Ben hurried to the video monitor and
saw someone standing at the gate. He looked more closely. It looked
like Haley. Panic filled him at the thought of someone hurting
her. Adopted by Ben when she was nine, and raised by him and his
now deceased wife, she was his family.
He used the cell phone in his pocket,
scrolled down to her name, and pushed the call button. “Haley,
this is Ben…” the line had static. “Can you
hear me?” It went dead.
He hurried back to his desk, engaged the speaker phone, and called
Haley’s cell phone, hoping to warn her away. He got a steady
beep that wasn’t a busy signal and usually meant the repeater
was overcrowded. He tried again and got the voice mail. He muttered
a curse.
“Haley, if you get this message
do not come inside the Foundation. Get in your car and go to Sam.
I’ll call you as soon as I can.”
With mounting frustration he watched
her on the monitor just standing there ringing the bell. It occurred
to him that she had never appeared to answer her cell phone. Without
thinking about it much further, in frustration, he pulled the
spring-loaded handle that operated the front gate. A second camera
followed Haley as she walked through.
