Brett Battles - Exit 9

“Maybe you should pick another company to do the paper on,” Blanton suggested.

That was the simple solution, but Corey was way too curious about Hidde-Kel now to give up that easily. “Fine. I’ll go by myself. You don’t need to come.”

“I’ll go with you,” Jeannie offered.

Corey smiled and squeezed her hand. He then looked at Blanton. “Not up for the challenge, huh?”

His friend groaned. “I don’t want to miss my group tomorrow.”

“I already said we’d be back in time.”

“All right, all right. I’ll go. But we’re stopping at White Castle and you’re buying.”

With the stop for food and another two for bathroom breaks, they didn’t reach Chicago until closer to one a.m. It took them another twenty minutes to get out to O’Hare Airport.

From there it was still a little tricky getting over to the area where the building was, but after a couple of wrong turns, Corey finally pulled his old Civic onto the right road. Driving slowly, both he and Jeannie read off building addresses.

“That’s got to be it over there,” she said, pointing ahead and to the left at a long, two-story brick structure.

The only sign on the building was an address number, the same that belonged to Hidde-Kel, according to what Blanton had found out. The parking lot beside it was sealed off by an eight-foot-high, chain-link fence with barbed wire strung across the top.

“Kind of fortress-like, don’t you think?” she said.

Corey drove about half a block past, then pulled to the side of the road and looked back. There was something unusual about the place, but it hadn’t been the barbed wire. He turned off the engine.

“You coming?” he asked as he opened his door.

“Hell, yeah,” she said. “What about Blanton?”

He nodded in the back at his unmoving friend. “We’ll let him sleep for now.”

As they walked down the street, it felt like there wasn’t anyone else around for miles. As they neared the building, they jogged across the street. Corey led Jeannie across a short expanse of brown grass to a row of leafless hedges in front of the windows.

There was no light on inside, which was odd, because in Corey’s albeit-limited experience, most businesses left some kind of light on inside. Not Hidde-Kel, apparently.

He looked around and found a wide spot between two of the bushes. He thought if he was careful, he could squeeze between them. He gave it a try and made it cleanly. Jeannie wasn’t quite as lucky.

“Ow!”

“You all right?” he asked.

She was clutching her neck just below her ear.

“Let me see.”

She moved her hand. There was a one-inch scratch where a branch had whipped up and caught her.

He moved around and kissed her on the lips. “That’ll make it feel better.”

“You think so?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.

He kissed her again, longer this time. “Better?”

“Yeah. I’ll live.”

With a playful grin, he turned and leaned against the window, cupping his hands around his eyes. What he was looking at was obviously intended to be a lobby. But Hidde-Kel’s lobby was devoid of any sign of use. There were no chairs, no magazines, no plants, no company name on the wall. Nothing. It almost looked as if the room had never been used.

Hearing footsteps on the street, Corey looked over. Blanton. He was walking down the road, munching on one of the White Castle burgers he hadn’t finished earlier.

“Over here,” Corey called out.

Blanton jerked to a stop, then headed over once he realized who it was. “Why the hell did you leave me there like that?”

“You were asleep.”

“You could have woken me up. I was starting to think maybe this whole trip was some kind of practical joke.”

“It just might be,” Corey said. “This is Hidde-Kel. But it looks empty.”

“Empty?”

Blanton pushed his way through the bushes, his backpack getting caught for a second before he finally reached them. He peeked through the window.

“That’s weird.”

“How old was the information you found?” Corey asked.

“Six months or so.”

“They could have moved out,” Jeannie said.

“I guess so, but what I found made it seem like they were going to be around for a while.”

Corey frowned. “Did any of the info mention what the building was supposed to be for?”

“Corporate offices.”

Jeannie glanced up and down the street. “Doesn’t quite seem like the setting for a corporate office, does it?”

Blanton pulled his backpack off his shoulders. “Maybe they just don’t use the front.” From inside the bag, he pulled out his laptop and flipped it open. Crouching down, he set it on his knees and began typing. After a few seconds, he looked back up. “The only Wi-Fi signals I’m getting are too weak to be coming from here.”

This was totally not what Corey had expected. He’d set out to write a paper on a growing agriculture-related firm, and now he had what amounted to a mystery on his hands. There had to be some simple explanation, something that would probably make him feel like an idiot when he found out.

“I wonder if it’s possible to get inside,” he said.

Jeannie shrugged. “One way to find out.”

She moved past the windows to the concrete pathway and up to the steel front door. She gave it a yank.

“It’s locked.”

Corey headed past her to the side of the building where he’d seen a gate, but it was secured by a thick chain and padlock. The property next door also had a chain-link fence around its lot, but it was shorter, with no barbed wire on top. Even better, the gate meant to close it off was open.

With the other two trailing behind him, Corey walked into the lot and moved along the fence that separated the two properties. About three-quarters of the way back, he stopped, figuring they were far enough away from the street not to draw any attention if someone just happened to be driving by.

He waited for his two friends to catch up, then said, “You guys stay here. I’m hopping over.”

“You’re going alone?” Jeannie asked.

“Better if only one of us gets caught trespassing than all three.”

She stared at him. “Uh, excuse me. We’re all trespassing right now.”

He should have known better than to even suggest the solo trip. In the end, it was decided they’d all go.

One by one, they climbed over the fence and ran over to the Hidde-Kel building. There were no windows along the side, and only four doors. They tried each, and weren’t surprised to find they were all locked.

Along the back of the building was a large loading dock. Here there was a single, very wide opening at least a story and a half high that was currently closed off by a rolling metal door. Beside it was another normal-sized door. As with the others, both were locked.

The far side of the building was identical to the first they’d checked-four doors, none open. Corey hadn’t expected this to be easy, but he had been hoping.

“I guess that’s that,” Blanton said.

Corey ignored him and headed once more for the back of the building. He had seen one possibility. It was a bit more involved than what he would have liked, but he really wanted to see inside to make sure Hidde-Kel was gone.

The outer part of the loading dock had a six-foot wall on either side, but no roof. As the walls neared the actual building, they stairstepped upward in two-foot increments until they reached the roof.

“Give me a boost,” he said to Blanton.

Both Blanton and Jeannie looked at him.

Jeannie was the first to realize what he meant to do. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“I just want to see if there’s any way to look in.”