Wait the guards out

After a brief hesitation Jen decided it was safest to wait for the guards to leave. Going outside while there were still employees occasionally leaving work, it was too much of a risk. She believed that she could sneak past the security guards as long as they were distracting each other, but the thought of their conversation ending at the exact moment she was visible, the guard closest to her turning towards the mall commons to get back to work… she felt it was minimally safer to stay put.

Come on, hurry up and go back on your patrol, she silently begged the guard standing in the doorway.

Looking around again she saw a janitor far in the distance, near the food court, moving a grey trash hauler on wheels. He wasn’t coming towards her, moving towards the side of the mall she’d started on, and wasn’t looking in her direction.

She turned back to watching the security office. The guards’ conversation had dropped in volume now and Jen couldn’t hear anything being said, only making out occasional sounds and seeing physical gestures.

When the guard in the doorway finally started to turn away, Jen felt like she had been waiting ten minutes, but knew it had to be closer to two or three. She pulled back an inch, leaving only her right eye peeking around the side of the trash can. The closest guard appeared to be going back on patrol, while the man in the office stepped into the doorway himself to say a few final words.

“Yeah, looks like the dock’s door is sticking open. Probably a faulty sensor but I need you to take a look,” the man in the office said.

“Not a problem,” the other guard replied, “any objection to me starting the parking lot patrol after?”

“Nah, you should be fine.”

Jen pulled back completely behind the trash can. Now that the guard was no longer distracted the chances of him noticing her, even a tiny sliver of her face, seemed monumental. She felt herself trembling as she listened to his footsteps growing louder. The guard could pass straight down the side of the common area without coming near her current position, or he could be heading straight towards her and she wouldn’t know until she was in view. She readied herself to make a run for it if she had to.

Still listening to footsteps getting louder, Jen decided to chance a quick peek around the trash can. With a fast glance she could tell the guard wasn’t walking directly towards her, but he wasn’t walking along the shops ahead of her either.

Okay, we can do this, Jen thought. Just keep the trash can between me and him.

Another quick glance at the guard and Jen counted two more steps before she set her right foot out to her side and edged slowly over. She waited for a moment before repeating the process, curving around the trash can and keeping the guard out of sight.

Jen briefly looked over her shoulder towards the security office and saw the door gaping open. Her confidence at remaining unseen collapsed, knowing her backside was now exposed from that direction. If the man in that office chose that moment to leave then there was no way she could escape detection. She looked back around the trash can, briefly, and saw the guard nearest to her walking away now, down the common area at an angle approaching the shops.

Putting her back to the trash can, she turned away from the guard and faced the security office, looking for any possible movement while listening closely to the departing footsteps. Jen **** herself to breathe, hoping it would help ease her nerves but knowing that nothing could really calm her now.

As the sound of the footsteps had faded into the distance, Jen glanced around the side of the trash can and saw the guard nearly halfway down the end of the mall. She kept an eye on him and eventually saw him turn left and walk down a service hallway, presumably towards the dock. She spun back towards the security office, relieved to leave the trash can and get moving again, though only feeling marginally better as she was approaching another person.

Jen stepped as quietly as she could, moving briskly towards the hallway and the security office itself. As she reached the far side of the hallway she ducked back down and began creeping towards the open door. She listened first, not chancing a look inside. After a few moments the only sound she had heard was occasional clacking at a keyboard over a quiet electrical hum.

Finally she allowed herself to look into the room. The guard was facing away from the doorway, sitting in an office chair and facing a computer. The monitor displayed a program Jen was unfamiliar with, probably something specialized for the mall’s security needs, while television screens on either side of the monitor presented footage from the security cameras posted throughout the mall. She watched the man type briefly at a keyboard and one of the monitors changed, showing a different part of the mall.

She slowly stood from her squatting position. With the officer engrossed in checking the cameras Jen could use this moment to get past. With two long, silent strides she was past the doorway and able to continue moving down the hallway towards the exit.

As she neared the end of the hall she paused, listening again for any signs of life. It seemed late enough that just about all of the shop employees should have left by now but she knew better than to rest on that assumption. After listening for a few moments she was satisfied that there was no one nearby. No talking, no movement. Taking a quick peek, Jen was greeted by an empty corridor, occasional stacks of trash bags scattered about. She then entered the hallway and turned right. The service door was just a few yards dead ahead. Even though she wasn’t far away, her desperation for this to be over **** her to break into a quick sprint.

Jen paused at the door just long enough to open it a crack and peek outside. The second she confirmed no one was around she slipped through the doorway and immediately got behind the bushes to her left.

She was thankful it was nighttime. The traffic going past on the roads outside the mall grounds was sporadic, as was the illumination coming from the streetlamps posted throughout the parking lot. Watching through the leaves, Jen saw a car’s headlights flick on ahead in the lot, then heard the sound of the engine turning over. She observed the car as it turned towards her but quickly ducked down behind the bush as the headlights started to cast light in her direction. As certain as she felt that the approaching driver had to be Eve, that didn’t mean she was ready to throw caution to the wind.

It wasn’t long before the car eased up next to the curb right in front of Jen. Barely taking the time to look around, she stood up, dipped around the bush and raced to the car. Once she had practically flung herself into the passenger seat she slammed the door shut.

Eve was already laughing as she stepped on the gas and moved away from the curb. “So how was it?” she eventually asked in between giggles.

“How do you think?”

Jen reached behind herself and grabbed her clothes from the back seat. She dropped the jeans into the footwell as she located her bra and began putting it on.

“Oh you’re no fun,” Eve teased.

Jen was about to answer, to snap at her for saying that when she knew how Jen felt about this whole thing, but decided to bite her tongue. Getting dressed and getting home was all that really mattered to her. She starting pulling her shirt up and over her head as Eve drove out of the parking lot and onto the streets.