But then again, when Jasmine thought about it, Lucy had been changing. When she had taken the job at Hayden Incorporated, Jasmine didn’t think it would last very long. She was working in the advertising department, which allowed her a bit of artistic licence; however, she was still a ‘suit’. She had held down that job for more than four years now. Maybe the Lucy she once knew was no longer.
Even so, Buster Hayden? If the nine-to-five job was a stretch, then dating Buster was a giant leap. He was the only son of Hamish Hayden, owner of Hayden Incorporated. Buster hadn’t grown up in Avalon, but his reputation was well known. He was a playboy to say the least. If he graced a party with his presence, then there were always one or two girls on his arm. He changed them more often than he changed his socks, yet there was always a queue for women ready to ride the Buster rollercoaster.
Jasmine had seen him on only a few occasions. She remembered the first time she had met him. She and Lucy had snuck out of their bedrooms as soon as their grandparents had gone to sleep. They walked to the street corner where their friends were waiting to pick them up. They had gone to a party in the Avalon Hills, an exclusive estate. Buster had been there with his posse of women. He had come up to Jasmine and she remembered he had smelt like beer. He grabbed her bottom and pulled her close. She was stunned for a moment that anyone would be so overtly sleazy and then slapped him on the face. He didn’t take it very well, pushing her into a side table and calling her a bitch. Lucy didn’t take her to any more parties after that, she said she was anti-social.
Her later encounters with Buster hadn’t been much better, although he never grabbed her by the bottom again. He had to be the centre of attention everywhere he went. Jasmine thought he was the most arrogant man she had ever met and as much as she didn’t wish bad things for him, she didn’t wish him well either.
Surely her sister could see through him? See him for what he is? Becky was probably wrong. Megan, whoever she was, was mistaken. If she had seen Lucy and Buster out together, then it must have been Lucy’s doppelganger. She made a mental note to call her that evening.
She folded up her newspaper and took a look around the park. Across the way from her bench seat was an elderly man, feeding the pigeons. He had dozens of them around him; all scrambling to get to the food he was throwing out of a small brown paper bag.
Jasmine looked at him closely. He wasn’t a homeless man like you sometimes get in the park. He was well dressed and probably about sixty, she guessed. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t work out why.
She walked over to the man, the pigeons quickly scrambling out of her way. They didn’t fly off, just moved away – the potential for food was still too strong for them to flee. She took a seat beside the man after he confirmed the seat wasn’t reserved for anyone else.
“There sure are a lot of pigeons here. Do you feed them often?”
“Most days. I enjoy it, it’s like therapy.”
“What are you feeding them?”
“Cooked rice. Most people think they eat it raw, but it expands in their stomach and kills them.”
“I’ll remember that next time I’m at a wedding.” Jasmine was able to get a much better look at the man, now that she was so close to him. She could finally place him. He was one of the managers in the picture on the Avalon Laboratory website. She couldn’t believe her luck. “Excuse me for asking this, but don’t you work for Avalon Laboratories?”
He stopped feeding the birds and turned to face her. “I used to, I don’t anymore.”
“Oh, it’s just that I’ve seen your picture on the website before.”
“It must be an old one. I haven’t worked there for over three years. I retired when I hit sixty. Have been with the birds ever since.” He leaned closer to her smiling. “Birds are by far better company than scientists.”
She returned his grin. “I’m sure they are, have a great day.” She left the man with the birds and walked to her car. She put her newspaper inside and locked it again. The man had given her a thought. The first was that Avalon Laboratories were terrible with keeping their website up-to-date. The second was that maybe there was a reason for that.
She walked as fast as she could to the Avalon News and prayed Caleb would be there and not covering a story in God knows where. The receptionist said he was around somewhere and Jasmine was quite welcome to look for him. She went to his desk, but he wasn’t there. Most of the office was empty, only the occasional person was at their desk typing away or talking on the phone. She approached a woman that was sitting at the desk closest to Caleb’s.
“Excuse me, do you know where Caleb is?”
“Out.” She didn’t stop typing.
Jasmine took her mobile phone out and dialled his number. Obviously she wasn’t going to get any help from his colleagues. The phone rang twice and was then diverted to his voicemail. She left a message asking for him to return the call as soon as he could.
She returned to reception and also left a message for Caleb there. She had doubts whether it would be passed on or not, but made the attempt anyway. She went back to her car and drove up to the Avalon laboratory, parking a safe distance from the front gates.
It looked like a prison from the outside. It was surrounded by high fences with razor wire wound around the top. At the front gate was a boom, either side was a small brick office that was manned by armed security guards. Every person was thoroughly checked before being allowed admittance. Jasmine remembered that she had hardly ever visited her father at work. On the few times she had gone with her mother, they had been made to wait until they were cleared by a call to the main building. Her father had an ID lanyard that he wore at all times while on site.
