by Grady, D. R.
“To grab her and carry her as far away from that lab as possible.”
No one laughed. They must all be feeling a similar sense of unease. They, like him, respected a person’s instincts, that gut reaction. It kept them alive.
“Why are you feeling that way?” Ben also turned away from his computer. It wasn’t because he was bored.
“That’s what I’m wondering.” There was something there, something he should look into.
“You didn’t like the feel of the lab, or the feel of the people in the lab?” Tigger dug a little deeper.
A good question. “I didn’t like the feel of the people in the lab.” As he thought on it, that niggling question finally became substantial enough for him to sort through. “There are four new members.”
“Four new ones from when?”
“Since Helena moved to the palace lab.” His thoughts raced. “She’s worked at the palace lab less than three months.”
Ben glanced sharply at him. “And there are already four new people?”
Beaumont asked a few pertinent questions and as fast as he answered them, added the info to his database.
It didn’t take their tech wizard long to discover the hospital personnel records and soon he was scrolling through them. In a few heartbeats Beaumont segregated the seven people who worked in the lab with Helena.
“Here they are.” Beaumont sent the info to their computers.
He scrolled through their employee pictures and then the extensive info that followed.
Tigger grunted. “There’s a lot here.”
“Their intel is as good as ours,” Ben agreed.
“I wouldn’t go that far, but my dad tends to be careful.”
They all turned to stare at him.
When he looked up, he encountered three sets of speculative eyes. “My dad runs the hospital, remember?”
Beaumont’s eyes narrowed. “Does your dad interview every person who is hired at the hospital?”
He shook his head. “He meets them, even briefly, but he doesn’t have time to do the interviews.”
“So he’s met the three men who have been giving Helena trouble?”
That question yanked him out of the file he was perusing. “I’m sure he has. He knows everyone’s name.” Leaning forward, he picked up the phone and dialed his father’s work number.
“Graham Wellington.”
“What do you know about the three men working in the hospital lab with Helena?”
“Good morning to you too, son.”
Vlad grinned. “Good morning, Dad. Now can you please answer the question?”
“Let me guess, you’ve been working since the predawn hours.”
“I have no idea,” he prevaricated. He wasn’t about to tell his father that until this mess was finished, he was never off duty. They took breaks to eat and sleep but that was it.
“Can’t tell me then. Now, the three men you’re interested in…” The tapping of computer keys was steady on his dad’s end. “What exactly are you looking for?”
“Are you aware that they harassed Helena for months, if not years?”
“I suspected, but until I could prove it, as per bureaucracy, I couldn’t do a thing.”
“Why didn’t you ever ask her?”
“What makes you think I didn’t?”
He frowned at his father’s answer. “You did?”
“I sent your mother into that lab a few times and she heard enough to validate my concerns.”
“That’s why Helena was sent to the palace lab.” His smile was more of a grimace.
“Yes. I also managed to remove some of the people in that lab, but the three men who harassed her were really careful. Plus, one of them is a top guy in laboratory systems. I couldn’t get rid of him without a lot of evidence.”
“Of which you had none.”
“Correct. I had no way of proving what was happening. Other than employing illegal listening devices.” His dad sounded frustrated.
“Thank you for moving her to the palace lab. Why did you also choose Mom?”
“She was having similar trouble in her lab. Not to the extent Helena suffered, but there were some women there who made life pretty miserable for her.”
His jaw hurt because he was clenching his teeth. “You couldn’t do anything about this?”
“I moved both women and Jorge to the palace lab when the opportunity arose.” His dad’s voice and inflection didn’t change.
All of his friends were staring at him with varying degrees of surprise. Like they couldn’t quite believe what they were hearing. What did they expect? This was his family.
“Thank you for that.” He wiped a hand over his face. Maybe he needed more sleep. Usually he didn’t get this emotional. In fact, he couldn’t remember ever getting emotional while on a job. Or off it, if he was being honest. But that family thing changed everything.
“You’re welcome. I’ll also have you know that those people I knew were giving others a hard time did not receive bonuses. Thought that might offer the message that we were well aware of their treatment of others.”
“I see. That was probably good. Did any of them refute this?”
“No, because their bonus was determined by the annual employee review. I made certain to sit in on a select few. With me there, they knew then that I was aware of the complaints.”
“Yet those three idiots are still in Helena’s lab.”
“Yes, they’re there. Unfortunately there are four new people in that lab…” his dad kept talking but a light snapped on in his brain.
He scrambled for the notepad lying beside Ben and quickly scrawled his note. Then he held the pad up and the three SEALs read it quickly then nodded. Their eyes, as a collective, turned dark and cold. This is the other part that was bothering him.
“Why are there four new people in that lab?” From the abrupt silence on the other end, he must have cut that good man off, but he was in the zone right now. He was all business, emotions were shoved deep and locked down as of now.
“Because the four who were there have all moved on. We shifted Helena to the palace lab where I understand she is doing extremely well.”
“She is. She loves it there.”
