Plan

2 He Doesn't Belong

2

He Doesn't BelongAfter the guard pushed the button, Victoria realized with a quickness, that elevator H7 bypassed the lower floors and serviced floors 50 through 65. “Listen to me! You need to hold on tight. This is an express! It will shoot straight up at an accelerated speed!”

No sooner had she finished her last sentence when the box took off and slammed him into the top; his penlight popping out of his mouth and clattering down the shaft. It turned out that Nigel didn't have to hold on at all as the pressure from the ascent pushed him down.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

“Fine,” he managed to squeeze out with the velocity. The wind of the acceleration made it sound like he had his head hanging out of a car while traveling down the highway. “What floor is this going to?” He tried to say without screaming over the noise.

“Sixty-two. I'm going to slow the ascent so that you can get off at 56,” she said as she started typing.

“No! Let it go. I don't want to raise any more questions or give them cause to shut this down,” he shouted.

* * *

Kevin's head shot towards the ceiling. He thought that he heard a voice. First, the loud sound, and rattle as the elevator took off, and now a voice? The first two made sense if something were truly malfunctioning; this last one, not so much. Maybe he was imagining things. He had been studying an awful lot in preparation for these midterms. He was also suffering from lack of sleep; though this would be the first time since he took on this workload for his imagination to overwhelm his senses. Still, he should report this to dispatch and have this elevator placed on the maintenance rotation. At the very least, they could shut it off for his shift and label it as a safety concern.

The elevator slowed its ascent as it reached 62. The box announced its arrival in a lovely female voice. Kevin always enjoyed her voice. It was soothing to his ears and gave pause to his hurried life. He exited the elevator and made his way to Trin's missed check point.

* * *

Nigel started to feel nauseous from all the movement. It was funny how the perception of being outside the box could make him feel physically ill. He had ridden these lifts over the course of the last two months and never felt like this. Inside versus out; it would probably shake anyone's equilibrium.

Once he heard the elevator doors close, he clicked on his microphone. “How are things looking, love?”

She pulled up the security video feed for the lobby of his current floor. “The guard is entering the North-west corridor. As soon as he is out of range, I will lower you to 56.”

“Okay,” he said checking his supplies making sure nothing else was lost during his high-speed trip. He needed that penlight in this dark shaft. Nothing could be done about that now. He would just have to make do with the ambient lighting available.

“Standby, beginning to lower in three, two, one.”

Nigel braced himself as the box began to descend.

* * *

Kevin walked nonchalantly towards his objective. His mind preoccupied with statistical figures and facts of probability. His awareness to his surroundings was mechanical in nature as many the floors' layouts were similar. He was a guard there for 18 months. He knew the building like the back of his hand. As numbers drifted in and out of his head, his senses were not in tune spiritually, and that was by design. He had no way of knowing that he was not alone. Suddenly, he remembered the elevator. He reached for his radio. “Dispatch, this is guard 264. Request deactivation of elevator H7. Unidentified sounds coming from the unit and the shaft. It could pose a safety issue.”

“Copy that. Will deactivate H7 and notify facilities.”

As Kevin replaced his radio, the presence that moved with him, lowered its hand from his shoulder.

* * *

The box began to slow its approach to 56. Victoria was monitoring all floor activity as well as the position of the guards. Everything still looked good.

She turned her attention to the objective of the job.

On a separate screen, she pulled up the security schematics for tenant 56D, Advanced IntelliCorp. Ventilation and crawlspaces were not an option as they were small. The laser grids with refracting mirrors was also a large deterrent; there were too many undetermined angles for an effective reroute. If a single beam were broken, it would automatically trigger internal defenses and initiate a lockdown. This company spared no expenses in their security. They even adopted the FIPS-201 standards developed by the Americans. This was most definitely a tough egg to crack. Probably, the main reason for the hefty 1.4 million payout. Luckily, biometrics was not something that this company invested in. Badging and access keys could pretty much get them anywhere, but that was not Victoria's major concern.

