Advent '23 - Chapter Fourteen - Jet
The bells rang out, but not for Christmas
Coming a little late to the party? You can catch up from the beginning by clicking here: Chapter One
Even above the deafening clanging of the fire alarm, I could still hear Felicity’s high heels clacking along the corridor.
“Everyone out, everyone out,” she trilled. She was our department’s fire marshal.
“Come on Jet,” said Guy as he headed out. “We have to go.”
“Coming,” I said and followed after him.
As I exited the area, Cassie stepped out of the Ladies. She caught my eye and winked. I slowed my pace to let Guy get ahead of me, then slowed it some more until I was at the back of the crowd all heading for the exit.
I could hear grumbling.
“What a silly day to have a fire drill.”
“It’s freezing outside, couldn’t they do this in summer?”
With everyone’s focus on the way ahead, I simply ducked into Adam’s cubicle as I went past. It was perfectly done if I do say so myself.
I looked around. I’d never been in here before. Surprisingly, it was larger than Brian’s office, although it didn’t have a view of course. Or a window for that matter.
There was a desk with a computer, a printer and a rack of ‘in’, ‘out’ and ‘pending’ trays. A filing cabinet stood to the left and a small set of drawers to the right.
The desk was clear, and the trays were all empty, so I went to the drawer unit. The top drawer was an untidy mix of pens, calculator, sticky notes – all the things that sat on top of my desk. I briefly wondered if he’d swept everything away or if his desk was always this tidy.
The second drawer had an opened ream of paper while the bottom one held a red plastic tub and a yogurt pot. Lunch presumably.
I went to the filing cabinet and opened the top drawer. Or rather I tried to open the top drawer. It was locked.
I went back to the smaller unit and looked again but there were no keys. Then I checked under the computer keyboard, under the trays, I even looked in the battery compartment of the mouse. No key and nowhere else to look.
I turned to contemplate the lock. Could I pick it? It looked flimsy enough. Maybe a hairpin or a bent paperclip…
Before I could put plan into action, I heard the lift ping. People were returning.
I slipped out and ran straight into a brick wall. Well, a fireman actually.
“You shouldn’t be in here, Miss.”
I put on my best oh-did-I-miss-a-fire-alarm look. “I’m sorry, I thought it was just a drill and I have so much work to do.”
“Nothing that’s worth losing your life over,” he said, sternly. “You should always obey the fire alarm.”
“I’m sorry,” I said again. I couldn’t tell him I knew this one was a false alarm.
“Fortunately there’s no fire on this occasion but if there were, I would have to send people in here to look for you and it might not only be your life lost.”
That more than put me in my place. “I’m sorry,” I said once again, but this time I meant it.
“Ok.” He pushed a button on the radio mike on his shoulder. “All clear, you can send everyone back in.”
A sudden thought hit me. “You won’t tell anyone I was in here, will you?”
“I have to submit my report. They should have done a headcount, but we weren’t told anyone was inside. That could have had catastrophic consequences if the alarm had been real.”
“My friend covered for me. She would have said something if it turned out not to be a drill. I’m really sorry. I’m only a temp and I’m sure they’d end my contract if they knew I’d caused a bother.” He seemed to be softening so I went in for the kill. “It’s nearly Christmas. You can’t get me fired just before Christmas.”
He smiled. A small one but definitely a smile. “Alright, I’ll keep shtum. But next time…”
“I’ll be first out the door, I promise.”
I went and hid in the toilet until I felt sure Cassie and Guy would be back, then I sauntered in.
“I didn’t see you outside,” I said – which was true.
“There were loads of people,” said Cassie. “I didn’t realise the building held so many.”
“I heard Brian complaining to Felicity,” said Guy. “Apparently it wasn’t a drill. Someone must have set off a false alarm. The bank will get charged by the emergency services. He’s not a happy bunny.”
It might have been my imagination, but Guy seemed almost pleased by the prospect.
“Tea?” he asked.
Once he’d gone, Cassie walked over to his desk and casually moved his calculator.
“Really?” I asked. “Isn’t that just a little immature.”
“It’s only a bit of fun. And I’ve not done the calculator before.”
She turned back to me. “So? How did it go?”
“It was a bust. The records must be in his filing cabinet, but he keeps it locked. I think I might be able to pick it, it’s pretty flimsy, but there wasn’t time.”
“So what’s next?”
I’d already considered that. “Fancy a bit of late night breaking and entering?”
Continue reading by clicking here: Chapter Fifteen