The Things We Do (Under Editing)

The Stage is Set

It took some rather impressive sleight of hand to swipe a key card off one of J Tech's employees. I approached their main building as if I belonged and did this every day. My heartbeat pulsed in my throat as I went, and I was sure that if it was any louder everyone would be able to hear it. As I turned into the door, I purposefully cut off another woman, causing her to stumble. I grabbed her arm to stop her from falling and started apologizing profusely, making ever attempt to not actually cause a scene. Once she was steady and told me it really wasn't a big deal, we passed each other to go our separate ways. She never noticed her card slipping out of her back pocket as she went.

For probably the only time in my career, I was missing my mask. There was absolutely no way I could have gotten where I needed to decked out in my costume, so instead I had a different disguise, consisting of dress pants and a button up I'd stolen from Mel's closet after she left for work. I'd also nicked a pair of costume glasses from prop and fabric room in the school. They weren't as good as a mask, but they'd help a bit.

The lobby had the most security. As far as their sensors were concerned, however, I didn't have anything dangerous on my person. I kept my head down, casually keeping the cameras from ever getting a good angle on my face, and forced myself to maintain an easy pace. First thing I had to do was find the elevator without looking lost. Luckily I'd managed to figure out where it was when I'd slipped in the other day on the pretense of asking a question at the front desk. My newly acquired key card allowed me to use the elevator, but considering I didn't actually know who the person I'd taken it from was, I had no clue how far it would get me.

I'd purposefully come when most of the staff was either on lunch break or getting ready for their break. As a result, all the people I passed were more worried about getting away from their work than they were about me. Most of them were interns who even looked about as anxious as I felt. No doubt they'd either been sent on ridiculous and demeaning jobs or had been given unclear instructions. Each time I made eye contact with one of them, we shared a look that said, "I know what you're going through". Clearly they didn't know what I was going through at that exact moment, but I appreciated the sentiment none the less. I'd be in their position soon enough, as long as I didn't flunk out of school.

Somehow I made it through the building to the Ross Gray's office on the top floor without anyone stopping me. Up here the carpets were unreasonably plush and part of me wished I'd stepped in mud before entering the building just so I could ruin the pretentious flooring. I mean, the whole building was pretty lavish, being the main building, only the best worked here and it was meant to show off how great they were, but the top floor was too much. There was art and furniture fashionably placed, and everything was too clean. I'm pretty sure no one had ever actually sat in the chairs. Even the secretary's desk was perfectly organized, but it was empty. I had the place to myself.

Unsurprisingly my stolen card didn't get me through the big doors that separated the elevators and the desk directly across from them from the offices on the rest of the floor. I suspected, though, that it was the secretary's job to let the owners of the offices know they had visitors and to let those visitors in if told to. It didn't take too much work to figure out how to get the doors open and let myself into Gray's office. There were literally just buttons on the underside of the desk.

The office was even more pretentious than the rest of the floor, if that's even possible. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised at this point if I circled the desk to find that he was using a plate of solid gold as a mouse pad. He was not. Even though there probably weren't cameras in the CEO's private office, I kept my face away from anything that might have one. My criminal career would come to a screeching halt if I was caught here.

A couple minutes of messing with the wires inside the computer and then a bit of work after booting the computer up finished up my work. I turned the computer back off and slipped out of the office, removing any trace of my presence from everything I'd touched. I'd been there too long and I was running out of luck.

The elevator opened before I could press the button. It took everything I had to hold my composure as the doors slid open to reveal a man, dressed impeccably in a full suit. His eyes caught mine instantly and stared me down, the blue burning into me. Panic flooded my body as I fought the feeling that those eyes could see right through any lie I told.

"I asked what you're doing here."

I blinked, tearing myself away from my own mind. He'd said something? "oh, uh, I had some paperwork for the secretary."

The man glanced over my shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "He's not here."

"Yeah, I uh..." he was staring at me again and I could almost feel the temperature dropping. He tensed his jaw, forming a sharp enough line to cut someone. "I just left it on his desk for him." I thanked the universe that there had actually been a stack of files on the desk.

Looking me over, the man replied, "I suppose you're done here then."

I jumped slightly. "Oh, yes. I was just leaving." I passed him and stepped into the elevator. As usual, though, my mouth had to make a comment. "You seem suspicious of me." His look made me shrink back.

"My sister was just kidnapped. I'm suspicious of everyone."

The doors slid closed on those words and I was left to regret all my life choices. That I'd been unlucky enough to come face to face with William Gray while sneaking into his father's building was proof that the universe was laughing at me. I just hoped that he wouldn't remember my face.

At exactly noon, two days after I kidnapped the girl, I turned on a camera in the tunnel and connected it to every screen in J Tech's main building, inside and out. Was I taking a few pages out of Storm's book? Perhaps, but I had to admit the man had style.

My own screen showed live feeds from the security cameras as people turned to see what, at the moment, was vague shapes on the screens. The CEO's office had the most important picture, complements of a camera of my own I'd installed while there. One man, front and center, was joined by two others when he noticed the feed and called them over. Ross Gray sat in his desk chair with his son and Detective Matthew Corum leaning over his shoulders. A cocky smile stretched my lips wide.

Dramatically, I flipped a switch that flooded the tunnel with light. I gave the camera a moment to adjust to the light so that everyone could see me where I stood, center stage with my arms thrown wide. Anyone who hadn't been looking at the screens before was doing so now.

"I hear it's polite to introduce yourself when speaking to new people. My name is Phantom Banshee," I bowed with a flourish, "though I suppose you can refer to me however you wish. It makes no difference to me." From my spot, I could see the cold expressions of the three men in the office from where I stood and my smile spread further. "And this cutie behind me is little Miss Anna Gray." I danced sideways to reveal the girl, sitting in a chair I had placed to hide the stake.

Despite her young age and situation, she refused to look scared in front of the camera. She hadn't cried at any point after I'd left her that first night. Whenever I came down to feed her, she didn't even acknowledge my presence, and she was doing the same now. It was actually quite impressive. She sat perfectly still and stared defiantly into the camera as if she didn't have a shackle on her wrist or rips and mud stains across her nice, green dress.

I circled behind her and placed my hands on the back of the chair, careful not to touch her. "Now, as you can see, I haven't hurt a single shiny black hair on her little head... yet." My fingers ran lightly through the ends of her straight hair that had long since come out of the braid she'd worn the other night. "Isn't that right, sweetheart?"

The child's only response was to tilt her chin up, clasping her hands in her lap. Clearly she was already learning to use the same look William had used on me the day before, but hers didn't hold nearly as much steel. Currently I respected her attitude, but something told me that it would be more annoying when she was older.

On my screen I could see the younger Gray clench his fists, bracing as if he was ready to run out and search the entire city himself.

"Now, if I were you, I wouldn't try to find her." I pulled a gun from my pocket, resisting the urge to toss it as far away from me as possible. "Something bad might happen."

For the first time the girl's face wavered.

"Stay tuned. When I ask for what I want, you better get it to me quickly." With my final words, the screens went black.