Hunt Down Rose

Chapter 2: Elimination

As I went back to the building, I slept for several hours and woke up at least 4 hours before the rendezvous mission with the sound of my alarm in such an atmosphere of intense rush, knocking me out of my dental chair.

“Better get everything ready,” I said to myself regaining my vision due to the sudden changes in schedule.

I stood up and without hesitation, went to the tables, opened the box, and started researching some possible identities to use for tonight.

I grabbed my phone and called Carlos for some background checks and identity processing. Even though I have enough materials, molding it in such a short time would be the problem. Creating wrinkles depending on the age and density of the skin tone could also be a hassle. It’s a good thing that my blades are ready for carving details into the plasters. The only thing I'm missing now is an identity for me to copy.

*Ring, Ring* after a few seconds of waiting.

He greeted me in such a husky tone.

“Yo… what’s up?”

I went back on my dental chair.

“Still can’t get over on your rabbit?”

“Nope, I’m already over that.”

I can hear his pc turning on from the other side of the phone.

“So what is it that you want now? You woke me up in such a bad time.”

“I’ll get to the point then.” I started looking at aero securities employee database along with their transaction and entry codes to check if there’s anyone that catches my interest.

“I want you to run on some names starting with their janitorial employees at this moment, full background and appearance assessment if you would be so kind.”

“If you’re asking me to fake out a certain identity, I can easily grant you access by hacking the main server. The only thing I require from you is to place a certain device I’m about to give you.”

“Even if I do that, I’d still be ordering you to open all doors. There’s no point in making a fake profile, to be honest. What I’m thinking now is the locker rooms on the janitorial services near the basement.”

He started typing on the keyboard

“Go on.”

I continued. 'According to the company guidelines, there is only one place that requires a keycard around the premises of the company, which has to be somewhere around the basement. They have been renovating the building for years, except that place. I want to have the profile of an employee that was a part of the renovation.”

“So you are saying, the only place the archives could only have been established in the first place is in the basement itself? There are quite a few Janitors that are still employed up to this day, but are you sure you wanna go with that?”

“Yup.”

“Let me enlighten you with your bullshit shall we.” I can sense his optimism on the other side. From his words, I’ll be able to find some new stuff on the company.

“It’s true that the place has been renovated in the past years, however, you aren’t even a hundred percent sure on where the archives are located. You only have one shot at this once I’ve given access on all doors. I can’t open them for far too long in order for you to scan all of the rooms in the basement. Dude, it’s like finding a pin on a haystack, given the fact that the rooms of this basement are as big as a badass basketball court, you’ll have to scan 15 rooms overall. How are you going to dig that up?”

“That’s why I’m asking you to do a round off scan on the Janitors. In case we do find ourselves in a tight situation such as having limited time and stuff. There are janitors that have information on these rooms given that they have a map somewhere in the locker room.” I laid my phone on the table and opened my laptop looking at the job opportunities and for hires on the company’s website.

“And how did you know that?”

“As simple as it gets if you are a normal janitor you don’t expect yourself to have photographic memory. Don’t forget that we are looking for a room with a key or something like it, different from any other room found on the building itself. So if the updates of the security system were to be filed and compared…”

“…We can match up the security codes on each room and if we find a missing code on the door, it could be that the room we are searching for is the archive room itself since it doesn’t need any authorization codes, just a good old key would do.” Carlos is beginning to follow up.

“Precisely, the problem now my friend is the total number of employees.”

“And why is that a problem?”

“Try checking the number of people related to each department every single day.”

Clicking sounds of the mouse are quite obvious along with certain hits from the keyboard.

“88? I guess we just have to give you the closest possible employee to use. Most people are working on night shifts, so expect every place to be crowded. I bet tonight won’t be a problem since it’s a day off for most of them.” For a security company, the number of their registered employees are great, although the building seems a little small form the outside view, they should have underground rooms to facilitate such numbers.

“Make it quick, I already have the plasters and the wigs ready. Send me the file in just a few minutes. I can’t let this thing dry out without any shape and texture. Also if you are worried about being compromised, I’ve done this more than a dozen times so it would be as easy as stealing a piece of cake.”

“I’m on it.” He replied to me as I ended the call, reading some of the files while waiting for an e-mail to pop out on the screen of my laptop.

I placed my modeling bust on the stone slabs that I’ve cleaned just this morning along with my equipment. The scalpels are also sharpened and ready for use along with the make-up and contact lens and the wigs are also placed and labeled according to its color and hairline.

After roughly 15 minutes of my allotted time, I received the e-mail with our candidate today.

My phone started ringing with a call from Carlos.

“Looks like you got what I wanted.” I replied to him answering the phone call with my earpiece.

“Well, it did take a while since the keycard that you’re supposed to have doesn’t exist on a normal basis to begin with.”

I was puzzled by that idea. “What do you mean?”

I waited for his answer on the line but instead, I received another mail with a list of janitors active on the basement itself.

“Care to look on the piece of data that I have?”

As I scanned the list, I did notice something strange with the number of access points given to all janitors on each floor and room.

“Wait a minute! Why is it that these guys have all access to all of the rooms? Is this company even for real that they allow such people to gain passes on different rooms? What if these guys were hacks?”

“That’s what I thought too. However, it seems to me that this building has more to offer than its staff.”

He added “My assumption is that these employees are not ordinary ones. Upon validation, a great majority of the Janitors have some sort of military training based on the certificates I’m seeing. Not to mention the number of outside contractors even surpasses the number of actual employees from a ratio of 10:65.”

Then all this time I finally had this self-realization. “Unless...”

“… Their business doesn’t exist as a security firm in the first place. It could be that the people involved in it were former employees during the revolution. I believe it has something to do with that event. If so, those happenings a few years back would explain everything we have on our laps now. I did more than just a background check on some of the names on that list that you have and compared their past occupations which is highly consistent with the company’s endeavors. It seems to me that this company only existed as a failsafe for information held by former businessmen along with their illegal transactions.”

“So we’re dealing with a high-security building after all.”

He started typing again on the other side of the line.

“Yes, indeed we are. If you want to get everything done, you should start with the profile I gave you before I lay down the entire operation. The security won’t be that hard to breach in reality so play safe.”

“I guess it would be best so. I’ll see you outside the building at exactly hour zero. See ya twerp!” I ended the call and went to proceed with my work.