All video surveillance was tied to the security system itself. On a normal day of operation, facial recognition patterns were weighed against traffic in each room. As the system monitored access and entry, it also tracked movement based on proximity to security points while running video in parallel. The high-definition cameras could follow a single individual throughout the office floor. There was literally no place within Advanced IntelliCorp to hide. The system could be both admired and loathed at the same time.

While Nigel had been casing the building for the last six weeks, she had been busy preparing for this moment. There was no way they would be able to bypass, disable, or trick the system since all employees were tagged like cattle with RFID.

Instead, she simply chose to create a virtual employee.

She researched the hiring procedures of Advanced IntelliCorp. Finding the right candidate by searching and cross referencing census records, certificates of birth, and educational institutions, produced three qualified applicants. Background credentials could easily be forged. Once she identified the prime employee, she began the process of integrating him into the company.

As with all businesses lately, part of the standards to be GGI certified was to be predominantly paperless. This worked perfectly into her process. Victoria called the candidate masquerading as a representative from Advanced IntelliCorp regarding his interest in an open position within the company. She electronically arranged for an interview with actual company employees. After the technical phone screens and the customary in person, the company decided he was not a viable candidate. Again, this was perfect. As he was already in their system, she just changed his status to offer accepted, and created an artificial position. He was processed through Human Resources like any other employee. The company did all the work for her by creating security and access privileges.

It was only a matter of hiring a grifter to pose as the employee to gain complete access, key codes, and most importantly, the security badge. He got his money; she received her access. No questions asked.

This still did not address the issue of the video surveillance integration. She had an idea though.

* * *

The descent was not as rapid as there was only a difference of six floors, but his stomach still turned a bit from the motion. He was already popping the levers on the emergency hatch in the ceiling before it came to a complete stop. “The feed in the lift ready?”

“The stills are in place. You're invisible,” she said.

He slipped through the ceiling into the box. As he landed, he heard the finishing wail of that annoying female announcement that he had arrived. He hated that voice. The endurance of casing this building over the last several weeks stretched his nerves to the limits every time he heard her caterwauling. He would not miss that in the slightest.

He dropped his pack and quickly began to shed his coveralls.

“I can keep the doors closed and hold the lift for 30 seconds before it registers with security,” said Victoria rapidly.

“Plenty of time,” said Nigel as he smoothed out his suit and adjusted his tie. He admired himself in the polished chrome finish of the doors. He bent down and rolled his coveralls into a tight spiral, then began to extract the supplies he needed, when the elevator started moving.

“What did you do?” He asked as he braced himself slightly. “Why am I moving?” A bit more sharply.

She was furiously typing and checking the controls. “I don't know!” She said in almost a shout. Then she saw it.

“Bloody security has recalled the lift. It's heading for the main lobby!”

“Well, stop it!” Nigel shouted. He glanced up at the floor numbers decreasing in a rapid succession. Once it hit 50, they were replaced with a double XX.

As her fingers manipulated the keys, the screens on the monitor specific to elevator controls shifted back and forth between each lift's position and a command prompt.

“Victoria,” he said in a sing-song voice.

Now who's breaking protocol, she thought. “Almost there.”

In the split second he had heard her reply; the elevator began to slow.

He let out a breath, “Cutting it kind of close, aren't you?”

It was her turn to be snarky. “That's not me, love. You have reached the main lobby.”

In a panic, he grabbed his gear and maneuvered himself into the forward corner of the box. Nigel didn't want be in front of the doors when they opened. A stupid ruse as the entire box had chrome plating and acted as one gigantic three-dimensional mirror. There wasn't enough time for him to get through the top of the hatch; he had to do something. He wanted to call out to her to see if there was someone in the lobby waiting, wanted to know what she was doing, wanted to know how she could let something like this happen and didn't see it coming. So much for all those backups to backups.

The box came to a complete stop, and the doors did not open.

He waited a few more seconds thinking that it may take some time but they would eventually part. Then the box started moving upward again.

She did it.

He waited for her to say something, but her voice never came. As the double XX was replaced with 50 and moving higher, he said, “Victoria, I—”

“You're welcome. Get ready and act normal. From this point on you need to behave like you belong there.”

