Missing Link

by Varun Vashist

  The ring of her phone brought her back to senses. She rubbed her eyes and looked at it. It was Jake's number.

  "Harrison wants to see you before we go inside the factory," he said, "Be here in the next half an hour."

  "Ok," she replied and looked at the watch. It was half past eight. She dragged herself to the bathroom. It took a few minutes before she could muster the strength to get ready. She got ready in fifteen minutes and went outside to find Paul. She could not possibly reach in fifteen minutes by walk. And, additionally, it would give her time to get something out of him.

  Paul was coming her way carrying the tray of breakfast. She picked the sandwich.

  "I need to get to the factory. Can you drop me?" she asked with urgency.

  It took a moment for Paul to understand. He just nodded and went inside to fetch the keys. Kiara started thinking about what she wanted to know from him.

  "Have you seen the factory from inside?" she asked while munching on the sandwich.

  Paul looked at her through the rearview mirror.

  "I won't risk my health," he said tersely.

  "How would you know that without seeing what's happening inside?" Kiara said casually. However, Paul's face turned red. For a moment, he lost control of the van. "I know because I have seen the effect,"

  Kiara wanted to ask something, but an accident was a big price for the information. She thought of changing the topic.

  "So, you go to school?" she asked casually while looking outside.

  "No,"

  "Why? I suppose there is a school in the town funded by the human rights office," Kiara asked with surprise.

  "Right now, I need money for my family. I may join it later." Paul wanted the discussion to end. He heaved a sigh of relief as they were about to reach. He stopped the van around a hundred feet from the factory gate.

  "You have to walk from here. They don't like us coming near them."

  Kiara nodded and got down. She wanted to thank Paul, but he left immediately before she could have said anything. She had touched a nerve there and she knew that.

  As Kiara walked towards the gate, she was surprised by the change in Paul's behavior. He was friendly and much more forthcoming the day he picked her from the airport. But, it seems there was something bothering him. As if someone had turned him against her. Maybe, he had come to know why she was here and thought that she will give a clean chit to the Cooper Industries just like the earlier panel. The waitress could have spread it as she knew everyone, she thought.

  Whatever be the reason, she had a bigger problem at her hand: Harrison.

  As she crossed the road, she was happy to see that the guard was different from the other night. After checking her documents, he pointed towards the office and kept looking at her till she entered.

  Jake was sitting down at his desk and the concentration with which he was staring at the screen of his computer meant he was playing some interesting game. He minimized the screen as soon as he sensed someone approaching him.

  "Oh..you." he said as if her presence did not mean anything. "I guess you can meet Harrison on your own."

  "You don't know how to speak to a woman, do you?" she said furiously.

  "Oh.. I do. Depends on who the woman in question is?" he replied without a hint of shame. " Please finish your business. We need to leave in ten minutes."

  Kiara gave him an annoyed look. The moment she had felt a little bit of liking towards him, he had burst the bubble. Oblivious to this Jake went back to his computer.

  "You are five minutes late," Harrison said calmly and then went silent as if expecting an apology.

  Kiara did not say anything, just kept looking at him. There was an awkward silence.

  "So, your first day at work?" he said quietly, "Jake will show you around. Remember, this is a chemical plant. So take all precaution. If possible, avoid going to the factory floor. You can go to the office and meet the manager there. He will give all the information and data that you need. In fact, everything is with him handy. You don't even have to go and check the factory. I have instructions to keep you here for at least a month. Though, I feel one week will be enough to get the report prepared."

  "But, one week means only two visits; today and Thursday; isn't it?" Kiara said with frustration.

  Harrison felt as if being disobeyed, but contained his discomfort, "I understand that you want to collect data about the alleged pollution caused by the factory. All that data is documented on a daily basis; in fact on a shift basis. The manager can give you all the data in one minute. What is beyond that which is needed?"

  Kiara knew what Harrison meant. She did not want to discuss the certification and the environment friendly policies of Cooper Industries again with him.

  "I understand, Sir," she replied with a fake smile, "Even I don't want to go beyond what is expected of me. However, I need to mandatorily stay here for a month. I need to log in the requisite hours."

  Again a streak of anger crossed Harrison's face, which he controlled somehow. He knew Kiara was trying to act smart.

  "Let's talk about this once you come back," he tried to avoid any confrontation so early in the day. One thing was definite; Kiara was not going to relent so easily. He kept looking at her till she got out of his office.

  As Kiara reached Jake's seat, she found him talking to someone over the phone. He looked at her and kept nodding. She knew he was not going to give her any attention. She looked around. Everyone was buried in their computers. Just like the other night, there was no one else besides the agents. It was as if no one from outside was allowed to enter the office.

  "Let's go," Jake said while putting the receiver down.

  Kiara did not say anything. She started walking behind him. As they came out; she noticed the security guard was looking at them. Jake gave him a nod and he responded with a gesture of the hand.

