hopefully, everyone will trip over themselves to make themselves look good.
“Dr. Wallace,” the guard acknowledges, obviously realizing that he’s talking to a person of great importance. “We weren’t expecting you until tomorrow.”
Micah, one of the guys who happens to be a medical student, is the one to speak. “Too much sitting around that hotel room. I wanted to come get a feel for the lab before I had everyone scrambling to make a good impression to kiss my ass. A surprise inspection, if you will.”
Impressive, Micah. Every time I’ve spoken with him, he seems like a super nice guy, but he sounds like a real hard ass right now.
It works on the guard. “I hope you find everything up to your standards, Dr. Wallace.” He hands the packet of credentials back through the window and gestures them through as the gate arm rises. As they pass through the gate, he calls the front office to give them a heads up.
There’s a little bit of panic about what the guard is saying into his phone. “He’s alerting the building security that a VIP is arriving. Surprise visits like this aren’t likely to be unheard of, although the timing might still be unusual. Stay on your guard and I’ll keep listening in,” I tell them.
I route the guard’s call to Quinn, who poses as a security guard and speaks to the gate guy.
“I intercepted the warning call about your arrival so no higher-ups would be alerted. The guards won’t know that Dr. Wallace isn’t real, but some of the staff might,” I warn them.
As they park and walk through the parking lot, I talk to Lukas, who is going to be helping me monitor everyone. They’re going to be breaking up into teams, and each of us will be guiding them through the building to their various tasks.
“All good, Lukas?” I ask. He’s been nervous about the mission.
“I’m all set.” They’ve parked towards the back of the parking lot, and Lukas set up his own mobile workstation where the security gate can’t see him. I wish I could tell him he’s not alone, and that Mara and Quinn will also be monitoring Six and Luis as I guide Jackson and Micah through the building.
“It’s all going to be okay. We’ve got this,” I tell him instead.
Holding my breath a little, I watch as they pass through the metal detectors. This was one thing we didn’t get to practice yesterday, and I breathe out a sigh of relief when they make it through.
The four of them that are in the building split up into their teams. Luis and Six head toward Bennet’s cell, while Micah and Jackson head towards Adley’s office. We need them to place a device that Mara made so we can quickly upload all of their data to turn it over to the feds. There’s no way Bennet won’t be able to take down Adley with the information we’ve already gotten, but now that we know just how heinous their crimes are, we want to make sure we know everything about BioCere, Inc.
Through the earpieces, I supply Jackson and Micah with the directions to get to the administration offices where the server room is. They head off in an opposite direction from Six and Luis.
“Two guards and a white coat coming down the next corridor,” I warn them, and they slip into what turns out to be a supply closet.
“Shit,” I hear Micah curse under his breath. “Did you hear that?”
“Yeah, they can’t be on to us though, can they? They would have raised an alarm by now,” Jackson whispers back.
“The coast is clear,” I tell them. “What’s happening?”
“We heard them talking about Adley coming back, that someone came in that wasn’t supposed to be here. I don’t think they meant now, but what else would they be talking about?”
“Mara−” I say on our closed channel, making sure she heard all that so she can look into it.
“On it,” she assures me.
“I don’t see anything here to raise any suspicions. Keep moving for now, and I’ll let you know if I see anything.”
The two of them walk confidently by multiple labs with people inside them, and either no one notices them or they don’t think twice.
“Shit, Tony, we have a problem. A big problem,” Mara says.
“What’s going on?”