“Right, that’s what I’ve heard. Your mother is every bit as happy. And from what I gather from Jorge, he’s enjoying his work again.”
“He wasn’t happy in the hospital either?”
“No, he kept being passed over for promotions. I still haven’t sorted that out. The man should have been heading a lab by now, but in each case, someone younger and female, and incidentally, attractive usually snagged those positions.”
“We can guess what happened.”
“Right. And I can’t remove the head lab man because there isn’t anyone else who can do his job at the moment. We’ve got feelers out. He also didn’t receive a bonus and I told him right to his face why. Now that he knows I’m well aware of his lecherous ways it seems he’s being careful.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the woman who leads Jorge’s old lab is happily married, with kids, and is extremely competent. She doesn’t carry a high opinion of the lab head, but she’s very good at what she does. When I personally recommended her to the lecher, I made certain that she was the only person I expected to see in that position.”
“So she did get the job.”
“Oh yes, because I implied he’d be out of a job if she didn’t.”
“She’s who you’re grooming to head the labs.” He smiled because he understood exactly how Graham Wellington thought. His brain worked in similar patterns.
“That’s correct. She holds a Master’s degree and is smart, decisive, and capable. But she’s not quite ready, even though I believe she’s probably doing the bulk of the work anyway.”
“How will you get rid of the top man?”
“We’ve enough complaints against him now to fire him.”
“Is he aware of this?”
“I don’t know. But I have noticed the complaints have stopped recently. He appears to be more circumspect with the younger women.”
Lechers were usually not people they investigated but he asked for the man’s name. This type of man didn’t have many scruples so working with a terrorist group who hated women wasn’t a stretch. His early note had been about the traitor possibly hiding among the hospital staff. An ongoing, uneasy niggle pointed toward this being somehow related to terrorists. His instincts told him he was on the right path even though it made little sense.
During the conversation with his father, he noticed Beaumont working hard at his computer. He didn’t doubt they’d have a full dossier on each of the members in Helena’s lab. He scribbled the man’s name on the notepad and passed it to Beaumont.
Without any further communication, Beaumont added the man to the list. In a few minutes, they’d know more about the lecher than his own mother did.
“Thank you for this info.”
“Is it useful to your investigation?”
He grunted in answer.
His dad’s voice was threaded with amusement. “Can’t answer that, can you, son?”
“What do you think?” Amusement appeared in his own tones.
“Do you think there might be a problem, a much bigger one, at my hospital?” This time there was no amusement, just utter professionalism.
“We’re checking everything.” He shouldn’t have even said that much.
But if there was one trustworthy man in Rurikstan, it was Graham Wellington.
He would stake his own life on it.
Chapter 29
Since Vlad’s visit this morning, this lab was indeed bearable. Definitely more than it had been when she left. Apparently presenting a huge warrior as your protector made an excellent deterrent to nasty people. This relieved her greatly.
The three jerks aside, she rather liked the older woman and the two new men. It was the younger woman she was leery of. Which was stupid because other than that cold look she thought she saw, the woman didn’t give off bad vibes.
No, that wasn’t true. She did. That’s why she wasn’t interested in getting chummy with her. The vibes from this woman, Anna, were like those of the women who had preceded her. Outwardly friendly, but the minute she was out of earshot, would trash her to their colleagues in a heartbeat.
Only this young woman seemed far more malignant than even the nasty women before her. There was something about her that she couldn’t trust.
Because of her observations, she spent a lot of time working on her projects, hurrying to finish. There was no way she intended to remain in this lab for five days. She couldn’t.
They’d have to check her into the mental health wing.
Charlene, the older woman, proved to be interesting and immune to the nasty chill in the lab. Anna, the younger woman, lingered with them and laughed and joked, and did nothing wrong. She was quiet and attentive. Shy even, but still not trustworthy.
The two other men in the lab she soon learned she could work with if need be. The younger one was definitely shy and awkward, so she treated him like a brother. The older man was funny and smart, and he was a joy to work with. If she had to remain in this lab, three of the new members would have made the job easier.
The jerks left her alone, thank goodness. She didn’t even have to threaten to sic Vlad on them.
She was well aware that Vlad would relish the opportunity. Although doubtful in the past, it did appear the jerks were smarter than she suspected.
One of them appeared to find Anna attractive and actually flirted with her. Anna kept her eyes down and appeared timid and a little gauche, so she fooled the jerk. The odd feelings convinced her to keep her distance, in a polite way.
Between the three jerks and Anna, she would choose the jerks. They were obvious and unpleasant, but not dangerous. She wasn’t so certain about Anna.
***
“This woman, Anna Barstow,” Beaumont said, pounding away on the keys later that afternoon.
“Yes?”
“She comes out clean.”
He noted that. “What about the other woman?”
“Charlene Morgan has a murky past, but it’s nothing serious. Looks like she went back to school a little later in life and has only been a lab tech for five years.”
That made him pause. “She doesn’t have a lot of lab experience?”
