Maybe he shouldn't have. He would need it all in about 7 minutes.
The elevator bell dinged, and slowly, the steel doors pulled apart. Free at last, Artemis casually walked to the bathroom. He's orchestrated the charade very meticulously, and if it were to work, things would have to go precisely as planned. Programming the stop watch function on his Rolex (which he's had specially designed and fitted) to 5 minutes, Artemis stood in front of the mirror for a few seconds and walked back outside. Right into Helen.
If he was a little less brilliant, he'd think the whole thing was a coincidence. Being in the same elevator, going to the same floor, standing in the same spot...his practical side screamed at him to get back on task. Artemis' eyes slid to his watch. 4 minutes and...he couldn't see the number of seconds he had left because a shadow had suddenly engulfed his arm. It was Helen.
"Excuse me, do you have the time?" she asked politely. 'Hah. Nice try. What game are you trying to play here?' Artemis thought, starting to get a little impatient. He had a job to do.
Still keeping a nice face, he answered curtly, "Yes. I do. It's 9:12."
"Thank you. Your watch is beautiful by the way. Where did you get it?" Helen asked, gently tilting his arm towards her so she could examine it.
Extremely annoyed, Artemis pulled out of her grip and said, "I had it custom made. Excuse me, I must be off." He turned and walked right back into the men's restroom, wondering all the way.
'Why is she trying to stall me? She can't possibly know what I'm doing.' he thought, looking again at his watch. 2 minutes, 14 seconds left. Pacing slowly across the length of the bathroom, he waited until he had 50 seconds left on his stopwatch before exiting the bathroom. No Helen in site.
Casually, he walked to a back wall, next to a half dieing plant and behind some boxes that were coated in dust. It was the location of the door. Artemis was careful not to touch anything, while mentally counting down. 10...8...6...4...3...the fire alarm went off.
A wave of panic swept the occupants of floor 43,worsenedby the sprays that were suddenly coming from the ceiling. Drenched and confused, they rushed to the elevator and/or stairs.
Artemis, however, was oblivious to all this. He'd turned and concentrated on the key pad the instant the alarm went off. Punching numbers into the secret key pad, hidden well behind the dusty boxes, Artemis frowned. Water was drizzling on his brand new coat. What a shame. He heard a quiet beep and the door made an almost silent "whoosh". He was in. And so was someone else...