Claws

by Ricky Sides

  “And if I refuse?” she asked.

  “Then we call the police in and you get whoever they send. But you won’t be leaving this building until you’ve been searched,” he said pointedly. Then he added, “It’s a clause in your employment contract. When you signed the document you agreed to such a search in the event of your termination.”

  Patricia nodded numbly. Her mind was racing as she sought to figure out a way to conceal the small item Jennifer had slipped into her pocket right under the guards’ noses. She was almost certain it was a thumb drive, and that the information on that backup drive would help her expose the dangerous food that the company was producing. She nervously ran the fingers of her right hand through her long brunette hair, her fingers absently checking the modest bun that she wore when working. A slow smile crept onto her face as a desperate plan formulated in her mind.

  Clarisse was waiting expectantly when the guards escorted Patricia into her office. Patricia noted the smug expression on the woman’s face. She felt her own face flush with anger, as she realized that for Clarisse, this was a dream come true.

  “Well, well, well. Looks like you’ve been a bad girl,” Clarisse stated, baiting her defenseless opponent. She frowned when Patricia refused to take the bait. Turning to the chief of security, she said, “Take her into the bathroom. I’ll want at least one of you men to stay inside with us while she strips,” she added, knowing that comment was sure to get a rise out of Patricia.

  However, the security chief responded before Patricia could say anything. Shaking his head, he said, “That’s not going to happen. We can’t be present when a female is searched. The only way that we could be present would be if she were a physical threat to your safety. She isn’t,” he added with a shrug.

  “Well, I say she is.”

  “Unfortunately, you don’t get to make that call. It’s my responsibility.”

  “Why do you get to make that decision?”

  “I make the decision because it’s my ass that will be sued if I make the wrong call,” the security chief stated in irritation. He added, “Look, if you’re afraid to be alone with her, I can just call the police. I’m sure they can send a policewoman to handle this routine matter.”

  “No! I’ll do it, but I want you to stay close,” Clarisse demanded. There was no way she’d pass on this opportunity to torment Patricia.

  Ignoring her, the chief of security turned to Patricia and said, “Miss Reese, go into the bathroom and disrobe. Clarisse will be with you. She’ll hand your clothing out and I’ll examine them for any contraband. Once that’s completed, your clothing can be returned.”

  Patricia nodded her understanding and began to walk toward the bathroom with Clarisse in tow.

  “Hold it,” Robert said. “Why are you carrying a bag?” he asked Clarisse.

  “It’s my purse. It goes where I go,” Clarisse explained in irritation.

  “Not this time,” Robert stated. “I assure you the contents are safe. Who could get to it with three security men in the room? Leave it on your desk.”

  “Why are you treating me like this? It’s as if I’m the one in trouble here and not her,” Clarisse complained as she walked to her desk and slammed her purse down onto it.

  “I’m just doing my job. If you happen to find something, I don’t want her to be able to claim you planted it,” he explained patiently.

  “I never thought of that,” Clarisse stated.

  “It’s my job to think of things like that,” he said with a shrug, adding, “I have to think about the legal ramifications of such searches. Permitting you to carry a bag into the room could lead to legal problems during a potential prosecution.”

  “I understand now,” Clarisse stated. “I wouldn’t want to cause the company to lose the case.”

  Patricia had had enough. She walked on into the bathroom and headed for a stall where she would disrobe, but Clarisse’s voice stopped her. “Hold it! You can’t go in the stall. You have to stay in sight. You might hide something in there.”

  While Clarisse was talking, Patricia, who was standing with her left side concealed from view, had retrieved the thumb drive. It was now concealed in the palm of her hand. She turned to face Clarisse, pulling off her white lab coat and tossing it toward the woman who deftly caught it and began rummaging through the pockets.

  Patricia smiled. She didn’t mind Clarisse searching her clothes, even though she wasn’t supposed to, because she wasn’t watching her. She began to pull her t-shirt over her head. Her left hand deftly pushed the thumb drive inside the bun of her hair. She tossed the shirt onto the floor at Clarisse’s feet, and then patted her hair back into place, surreptitiously pushing the computer component into a better place of concealment.

  When she’d finished disrobing, Patricia stepped away from the view of the doorway, while Clarisse handed her clothing to the security men. Then Clarisse sprang her surprise when she said, “Alright, so far so good. Now I’ve got to do a cavity check.” She pulled a pair of latex gloves from her pocket and took a step toward Patricia.

  Already embarrassed by having to be nude in front of Clarisse, Patricia blushed and said, “You can look, but you can’t touch me, so you won’t need gloves.”

  “I’m afraid you’re in no position to set terms here,” Clarisse said with a vindictive smile.

  “That may be so, but if you touch me, or try to have anyone else touch me, I’ll rip out your eyes and piss in the sockets!” she whispered so vehemently that Clarisse was taken aback by the potential violence she heard in her voice and saw on her face.

