The boyfriend in college who'd taught her how to pick locks had no idea he'd inspired in Beth a lifelong fascination for getting into, and she'd discovered -- since her 'home detention' in Castle Dracula -- out of, places she wasn't supposed to. It wasn't that she was forbidden to leave the grounds after dark exactly, or that she couldn't imagine a scenario in which two building-sized vampires at each elbow would be an advantage, because she could. It was more that, for the most part, those self-same vampires seemed to have a distinct difficulty with the concept of stealth, and so much of her job as an investigator called for a high degree of proficiency in the ability to blend in.
"That's the point, Beth," said a poker-faced Josef when she complained for the seventeenth time that week about the visibility of her 'protection'. "Takes the guesswork out of it for anyone wondering if you had any. Besides," he went on with the ghost of a malicious smile, "being accompanied might discourage you from that nasty little habit you have of breaking and entering."
So in the end it was Josef himself who had given her the idea, only in this case, she planned a little breaking and departing.
As in everything, once she'd made the decision to find a way to leave the grounds undetected, she threw herself into the project with zeal. Admittedly, her first forays hadn't gone quite as well as she had hoped, but after only one or two artfully designed experiments to probe for holes in his security, she'd managed to discover a couple of crucial facts.
Fact number one: the grounds were patrolled day and night by guards -
Honestly Roy, I always go for a run at three a.m. when I'm at my place and um, your hand's hurting a little, do you think you could loosen your grip a fraction, thanks, and this is just our little secret, right? You sure? I have a very rare blood type.
- with dogs.
That's an interesting philosophical question, Roy. Could he be more adorable… hmmm … maybe a little if he removed that last tooth from the cuff of my two hundred dollar Calvin's.
And Fact number two: his gates had scanning equipment.
K-dunk, k-dunk, k-dunk …
Silence.
More silence.
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap!
The trunk of the freshie's Lexus sedan swung open and the broad face of Josef's head of security was silhouetted by the sunlight beyond.
"Mr Kostan asked me to tell you that when you're
finished shopping with Miss Serena, could you bring home a loaf of
bread and a pint of milk for the cat, please?"
Thunk!
K-dunk, k-dunk, k-dunk…
After observing the pattern of the guards' patrols for more than two weeks she was now certain that she had all the bases covered. She was finally ready to make her move.
She went through the list of items in her head once more:
- one pair: tight, black stretchy jeans, check;
-
one: matching black pullover, check;
- one: black cap to push her
hair under, check;
- black gloves, black sneakers, black
backpack, check, check and check;
- one: container of camouflage,
check;
And last but not least -
One: steel chain, mini grappling hook at one end.
Check.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mmmmmm.." He loved it when Simone bit down on his earlobe; it made his body go all goosey. "My turn."
He pulled her onto his lap, smoothed the hair away from her neck, and allowed his fangs to descend. He kissed the throbbing pulse just below her left ear.
Bzzz!
"Security, sir."
"Not now."
The top button on his shirt popped open, followed by the second and the third.
Bzzzzzzz!
Her hand was on his zipper for Christ's sake!
"I said. Not. Now."
"Ah," there was a slight pause, "You really need to
see this, sir."
Josef sighed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The two men watched on a wide screen as Beth swung the chain in a wide arc, looped it around a tree branch, snapped it taut, and began to haul herself upwards.
"Not bad," said one, admiringly, after a moment, as Beth reached the top, swung a leg over the smooth bark of the branch and began to hoist the chain up after her.
"The S.A.S crew you hired from the U.K. only got to Zone 2," said the other, nodding in agreement, as Beth shimmied to the end of the branch, stood for a moment, and leapt onto the neighbouring tree. "I must say, sir, security has never been quite as - honed - as it has been since Miss Turner has been in residence. You really ought to pay her a consulting fee."
"If this keeps up, she'll be lucky she doesn't get a one-way trip to La Brea."
They continued to sit in companionable silence as Beth advanced through the grounds, ever toward the perimeter walls, moving stealthily through the treetops.
"Just out of interest, Roy, how did she get the chain in?"
"Fashion, sir."
Josef raised his eyebrows and looked at the head of his security for the first time.
"Miss Turner wore a silver chain-link belt on her return from work every day this week. A review of the security tapes shows that she never wore one on the way out. We think she smuggled in a new section of chain every day by wearing it in around her waist."
"Ingenious." And kind of scary-smart, for a human. A suspicion was beginning to dawn that perhaps Mick was being overly cautious where Beth was concerned.
Just then, Beth wobbled on the latest branch twenty feet above Josef's imported turf, windmilling her arms wildly first one way, then other. Her feet began to slide, then slip rapidly from the curved surface of the wood toward the ground below.
Josef sighed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That grass down there really looks amazingly springy, thought Beth, as she changed her grip, hoping to get more purchase on the smooth bark of the tree limb. Falling onto that won't be so bad.
Who was she kidding? There was nothing down there for her but a world of pain and a lifetime of future orthopaedic procedures.
She swung her legs again, trying to land a foot on the tree trunk to steady herself.
"Now if it were me, I would have gone for the oak to the left," Josef said from the foot of the tree. "Much more secure. Those Eucalypt branches can be so brittle in the summertime."
She looked like a mini version of a marine commando with her sooty camouflage face and that all-black get up. He might have laughed but for the fact that her position up there really did look a little precarious.
"What?" She puffed, startled.
"To – you know – 'hang around' in, hang about on, hang down from, letting it all hang out on, as the case may be. As, well, actually," he coughed politely, "as in your case."
He pointed to her midriff where, sure enough, her pullover had ridden up exposing her belly button and the creamy skin of her abdomen. His stare seemed distinctly lascivious from up there and the impulse to remove a hand from the branch to reach down and pull her windcheater down to cover herself almost, but not quite, overcame her instinct for self preservation.
"Tell me, the ah - ?" Josef queried, pointing his index finger at his face and twirling it.
"Harper's says charcoal," she panted, wondering how much being dressed like a ninja would work against her being able to pull off sounding casual in a situation like this, "is this season's new wonder product for the complexion."
She sincerely hoped he would see through her bluster and do something soon; her wrists were beginning to burn.
Josef put his hands in his pockets, nodded, and rocked back on his heels.
"Oh," he said, "Ok." Then he walked away.
One step -- two steps. Ok, this is the part where I'm supposed to be scared he'll leave me here. Five -- six -- seven. There's no way he's going to leave me here. Eleven -- twelve -- thirteen. He was going. He really was going, the bastard.
"Quit fucking around, Josef, and get me down from here, NOW!" she bellowed as he retreated.
The back of his hand rose in a cheery wave as he disappeared into the darkness beyond.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The two men watched from the privacy of the control booth as a security detail arrived to retrieve a still yelling Beth from the tree, and witnessed as she was given a rousing round of applause and a clap on the back so hearty it almost sent her flying as her foot left the last rung of the ladder and landed firmly on the ground.
"Miss Simone, sir?"
"On her way home."
The head of security grimaced, and shot him a man-to-man look of commiseration.
"I know it's not my place, sir," he said, after a respectful moment of silence, "but, have you ever considered that perhaps this girl might be in less danger outside of the compound?"
Josef sighed.
A/N: the idea about someone outdoing the SAS comes from a real experience I had when working in a brand new, purpose built high security forensic psychiatric facility. Before the inmates were moved in, the SAS was commissioned to test whether it was escape-proof. They couldn't get out. Two months after inmates were moved in, a 19 year old psych patient escaped over the walls with no equipment. Go figure.