* * * * *
I heard the door open and hoped it was Marti.? I felt vulnerable just standing around and was getting antsy to get moving.? With only one way in and one way out, this room didn't leave me with a lot of options.? Carefully peeking around the corner of the package boiler, with one hand on my weapon, I was relieved to see it was her, though I couldn't help noticing how upset she looked.? I stepped out from behind the boiler and headed over to her.? As she saw me, she appeared to relax.?
"Hey, Marti!" She was obviously uneasy about something.? "What's wrong?" I asked as I approached her.?
"A security officer just stopped me.? I'm not sure I handled it well and I don't know if he believed me that I was just out doing a tour at this time of night, but it was all I could think of."
She said all this in a rush, speaking quickly.? I reached out and put my hand on her shoulder to calm her down, which stopped her from talking.? I could feel her trembling slightly.? I assumed it was from her encounter with the security officer.?
"I'm sure you did just fine."
More slowly this time, Marti said, "I guess I'm a bit flustered because he touched me inappropriately.? He took hold of my badge to look at it."? She looked down at her chest as she said this.
I, too, looked down and notice where the badge was resting on her blouse.? To take hold of it would result in some contact with her.? I tried not to show any emotion.
"He was probably just trying to intimidate you," I told her, hoping to calm her down.
"Well, if that was his intent, it worked!"
I found myself starting to feel protective of Marti. Perhaps her slight build had something to do with it.? My first thought was that I'd have to have a short discussion with that security officer.? It would be a discussion he would not enjoy in the least.? But then I checked myself and said, "Hey, Old Man, come on over here and meet Marti."
As the Old Man walked out from behind the boiler, Marti almost jumped at seeing another person in the room with me.? She was clearly on edge.
"Hi Marti!? Nice to meet you," the Old Man said with a smile as he extended his hand to her.?
I could tell she wasn't sure about what to do as she tentatively reached for his hand to return the gesture.? She gripped his hand lightly but didn't actually shake it.? She looked at him as if studying him, trying to find what made him look familiar to her.??
Then it was like she came back to reality and remembered this was a secure nuclear power plant . . . or supposed to be anyway.? She looked at the Old Man now as if inspecting him.? She knew me but she didn't know him.? I assumed she was looking to see if either of us has a security badge or a thermo-luminescent dosimeter, or TLD.?
"Who are you, and how'd you get in here?"?
"Hey, we're the good guys," the Old Man said.? "We're friends of Prichard's."
"I'm not sure I can let it go at that."
The Old Man looked deep into her eyes, "Look, Marti, Nick told me we can count on you.? I hope that's true.? Right now, we need your help.? We need to move around the plant."? Knowing what was probably going through her mind, he added,? "As you can see, we have no security badges."
Marti looked from the Old Man to me.? "Yes, I noticed that.? You clearly didn't get in here through the front door.?You care to explain how you got here?"
I could sympathize with her.? She was in a very compromising situation and it was a stretch for her to blindly trust people she really didn't know, but we needed to get moving.? So with a stern tone, I said, "We really don't have time for this right now, and how we got here is irrelevant.? We're here and we're on your side.? So let's move past that."?
I could see that Marti was still a bit defiant from her run-in with the security officer.? There was no point in continuing to discuss our security status, so I changed the subject and asked her, "Did you get the information to Pete like I asked?"
This caught her off guard, which is what I'd hoped to do.?
"Um, yes, I did," she said, after a short pause.? "I got him all the information I could on what the FBI has on the location of Dave's family.? I did that over an hour ago."
"Good job.? Thank you."? Then, I gently took her by the elbow and led her off a couple of feet, as if to an area that's further away from the door.? There was no reason to do this other than to make physical contact with her again.? I needed her on our side, and I knew this would help define and strengthen the connection between the two of us.?
"We need to get to someone in Security.? Who's the security supervisor tonight?"
Marti inadvertently looked down at my hand on her elbow.? I detected some color in her cheeks.
"I'm not sure," she answered.? "I think I saw Hector on my way in earlier, but I don't know if he's still here.? I have to assume he is, given that the shift change isn't until morning."?
She was softening and staring at me.? I smiled slightly at her, which caused her to turn her eyes away from mine.
The Old Man came over to us and asked, "What's the security supervisor's phone number?"
Marti looked at the Old Man as if jolted back into reality again.? "You don't plan to call him, do you?? The Security Department has been compromised.? Isn't he a bad guy?"
The Old Man said, "Likely as not, he's okay.? Rob has been turned, but all of these guys can't have been compromised.? We're going to have to risk that.? We need to talk with him."
"I really don't know his number, but wouldn't it be better if I contacted him for you, just in case he is a bad guy?? Maybe it would be best if you didn't tip your hand right away."
The Old Man smiled at me, and then turned back to Marti.? "Good thinking, Marti!? I think I'm gonna like you!"?
I looked at my watch as a signal.? The Old Man understood.? He turned to Marti and said, "Okay.? Go back to your office and give him a call.? If you think you can trust him, tell him to meet us here.? But he needs to hurry.? We're time crunched here."
Marti paused and looked as if she could think of a few dozen reasons why she should object, but she was getting worn down and just opted to do as requested.? "Okay," was all she could say, then turned and headed to the door.? Just before she opened it, she glanced back at me, as if searching for some confirmation that what she was about to do was correct, as silly as that may have seemed.? So I nodded ever so slightly to her.? She nodded back, and strode out of the package boiler room, leaving us standing there, wondering what she was going to do.