  "What was that?" she asked with suspicion.

  "If you have researched about me, you must have found that I have solved many cases before others could,"

  "Well, it was not mentioned to me explicitly; but I will take your words for that,". Jake looked at her knowing that she was teasing him.

  "The reason for my success has been my network. I believe that to solve any case you need to earn the trust of the people. Once that is earned, you can get information that is fast and reliable."

  With that, he turned towards her. "You may not have found any cases assigned to me in the last six months, but I am not sitting idle either,"

  "So what are you up to?" Kiara asked with surprise.

  "Wait.." he said and started walking a couple of steps ahead of her.

  There was another gate. It was locked with a small door like opening on the right corner.

  "This facility is being guarded like a prison," she murmured. Jake did not pay heed to her words.

  As they entered, another guard checked their documents. To Kiara's surprise, they even checked Jake's identity. After a minute or so, the guard looked satisfied and gestured them to continue.

  As they walked further, Kiara noticed how well maintained was the factory premises. It was like a resort. The roads were much wider than what she had seen in the town. There were lines of blooming flowers on either side of the road. It was very serene and beautiful. However, there was hardly any soul nearby. Jake noticed how she got lost in the surrounding. He faked a cough.

  Kiara looked at him, "I am sorry, you were saying."

  "Only if you are interested,"

  "I am.." Kiara said with a hint of embarrassment.

  "In the last six months, I have developed a network. The guard on duty today is also one of my confidantes. You noticed how the other guard checked my credentials, even though I was in uniform and patrol twice a week?"

  Kiara nodded, "Yes, I did. What about that?"

  "They don't trust anyone. Coopers have great influence in the government. Removing a small officer like me is nothing to them. Even when the news about you reached them, they
tried to stop you from coming here,"

  Kiara was surprised. She could never think that they were keeping an eye on such a trivial thing.

  "Harrison has strict orders to keep your identity concealed. I suppose some higher official in the government has warned him about that. That's why I was also a bit skeptical in working with you."

  "Well, you need not worry. I do not have any contacts in government. I am just following orders. I don't even know who is behind this," she assured him.

  "Well, I understood that when I met you yesterday," he nodded his head.

  Kiara smiled, but Jake did not respond. He was still trying not to get too close to her.

  "As I was saying, Harrison is under pressure to keep your identity a secret. However, I feel he may have told the Cooper management about your project. They were against it and would have used their influence to stop it, but suddenly the negative press diverted their attention to the other side."

  Jake stopped and looked at her. He was sharing something that he was not supposed to and wanted to be sure if Kiara was following him. Kiara noticed that. She nodded and gestured him to continue.

  "However, with the kidnap of Sarah Edwards, I suspect they have not forgotten it completely. You need to tread with caution,"

  You don't have to think about my safety. You are missing one difference between me and Sarah I am trained for such things. Let them get anywhere near me.

  "What are you thinking?" Jake prodded.

  "Nothing," she said while looking around, "What are our plans for today?"

  "We will meet the shift manager," he answered, "Let us see what you can get out of him."

  Kiara looked at him and smiled, "Why only me? Aren't you going to ask something to him?"

  Jake did not respond and looked towards the building in front of them. Kiara was about to say something when she saw someone coming their way. He was a middle aged man wearing factory uniform. He walked with a slight limp and had a scar on the left side of his face.

  "He looks more like a gangster than a floor manager," she murmured. Jake looked at her with a hint of anger.

  "So, you are the one that wants to audit our factory?" he said in a scruffy voice.

  "No, Sir.. It is just for a summer project," Kiara said softly, trying to sound like a student. Jake looked at her and raised his brow. Kiara did not pay heed to that.

  "I am doing Masters in Chemical Engineering.. It is part of the curriculum. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered you," she said while handing over her resume and the college letter.

  The shift manager did not show much interest in the papers and returned them back immediately. "He must have gone through them. I don’t have to check them again."

  "Perry has been in the industry for the last twenty years. He is the best. He knows everything that you may need. I have requested him to show you the shop floor," Jake said with a hint of a smile. Perry felt pride in his words and that showed in the reciprocating smile.

  With that Perry turned around and pointed towards the building, "This is our central Administrative block. We run and monitor our factory from there. I will give you a tour."

  "I will meet you here in an hour," Jake said and turned towards Perry, "I will go and check around."

  "Of course. You too need to fill your log," Perry winked at him. Jake responded with a smile.

  Kiara looked at Jake with admiration. He was handling both parts of the game well. People inside the factory trusted him as one of them and those outside felt as if he was one of them.

  "Let's go," Perry brought her back from thoughts.

  Kiara looked around as she walked behind Perry. The Administrative block looked like the starting point of the factory. Large chimneys and boilers made the backdrop. The smoke was thinner than what she had seen the other night, but still she could feel a slight burning sensation in her eyes.

