Transition

Two guards had both made a promise to name the little birds after their lovely young daughters.

It was almost noon, time for another shift change. Vlad could see the men approaching. Not quite scientist not quit military; they nonetheless carried an air about them that portrayed a well deserved aloofness. These men wore lab coats over tan uniforms, and each carried a large black briefcase. Each briefcase was securely fastened to the men’s wrists via a thick pair of handcuffs.

As the men approached, Vlad removed his standard issue hunting knife from his belt and began to pick at his fingernails. Vlad took great thrill at consciously trying to show these men as little respect as possible. Yet it was hard to tell if they were even aware that he was there. They looked straight ahead until they reached the door, and then one took a card from his pocket and put it in the slot. After a green light and the sound of machinery, the men entered and closed the door behind them.

A short period of time later more buzzes and clicks were heard again, as the door was opened from the inside. Two men emerged, only distinguishable from the first two by the fact that they looked slightly more haggard, their eyelids now resting a little lower than when they entered. They began to walk away, letting the door swing shut behind them. Vlad quickly looked around, his eyes searching like a weasel with a hen in its mouth. The only people in sight were the guards in the towers, and their eyes were trained outwards, searching for evil doers. Vlad quickly and silently took the blade of his knife, and wedged it into the door just before it closed. Only a tiny clink could be heard. The soldiers continued walking as before, assuming the metallic clink to be the sound of the door locking.

Our antagonist knew that he had little time. If the door was left open for more than thirty seconds, an elaborate series of alarms would whoop and holler and his shot at infamy would be replaced with a long talk with one of his commanding officers about the importance of making sure that the door was shut immediately after each pair of military scientist had left. He quickly sprinted down the long metal corridor. He sprinted past long dead video cameras, starring down at him with one giant blind eye. At the end of the hall his path split off into two separate choices. Vlad cautiously peaked around the corner. Of to the right was a small break room. In it sat the two scientists, starring up at a small black and white television. The TV was intended to show the cameras from the hallway, but one of the scientists had figured that if he disconnected the wire in the back he could get in the national news. The news in Russia was always good. Not that bad things didn't happen; in fact life for most people in the country was miserable. But you didn't hear about them. Right now the handsome man on the screen was telling the scientists that Russian economists were saying that Russia now had the fastest growing economy in the world. The pretty woman sitting next to the handsome man was very impressed. The scientists seemed less so.

Vlad knew this was his opportunity. One more quick look over to make sure that they weren't looking, and then quickly and silently down the other hall.