“I thought you said that this part would be easy,” Liz scowled at me as soon as we were out of earshot of the guard, drumming her fingers anxiously on the sample case she carried on her shoulder.
“Well, it should have been. A bit of bad luck, is all,” I shrugged. “Besides, it turned out fine, didn’t it?”
We had run into more security than I had anticipated. It really did seem to have been complete chance, though. One guard I had expected, but the second just happened to be leaving the bathroom when we walked by, he was even still fastening his belt, and the third seemed to be just leaving the breakroom after having her lunch. But Liz had handled each exactly as I had hoped, with a wink and a few words she had convinced them that we were meant to be here, and that we were completely trustworthy. They had even smiled and wished us a good day when they left. And we seemed to finally be in the clear, now. The door to the principal investigator’s office was just up on the right and the hallway was empty.
“Yeah, I am just thinking that this is perhaps a bad sign for us, is all,” Liz sighed. “I mean, as much as we try to plan for all contingencies, luck still does play a significant role in all of this. For example, you are about to open that office door and see if there is a key hanging on a peg, and at this point, I am not feeling great about our odds.”
“Well, you should probably save your worrying for later because whatever happens here, this is still the easy part. Especially for you.”
Liz snorted.
“You know, I think I am starting to finally understand,” she mused. “You actually enjoy this, don’t you? Flirting with death the all the time.”
“I won’t lie and say that I don’t,” I shrugged. “That is why I usually work alone. I don’t want to impose those risks on others. But yes, when it’s just me, I doubt anything is a better rush.”
“You work alone because otherwise the life and death struggles aren’t as much fun for you?” Liz raised an eyebrow.
“Exactly,” I laughed. “So, try not to get yourself killed, because it will really sap the joy out of this, for me.”
“I’ll do my level best,” Liz deadpanned.
We both fell silent as we reached the office. Pausing, I rapped on the door and waited for a response. None was forthcoming. I met her eyes and Liz nodded, so I reached out and tried the door handle. It was unlocked.
“See, we’re in luck after all,” I grinned.
“That definitely jinxed it,” Liz grumbled.
“Since when are you so superstitious?” I waited for her to enter and closed the door behind us.
“A little superstition never hurts. You see?” she gestured at the wall.
I sighed and looked where she was pointing. A hook hung next to the door, clearly intended for a key, but it was equally clearly empty.
“Well, let’s not jump to conclusions. We are already here, so let’s make sure it wasn’t just left on the desk, or a shelf,” I crossed to the bookshelf and Liz moved to the desk in the centre of the room.
The office was impeccably tidy, and everything seemed to occupy a carefully assigned place, so I wasn’t holding out much hope, but it would be pretty stupid to have to come back here if we got to the lab and it was empty. I skimmed the shelves, looking for anything out of place, but saw only books, family photos and several framed degrees inscribed with the name ‘Jean Hoffman.’ Well, at least I knew we had the right office.
“You ever want to feel like an underachiever?” I asked, checking behind the frames for any hidden keys. “Our target certainly has a lot of letters after her name.”
“What, you don’t have a PhD?” Liz smirked.
“Nope. But I think she has you beat, too. PhDs in both Pharmacology and Medical Science, and a MD on top of it.”
“Impressive. Sounds like a very focused, driven woman who would be difficult to distract from her work,” she gave me a pointed look.
“Perhaps. If that is true, then just let me handle it.”
“Try not to give her brain damage, huh? It sounds like she might be doing important work.”
“I try not to give anyone brain damage, even if they don’t seem especially important.”
“Fair enough. There is nothing here, we should keep moving. If we are gone too long, someone is going to notice.”
“You’re right. Let’s move to our second location, then. I must say, I am looking forward to meeting the good doctor.”
We paused at the door, waiting for footsteps in the hallway to fade away before slipping back out of the office and heading down the corridor. Liz used her ‘borrowed’ card to swipe into the laboratory section of the building, and we followed the signs down past a series of empty rooms. Everyone seemed to be at lunch, which was a good sign. The only room with the lights on was the one we were now approaching, the main research lab that connected directly to the chemical storage room. Once we were in, all we had to do was pack the vials of chemical up in Liz’s sample case and return to the meeting. Of course, a lot of that depended on Dr. Jean Hoffman. Liz had made her concerns clear. Not everyone was susceptible to ubarae influence, obviously, and even those that were, weren’t all susceptible to the same degree. But we would cross that bridge when we got to it. Reaching the door to the lab, I saw that our information was correct. The door was clearly not accessed by the swipe card system, instead it had an old-fashioned lock that need a physical key to open. I carefully tested the handle, but the lock was engaged. Well then, only one thing to do. I raised my hand and knocked sharply on the door.
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I heard a muffled curse and peered through the window to see a middle-aged woman in a lab coat approaching the door. She had an irritated look on her face and her greying blond hair was tied back tightly in a bun.
“What do you want?” she barked, immediately upon opening the door. “I informed everyone that I was not to be disturbed. This experiment is at a critical stage. Get out.”
Without waiting for a response, she turned around and stormed back into the lab. I caught the door before it swung shut and gestured for Liz to follow me in.
“I’m sorry, what are you doing?” Dr. Hoffman turned in surprise, noticing us now standing in her lab. “You aren’t allowed to be in here. I am going to call security.”
She reached for the phone on the wall.
