Drop something. Knock on the glass. Anything. What are you going to do? I'm going to be somewhere he doesn't expect.
Her eyes went to the ceiling. Then back to him. You can get up there. The tiles are drop ceiling. Standard 2x4 grid.
I did the maintenance inspection on this floor 6 months ago. The grid supports my weight. He was already moving toward the desk. Pulling it quietly out from the wall. He's going to hear you moving.
Not if he's listening to you. She held his gaze for one moment and he could see her running the calculation. The risk of it, the alternatives, the time remaining, and then she gave him a nod that was small and absolute. He climbed onto the desk, pressed one ceiling tile up and to the side, pulled himself up into the space above the drop ceiling. In one movement, the pipe insulation, scratching his at his forearms, the conduit above him, radiating cold, the darkness up here absolute until he clipped his work light on.
At the dimst possible setting. He let the tile settle back below him. Through the tile's edge gap, he could see a sliver of the supervisor's office below the desk, the floor, the glass wall. Web reached the glass wall. He could see Victoria.
Now she was standing in the center of the office, facing the glass. And the thing that Darius registered, even through a crack between ceiling tiles, was that she had arranged herself to be seen had deliberately positioned herself in the open center of the office. She was the bait. Webb tried the door, pushed it open. Miss Hayes, Webb's voice was smooth, professional, the voice of a man at work.
I'm glad I found you. This has been a terrible situation, Marcus. Victoria's voice was absolutely even. What are you doing in the building at 1:30 in the morning? Ethan sent me when the power went down.
He was concerned for your safety. A pause. You know how Ethan is always thinking ahead. He's always been very thoughtful, she said. And the way she said it, the blade under the surface of it was extraordinary.
Is there anyone with you? The maintenance tech, the guard said. Someone came in earlier. I've been alone since the elevator stopped, she said. I found this phone.