The Butcher of Tangier - 90,000 words - Narrated by Richard Williams
Description
Vocal Characteristics
Language
EnglishVoice Age
Middle Aged (35-54)Accents
Arabic (General) British (General)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
I sat there for a good five minutes, planning my exit from the pump house at the Zuckman premises. At that stage, all I wanted was to get back to the hotel and go to sleep. I knew I would need to make my move. Immediately after the guard had completed his control of the vault building, I glanced at my watch and looked at the steel door as I read it myself to leave. It was at that moment that I had a thought. At the time. It felt random, improbable and comically futile, but the thought refused to go away. I turned my head and stared at the electrical switchboard in the far wall beyond the pumps. Like most electrical boards, it was filled with metres, gauges, wiring and switchgear mounted in the centre of the wall. It was basically a grey pressed metal box and stood proud of the concrete by roughly 25 centimetres at one metre wide and roughly 1.5 metres high. It struck me as being rather oversized for its purpose. No, you're clutching at straws here green, preferring to avoid further disappointment. I turned my head and looked at the exit once again, but it's certainly big enough, surely worth a look. I stood up slowly and walked over to the switchboard. The spinning metres and flashing lights were clear indicators that it was live and working with limited electrical knowledge. I knew better than to tamper with any of the switches, so instead I concentrated on how it had been mounted against the wall. Six large bolts attached the board to the concrete. These would have been fixed in place using heavy duty plastic rule plugs or anchors. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary. I ran my hand along the top of the box. My fingers came back dusty, as expected, but it was when I ran my hand down the right hand side of the box that I felt it. It was so small as to almost be imperceptible, but there was a two centimetre square of slightly raised metal near the wall in the centre of the box. I stepped to my right to take a look at what it was, but even the light from the neons above was insufficient for me to see it. Clearly, I quickly remove the bag from my back and pulled out the penlight torch shining the thin beam of light on it revealed what it was. A small square section of the sheet metal that made up the side of the box was slightly raised and set into a slide. I applied some pressure on it with my thumb, and it slid easily to the left, revealing a hole that had been drilled into the metal war of the box underneath, barely enough to poke a finger into it had been ingeniously concealed. And had I not run my fingers across it, I would never have seen it. In the hole was a single red button. I frowned as I stared at it, and my immediate thoughts and fears came in waves. What could it be? Why has it been so cleverly hidden? If it's merely part of the regular electrics, why would someone have gone to such an effort to conceal it? What will happen if I push it? Beads have swept, formed on my forehead as I stared at it. My biggest fear was that pushing it would set off some kind of alarm. But after further thought, I decided this made no sense, given the fact that there were no regular alarms in or around the pump house. Concentrate on the facts, Green. You know what you saw on the aerial pictures? Nothing in this godforsaken room indicates there is a trap door or tunnel entrance anywhere. You were about to leave when you stumbled on this. Push the ******* thing and see what happens. I put the thin torch in my mouth and held it in place with my teeth. Using my left hand, I wiped the sweat from my forehead and blinked as I prepared to push the button. Well, here goes nothing. Using my thumb, I pushed the button, and immediately there was a short, electronic buzzing sound, followed by a metallic clunk. I stared in amazement as the side of the entire switchboard came away from the wall and swung open on hidden hinges that had been placed on the left hand side of it within the concrete wall. It's a door, I whispered to myself. Well, you look at that. It's a ******* door