It was quickly learned that Jim's and Pam's movements through the air ducts would be slow-going. In order to make as little noise as possible on the metal surface, they had to slowly creep along like an animal stalking its prey. The calculation involved in each movement of her legs and hands made Pam feel antsy, and her muscles ached from the crouching position she assumed in the narrow duct.
They'd only been in the ceiling for about ten minutes, but to Pam, it felt like five times longer. She wanted to rest. Her mind began to wander to the most random things, like whether her computer monitor had gone to the screen saver yet, and if Jim's eyes had adjusted to the dark enough to be able to see up her skirt from his angle behind her. ...and she wasn't even wearing her cutest underwear today.
Her hands were dusty, and her knees were sore, her muscles tired, and she started to wonder if they should just stop now where they were and wait for it all to be over.
"You okay, Bees?" Jim breathed so quietly she wasn't sure if he'd really said anything. And then his hand was resting on her calf, and she stopped and turned her head slowly. "I'm kind of... kind of scared," she whispered just as quietly. "And everything hurts."
He moved closer and reached out to her. He found her face in the dark, though a bit clumsily, and slid his palm along her jawline. His fingers rested at the base of her skull, fingering the soft hair there. This intimate touch was so unexpected, her heart began to race, and she let her skin revel in the warmth of his touch for a moment, the comfort he provided. "We'll be fine," he whispered. "Just keep doing what you're doing." She nodded against his hand, and then it was gone. She paused for a moment to collect herself, and then turned slowly and led them closer to the way out.
---
About fifteen feet further down the duct, Pam began to hear voices from the office below. Mostly, she just heard Michael begging for his life. "Please, ppuuuhhleeeese let me go! I'll give you anything! If you let me out of here, I could probably get you a date with my ex-girlfriend, Jan! She's really hot..."
Pam felt Jim tap the back of her leg at the ridiculousness of it all.
Michael was still rambling on, until they heard an unfamiliar voice yell, "Shut up! Shut! Up! Just tell us where the--" and then it was quiet. Too quiet. Pam's heart began to beat faster, and she and Jim froze.
"Heh, I think we've got company," another unfamiliar voice stated, and then the sound of gunshots erupted below. Instinctively, Pam tried to curl up into a ball while bullets flew by her all around. She heard them ricocheting off of their surroundings, and didn't even realize she was screaming until she came back to herself at the touch of Jim's hand on her ankle. He squeezed hard while the bullets kept on flying by, and she was grateful for it, because she knew he was still there, that he was still alive in the air duct with her.
Then, silence fell over them like a heavy blanket. Pam's heart was pounding in her ears, her breathing fast. Jim's grip loosened up and his thumb swept back and forth over her ankle. And Pam almost began to cry, her tears choking up her throat, blurring her vision. She couldn't let out any sound or else they'd be shot at again. It took every ounce of strength in her to compose herself.
When Pam got it together, she peered out of the vent just ahead of her. Jim tried to quietly squeeze in beside her. Below them, everyone was tied to their chairs in the front part of the office. Michael was still trying to jump around in his, yelling about being a hero, and how the two masked men better watch out for Agent Michael Scarn. One of the men still stood with his semi-automatic aimed at the ceiling about five feet behind Jim and Pam. When they looked back, they saw shafts of light coming in through bullet holes in the metal.
Looking down through the vent again, they watched Michael become quiet as the other man turned at him menacingly. He didn't move; just sat there wide-eyed as the man roughly put tape over Michael's mouth. Pam took the opportunity to observe all of their officemates. They were all piled in the middle of the room. Some were tied to the chairs they were sitting in, and others were sitting on the floor tied to the desks. Angela was sending desperate gazes toward Dwight.
As Pam continued to watch, she noticed some of the desks were already emptied out, and one of the men was going back to dumping the drawers from the remaining desks on the floor one by one.
"Question. Why are you here?"
The man with the gun pointed at the ceiling finally turned away, assuming he'd killed whoever was in the duct, and aimed towards Dwight. "I thought I told you all to shut up unless you knew where we could find what we were looking for."
There was a loud noice, and another man had burst through the door with a tied up Bob Vance. Pam glanced at Jim, and then turned back to the scene below.
"Here he is." The man threw Bob towards the rest of the group, and the man who had taped Michael's mouth shut threatened Bob with a knife.
"I'll kill you, and everyone in this room if you don't tell me where the stuff is."
"I told you- I checked in the place where I hid it, but it's not there."
Pam suddenly recalled something from at least a year ago. She remembered Roy coming home one day and telling her that Darryl witnessed Bob acting suspiciously in the warehouse one day. So rather then call him out on it, Darryl hid behind some racks and watched Bob hide something. He was too far away to really see what it was, but it wasn't very big. He'd told Roy that he would wait at least a week before trying to find it to see what it was.
While the intruders were all otherwise occupied, Pam quickly motioned for Jim to follow her, knowing that Bob probably was telling the truth- Darryl had probably found whatever it was that Bob had hidden a long time ago, and these guys would just keep getting more angry as the item was never found.
TBC...
