Tasìa turned to face the elevator keypad but the selection had already been green lighted before she touched it. The elevator went to the third floor, ignoring Tasìa's attempts to change its route.

Once she arrived, the door parted to an open area where personnel worked in a maze made of desks and dividers.

She scanned the walls for directional signs that would inform her where security station 2HH was located. It was on the back end where a set of hallways began. That gave her an opportunity to search for the service ducts on her way to the station.

In her earlier survey of the first floor she discovered that at two adjacent locations the service ducts reached upward to the second floor. She made her way towards the corridor where she expected one of the ducts to emerge out from the floor beneath.

Once she reached one of them, Tasìa bit her lip as she considered the hard truth revealed in the tightly folded metal structure that encompassed the duct container as it stretched to the ceiling in front of her. Any means of opening it would require power tools that were most likely secured in a backroom janitor's closet.

If that turned out to be the case, could she ignore the directive altogether?

Zip through the ducts, get her data, and find a way out before the guards had a chance to shut everything down when she didn't show up to Station 2HH?

Tasìa decided that would be her best shot. She would have to ditch the ID badge first. A simple visual inspection revealed that it was chipped with a locator.

As Tasìa glanced around for a niche to toss it, she heard a pair of boots whose bearer was trying to be silent behind her.

Those plans Tasìa was in the midst of cooking up were immediately squelched.

"Ms. Donada, come this way," were the words that came out of a firm but feminine voice behind her.

The guard who said them strolled on passed Tasìa. She caught sight of a beautiful blue tinted chrome BrttrA Qasi Non-Lethal revolver that swung like a cowboy's big iron along the arch of the guard's hip.

Putting the flashy distraction aside, Tasìa focused on her immediate concern and realized that it was odd that the guards still referred to her as 'Donada.' Was her cover not blown as soon as she stepped on the elevator?

No. It wasn't.

She was still called Donada at that moment by the man over the intercom as well so her being caught with a stolen identity was not what this was about then.

The double door to Station 2HH opened up and the guard escorted her on pass the foyer. A long, thin young woman who manned the hub desk eyed Tasìa with nervous curiosity.

She was reacting to Leeza Donada's infamy, Tasìa realized.

Something was going on, and damn if she didn't walk blindly into the middle of it!

The guard that escorted Tasìa smiled curtly to the hub station attendant as to tell the junior officer to mind her own business.

The guard opened a door into an office suite and with a hand gesture invited Tasìa to step in first.

Like Tasìa, the guard was petite and slender in her figure. In spite of the bravado on display when dealing with her subordinate, the guard could not meet Tasìa's eyes.

She was hiding the contempt she felt for Leeza Donada.

Exasperated with her dumb luck, Tasìa asked herself, What the hell did that woman do?

Tasìa recalled the worried look Leeza had on her face as she drove into the parking garage. She was expecting trouble.

"Please take a seat."

The woman proffered a hand she waved at the empty chair, beside which a second chair propped up a cardboard box. The top of the box was sealed with the flaps folded over one another.

Oh . . .

Tasìa had never worked corporate in her entire life but she knew what was coming.

"Ms. Donada, I regret to inform you that your employment with VEAA Amenity Services has now been terminated for cause and that I have been assured needs not be explained as you are well aware of the circumstances that got you here.

"I have all of your personal effects packed and undamaged here in this box. If you have any questions, I'm afraid I am not the one to ask. Not to be impolite but I am not privy to the confidential matters that have been decided within our legal department.

"It is my task to get you signed out as efficiently as possible so we can get this uncomfortable process over and done with. I am sure you would agree that is best for everyone?"

The guard looked up as the silence intensified. Tasìa had took note of the woman's badge - Elle Camino. Tasìa tried to stifle a chuckle as she nodded along to Elle Camino's question.

"You are taking this pretty well, considering the circumstances," the guard commented.

Tasìa shifted low in her chair. She was feeling quite juvenile at the moment.

"I just noticed your name."

Elle Camino let herself smile as if relieved to let down her pose of professional formality.

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"Oh . . . that. We've passed one another many times over the last year. How could you have possibly missed it?"

"Well, yeah, but I never made the connection. El Camino."

The guard chuckled, softly.

"I actually own one. My husband thought it a cute coincidence so he put into that notion a small fortune to get a car running that had been discontinued over eighty years ago as a gift for my birthday. Oh, well. Nevertheless, it is a fun drive."

They both were silent for a moment. Did Tasìa really pass for Big Booty Leeza?

It must be the jacket. And the aloof culture at the HQ, at least on the night shift.

"Well then, if that is all," Sergeant Camino continued, "let me have you sign a few papers and we will be on our way."

Sgt. Camino shuffled through physical copies of paperwork. Her lips puckered into a frown.

"Hey, Hector. Where is Donada's SD-4 form?"

Tasìa froze up when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She had not noticed the pudgy guy sitting in a nearby cubicle until he swiveled his upper body just then.

Great situational awareness there, master thief, Tasìa reproached herself.

It appeared to pain the man greatly to merely turn around and face his boss.

"Legal hasn't sent it up yet. I was told to expect it any minute now. But that was an hour ago."

Sergeant Camino let out a huff of air that brushed through her curly bangs. Her left hand then reached to grip a tangle of it.

"Shit. I can't even blame you this time, Hector. Stay with Ms. Donada. I'm going upstairs to get this expedited."

She turned back to Tasìa.

"Don't worry. This won't take long, Ms. Donada."

Sergeant Camino headed out the door in a rush.

"Make yourself comfortable," Hector said. When Camino's booted shuffle down the corridor faded away, he continued, "It's going to be a while."

