They both had the same thought simultaneously. But Joe voiced the concern first. “If we open this, and we are right, and it breaks, we could die.” His eyes carried his fear.
She tilted her head slightly and answered in a matter-of-fact tone. “Then let’s not break it, sweetie.” Her southern accent and casual demeanor relaxed him a little.
Helen reached down and unhooked the clasps that kept the box sealed. As she slowly opened the lid, a little cloud of mist escaped for a second. Joe looked up suddenly, worried they had already unleashed something. She shook her head, and continued to lift the lid. Inside were four, glass vials of clear liquid. Her thin, strong fingers wrapped around one of the tiny containers and started to pry it up out of its foam casing when a voice from the other end of the warehouse froze her in place.
“What’s going on over there?”
Joe’s face petrified, eyes wide. He eased his head slightly to the left to see beyond his wife. The man in the suit covered by a white lab coat stood at the other end of the aisle with a tablet device in his hand and a suspicious stare in his eyes. Joe only had a second to come up with an answer. So, he did the only thing he could think of. He told the truth, sort of.
“Something cut open this shipment, and one of the containers ended up on the floor.” He folded the knife with one hand and returned it to his pocked as he stood, hoping the man hadn’t noticed.
Helen looked up at him with a glare of death. “What are you doing?” she mouthed to him as she palmed the vial. She quickly closed the container and slipped it back into its place in the stack.
The man in the suit cocked his head sideways for a second as if contemplating whether or not he should check it out.
“The contents weren’t damaged,” Joe explained. “But we’re going to need to re-wrap this thing.” He hoped the suit would accept his explanation.
When the man started walking their direction, Joe felt his heart sink into his stomach. Helen stood up and spun around. He noticed the vial was no longer in her hand and wondered if she had put it back in the container.
“How did this happen?” the man asked pointedly. His nametag claimed he was Tom Thurmond.
Helen shrugged and answered. “We aren’t sure. Looks like one of the loaders may have cut the plastic on accident as it passed by. It’s kind of strange, though.” She remained cool while speaking to the threat.
Tom barely paid any attention to them or the tags that hung around their necks. Instead, he focused on the cut in the shipping plastic. He reached out a soft hand and ran his finger along the edge of the cut.
“It looks like something sharp did this.” He turned his attention back to Joe and Helen. “You didn’t see how it happened, though?”
They both shook their heads in tandem.
He looked back at the opening then surprised both of them by holding out his tablet for Joe to hold. Joe gave a quick nod and grabbed the device.
“Which one fell out?” he asked pulling back the packaging.
Helen pointed to the container, which the man immediately began to pry out with a high level of care.
“You’re sure none of the others fell out or were damaged?”
“That was the only one we saw,” she clarified.
The man set the container on top of the stack and cautiously unhooked the clasps. Joe watched with apprehension, wondering what he should do. Thoughts of hitting the guy over the back of the head and making a mad dash for the door ran through his head. But he knew that had almost no chance of working out.
Tom Thurmond lifted the lid, again revealing the thin fog that emanated from within the little box. A second later the four vials came into view, all in tact in the foam casing, and in perfect condition.
He lowered the top of the container and locked it back into place before stuffing it back in its place among the others.
“Looks like the contents are ok,” he said finally, taking his tablet back from Joe. “Glad you two noticed this,” he said in a stern but appreciative tone.
“Me too,” Joe said, trying to hide his relief.
“I will go ahead and alert the shipping department to fix this immediately before the send it out.” He began tapping the screen on his tablet and turned to walk away.
The man was half way down the aisle when Helen and Joe turned the other direction to get out as fast as they could. They’d only taken a few hurried steps when the man’s voice interrupted them again.
“Oh,” Tom yelled at them.
They halted instantly and spun around slowly, fearful their identities had come into question.
“Thanks for finding this.”
“No problem,” Joe offered with a right-hand salute while Helen just smiled and gave a nod.
He could feel his wife mentally grabbing his arm to get the heck out of there. The two spun around again and walked casually around the corner of the row of shipments. Once they were out of sight, their feet picked up to a more hurried pace. The other two workers in lab coats were out of sight, but they didn’t want to chance it. Joe hit the button to open the door to the sterilizing chamber and ushered his wife in.
“I’ll be right behind you.” He let the door close behind her and kept a careful eye on the man name Tom who was currently walking away from the anomaly in the shipping warehouse.
Joe noticed the robotic loaders had stopped moving about the time Helen had entered the cleansing chamber. He could hear the sound of the jet spray inside and couldn’t help himself from wishing it would go a little faster. He was about to check to see how much longer the thing had when he noticed the two other people in lab coats from earlier round the corner at the other end of the room. They were busily looking through some sheets and talking. But if Helen didn’t get out of the airlock soon, their identities might be compromised. Joe and his wife had been lucky to get away from Tom Thurmond. Joe didn’t feel like pressing his luck again.
The buzzer sounded from behind him, startling him to the point he almost jumped out of the coat. He whirled around and pressed on the button to open the automatic door. He saw the two people in the lab coats look up and see him enter the chamber, but a quick side glance told him they hadn’t paid him any mind and were back to chatting about something else.
What seemed like an hour, but was probably thirty seconds later, the other door to the airlock opened and he stepped out while taking off the lab coat. Helen was on the other side, already out of her costume and clearly ready to leave.
“What about the sample?” he mumbled as he shook off the lab coat, trying not to move his lips, wary of the camera in the corner.
“Let’s just get out of here,” she replied.
“But the sample. Millions of lives—”
“I said let’s go.”
He had heard that tone for a variety of reasons over the years. Joe knew when to fight a battle and when to let one go. This was one of those times where he had to surrender. He carelessly hung the coat on a hook and followed her down the hallway towards the front of the building.
A few tense moments later they arrived at the door where the guard was stationed at his desk. Helen pressed a button that would open the door, and the two walked through as casually as possible, desperately attempting not to look like they were trying to escape.
The young, muscular guard smiled at them as they eased by. They were nearly to the end of the hall when his voice echoed through the corridor, again freezing them in place.
“Hey stop,” the words sent a chill down Joe’s spine.
He imagined Helen was experiencing the same sensation, but to look at her face you couldn’t tell. They turned slowly, expecting to see the friendly security guard with a gun in one hand and a radio in the other. Instead, he had a clipboard and a pen as he slowly walked towards them.