Three Faces of West (2013) (16 page)

“How many?”

“Two.”

West hesitated slightly, in the silent gloom he could hear footsteps and general chatting coming from outside. It was getting louder as the proximity between the security guards and the two intruders became ever narrower. The heart beats of increased palpitations almost deafened Jack as he waited, pressed up against the garage door, hoping and praying that this was not their ultimate destination.

But is wasn’t, the sound of the guards receded as they passed, John’s watch radar keeping tabs on them all the way,

“OK, now.” He said. West took the chance in the split second window. Prising the latch, the door came ajar ever so slightly, just enough for the two men to slip through. Being careful to cover their trail, John brought the garage door back to its shut position as they surveyed their surroundings. Refitting the glasses on his face, West’s infrared spectrum glasses picked up a trail once more,

“Come on, down here.” He said.

They followed the footsteps down a path that lead to an internal road. It appeared to be some kind of transportation line bringing raw materials from one part of the site to another. There didn’t appear to be any other vehicles in the vicinity so they followed it anyway. It led them to a gate blocking access to a yet another bridge this time over a drainage outflow close to the river’s edge. Unlike last time this bridge seemed to be a little more of a challenge,

“Now what?” Asked Hudson,

“Wait a second,” Replied West, “Let’s see if that gate is locked.”

Making his way up to it he had to try it just in case,

“Wait a minute!” Warned John, Jack stopping in his tracks turned to his partner,

“What?”

“Up there,” He said pointing to a high wall on the side of a pre-fabricated building, “CCTV camera, it’s trained on the gate.”

West cautiously stepped back as it clearly it did not matter now if that gate was locked or not. There had to be a way over there. Then the brainwave came; gingerly moving sideward he examined the side of the bridge in poor light. It had a ledge; the way forward became clear,

“Looks like we’ll have to climb round the side.”

John looked anxious, “What? Oh now come on-‘

“Do you see another way round?”

“Well no but-‘

“Then that’s settled, come on follow me.”

West took a wide birth and crawled onto the side of the bridge. John followed suit, he wasn’t happy about this, crawling along ledges in the dark. Very hazardous to say the least. Taking their time they shuffled further and further along. Each step a tremendous risk, one foot out of place, the slightest misjudgement could spell disaster. Fortunately the bridge and the drainage ditch below was not very wide and they managed to reach the other side with no problems at all,

“Thank God.” Though Hudson as he made it to the other side as well. West with his glasses still on, and thankfully not in the gutter, made out the infrared trail clearer than ever. They must be getting close so they could not stop now. The trail seemed to be leading to the main factory building in the centre of the complex, a huge imposing structure dominating the river edge.

As they approached the building, the closest point of entry looked like a fire exit, pushing quickly on the roll bar spanning the door West quickly discovered that it failed to open,

“We need to find another way in fast.” Stated John,

“How?”

John hesitated for a second, “No idea.”

There had to be a way in, the trail could not have just gotten cold. But now there was no time, sound could clearly be heard nearby, instantly triggering the instincts of the two men. However before they could react, from the corner of both their eyes they could quite clearly see the dark outline of two figures running toward closer, the sound of barking Alsatians rang out at the same time, although not with them,

“We’ve been spotted!!” Said Jack as they both ran off, the two figures in hot pursuit,

“We must have been spotted by the CCTV!!” Shouted John as they ran further and further. The chase, conducted at breakneck speeds, the blood circulation fed off the pure adrenaline of the situation. Jack in all panic tried desperately and hopingly for a way into the building if not to just get away from the impending security. They fled round the corner, and straight toward some pallets. As they came closer they could see that they were stacked broadly in a staggered pattern around 10 feet in height. Doing before thinking, West took the lead with Hudson in tow as they hurled themselves at the wooden stack. The security guards were only a couple of hundred yards behind, so every second counted as they climbed further upwards. They reached the top as the security guards, now calling for backup, betrayed by the beeping and cracking of their radios, began climbing the pallets themselves,

“Where to now?!” Asked John panicky. He took a quick peek over the edge and could now see that the security were almost half way up. They were just as agile in their pursuit,

“There up this drainpipe, onto the roof!” Shouted West.

