The Runners: Chapter 36
Chapter 36
David pulled his vehicle to a stop at the front curbside of the UNBI-Chicago Office. He got out of the vehicle and ran towards the building. The building’s security system identified him, allowing immediate access by opening the large glass door reserved for its employees next to the rotating entrance. As he was running in, he saw a reflection of the silver vehicle that has been trailing him, pull up to the curb behind his car.
“Good morning, David! You’re awfully early today!” Always friendly Sgt. Davis greeted him as she saw David hurriedly entering the building.
“Good morning…, Sgt. Davis—,” breathing heavily, David replied. On a normal day, the glass walls, soaring ceilings, and the UNBI insignia that was engraved in the center of the marble floor would create such a grandiose atmosphere that he would pause and take a second look. David also enjoyed stopping by the desk and exchanging friendly chit-chats with Sgt. Davis before he started the day, but not this morning. David ran right around past the desk and headed straight towards the grand stairs.
“Who died?” Sgt. Davis said behind David somewhat surprised, but more disappointed that he didn’t make a stop for a chat.
“Good question!” David yelled back and was already on the second floor, running into the hallway that led to the homicide department.
He dashed thru the open area of the department. Several agents who looked like they have pulled all nighters were in the office, loitering around. One was holding a cup of coffee, one busily dictating what appears to be a report, one with red eyes sitting back and staring blankly at the ceiling, and finally, another agent dipping his hand into a box of donuts then pulling out an extra sized crème filled treat. Oblivious to David entering the common office area with a bang, they kept busy with their immediate tasks at hand.
“Sleep at home! Watch the weight!” David orated silently in terms of what some of these officers should be doing as he ran thru the open area before entering his office.
“Secure the room, code: Omega8-7371775, David Chan!” He blockaded the room using the new Omega 8 level security code that was given to him by Ms. Jensen. He wanted to have the highest level of privacy for the next few minutes.
“Room and all communications access channels secured!” The computer said in a serious female voice.
“Good!” David said as a sphere shaped console appeared on top of his desk with an UNBI logo. He glazed over the logo with his hand and the sphere opened from the top, morphing into a large flat circular platform. Then, additional options were projected from the platform to a cylindrical shape that reached three feet in height.
“Legal…, warrant….,” busily moving his hands and eyes around the cylinder, he articulated silently with each selection.
“3750 N. Cumberland, Chicago, subject’s name: Rick Haney…”
“Warrant issued. Transmit to agent Chan complete!” The computer said at which time his phone beeped.
“Incoming call rejected. Priority level U17.” The computer voice alerted.
“Elaborate!” David ordered.
“U17 is a lower priority than Omega8. Call will be rejected while Omega8 protocol is active.” The computer gave a clear explanation of why the call was being rejected.
“Identify the source of the call?” David wanted to know who was calling his office this early.
“UNBI Officer, Det. Woodson.” The computer informed.
“Continue blocking!” David thought that Woodson’s men probably gave his movements to the detective. Then, David ordered, “Track: Det. Woodson!” and proceeded to order the next set of instructions.
“Search option…, UN citizen…., Travel log…., name: Rick Haney…., import biochip-ID…”
When David moved Haney’s biochip ID from Lahey’s case file, Rick Haney’s travel log appeared, listing the places that he had been once the name and the ID-chip retrieved the proper subject. A long list appeared on to the left of the cylinder.
“New York, Paris, Greece, Chicago, Lake Geneva, Chicago, Lake Geneva…” It seemed odd to David that Haney’s travel log entry had multiple Chicago-Lake Geneva couplings. Then, he remembered his first interview when Haney told him that he took vacation trips at VTT which was located in Lake Geneva.
“Hmm…,” shaking his head, David thought that it would be implausible for a building custodian to be able to afford trips to Paris, Greece, and other exotic locations listed on the report, let alone regularly take VTT vacations.
Examining the report further, David noticed something that he wasn’t familiar with. Next to Haney’s report file was an unrecognizable file which appeared to have a code: alpha-beta-theta-zeta-999992. There was a graphical indication that there was some kind of association between this coded file and Haney. He also discovered that there were few more linkages which were connected to this very file. He tried to open the file. However, the system came back requesting a key to which David did not have. Without unlocking the file, it would be impossible to unveil what was stored inside it.
“Analyze ‘abtz-999999!” David commanded the computer to inspect further.
“It is a securely locked file with a pass code.” The computer said.
“Locked file, by whom?” David urged.
“It is locked by using Det. Woodson’s ID. Would you like me to attempt to unlock?” The computer responded, courteously.
“Woodson…, estimate the time required?” Surprised, David wanted to know if it can be done fast as he had to search for Robin as well. As he was wrestling with opening the locked file, through the monitoring system, David saw Woodson slowly exiting his office.
“Maximum fifteen minutes,” replied the female’s voice.
“No. Abort!” Instead of obtaining the key, David decided to load the code onto his communications device so he could analyze it further at a later time. If not at the UNBI Chicago Office, he would access the main frame located in Paris, he thought.
