Ellen woke when the sound of breaking glass erupted within the house. She cowered under the covers while wondering when the security alarm would activate with an ear-piercing scream to scare off the intruder. For long seconds, she remained in bed with the sheet pulled up to her nose as she hardly dared to breathe for fear of being heard. Perspiration soaked her body forming the sheet to her features in the dark.
Nearly a minute later, she jerked at the sound of the phone beside her bed. Terrified, she finally slipped one hand over beneath the cover in the direction of the phone as it rang a second and third time. At last her hand snaked out from under the sheet to fumble for the phone until finally she grasped it and removed it from its hook. Ellen whipped the phone to her ear bruising herself slightly. The short pain was enough to break her out of part of her fear.
"Mrs. Madsen, this is Mike Andersen at Ace Laser Alert Security. You're safe now. One of our guards is standing outside your home now to protect you and the police are on the way. As well we have a glass repair truck on its way to your home to repair the damaged window. Are you all right? Would you like a doctor to check you out? We can have one at your home within the next half-hour if you wish."
"Uh . . . I'm . . . safe now?" Ellen asked in a trembling voice.
Mike replied, "Yes ma'am. You're absolutely safe now. Our armed guard will remain on duty outside until the police and window repair are through. The most you'll have to do is lock your door after our window repairmen are finished and leave. I'd estimate that won't take more than an hour unless the damage is severe. However, our guard out front assures me that only the glass is damaged. We'll replace that quickly enough so you can get some sleep tonight."
Ellen asked, "Did you get the intruder?"
Mike paused for a moment, then answered, "Uh, no ma'am, he got away from our security man. We tried to come in quietly enough to catch him for the police but he got lucky. However, we'll cooperate fully with the police in turning over evidence of the break-in to them."
"Evidence?" Ellen asked.
"The broken glass, ma'am. The intruder might have left fingerprints on it. Rest assured, we'll cooperate fully with the police. Most likely you won't even be involved at all. For the time being, we'd like you to remain where you are. We don't want you to get cut on any of the broken glass. I'm sure you feel safer where you are now anyway," Mike answered.
Ellen answered the phone a second time almost five minutes later.
"Mike Andersen again, Mrs. Madsen. Our glass repairmen are at the front of the house now. We just wanted you to know that they're there so you won't be fearful. If you don't mind, could you please remain where you are until they're finished?"
"Yes, of course. They got here very fast," Ellen replied.
Mike said, "We try hard to be the best, ma'am."
Jeff looked at the broken glass as he entered the Madsen home with his boss through the broken window. The two men shone their flashlights about until they spotted a light switch. The boss went over and turned on the light.
The boss shouted, "Ace Window Repair! We're going to vacuum clean all the broken glass up first! Nuthin' to be concerned about!" The boss then nodded at Jeff.
Jeff reached outside and grabbed the vacuum hose that extended to their truck. Moments later, Jeff was busy vacuuming up broken glass from one of the dirtiest floors he'd ever seen. He wondered if this was how the rich lived as this was his second night on the job. He couldn't remember his mother ever letting any room in their home get so filthy. His boss observed him carefully as he went about cleaning the room to get every small sliver of glass even though Jeff felt he was cleaning the entire room for whoever lived in the home. However, Jeff kept his thoughts to himself about the free cleaning he was providing. After all, he was being paid double the minimum wage per hour because he was on the night shift. If anything, Jeff felt fortunate to have a job that required so little effort or actual work.
The previous night was more than boring as they hadn't received any calls.
Jeff almost didn't notice the cops watching him as he cleaned. They were standing just outside the window. It wasn't until they shined their powerful flashlights in that he spotted them. They were particularly grim faced and the security guard was stationed just behind them.
The two officers walked away from the broken window. One looked at the security man in his tailored uniform. He didn't much approve of Ace Laser Alert Security. However, there wasn't anything he could do about them. Still, he wondered if they weren't in some sort of a conspiracy since not a single criminal involved in a break-in of an Ace protected home had yet been apprehended.
The officer's partner asked, "You're sure you didn't get a look at the intruder you frightened away?"
The security man answered, "Positive. He must have heard us coming in."
The officer's partner said, "Seems strange to me that you didn't. Your company provides you with helicopter insertion so you can be on the spot in less than a minute yet you didn't see him. That really seems strange to me."
The security man said, "You're welcome to check our records. Maybe they got a video of him on the helicopter's camera system as he escaped. I don't know but you can check with the office on that."
"We'll do that," the officer's partner stated.
"Hey! Here's your broken glass evidence!" the Ace Window Repair boss hollered from the window as he held out a bag containing the largest fragments from the broken window.
The officer went over and accepted the bag. The officer said, "Mighty filthy room. I thought rich people could afford maid service."
