Nothing in the premises shows it's now on red alert. Alone in the company's watch post, a long, muffled, and insistent ring sounds. Waiting eagerly for instructions from the central control a few kilometers away, the surveillance manager verifies with a few precise movements on his instruments where the alarm was triggered: the reception hall.
Once the emergency plan is initiated, the system locks all exits, compartmentalizing the complex in different areas, and cutting off all conventional or wireless communications. No troublemaker can now escape or contact the outside world. These measures remain fundamental for a company like Piquet International, engaged in research, and subject to industrial espionage.
Following the protocol to the letter, the guard checks the nature of the alarm. A zoom on the control monitor of the hall is enough to indicate the seriousness of the situation. He can see the lifeless bodies of the receptionist and his colleague. Two large dark puddles spread visibly on the white marble of the entrance. He picks up his walkie-talkie and validates to all the patrolling sentries the building's state of alert.
On the different floors, every guard confirms the information and checks his area to make sure all accesses are sealed pending the intervention team arrival.
Turning his attention back to the surveillance screens, he manipulates the video to rewind and observe the murderer's arrival and the brutal execution of the two employees.
"Central to control, central to control," his radio releases.
He grabs it and responds immediately:
"Control here. Intrusion confirmed. One armed man..."
He continues to follow the trespasser's movements through several cameras point of view, but the latter disappears into a blind spot.
"...He shot the receptionist and a guard. The individual is now locked in the hall."
"OK, we're on our way. Only contingencies, we'll handle the rest."
"Affirmative."
He relays the instructions to his own team. In situations like this, only emergency frequencies remain usable, and the private security company's central must confirm its approach, as it just did. His role and his teammates is to insure that the compartmentalization is effective and the intrusion confined. From there he just has to observe and transmit any useful details to the responders team.
The guard now knows that in just a few minutes, the intervention squad will arrive on site. The murderer, cornered in the hall, will quickly be apprehended and handed over to the authorities. All he has to do now is wait for cavalry and open the doors to let them in.
Crouched in one of the surveillance cameras' blind spots, the enigmatic assassin, calm, holdups without worrying about being trapped.
He checks his watch, then removes the magazine from his weapon to replace it with a full one.
On the ground in front of the counter, he soon sees the shadows of the intervention team that has just arrived. The men must be forming up behind the large frosted glass doors of the entrance, waiting for a security member to unlock for them.
He stiffens, adjust his grip on his weapon and checks his line of view, ready for what comes next.
He hears the characteristic electrical click releasing the latch from its prison. Immediately, the two huge doors swing wide open, and a paramilitary horde pours in. Dressed all in black, equipped with helmets and Kevlar vests, semi-automatic assault rifles pointed forward, the squad stands ready to subdue any criminal they might encounter.
YOU ARE READING
Unlimited Plan (*)
Mystery / ThrillerWhen Jeremy Baltac-former member of a hacker elite group turned cybersecurity engineer-learns about the disappearance of an old teammate, he has no idea it's the starting point of a real race against time. Members of his former group are being elimi...