  She prudently decided to back off. “Alright, we’ll do it your way,” said Clarisse. “Turn around and spread your cheeks,” she added, and even though she’d been intimidated a moment earlier, a look of smug satisfaction crossed her face.

  Patricia angrily pointed a finger at Clarisse. “You’d better remember what I said,” she advised, and then she turned around and assumed the humiliating position. She waited a full minute before asking, “Are you satisfied?”

  Before Clarisse could answer, there was a knock on the bathroom door. Patricia heard the chief of security inform Clarisse that he’d finished with the search and was ready to return the clothing. She stood upright and again walked away from the line of sight of the door.

  Ten minutes later, she was driving through the gate and heading for home.

  Chapter 2

  Patricia drove her late model sedan through the streets of Athens. Though born and raised in Lauderdale County, near the city of Florence, Alabama, she relocated to Athens when she’d landed the job as head of Alcorn’s research division. Patricia rented a home at 205 Chestnut Street, just a few blocks north of Athens State University. The home had been a perfect choice for her. It was within two miles of the Alcorn facility, yet in an old section of town that had a quaint residential feel. She loved the old tree with its massive limbs that sat in one corner of her front yard.

  The moment she walked into her house, Patricia knew that someone had been there. Sighing in frustration, she sat one of the white boxes containing her personal belongings on her sofa and went to her desk in the corner of the living room. Her computer was turned on and she was positive she had turned it off that morning before leaving for work. She always had her morning coffee while scanning the news on the Internet, but she never left the computer running when she left the house.

  A quick check confirmed her worst fears. Someone had reformatted her computer. All of her personal files were gone. She briefly considered calling the police, but she was almost certain that Alcorn was behind the incident.

  Going to her bedroom, she found that the intruder had also been in that room. The metal lock box she used to protect her precious documents from a potential fire had been opened. Its contents were strewn on her bed. She quickly discovered that it wasn’t a robbery. They had left nearly a thousand dollars in cash and several expensive pieces of jewelry. The only thing missing was a small notebook containing inform
ation on the experimental food.

  She left the bedroom and headed straight for a kitchen cabinet, located beneath and to the left of the sink. Kneeling down in front of it, she opened the door and her shoulders slumped in defeat. They had even managed to find the backup notebook and disk set she had hidden in the cupboard behind the canned food. “How the hell did they get all of this done so fast?” she asked herself.

  A frigid blast of cold air reminded her that she had left her front door open when she had entered with the box. Getting to her feet, she made her way to the front door and out onto her porch.

  When she had completed the process of unloading her car, Patricia locked the door. She secured the deadbolt. First, she went about restoring her computer so that she could use her email and Internet connections. Then she carefully probed her hair until she found the thumbnail drive. “Now to see what I’ve got here,” she said to herself. Patricia began to smile moments later as she discovered the drive she’d smuggled out of Alcorn contained all of the files that had been deleted from her computer.

  Using a proxy Internet provider, Patricia established an anonymous email address, and then she created a free website under a fictitious name. She then uploaded all of the files to that website for safekeeping. No matter what happened to her personal files from that point, she had a secret accessible backup.

  Now it was time to notify the authorities. She considered using her own email account to send the files to several agencies. Instead, she opted to create a series of three anonymous email accounts, again, going through proxy servers that would make tracing it to her a difficult prospect. She did not use the email she had created to set up her website because that could lead people back to that site.

  Next, she executed a simple online search and compiled a list of email contact addresses for the Food and Drug Administration, the Association of American Feed Control Officials, and the US Department of Agriculture. She sent a folder containing the files and a brief cover letter explaining that the contents of the files proved that Alcorn Pet Food Corporation was producing dangerous cat food, which would lead to casualties among pet owners utilizing the feed.

  Last, she turned her attention to the news media. She quickly gathered the email addresses of several city, state, and national news agencies, and then she began to compile her electronic news releases. This was more difficult than the packets she had sent to the government agencies. The news media lacked the expertise to comprehend the implications of the content of the files. Therefore, it was necessary to lay it all out in a continuous stream of information. She composed her email so that it systematically took them through the process. When needed to support her suppositions, she presented the files in the appropriate locations, offering them as proof of the validity of her statements. The most compelling segments of the evidence were the photos of the laboratory specimens, shown with a human in the frame to provide a scale of reference. Then she provided a five-minute video of the aggressive behavior exhibited by the test subjects. At the conclusion of the report, she repeated the warning she had given the government agencies. The animal food being produced would lead to human casualties. It was just a matter of time.

  It had taken her nearly two hours to painstakingly complete the news release in a way that even the news media would see that there was only one foreseeable outcome to the pending emergency. By contrast, it took her twenty seconds to send it to the first recipient. After that, it was just a matter of copying and pasting the message into the other prepared emails and pressing send. The warning had been sent to a myriad of news agencies in less than ten minutes.

