The lights were on one second, then suddenly the stairwell went black. Omar took out his flashlight and shinned it in Krista and Holden's face.
Their simple plan worked nearly perfectly.
Krista ran up the stairs, Omar chasing her, but careful not to catch up. Holden waited behind the door and as Krista began banging on it, screaming for help (she had always been remarkably good at fake tears), a guard opened the door and Holden grabbed him, yanking him out of the doorway.
Unfortunately for Holden Omar hadn't caught up to them before the guard managed to bash Holden's head into the wall, sending him to the ground unconscious - but at least he was a good distraction. The guard didn't expect Krista to take out her nail file and stab in in the throat and Omar came up from behind and secured the guard's arms as Holden managed to get backed to his feet, dazed and unable to remember the last 15 minutes of his life.
"Did it work?" Holden asked groggily.
"Does it look like we're finished here?" Omar motioned to the struggling guard.
"Oh shit! Where'd he come from?" Holden pulled out his pistol and aimed it at the guard.
"What do you idiots want?" The guard spat at them.
"We want you to calm the fuck down!" Omar ordered.
"Calm down? Fuck you! She stabbed me in the fucking neck!"
"Next time it will be your eye!" Krista screamed.
The three men looked at Krista with surprised expressions. No one had ever seen her try to be angry before, it was like hearing a cat recite the alphabet. They didn't know if they should laugh or be terrified.
"Are there any more guards patrolling here?" Omar asked.
"I said: Fuck you!" The guard hissed.
"Throw him down the stairs," Krista nodded.
"Okay," Omar began dragging him towards the rail.
"Wait! Wait! Correy's up on the electrical floor!"
"Correy?" Krista's eyes went wide and became glossy. "My Correy."
"Krista, there's only one Correy who works here," Omar rolled his eyes.
"Who's Correy?" Holden asked, his head injury now just a dull throb.
"He's my-" Krista began, but Omar immediately cut her off.
"He's the enemy! If they're not with us, they're against us!"
Krista sniffed and looked down, her anger all melted away. "This is so wrong," she muttered to herself.
"Correy's the only other one?" Omar asked, just to be certain.
"Only two guards are patrolling at a time. We switch over every six hours."
"And when the hell does your shift end?"
He didn't answer at first, and Omar started dragging him towards the rail again.
"Okay! Wait! Half an hour! Maybe less. We change over on the hour.
Holden looked at his watch. "That gives us 27 minutes."
"My watch says 25," Krista said.
"Oh fuck. Let's just go with 20," Omar said. "Now knock this bitch out and let's get on with the operation."
