Brett Battles - Exit 9

All this went through his mind in the seconds it took Mr. Dettling to walk over to the door, unlock it, and head inside. Without even hesitating, Sanjay rushed forward and caught the door just before the lock clicked into place.

He waited, listening to Mr. Dettling’s receding footsteps, then eased the door open a few inches. On the other side was a well-lit hallway that ran halfway through the building. There was no one in sight so he let himself in.

The ground floor was the working floor, where the managers’ office was located along with several other rooms that were used for meetings and training sessions at the start of the job. Though Sanjay had never been above this floor, he knew upstairs was where the managers lived. Which meant he had to be extra careful to not be discovered.

An image of Kusum flashed through his mind. Working for Pishon Chem had brought him closer to a life with her. He knew how she felt about him now-the same as he felt about her. Because of his employment, her father was even coming around to the idea of them being together.

Just be careful , he told himself. You can be in and out without anyone knowing.

All he wanted was a look at the assignment sheet. On it would be the location where Ayush had been sent. If it wasn’t too far away, he could go talk to his cousin himself, and make sure everything was okay.

The only copy he knew about was in the managers’ office, so that’s where he headed. The office was at the far end, along a small back hallway. Sanjay walked as quickly as he could, stopping occasionally to listen ahead, but always continuing toward his goal.

As he reached the short hallway, he peeked around the corner first, then immediately jammed himself against the wall. The door to the office was open, and there were voices coming from inside. He hesitated at first, then moved into the hallway, hugging the wall until he was only a foot away from the door.

He recognized one of the voices as Mr. Dettling’s. The other belonged to a manager whom Sanjay had seldom talked to. They were speaking in German or whatever their native language was. Either way, he didn’t know it, so he couldn’t understand what they were saying. He was about to sneak away and return to the dorm when he heard Mr. Dettling say his name.

For half a second, he thought he’d been seen, but, no, Mr. Dettling was still in the room, not standing in the doorway. Sanjay paid closer attention.

His name again, then, “…Ayush…”

When the older man spoke, the only words Sanjay understood were “Ayush” and “Gamdevi.”

Knowing he would be pressing his luck to wait any longer, he quickly made his way out of the building.

Gamdevi. Gamdevi…Road?

Gamdevi Road was where Ayush had taken Sanjay for his interview with Pishon Chem. He was told they were temporary offices, and figured they were no longer being used once the company moved to the compound.

Was that where Ayush had been sent?

There was only one way to find out.

It was nearly midnight when Sanjay reached Gamdevi Road. As was typical most anywhere in the city, there were still plenty of vehicles and pedestrians out and about.

He worked his way through the crowds to the building Pishon Chem had used. Their office had been in a storefront at the far end of the building on the street level. As he walked up to it, his heart sank. The windows had been partially covered with paper, but not enough to prevent him from seeing that the space beyond was completely empty.

His guess had been wrong. Whatever reason the man had mentioned Gamdevi, it apparently had nothing to do with either his cousin or the company’s old office.

I’m making a big deal out of nothing. Ayush will probably laugh at me when I tell him about it.

Feeling like a fool, he wandered over to a food stall near the street and ordered some pani puri . Once it was ready, he sat down on an overturned bucket and popped one in his mouth. As he chewed, his eyes gazed down the street on nothing in particular. It would take him at least an hour to get back to the compound, which would probably mean he wouldn’t be asleep until two a.m. He shook his head in self-annoyance. He would get three hours’ rest at best before a day that was already going to be busier than usual. He would be a wreck by bedtime tomorrow night.

He shoved a second pani puri into his mouth and pushed himself to his feet, knowing to delay any longer would just make the next day worse. But instead of starting down the street, he remained where he was, frozen in place.

Getting out of a cab fifty feet away was Mr. Dettling. Sanjay watched as the man approached the building and walked up to an unmarked door between two of the shops. As soon as he was sure Mr. Dettling couldn’t see him, Sanjay followed.

The manager pulled out a set of keys, unlocked the door, and went inside. Since it had worked one time already this evening, Sanjay raced forward to grab the door before it completely closed. Unfortunately, this time the distance was too great and the door clicked shut.

Sanjay sprinted around the building, looking for an alternate entrance. Everything was locked. Frustrated, he scanned the building again, looking for any possibility, and spotted one. At the back of the building, one floor above ground level, was a wide terrace. If he could get up there, it might lead to another way in.

Using a large bush and the rough surface of the building itself, he climbed the wall, and was soon high enough to pull himself onto the terrace.

The space was not part of an apartment like the balconies on the floors above, but rather an extension of a restaurant that had apparently just closed for the night. While there were no customers around, there were still a few employees inside cleaning up.

Sanjay waited until they had stepped into another room-the kitchen perhaps-then entered through the back door and cut across the dining area. There was another door at the far end that led to the interior of the building, a lobby with access to a staircase and elevator.

Sanjay chose the staircase and raced down to the ground floor. He took a moment to get his bearings, and tried to find the entrance he’d seen Mr. Dettling go through. He finally discovered it through a narrow hallway that seemed to be used by the people who took care of the building. It snaked around the elevator shaft, and around to the front of the building where the door was.

But all it really told him was that Mr. Dettling could have used it to get to the lobby and then taken the elevator to any floor. Sanjay headed back toward the lobby, thinking he might be able to figure out which floor the man had been on when he came back down, only he didn’t make it all the way. There was a door he had missed when he came through the first time. It was on the same side as the elevator shaft. Sanjay turned the knob and the door opened.

Just inside, stairs led down to a basement level. If there hadn’t been a light on at the bottom, he would have closed the door and moved on, but there was, so he knew he had to check.

Quietly, he descended the concrete steps into a long corridor that ran off to the left and right. He listened, not knowing which way to go.

Voices. Faint, and…from the right.

He went toward them, making his way past several doors until he reached the one where he could hear two distinct voices behind. Like at the managers’ office, they were speaking a language he didn’t understand. The door had two different locks. He carefully tried the knob, but it didn’t budge.

Sanjay was trying to figure out how he was going to get on the other side when one of the voices-Mr. Dettling’s, he realized-suddenly increased in volume.

Sanjay knew he’d never make it to the stairs in time. There was, however, a doorless entryway only ten feet back that opened onto a dark room.