Trapped

FOUR

She had just enough time to wolf down her granola bar and take the last sip of her coffee. She grabbed her coat as she left the office, slipping it on as she approached a distinguished-looking gentleman in the K&D lobby.

"Mr. Danuser? I'm Marianne Marshall." She extended her hand.

"Yes, hello." Danuser took her hand. He was in his early fifties maybe, but his tall athletic build and salt-and-pepper coiffed hair gave him a youthful glow. He looked like money, like he played a lot of golf and tennis and got a lot of sun along the way. When he shook her hand, the grip was confident and firm.

"And you wanted to see the fifty-eighth floor?" Marianne asked.

"Yes. I'm sorry about the mix-up. I know it's not your job."

Marianne smiled. "Everything in this building is my job." She held the door open for him. "Shall we go?"

"Yes, thank you."

He went out and Marianne followed. "You'll want to put your coat back on," she said.

The door closed next to the receptionist as she droned on in that seemingly endless peppy stream of "Kupper and Dietz Building Management, good morning..."

Nestled in a small dark room deep within the building was the telephone switching center, a wall of panels and wires that made up the heart of the communication system. They hummed steadily.

Loud warning stickers covered rows of metal casings that housed the circuit boards: KEEP OUT, AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. Pieces of masking tape were used as homemade labels on other panels: Secondary Low Rise 1, Secondary Low Rise 2...

Someone was in the room.

Wearing a dark overcoat and hidden largely in shadow, his hands covered with thin latex gloves, the man used butterfly bolts to pry open the front panel of a narrow metal box.

Inside, wrapped around a thick cable were many thinner multi-colored wires.

The man's latex hands then proceeded to wrap a thin strip of plastic explosives around the cable, attaching it all to a small homemade clock detonator. The clock currently read 9:25.

He set it for 9:00 and placed the panel back onto the box.

As Marianne stood in the elevator with Danuser, the doors opened and one of the upstairs suits poked his head in. "Going up?"

He boarded without waiting for an answer, even as Marianne nodded. Six other suits followed. Executive types. Marianne recognized some of them as board members.

She swallowed as the last man entered and they all packed in. The man paused a bit as he took notice of Marianne and Danuser.

It was Jerrold Manley, Chairman and CEO.

He stood next to Marianne. The doors closed and they began to ascend. A few of the suits behind them spoke quietly amongst themselves.

"Hello, Marianne," Jerrold Manley said.

"Morning, Mr. Manley."

A pause.

"Everything going all right?" he asked.

"Yes, sir. Nothing we can't handle."

Another pause.

"Good," Manley said.