by Margaret Kay
Then he moved a scan pad over in front of her. At his prompting, she pressed her right hand to it, followed by her left. He again typed on the keyboard. It would take a half hour to program their entire system to give her access.
“We’ll test it out later.”
She nodded.
His cell phone buzzed. “Yeah, I got her.” He paused listening to the person on the other end. “Your house has no security system?”
“No.”
“It will in about an hour,” he said to her with a smile. “Negative,” he said into the phone. Then he looked back at her. “I’ll show you how to program it on a mockup here, so you’ll know what to do when you get home to disarm it and program it with your own passcode.”
“I didn’t ask for a security system. How much will this cost me?”
Garcia laughed. “We all get one as part of our employment, no cost. It’s monitored in Ops twenty-four-seven. We can’t very well have our homes be unsecured with the work we do.”
She shrugged. “I guess not.”
After he disconnected the call, he stared questioningly at her. “What?” He asked after a few seconds.
“I don’t like so many surprises.”
Garcia chuckled. “I was in a really bad place when I started with Shepherd Security. I liked them even less, trust me on that, but there are reasons behind everything we do, and it all makes sense. All I can advise you is to trust Shepherd and Cooper. They both know their shit.”
She wondered what that bad place was that he had been in and what had happened to cause him to feel that way. She also wondered how he got out of it. But she decided not to ask. “Anthony, can I tell you the truth about something?”
“Sure,” he replied, stopping what he was doing to really focus his black eyes on her.
“I’m not even sure why I took this job. If I was just going to be an analyst in the Ops Center that would be a no brainer. The whole field Operative part I’m not sure about and all these surprises are making me question it all the more.”
“Which surprises are you referring to?”
She laughed out a sarcastic sound. “The tracker Doc injected into me for one, someone going to my house without my knowledge to install a security system I knew nothing about, the top-secret federal security clearance, the FBI ID, come on. I haven’t even officially been an employee six-hours yet, and I already took a trip through the fucking looking glass.”
Garcia laughed hard. “Yeah, I see your point. We move fast around here. That’s the nature of the beast. I’ve seen your file, Madison. You’ve got what it takes, or you wouldn’t have been hired.” He didn’t tell her he was the one who found her, did the deep dive to qualify her, or that he was the one who recommended her.
“For the Ops Center yes, but the field?”
“Well, even if the field doesn’t work out after these two cases, I for one am relieved to have another qualified analyst to rotate into the Ops Center. You know how tough that job is, the decisions that have to be made on the fly. Not everyone is up to that challenge. I’ve got two guys in there that are supposed to be doing the backend, investigating, hacking, digital recon, but they’re overburdened with shifts in the Ops Center, which really isn’t their forte. As a result, Yvette and I end up pulling way too many hours when things are hot, if I’m not in the field that is.”
She nodded, unsure what to say. Her eyes dropped to the electronic device he held in his hands. “What’s that?”
“It’s a portable biometric sensor to secure fingerprints and DNA in the field. It’s tied in with multiple agencies in DC to give you instant identification of suspects and DBs.” He showed her how to use it. It was the latest technology in use by all federal entities and many state law enforcement agencies. “You signed for it. This one is yours.” He reached down and grabbed a black compartment bag. “Here’s a gadget bag. It straps to the base of your mission backpack. I’ll have a few more toys for your stash. By now the requisition form you signed has been scanned and emailed to you if you want to check asset codes.” He pointed to the underside of the device. A barcode with asset numbers was on it. “If any equipment ever gets destroyed, see Requisition Ryan. Bring him any pieces or parts that may be left. It’s not too bad of a paperwork nightmare.”
“And if it gets lost?”
“As long as it doesn’t happen repeatedly, no big deal.” Then he handed her a cell phone. “It’s a combat rated smart phone, app driven, and hosted on a satellite network. It’s acceptable per company policy to use it for personal use as well, we actually encourage that. No use carrying two phones. If you give me your regular cell phone, I can clone it here. It’s charged and programmed with every phone number you will ever need.” He handed her the charger, for wall or computer charging. “Also,” he paused and handed her a stack of business cards with the name Maddie Hayes on them and a phone number she didn’t recognize.
“Is that the number to the phone?”
“It’s one of them.” He went into the phone’s settings. Two phone numbers appeared. “The top one is the real number on the phone that is now programmed on our server and every other team member’s phone. This second number is to hand out as a decoy if you need a number during a case. It will ring on your phone and we monitor it in Ops. It’s not your official number so we can change it at any time.”