The boss said, "I don't think it was a break-in. More likely it's the guy they call the 'bash and trash.' You know the one? Tosses in garbage after breaking the window?"
The officer said, "Yeah, that might explain why the security guard didn't spot the guy when he arrived. Probably just a bash and run. Well, I've got to check with the occupant now to find out if anything was stolen in case it wasn't him."
Ellen said, "I don't know yet. I guess I'll have to look around in the morning when I'm more calm. Right now, I'm still scared out of my wits."
The officer said, "Here's my card. Give me a call if anything is missing. I'll note it on the report so we can check out all the hock shops and fences. Amateur or pro, we'll get him."
"I hope you do," Ellen said.
The officer boasted, "Our crime rates are improving monthly, especially in burglary, so we've got some manpower available for a change. I know we've got a good chance of recovering anything stolen if you're missing anything."
Jeff asked, "Is this 'bash and trash' guy dangerous? I hadn't heard of him on the news."
The boss said, "Not that I know of. He just breaks windows and dumps in trash is all I know. I guess I've been to forty homes in the last two years that he's hit. Haven't been as many this year as last. So far the police haven't caught him. If this is all he does, I kind of hope they don't catch him since he's good for business."
"Good for business?" asked Jeff as he put some tools away in the truck.
"Sure, he's leavin' messes behind for us to clean and repair. If it wasn't for him, you wouldn't have a job with Ace Window Repair."
Jeff exclaimed, "Oh! Yeah, I see now! Well, I guess so long as he doesn't hurt no one, it might be all right to hope he gets away."
The boss said, "You're gonna be okay, kid."
Ellen locked the front door after the repairmen left with the last of their tools. Then she peeped out of the shades to watch the repairmen leave, followed moments later by the security man from Ace. She was startled to see him grab hold of a line and disappear into the sky until she remembered that was one of the selling points that prompted her to enter into a contract with Ace in the first place. She could barely hear the helicopter hovering above.
"Why are we at Ace Security now?" asked Jeff.
The boss said, "We have to dump the vacuum contents here. It could have evidence in it for them to turn over to the police. Once we do this, we can return to our office. Play some more gin rummy if you want. I think I deserve a chance to get even with you."
"This won't take long?" asked Jeff.
"Naw, never takes more than a coupla minutes," the boss answered.
Mike Andersen observed the window repairmen from the Ace subsidiary company empty their cleaner compartment. He waited until they finished, then checked inside the compartment with his flashlight to see if any significant residue was left behind. Then he nodded and permitted the truck and men to leave. Mike took the contents and carried them to a workroom. He went through it carefully, sifting out most of the glass splinters. He placed them inside another container similar to the one he took them from. He reached over and took a bag from a drawer and measured out an amount of material that was similar in mass to the amount in the first container. He sealed the second container and labeled it 'For the police--Madsen break-in'.
Mike then emptied the first container into a different container. He labeled and sealed it before he then carried it to the helicopter loading dock. He left it with other similar containers waiting there for the morning helicopter ride.
Father Gregory entered the helicopter and took a seat in the back. Before him on the deck were a number of containers. He didn't have to wait long before the helicopter took off. The chopper flew west over the coastline until it hovered over the ocean miles away from land. Finally on site, Father Gregory performed a quick service before he motioned to a crewman to empty the contents from one of the containers. Over and over, he repeated the ritual, each no more than a minute long. Only a few words were exchanged between them.
"Sorry Father, but this one doesn't have a name," the crewman said.
"Another charity service by Ace Ocean Memorial for the city?" Father Gregory asked.
"Must be, I guess," the crewman replied as he prepared to dump the contents of the container labeled in Mike Andersen's handwriting. "Did you know that we do windows, too? I just found that out yesterday from a friend who got a job with them."
Mike Andersen watched his monitor without comment or guilt. He waited for the laser to finish before he sent the signal to the helicopter to insert an armed guard at the residence Ace Laser Alert Security protected. He picked up the phone to call the occupant while pressing a switch to notify the window repair branch. The phone answered on the third ring.
"Ms. Durly, this is Mike Andersen at Ace Laser Alert Security. You're safe now. One of our guards is standing outside your home now to protect you and the police are on the way. As well we have a glass repair truck on its way to your home to repair the damaged window. Are you all right? Would you like a doctor to check you out? We can have one at your home within the next half-hour if you wish."
Atk. Butterfly has been published in several dozen print and electronic publications. As well, he has four science fiction novels published and another scheduled for publication. When he's not writing, he can be found disguised as a mild-mannered computer programmer. He also publishes Preditors and Editors, a writer's resource.
Email: AtkButterfly@prodigy.com
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