I heard the gun powering up.
It was in good working state. I powered it down and turned on the safety. Placing it in my case, I thought, 'Just another day at work', before starting towards the metro. My home was 30 minutes away from work. I love working for this woman. If there is someone in this world that I'd gladly give my life to trade for theirs' other than my family, it's her. She's known to everyone but only a few know what she really does for the good of the state. There was a time when I thought her actions were mindless but when I did realize that they were well thought ahead, I started truly trusting this woman. I work head of security for her. I wasn't sure why she would need security since she never leaves her room but then I knew the impact she had on the society. I've also stopped two separate attempts on her life before I became head of security. They were also a reason why I'm leading her security now. I've known very few women who could truly hold out amongst men. Whenever she's in the room, there's an air of confidence and power surging from her. Men leading the nation would call for her advice. She always thought about everything. What I didn't know, my life was going to flip today.
I got out of the metro and made my way through the streets which was empty. It would be another hour before they start bustling with people. There was nothing out of the ordinary from any other day. I used to do recon at the beginning stages of my career. If there's something I'm good about, I have a knack for noticing things. Small things, that otherwise would go unnoticed by all other people. I lifted my gaze towards the taller buildings and made a quick check. I noticed nothing different but then I thought I saw someone standing on the rooftop of the tallest building in the city, TeCorp. I focused my sight on that building for a few seconds but didn't see anything. Must have been a bird or something, but I told myself that I'd send someone to check it out when I reached my work place, Ramachandran Memorial Hall. The Hall is built in memory of the people's leader, Mr. Ramachandran, murdered by his political enemies and it's his wife that I work for now. The Hall was converted into a government office/museum, where she lived and controlled the office of the state.
It is said that she was there watching the whole thing when her husband was murdered. Before that incident however, she was a very quiet & kind housewife not known to many people. Now though, it's an entirely different story. She rose through power in a short period of time & no one ever saw that quiet housewife ever. She did get the people who murdered her husband after a couple of months. They were convicted after a year long trial and sent to prison. After a month or so, they escaped and were never seen. She was filled with anger for some time and soon that became her nature. The Hall was about three hundred and fifty feet tall with four exits for each direction in the ground floor, aside from the secret floor beneath which has twice the exits.
I reached the security office in the ground floor and started dressing up. I always wear my chest plate when I start from home, so I just had to change my shirt and put on the jacket. Just as I was about to finish up, I saw the night patrol coming in at their shift end. "Are the morning patrol up?" I asked them.
"We didn't see them on our way down", one of them told.
"I gotta task for you, Ram", I called one of them, "I need you to run up the TeCorp rooftop and report back. Check with their security if they noticed anything out of place."
"Yes Sir. Will do." He rushed out.
I took out my gun, put it in the holster and went out. The early morning patrol were on their way. I went to the control room to check with the surveillance team. When I reached there, they had the reports for yesterday ready. I skimmed through the reports and told them to be on the edge. I gave out commands through comms to the security to follow 'The Duck Hunt' protocol. It was a term we used based on the phrase, Wild Goose Chase. I started walking towards the elevator. I wanted to check all the security alarms we had set on the Duck Hunt floor. I stepped into the elevator. As the door was about to close, Catherine from Forensics came running, so I held the door for her. She was in her late twenties, black hair, almond skin, about 5' 8".
"Thanks, John", she said out of breath. She always does that.
"Why are you always running around? Don't you ever walk?" I asked her with a slight amusement.
"I do. When I'm sick." She leaned on the side walls of the elevator. I just noticed that she had a couple of files under her arm.
"A new case you working with?" I pointed at the files. "Ah huh", she just nodded. She never said anything about the cases that she was working with. I couldn't complain since I'd never talk about my security plans to her either. She said bye and got off at the sixth floor. I continued to the tenth floor where the usual patrol team were stationed. When I got off the elevator they were gearing up for their shift.
"You'll be covering the twentieth floor today. I'll be here if you need me."
"Let the hunt begin. Quack quack." Someone from the back made the noise and everyone laughed out loud. I smiled and walked past them.
I had the feeling that today's going to be the worst day of my life, when I heard my communicator warned me of low heart rate. What's worse, it wasn't mine but of Mrs. Ramachandran. It was a failsafe in case of an emergency that I installed myself. It took a lot of convincing from my side. No one knew about it except me & her. I can't trust the elevators right now, so I ran up the stairs. I alerted the patrol on the twentieth floor about the situation since they were closer than me. I took three stairs at a time. When I got to the twenty first floor however, I could see an open window at the end of the hallway. I saw the patrol on the floor unconscious. I knelt down and checked them for a pulse. Thank God, they were all alive. I noticed the explosion from the wall that took them out. There was only one way out from here and so, I jumped out of the window onto the fire escape. I looked up and saw someone dragging her to the rooftop. I ran up as fast as I could, since they had only one floor left to scale. Whatever escape he has planned, I must stop him. She was unconscious and so was the rooftop patrol on the east side of the building. He was wearing a coat or was it a long jacket, I'm not sure. His entire face and head was covered with a helmet. He was wearing gloves and had a communicator on his left arm. I took out my gun, turned off the safety and pointed at him.
The gun started powering up.
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