| "The Boys Club" | |||
|
CF: CT-1802A-08 Samboy Aggregates, South Amboy March 31, 2008 1545 hours Randolph James Branks preferred that his friends and colleagues called him RJ. He was released from jail Christmas Eve last year and by New Year's, after serving his five, he had a job. The current one where he still worked and the one that now had Paige waiting for 45 minutes while he was on the phone. Paige watched him, her dark green eyes taking in the almost shaved head, bright eyes, and face that claimed innocence yet promised trouble at the same time. He was young, mid thirties, almost too young to have his position. But then, who wanted to work Graveyard Shift anyway? "I'm sure it won't be much longer," Jane, the office professional assured her. Paige merely glanced at her, "whatever...it's his money." Her reply had been flat, just as intended. Hell, she thought, she was getting a lot of practice lately being a bitch. Paige stood up moving to the window. The seagulls were coming in which meant a storm was brewing, or at the very least, rain. Perhaps her father hadn't always been wrong predicting weather by the seagulls. Paige registered Jane picking up the phone after it had made some sort of buzzing sound and spoke quietly. She then cleared her throat, "Miss. Becker...Mr. Branks will see you now." Paige ignored the woman, grabbing her leather briefcase and stiffly walking to the small office. Branks, got up quickly, upon seeing her approach, to open the door. He smiled casually, "I apologize Miss. Becker for keep you so long, I just couldn't get off that conference." Liar, Paige thought, as her Bathroom Tigers let out a throaty growl. She almost smirked, for once, she agreed with them...this guy was a piece of work. It only took him 2.5 seconds to rub her (and the Tigers) the wrong way. "That's fine, call me Melissa," Paige said flatly with a very noticeable forced smile. Branks apparently took the hint and moved to sit behind his desk, "everyone calls me RJ," he said. "Shall we get down to business, I've already wasted a lot of my time," Paige said with a condescending smile. "Of course, I apologize again," he said straightening up and almost, maybe, not expecting an attitude from her. "I've got some papers here for you to sign," he said as he shuffled through the many papers that littered his desk. Paige took the moment to look around the office, concentrating on the pictures. Nothing seeemed unusual except there was no family pictures. Of course, maybe Branks didn't have any family or they cared not to associate with him. "So, the EPA is gonna bust my balls for a couple turtles, huh?" he smiled handing her papers. She stared at him processing his statement before taking the papers. "If you're offering," she said sweetly. He grinned, pointing a finger in her direction, "that's very funny, I like you." She smiled then started looking over the papers. She supposed it was good he liked her, or a better word for it would be tolerated. It was quite obvious he was a male pig that viewed women as something to look at, something to have sex with, and something to cook meals...though not necessarily in that order. She fetched a pen out of her briefcase, "you understand Mr. Branks..." "RJ, call me RJ," he said, and she noted the inflection in his voice had changed. Maybe he did like her attitude. "RJ," she nodded her head as she signed some papers, "I'll have weekly reports on the dredging you'll need to look over and sign before I send them in." She looked up handing over the papers. "You need to understand the paperwork is due no later than 2 weeks after the dredging pull, so you should have plenty of time to look them over. I'll be more than happy to go over any questions you might have..." "What do these turtles do again?" he interrupted her. She shifted in her seat not happy with being cut off, and certainly by this left field question. "Well, among other creatures there are four species of sea turtle that have their migration routes through here as well as mating habitats. Being endangered, any specimens must be logged and a sample taken..." "Migration routes, we've never had this problem..." "Yes, you have," Paige challenged him. RJ just looked at her. "I work for the government. I suggest, if you would like to avoid investigation and most likely very heavy fines, you don't speak with me about past performance issues of your company." He smiled nodding his head slowly. "Of course." "Good, we're clear then. I'll be going through the dredge samples for all three shifts. I should be here pretty much 3 until about midnight, if that's ok with you." "That's fine with me. The late shift guys are a little flaky so my only request would be to keep in touch with Security if you're here late...so they know where you are." "Of course," she said easily, though he knew he meant 'keep tabs on her'. "Great, let