Plan

3 Do Not Engage-1

3

Do Not EngageNigel casually strolled up to the double doors of Advanced IntelliCorp. To the right was a keypad and badge swipe. Victoria hounded him at least once a day regarding his six-digit personnel identification number. He needed to commit that to memory for his performance to be completely authentic. Had this been during the day, he imagined holding a cup of coffee as he fumbled with the code and the badge. It would have been a nice touch to appear less than perfect, but impractical for the job at hand. Do what must be done to blend, he thought. He entered the sequence then swiped the badge as casually as dialing a phone or using a credit card.

Now came the part where he had to move about as the belonged. There would be no looking at codes, no stopping in corridors to see which way was next, no maps of objects in a room; he must be an employee. He memorized every single layout of each room through the camera taps. He watched employee access protocols, and studied mannerisms of specific resources to help him move freely about, but in such a way as it appeared normal, and kept his face off camera. It took a bit of concentration, but this was not, as they say, his first rodeo. It also helped to have his little bird in his ear.

“Down the hall, last door to the right. That is the anteroom before the vault,” said Victoria as she monitored his progress.

He continued his casual cadence pretending to look down and away every so often when he came to a camera. She continued monitoring the in-house surveillance system to ensure that the security protocols did not kick in with facial recognition.

As she watched him, she glanced somewhat to the elevator controls, and did a double take causing her eyes to widening slightly. “Elevator nine is slowing to 56,” she said trying to mask the concern in her voice. She quickly punched up the video feed for the moving lift. “It's a security guard. He's going to get off on your floor.”

As he punched in the code for the outer room and entered, Nigel took advantage of a blind spot between cameras. “How much time?”

“Two minutes, maybe less.”

Although he did not verbally utter them, a few of the finer English swear words floated through his mind. Once again, he felt like she dropped the ball. There would clearly have been more time for him to prepare had she been monitoring the security room entrance and lobby elevators. “Stall him.”

“Are you daft?” She said in clear astonishment. “If they haven't already figured out something is going on, causing havoc with another elevator will surely confirm it.”

She noticed that he had quickened his pace to the vault security entrance. “I'm afraid that it may be already too late for that, love. We'll have to go with exit strategy three. Lock the elevator down now.”

“You need to slow your movements. Visual tracking will pick up anything erratic and alert security.”

“Who is daft now? It's a good bet that they already know something is afoot. Do you have the manager's authorization code?” He was preparing to enter his into the chamber entry's access panel.

She monitored today's vault shift manager via the security cameras. She focused on the code that he used for technicians to access the exterior lock chamber of the vault. The lock chamber was a one-person cylinder that when properly authorized, would open on one side for someone to enter, then rotate around for the completion of passage to the other. Much like the new screening devices at airports. An employee must enter his identification number followed by the shift manager to complete the authentication and entry. It was part of a two-person security protocol to ensure that a single person could not gain access alone. The manager's code was changed each day.

Victoria spewed the number as quickly and clearly as possible while attempting to shut the approaching elevator down.

* * *

Kevin stood in front of the missed checkpoint; deep in thought. The numbers and statistics were replaced with concern about the unidentified man. A man whom he did not see, but heard. How was that possible? It was after hours, and most employees had checked out. Part of the nightshift routine was to verify all personnel during the day. If someone swiped their badge into the building, but not out, they would appear on the nightly log printout; he wondered if the chief had checked that. His fatigue was a definite influence on his senses, but hearing the voice in the elevator was apparently not a figment of his imagination. The chief identified someone coming off the same elevator as him, a few minutes after Kevin exited. How did he get in there? Did it stop on another floor after Kevin? If so, it had to have been a floor between 62 and 56. Kevin was smart enough to know what companies had multiple offices on the various floors. By his recollection there where not any related businesses between those levels. Again, that didn't seem plausible as he heard the voice before he got off on his floor. He wondered about the time logs from the video cameras. Would the chief cross-check them to see the precise sequence of events? These questions circulated through Kevin's weary but active mind. He was so lost in thought, that he half heard the radio chatter. Something about being on 56. It was Chen's voice.

* * *

“What is the bin number?” Asked Nigel.

“C 26–5J,” came her answer.

He began rushing through the aisles; they were in alphanumeric order.

A camera in the south-east corner came to life and focused in on Nigel.

“Security measures have been tripped. Facial recognition is commencing. I told you not to move too fast!” she said. It was Nigel's turn to make a mistake.

There were several criteria that would cause a sequence of actions should there be something classified as a break-in. With his erratic movement, coupled with the after-hours access, and to the technology vault, the very expensive security system activated the first passive stage. Although she was correct about the speed of his movements, that was not what set off the chain of events. Neither he nor Victoria counted on the system to know the difference between the two codes being entered by the same person. Unbeknown to both, the system had been watching and tracking since he entered the office. The code entry just cinched it.

