Night Realm (27 page)

“I don’t know.” Ryan shrugged again and sipped some coffee. “It’s probably not mutual.”

“Only one way to find out, mate. Hit her up when you get back to Queensland. She might be quite open to a bit of romance if you get her what she wants.”

“I don’t even know if she’s single.”

“I’m sure she’ll soon tell you if she’s not. A word of advice, though. Get your final payment from her and in the bank before you make a move. Because if it’s the wrong move for any reason, you don’t want her to muck you about with money owed.”

“Good point,” Ryan agreed.

They finished breakfast and headed for Jack’s car, which ended up being a maroon Mitsubishi Lancer. Jack got in behind the wheel while Ryan settled into the passenger seat.

“Where are we gonna get changed?” Ryan asked. “In a phone booth?”

Jack smiled. “Very funny, Ryan.” He edged the car onto busy St Kilda Road and headed south, away from the city centre. He lit a cigarette as he was driving and filled the cabin with smoke. “There’s a small shopping complex not far from the Institute. We’ll stop off there and use the public toilets to don our new apparel.”

“Is that where you go to hook up with male friends?”

“Very funny again, Ryan. I don’t personally, but you feel free if you get the urge.”

“No thanks.”

Once they’d parked in the shopping complex, Jack grabbed a sports bag from the back seat and led the way to the male toilets. The place was quiet and no one was inside. Together they went into the roomy disabled toilet cubicle and stripped down to their underwear.

“Apparently the uniform of choice at the institute is grey trousers, black shoes and a white lab coat. The shirt beneath doesn’t matter.”

Ryan dressed in the clothing Jack supplied for him. Everything fit close to perfectly. He pinned his ID badge to the left breast of his coat and hung his credentials around his neck where the lanyard held it about halfway up his chest. After studying himself in the mirror, he nodded with approval.

“I think we’ll pass,” Ryan was optimistic.

They exited the bathroom and headed back out to the car. Once underway again Jack took a left, traveled a few blocks, swung right, then pulled into a spacious parking lot that was three quarters full. He cut the engine and they sat there a moment. Jack then reached into the back seat and removed some very small electronic gizmos from a satchel. He stuffed them into the pockets of his trousers and looked at Ryan.

“You ready to do this.”

Ryan said, “Yep. Let’s go.”

The Research Institute was basically a large square of a building with four levels above ground and probably some basement levels as well. It was cement rendered and painted white, with much of the walls covered in glass windows.

As they headed towards the building’s entrance, Ryan adjusted his lab coat and ID badge, feeling just a
little on edge. He was about to climb the stairs that led up to the huge glass entrance doors when Jack tapped him on the arm and indicated for him to follow. Jack went to the right, around the side of the building and headed for the back. He stopped at the corner, just before they ventured around to the rear of the building. He pulled his pack of cigarettes out, handed one to Ryan and lit one himself. Ryan hesitated when Jack held the lighter out to him.

“Apparently everyone ducks out the back for a smoke,” Jack explained. “We stroll around there with cigarettes just about done, we’ll walk on in. It’ll look like we’ve just been out for a smoke like everyone else.”

Ryan lit his cigarette and took the shallowest of puffs. Jack sucked hard on his, obviously enjoying the nicotine hit immensely. His burnt down nearly to the butt before Ryan’s was even half gone. It was enough, though, to carry out the plan of entry.

When they went round the back of the Institute there were indeed several doctors, scientists, professors, whatever, hanging about the back stairs puffing merrily away. One woman had a coffee in hand, one of the males drinking a Coke. Jack and Ryan just acted casual as they headed towards the stairs.

“Good morning,” Jack greeted the group and nodded. He tossed his butt into a large chrome ashtray that sat at the base of the stairs. Ryan followed suit and the pair walked up to the doors and stepped inside. Jack whispered to Ryan, “Easy as when you act like you’re meant to be here.”

“Where do you find out this information, like everyone hanging out the back smoking?” Ryan wanted to know.

Jack winked at him. “I have my sources, just like you do. You know how it is.”

Inside the air was cool, air conditioners working overtime to keep the temperature at around a constant twenty degrees. Without the lab coat on Ryan would be feeling a bit chilly. It was a welcome break from the warmth outside, though. There was a kitchen through a door on the left. Several people were in there either preparing a morning snack, or making coffee or tea. A doorway to the right opened up into a room filled with lounges, tables and chairs and coffee tables. Another group of workers sat on those lounges sipping beverages and chatting about all things scientific.

“Should we make ourselves a coffee?” Jack suggested.

“No
. We don’t want to linger and risk getting caught up in conversations we know nothing about.”

“Good point.”

“Do you know where in this building Becker’s office is located?”

As they walked slowly down the hall Jack took a folded piece of paper from his back pocket and opened it up. “We have to go down to basement level two,” he said. “There should be some elevators just around this corner up ahead.” They went right and found themselves in a short corridor with elevator doors lining both walls. “Here we are.”

“I guessed that,” Ryan said and pressed the
call
button. While they waited he folded his arms and shuffled his feet, feeling a bit edgy again. He hoped the elevator was empty when it arrived. It wasn’t. The doors slid open to reveal a man in his fifties standing inside. He was staring down at a clipboard and glanced up when the elevator stopped on the ground floor.

“Going down, gents?” the man quizzed, his tone light and friendly.

“Yep,” Jack said and stepped inside without a moment’s hesitation.

Ryan followed him in and the doors closed with a gentle hiss. Jack pressed the button for basement level two. The scientist was traveling down to level three. Both Ryan and Jack turned to face the doors.

“How’s your day going?” the man asked them, hopefully just indulging in small talk.

“Good,” was all Ryan could think of to say without inciting further conversation.