Both grabbing the large black plastic pipe, they scrambled up the wall as the security guards reached the top of the pallets and were beginning to ascend the same thing themselves.

Reaching the roof, both West and Hudson climbed up onto it and were by now at the very limit of their endurance. For a split second Jack did consider confronting the security and explaining their presence, but time was of the essence. Moving across the roof, both looked back to see where their followers were. All they could see was the top of the drainpipe shaking, accompanied by tapping sounds, a sure sign that they were not very far behind. Turning forward again, the only access point about 200 yards away was a small window leading inside; who knows where it leads, but there was no other option, both men arrowed for it,

“I hope it’s not locked.” Said John as West tried to force the latch. Looking back the security was now on the roof and heading straight for them. West forced, and prayed at the same time, it opened. Without thinking, first Hudson, the West clambered inside the thin letterbox sized window. Once inside, before they could even do anything else, West turned and secured the latch, locking the window behind them. It was close for as soon as his hand left the frame, the two guards appeared, tapping on the glass, radioing for reinforcements since they were now aware of the presence and appearance after being denied entry,

“We need to get moving before their friends turn up.” Said John

“My thoughts exactly.” Replied West.

As they moved away from the window they found themselves surrounded by desks laden with stationary, filing cabinets amongst piles of paper stacked across the cream coloured but dimly lit room,

“Looks like some kind of administrative office.” Said Jack,

“I suppose there would be no point in checking the radar for cameras anymore, not now that they know we are here.”

Jack looked on at the exit door in the corner, moving toward it in the quest to locate and corner David. Beyond lay a staircase, metallic and industrial in both style and construction. They made their way down to the bottom, a total of four flights as ahead of them there lay a series of corridors, all brick lined in the walls carrying on for meters. As they pounded along the heavy concrete floor, the hum of machinery became their only guide since it seemed to be coming from one very specific direction. The corridors, seemed like a maze to the uneducated in the layout of the complex, and at times it seemed like they were both going round in circles; but not always, there were signs that they were heading somewhere. One of these signs came from a larger corridor which housed a large access ladder to the left hand side. Looking up both West and Hudson could see around the upper levels there lay a metallic gangway, the machine sounds seemed to come from there,

“The only way is up.” Said John quirkily,

“Yes.” Said Jack as they began to ascend.

The clunking of the metal with each footstep as they climbed up to the gangway only lasted a few seconds. They found themselves at one end of the metal structure so the way forward was obvious as they slowly moved toward the humming sound. The further they walked, the louder and more profound the noise; wherever they were heading, they were getting closer to the source of the noise. Turning round a corner and going through a doorway revealed the edge of the gangway, to which another ladder was situated. Climbing down they found themselves in an antechamber, small in size with dull grey plastered walls,

“Looks like we’ve just come through some kind of maintenance hatch.” Said Jack, John agreed,

“The sounds are coming from that door.” He said while pointing straight ahead, a large metallic green door that stood before them. By now the humming sound was more of a profound throbbing, it was clear that the machinery was on the other side.

Opening the door, West and Hudson were faced with a large machine hall. They were on the upper level where the gangways overlooked the normal operation of the facility. Machinery, conveyor belts, and moving parts all obscured the view below as they advanced further toward a staircase in front of them that led to a lower gangway. They only got ten yards, beginning to descend about two steps when,

“Look!” Cried John, their movements altered the angle of sight and that allowed them to see to the lower levels. Down and to the right there stood a figure, it was hard to see and the noise made it distracting, but is clearly the figure of a man. Both West and Hudson moved further down to get a better look,

“Is that David?” Asked John,

“Let’s have a look.” Was the reply, “It must be.”

