Double Standards // ziam

Chapter 14

Zayn walked across the marble lobby the next morning, carefully balancing the box with Harry's birthday cake inside it as well as a gaily wrapped package that held the brown sweater. He felt relaxed and lighthearted, and he smiled as an elderly man wearing a brown suit stepped back in the elevator to give him more room.

The elevator stopped on the thirtieth floor, and the doors opened. Zayn noted that directly across the hall was an office door bearing a nameplate that read, Global Industries Security Division.

"Excuse me," the man in the brown suit said. "This is my floor."

Zayn shifted to one side, and he maneuvered past him. He watched him walk across the hall to the security office.

The security divisions' primary function was to protect Global Industries' manufacturing facilities, particularly those outlying facilities throughout the country where actual research was under way, or where government contracts were involved. However, here at headquarters the security division mostly processed paperwork from the field. As director in Detroit Jack Collins felt rather bored, but his failing health and advancing age had forced him to leave the field and accept this desk job.

His assistant, an over-eager, round-faced young man named Rudy, was sitting with his feet propped up on his desk when Jack walked into the office. "What's up?" the younger man asked, hastily sitting up straight.

"Probably nothing." Jack slid his briefcase onto the desk and removed a file that was labeled "SECURITY INVESTIGATION REPORT/ZAYN J. MALIK/EMPLOYEE NO. 98753." Jack didn't particularly like Rudy, but part of his job before he retired was to train him. Reluctantly he explained, "I just got the report from an investigation we ran on a secretary in the building."

"A secretary?" Rudy sounded disappointed. "I didn't think we ran security checks on secretaries."

"Normally we don't. In this case he was assigned to a top priority, confidential project, and the computer automatically reclassified him and issued a security clearance request."

"So what's the problem?"

"The problem is that when the investigators in Missouri checked with his former employer, he said that he worked for him part-time for five years while he went to college. Not full time, as Weatherby at Pay-co assumed."

"So he lied on his application, right?" Rudy asked, becoming interested.

"Yes, but not about that. He didn't actually say he worked there full-time. The thing is, he lied and said he had never attended college. The Missouri investigators checked with the university, and he not only graduated, he also got a Master's degree."

"Why would he say he hadn't gone to college if he had?"

"That's one of the things that bothered me a little. I could understand if he said he'd gone to college when he actually hadn't. I'd presume he must have figured that a college degree would help him get hired."

"What are the other things that bother you?"

Jack glanced up at Rudy's rotund face, his avid eyes, and shrugged. "Nothing," he lied. "I just want to check him out for my own peace of mind. I have to go into the hospital for some tests this weekend, but on Monday I'll start working on it."

"How about letting me check him out while you're in the hospital?"

"If they decide to keep me in for more tests, I'll call you and tell you how to handle it."

***

"It's my birthday," Harry announced as Zayn walked into his office. "Normally a secretary brings a cake for his boss, but I don't suppose you've been here long enough to know that." He sounded a little dejected.