Tasìa eyed Sgt. Camino's work station with a great deal of scrutiny, taking into account anything she could exploit. Hector turned his back to her, back to what he was doing previously.

She considered how this venture going sideways might be turned to her advantage.

Perhaps she wouldn't need access to the servers to find transfer invoices if Sgt. Camino had access to traffic data.

A brown marble-surfaced palm size device caught Tasìa's eye. A secured control relay.

The officer had left the relay sitting on top of a nearby workstation desk beside a cleaning kit for a BrttrA Qasi.

Damn. It doesn't get any easier than this!

Tasìa brought her tin foil wrapped PalmEx Personnel Assistant out from where she stashed it in the inside pocket of Leeza's jacket.

It sounded like she was unwrapping a candy bar from its foil when she cracked open the crystallized fingernail polish over a trash can as quietly as she could.

When Tasìa dug the tips of her fingers into a piece of tin foil, the polish slipped off in chunks.

With the PalmEx freed from the package, she pressed the start button, and the PA was booted up and back in operation in twenty seconds.

She pinged the relay Sgt. Comino left on the table and access to the workstation was granted. Tasìa slipped a thirty-two terabyte flashdrive into the PalmEx.

She typed out a request for ninety minutes of air traffic data beginning at 7:45 p.m, earlier in the evening

A mere twelve terabyte sector glowed in the visual display console. Tasìa wasn't familiar with the format, it definitely was not an emacs derived variant but instead, it reminded her of Hungarian hacker stylistic oddities.

All she could gather in her understanding at a glance was eighty-nine percent of the storage was uncorrupted, and the corrupted storage formed a spiral pattern down into the holographic cells.

Tasìa would worry about what that meant later when she had time to study it. No lying to herself though, she was reminded of the virtual interactive incident by the nature of what she was scrutinizing, and that made her anxious.

What kind of hoodoo bullshit is Elise doing in her ops now that Birddog is gone?

She vigorously shook her head.

No time for this!

She set the data transfer in motion and it began to load with a seven minute and thirty-seven second ETA on the download completion. She doubted if Camino would get back before the transfer finished, and before Tasìa executed a proper cover-up of her digital tracks.

She took the cakes of fingernail polish out from the trash can, and covered them in the soil of an office plant.

The tinfoil, she folded up and hid in the cushion of the spare seat with the box of Leeza Donada's effects. Tasìa set back down after dispensing with the polish.

She sat back down and got comfortable as not to arouse any suspicion. Though no one paid her any attention they could peak through a wide glass window if they chose to do so.

All that was left for her to do now was to wait and not attract Hector's attention.

Unfortunately, what Tasìa did not know was she already had attracted Hector's attention on her entrance into the tunnel access.

He was her hypothetical strut watcher.

At that moment, as her download ETA went to four minutes and forty-five seconds, he chuckled.

"So what are you looking for, data on that shootout and the truck collision from earlier?"

Tasìa was genuinely surprised. It took a solid second for her to recover, and she still didn't get her sense of articulation completely back up to spec.

"So, you know? Like, what now?"

Hector made the effort to turn around. He grinned wide. On anyone else, Tasìa would have called it a lecherous grin but it really wasn't. It was the grin of a merry prankster.

"Lady. Do I look like someone who gives a shit? I didn't even give a shit you're not Leeza Donada."

Tasìa shook her head.

"What gave it away. My itty bitty rump?"

To that Hector belched out a hearty laugh.

"I knew Leeza had been fired and I wanted to see those puppies bounce down that tunnel corridor one last time. So I checked out the video, saw that crowd gathered around the hemi busted Mercedes, and then I saw you discretely going around them. There you were, you covered yourself up in Leeza's jacket and wore her name tag."

Tasìa tried to make eye contact but Hector wasn't having any of that. He rolled his eyes away from her inspection.

She pressed on.

"But you didn't say anything to Camino about what you saw?"

Hector grinned, mischievously as his chair squeaked beneath him.

"Hell no! Where is the fun in that? Would we be here having this conversation if I had the bat boys grab you?"

"Bat boys?"

"Our home team goon squad with particular expertise in the use of stun batons."

This time, he made an effort at eye contact as he continued speaking. "So what is going on with you? Let me guess. You with media? And knowing Leeza's dire straights, you bribed her to get her ID and employee info to have a look around, right?"

Relieved Hector had not made the connection between herself and her Tereza legend, Tasìa shook her head.

"Nah. I'm an operative. Looking for my vehicle, it got lost in the shuffle."

Hector lifted his head and smiled.

"Ah! The hoverlift matter. Lawyers upstairs in traffic were talking about that."

Tasìa wasn't sure if this was the same matter as her Alfa Romeo HybrClydis being confiscated. In fact she began to think it wasn't as he mentioned the shootout but she decided to play along.

"Really?"

Hector nodded, affirmatively. It obviously delighted him to be the man in the know.

"They were debating whether your party in this - I assume that it's your guy, General Sol - should be informed of what we have on camera footage.

"Ultimately, legal decided that it would be undue interference without a formal request of inquiry made. Sol did just that and now they are debating the extent of what they reveal to him."

Tasìa nodded along, confirming he was mostly on the right track.

"So, that is why the form wasn't sent, bigger matters to handle?"

"Exactly," Hector scribbled something down on a piece of paper and handed it to her. "Look, I'm not in the business of extorting high tier operatives but if you ever feel you want to make a contribution, I will not complain."

Tasìa glanced at it. Scribbled on the slip of paper was an account number, to which, Tasìa was not surprised.

She nodded once more. Bribery was often the most useful means to accomplish any goal.

"We can certainly come to some arrangement."