“Can I help you?” the receptionist asked.
“Yeah, I am expected,” Bridge said
“Your name?”
“Luke Bridge. This is my assistant, Nicole.”
The receptionist immediately got on the phone to let someone know of the visitors. Bridge and Nicole stood there until someone came down for them. They crossed their arms and discussed the building.
“Nice place,” Nicole said.
“Believe me, it didn’t look this inviting when I worked here.”
Nicole looked around. “You ever wonder about places like these?”
“What do you mean?”
“Look around. A high-level CIA building here in New York and anyone can waltz through those doors. No guards on the stairway, an elevator right past a receptionist who probably couldn’t stop anybody, and front doors that aren’t locked or guarded or anything.”
Bridge smiled. “You can tell you spent all your time at Langley.”
“Why’s that?”
“What’s the number one rule if you wanna blend in somewhere?”
Nicole shrugged. “I dunno. Act like you belong there?”
Bridge nodded. “So if you have a top-secret field office somewhere, that you don’t want anyone to know about, what would you do?”
“Act like it’s not a field office.”
“There you go.”
“But I mean… anyone can walk right in here.”
“Not really. For one, nobody’s going to walk in here that doesn’t have business here. And just by chance, if someone does happen to stumble in here, or an enemy or something, they’re not going anywhere.”
Nicole pointed to the stairs. “Uh…”
“Yeah. If someone were to blow in here and run past her and go up those steps, there’ll be some gates that close, preventing them from coming down, effectively trapping them in.”
“If they get to another floor?”
“All the doors are sealed close. They have a scanner attached. They only open if you scan your ID badge.”
“I’m assuming the elevator works in a similar fashion?”
“You can hit those little numbered buttons until you’re blue in the face, those doors are not opening unless you scan your ID badge first.”
“So you’re basically locked out of going anywhere unless you’ve got a badge?”
“Pretty much.”
“So if I ever wanna break in here, I should probably follow someone home, steal their badge, then break back in?”
Bridge leaned in and whispered to her. “You do realize they can probably hear everything we’re saying right now, right?”
“Oh.”
Bridge smiled. “It is a CIA building after all. Hidden and concealed mics everywhere.”
“Right. Just kidding about that stealing the badge part. And breaking in. And the rest of it.”
About ten seconds later, the elevator door opened. A younger man, probably in his mid-to-late twenties, stepped off. Bridge knew the type. He was probably the designated gopher who had to greet all visitors who came in and take them to their designated location. He walked up to Bridge and shook his hand.
“Luke Bridge?”
“That’s me.”
“Follow me.”
As Bridge and Nicole started walking to the elevator, the man stopped and turned around. He looked at Nicole.
“I’m sorry, I was told to only expect one of you.”
“She’s with me,” Bridge said.
“Only authorized people are allowed to go up.”
“I authorized her.”
“My instructions were to bring you.”
“She goes where I go.”
“I’m sorry, but—”
“Listen, she’s also a former agent who’s had a top-level security clearance. There’s nothing up there that she hasn’t seen before.”
“My instructions were still—”
“Listen, I don’t care what your instructions were. We either go up together, or I walk out of here right now. And I don’t think your boss will like that.”
“Just a moment.”
The man went over to the desk and grabbed the phone to make a call.
“Thanks for standing up for me,” Nicole said.
“Always. It’s not really his fault. He’s just trying to do what he’s told and not make a wrong step.”
“I get it.”
The man put the phone down and walked back over to them. “Both of you follow me.”
Bridge kept a stoic look on his face, not wanting to show the man up by having a cocky grin on his face for being right. They went over to the elevator, the man scanning his badge, then hitting the button for the tenth floor. They stepped inside.
“Oh, getting the grand tour, huh?” Bridge asked. Nicole looked at him, wondering what he meant. “Usually in these buildings, the higher the floor, the more important the people.”
Nicole looked at the corners of the elevator. There was something unusual about them. They had small grates in all the corners. She tapped Bridge on the arm and pointed them out.
“Oh,” Bridge said, recognizing it immediately. “They’re for extreme security breaches. If someone did have a fake badge and got on here, there’s hidden cameras embedded in the walls, and the elevator is monitored. So someone would manually lock the doors to prevent them from opening on any floor. Then some type of toxic gas would be unleashed and kill whoever was in here. Or knock them out so they can be questioned later.” Bridge then leaned forward to talk to the other man. “Which one are they doing these days?”
The man looked a little annoyed to even talk about it. “I really can’t say.”
Bridge took a step back, looked at Nicole, and shrugged.
“What are the other floors for?” Nicole asked.
“Each one has a specific task. Top floor was usually offices for the top brass, as well as a situation room, and the analysts’ station. That way if something went down, the top guys just had to go down the hall instead of going up and down floors. The other floors are usually support roles. IT, Psych, interview rooms, things like that.”
“Seems a lot more intricate than what I worked at. Not as much cloak and dagger where I was.”
“Well, to be fair, where you were, everyone was already aware of what that building was. This is secret.”
“True.”
Just as they got to the tenth floor, and the doors opened, the man turned back to his guests. “Remember the protocols as a visitor.”
“I got it,” Bridge said with a grin. “Don’t