“Making good headway on some important discoveries, I hope?”

“Always,” Jack replied.

There was a soft chime as the elevator eased to a stop. The doors opened. Both Jack and Ryan nodded farewell to the scientist and hurried off to the left.

“I’m glad we’re out of there,” Ryan said. “The last thing I want is to get questioned.”

“I know. You’ve said that already,” Jack reminded him. He eyed Ryan curiously and said softly, “You sure you enjoy being a PI?”

Ryan shrugged. “It’s a job, and it has its freedoms. I don’t like every part of it, though. Especially this kind of thing.”

Maybe he could buy himself a new career when he cashed Selena’s cheques, he thought as they purposefully wandered the hallways underground.

They passed labs on either side, the workers all going about their business and paying Ryan and Jack no attention whatsoever. That was good. The corridors were lit with stark fluorescent lighting. The walls were painted white, the tiles on the floor were white and everything looked rather sterile. Which was how it was meant to be. The air was filled with a cocktail of smells and Ryan couldn’t distinguish a single one of them.

“Do you know where we’re going?” he asked his friend.

“Of course.” They went left at the next intersection and Jack slowed to a crawl. He whispered, “His office is just over there on the right.”

Ryan looked across the hall where a white painted door was emblazoned with gold lettering that said
Doctor Marlon Becker
. The door was shut. It had no glass in it and there were no windows through which to peer into Becker’s office.

“I wonder if he’s inside?” Ryan said under his breath.

“One way to find out,” Jack said.

Ryan grabbed him by the wrist. “You can’t just go knocking on the door. If he’s in there and he answers, what are we going to say? We’ll just get thrown out of here for being imposters.”

Jack grinned and pulled one of his little electronic gizmos from his pocket. “Who said anything about knocking?”

He switched it on and a tiny screen lit up. Jack waved the gizmo over the door and then the wall, watching the screen the entire time. After about thirty seconds he nodded, seemingly satisfied.

“What?” Ryan said. “What’s that thing do?”

“It’s a very powerful infrared heat sensor,” Jack explained. “The office is empty. If there was anyone inside, patches of red and yellow would have appeared on the screen.”

He grinned again, causing Ryan to smile. “I’m impressed. Where the hell do you get this gear?”

“I have my sources.”

“And plenty of money, obviously.”

“That’s why you’re paying me so well to help you out. I have access to things that you don’t, or can’t afford.”

Ryan moved over to the door and tried the knob. Locked.

Jack nudged him aside. “Keep an eye out.”

He’d taken another device from his pockets. It was a small rectangular piece of equipment with a keypad, a tiny LCD screen, and had a swipe card attached to it that dangled from a retractable cord. Beside Becker’s door was a slot to swipe an access card. Ryan watched as Jack went to work with his machine. It appeared to scan the electronics of the slot until it came up with the correct code. When it hit pay dirt there was a tiny beep. Jack swiped the card through the slot and a green light appeared on a console just above it. He nodded to Ryan, who tried the doorknob again. It opened and they entered Becker’s office, quickly closing the door behind them.

The first thing Ryan noticed was the vast array of certificates, diplomas and accolades that decorated the walls. There had to be over fifty of them. He couldn’t work it out. The doctor resided in Brisbane and worked out of three locations for the Institute. Did he take his certificates and awards with him everywhere he went? Or did he just have so many that he spread them out through all his offices?

Apart from the accolades the room was furnished with an L-shaped, glass top desk with stainless steel frame. On the desk was a computer with several large widescreen monitors attached to it by electronic umbilical cords. There was the mandatory mouse and keyboard, several printers, a fax machine, filing cabinet and a potted plant in the corner behind the desk. How the plant got enough light to stay alive down here, Ryan had no idea. He also had no idea what sort of plant it was, but obviously one that thrived on artificial light rays. It sure looked healthy enough.

“I’ll go through the filing cabinet while you get to work hacking his computer system,” Ryan said.

The filing cabinet had two drawers and it wasn’t locked. He opened the top drawer and commenced sifting through the contents.

Jack, meanwhile, was busy hooking up another electronic device to Becker’s computer. He attached it via a USB port and programmed the machine to do its thing. Whatever that entailed.

Ryan just concentrated on his own task and let Jack handle all complex electronics. He pulled out a file that caught his interest and placed it on top of the cabinet, where he went through its contents one page at a time. He still didn’t really know what he was looking for, but just figured he would photograph anything that he thought might interest Selena. By the time he’d gone through the file he hadn’t had the urge to pull his camera out of his pocket. Ryan replaced it and kept searching. In the end the top drawer proved to be full of paperwork that was irrelevant to the task. He quietly closed it, squatted down and opened the lower drawer.

“I’m in,” Jack announced, an edge of excitement to his voice.

“Awesome. Just copy anything and everything and we’ll sift through it once we’re out of here.”

Ryan felt tingles of nerves travelling through him. He had a feeling that what he was after would more likely be on the computer somewhere than in this filing cabinet. However, he continued to diligently go through the bottom drawer until he was sure there was nothing there. Just as he closed the drawer and stood up, Ryan heard footsteps approaching down the hallway outside. He held his breath and so did Jack. The footsteps didn’t slow and continued on past the door to Becker’s office. Ryan exhaled and sucked in some air as relief swept over him.

“How much longer?” he said to Jack.

“A couple more minutes.”

Ryan tried to wait patiently for Jack’s device to finish downloading files. He paced the floor, feeling agitated. With nothing to do himself, that couple of minutes really crawled by.

“Done,” Jack announced and quickly detached his device and pocketed it.

“Finally.” Ryan let out a sigh of relief.

Jack said, “It didn’t take that long.”