The Devil's Code

slight change of plans. We’re not going in quietly; we’re gonna go in superhard. We’re gonna go after his safe.”
    “He’d probably suspect something . . .”
    “Maybe. But maybe not . . .”
    She told me about it as she changed clothes, into black jeans and a black jacket. “I gotta have that piece-of-shit car.”
    “Where’re you going?”
    “Out of town,” she said. “One of my friends.”
    “When’ll you be back?”
    “Really late, or early tomorrow morning,” she said. “Actually, there’s no reason for you not to know. I’m driving to Shreveport.”
    “I could take you.”
    “Nah. Better if I go alone. This guy is okay, most of the time, but he’s nervous.”
    “Most of the time?”
    “You know. As long as he’s on his meds . . .”

 17 
    T hat night I stayed in LuEllen’s room, and spent twenty-seven bucks on pay TV, waiting, unable to sleep before LuEllen returned. She knows lots of people who do bad business, and not all of them are her friends, and not all of the places she goes to are good places for women to be after dark. That’s not sexism: it’s the simple reality of the redneck ghettos where she buys her tools.
    When I wasn’t watching movies, I worked over the architect’s drawings, following every wire and line through the building, and everything that went outside. Two of the lines were particularly troublesome: one may have been—probably was—a camera that scanned the inside of the parking garage. No way to tell where it pointed, or whether it was live video only, or if itspooled onto a continuous tape. Another line ended in several vertically stacked switches in the service-elevator shaft, and I thought they almost surely were floor indicators going out to the elevator. If they were something else, like infrared motion detectors, we would have an even bigger problem. LuEllen had night glasses in her scouting bag, along with her cameras, and once we were inside the elevator shaft, could use the glasses to check for security devices.
    And we would be in the shaft, going up the cables with climbing gear. It’s easier than it sounds, with good gear. The only alternative, with a keyed elevator, was to steal a key, or wreck the elevator getting to the wiring behind the key. That would take time, make noise, and tip anyone who decided to use the elevator after we did. Climbing was easy, and out of sight.
    L uEllen was gone for a bit over seven hours; I was at the door when she came in. She was carrying a hand duffel, the same kind I packed for an extended fishing trip. She dumped it on the floor and it clanked.
    “Sounds like construction equipment,” I said.
    “Deconstruction equipment,” she said. “There better be something in that safe. This stuff isn’t cheap.” She was very sharp, each word clearly defined, coming out rapid fire. She was eager, hot, ready-to-go, bright-eyed and . . .
    “Ah, man. You got your nose in it, didn’t you?”
    “Just a little bit. And a little bit for tomorrow. Today.”
    “Goddamn it.” I turned away.
    “Hey . . .”
    A ll right; I let it go, like I always did. LuEllen did a little cocaine from time to time—and, from time to time, more than a little. I hated the shit. I might smoke some weed after a long day on the water. I might even do a tab of amphetamine if there were enough reason. But cocaine, heroin, crystal meth . . . that crap will kill you. And if the dope doesn’t, the dealers will.
    W e stayed in bed well past noon. LuEllen had been bouncing around all night, the residuals from the cocaine. Later in the day, she’d be sleepy. At two in the afternoon, I was up, feeling groggy, looked out the window. Another great blue-sky day. I cleaned up, and as I got out of the shower, LuEllen was finally crawling out of bed.
    “You okay?” I asked.
    “No.” Still coming down.
    “Go stand in the shower.”
    “Yeah.”
    When she got out, still a little groggy, I put her in the car, along with the equipment, and we went out for food. She began to revive, and we drove to Corbeil’s place and sat across the street watching the reception area. The reception area, as shown on LuEllen’s movies, had a single guard monitor.
    “Look at this,” she said. “You see where the guy is standing?” We were two hundred yards away, but I could see him through the glass of the reception center.
    “Yeah?”
    “The monitor is just to his left. Now watch.” She took a cell phone from her pocket and dialed