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At the corner, I listened before peeking around to look down the long corridor.
I pulled my head back quickly.
The bigger of the two night guards was halfway down the hall and coming this way.
I shuffled back the way I’d come as silently as I could.
The first office door I tried was locked, and the same with the second. There wasn’t any time to try to pick one, and the file room door had locked behind me.
The sound of the guard rattling a doorknob just past the corner left me no alternative. I pushed my way into the bathroom, grabbed the handle to keep the spring-loaded door closer from doing its thing, and gently shut the door behind me.
I turned.
Shit.
I’d ended up in the men’s room. Tiptoeing to the far stall, I slid inside.
A cough outside the door got my heart racing. He was just outside. If he came in here, I was done.
The sound of the door opening sealed my decision. With my hands braced against the stall walls, I put one foot on the toilet seat and climbed up, hoping it wouldn’t squeak when I put my other foot on the opposite side of the seat and crouched.
It didn’t, but as I lifted my other foot, my pick set case came loose from my pocket and fell to the floor, the light sound masked by the loud closing of the door to the corridor.
I closed my eyes and unsuccessfully willed my heartbeat to slow. Slow, silent breaths were agonizing as my lungs burned for more air.
The footsteps made their way inside and were followed by a grunt and the sound of a zipper coming down.
I opened my eyes, and the sight of my pick set on the floor only compounded my terror.
More grunts preceded humming and the sound of the guard peeing in the urinal.
A bead of sweat threatened to fall into my eye, but I didn’t dare move to wipe it away.
The sound of the stream stopped and started a few times before the humming was replaced by another grunt as the zipper sound announced he was done.
The sound of flushing followed, then the door thudding shut.
Thankfully he hadn’t bothered to wash his hands. If he had, he might have noticed the pick set on the floor in the mirror.
Finally able to breathe again, I wiped my brow with my sleeve, stepped off the toilet seat, and tried to compose myself. After retrieving the pick set and pocketing the latex gloves, I pulled two tissues from the box by the sink to dry my sweaty hands.
Two minutes went by on my watch before I listened at the bathroom door and found the hallway quiet enough to slip out again.
My path to the stairwell exit required a left down the long hallway, a right at the end, and another jog right. The path was clear as I made the final turn, and I could finally relax as I shuffled softly down the concrete stairs to the garage level.
The back of the garage had a separate set of stairs to the street, and no surveillance cameras.
Once back in the safety of my car, I pulled out my iPad, composed an email, and sent it.
To: HYDRA157
From: Nemesis666
The pony is back in the barn.
I twisted Mom’s ring on my finger. “I’ll get the proof for you.”
The words dissipated in the empty car, but I was sure she could hear them.