Then he handed her a case with three different communications devices in it. One was the standard receiver that fit tightly in one ear with a lip mic. It had a long cord connected to a power supply the wearer tucked elsewhere on their person. The second was an over the ear one-piece unit that a lot of the federal agencies used. It resembled a larger hearing aid. It too had a cord that the wearer draped down behind their ear and into their collar. A separate transmitter was on a second cord, which was usually secured within the wearer’s shirt sleeve. The last was a small earbud comm, no cord. Beside it was a package of twelve tiny batteries.
Next, they went to her office. On her laptop. he got her signed in with her username and password to the network, outlook and calendar. He gave her a tour of all files and locations on the server. He showed her how to launch the protocols and tutorial training she was to complete.
Then he showed her the mission report template, how to complete her portion, and where to save it when finished. Included in the instruction was the naming conventions the agency used for everything they saved. None of it was too different from the standard military templates.
“Just remember, your portion of the mission report has to be filed within twenty-four hours concluding any mission, barring unforeseen circumstances, and even then, another team member will complete it for you with the proper notation. You will read and amend it as needed when you’re able to. Specific circumstances will not require a mission report until you have returned to base, or not at all if a special dispensation is given. The mission commander is responsible for collating all reports into one. Cooper usually writes the complete framework and pulls our reports in where appropriate. All team members have access to the completed mission report and can make a supplemental addition if they choose. This of course also extends to your work in the Ops Center as an analyst.”
“Got it,” she said. “It’s really not that much different from what I was used to.” She shrugged. “I never minded the paperwork.”
Garcia laughed. “That makes one of us.” He came to his feet and stretched. And then retook his seat. “Okay, let’s go over remoting in, and then we’ll go for a walk. I’ll show you the secure parking facility and make sure the system accepted your handprint scan. You’ll access the parking garage tomorrow via the scan pad system, also the internal elevator as well as all locked doors in our facility.”
Madison glanced at the clock in the corner of her laptop. It was already seventeen-hundred hours, five p.m. How did that happen? “What time is quitting time around here?”
“Usually when the job is done for the day, whenever that is. No one punches a time clock here. It
’s pretty much understood that if there is a lull and a person leaves for the day, they have still put in a hell of a lot of hours, so they are due the time off. The exception is those scheduled for a shift in the Ops Center. Those are twelve-hour shifts, usually four days on, four days off, but even that is up to negotiation and adjustment.”
“Will I have to check in or out with anyone when I leave this first week, month, or while on probation? How does that work?”
“We all try to remember to set our time on our calendars. After we do this and walk around it’ll be near eighteen-hundred. We’ll call that quitting time for you today.” He showed her how to log it on her calendar and to view everyone else’s status rolled up to the staff calendar. “As far as getting permission, that’s a Cooper question for tomorrow. He’s already gotten an alert that your checkout time was set, so I’d assume if he has any questions, he’ll call or shoot you a text. And here,” he said reaching for her new cell phone. “Let me show you how to access the calendar to do the same on here. I sometimes forget to do it until I am halfway to my condo.”
She also handed him her personal cell phone, and he created the cloned instance on her work phone. He turned her personal cell off and handed it back. He showed her on the work cell the cloned instance. That was it. The personal cell was no longer needed.
Then he disconnected her laptop from the building’s secure admin wireless network and inserted a satellite card. “It’s encrypted and secure. Remoting in on this from anywhere on the satellite network is considered safe. It’s set up to never access any Wi-Fi. Don’t bypass that and hook it up to your home internet either. If you use it outside of the office, always use the satellite card. You’re not paying for it so it’s no skin off your teeth.”
“Got it,” she assured him.
“Do you need a laptop bag for it?”
“No, it’ll fit in my bag nicely,” she said nodding to her bag which sat on the ugly orange couch.
“You’ll want to take it home with you every night. And keep your phone on and near you at all times. If anything goes down, that’s how we’ll scramble you, and you may report directly to one of our airfields. If that ever happens one of the team will grab your tactical gear and meet you with it.”
“Where are the airfields?”
He laughed. “That’s in the first section of the protocols, plus there is a listing here in your phone.” He took her phone and showed her where the info was. She had to do a fingerprint scan on the touchscreen to access it. “You can push it through to your maps too.”
“Aren’t you afraid someone will get a hold of this info if the phone somehow gets compromised?”
He laughed again. “This is just till you know where the airfields are, then it gets deleted. Besides, this phone is as secure as this building. I programmed it. I know it is.”
They finished up and then she packed up her laptop for the evening. She left her workout clothes in a desk drawer. They first went to the door to the Ops Center to test the scan pad. She had access. Same held true of the door within the stairwell. After they pulled it closed, she was able to reopen it by pressing her palm to the pad.
