They got out of the car. The bronze-coloured glass doors slid open for them. They walked into a sparely furnished foyer where one security guard stood beside an internal door and another behind a counter. Despite what Sam had just told him, both were armed. They had the shaved heads and humourless expressions of ex-prison guards. The wall behind the counter was covered by a bank of video screens.
‘We need a visitor’s badge with executive level clearance for Commander Harrigan and a locker for his mobile phone and beeper,’ Sam said. ‘Dr Calvo should have sent the request through.’
The guard placed a small metal box on the counter. ‘Please open that,’ he said.
Harrigan took out a compact if thick gold badge, almost like a large and heavy gold cufflink, decorated with the initials LPS in an ornate design.
‘You can use that as a key to open locker number eight,’ the guard said. ‘You’ll be able to store your devices in there. Then if you could keep that badge on you at all times, it will allow you access throughout the building. It doesn’t need to be visible but it does need to be on your person.’
At the impress of the badge, the locker opened. Harrigan put his mobile and beeper inside.
‘Nothing can open that door now but that badge,’ Sam said. ‘You get to take it with you when you leave. A gift. That’s one of Elena’s ideas. She likes people to have souvenirs of their visits here. Once you’ve left the building, it’ll be deactivated.’
‘Can it be reactivated?’
‘For that to happen, you’d have to come in here and have it done at the desk. You really have to be invited all over again.’
‘Is it really made of gold?’
‘Gold-plated.’ She smiled sarcastically. ‘Only top-level guests get one of those. Everyone else gets the basic metal.’
Harrigan dropped the badge into his shirt pocket. He thought of the Ice Cream Man being ushered in here by Jerome Beck late one night. He glanced around. There were cameras watching his every move.
‘How long do you keep your CCTV tapes?’ he asked.
‘We archive them for at least twelve months.’
‘In the building?’
‘Oh yes. Very securely. I don’t go anywhere near them. If I don’t need something for my work, it’s off limits.’
The internal door slid open to reveal a small antechamber where there was a lift. Sam activated it with a key.
‘Is this your only entrance?’ Harrigan asked.
‘This is the main external entrance. There’s a delivery dock to the north where the smokestacks are. There’s a third entry via the roof near Elena’s office, which is on the other side of building. That’s locked with a door built to withstand an atomic blast, I think.’
‘I thought you said no firearms. Those guards were armed,’ Harrigan said.
‘They’re just there to mind the gate. Their access is limited to that area and they can’t bring those weapons into the building proper. You should know that my access throughout this building is limited as well. I can’t take you into any of the labs, for example. I’d only have access to a lab on specific orders from Elena.’
‘Where can I go on my pass?’
‘Wherever Elena thinks you ought to be able to go.’
‘She has all the keys, does she?’ he asked.
‘All the keys, the combinations, passwords and overrides. Who else?’
The lift arrived and they stepped inside. The building had three levels: Basement, First, Second. Sam pressed Second. Quickly they were there. The lift opened.
‘Welcome to Elena’s kingdom,’ Sam said.
They stepped out onto a mezzanine above an atrium that soared to the height of the building. A glass wall stretched from floor to roof in front of them. A broad set of stairs led from the mezzanine to a paved area below, where doors in the glass wall opened onto a garden in the centre of the building. It was planted with well-grown tree ferns, flowering shrubbery and rich green vines. It had a cool look. A pathway led from the glass doors to the centre where Harrigan could see an ornamental pool set round with tables and chairs. The garden was covered by a glass roof, turning the whole space into a climate-controlled greenhouse.
‘Very impressive,’ he said.
‘It is, isn’t it? It’s the organisation summed up for you. They make it very hard for you to get in, but once you’re here, they make you very comfy. This corporation consumes what it needs to operate. It’s how it works. Like some blind organism. On the basis of need, nothing else.’
Harrigan had some difficulty identifying in Sam’s tone of voice what he would have called loyalty either to Elena or to her corporation. For a personal security officer, as she called herself, she seemed very free, almost unguarded, in the way she spoke about her boss. Throughout there had been an edge in her voice, almost of contempt. In her last statement, it was something deeper, more negative. By her own admission Sam was well paid. Also by her own admission, money would not buy her loyalty. Something had to make her give it of her own accord and it could be withdrawn at will. Harrigan’s observation was that in this case she hadn’t given it. So why was she here? If loyalty wasn’t her first object, where did that leave her offer of a bribe? If her motives were questionable, why be unguarded like this? Why not hide herself? All he could conclude was that she didn’t care what she did. She followed orders and collected her money because she had nothing else to do.
People passed them while they stood there. Voices echoed in the high spaces of the atrium. There was constant traffic and a sense of activity about the place. Sam leaned forward on the railing.
‘The building is built on two axes, one from north to south, the other east to west, with an apex at each point of the compass,’ she said. ‘On each storey there are four main corridors that run from apex to apex. There are four sectors, each of which can be locked down independently of the other three. There are also independent backup systems in place for each sector. The air conditioning is a good example. It services the whole building but each individual sector has its own backup system in case of an emergency. Individual laboratories can also be sealed off, if need be. Below is the public area. You can meet for lunch, there’s a gym, that sort of thing. But otherwise it’s possible to avoid almost anyone in this building if you want to. It’s organised so people’s paths don’t have to cross.’
‘How many people work here?’
‘A lot. But they’re not actually employed by Life Patent Strategies. Elena will probably tell you about that. This way. I’ll take you on the tour.’
They walked along the echoing corridor towards the northern end of the building. Harrigan watched his escort. She walked with swift, flowing steps, her spine straight.
‘Have you been in this business all your working life?’ he asked.
‘I have. I like it.’
‘You strike me as very professional.’
‘I am,’ she said. ‘And very focused.’
‘How did you get into the business?’
There was a faint pause.
‘If you really want to know, I’ll tell you. When I was at uni there was a fad going on-study martial arts; know how to protect yourself. Most people got bored and dropped out after a while. Not me. I decided I was going to do it properly. I liked being strong and quick. I liked the control. I got into security work from there. I like the fact that I can go out there and control a situation. Other people don’t set my parameters for me. I do that myself. I say what happens. Look, if you want to know about me, why don’t you ask Elena for a copy of my resume?’
‘You’re Australian.’
‘So?’
‘You’ve worked in England for a long time. You can tell by the way you talk.’
‘Top of the class,’ she replied with a touch of irritation.
‘Did you come home to be with your family?’
She laughed sarcastically. ‘No,’ she replied.
‘Do you have one?’
‘No, I came out of a test tube. My mother’s a Petri dish. Have you ever thought about minding your own business?’