Gary understood the procedures for entering the edifice, and penetrated quickly. While his wife was securing the door, he started his inspection of the lobby. Everything appeared natural to him barring the missing guards. Horace and Paul were the guards hired by Gorplex. They were trained by the company, and had no allegiance with the state law enforcement. They came in at closing time, and left when the first employee arrived, which was usually Christine. Gary knew the men due to the countless times his wife had to work late. He didn't want her alone with them, even though she insisted that he didn't need to be there. She was only thinking of him, but she seemed to enjoy his presence.

The night watchmen were friendly, yet slightly bizarre. Gary wondered if perhaps they were lonely. Even though they had each other, they rarely ever saw anyone else. They were always excited to see employees at the building. They would follow a person around for hours, telling stories, and trying to carry on conversation. Christine didn't like people to hover around her, an therefore told them in a tactful way that she had work to do, and so did they. Ever since about three months ago, they left her alone when she was there, but were still quick to acknowledge her presence. Tonight, they were nowhere in sight.

Gary peered at the gigantic tree, in awe of the expense the office had taken to decorate for the holidays. He knew that Gorplex was a multi-million dollar company, but didn't think they liked to waste money on such frivolous things. Christine had shared with him, some of the company's budget policy, and they were tight with their funds. The offices were comfortably furnished, and had to be because of the extended hours of the employees. But, under company policy, they weren't allowed to spend Gorplex money on entertainment. Even solitaire wasn't included in the computer's programs. The president of Gorplex was a little old man that knew the value of an honest day's work. If an employee of the company wasn't working up to what he thought their potential was, they were immediately fired. Thank goodness Christine was such an honest woman.

Gary focused on the glass enveloped front desk, expecting to find the source of the problem in there. He walked toward the door, and pulled on it. It resisted his force because of the deadbolt lock that was engaged. He pressed his nose to the glass, and filtered out the glare from the slight light of the glowing Christmas tree by cupping his hands around his temples.

The mahogany stained desk looked as rich as the rest of the building. Near the corner of the desk, a computer terminal sat, so the receptionist could easily access whatever records were needed. The screen was blank, but a small green light was shining from the keyboard. It was the type of computer that should never be shut off. Gary knew that, because an identical terminal was sitting on his wife's desk. He suspected that the office had a back-up system, so incase of a power outage, the computer wouldn't lose it's memory.

A brown leather office chair was sitting behind the monitor waiting for the receptionist. On the desk, next to the screen was an organizer that held pens, paper clips, and other assorted office supplies. Everything on the desk looked as if it was supposed to be there.

There was a small keypad on the wall behind the desk that held a row of small lights. He figured that was the security system. Two red lights were illuminated on the left, and three green ones glowed on the right. One in the middle was unlit. Gary figured it would be red if it was lit, but it was black now.

That unlit light must be the problem. Gary wondered if the six lights indicated six sections of security, or if there were only three, and the red lights meant something different than the green ones, but corresponded to each other. Either way, the black light disturbed him.

Everything in the office with the exclusion of the dark light, seemed harmless. Gary turned away from the glass wall, and headed toward the elevator. Christine's office was on the second floor, and as far as Gary knew, there were only two. Gary was going to wait for his wife, but when he turned down the east hall, something near the end intrigued him. He turned and looked at her. Christine was still near the entrance of the lobby. The white light from the Christmas tree reflected off of her. Her brown hair glistened with silvers strands. She sent off a radiance, and Gary wondered if it was merely from the artificial light, or something deeper, coming from within her. To Gary, she was an angel.

Christine sucked in a deep breath of the stale office air. She let it slip out slowly, squeezed her eyes shut, and then turned around. She expected a demon to vault out from the shadows, and attack her. When she cracked open her eyes, her apprehension lessened when she saw nothing out of the ordinary. Her eyes slipped slowly over the paneled walls, behind the opulent furniture, into the glass shrouded office. No demons anywhere. She looked down the hall to her right, and down the hall to the left. There was nothing imminent in sight. She took a step forward, and heard a faint thud. She jumped, and urgently scanned the lobby again. She dragged her feet forward, away from the door. She snapped her head around, and peered through the glass She held back a startling scream when she saw a woman staring back at her. She relaxed slightly when she realized that the woman was a reflection of herself. She focused past the woman to the night outside.

The weeping willow shadowing the nearest house was swaying in the breeze. A flying newspaper tried to squeeze itself through a chain link fence. The night was eerie, but the villain wasn't out there. He was closer.

"Gary," she called out. She twisted around, and scanned the room for her husband. He wasn't there.

"Gary?" she cried out nervously. She bolted ahead so she could see the entire lobby.

"Gary!" she yelled with dread. She could scarcely hear herself from the pounding of her heart. She tried to calm herself down, so she could study the situation. She sucked in a breath of air, held it in for a few seconds, then let it whistle it's way out.

Thump, thump.

She thought she heard something, but concluded that it was her own heart trying to jump out of her rib cage.

Thump, thump.

It was louder this time. Christine knew that the noise wasn't coming from her body. She ran forward, and listened intently for the source of the noise.

Thump, thump.