He ducked below and crouched beside a rear wheel, waiting and changing positions around the He ducked below and crouched beside a rear wheel, waiting and changing positions around the cars; while all the time straining his eyes through the little light trickling under the floorboard to watch the movement of a pair of ankles and boots. One delayed or hurried move and he would be found.
The sound of thwacking of iron on the pavement followed at intervals. Pressing his mouth with a hand in an attempt to prevent his panting from being heard, he carried out with the cat and mouse game, well aware of the futility of it. The figure seemed to wait for sometime after breaking a glass, perhaps checking inside the cars for something. He tried to ring the security but no one picked up. 'Why was he running, anyway ?' He was suddenly surprised at his tomfoolery. 'Perhaps this was only a thief stealing car stereos', he tried to cheer himself up.
It was quite late and the huge parking lot was empty except for a few cars belonging to the top bosses of the company, who retired home only past midnight. He had been held up late for an assignment and the moment he entered the basement he saw pieces of glass flying in the air .
The ankles and boots stood still now. Seconds seemed like hours as the only sound which could be heard were his heartbeats. Then his mobile vibrated scaring the shits out of him. He found himself staring at the attached image of the message .. something scribbled in ink .. a number. A shiver ran down his spines recognizing it to be the code of the project he was working on. His mind immediately flew to the pen drive he had slipped inside the seat cover of his car earlier that day, while going out for lunch. It had some unofficial photographs and documents of the project which could influence the bidders in quoting their rates. He knew if he ran to check inside his car now, the mugger would get the thing from him anyway. He only stood a chance if he could somehow run out of the parking and reach the road .
As if in a deliberate attempt to fail his plan the lights went out, covering everything in pitch-black darkness. He watched helplessly his wife's face flash on the screen for a moment before his mobile's battery went dead. He tore through the place to find the exit, like a blind dog in a meat market. But the entrance and exits seemed to have simply vanished into thin air. Like a caged animal he sat down on the floor in despair, unable to come to terms with the reality. Memories of his wife and nine year old daughter flashed in his mind and he knew he just couldn't give up. Just when he seemed to have found the opening between walls for the driveway ramp, he stumbled upon something soft and fleshy. His shaky fingers could feel it to be the body of a man lying in a pool of thick liquid. 'The security guard who didn't answer his call', he realized.
He ran uphill till he collided with a wall and fell. But how could the ramp lead to a dead end ? Unless. As if in an answer, the headlight of a car nearly blinded him. He saw the figure in entirety now, standing in front of the car; the huge shutter of the garage having been pulled down behind it. A masked marauder in a jeans jacket over a skin-tight jeans trousers; his right hand holding a crowbar which he kept on hitting on the floor. There were two more people in the car besides the driver. As the man walked briskly towards him the car kept vrooming, tearing the silence of the night to pieces.
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