The Descent

Chapter 10 - The Revelation

A few hours later Denton remained seated on one of the couches in the lobby with a cup of tea in his hand when the Sergeant approached. The rapid response team behind him continued past him and out the door. Denton put the cup of tea down on the table next to the couch and stood up to greet the Sergeant.

"Well? Did you get him?" he said, getting straight to the point.

"The search has been completed. However, the subject was not located. It is unlikely the subject is still in the building."

Denton stared at the sergeant, eyes wide open. "Did you say no longer in the building?"

"That's correct, sir."

"That's not possible. Are you sure, sergeant, did you look everywhere?"

The sergeant furrowed his eyebrows. "Sir, my team is the best in the city. We always find the subjects we search for. We searched all the units, and we spoke with all the residents in the building. No-one has seen your suspect."

"All right, I'm sorry, sergeant," Denton said and held his hands up and took a step backward. "I wasn't suggesting that your team didn't do their job."

The sergeant looked at Denton for a few seconds in silence and then nodded. "Very well. If there's nothing else, my team and I will return to our staging post."

Denton nodded, thanked the sergeant again and watched them exit the building. The moment they were out the door he ran towards the stairs.

"Tanner, did you hear that?"

"I did. There's no way he got out. Not possible."

"Great, so now we're back to square one, and we've wasted hours," Denton said, frustration in his voice. He walked through the door into the stairwell and looked up the stairs. It was empty, as expected. There were only two ways out, the door to the lobby and the one that led to the street. Denton had been in the lobby the whole time and Tanner had been keeping an eye on the outside through the various surveillance cameras.

"Tanner, is there any way he could've snuck past you?"

There was an extended silence on the other end before Tanner replied. "Like I said, there's no way he got out."

Denton cringed at the answer. He knew he shouldn't question Tanner's abilities, but he had to be sure. "If you say so."

"Denton, I'm telling you, he didn't get out."

"Alright, alright, let's forget I asked. Could he still be in the building?"

"That's the only other explanation that makes any sense."

Denton shook his head and walked back to the elevator and ascended back up to the nineteenth floor deep in thought. The problem was that it didn't make any sense. Why would someone running away from the law stay in the building where he was likely to be caught? Yet, he couldn't deny the obvious. He had seen the man run down the stairs and he knew the elevator was faster than running down the stairs. There was no way that the man he was chasing could have made it out before he had arrived in the lobby. Besides, Tanner had been watching the security cameras.

When he stepped out of the elevator, he froze. The security guard. He had been there on the floor, knocked out. What had happened to him? Denton looked around the immediate vicinity but saw no sign of him, nor any sign of him ever being knocked out on the floor. Denton ran his hand through his hair and sighed. He suddenly felt guilty for forgetting about the security guard and realized he had no idea whether the man had been severely injured or not. The right thing to do would have been to call for a medic instead of focusing on the man he was chasing. With a deep sigh, he left the lobby area behind and walked towards the apartment.