Nigel was right.

They were caught before he entered the vault.

* * *

An operator in dispatch sat at his station a few chairs down from elevator controls. He, along with everyone else, was following the conversation around the unidentified intruder. He happened to look towards his monitor when he saw it. “Um, sir?”

“Yeah?” Said the security chief with the same disinterest shown as before.

The operator turned to his station and began typing protocol commands. “A silent alarm has been tripped on 56. The tenant's security system has detected an intruder. Passive measures are now active.”

The chief looked up, then ran the few steps towards operator two's station. “Who?”

“It looks like it's Advanced IntelliCorp.”

The chief bent down to look at the monitor; it displayed the details of the encroachment. The screen directly above flashed a red banner that simply read INTRUDER. It looked a lot like the red alerts seen in the newer Star Trek shows. “Taipei City Police have been notified. They are en route,” said the operator.

Things were getting interesting now. This whole event played out like a car crash. Nobody could look away.

The chief stood up slowly; a trickle of sweat rolled down his face. What is going on? Who is this guy? Why is this happening? More importantly, why is it happening on his shift?

Out of these questions, the one that did not readily occur to him was why this tenant was being targeted? Once it did, it shifted his thought process from malicious trespassing to theft.

The chief continued to think about this as he acted. He turned and yelled to no one in particular. “What does Advanced IntelliCorp do? Does anybody know?”

“Sir, they do research and development on next-generation technology; enhancements to artificial intelligence, smart microchips, that sort of thing,” said someone. All eyes turned towards the speaker and gawked like he had a growth sprouting from his neck. “What? I applied for an internship there last semester.”

The chief's eyes darted back-and-forth as he processed this new information. Unknown intruder, silent alarm, after-hours access, high-tech company, city police en route … his thoughts were interrupted by somebody else in the room.

“Sir, if this is a robbery in progress,” he paused. “Chen is up there by himself.”

“No,” said the chief in a whisper. This new thought caused a nauseous feeling to bubble in his throat. He clicked on the microphone attached to his shoulder strap. “Chen! Come in!”

* * *

Chen smiled as he passed the cleaning lady near the restrooms. She smiled back as she emptied a dustbin. His thoughts were split between his task and educational pursuits. Prospects of Kevin and his accomplishments sparked a reawakening of interest in trying to better himself. He was formulating the areas of his interest and questions he could ask Kevin on their lunch break when his radio crackled.

It hissed with static, letting loose a garbled word here and there. It sounded like the chief. He slowed a bit and began to adjust the tuner. “Chief?” He kept saying between modifications. It sounded like he wanted Chen to abort something; he picked up the word “return” in the sequence of the static conversation. This was weird; the radios had never failed before.

He continued to play with the buttons and knobs, but nothing seemed to work. He thought for a moment. Was the chief calling him? It could be something else entirely. Chen tried one more time to contact Dispatch. After the failed attempt, he continued with his objective of identifying the stranger. He looked around as he moved through the hallways.

Advanced IntelliCorp was known for its cutting-edge technology. Not only did it develop artificial intelligence with the most progressive self-awareness capabilities to date, it was conducting research into biometric fusion; synthetic organic nano-tech that would revolutionize the medical industry. Those were two of the more lucrative areas of concentration for the company's development and market.

It would only stand to reason that they would employ some of their own technology in other matters such as security and surveillance.

As part of the passive measures, the artificial intelligence, that was the brain behind their surveillance, used its neural network to hypothesize numerous variables to account for the current situation. It determined that containment within the boundaries of the facility was not a prudent course of action, as the intruder or thief might damage property or pending research attempting to escape capture.

It was smart enough to know that one of the first rules of warfare was to cut communications. Unfortunately, this meant all microwave signals within a given radius and proximity.

That would account for the bad reception with Chen. His choice to continue with his instructions followed the protocols of his job responsibilities.

The presence that moved with him held a solemn face; for he knew all too well the consequence to the decision made.

* * *

Kevin held his radio close to his ear and listened intently to the conversation between the chief and Chen. More specifically, the chief; his friend's responses indicated that he was not picking up the chief's instructions at all. It wasn't until he heard him say he thought this was a break-in, and the intruder was most likely armed and dangerous, that Kevin broke into a run back toward the elevators. He was so preoccupied with his friend's safety, that he completely forgot the last security checkpoint. That was no longer a priority.

As Kevin was about to round the corner, and ethereal hand touched him on his shoulder.

Don't.

Clouded in the mist of the world, it came across as a feeling, a psychic premonition of sorts, a nudging.