  "You have to make a log entry and collect your visitor card first," Perry said while pointing at a window near the building entrance.

  The person sitting at the other end of the window kept analyzing her as she made the entry. Perry was waiting near the door while looking into his phone the whole time. Once she had taken the visitor card, he swiped his card and opened the door for her.

  Kiara looked around as they entered. There were several cabins lined up on the left side with three conference rooms on the right. The cabins had few of the officials working on the computers while the conference rooms were empty. As they crossed that section, they entered a huge hall. There were around fifty people sitting in front of large screens monitoring the progress of various processes. Sound of alarms was the only thing that could be heard. No one even noticed her presence. Their eyes were glued to the screens.

  "As you can see, this is our central monitoring room. The whole factory has been divided into four zones. Each zone has various processes and sub processes that have been automated and are being operated from here. We work with a minimum field team. All operators are given a two years field training; six months in each zone and then they are promoted to the monitoring role."

  Kiara knew there was not much for her to see here. Heck, she did not even know half of the things that Perry had said. But, she had to look interested. Neither Perry nor Jake was going to take her to the field. She had to try to get something out of here.

  "So, all of them are from Kingston?" she asked while pointing towards the operators.

  "It is a mix actually. Usually, all the skilled workers including myself have been hired from outside based on our prior experience. All non-skilled workers are local," he replied immediately as if rehearsed.

  "And, what is their job - description?" Kiara asked while analyzing all the operators.

  "What?" Perry was a bit taken aback.

  "I meant that the skilled employees perform the more important work of running and monitoring the plant. What do the non-skilled workers do?" she gazed into Perry's eyes. Perry took some time to gather his thoughts.

  "They mostly work in the field. Though the whole process is automated, certain things need manual intervention… like cleaning,"

  "And, you must be taking care that they have all the safety equipment with them?" Kiara did not want to grill Perry yet. She tried to ask diplomatically.

  "Yes.. absolutely. We issue penalties to the zone operator if there is any discrepancy. So far, my shift record is a hundred percent," Perry said at once.

  "Yes, I felt so. You have such a vast experience," Kiara said while pretending to take down notes. Perry felt pride in her words," Let's go to my office. I will show you the reports."

  Need to check the company supplying the safety equipment. Kiara made a mental note while walking behind Perry.

  Perry's cabin was much bigger than the earlier one she had seen. There was a round table in the middle with the schematic of the factory on the wall behind it. There was a computer in the center of the table with a bunch of papers lying on both sides.

  He shuffled through the papers and pulled out a report.

  "This is our daily lab report. We take out samples at all points to check any discrepancies in environmental regulation. The bottom part is for the emissions from the chimneys."

  Kiara glanced through the data. Everything was within the permitted limits mentioned on the right side of the table.

  "These look great as I had expected. What is on that white board?" Kiara said while pointing at the board on the wall to her right.

  "Oh.. that is the shift-wise production report for the day,"

  There was a momentary silence. Kiara had not prepared any other questions. She had thought that she may see something that may raise her curiosity, but right now nothing was coming to her mind. She kept fiddling with the report, while trying to think of something to ask Perry.

  "Anything else?" Perry asked while looking at the clock on the opposite wall, "I need to get back to work."

  "One last thing," she said while remembering something, "How is the distribution of employees done
on shift basis? I mean.. the day shift must be having more people?"

  "Yes, you are right. Administrative people don't come in shifts. Those working in production come in shifts."

  "The night shift must be tough," Kiara said with a smile.

  "You will know once you come out of college. Life is much tougher out here. Though, we don't put people directly in night shifts. Mostly skilled workers handle the night shifts; the one who have more experience in handling tough situations."

  With that, he got up and Kiara followed suit.

  "I will escort you to the gate. Jake must be back by now," he said while opening the door for Kiara.

  As Kiara walked past the monitoring room, she scanned the people working there one more time. Now that she knew that none of them were from the town, she looked at them with a fresh perspective, as if all of them were working secretly against the locals. She shrugged the thought as she was about to reach the main door.

  Jake was indeed waiting for her. Perry guided her out of the main door and stood there while she walked out of the building. She smiled, but Jake did not respond. Instead, he walked towards Perry. Once he reached near him, he looked back at Kiara and then turned towards Perry.

  "How was the meeting? Harrison was afraid she would try to get something out of you that management may not like," he asked in a low voice.

  "I also thought that before meeting her, but, she seems to be inexperienced. These college kids are so awed of working in a real place that they forget everything else. She did not even ask about how we handle the plant."

  With that, he patted on Jake's shoulder, "Tell Harrison not to fear."

  Jake nodded and turned around. Perry looked at him for a moment and then went inside.

  "Let's go," Jake said. Kiara looked at him for a moment and then started to follow him. There was no talking till they reached the road outside the administrative block.

  "So, how was your meeting? Did you get some information?" he asked with question filled eyes..