to go help with dinner.”
Chapter 5
M ike stood in front of the safe again, Sharpie in hand. He’d been working on it for about an hour and determined there were three wheels on the lock, so he only had to figure out three numbers, a simple group two lock. By turning the spindle he’d listened for the faint tick of the flywheel, picking up the first wheel in the wheel pack. As the rotation continued, he heard the faint click of the additional two wheels, known as picking-up the wheels.
He’d already determined the contact area on the drive cam. This wheel isn’t associated with the combination directly; but once Mike knew where on the dial the drive cam made contact, he was able to begin his graph of possible combos. Knowing the contact area for the drive cam, between seventy and eighty, Mike spun the dial to twenty-five, known as parking the wheels.
From this point he slowly rotated the dial again, as the dial passed twenty-five he listed for the faint click of the drive cam, that click he ignored and the rest he counted, confirming there were only three wheels. Now for the hard part.
Mike spun the dial to the right and set the dial on zero. From there he spun the dial, listening for the faint click of the contact area. Each time he heard it, he marked the numbers on the safe with the marker. Each time, he reset the dial three digits off from the previous search, doing this around the entire dial. When he was done, he had a series of numbers marked on the door of the safe. With the numbers he needed, Mike left the safe and went to a small room that served as an office. Rummaging around in the desk, he found a pad of graph paper and pencil and headed back to the bedroom.
Sitting on the foot of the bed, he laid out his graph. For the short axis on the left side, he wrote down the contact points for the drive cam, and then one set for the right side. The long axis of the graph, he laid out with the three-digit offset of the dial, starting at one, then four, seven and so on. Just as he was about to get to the good part, Ted came into the room.
“Hey, ruck up, time for a walkabout.”
“Aw man, come on, I’ve almost got this thing whipped,” Mike moaned.
“It ain’t going anywhere, let’s go.”
Shaking his head, Mike tossed the pad on the bed and followed Ted out of the room. After getting his gear on, he found Ted in the kitchen.
“Alright, let’s do this.”
“You carrying that thing?” Ted asked, pointing to Sarge’s Minimi.
Mike looked at the short weapon and shrugged, “Yeah, if we bump into anyone it’ll get their attention.”
Ted picked up his M203, “Yeah, I know what you mean.”
The light outside was fading, and when they stepped out, Doc was standing in the front yard. He looked back over his shoulder, “You guys going on a prowl?”
“Yeah; when did you get back?” Mike asked.
“Few minutes ago.”
Mike reached into his cargo pocket and tossed Doc the stethoscope. Doc caught it and inquired, “When did you take this?”
“Early this morning,” Mike replied with a smile.
Doc stuck the instrument into his pocket, “Don’t take my shit without asking dickhead.”
“You got it back; besides, it was for some important shit.”
“That safe? It’s probably full of dildos,” Doc fired back.
Ted started laughing, “Now that would be funny!”
“Hey, where’s the old man?” Mike asked.
“He’s still at Danny’s. Tyler and his family may have been exposed to TB, so we quarantined them.”
Mike screwed his face up, “Damn, TB; that’s going to suck.”
“Yeah, well, hopefully it’s nothing,” Doc replied as they made their way down the street.
The guys went to the south, towards the tree line at the end of the street. They were being careful to be sporadic in their patrols, never going the same way twice. There wasn’t a real plan to these foot patrols, just to be moving and keeping an eye out. After going into the woods about thirty yards, they turned
Chapter 5
M ike stood in front of the safe again, Sharpie in hand. He’d been working on it for about an hour and determined there were three wheels on the lock, so he only had to figure out three numbers, a simple group two lock. By turning the spindle he’d listened for the faint tick of the flywheel, picking up the first wheel in the wheel pack. As the rotation continued, he heard the faint click of the additional two wheels, known as picking-up the wheels.
He’d already determined the contact area on the drive cam. This wheel isn’t associated with the combination directly; but once Mike knew where on the dial the drive cam made contact, he was able to begin his graph of possible combos. Knowing the contact area for the drive cam, between seventy and eighty, Mike spun the dial to twenty-five, known as parking the wheels.
From this point he slowly rotated the dial again, as the dial passed twenty-five he listed for the faint click of the drive cam, that click he ignored and the rest he counted, confirming there were only three wheels. Now for the hard part.
Mike spun the dial to the right and set the dial on zero. From there he spun the dial, listening for the faint click of the contact area. Each time he heard it, he marked the numbers on the safe with the marker. Each time, he reset the dial three digits off from the previous search, doing this around the entire dial. When he was done, he had a series of numbers marked on the door of the safe. With the numbers he needed, Mike left the safe and went to a small room that served as an office. Rummaging around in the desk, he found a pad of graph paper and pencil and headed back to the bedroom.
Sitting on the foot of the bed, he laid out his graph. For the short axis on the left side, he wrote down the contact points for the drive cam, and then one set for the right side. The long axis of the graph, he laid out with the three-digit offset of the dial, starting at one, then four, seven and so on. Just as he was about to get to the good part, Ted came into the room.
“Hey, ruck up, time for a walkabout.”
“Aw man, come on, I’ve almost got this thing whipped,” Mike moaned.
“It ain’t going anywhere, let’s go.”
Shaking his head, Mike tossed the pad on the bed and followed Ted out of the room. After getting his gear on, he found Ted in the kitchen.
“Alright, let’s do this.”
“You carrying that thing?” Ted asked, pointing to Sarge’s Minimi.
Mike looked at the short weapon and shrugged, “Yeah, if we bump into anyone it’ll get their attention.”
Ted picked up his M203, “Yeah, I know what you mean.”
The light outside was fading, and when they stepped out, Doc was standing in the front yard. He looked back over his shoulder, “You guys going on a prowl?”
“Yeah; when did you get back?” Mike asked.
“Few minutes ago.”
Mike reached into his cargo pocket and tossed Doc the stethoscope. Doc caught it and inquired, “When did you take this?”
“Early this morning,” Mike replied with a smile.
Doc stuck the instrument into his pocket, “Don’t take my shit without asking dickhead.”
“You got it back; besides, it was for some important shit.”
“That safe? It’s probably full of dildos,” Doc fired back.
Ted started laughing, “Now that would be funny!”
“Hey, where’s the old man?” Mike asked.
“He’s still at Danny’s. Tyler and his family may have been exposed to TB, so we quarantined them.”
Mike screwed his face up, “Damn, TB; that’s going to suck.”
“Yeah, well, hopefully it’s nothing,” Doc replied as they made their way down the street.
The guys went to the south, towards the tree line at the end of the street. They were being careful to be sporadic in their patrols, never going the same way twice. There wasn’t a real plan to these foot patrols, just to be moving and keeping an eye out. After going into the woods about thirty yards, they turned
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