“You’ll have access to all areas except Shepherd’s penthouse on the tenth floor. If you ever need to get in there that gets cleared through Ops. Oh, and if you ever need to reach Ops for any reason including tech support, Ops is programmed into your phone as just O.” He paused and chuckled. “We get Yvette going every time by calling in and telling her we’re looking for the big O.” He stopped laughing abruptly and looked at her to see if she was put off by that. He had forgotten that she was new to the team and female, not sure if she would be offended by the sexual reference or have the sense of humor the rest of them did.
She smiled slightly to let him know it didn’t bother her. “For the record, I don’t offend easily. So, don’t worry about it.”
“Glad to hear that. I know a few of the men were worried when they were told a female Operator was coming on board. We watch it around Angel, mostly because Jackson would kick anyone’s ass who offends her, and also around Michaela. She’s never really joked around with us like Yvette does, isn’t a member of any workgroup. She kind of does her own thing. We all respect her and the gadgets she’s invented to make our jobs easier and keep us safe, but she’s not tight with any of the guys except me and Lambchop, and even that has been recent.”
Madison took that in. She never considered herself one that bought in to the politics of a workplace, but she always tried to keep her finger on the pulse of the interpersonal relationships. Those were as important as the overall culture, often fed the cultural climate of the workgroup or organization.
Garcia led her down the stairwell to sub-basement two. Hand to the scan pad once again opened the door, and they exited into a garage parking area. Several dozen vehicles sat parked clustered up near the door to the stairs and the elevator which lay beside it. Across the way was a large garage door that was closed sealing the area.
“Scan pad and keypad for two-factor authentication on both the outside of the stairwell door as well as the elevator.” He pointed to the garage door. “There as well to get in or out. Your four-digit code is the last four of your Social Security number. If you’re ever opening it under duress, enter our universal panic code, which is one-two-three-four. That will gain you access and alert Ops. It’ll put everyone inside on alert and you’ll be greeted by an armed contingent that will neutralize the threat.”
“Has that ever happened?”
“No, none of our facilities have ever been breached.”
“That’s good to know,” she said with a faint smile.
“The panic code is the same for your alarm system at home, by the way. I don’t remember if I told you that earlier.”
“You didn’t, but I’ll remember that.”
“Try your hand to the scanner and then the code.” He pointed to the elevator.
She did, the top display illuminated, and the elevator door opened. Next, he led her to the garage door access pad and keypad. She repeated the handprint and keypad entry and it rolled open very quietly.
He pointed out the cameras in every corner of the garage and the one that focused on the elevator and stairwell door. Then he led her through the garage door into a space just large enough for two cars to park end to end. A second garage door was at the far end. She noticed cameras in this space as well. She repeated the hand and code routine and it slid open.
“Make sure you are alone in this space before opening either door coming or going if you haven’t entered the panic code.”
“Wow, security is tight!”
“We take it seriously,” he said, pointing to the exit.
In front lay a winding drive inclining up to the next parking garage level. She saw the wheels of the cars parked on that level. They walked up the ramp and came to a gate which sealed the ramp from the remainder of the garage.
“This is the first basement level, the main access point into our private garage. We have a secondary, emergency exit. I’ll show you that another time.”
He had her do the hand print and keycode thing one more time. He pointed to a bank of elevators. “Those are the parking garage elevators. The only access into the building is on the first floor, from any of the five floors of this structure.”
She nodded. “I parked on one and came through the side access door into the main lobby this morning.”
“Yeah, I saw you. I was in Ops when you got in. We have eyes on everything around our building, including this parking garage and the entry doors into the lobby.”
“That’s disturbing,” she said and then laughed. “But necessary.”
Garcia laughed as well. He walked to the stairwell door beside the elevators. “I’ll walk up to one with you and go back through the public entrance.”
She followed him up. He pushed through the door to the first floor and a cool breeze hit her, blowing her hair back. The temperature was already dropping. The sun w
as low in the sky. It would be dark by the time she arrived at her home.
“So, when you get in tomorrow, park in the secure parking garage and take the elevator or stairs up to your office. Work on getting through some of those protocols. I set your time to arrive on your calendar to eight tomorrow morning but come in earlier if you want, just remember to log it like I showed you, so we all know you’re in.”
She gave him a small smile. “Thanks for everything you showed me today. You guys definitely have everything well thought out and I would assume running like a well-oiled machine.”
He nodded with a confident smile. “We try, but any improvements you think of are welcome. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He nodded and then headed to the door which led into the lobby of the building. She took a deep breath and walked at a brisk pace to her car. She had survived day one, barely. Both of her shoulders and her upper back ached from where the shots and the tracker were injected. Her mind was reeling from all of it, anxiety and excitement swirled through her. She felt like she had both stepped onto another planet and come home. It was a surreal feeling.
