Undercover Crisis

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

Carde and Clancy parked at the site but behind the construction trailer instead of in the deserted parking lot. It was close to 9 p.m. and the lot and the new building were surrounded by light standards and lights were set on low illumination to give the site an eerie glow. There were moving beams of brighter lights emitted from the powerful flashlights of the four guards assigned to watch the site. The guards worked for the contractor, not for Clancy. He would not have his own staff until the H.Q. was officially turned over to CDSI.

The two men were met by one of the guards as Carde turned off the engine of the SUV. The man stood a few meters from the vehicle and shone his light on Carde as he opened the door on the driver's side. "Get out slowly, hands where I can see them," the guard called out. "Your passenger should stay in the car, sir."

Carde did as he was instructed and identified himself and Clancy. A second guard arrived and she joined the group. The two guards were armed with handguns but neither had drawn the weapons. Carde explained that he wanted to take a look inside the building. He borrowed a light and a radio from the male guard and he and Clancy entered the building through a side door that was unlocked for them by the woman. She was asked to wait at the door in case the two needed help.

Clancy led Carde to the place where the four students had gathered as he watched. Clancy went to the wall and shone his light on the section that was of such interest to the young workers. The wall was typical drywall and, at first glance, Clancy could see nothing to distinguish this area from any other. He put his palm on the wall and moved it around. Again, he felt nothing of interest.

Carde had been watching Clancy. He looked at Clancy's hand as he removed it from the wall. "What's that, Clance?"

Clancy look at the palm of his right hand. There was a streak of white on it. He shone the light on it and held it to within an inch of his face. "I think it's drywall compound," he announced. "Why would it..."

Carde leaned past Clancy and hit a section of the wall that Clancy had felt with his hand. A small square of drywall broke free and the top of it leaned into the void behind the wall. Carde reached into his pocket and brought out his Swiss Army knife. He opened a blade and cut the square out of the wall. It had been held in place by several clips and a bead of drywall compound that had been sanded down until it was invisible to the naked eye. The compound had not quite dried, hence the streak on Casey's hand.

Carde inspected the back of the square. There was a small black box fixed to its back with a bracket held by short screws in the drywall. Carde didn't take the box off the drywall or try to open it. It would go, intact, to JPI in Toronto for a closer study by experts in surveillance devices. He looked around until he found a stack of drywall. He and Clancy cut a small square out of a sheet in the pile. They found a large pail of compound and lugged it to the cut-out section of the wall. Using Carde's Swiss Army knife and great care, they sized the square of drywall and pasted it into the hole, reusing the clips. When they were finished, the square would pass a casual inspection. The compound would be dry by morning if the students returned to admire their handiwork.

Carde and Clancy looked around the huge area and the drywall that covered most of the perimeter walls. How many more devices were planted in those walls by the 'willing' students of the SFPP, Clancy and Carde wondered. They looked at each other and groaned in unison. They would have to drive down to Toronto that night to have the experts go over the device they had found. Only then would they be able to begin a search for any others that had been placed in the CDSI H.Q. At least, now, they knew why an arsonist and a baseball bat-wielding attacker had tried to delay construction and hiring at the new company. They had been trying - and succeeding - in establishing their own saboteurs in the company ranks.