She was very short and direct in her response, and it did not go unnoticed. He thought for a second and wondered why. What could she possibly be irritated about? He was the one that was trapped inside the box going in the wrong direction. He was about to throw the old girl a bone and simply apologize for being snappy, until she cut him off.

Being self-absorbed and master of his own universe, it didn't occur to him that it might not have been what he said, but rather how he said it. For supposedly being the dominant gender, sometimes men were not that smart; especially when it came to understanding women.

A glimmer of this inkling flashed through his mind but for a brief second as he bundled his belongings and pushed them through the lift's top hatch. Nigel supposed that he had treated her somewhat poorly, which would account for the abruptness. After this job, he would try to find a way to make it up to her. Maybe he could—

He shook his head as if something were on it. What was he doing? He needed to concentrate upon the task at hand. Distracting thoughts such as this would only complicate the flow of movement both physically and mentally. She will get over it. Her feelings were just going to have to wait.

The caterwauling returned, then the doors parted.

* * *

Trin finished up the last of his paperwork with a big smile. Even with mishaps and distractions, he would still have time to grab a quick shower before his date. The security chief eyed him warily as he handed over his report.

“Hey chief, something is going on with H7,” said a voice behind him.

“What's the problem?” He said disinterested as he reviewed Trin's work.

“We got a broadcast that it was malfunctioning so we brought it back down to the main for lock down.”

“And … So?” Responded the chief still not caring.

“And it went back up on its own,” responded the operator.

The chief was still reviewing Trin's report. “Where is it at now?”

“Fifty-six.”

Still looking through the report. “Where did it come from?”

The operator swiveled his chair to face him. “Fifty-six.”

The chief looked up. He turned and gave the operator a curious look.

The shift security chief was a no-nonsense guy. He rarely interacted with his subordinates, and it was well-known that he had absolutely no sense of humor. He was by the book on all departmental regulations; and took this job extremely seriously. All those who worked with him were not afraid, but understood the chain of command and held a certain amount of respect for the position, not necessarily the man who occupied it. Conversely, he knew that it would be in their best interest to ensure his happiness, so joking about anything was simply not a smart play.

He eyed Trin for a half a second with a mental, nonverbal look indicating he should stay put, then walked over to the operator's duty station. “Show me,” was his only command.

The operator immediately swiveled to queue up the video surveillance of H7. The feed clearly displayed a vacant elevator. The command must be coming from the floor itself. “Let me see 56 common.”

The video surveillance switched from inside the box to the lobby of floor 56. As the camera cut, they saw someone exiting the elevators; a gweilo in a business suit. The chief c****d his head slightly. “How many elevators are on 56?”

“Just H7,” said the operator, a half a tick behind on understanding. Then it occurred to him just as the chief was walking to the duty roster.

The video showed no one inside the box.

The chief flipped through tonight's rotation assignments. Once he found what he was looking for, he keyed the microphone on his shoulder. “264, this is dispatch. What is your location?”

* * *

With a clearing of his throat, Nigel emerged from the elevator banks and casually went to the left passed a directory of the floor's tenants. Not wanting to outwardly appear as anxious as he felt inside, he walked with a clear purpose and meaning to his stride. It was as if he was coming from a meeting with thoughts of his daily schedule, or preparing for his next business venture. Never mind the fact that it was after business hours, or that the floor itself was practically deserted; employee tracking had previously confirmed that. The idea behind this was as Victoria stated; he had to appear as if he belonged. He was now an actor on stage, giving tonight's main performance. When everything was said, and done, video playback of the event would show an employee of Advanced IntelliCorp going about his business. Nothing remarkable for the cameras to catch, until it was too late.

He strode passed a cleaning cart that propped open a door to one of the floor's main restrooms. He did not break his cadence as he glided around it, but was keenly aware of the activity inside; carefully listening to the position of the noise to ensure there was no line of sight. That was going to be the tricky part from this point forward.