“You don’t need to do that,” Liz attempted to sound non-threatening. “I am sorry if we were too forward. It’s just… I am such a fan of your work, and when you weren’t at the presentation, we were told if we came by here, we could maybe speak with you for just a moment. I really do apologize for being a bother, but I have been so looking forward to meeting you.”
Hoffman narrowed her eyes, unsure of what to make of that. As she focused on Liz, I slowly moved further into the room, behind her and out of sight.
“Presentation? Wait are you with that lab supply company?”
“Yes!” Liz offered her hand. “I’m…”
“This is absurd,” Hoffman interrupted her introduction. “This is supposed to be a secure facility. Who told you that you could just wander around, unescorted? And how did you even access this wing? I am going to be speaking to your superiors. I want their names, because at least one person is going to be fired for this.”
Fortunately, Hoffman seemed more angry than concerned. A person used to having people do as she said, and especially as she yelled. Someone less confident would probably have been at least a bit afraid that two unknown intruders might be dangerous, but that thought didn’t seem to have even crossed her mind. The fact that we were both women probably didn’t hurt, either.
“Hey, hey, there is no need for that,” Liz raised her hands, placatingly. “I’m sorry that we disturbed you, we will just be on our way.”
“Oh no, you will stay right here until security arrives and then they will escort you and your whole party out of here, immediately. We certainly won’t be doing business with any company run in such a slipshod manner. Be glad it’s not worth my time to call the police. Honestly, this is the most ridiculous breach of…” she pushed Liz aside and grabbed for the phone as she ranted.
“Well, we tried,” I shrugged.
Before she could dial, stepped forward and grabbed her from behind, wrapping my arm around her neck and pulling her backward. I tightened my elbow on her throat just enough that she couldn’t scream. At least not loudly enough for anyone to hear. She struggled, of course, but with the ferocity of a middle-aged research scientist, so it was fairly manageable.
“Ok, we are on to plan B, get the tape,” I instructed.
Liz set down her sample bag, opened it and pulled out a roll of duct tape and a handkerchief.
“What are you going to do to me?” Hoffman croaked, afraid for the first time since we arrived.
“Relax, we aren’t going to hurt you. We just need to borrow something for a bit, and since you don’t seem keen to lend it, this is how it has to be. Just stop struggling and this will go a lot easier on you,” I advised.
I’m not sure why I bothered, people never listened when I said that. She tried to bite me, so I had to tighten my arm, forcing her chin up. She made a rasping, strangled gasp that I think was an attempt to say something.
“Look, I warned you.” I turned to Liz. “Start with her mouth, ok?”
Liz deftly stuffed the handkerchief between her teeth and slapped the tape over it, before she could spit it out. That taken care of, I eased my grip a bit and moved to let her tape the doctor’s wrists and ankles.
“You made sure to leave her nose uncovered, right?” I asked.
We didn’t need her suffocating in here.
“Please. I know what I am doing,” Liz scoffed.
“Alright, no offense meant,” I replied. “Grab her legs and help me carry her to the back, behind one of those benches.”
Once the doctor was safely relocated out of sight of the door, I rifled her pockets and retrieved her key ring, which I tossed to Liz.
“Ok, go find what we need while I secure her,” I was careful not to be too specific, it was important that Hoffman not get too much information directly from us. They would figure it out, of course, but the longer it took them to determine exactly what we were here for, the better.
Liz nodded and disappeared. While she was gone, I busied myself taping the doctor to the floor, Gulliver’s Travels style. It wouldn’t hold forever, but it should buy us enough time. I wanted her to be able to get free and call for help eventually, after all. Just in case no one noticed she was missing for awhile. Considering how much she seemed to dislike being interrupted, that was a real risk. Dr. Hoffman didn’t seem like the type of boss it was wise to displease. She seemed very quick to threaten people’s jobs, for one. Though, she had been correct in this case; there were a bunch of people who should probably be fired over this. The security here was really more for show than anything. By the time I was finished securing her, Liz had emerged from the storage room, holding her sample case carefully to her chest.
“Ready to go?” she asked.
“Yeah, leave the keys on the bench there. We won’t need them.”
Liz grabbed a paper towel and wiped them off carefully before dropping them on the counter. She was still wearing the gloves we had each donned earlier, but I appreciated her caution all the same. You can never be too careful with fingerprints, after all. We left Dr. Hoffman struggling on the floor and slipped out of the room, closing the door behind us.
“Shame she wasn’t interested in you,” I noted as we strolled casually back in the direction we had come. “It would have made things easier.”
“Oh, she was interested,” the succubus replied. “But I warned you, some people are not prone to instant infatuation. I probably could have won her over, but I would have needed more time, and probably a less fraught situation. She had her back up from the moment we arrived, which did not help at all. This was always a possibility.”
“I know. Still, you did serve as an excellent distraction, while I got into position. It wasn’t as… peaceful, as I hoped it would be. But it still worked out. Assuming you got what we needed?”
“Of course I did. But there were only 10 vials in there, so hopefully that is enough.”
“It’ll have to be. Now, I think maybe we need to make a small adjustment to our plans. Someone could walk in and find her tied up at any moment. So, we should probably expedite our departure. What do you think?”
“I think we should get the hell out of here. Now.”
“Then we’re agreed. Alright, follow me and we will wrap up plan B.”