her leave. Let me check.”
Charlie strode over to the console. The holster housing his revolver
flapped against his side and the keys clipped to his gun belt jangled as
he walked. He put on a headset and punched a button on the console.
After a few seconds he shook his head. “I’m just getting her voice
mail, Sidney.”
“Oh. Well, she had some things… some things of Jason’s that I wanted
to pick up.” Sidney looked down at the floor, apparently unable to
continue speaking.
Charlie walked back over to her. He touched her arm. “Well, maybe she
has them at her desk.”
Sidney looked up at him. “She probably does, I would think.”
Charlie hesitated. He knew this was against all the rules. But then,
rules shouldn’t always apply. He went back over to the console, hit a
couple of buttons and Sidney watched as the red light next to the door
leading into the office corridor turned to green. He walked back over
and, pulling keys from his belt, unlocked the door.
“You know how they freak out over security here, but I think this
situation is a little different. Nobody’s back there anyway. Usually
this place is buzzing up until about ten, but it’s the holiday week and
all. I’ve gotta make rounds now on the fourth floor. You know where
she sits, right?”
“I do, Charlie. I really appreciate this.”
He gave her hand another squeeze. “Like I said, your husband was a good
man.”
Sidney moved down the softly lit corridor. Kay’s cubicle was about
halfway down, with Jason’s office diagonally across from it.
While Sidney walked down the hallway, she looked carefully around; all
was quiet. She turned the corner and saw Kay’s darkened cubicle. In a
box next to her desk chair was a sweater and some framed photos. She
probed underneath and lifted out a finely bound book with gilt edges.
David Copperfield. It was one of Jason’s favorites.
She put the things back in the box and placed it next to the chair.
She looked around again. The corridor was also empty. Charlie had said
everyone was gone, but then again, he hadn’t been certain about Kay.
Satisfied that she was alone at least for now, Sidney reached her
husband’s office door. Her hopes sank when she spied the numeric
keypad. Kay hadn’t mentioned that device. She thought for a moment,
pulled the plastic card out of her pocket, looked around once more, and
then slid it into the slot. A light on the keypad clicked on. Sidney
read the word “Ready” next to the light. She thought quickly and
punched in some numbers; however, the light didn’t budge from its
position. She became frustrated. She didn’t even know how many digits
to punch in, much less what they were.
She tried a few more combinations without success.
She had almost decided to give up when she noted that there was a small
digital screen in one corner of the numeric keypad. Apparently it was a
time counter and it was now on eight seconds. The alarm light on the
pad started to glow a brighter and brighter crimson.
“Oh, shit,” she hissed. An alarm! The counter was now at five seconds.
She stood frozen. Flashing across her mind were all the re-suits that
would occur were she found here attempting to infiltrate her husband’s
office. None of them rated less than a complete disaster.
As her eyes locked on the counter, which was now down to three seconds,
she broke out of her inertia. One more possible combination rocketed
across her brain. Mouthing a silent prayer, her fingers punched in the
numbers 0-6-1-6. She hit the last digit right as the counter clicked to
zero. Waiting for the piercing alarm to explode, Sidney held her breath
for one long instant.
The alarm light turned off and the door’s locks clicked free. Sidney
steadied herself against the wall as she slowly started breathing
normally again. June 16 was Amy’s birthday. Triton probably had a
policy about not using personal numbers for security codes: too easy to
crack. For Sidney, it was proof positive that the little girl was never
really out of her father’s thoughts.