Project Maigo(72)

Collins shushed Alessi, but the Zoomb employee turned corporate thief was unfazed. “Security doesn’t mind the rear of the building much. We saw them sweep five minutes ago. We should have five more. More if they get distracted by the news.”

Collins listened to the air-raid klaxons sounding in the distance. Every TV channel, news network or not, would be airing images of the Kaiju. It had become standard operating procedure. When a Kaiju appeared, every channel on Earth carried the story. And nearly every person with a television stopped what they were doing and tuned in. Including security guards. Which was part of the reason why they had waited until the last minute to make this errand. If they had made off with the tech at the beginning of the week, they’d have played their hand too soon.

“Isn’t there more security than guards?” Collins asked.

“Some of the best security on the planet,” Alessi said. “And the tech to beat it is inside.”

“That doesn’t sound helpful.”

“Endo taught me to prepare for all contingencies,” Alessi said, revealing her allegiance to the man and not to the company that employed them both. She pulled a small, phone-sized device from her pocket. “Some people steal pens from work.”

Collins grinned. “You steal high tech, top secret technology.”

“No one here uses pens.” Alessi slipped through the hole with ease. Collins followed, but her fuller figure required a little squirming to fit through without making too much noise.

Free of the fence, the pair ran across the empty pavement. Half way to the building, Alessi stopped like there was an invisible wall. She pointed to the plain looking back door of the building. It was simple and black, like it would be easy to kick open. “Any closer, and the cameras will pick us up,” Alessi said.

Collins looked the building over, left to right. “I don’t see any cameras.”

“That’s the point.” Alessi dug into her coat again. “There are three cameras monitoring the area in front of the door. There’s a biometric lock and a numeric keypad hidden in the wall to the right of the door, behind a secret panel. The lock itself is a ten pound deadbolt that’s retracted electronically.”

“Anything else?” I ask.

“If someone tries to break in, they get gassed.”

“Gassed?”

“Nitrous oxide. Being arrested and thrown in jail would feel like the best day of your life, until it wore off and you discovered you’d been licking the floor clean because it tasted like maple syrup.” Alessi held up a black sphere with a red light. “But don’t worry, that’s not going to happen to us.” She rolled the orb toward the door.

Collins squinted, thinking the sphere was some kind of explosive. But nothing so dramatic took place. A small red light on the ball’s exterior turned green. Alessi stood. “Let’s go.”

Collins followed her to the door. “That’s it?”

“Limited range electromagnetic pulse. Took out all of the door security. Don’t worry, we were too far away for it to affect your phone.”

Collins stopped in front of the door, which looked very solid up close. “Except for the ten pound dead bolt.”

“That’s where you come in, muscles.” Alessi took one more device from her jacket: a seven-inch-wide circular disk with a solid metal handle. She held the disk up to the door and it leapt out of her hands, slapping against the metal, just above where there should have been a knob. “Heave ho.”

Collins understood what she was being asked to do and took hold of the handle now secured to the door. She grunted as she pulled. She didn’t think she could ever pull the magnetic disc away from the door, but she could drag it, slowly and painfully, inch by inch, until she felt the lock thump free of the side wall. She gave the door a gentle shove and it cracked open. She stepped aside and motioned to the unlocked door. “After you.”

Unlike the outside of the building, the inside was like a work of modern sculpture. The walls were painted in funky colors, often sporting hip looking retro art. The lighting was soft, but bright enough that their black outfits would make them stand out like bird shit on the driver’s side of a windshield—hard to miss and impossible to ignore.

“This way,” Alessi whispered, leading Collins down a long straight hallway.

Collins glanced through the circular door windows as they passed. There was a mix of offices, game rooms, kitchens and labs. Zoomb wasn’t segregating fun from work, which made sense. Scientists, software coders and electronic engineers who were paid to dream up ways of subjugating people probably had a lot of stress to release. At least they’re not all sociopaths, Collins thought.