The Misadventures of Mystery Investigators, Inc. (Duskwood Short Stories)

Infiltrator Part 1

MC walked into the large, spacious lobby carrying a large cardboard box, holding her head low so the baseball cap on her head would cover her eyes from the cameras as she entered. The first thing she noticed was the ostentatious use of marble. The floor, walls, reception desk, even the benches for waiting visitors were all marble. She contemplated ditching her plan of getting upstairs and instead just faking a fall and injuring her back instead, then suing the corporation for an obscene amount of money for their hazardous use of marble instead. Maybe the client would be happy with a generous payout instead. Then again, to make it stick she would actually have to be injured to some degree, and someone would absolutely lose his mind if she went that far. No, she had to stick to her plan of sneaking upstairs to their highest levels and find their most sensitive secrets. Somehow.

"How can I help you? Is that a delivery? I can take that for you," the female receptionist reached for the carton in MC's hands.

"Ah, no ma'am. I'm under strict orders on this one. It must be delivered to the big guy upstairs, and only him," MC smirked confidently, then pointed to the top of the box. "See? Says 'Sens-i-tive'."

"I'm afraid that's just not possible. We'll take it to him and make sure no one else sees the contents of the package," the receptionist frowned. MC could tell she wasn't buying her excuse.

"But I could get fired for it!" MC raised her voice. "Please, my boss will have my head if I just hand it to the downstairs reception!"

The receptionist glanced over at the large, male security guard who was now walking over, "And my boss will have my head if I let you upstairs."

"Is everything ok here, Marcy?" the security guard rested his elbow on the reception desk next to MC.

"Yes, we're ok here, Ralph," Marcy waved her hand.

"I have a super sensitive, top secret, for the boss' eyes only package here. I must deliver it upstairs," MC pushed.

"Uh-huh," Ralph raised his eyebrow. "I'll tell you what - I have a super sensitive, top secret, machine with X-ray eyes here," he gestured to the security gate before the elevators. "Why don't we let the machine decide?"

"And if it passes, you'll let me up?" MC questioned.

"No, your package will be allowed up," he shook his head in disbelief.

While they were talking, the internal phone on the desk rang and Marcy answered it. "Yes, sir? Ah, yes, it is. Are you sure? Ok, I'll send her up." Marcy turned her attention back to Ralph. "Um, he said to let her up."

"What? Really?" the guard did a double take.

Marcy shrugged, "He's been expecting this package."

It was MC's turn to do a double take. Surely the target had no idea she was there. Hell, he didn't even know she was there. Because if he had known, he would've tried to stop her. He told her to wait, but waiting was taking too long. She couldn't wait any longer, not when she knew the information they needed was right there.

"So I can go then?" MC's voice squeaked as it got caught in her throat.

"After you are cleared by us," Ralph frowned and motioned for her to head to the security checkpoint.

MC nervously put the carton down on the conveyor belt, feeling all eyes on her. She had nothing to worry about though, the box was full of random irrelevant papers and files, most of them blank. There was nothing that would concern security. She watched as the carton moved up the conveyor belt and into screening before stepping forwards to go through the metal detector herself.