Race Against Death

The Manor

It was 9:42pm.

Cole stood up from the recliner and started taking his third walk around the swimming pool. The water was pale blue on this night, the soft breeze making recurring waves on the surface of the pool and Cole Kokër on this very night was a man of mixed emotions.

Arguably the most influential business magnate in Wax City with every major investor in the city feeding off his table, he was a model for every businessman in the city and beyond.

But right here in the shadows of his mansion Cole was an unsettled man.

He took a sip off the glass of white wine in his right hand and let the wine linger on his tongue a while before letting it run down his throat. His face loosened for about a second. Apparently, the wine did some good.

He was about to take his first turn when he heard a rasp from behind him. Don't look! He told himself, but his head turned anyways.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw a dark contour on the wall. A slight sigh escaped his nostrils. It was the cast shadow of a tree he had planted by the pool. The sound, he thought to himself, could be a rodent. They were everywhere in Wax at this time of the year.

Cole sighed again, turning to the pool. He didn't take any step further, possibly the after shock. Rather, he raised his left wrist to look at his watch, a $250,000 Quartz leather watch - the least expensive he owned.

It was 9:52pm, he'd been out here roughly two hours.

He frowned again remembering why he was out in the first place, the call.

The call had been received by three people before him. Mr. Richard Harman, Mr. John Lowe and Mr. Chad Henderson - all dead.

"Mr. Kokër," the caller said "how much is your empire worth? You have 24 hours to decide."

Smart teetered from behind the tall hedges that grew by the inner walls of The Cole Manor. He was this close to being caught.

He had been sent by his boss and his job was simple: infiltrate the Manor, wait till everyone's indoors, scope out the scene, and wait for the signal. Easy, right? Well, he was about to take step two after about an hour.

Smart was, well, smart. That's why he was given that name by the gang. Before now, he had studied the plan of the Manor, from start to finish.

He knew the routine of the security guards, the places with and without surveillance cameras. He knew the security guards assigned to the east of the building had been fired for peeking into Miss Cole's bedroom - some story.

He knew the security cams took an average of 2.7secs to switch directions and he knew they lingered for 8 seconds before switching again. He knew that at exactly 8:39pm on Thursday, the east-wing searchlight would be on its way from fence to the back gate. And that was his time to scale the fence. The day before he had clipped the barbed wires on the fence so today it was like taking candy from a baby.

It all went according to plan, he touched down at the East wing of the compound at exactly 8:41pm. He had 6 seconds to get behind the hedges, he was there in five. In view was the sorry sight of Mr. Cole.

Right now, he had to move. He watched as Cole walked inside the house, looked back at the shadow for a split second and slid the glass door behind him.

"This is going to be a long night." Smart said under his breath as he slithered back into the shadows for his security uniform.