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After she set off the alarm for a second time, and the guard used the electronic wand to try and work out what was going on, she was waved to the side.
“Ma’am, would you open your handbag for me?” a plump female guard asked, as other office workers made their way through the checkpoint. Gracie hid her grimace. Damn Klarov and his insistence that she take a weapon. Now she was going to get caught with a taser!
Plus she had a few other gadgets in her bag that were made of metal.
“No problem,” Gracie said breezily.
But, of course, Klarov’s taser was sitting right at the top of her bag, impossible to miss.
“Is this a taser? Ma’am, I’m afraid you’re not allowed to have this in the building.”
“Oh! I didn’t know that!” Gracie said, sounding surprised.
The guard gave her a bored look, “Yeah, well, you can leave it down here and collect it at the end of the day.”
“Really?” Gracie asked, genuinely surprised this time.
“Uh-huh, I’ll give you a receipt for it, and you can collect it from the help desk later,” the woman said, not looking at Gracie as she got out a pad and started writing up Gracie’s receipt.
Through the checkpoint, with her receipt clutched in her hand, Gracie went through the lobby to the bank of elevators. The older woman who’d pushed her through the crowd was waiting for her there.
“Hey, I saw they took your…toy. That sucks. They took mine last year too when they first started doing this.”
“I just wish I’d known there was going to be security like this,” Gracie said, noticing the way the woman leaned toward her, eager to chat.
“See,” the woman opened up her handbag, lifting it slightly so that Gracie could see inside. “That’s why this is the better choice.”
In the main compartment of her purse, tucked snugly next to her wallet, was a small plastic canister of pepper spray.
“It gets through the metal detector,” the woman said slyly, winking at Gracie. “When they first started doing this I was worried I wouldn’t be able to have anything to defend myself with and, you know, the parking lot isn’t lit at night. It’s dangerous, and a woman should always feel safe!”
"They do this every day?" Gracie asked. That was the type of detail that should have been written in bold text right on the opening page of the assignment folder. Clearly, even Klarov hadn't known that the building had this kind of security, or he wouldn't have insisted she bring the taser in the first place.
"No, it's supposed to be a random spot check. Usually, they do this once a month and everyone is twenty minutes late to work."
“Usually?” Gracie asked quickly, catching the wording.
“Well,” she cocked her head as she considered Gracie’s question, just as the doors of the elevator in front of them opened and they both got in. A few others had got through the metal detector and got in with them. “They did their usual check last week. It is kind of odd to have another one so soon.”
Gracie doubted it was a coincidence that on her first-day undercover there was an extra security check. She was not a believer in coincidences.
“Let’s hope they don’t have it again tomorrow,” Gracie said as the elevator got to the third floor and both women got out. There was a large set of double doors just down the corridor and nothing else on this floor. The bright logo of Attitude magazine was painted across the doors.
“You’re headed to Attitude too?” the woman asked, frowning slightly.
“Yeah, it’s my first day actually. I’m the new PA.”
“Oh. Oh! How nice,” she stuck her hand out for Gracie to shake, “I’m Laura Thibault, I’m on Features and Letters.”
“Greta Jones.”
“Do you have your ID card to get in yet?”
Gracie fished the card that Klarov had given her out of her pocket.
“Great, you have to swipe it over here and then...” The heavy doors clicked, and one swung open a few inches. Laura pushed the door the rest of the way open. “There’s a buzzer next to the door if you ever lose your keycard. Betty here will come and help you. Have a good first day!”
“Thanks,” Gracie said, as Laura smiled goodbye. The receptionist, Betty, was a young woman with an undercut shaved into the side of her long dark hair and a serious expression on her face. She had multiple tattoos on both of her arms, all of them simple black lines that didn’t seem to make any discernible shapes.
