The junior officer was in the building on his own, working overtime.
It was a regular practice. He didn’t mind doing it and the pay was good. The place was a secure facility for the storage of police evidence. It was getting late and the young man was tidying his desk when he heard the buzzer sound at the front door. This surprised him. Normally, when it was closed after hours, the building remained shut and fully secure. He walked through and checked the image on the screen on the wall. It showed a man in a police uniform waving up at the camera. He was opening the door slowly to get a better look at the visitor when it burst in almost knocking him over. The intruder pulled a flick-knife and snapped it open. He waved it around and gestured for the officer to lead the way back down the hall.
As they went, the intruder said, “You won’t get hurt, if you cooperate. Just take me to the evidence room.” The officer did as he was told and they both came to the door. It was protected with a keypad set into the wall. It had the usual grid of numbers and characters.
“It’s locked,” said the officer.
The man sneered. “Of course it’s locked. Now, I need you to open it.”
“I can’t. It needs a combination.”
The man took hold of him, bringing the knife up under his chin.
“Before you tell me that you don’t know the combination, I’ll explain something. I’m here to collect one small item from this room. It could be months before it’s needed. It could be months before it’s missed. When it is, it could be put down to human error. So, you see, do as you’re told and tonight never happened?”
He moved the blade to between the other’s shoulder blades.
“Now, like I said, I don’t want to hurt you, but I will, if that’s what it takes to get this door open. I we clear on this?”
The officer nodded and spoke for the first time. “OK. I need to think. There are ten numbers, and I have to get them right.”
“Go ahead and take your time.”
Slowly the keys were pressed, one at a time, finishing with a hash. A small red light began flashing along with a series of sharp beeps.
The intruder, realising that a duress code had been entered, said, “You shouldn’t have done that.”
The officer turned to face the man. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t let you take evidence while I’m on my watch. You have around ten minutes before police arrive. I suggest you get going.”
The man shook his head. “I’ve been sent here to do a job and I intend to do it. I know about these systems. In less than three minutes I need to persuade you to key in the retraction code to cancel the alarm.
“I can’t do that. I wouldn’t know how.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
The man pulled a hand gun from the back of his waist band, and repeated, “Are you sure?”
“OK. Yes, I can do it! I can do it. It’s a number and a phrase I have to use. They’re on my phone.”
“Get on with it, then.”
He took out his phone and entered the numbers carefully. He stood, listening. When a voice came on he brought up the wording on his screen and said, “This is 128 Principal Avenue, sweet and sour pork for one, please. Thanks.” He clicked off and looked up at the blinking light.
The other watched it too. “OK. You’d better hope that it worked. How long does it take to cancel?”
“I honestly don’t know. I’ve never done any of this before.”
They both stood watching the light and hearing the beeps for several long minutes. The man with the gun grew more and more agitated. Finally, the door buzzer sounded and the man jumped.
“It’s OK,” said the officer. “That’ll be my girlfriend, she’s come to pick me up. I’ll get rid of her. I’ll say that I have more to do and I’ll get a taxi.”
The intruder said, “Make sure you do. Remember, I’ve got a gun and I’m not afraid to use it.”
“OK. I won’t risk getting her hurt. Just stay out of sight and I’ll handle it.”
The officer made his way to the door, checking the screen as he went. He quickly set the keypad to lock the door from the inside before opening it.
He greeted the delivery boy with a smile as he closed the door behind him.
“Just in time,” he said, as he took the bag. “On my tab, OK?”
“No problem,” said the other and climbed back onto his scooter and gave a wave.
He watched the delivery guy shoot off on his scooter, then turned to look back at the door. Considering the fact that the building had no duress code system in place, and knowing that the red light over the security door only flashes as a warning when someone enters a wrong number and can be cancelled by simply pressing the asterisk key, and knowing that he had only read about code phrases that would allow the duress alarm to be cancelled, considering all this, along with the fact that because he was a regular customer and a good tipper, he knew how quickly the guy on his scooter always delivered, he felt that he had done rather well.
Predicting that the events of the evening would be good for his future in the police force, he walked across to his car and got in. He sat in the passenger’s seat with his Chinese meal on his lap. He phoned the police station and had an urgent call put through to the police chief. After explaining that he had a criminal locked up in the building, he rang off and checked the time.
He had just enough time to eat before the cavalry arrived.