They moved downwards toward the same level as the young man; in doing so they drew their pistols given the volatile uncertainty of the situation. Moving along a slightly higher gangway with the figure below them, they could see him more clearly now. Dressed in a brown jacket over a jumper, brown trousers the man looked slightly dishevelled in appearance. His short dark hair uncombed against his youthful early twenties features. As West observed he saw beside him a case, dark brown in colour,

“That’s a clarinet case.” He thought to himself. Meanwhile the young man didn’t seem to be performing any actions; he had to act now,

“DAVID!!” Shouted West as they moved along the gangway to a thinner staircase to the ground level. Approaching this, David became increasingly frightened, his eyes wild, sweating profusely and now, ever more agitated than before. Panicking, he drew a revolver from the inside of his jacket pocket, obviously the contents of the clarinet case. Hudson, in close proximity behind West drew his pistol in response,

“Drop the weapon NOW!!!” He shouted.

David, his firearm firmly pointed at West the two men stared at each other only meters apart. David’s eyes wide dark and wild, piercing West like a spear; he was becoming increasingly unstable and the gun in his hand began to shake,

“LEAVE ME ALONE!!!” He screamed. West gun in hand raised his hands very slowly, even with Hudson behind him, pistol trained on David’s head, ready to take the shot West was still in an extremely precarious situation. Tension now reaching boiling point, he tried the diplomatic approach to diffuse the anxiety and talk David down to get some answers,

“OK, OK…..I’m not going to hurt you. I only want to talk to you……. My name is Jack.”

David paused for a split second before responding, “NO YOUR’E HERE TO GET ME, I’M NOT GOING BACK!!!! I’M SAFE HERE!!!!!……GET AWAY!!!!!”

He reaffirmed his pistol stance, he was no longer shaking and West found himself staring straight into the blackness of the barrel, knowing there was a live round in the chamber at the other end. West backed off a step; Hudson tried to reassure his composure as the standoff was a stalemate. Thinking what to do next, West thought the only way to neutralise David was to shoot him in the leg but suddenly David deteriorated. It took all of Hudson’s training not to react by pulling the trigger, as David snapped. Kneeling down then suddenly springing back up, both men saw the rabid look on the young man’s face, only their disbelief stopped them from taking the opportunity to bring him down. He eyes, once white and brown, suddenly widened outwards in bloodshot frenzy, his skin, quite pale, now blushed red with the veins in his forehead bulged in unbridled fury. His arms and body swung wildly around, his revolver could go off at any moment. Grabbing his arms with his teeth, he gnarled at his sleeves with such force, tearing the stitching of the fabric apart thus exposing his bare skin,

“AAGGRRHHHH!!!!!, UUUGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!” He cried out in a rabid bloodcurdling episode. The two men looked on, wanting to intervene but feared for their own personal safety in the ensuring violence as they watched David bite into his own flesh. Drawing blood it steamed down his forearm causing huge pools on the floor, as he continued to devour huge chunks of flesh out of himself. The madness was truly like something out of a live horror movie.

Suddenly he stopped, his blood soaked mouth, as red as his eyes and wide open stared straight at West. Raising his pistol again the distance between then had increased even further,

“I WILL KILL YOU!!!!!!!!, WE ALL DIE!!!!!” He shouted in the grip of rabid madness. The really was no reasoning with him now, Hudson decided to act, David was clearly a threat, and he steadied himself to take the shot,

“THEY ARE COMING TO GET YOU!!!!!!” He shouted at the last moment,

“Who is coming to get me?” Asked West, “I don’t understand, who is coming to get me?”

“THEY WILL GET YOU, THEY WILL GET US ALL!!”

“What do you mean? Is there some sort of conspiracy going on? Tell me!!” West pleaded.

He didn’t get a response, with lightning speed he ran. Hudson wanted to shoot, but West got in the way as he pursued. John followed in quick succession as David was heading for a safety rail covering an edge. Over the other side working machinery was in full force, cogs and rollers pounded on as David approached the barrier. West shouted in a vain attempt,

“David, wait!! John shoot him, take him down.” Hudson tried to raise the gun, but as he did so, West once again blocked his way. Reacting he chased after his partner,