One Last Time
Chapter 7
It was hard to leave Higgins in that condition, but the silence of the moment was as overpowering as a roaring fire and it seemed best to take a step away from it. Wanting to put some distance between myself and Higgins, I quickly disabled the computer, grabbed a tool box and headed back outside to the junction box. With the light slowly fading, it took maybe the next hour or so to remove the device and then reconnect all the bypassed wires, but it gave me time to calm my nerves and think up an idea.
"Higgins! Please, I need some room here! Ow!" I said as I stood up and hit my head on the underside of the computer desk in the security closet. "I simply want to know what you are doing as you could be damaging very sensitive and also very valuable equipment" Higgins insisted. "If you could just hold the flashlight steady you wouldn't have anything to worry about!" I responded. "Can you at least tell me what the devil it is that you are trying to accomplish?" Higgins asked. 'I don't know why we didn't think of it sooner.. I'm trying to tie in the lighting controls to the security computer. I mean, it should really be easy, because all of the sensors tie into the junction boxes, which is really just a couple of wires that come in through the wall here for each zone out on the estate and then they trip a relay which trips a low voltage controller which sends the signal to the computer here, and I figure it should really be easy to just run an extra wire over to the lighting relays for each one and..." I explained. "When the alarm is tripped for that zone, it would also activate the lights in that area" Higgins continued "interesting." "Interesting? I think it's pretty damn good if I say so myself" I replied "now, would you hand me the wire cutters please?"
It only took another half hour to finish with the wiring and to get the computer turned back on, but only a few minutes for the monotony of waiting to set in.
"Magnum! Will you please stop playing with the lads! It's creating an awful din and they should be out on the estate patrolling as it's well after dark now" Higgins said as he burst into the foyer. "Sorry, guys! Fun time is over." I said as I dropped the tennis ball which I had been holding onto. I opened the front door to let the dogs outside. "Well?" Higgins asked. "Well what!?" I asked in return. "Shouldn't you be going with them?" Higgins answered. I hung my head in defeat. I said "Can I at least get my .45 out of the gun cabinet?" "Nonsense" said Higgins "Take the Sterling, you don't know what you'll be up against." "That relic? It probably doesn't even work and where are you going to get ammunition for it?" I questioned. "It's in perfect working order and it requires standard 9mm ammunition, of which there are two 32 round clips" Higgins replied. "Fine, but I'm still taking my .45" I said. "Quite" Higgins said with a sneer. Higgins unlocked the gun cabinet and handed me the .45, which I tucked into the back of my pants, then the sterling. Higgins pulled a shotgun from the cabinet and began loading it, "I suppose I will take up a position here in the rear, while you man the front, by the wall". "Quite" I said cheekily.
The night air was cool and I suddenly wished I had brought along a jacket. It was also very dark on account of how little moonlight there was, or at least what managed to shine through the overcast sky. "Ok" I said as I looked down at the lads "Zeus, Apollo, patrol!" The dogs sat there motionless, staring up at me. "OK, fine, you can stay with me but you have to be quiet, so mums the word lads!" I said as I sat down in front of small cluster of trees. Zeus and Apollo sat next to me while I tried to make myself comfortable as possible by sitting up against a tree. Sometime after what seemed like at least an hour of mind numbing boredom, I drifted off to sleep.
Suddenly, as if someone had thrown open the curtains, I was awakened by the flood lights and Zeus and Apollo barking and snarling viciously. Jerking myself awake, I caught out of the corner of my eye a shadowy figure trying to climb over the wall. Startled by the bright lights, it lost it's footing and slipped to land on it's chest across the wall with a loud thud. It let out a moan as it slipped from view over the wall. As quickly as I could, I grabbed the sterling and ran for the wall. Running at full speed, I ran up the wall in two steps, grabbed the top, swung myself over and landed heavily on the other side. The figure was desperately limping across the road towards a white van and right into the path of an oncoming car. "Look out!" I shouted, but it was too late. Hearing me shout, the figure turned towards the oncoming car and was struck dead on and landed several yards away. The white van sped away as the car screeched to a halt.
"What's happened!?" Higgins shouted from inside the front gate. "Call an ambulance!" I shouted in return as I ran towards the figure. The figure was alive but unconscious; the headlights from the car revealed that it was a man wearing black fatigues and a ski mask. A quick search turned up his wallet and I looked through it for identification. The wallet didn't contain anything interesting except for an employee ID card with the name Allan Gentry.
Allan Gentry worked for a company named StarGuard. A hot burning flame of anger started to take over me as I crushed the wallet in my fist. StarGuard. I stood up and threw the wallet down onto Allan Gentry's unconscious body.