It was just another day of being a library security guard for Colton. Everything was all quiet as he entered his office and looked over his monitors. That's when he saw something unusual. A staff member was laid out in the Local History section on the fourth floor. Pushing himself from his desk, he rushed up there.
When he got their, the staff member was still knocked out. "Hey." He shook him until he awoke.
"Uhh...Colton."
"What happened?" Colton asked.
"A patron...tried to take my keycard," the staff member said. "When I resisted...I was knocked out." He checked himself. "Surprise...no keycard."
The chances that they just left were very slim. They wouldn't steal a keycard and just leave. That would have defeated the logic of stealing it in the first place. "I'll check my cameras and see what I can find. Do you need me to call and ambulance?"
"No, but I could use some aspirin," the staff member answered.
After asking a few more questions, Colton returned to his office to look over the camera footage and see who did it and where they went. He saw a man reach for the staff member's keycard and when the staff member resisted, the man knocked him out, just like the staff member said. Then the man ran off.
Colton looked over the footage from other cameras to see if he could find out where the man. One camera showed the man use the keycard on a door leading into the basement. It wasn't hard to figure out the next move from there.
There were two sublevels in the Grand Creek Public Library basement. One sublevel was for employees to do work behind the scenes. The second was a storage area, where books no longer in circulation were stored. Considering he hadn't received any calls from the employees, he was likely in the storage basement.
Colton went down the stairs and arrived in the employee basement. There, he saw a lone employee putting books on carts to be shelved by shelvers when full. "Seen anything strange?" Colton asked.
The employee looked up from his work. "Oh, hey, Colton. Yeah, I thought I heard someone run past not too long ago. I thought it was that page who's always hustling, so I paid it no mind. I take it, that wasn't him."
"Did they come back through?" Colton asked.
"Not to my knowledge," the employee said. "I didn't see or hear anyone, at least. Not even the elevator."
So, was still in storage. "Thanks. You've been helpful."
Colton headed for the stairs leading down to the storage basement. Once at the bottom of the stairs, he turned right and viewed the numerous shelves. There were low-circulation items, as well as old periodicals and the archives. The shelves were about eight feet tall and twenty feet wide, plenty big enough to hide a whole human being. This could be tough.
The one thing Colton had in his favor is that the only you ways out were behind him. He didn't have to go searching shelves. All he had to do was wait for the guy to get tired and he'd eventually turn up.
Then, there he was, peeking his head from behind a shelf. He quickly shot back behind the shelf upon seeing Colton.
"The only way out is behind me," Colton called out. "There is no escape. You might as well come out and face the music. Drop where you have and come out with your hands up."
As expected, the man didn't come out. Colton had to no choice but to go in, but he had to make sure the elevator and stairs were covered in case the man got behind him. He whipped out his walkie-talkie and said, "Top Dog, this is Headhunter. I have a suspect with an employee keycard cornered in storage basement. I have to go in after him and need the stairs and elevator covered."
"This is Top Dog," the library manager replied. "I'm on it. I'm calling the police now. The stairs and elevator will be covered. Feel free to cut loose."
"Roger that." Colton put his walkie-talkie away. "There is no escape, maggot. Come out or I'll come in and drag you out."
As expected, the guy didn't come out. "Alright. Don't say I didn't warn you."
He began his trek, peering. Then, about five shelves in, he saw the man stabbing at him with a knife. He dodged the attack as the man emerged from around the corner. "Put the knife down."
"I may not make it out of this basement, but neither will you!" the man said.
Colton briefly thought about drawing his pistol, but opted not to. "Put the knife down."
The man growled and attacked with an underhand downward thrust.
Colton caught his arm, flipped him to the ground, then broke his arm, causing the man to scream. "I said put down the knife, not try to stab me again." Colton tossed the knife aside and whipped out his walkie-talkie. "Top Dog, this is Headhunter. I have the suspect in custody."
"This is Top Dog," the manager said. "Roger that. The police have arrived. I'm on my way with them for retrieval. Over and out."
After the man was questioned and taken away, Colton went back to his office. As soon as he sat down, his office phone rang. He picked it up and answered, "Security. This is Colton."
There person on the other side laugh out an maniacal laugh, then hung up. It sounded like they were using a voice distorter, so he couldn't recognize who it was. "Looks like business is about to pick up."
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