Mathias composed himself and shoved all thoughts of her out of his mind. It wasn’t as if he’d ever see her again. Their meeting was happenstance.
Rather than rehash it yet again, he loaded the schematics of this block, and the ones surrounding the hotel, including the one with that office building, into his laptop. He’d already mapped his course. Still, studying it again helped to steady him. He went over his routes. Plan A was the most favorable, but he’d also implemented backups in case things weren’t as they seemed.
As the hour for his departure neared, he dressed all in black, form-fitting so that no loose fabric could get caught on anything. Soft-soled, grippy shoes. Gloves. A full-on baklava that only had an opening for his eyes, over which he placed night vision goggles.
He didn’t exit the hotel via the hall outside his room. Opening his door would leave a record, and there were cameras on every level. The very lack of activity would provide an alibi if he ever needed it. Not that he planned to get caught.
The balcony outside his room had a high railing, but even better, it proved to be an easy climb to the roof. In this dense area of downtown, the buildings sat close together, which gave him a clear run to the building across from his target. He wasn’t about to go through the front doors. Again, too many digital eyes watching. In this era of technology, missions that required proximity proved harder and harder to accomplish.
He chose to enter via a less visible method. The rope he’d bought was tied into a lasso. He swirled and twirled it before flinging it across and watching it drop. It took three tries before it snared the solid metal ventilation chimney. He tugged to tighten it before wrapping and tying it off on his end. Then it was a simple matter of crossing hand over hand to the other side.
While the roof appeared empty, he still crouched upon arriving and scanned the area with his goggles. A camera would emit a slight heat signature because of the wiring. Just like a person would emit a much larger warm spot.
The chance of running into anyone up here would be slim, though. This rooftop wasn’t set up for public use even though it had a heated surface for melting snow and ice. It never failed to astonish him how many building owners neglected this point of entry. The door, made of utility metal, had a plain lock that wasn’t even engaged.
He checked for any wiring that would indicate an alarm of some kind. Nada.
The target office was only a single flight down; however, he went down two more stories, noting the single camera watching. It rotated slow enough he could easily bypass its digital eye.
Only when he reached the door on the first floor did he have to pause out of sight while he waited for the camera to swing. As it traversed slowly, he waited for his chance.
He needed to distract from his true objective. When the camera went past, he picked the locked door and, when it clicked, shoved it open, triggering an alarm. He shut the door and then moved as quickly as he could up the stairs, hearing the door at the bottom of the stairwell open. The thump of boots indicated someone coming up the stairs. A man, judging by the deep timbre.
“Nothing on the camera, but the security system shows the door opening and closing,” the guard said. “I don’t see anyone. Going to check inside.” As expected, the guard would do a full sweep of that level.
He waited about thirty seconds, long enough for the guard to have started his search, before triggering the second-floor lock. On his way up to the third floor, he had to hide in the stairwell as the guard emerged more quickly than expected to check on the newest alarm.
The moment the guard went into the floor below his, Mathias bolted back down and set off the first floor again before heading inside. He crossed the office space, barely noticing the display of interior decorating, intent on the Exit sign at the far end, locked and with a sign saying, Closed for Repair.
He set off an alarm going through it and noticed the stairwell didn’t have the same security, with wires dangling where a camera should be. He saw no other signs of construction. This staircase went down one extra flight to the basement and the electrical panel for the building.
Mathias pulled out a sealed plastic bag and tossed a few things on the floor. Syringe. Candy wrappers. A few cigarette butts. Making it seem someone had been squatting to do drugs as opposed to anything more nefarious.
Only once he’d set a fake stage did he turn off the power. Lights off didn’t mean he was in the dark. His goggles filtered the shadows enough for him to navigate. He quickly went up the stairs to the top floor, an ear peeled in case the guard didn’t do as expected.
The fact there was a guard at all surprised him. Why did a building of real estate and other home-related shit have a need for paid security?
Why, indeed, he wondered as he noticed the lock on the third floor possessed an electronic keypad, unlike the others. It also still had juice. It obviously relied on a backup supply in case of a power failure.
A good thing he’d brought more tools. The battery he’d brought, an 18-volt rechargeable for a drill, gave him some juice once he attached wires to it, then the lock. It shorted, probably setting off yet another alarm. But the guard wouldn’t pay attention to it given he had bigger problems. Right now, he was having to maneuver in the dark.
Mathias entered the target area and was glad to see the power source didn’t extend to anything else inside. The camera above the door was dead, but it wouldn’t stay that way. He needed to move fast.
The office appeared much like any other successful business with short carpet on the floors and many closed doors with gleaming plaques inscribed with names.
He knew them all. After all, he’d done his research. Looked up the employees best he could and found them on social media, in government records. Everything appeared on the up and up. No criminal records. Nothing untoward to be seen, which to him rang false.
Everyone working here seemed too perfect. Which probably explained why he’d been hired to go after the owner himself. The elusive Hugo Laurentian, who’d recently set up BBI Realty offices around the world. A man rarely seen in person.
Originally, Mathias had planned to visit the guy in the Caribbean, which he called home, but he’d gotten a tip that Laurentian would be in town for Christmas with his wife, closing a deal on a chalet.
Which chalet? And when would Laurentian be showing up to finalize the sale? Once Mathias got that information, he’d plan his next move.
Despite his many violent skills, he wasn’t expected to kill anyone. On the contrary, the person who hired him simply wanted a package delivered. A small box with only a broken watch inside. He knew because he’d looked. Run it through a scanner to make sure he wasn’t carrying around some kind of radioactive bomb. Nothing about the watch or box set off any alarms. Meaning the gift was about the object itself. Given Hugo had lots of money, he was going to assume blackmail.
Not his problem. His instructions were to deliver the box into Hugo’s hand. Easy money.
None of the computers would load, the power still not having come back on. Even if they had, he didn’t have the time to hack one, plus add the fact no reputable company actually had any hard drives on site. They all relied on servers and clouds to save information. It should be noted he was more old school when it came to information gathering. He disliked the internet but used it if necessary. Problem being most of the world had moved away from hard copies. And their firewalls were getting better and better.