The Runners: Chapter 16
Chapter 16
“These UNBI thugs, they think they own the world. I want this and I want that! These asses don’t realize how much work it involves to get this s— prepared for them!”
A man in his early 40’s was lashing out at something in his office. His grievances continued as he reluctantly inserted a shiny disc into a flat, silver aluminum case. On his desk was a briefcase that had one main compartment built with shock absorbent materials. The storage box was less than one square foot and into it, he had placed the silver case that housed the storage disc. As the case was placed in to the only perforated housing unit of the briefcase, the disc case began latching on to the surface of the briefcase as if it was being assimilated into it. After verifying that the unit has been securely stored, he closed the briefcase and locked it tightly. Then, he sat back and quietly took a sip of his coffee as he began his belated morning ritual of drinking caffeine and reading the morning news articles.
Still firing away his remarks unpleasantly, he said, “What a shitty way to begin the day!” He didn’t appear to be looking forward to the engagement. In the past, he had been hassled by some of the Chicago officers, who had taken full advantage of the legal predicaments that he was in. Despite numerously complying with the demands by the Chicago officers, these interactions never can get used to nor pleasant, thought Jackson.
When Jackson was a private investigator, he was once commissioned by a woman who was going through a divorce and wanted to get some dirt on her future ex husband to sway the legal system in her favor. In the process, he had caught on surveillance recordings, inappropriate and compromising encounters of the husband with another woman. Prior to turning over all the video evidence, he had privately kept a copy of the footage. In the course of the divorce hearings, he was subpoenaed to testify on behalf of his client.
During the cross examination by the husband’s lawyer, his inappropriate actions were uncovered as the biometric reading device sounded all kinds of alarms to his physiological reactions while testifying. Consequently, he was convicted, in a separate trial, for possessing indecent recordings. Eventually, his attorney cut a deal with the authorities in return for a reduced time behind the walls of the UNBI regional confinement facility in Chicago.
Prior to this, Jackson’s professional records were free of any blemishes and he had been highly regarded in the private security industry. Unfortunately, since then, he has been on the radar of the local law enforcement offices. They pressured him to perform some odd ad hoc jobs on demand, on behalf of the Chicago Office, sometimes as private favors whenever his expertise was needed.
Further, his work as a manager at CST was severely scrutinized by his past illegal activities. In a calculated move, UNBI had kept this part of his past quiet from his current employer in return for his continued services. Consequently, he could not say no to UNBI personnel whenever they called him up for something. This morning was not an exception with respect to the request by the rookie investigator.
‘Ring’, ‘Ring’. Bill’s phone rang violently demanding to be picked up.
“Yes, Lauren! What is it?” Irritably, Bill Jackson answered as if he had expected this call, but wished it didn’t actually come to pass.
“There are Mr. David Chan and his colleague at the front desk asking for you. Said that he had an appointment to see you this morning?”
Lauren, the receptionist returned with a crisp and pleasant voice that only a receptionist was able to synthesize as the day went on.
“Yes, of course. Please send them up.” As he put the phone back down, he shook his head a couple of times in a curious manner.
“Hmm, I thought only one cop would be coming to see me…,” he murmured to himself, but decided to think nothing more of it. He got up from his chair, walked around the desk and sat on the edge of his desk, facing the door with his arms crossed. And, he waited for his appointment to come up to his office located at the end of a long hallway on the 2nd floor.
‘Knock, Knock.’ A couple of loud knocks came on his door.
“Please, come in Agent Chan!” Bill moved towards the door and opened it to let the UNBI officers enter.
“Good morning, Mr. Jackson! I am Agent Chan and this is my partner Brad Fisk. Thank you for helping us in our investigation!” The man said politely as both officers walked into the office.
“No problem. I am used to it,” with sarcasm and a hint of resentment, Jackson returned the men’s pleasantries and went back around the desk to sit in his chair.
“As we spoke the other day, I would need the video surveillance tape from—”
“Yeah, yeah, here it is!” Even before the officer could finish his reason for being there, Bill simply pushed the silver brief case across the surface of his desk towards Chan.
“The brief case is secured and the code is 566792.” Jackson said in a hurry for the purpose of ending this meeting quickly. Bill noticed Agent Chan giving a silent instruction to agent Fisk to pick up the brief case. Fisk approached one step closer to the desk. Then after grabbing the briefcase, he returned back to where he was standing. Bill thought that it was odd at first that Chan would come with another officer and second, that a young agent would have a subordinate who would follow an instruction with such precision.
“Thank you Mr. Jackson. Your cooperation is most appreciated!” The young agent said as he turned to head out the door.
“By the way, agent Chan, may I ask for your credentials?” The suspicion and his background as a security expert have gotten the better of him as he demanded to see their IDs rather than letting them leave. Taken by surprise, the two men hesitated for a moment and agent Chan slowly turned around with his hands in his suit pocket.
“Sure, here is my ID!” As he turned back to face Jackson, he produced a small pistol and pointed it at Jackson. Instinctively, Jackson pushed his chair back by kicking the desk while throwing his tablet towards Chan at the same time. Then, he quickly dropped from his chair to the ground and pushed the hidden alarm button under his desk, alerting a security breach. At the same time, as he hit the ground, he pulled out a gun in his waist holster. Jackson pointed the gun towards Chan, but he was nowhere to be seen. To his surprise, the impostor was much faster.
Simultaneous to dodging the tablet, the young cop jumped onto Jackson’s desk, landing on his feet. Then, as quickly as he drew his gun, the officer fired two shots into Jackson’s chest. The attack took place in a blink of an eye and there was nothing that Jackson could have done to evade it. He was killed instantly. As Jackson fell on his back, his body has, inadvertently, pushed the chair further back against the back wall. His office floor turned dark red with the blood that had gushed out of his chest.
The two officers moved hurriedly towards the door. They stepped out into the hall way and turned towards the direction of the main stairway. As they picked up their pace from walking to half running, they saw three security guards running to enter the hallway from the 2nd floor landing area. About halfway into the hallway, the first security guard drew his weapon, planted his left knee to the floor with his right foot in front. He aimed his gun at the assailants and ordered, “Stop!” The other two guards followed and quickly positioned themselves adjacent to and behind the first guard. They all drew their weapons, but did not fire as their training called for initial restraint.
Ignoring the guards’ instructions, the two officers purposefully walked towards the guards. Then, in an instant, they dropped to the floor on their abdomens and rapidly discharged their guns towards the guards. The guard on his knee was shot by the man, who was presumably agent Chan, while the others were shot by his accomplice, Fisk. Multiple shots were fired.
“Auk! Wook!” One by one, the security guards fell to the ground as the bullets bombarded their heads, chests, and legs.
In uncontrolled reaction to being shot, the guards in turn, randomly discharged their weapons at the walls, ceiling and at each other as they fell. Callously, the two assailants walked past the dead bodies and headed towards the front lobby. They ran down the moving escalator while hiding their guns in their suits.
As the commotion grew louder, the receptionist looked up behind her at the second floor and saw the two men in the process of concealing their weapons. When the two assailants ran past the receptionist, she began to shiver wondering what was happening at her work place.
At this time, two other guards arrived at the 2nd floor hallway. To see if anyone of their colleagues was alive, they turned their fallen comrades onto their backs and felt for pulses for any sign of life. Finding that no one survived, they drew their weapons as one of them ran towards Jackson’s office at the end of the hallway only to find, yet another dead body. Both guards were drenched with their own sweat and blood of their fallen colleagues. Even though they were in high state of rush, one of them had managed to call UE911 and hurriedly chased after the assailants, who were already nearing the main lobby.