The Blacklist (sequel to The Reluctant Spy)

A Narrow Escape

"Yes...with a little help from Malcom," Nyssa answered.

Apparently, Nyssa had a similar idea. While the rest of the team exchanged confused looks, Harry smiled while he outlined his plan in a nutshell.

Nyssa could not have picked a better time to execute this operation. The consulate was full of people. If she could find a way back into the lobby, she could blend in with the crowd and escape.

While Harry was explaining his plan, Nyssa locked the door of the office to buy her some time. She turned back and rushed toward the other side of the room and moved behind the desk.

Nyssa had another plan for getting out of the office unseen. It was risky and hard to pull off, but thankfully, getting out of tight messes was her specialty.

Nyssa took a quick look around the ceiling. To most people, their first thought would be to crawl through the air ducts of a building to escape. That usually worked in movies like Die Hard, but if the person was older than four, the chances of fitting into the modern air ducts would be slim to none. Nyssa preferred the sub-ceiling in cases like this. The risky part of her plan was being careful not to step in the wrong place, or she would punch a hole through the ceiling tiles and possibly fall through. Also, climbing around in the sub-ceiling of the Pakistani consulate was not what she expected to do when she dressed in a fitted skirt for this mission.

“Malcolm, are you still logged into the computer systems?” she asked as she pulled a chair toward the corner of the room.

"Yes, but i don't see...."

“The security alarm systems. I need you to hack into them and set off the fire alarm. While everybody’s leaving the building, I can make my way to the nearest bathroom and go out with the crowd. Send me the quickest route to the bathroom on my mobile phone.”

"How will you get past the guards?" asked Harry.

“I’m going to disappear.”

The door knob clicked several times indicating that the door was locked. The guards had reached the office. Nyssa had only a few seconds before someone on the other side produced a key to open the door. Nyssa stared at the door and held her breath. When the clicking sound stopped, she reached for the memory stick but not before signaling to Malcolm to hit the alarm.

Suddenly, the florescent lights in the office dimmed, and the red fire alarm turned on along with that loud, obnoxious, screeching sound. It sounded like the Red Alert signal on Star Trek. Nyssa smiled and unplugged the memory stick from the computer before taking off her shoes and climbing up onto the chair. She pushed one of the ceiling tiles loose and hoisted herself up. Nyssa slid the ceiling tile back into place just as the office door opened, and the two office managers stepped inside with one of the guards.

Nyssa froze in her spot waiting to see if the men in the room had fallen for her little ruse. The supervisor and the head of security stood at the doorway and looked around quickly while the guards were moving people to the nearest stairway. Nyssa held her breath and waited, listening to the commotion below.

At the urgency of the guards, the two men turned and started walking with the group toward the stairs. It was then that Malcolm decided to update Nyssa on the progress of the evacuation and urged her to get moving if she wanted to use the crowd as cover.

It was a slight murmuring sound in the ceiling, but it was enough for the security supervisor to turn back toward his office and take a second look. He quickly noticed that his chair was not where he had it when he left it. His eyes drifted from the chair to the ceiling then back to his chair. He would have investigated further if it were not for the guard urging him to join the others. He turned and closed his office door before he left.

Nyssa let out her long-held breath and started to move in the direction that Jo sent her on her mobile. Just as she predicted, it was difficult crawling around the tight spaces with her mobile in one hand and her shoes in another. She grumbled to herself as she inched across the tiles and frames.

Why is it every mission I take ends up being more difficult than it needs to be?

She finally reached her destination and moved a section of the tile away to see exactly where in the bathroom she was positioned. Nyssa was relieved that she found herself hovering over a stall with the toilet right below her. She carefully lowered herself down until her feet found the seat.

Thank God the seat was down.

Nyssa threw her shoes to the floor and climbed down from the toilet. She stepped out of the stall, happy that no one else was in there, and slipped her shoes back on her feet while assessing her appearance. Her casual dress clothes were now covered in dirt and insulation lint. Anyone taking a closer look would wonder where the hell she came from. She prayed that she would find a long coat she that could snatch on the way to the lobby to cover herself.

She retrieved the memory stick from her pocket and flushed it down the toilet before heading toward the door. If she did get caught, she did not want any technology on her that could be traced back to MI-5. The chip in her glasses would have to be dealt with later.

Nyssa left the bathroom and hurried around the corners through the hallways until she was a few steps from the stairway. She  started moving forward until the clicking sound of a hammer in a gun cocking stopped her in her tracks. She felt deflated like all the air left her body. Her hope of escaping diminished.

“Don’t move, Ms. Carter. I don’t want to kill you before my supervisors have a chat with you,” said the male voice behind her.

“Is it alright if I turn around?” Nyssa asked keeping her London accent.

Without waiting for an answer, Nyssa held up her hands in a surrender and slowly turned on her heels to face her captor. The man in front of her was the security supervisor. He heard the sounds in the ceiling and noticed the small traces of tile dust on the chair before he left his office. He suspected that the perpetrator escaped through the sub-ceiling, so he doubled back and found her exiting the bathroom covered in dust.

The man was quite pleased with himself. Thoughts of a more cushy assignment invaded his mind as he assessed his capture. There was an opening at the embassy in America, Miami perhaps. That was a dream place to go where it was sunny most of the time, warm tropical climate, and beachfront property.

He was too busy dreaming of his reward before enacting the proper protocols to secure Nyssa. He did not notice Jack quietly sneaking up behind him. Before the man could make a move, Jack hit him from behind with a stapler that he picked up from a nearby cubicle. The supervisor crumbled to the floor unconscious.

Nyssa lowered her arms and smiled. Jack had slipped away from the crowd of people in the lobby when the alarm went off and followed Jo's directions to the bathroom where Nyssa was located. Nyssa could always rely on her team when she got into these kinds of scrapes.

“He'll feel that when he wakes up,” said Jack referring to the human pile on the floor in front of him.

“Yeah, and he won’t be happy either. Let's go before he takes it out on us,” Nyssa said as Jack turned and started leading the way from where he came in.

She grabbed the gun from the supervisor and a black coat off of a coat rack by the door to another stairway. Jack led the way back to the lobby where the last of the consulate workers were exiting the building. Both she and Jack casually exited the building with the rest of the crowd. So far, no one paid any attention to them.

"Nyssa, Lucas is waiting in a silver Lexus a block from the consulate. Walk to the car and get in," instructed Malcolm.

“You got it!”

Nyssa and Jack found the car with Lucas waiting in the driver's seat. She opened the front passenger door while Jack slid into the back seat. Once they climbed inside and drove away, everyone relaxed.

It was a very narrow escape. Nyssa was too relieved to be out of there to be angry. She wanted to save that emotion for later. There was going to be a big staff meeting when they returned to the grid, and Nyssa was going to get answers, even if it meant knocking a few heads around to get them.