19. 19 #2
“Identification please,” the guard said to Marcus. Marcus handed him his badge, and Kenny showed his own to the guard on the passenger side.
“Carrying precious cargo,” Marcus said, putting his identification back into his jacket pocket. “Sunshine and Lab Rat on board.”
Elias stifled a laugh, and I looked to him for an explanation but he held a finger to his lips signaling me to be quiet.
“You may proceed,” said the guard.
As we pulled away, Elias spoke. “It looks like you’ve been given a call-sign, Lab Rat.”
“Lab Rat?” I asked, offended. “And you get to be Sunshine?”
“I’ve been Sunshine forever. They called me that because I was a gloomy recruit. I’m pretty sure no one saw me smile the first two or three years.” He let out a small laugh. “You’ll learn to love it, you have to.”
“Doubt it,” I muttered.
The building we pulled up to was nondescript.
Just gray, minimal landscaping, and only a few windows on the front, giving away absolutely no hint to what went on inside.
I dropped Elias’s hand with the intention of opening the car door, but pulled the handle to no avail.
It could only be opened from the outside.
Elias, of course, knew this, but he let me try anyway.
I grabbed the cooler from the floor and set it on my lap, wrapping my arms around it. Marcus opened the door for me, and I couldn’t help but feel relieved that I chose to sit behind him rather than behind Kenny. I didn’t like him staring at me.
Standing next to him, I waited for him to close the door and walk forward, and I stayed close to his tail until we rounded the front of the vehicle.
Elias’s hand found the small of my back, guiding me, grounding me, and I kept the vaccine cooler close to my chest, my knuckles turning white from how tightly I gripped the container.
The security for this building was more invasive than the one at the CIA headquarters.
Metal detectors and X-ray scanners were situated like a TSA check point, and there was no amount of small talk that would get us out of this.
Our pockets were emptied, and I was surprised to find a key in the pocket of Elias’s jacket, but I set it in the plastic tray next to the vaccine cooler anyway.
His gun went through the X-ray machine, too, and I wondered what they thought he could possibly hide in a pistol. At least he was allowed to carry it in.
A female guard patted me down, thoroughly.
So thorough, in fact, that I thought she might have me strip, bend over, and cough.
Elias was used to the procedure, and if I wasn’t a nervous wreck, I might have thought it was funny to watch the male guard feel around his privates to make sure he wasn’t hiding anything in his pants.
He wiggled his eyebrows at me as the back of the guard’s hand slid along the length of him through his jeans. I almost smiled.
After the minor assault, we were led down the stairs and ushered into a harshly lit room.
The fluorescent lighting buzzed overhead, and the cool light washed out the room.
Several agents stood in the room, keeping to the walls, and the oval table in the center of the space was filled with unfamiliar faces.
Elias limited his physical contact with me now, but walked in front of me to an empty chair.
I sat beside him, setting the cooler on the table.
Elias set the drive from my laptop on the table and leaned back in his seat, stretching his injured leg out in front of him, and put his hands on his lap.
I sat up straight, my spine flat against the back of the chair.
Elias reached over to pat my bouncing knee a few times, and I had to grip the edge of my seat to keep from fidgeting further.
“Thank you for joining us today, Agent Correa, Dr. Hayes,” a woman with short brown hair said.
“My name is Deborah Maynard, and I am part of the legal counsel for the White House. Joining us today, we have Edward Bautista from the NSA, Dr. Jillian Jones from the CDC, Lucas Williams, a representative from the military, as well as several Secret Service agents that will remain unnamed. More will arrive when the President does.”
“It's a pleasure,” nodded Elias, his tone sounding more informal than I might have expected. “Are we waiting for the President to begin?”
“That won’t be necessary today,” said Deborah. “Our first order of business will be securing the vaccine.”
Dr. Jones stood and walked over to collect the cooler from the table. She stopped next to me, and I stood to greet her, offering a hand after wiping my palm on my jeans.
“Thank you for your hard work, Dr. Hayes,” she said, shaking my trembling, damp hand. “Your work will save many lives.”
I swallowed hard, clearing my throat, but my voice was still weak. “I hope so,” I said.
“Do you want her notes as well?” Elias chimed in. He didn’t stand, but held the drive out for Dr. Jones to take. She slipped it into her pocket.
“Thank you,” she said, before grabbing the cooler from the table. “We will talk in depth soon, but I need to get this to a laboratory immediately.”
I sat back down and looked back at Deborah as Dr. Jones left the room.
“This incident has major National Security implications, so we will need your individual reports following the conclusion of this meeting. The President will be particularly interested in talking to you alone, Agent Correa,” said Deborah.
“I figured,” answered Elias.
“The most pressing issue for you, Dr. Hayes, is the status of your employment at Baker and Pryor. I’m pleased to announce that we have worked out an agreement with the company and they’ve agreed to terminate your contract there,” she smiled, the antithesis of my own expression, I was sure.
“After debriefing, medical and psychological clearances, and a bout of training, you will officially begin your work for us.”
Elias piped up. “What kind of training are we talking about?”
“Arms, intelligence, possibly foreign language. Run of the mill for this type of work,” she said. “I am surprised by your intrusion on Dr. Hayes’s behalf.”
“She needs an advocate, doesn’t she?” Elias asked, leaning forward, elbows on the table.
“I am the advocate for everyone in this room, including you,” she paused, testing him. “Would you like to see her contract?” She slid a stack of papers across the table, and Elias intercepted before I could move to grab the document.
He rifled through it, scanning over the legal jargon, stopping to look up when he found something he didn’t like.
“She is a scientist. Why is there a provision about deployment in here?” My stomach dropped.
I didn’t want this life, I never did. I chose the safety of pipettes and microscopes for a reason.
I had told him this would happen, but he refused to acknowledge it.