  Sighing in satisfaction, Patricia deleted the files from her computer, and then she inserted her disk and proceeded to reformat her hard drive. Deep in thought for several minutes, she mentally reviewed all of her precautions. She wanted to do the right thing, but she couldn’t afford a lawsuit, which was almost certain to come her way in the wake of the revelations she had made. Therefore, she hesitated only a moment, before plugging the thumbnail drive into its USB port, and then she reformatted it as well. She would dispose of it later, but for now, even if the police seized the drive, nothing on it would implicate her in the release of the information.

  ***

  George Gainer had worked for Alcorn for years, during which time a group of animal rights activists, seeking to recruit him to their cause, had contacted him. A loner, George had found himself the center of attention by several of the activists who maintained online contact with him on a regular basis. Bit by bit, they had converted him to their cause. Therefore, when he learned that the test animals at the facility were on the schedule for euthanizing the next morning, it was only natural for him to contact his newfound friends with the big news.

  “The bastards! Isn’t there anything you can do to prevent this outrage?” asked Mary Lou Bergen from Birmingham. She frowned and then added, “I wouldn’t want you to lose your job over this, but think. There must be something you can do to prevent this from happening.”

  George stared at her image on his monitor. Of all his contacts in the animal rights activist movement, she was the one with the most influence in his life. That was because, over a period of time, he’d grown more than a little infatuated with the petite redhead. As he stared at her beautiful face, he absently pushed his glasses back up into proper alignment. He smiled broadly and responded, “They just fired my boss today. For all I know, they may fire me tomorrow. As I see it, I don’t have a lot to lose. I can get in the building. I can even access our lab, but I heard Jennifer arguing with the security chief as I was leaving today. She was protesting the changing of the security code, needed to enter the animal containment room. So yes, I could get into the building, but I couldn’t get to the animals to set them free. There’s no way in hell that I could break the code to get past the electronic lock.

  “They’re probably afraid someone will try to get one of the test animals out, prior to the slaughter,” Mary Lou opined.

  “That’s a possibility. I hear that Patricia, my former boss, gave them hell at the meeting this morning. Rumor has it, that’s why she was fired.”

  Nodding her head in understanding, Mary Lou then asked, “Are you sure you’d be willing to help liberate the poor cats?”

  “I was looking for a job when I found this one,” George replied. Shrugging, he added, “I’ll find another job if I have to, but there’s a possibility I can pull it off. I found a weakness in the security setup. Tom told me I would find it, if I looked closely, and he was right.”

  Leaning toward her monitor in interest, Mary Lou responded, “Oh? Well, Tom’s an experienced member. He’s participated in more than one successful operation. Tell me what you’ve learned.”

  “Two days ago, maintenance was replacing some burned out fluorescent bulbs in a ground floor stairwell. The man must have bumped the camera, because it’s angled too high now. There’s no way the camera can catch people entering that door.”

  “The security team hasn’t noticed the camera is misaligned?” she asked incredulously.

  “They don’t have a man constantly monitoring all the video feeds. Of course, they monitor the gate and main entrance, but they only pull up the smaller entrances if they suspect something happened in that area,” George explained.

  “It’s a card key lock. My key would open it, but that leaves a record of the last key that opened the lock,” George explained.

  “Right. Those electronic locks can be read with the right equipment,” the redhead confirmed.

  Nodding in agreement, George smiled and held up a card for her to see. “But I have this. It’s a visitor’s card. They’re issued to VIPs when they tour the facility.”

  “How did you get that?” asked Mary Lou with a beaming smile.

  “It was easy,” George said, glad that he had been able to do something that she so obviously respected. “Well, actually, it was a matter of being in the right place at the right time. I had to get my keycard replaced becaus
e it had been exposed to a strong magnetic field and was malfunctioning. While I was in the office getting a manager to replace my card, I saw a stack of VIP cards that she was in the process of shredding. I didn’t think she’d miss one.”

  “You’re too modest. That was a brave thing to do, and it took brains to recognize the opportunity when it presented itself. How old is the card?” she asked.

  “A few weeks, but that doesn’t matter. They never change the code on the entrance doors,” he said smiling.

  “Alright, we can get in that door, but can we get to the lab without being exposed to other cameras?”

  “No, but I have a plan,” he said smiling. He then outlined his plan.

  “What a brilliant plan you’ve put together,” Mary Lou said enthusiastically. “It would work too!”

  “Yes, it would work, but there’s just one problem.”

  “The animal containment door?” asked the petite redhead.

  “Exactly.”

  “I think you may have overlooked another problem,” the woman said thoughtfully.

  “The front gate?” he asked.

  “There’ll be a record of you arriving. If the animals disappear and they check the records, you’ll become a suspect.”

  “I’ll become a suspect anyway, just because I have access to the lab,” he stated, but then he added, “You know that the product production facility is on property adjacent to the headquarters building, and that property doesn’t maintain a fence or an elaborate security system.”

  “Right. You’ve mentioned that in the past.”

  “There’s a small gate for pedestrian traffic. Supervisors use it to get from the production plant to the headquarters building for meetings with management. There are no cameras, and the gate uses the same card keys as the entrances,” George explained.