me show you around," he said getting up. "There is one more matter I need to speak with you about," she said making no indication of getting up. Branks shrugged and sat back deal, "that is?" "I'd like to bring in an intern to help me," Paige said fixing her eyes on his. She could tell, he was not pleased with the idea. Paige knew, those above him, were pushing to put their ducks all in a row. If the government wanted them to hire a biologist, they had better do it. Now, the government was asking to have another on the site? "She would be an intern, which means it would cost your company nothing. I will take full responsibility for her." "I don't know...two..." he shook his head a little. "Let's just say," she leaned forward to lower her voice, "you'd be doing us a favor." He considered her words carefully before nodding his head, "alright, send me the paperwork and I'll get her clearance." Paige smiled, "thank you, she will be a tremendous help to me." "What? You don't like overtime?" he grinned. "Not if I can help it," she grinned back wanting to punch the grin right off his face. "Alright, a quick tour, here's a map," he said handing her a laminated map of the site, "I'll introduce you around to some of the guys, they'll help you find your way around. It's a bit of a maze here." Paige grinned, already having memorized the map. Could he have given her a better excuse if she got caught sneaking around? "The overnight crew comes in around 10:30 or so, I'll introduce you to all of them as they do most of the dredging." "Ok, great," Paige replied, already running through her targets profile...he was on the overnight crew. RJ showed her the small lab/office where she could store her things and her samples. It wasn't huge, but it was adequate and quiet enough to get work done. She then got an abridged tour of the facility and a quick overview of what exactly it was that Samboy Aggregates did. She had to admit, though she hated to, the big heavy machinery was kick ass in her book and she couldn't wait to con someone into showing her how to use some of them. During the tour and the conversation, RJ seemed to loosen up and accept there was going to be a woman hanging about his plant. She also told him she was a trained medic and he actually seemed quite pleased and asked her if she would mind helping out if anything happened. Paige of course happily agreed and in turn got a brief tour of the medical section. A nurse was on duty during the day, but after 4 pm, the only thing that could help you was a good cell phone. It wasn't that large of a facility, one bed, some equipment, but it was adequate as a hospital was right across the bay, or about a 5-10 minute drive. Later that night she had been introduced to the overnight crew, Baz included. He did well, she thought, in hiding the fact they knew each other. She, upon being introduced to Jonathan Keller, her target, took a moment longer than needed to say a few words to him. All the time she smiled softly. It was, she believed, a good impression that she at least liked the way he looked. He was quiet, one of those types she was always warned about for being 'the worst ones'. Baz would help her...she knew that. As soon as she was out of ear shot, Baz would be going up to Jonathan and slapping him on his shoulder making some crude comment about her and him and then waiting for the reaction. That reaction would hopefully be positive and show Jonathan was interested in Paige as well. Where she could possibly fail, Jordan would be asked to succeed. If Paige succeeded, Jordan would be assigned another target. The fail-safes, Paige now realized, were very neatly put into place. She left early, around midnight and waited in her car outside the facility. Her cell phone creeked suddenly making her jump. She picked it up...it was Baz. "Hey baby," he said cheerfully. She could hear other voices in the background, some already starting to harass him. "Am I in?" "I know it's late..." Paige grinned as she heard the boys in the background yelling crude comments at him. "No, don't listen to them," Baz said. "Boy, you are putting on a show aren't you?" Paige said, her own confidence boosting with Baz's acting. "Let me come by later, when I get off work?" he asked. "Just tell me if I'm in or not," she said giggling. "Yeah, baby, I'll bring your stuff," he said clearly enjoying the charade himself as the boys hooted their approval in the background. "Alright, enough Baz, am I in or what?" "Yes," he said, a slight change in his voice. Then it was gone, "you know I'll do that." "You're all pigs," she said grinning and shaking her head. "I love you, too, baby," he then made kissing sounds in the phone as the boys howled with laughter, then he hung up. Paige pulled her laptop over, typed in a few words and sent the email to Gray and Rebecca. Target acquired. Return |
|||