Nigel and Victoria practiced the fine art of casually moving throughout their environments for years. Being seen without being noticed; appearing to belong to blend. They changed the gait of their walk for each job that required a necessary public appearance on the off chance that a few looks would linger.

He knew every position of the cameras throughout the floor. He would continue to maneuver to the objective as the “belonged,” but would never be discerned.

* * *

Kevin was practically to the missed security point when his radio buzzed. “Dispatch, 264 – I'm coming up on checkpoint F 62, over,” he continued to walk as he waited for the response.

The chief had a quizzical expression as he looked around, then caught the goofy smile of Trin, who was thinking about his date. With slight exasperation and a roll of his eyes, he said, “When you have completed Mr. Yann's last responsibility, I need you on 56. We have a–,” the chief suddenly stopped. He looked at the operator with realization and asked, “Who reported the malfunction with H7?”

Without hesitation, the operator replied, “It was Kevin.”

This was becoming quite the puzzle. “264, was there anyone in the elevator with you when you reported the issue with H7?”

“No sir.”

“Tell me what happened that caused a concern,” said the chief.

Kevin stopped short of the missed checkpoint. “There was a loud bang as if something had been dropped on the elevator. After careful evaluation, I made the decision to proceed using H7. As the elevator started, I heard some minor metallic sounds, like something was coming loose. After reaching 62, I decided I should report the elevator irregularities just to be on the safe side.”

Concern creased the chief's face. Eyes began to shift to him as the conversation proceeded. Looking at the operator, he said, “Show me the video of H7 beginning right before Kevin got on. I want to see what he saw.” The operator began typing in the commands. The chief keyed his microphone. “Is that all that you heard? There was nothing else?”

Kevin thought as he stood there alone in the ambient lighting of the Northwest corridor. He wondered for a brief second why all these questions seemed so important about reporting the malfunction of an elevator. Then he remembered; the voice. There was no one in the elevator with him; there was no one there upon entry or exit. He could have sworn he heard someone though. He didn't want to appear foolish in front of the shift chief, but his questions seemed very direct. Suddenly, he felt obligated to tell the chief everything. “I heard a voice as the elevator took off. I thought it was nothing, but now you have questions that make me think otherwise.”

“Chief,” said the operator. The chief leaned down to watch the monitor. He saw Kevin enter the elevator from a camera shot in the lobby. The view switched to the inside of H7. The box was empty. None of this made any sense.

He keyed his microphone. “I need you to get down to 56. We just saw somebody come out of your elevator. We do not have a record of any other transports on that level now.”

Kevin was a bit hesitant. “Chief, it may be an employee. We still have some late workers leaving the building.”

“This person was entering the floor from the elevator; he was not leaving, and there was no originating movement from H7 prior to you. Internal cameras showed the elevator empty; even when you were using it.”

Now Kevin became concerned. “Copy that sir, but I do not have the shift badge for my rotation. I will not be able to access that floor without it.”

All eyes continued to watch the chief as he swore. He used much of the same words that Trin did when checking the facilities' maintenance room.

He thought for a moment. It could be something as simple as Kevin's theory. Some employees regularly worked after hours. Still… By the time he returned to pick up the badge and get back up there, the mystery man may be gone. That option would not be good enough; too much time would pass. He needed a man now for verification.

The chief turned around to looked for someone, anyone. Everyone knew what the chief wanted, especially Trin. As their eyes met, Trin looked down and away. Had he held the chief's gaze, he would have seen the disappointment that everyone else observed.

“I'll do it, sir,” said Chen from the other side of the room. He had heard the exchange on his radio. He walked over and held out his hand waiting for the security badge.

The chief set his jaw. Looking to an attendant, he nodded towards Chen, who was quickly rewarded with the badge.

The security shift chief for Taipei 101 would never know how pivotal that moment, that choice would be, or how it would forever affect their lives. That one decision would cause a ripple of change for someone on his staff. For another, it would bring about an end.

As Chen turned towards the door, the chief said, “Find out who he works for and why he is here. He doesn't look like he belongs. If you sense any danger, you radio back. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir,” said Chen, then he turned and headed out the door.

He was followed by a presence.