She sat in her car and watched the gate. Only one car had entered since she had parked. When it pulled up the guard had left the office and leaned down into the driver’s side window. The driver had flashed something at him, the boom gate lifted and they had been waved through.
She tried as best she could from her viewpoint to see where the car went. From the front gate, it looked like there was a slight hill to drive up, before coming to a large car park. Beyond the car park was a concrete building, its facade covered in neat rows of windows. It looked like there was a main building – the one with the windows and a second building with no windows towards the left-hand side. She figured the other building might have been the factory that manufactures the tablets. The website had said they make everything locally, not just conduct the research and development.
All up, the buildings were about as big as two football fields, she surmised. There was nothing else on the large property, except for the buildings. Not even a tree or shrub. ‘They must have a very small gardening budget,’ she thought to herself.
Her phone started ringing. She wasn’t expecting it so it made her jump in her seat. She looked at the caller ID – it was Caleb.
“Hi Caleb, how are you?”
“Good, I got your message. What’s up?” There was no background noise on the phone. He must have returned to the office. Jasmine wondered which message he had received, maybe she underestimated the receptionist.
“I was wondering what you were doing tonight?”
“Umm, I don’t have any plans. What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking of doing something that may get me into a lot of trouble. Want to come?”
He laughed. “When you put it like that, how can I refuse? Are you going to tell me what we’re going to be doing exactly?”
“I’m going to break into Avalon Laboratories.” She held her breath as she waited for his reaction.
“Are you crazy? They’re more secure than Fort Knox.”
“Not if you just walk through the front gate.”
There was a long silence from the other end of the line.
“Okay, what time?” he said with resignation in his voice.
“I’ll come and pick you up at 5:30pm. You’re going to need to suit up. Think Will Smith in Men in Black.” She h
ung the phone up and continued her vigil for another few hours. Leaving only after she had watched a dozen or so cars enter and exit the complex.
When she arrived home, she went straight to her computer and set about making some fake ID lanyards for Avalon Laboratories. She revisited their official website and copied all the company logos. She managed to zoom in enough on a picture of the CEO to get a rough template for the IDs. They were light blue in colour with the logo positioned on the top left-hand corner. In the centre was a photo of the employee, their details listed underneath. A thin barcode ran across the bottom. The lanyard they hung from was white.
She had pictures of herself and Caleb stored on her digital camera. She transferred these onto her computer and cut and pasted a photo onto each of the IDs. She chose ones that looked like they were sedately posed for, instead of being in the middle of a boozy party. It took about an hour before she was satisfied with them. The only thing missing were names. She scanned through the website to try and find some names. The further down the chain the employee, the better.
The only names listed were that of the managers and top brass. She clicked on the “Contact Us” page, found the main switchboard phone number and dialled.
The phone picked up after one ring. Jasmine was then placed in a queue to speak to the operator. Eventually, a female voice came on the line.
“Good afternoon, Avalon Laboratory Industries. How may I direct your call?”
“May I speak to Kate please,” she spoke in a low tone, trying to disguise her voice.
“Kate... Winter?”
“Yes, Kate Winter.”
“Hold please while I transfer you.” A few beeps later, “Hello, Kate speaking.”
“Hello, Kate. This is Radio Avalon and you’re on the air. If you can tell me your occupation right now, you’ll go into the draw to win a brand new Nissan X-Trail.” Jasmine crossed her fingers. It was a long shot, but you never knew your luck.
“Uh, okay,” she hesitated, “I’m an Accounts Payable Clerk.”
“Excellent, we’ll let you know. Keep listening.” She hung the phone up. An accounts clerk wasn’t exactly bottom of the rung, but it would do. She clicked on her ID card and called herself Kate Wintner, making sure to change the name just slightly. She didn’t want to use someone’s actual name in case they were familiar with the security guards. However, if you change it just slightly, it might be enough to pass if it’s checked. If the face isn’t recognised, but the name is, then you can claim that it’s just a typo that hasn’t been fixed yet. If the name is unknown, but the real person’s face is, then you could easily roll your eyes and say that everybody always gets their names mixed up. Winter and Wintner can easily be read as the same name. At least that’s what she was hoping.
She picked up the phone and dialled again, this time going fishing for a Tom. She was put through to Tom Fisher who worked in inventory management. Caleb would now be known as Tom Flisher.
She printed out the IDs and ran them through her laminator. The machine was one of her prized possessions. She had received it for Christmas one year and had been laminating whatever she could find since then. She punched a hole through the top of the warm card and clipped it onto the lanyard string.
She held them up and inspected them very carefully, making sure everything was printed clearly. They looked genuine; she was pleased with the results. “Now, let’s hope the security guards are as impressed with them,” she said with a sigh.
She checked her watch. It was only 4:00pm so she decided she had time to make a phone call. She considered calling Lucy, but that would likely be a longer call than she had time for. Instead, she dialled her friend, Chase’s mobile number.
“Speak.” She spoke with a very flat monotone voice. Jasmine was sure she was only paying half her attention to the phone.
