He exited the main conference room and headed for Building B.
BRENT LEFT RECEIVING.
Like every morning, ninety minutes ago he’d tossed his car keys into his top right desk drawer. But if they were leaving the mill he assumed he’d need the Jeep, so he scampered up the stone stairs two at a time and headed for his office. He pocketed the keys and left, telling his assistants that he needed to go into the mill and would be back shortly. His boss stopped him at the door, curious about what the front office wanted. He begged off, saying he had to tend to something immediately and would give him a full report when he got back.
He fled the general counsel’s office and loped down the hall toward the stairs. At the first step leading down from the second floor, he glanced down.
Jon De Florio opened the glass front door and entered the building.
He froze.
De Florio started up the stairs.
The first available door was to his left. He ducked inside just as De Florio turned at the landing and started up the last flight. The woman inside gave him a quizzical look but he headed straight for an open office, not caring who might be inside. Thankfully, the space was unoccupied and he slipped in just as De Florio passed in the hall.
He returned to the doorway and peered right.
De Florio opened the pebbled-glass door markedGENERAL COUNSELand stepped in. Brent turned left and darted down to the first floor. He avoided the front door and dashed out the rear exit. A concrete walk led directly back to the production area, a guard gate in between. Procedure required signing in and out, noting thetime and destination. He stopped long enough to write his name, addingGeneralfor his destination and recording the time.
10:12A.M.
JON ASKED THE WOMAN,“ISMR.WALKER IN?”
“You just missed him.”
This was becoming a habit with the Walkers. “Do you know where he went?”
“He said he was going into the mill and would be back shortly.”
He retraced his steps downstairs and headed for the rear door. Outside, he fished the radio from his pocket and called Frank Barnard.
“Redbird. Robin. Has either left?”
“No.”
“Advise immediately if so.”
“Roger.”
He walked directly to management’s gate. If Walker went into the mill, he would have passed through there since the main gate was a hundred yards on the other side of the building and, on his way over, he would have seen him.
At the gate, per procedure, he stopped and signed the sheet. Instantly, he noticed the entry above his.
Made three minutes earlier.
B. Walker.
HANK HAD ARRANGED EVERYTHING BY 9:30, ALL HE’D BEEN WAITINGfor was word from Brent. Once that happened, the final arrangements were put into motion.
He left the Boar’s Nest and headed down the steep metal stairs into the turmoil of paper machine number three. He took up a position across the building, concealed by the heavy equipment.
The idea was to get out unnoticed.
So he’d arranged for a distraction to occur in exactly four minutes.
AFTER RECEIVINGDEFLORIO’S INSTRUCTIONS,VICTORJACKS ENTEREDthe building that housed paper machine number three. It was nearly a hundred degrees outside under a blazing summer sun. Yet that seemed cool compared with the stifling humidity inside the gargantuan brick structure. Hundreds of workers hustled about tending to the seemingly insatiable needs of the roaring equipment. The paper machine spanned the length of a football field, an alternating series of wires, felt, and dryers that collectively sped wet pulp from one end to the other, eventually converting brown mushy goo into dry solid paper. Water was a huge component of the process, steam the number one by-product, and everyone wore either earplugs or a headset to shield from the deafening roar. Communication was through hand gestures and sign language. Not a whole lot different from his own line of work, Jacks thought.
He was dressed as a security guard. His presence virtually unnoticed. The guards constantly wandered through the mill. He knew exactly where break room number five, or the Boar’s Nest, was located, so he threaded his way between the machinery toward the metal stairway.