She removed the plastic card from the slot. Before grasping the
doorknob, she pulled a handkerchief from her purse and wound it around
her hand to avoid leaving any prints. Acting the part of an intruder
both exhilarated and terrified her. She felt her pulse hammering in her
ears. She entered the office and quickly closed the door behind her.
The flashlight she pulled from her bag was small but effective.
Before turning it on, she checked to make sure that the window blinds
were all the way down and completely closed. The thin light swept
around the office. She had been here before, several times in fact, to
have lunch with Jason, although they had not stayed long in his office.
Usually it was just to snatch a quick kiss behind closed doors. Her
light skipped to bookcases filled with technical tomes far beyond her
realm of comprehension. The technocrats really did rule, she mused for
a moment, if only because they were the only ones who could fix the damn
things when they broke down.
The light fell upon the computer and she quickly went over to it.
It was off and the presence of another keypad made her decide not to
push her luck in attempting to turn it on. She would be hopelessly lost
even if she was fortunate enough to log on, since she had no idea what
she was looking for or where to search. It wasn’t worth the risk. She
noted the microphone attached to the computer monitor.
A number of desk drawers were locked. The few that weren’t revealed
nothing of interest.
In stark contrast to her office at the law firm, there were no diplomas
on the walls or other personal touches in her husband’s office.
She did note, with a glistening eye, that a photo of Jason and his
family held a prominent position on his desk. As she looked around the
office, it suddenly occurred to her that she had taken enormous risks
for nothing. She whirled around at a sudden noise from somewhere within
the office space. The flashlight collided with the microphone and, to
her horror, the slender device bent in half. She stood completely
still, listening for the sound to be repeated. Finally, after a minute
of sheer terror, she turned her attention back to the slender
microphone. She spent a couple of minutes trying to return it to its
original shape without much success. Finally she gave up, wiped her
prints from it, retreated to the door and turned off her flashlight.
Using the handkerchief to grip the doorknob, she listened at the door
for a moment and then exited the office.
She heard the footsteps coming as soon as she reached Kay’s desk.
For an instant she thought it might be Charlie, except there was no
jangling of keys against his gun belt. She looked quickly around to
determine which way the sounds were coming from. Clearly the person was
back farther in the office. She slipped across to Kay’s cubicle and
knelt down behind her desk. Trying to breathe as quietly as possible,
she waited as the footsteps came closer. Then’ they stopped.
A minute went by and they did not resume. Then Sidney heard a slight
clicking sound, as though something was being rotated back and forth,
but only in a limited radius.
Unable to stop herself, she cautiously peered around the corner of Kay’s
cubicle. A man’s back was barely six feet away from her. He was slowly
turning the doorknob on Jason’s office door back and forth. The man
took a card out of his shirt pocket and started to insert it into the
slot. Then he hesitated over the keypad as if deciding whether to
chance it or not. Finally his courage failed and he put the card back
in his pocket and turned away.
Quentin Rowe did not look pleased. He retreated down the hallway the
way he had come.
Sidney slipped out from her hiding place and walked in the opposite
direction. She was moving rapidly when she rounded the corner and her
purse hit the wall. The noise, while not loud, seemed to echo like an
explosion through the quiet hallways. Her breath caught in her throat