Then Kris remembered the alien mother ship in her sights.
Nope. Brother might not have it easier, but he did have it safer.
Kris turned more of her attention back to the screen. It had just mentioned that there would be a test after the show. It would be a shame to find she couldn’t storm the castle, er, Longknife Tower, because she flunked a new-hire-benefits-package test.
Video done, they were handed a test. A paper test! It took Kris and company all of a minute to select the proper answers from the ten multiple-choice questions.
The brunette glanced at Kris’s paper for all of a second and gave her a hundred percent. Penny and Jack were smart enough to get one wrong, and somehow managed to pick a different question, so there was no question about cheating.
The other two were still laboring over the test as Kris and her team left.
An older ex-military type with two railroad bars on his collar was waiting for them. “Always nice to see fresh meat. You three are joining security, the only reason the rest of these slobs get paid. Follow me.”
They followed as he led them through a rats’ maze of cubicles. Most had techs watching screens. “These folks make sure that if you screw up, we know it. They watch everything you do, so make sure you’re doing what we pay you for and nothing else. You hear me?”
Yes, sir, Kris almost replied in proper military voice, but she caught herself, and mumbled “Yeah,” along with the others.
“Did you hear me?”
“We heard you,” Penny snapped. “You’re watching our every move. So how’s that different from my last burger-flipping job?”
“Here, my young, mouthy girl, we got people with guns backing you up. You make a mistake, and one of them might just shoot you. You hear me?”
Kris nodded like a bobblehead doll. Jack grumbled “yeah,” and Penny got big eyes and kind of shrank into herself.
Kris was ready to put her whole team in for acting awards.
NELLY, HOW WE DOING?
KRIS, I GOT HIS COMPUTER CERTIFICATE AND ALL HIS SECURITY CODES. HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT KIND OF TROUBLE HE’S GOING TO BE IN BEFORE THIS NIGHT IS OVER.
GOOD GIRL.
The next stop was uniform issue. Bins along the wall offered a selection that ran from too small to too large, with not much in between. Fortunately for Kris, too large was just what she needed.
Unfortunately, women sizes quit about two short of what would fit her.
“Why don’t you try something from the men’s side,” the captain suggested. “With that face, it’s about as close to anything man-wise you’re likely to get.”
With that snide remark, Jack offered her something from the bin he’d chosen from.
“What do we do about purses?” Kris asked.
“We don’t issue no purses.”
“What’s a woman supposed to do for her things?” Kris asked.
“Deary, lipstick is not going to help you.”
Kris tried to look like she was struggling to keep her temper. It was easy. She was. “Where am I supposed to keep my sanitary napkins and other stuff I need for my feminine needs.”
The captain suddenly looked a lot less sure of himself. “It that time, huh?”
“For me, too,” Penny added.
“What is it with you two? You shacked up together?”
“We don’t have to answer that question,” Penny snapped. “We can sue you if you make us.”
“Woman, you got an attitude problem,” the captain growled. “I ought to show you the door just for that crack.”
“Calm down, Penny,” Kris said, with pleading in her voice. “We need this job. Jack, you, me. We really need the pay.”
The captain really liked that comeback.
“Go change. Your shift starts in ten minutes, and I still got to get you there.”
Kris and company rushed off to change. As expected, there were cameras in the four corners of the ladies’ locker room. Kris gave one of them a smile. In her present disguise, any guy watching likely barfed up his lunch.
The uniform was tight where Kris normally didn’t have anything, but with the layers of disguise, she no longer could pass for a boy. Since she didn’t intend to spend a lot of time in it, she met her problem with a shrug. Their guns and several plastic flash bangs stayed comfortably nestled in both women’s bags, right under the feminine necessities that provided cover.
Unknown until the necessary moment, said feminine necessities were explosives with fuses.
Kris came out of the changing room looking as womanly as she could, struggling to make her uniform fit decently. That drew a grin from the captain. “Go through the metal detector and put your bags through the bomb sniffer.”
Kris did as ordered, and no alarms went off. She had to wonder how Grampa Al managed to stay so secure. It couldn’t be this security team.
The captain loaded all three of them into an oversize golf cart; Jack managed to take the front seat next to their putative boss. The ride was short. As foretold, their job was at the loading dock in the back of the tower. Here they were introduced to a hard case with a shaved head who wore corporal stripes.
“More fresh meat for you, Hanson,” the captain announced. “Don’t eat them all up tonight. Save some for tomorrow,” drew a laugh from the two with rank.
Kris tried to look scared while considering just how many ways she could lay the two of them out flat on their backs while they wondered what happened. Sadly, the situation didn’t allow for that, nor could she even permit herself a tiny smile of enjoyment at the thought.
The corporal got right to work messing with Kris’s life. A trash truck was just pulling away from a dock. Kris got the job of crawling under it to make sure no one was riding out. The only good thing about the assignment was that they had a board on wheels so Kris could just lie on her back and look up at the smelly and oily underside of the truck. No one lurked there, and the very basic electronic sensor Kris was given reported no activity from any bugs.
Nelly made sure of that.
THOUGH I DIDN’T HAVE TO, KRIS. THAT TRUCK IS A DEAD ZONE.
JUST BE GLAD YOU CAN’T SMELL, GIRL.
Jack offered Kris a hand up, but the corporal told her to stay down. A second truck was already headed their way. This one was full of shredded paper and plastic flimsies. It was just as filthy underneath but less smelly. Kris did her job.
And did it again when a truck that had brought in office equipment came through. It seemed like everything was leaving at that time of night.
That truck offered something different. Kris found an electronic bug nestled in among the four back-tire wells. That brought a visit from the captain and a team of bug hunters. They turned up two more bugs stuck inside the back of the van.
The driver and van got hustled away for further investigation, and the corporal got an attaboy and talk of a cash award. Kris and her crew, who had found the initial lead, got not even a nod.
“I guess that’s what it’s like to work around here,” Penny whispered.
That got her a scowl from the corporal, and further conversation wilted. The garbage truck brought the Dumpster back, and Kris got to go over its underside again. The corporal insisted she do it twice. By the time Jack helped her to her feet, even he admitted she’d taken on a certain air.
By now it was eleven, and traffic seemed to vanish as if it had been turned off at a switch. The corporal retreated to the loading dock and settled down behind a tiny desk. He pulled out a girly magazine and began to flip through it. Every once in a while, he’d glance up at Kris or Penny and shake his head.