Story 21 - Part 4 - Triumph

Kai winced a little as he looked up. The back of his head hurt when it had hit the wall of the cardboard compactor. It had been Agent Moto’s luck that he had chased the hacker into the compactor right as someone was about to dump some cardboard into it. The hacker had taken the person hostage and put Kai on the offensive. The temp worker had been able to get away, but Kai now found himself inside the cardboard compactor.

The compactor started and Kai tried to get up, only to have a pile of cardboard thrown on him. His earplugs were missing, knocked out when he had fallen in, and Kai frantically yelled out his location, hoping that someone would be able to hear him over the noise of the compactor hydraulics.

Each time he attempted to get up, more cardboard was thrown down, and as the wall moved closer, Kai braced his legs against the wall and pushed against the compacted cardboard in the other end. The compacted wall of cardboard gave way and Kai tumbled backwards into day light.

He did the only thing he could, laugh at his fortune. He had been the one to report that the compactor was full earlier in the morning. It seemed that the bin had been taken away to be emptied and it had not been returned yet. He had never been this lucky until he had joined the crazy agency.

“Kai!” came a muffled shout from inside.

Ignoring how sore he felt from his tumble, Agent Moto pushed himself to his feet and stumbled toward the building door that was next to the compactor. He swiped his temp worker badge and pulled the door open. He peeked into the compactor room and spotted a sign of success. Agents James and Wilson had the suspect down and were improvising handcuffs with zip-ties and plastic wrap.

“I would never advise getting stuck in a cardboard compactor,” Kai said as he stretched out.

“You what?” Brad and Tiffany both asked in surprise.

“At least it kept him distracted for you,” Agent Moto said with a shrug.

“Special Agents.” Agent Driver’s voice was loud and commanding as he strode his way over, confidence in his stride and his purple hard hat. “The agents on night shift will be pleased to know we finally found the person. Now let’s go so I can get an aspirin.”

“I could use one myself,” Kai agreed. “What happened to you?”

“Hit over the hardhat with a wrench,” Driver answered. “You?”

“Trapped in the cardboard compactor,” Kai said just as nonchalantly.

“Please tell me you’re joking,” Driver said, though his sigh showed that he knew the truth.

“At least the actual bin wasn’t there.”

“Wait a minute,” Agent Wilson called out as she and James pulled the hacker to his feet. “The compactor is supposed to be switched off when the bin isn’t there.”

“I think the new temp was trying to be helpful and turned it back on so they could get rid of that cardboard,” Kai guessed.

“Who cares about cardboard?” Brad demanded. “Let’s get out of this noise pit.”

“Don’t forget to return your badges,” Agent Driver called out while he was talking on his cell phone. “Pick up is on their way in.”

“No more forklift stunts,” Agent Wilson teased Brad. Then she turned to Kai. “You should have seen him ride the forklift up. I thought the technicians were going to faint.”