Page 46 of Chosen Beta

Pete

There’s nothing shadier than a basement level security office, and I know that’s where we’re headed before Lana leans forward and presses the button at the end of the row of numbers.

“How often have you been to this office?”

“I don’t know,” she admits. “I used to run the reception desk, so I brought mail down here every other day, for years.”

“How ‘bout since you started running this place?”

“This would be my first time coming down here since then, but that’s only because we’ve been short-staffed. We had a lot of walkouts when I took over and people realized I was going to make changes.”

“Did you check how the guys who stayed felt about that?”

“I did, and they seemed pretty glad to be rid of the guys who left. I didn’t know too many of them, but there were a couple of real creeps who walked. I can’t say I was sad about that.”

“So, you’re happy with who you’ve got left.”

“They seem like good guys to me.”

She shrugs as the elevator stops.

The doors open on a dimly lit corridor.

Shady as hell.

Keeping the security office down here only serves to cut it off completely from the rest of the building. It makes it easy for whoever’s in charge to do whatever the fuck they want.

“What else is down here?” I ask, as I follow Lana into the corridor.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what are all these other rooms for, exactly?”

I point out the rooms we’re passing. Closed doors that might be locked.

“Oh,” she murmurs. “Um, we used to store cleaning supplies down here, but we moved that closet upstairs a while back. It’s just security down here now.”

And security have a camera above the elevator, so they know we’re on our way.

“You should move the security office upstairs too.”

“I guess I could do that. This is it.”

She stops at the last door in the corridor, the one furthest away from the elevator.

The guy inside has had a couple minutes to prepare for our arrival.

He opens the door before Lana gets a chance to knock.

“Hey,” he greets her, with a fake smile.

Hello, suspect number one.

He doesn’t even glance at me.

His attention stays on her.

“What can I do for you, Ms. Cole?”

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