“Search option…, law enforcement, name agent Kumar, Robin Kumar!” David gave the subject of his next search. With his clearance level, he had expected immediate results to be returned. But, to his surprise, it took close to 30 seconds. The report generated a complete bio of Robin. It suggested and confirmed what Robin had told him at the Chinese restaurant:
“Travel log: Robin Kumar, import biochip-ID..,” repeating the travel log search, he didn’t find anything in the report itself, ‘Paris, New York, Berkeley, Chicago’. This made sense because she did not take any trips that required readings of her identification chip.
“Locate…, law enforcement…, name: agent Kumar, import biochip-ID…,” then David impatiently waited, “come on!”
——————————-
“Enter priority: Omega1-888933.” As his call was getting rejected repeatedly with a busy indication, Woodson tried to interrupt David’s call with the highest priority that he was entitled to. “Busy. Interruption not permitted,” came back the reply. Upon hearing this response, Woodson became suspicious and cautious at the same time. As far as he knew, up until now, there was no one in this facility that he could not encroach upon a communications channel using his Omega1 security level. He put on his jacket and slowly exited his room and began his walk down to the 2nd floor to David’s office.
For the first time in his life, Woodson felt vulnerable and even threatened by the fact that he wasn’t able to break into someone’s call, who was far his junior in the ranks within his own building. Woodson went out to the hallway and slowly walked towards the stairs with a bitter taste in his mouth.
*****
The top section of the cylinder displayed the internal layout of the UNBI Chicago Office in 3D. There, an object appeared in a shape of a person moving about up on the 5th floor. That object was being tracked by the computer system which David was connected to. David knew that it was Det. Woodson. The subject came out of his room and entered the hallway at the end of the corridor. It began its movement at a fixed pace towards the main landing area on the 5th floor. David saw the subject stop briefly there before being on the move again.
“Come on! Come on!” David urged anxiously.
Then, report appeared as to the location of Robin. Without looking at where she was, he ordered.
“Transmit!” and the computer obliged.
“Transmission Complete!”
He looked over where Woodson was with respect to his office and found that he had made it to the 3rd floor landing and was entering the stairway down to the second floor.
“Close channel!” David said hurriedly. The projections disappeared in the reverse order of each element’s appearance; the Office floor plan, all the instruction images, the cylinder, reformation of the sphere, room unsecured, and finally, the entire system closed. David then exited his room and quickly ran out thru the open space to enter the hallway. He pressed the elevator call button which was just outside the homicide department. Pacing back and forth, he looked over to the main 2nd level landing area.
A shadow appeared on the surface of the landing area as David saw Woodson’s feet as he was walking down the stairs. Woodson’s left knee, right knee, then left elbow came into David’s view when the elevator finally arrived. Without any hesitation, David entered the elevator and the door shut behind him as he pressed, ‘Ground Floor’. When the elevator came to a stop, David exited it and headed to the front lobby. He saw Sgt. Davis turned to her left while occupied in a conversation with another officer. David went to her right, around the lobby desk, and quietly left the building without Sgt. Davis noticing him.
Woodson came down and walked past the elevator into the homicide department. Upon seeing Woodson, everyone who was oblivious to David’s presence earlier, acknowledged him at once.
“Good morning, sir!” said everyone as they bolted up from their desks. The agent who had a mouthful of crème filled donut gagged and coughed hard as he tried to swallow half chewed donut as soon as he saw Woodson. Then, he stood up in full attention and saluted Woodson with pieces of gooey donut spewing out of his mouth. Making a mess on the floor, he froze where he stood until the big boss had passed him by. But, Woodson ignored everyone as he hurriedly headed directly to David’s room.
‘Knock’ ‘Knock’ Woodson knocked and swung open the door simultaneously. To his dismay, no one was in the room. He examined the room, but did not see anything unusual except David’s swivel leather chair being out away from its usual resting place behind the desk. Woodson sensed that David was indeed in the room. He turned back and exited the homicide department. He stopped to look down the main lobby from the 2nd floor landing area.
Woodson saw two uniformed officers talking with each other. Another officer resting his right elbow on top of the front desk chatting with Sgt. Davis, several more officers entering and exiting the building, all part of the normal daily activities as far as he could see. There was no sign of David in the lobby. He looked farther out through the glass walls into the street, only to find David’s vehicle no longer parked there.
*****
David pushed the pedal to the floor and navigated thru now much busier streets than when he had arrived at the office. He drove through the traffic quickly in order to get back on to LSD. Behind him, the silver vehicle followed him, keeping the usual distance. Then, David turned his attention to the locked key code associated with Haney’s file as it raised his curiosity as to what those tandem files might contain.
“Activate secure channel: Omega8-7371775.” David ordered his vehicle.
“Security channel established!” Returned the on board computer system.
“Connect to UNBI HQ – Paris Mainframe!” And, he waited for a second.
“Channel established!” Rather quickly, his car performed its magic.
“Search: Rick Haney or abtz-999999!” He said moving his eyes back and forth between the rear view monitoring screen and his communication device.
“Rick Haney located” then a couple of seconds later, “abtz-999999 file found.” As the Paris mainframe returned the results, David was exhilarated. His heart began pumping faster and faster.
“Open, file abtz-999999!” He ordered and waited.
“The file is locked. A pass code is required!” The response was as expected by David.
“Generate key to file abtz-999999!” He commanded.
“Processing…. Please wait!” And the computer went silent for the time being as David raced towards Haney’s apartment.