“Helena has more.”
He nodded as he stared at his computer. “What about Barstow?”
“It took her longer to finish her degree, probably because she did some traveling during her college years, but she’s got five years of lab experience as well.”
“That leaves the men.” He hit the button to print out the results. The other SEALs were throwing the names against some databases they had access to. None of them expected to come up with anything.
It was still necessary. Leave no stone unturned. Sometimes they were disgusted by what skittered from under that stone.
“I’ve got nothing on the two new guys.” Tigger finished typing then leaned back in his chair.
“Shouldn’t Ben be back by now?” Beaumont didn’t pause his typing.
“Not if he’s being thorough.”
They all smiled. Ben was quite thorough. He was out on patrol, watching and listening. They were taking turns doing this, around the clock.
“He’s missing out on some interesting stuff,” Tigger commented dryly and they all laughed but kept doggedly at their task.
“There’s got to be something.” He stretched his tight shoulders.
“I’m not having any luck finding the military traitor, either.” Beaumont rubbed the nape of his neck.
That startled him. “Nothing?”
Beaumont’s scowl should have melted his computer screen. “Nothing. It’s like this guy has ceased to exist.”
“Does he have to be a part of the military now?” He continued tapping keys.
“He used a military email address.” Tigger was busy clicking through screens. “If a person was good enough with a computer, they could use a military address.”
“They’re heavily encrypted in Rurikstan. It’d be hard to hack but possible.”
“Whoever the traitor is is at least smart enough to know that much.” Beaumont’s eyes remained on his screen.
“There’s another way to get a military address,” Tigger surmised. “Or at least another way to use one.”
“Use a family member’s?” That was utterly possible.
Tigger’s nod wasn’t reassuring. “This could be bad.”
“It’d be a lot easier to use someone’s address you know.” He hated the spewing possibilities.
“We’ll never be able to track down all the family members.” Tigger didn’t sound happy and rightfully so.
“Not to mention friends or employees who have access,” Beaumont added.
“There are also people who work for the military who aren’t active but have an address.” He made some notes to ask Aleksi.
Beaumont took a sip of his cooling coffee. “And then there are all the retired military people.”
“That’s every male in Rurikstan.”
“Oh yeah, this isn’t a volunteer basis.” Tigger took a sip of coffee, made a face of utter distaste, then promptly set the mug down.
He rose and strode to the coffee pot. He could make more and then it might be fresh for when Ben returned from his sneak and peek. A small hunt through the cabinet he hung on the wall also revealed a box of doughnuts.
While the coffee brewed, he returned to his computer.
“Are you looking at the three creeps, Welly?” Tigger slid his mug to the end of the desk.
“Yeah. For all the good it’s doing me. There’s nothing here other than some miscellaneous reports about improper conduct.”
Beaumont muttered over in his corner.
“What are you working on?” Tigger turned to Beaumont.
“Still trying
to find a path back to this traitor.”
“How many paths have you tried?”
“All of them.” Beaumont’s frustrated tone told them all they needed to know.
“You’re the best man for this job,” Tigger said.
“Hopefully this means Helena is likely safe.” He took a measure of comfort from that. Yet that antsy, unsettled feeling he woke up with hadn’t dissipated. If anything, it was coalescing into something nastier.
The coffee maker stopped brewing so he rose from his desk, which he was starting to think of as the enemy, and stalked to the pot. He tossed the remains of his cold brew, did the same with his colleague’s sludge, and then passed the doughnuts around.
They munched for a few minutes, and all too soon he returned to his computer.
Ben breezed in ten minutes later. Just as all their frustration levels were rising again. Their leader helped himself to the coffee and doughnuts before giving them a sit rep and listening to theirs.
“No luck on the traitor search, and nothing on these people Helena works with.” Ben bit into his doughnut and chewed before he turned to him. “That’s good on the people Helena works with. At least you can relax.”
“Yeah.” But the edgy feeling bade him not to. He kept stoically at his search, helping Beaumont after he finished pinging people against their databases. When it was time to pick up Helena, he was grateful for the break.
The other guys all rose with him and stretched for real. When he sent them a look of inquiry, Ben explained. “We’ll have your back. We can all do with a stretch and a break.”
He nodded as he hefted the car keys.
“Let’s go.”
The team disappeared once he crawled into the car and fired up the engine.
He figured he wouldn’t see them again until he returned to their control room. Beaumont was scheduled to do the next watch, but guessed he’d finish the surveillance with Ben and Tigger first.
Once he pulled into a parking space he sat for a moment and assessed the area before exiting the car. He continued taking in information as he crossed the parking lot to the side door. He hadn’t spent much time here in his life, but he still knew the layout.
In three minutes, he was outside the door to Helena’s lab. He wanted to get another feel for the lab and the people working there. A quick scout of the outside revealed nothing so he entered, taking note of every space around the lab, and exit and entrance points. A quick scan told him it would be easy to enter this space virtually undetected.