“Chase, it’s Jaz. Have you got a few minutes?”
“Jaz! Hi, of course I do, shoot.” The voice perked up as soon as Jasmine identified herself. Now she had her full attention.
“How hard would it be to hack into hospital records?” There was a brief silence on the other end of the line.
“Hmm, challenging, but not impossible. Why? Ex-boyfriend given you herpes and you want revenge, right?” Chase spoke quickly, like she was on fast forward.
“No, nothing like that. Are you up for the challenge?”
“Sure, you wanna come by?”
“Can I come tomorrow? I have some other illegal activities to do tonight.” Chase laughed on the other end. “Say around four?”
“See you then.” They hung up. Jasmine checked her watch again, only 4:05pm. She had a shower and changed into a black pant suit. She tied her hair back in a perky ponytail and inspected herself in the mirror. She definitely looked like a businesswoman on a mission. She was aiming for professional bitch that no one should mess with, but really only half pulled it off. She was going to have to be convincing.
Jasmine walked to the kitchen and made herself a toasted sandwich. She was really nervous, but forced it down, telling herself she would only regret it later if she didn’t. She was hoping it wouldn’t be a late night and hoped to be in and out. But never having broken into a laboratory before, she didn’t know what to expect.
She glanced at her watch again; it was finally time to leave. She double-checked she had everything, ensured the windows were locked, closed the front door and headed for her car that was parked in the street with all the others.
It was just starting to get dark. She looked around to make sure there were no people about – there wasn’t. She crouched down behind an old Ford Laser, pulled a screwdriver out of her handbag and removed the number plate. The car belonged to Mrs Foster, an eighty year old woman that Jasmine often encountered around the complex. She was as stubborn as she was grumpy, but most importantly she was now legally blind and had her driver’s licence revoked a few months ago. She refused to believe it and insisted on keeping her car until the roads authority came to their senses. She wouldn’t be missing her number plates tonight. She moved around to the front and quickly unscrewed that one too. She slowly rose and looked around again – still no one.
Her car was parked a few spaces down. She replaced the number plates and stowed the real ones in her boot. She took to the driver’s seat and pulled out onto the road. There was a lot of traffic on the road between her house and Caleb’s. Not really traffic by city standards, but definitely traffic by Avalon standards. By the time she arrived outside Caleb’s house, she was starting to fall behind schedule. She honked the car horn and the front door opened. Caleb waved and approached the car. She couldn’t help but laugh when she saw him. He opened the passenger side door and sat down.
“Caleb, I told you Will Smith in Men in Black, not Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible.” He was wearing a black suit, however, instead of a business shirt underneath; he was wearing a black turtleneck.
“What? we’re breaking into a place. I thought black was most appropriate.” He went on the defensive. She handed him his ID tag. “What’s the plan?”
“First step is to take note of your new name and don’t forget it. We’re going to try and get in through the front gate. Confidence is the key. Any sign of nervousness and they will be on to us.” She looked directly at him to make sure he was listening; he nodded.
“What next? And why are we breaking in?”
“Then we go into the building, find a nice secluded hiding place and wait until everyone goes home. Then we should be able to find what I’m after.”
“Which is?”
“Records. Firstly, my dad was working on a big project in the weeks leading up to the fire. He was apparently working on it with the bigwigs, but after he died, there was no mention anywhere about any new discoveries or anything. Secondly, the company is making bucket loads of money – which I’m sure is making their shareholders very happy – but I want to know just how they are pulling in so much dough, when they haven’t had any new products since 1994.”
“So we’ll be looking for an office or something? Do you know the layout?”
“I think we should find either the CEO or CFO’s office. If movies are anything to go by, then they should have a locked filing cabinet there.” She smiled. “The layout we’ll play by ear. Hopefully the place will be deserted enough for us to have a good look around. Got it?”
Caleb nodded again and she drove in the direction of the laboratory. By this time it was completely dark.
They were nearly at their destination when Caleb spoke. “Why are we going so late? Aren’t they going to be suspicious of us starting work at a quarter to six?”
“Not if we’ve just returned from a meeting and have to file a report to meet the big bad bosses’ deadline. Look, I know everything is against us, but it’s the only way. We’ve got to try.”
“Okay, but I’m sticking to pirate code.” Jasmine smiled at the reference – she knew it well – “If you fall behind, you stay behind.”
They pulled up to the security gate. A male security officer came over to Jasmine’s window and tapped on it. She wound it down halfway.
“IDs please.” She held up Kate Wintner’s ID tag and held her breath. He took it from her and shone a torch over it. “Did you forget something?”
“Excuse me?” She was trying not to panic, repeating in her mind, ‘Confidence is key, confidence is key’.
“You’re here late. Did you forget to take something with you?”
She let her breath out. “Yeah, my laptop – can you believe it? I don’t know where my mind was.”
Ashes to Ashes Page 13
