Try Harder

July 1 6:30pm

Canada Day is a national holiday, celebrated every year on the first of July. It's often called "Canada's birthday" as it recognizes Canadian Confederation, the day in 1867 when four colonies joined to form a single country within the British Empire. Most communities organize parades, concerts, barbeques, and after sunset, a fireworks display. However, there is no real "traditional" way to celebrate the holiday. Like the country itself, Canada Day lacks a true identity. The only constant is that everybody gets a day off.

There was almost nobody working in the law offices of Bennett, Olsen, Nygärd, Jørgensen, and Holm that day. Their building was spectacularly ordinary, a dull and boring structure with all the beauty of a backyard shed. An uninspiring concrete hulk, it was little more than a giant, flat, grey cube, lined along one side with windows that wouldn't open. There were no ledges or awnings, just a monolithic slab of rock and glass. It looked like it was built to protect people from nuclear fallout. Depressing, utilitarian buildings like this filled out all the industrial areas around Toronto. It was unfortunate, because if someone tried to build it downtown, this ugly eyesore would have every city councillor and amateur architect demanding it be demolished.

The office was flanked on either side by large, untended green hedges. Other than a small patch of grass, there was nothing in front of the building except a sprawling parking lot. A single lane led around the building to the rear shipping entrance.

There were two parked vehicles scattered around the lot. In the far corner was a small, well-used compact car. It was a brown Chevrolet Cavalier, and covered in dirt, dents and dings, as though tt were used in demolition derbies on the weekend.

The sports car right next to the front entrance, however, looked like it just drove out of the dealer's showroom. A shiny red BMW M5 with a 500-horsepower V8 engine, it had a top speed of 250 kilometres an hour, but the unblemished bumpers and pristine silver rims on the tires suggested that the car rarely went above 100. It had a vanity licence plate, which read "I WIN."

Other than those two cars, the property was empty.

The few buildings surrounding the office were noticeably vacant as well. On a statutory holiday like Canada Day, the industrial areas of the city are nearly deserted.

Inside the front doors, the office's main lobby was large, open and sparsely decorated. The ceiling was over twelve-feet high, the floors were polished granite, and there were leafy ferns in huge, five-foot-wide planters located in the corners. There was a hallway on the left that led to the building's three passenger elevators and service elevator, as well as doorways leading to two stairwells. On the wall beside the main door was a building directory listing the office of every lawyer and associate at the firm.

In the centre of the lobby was a large desk, carved from stone and accented with glass and wood. The law firm's name in bold silver letters hung on the wall behind the desk, next to a silver-framed original oil painting by Gunnar Berg.

There was a security guard sitting at the desk, a middle-aged man named Donald Thorp. He wore the standard uniform – a black shirt and pants, with a shiny security badge pinned to his chest. He didn't have any weapons, but he was provided with a flashlight. Not that he'd need more than his fists. He was in great shape, with only his receding hairline betraying his youthful appearance.

Donald wasn't exactly committed to his job. He'd held this same position as security guard for almost six years, and was still earning the same salary as when he began. He'd considered findng other work, but this was such an easy, low-stress job that he eventually decided quitting wasn't worth the bother.

He was an hour into his shift, and hadn't seen a single person. He wasn't expecting to see anyone all night, either. He settled back into his chair, propped his feet up on the desk, cracked open the latest Robert Ludlum thriller and started reading.