I don't own any of the characters from MI High. I have borrowed them and thrown in a plot. New story. Hope you like it.
Aneisha was getting annoyed. This guy just would not give in ! "Look, I've explained twice now and I'm starting to get annoyed," she said, a little louder. She saw Dan shifting uncomfortably slightly behind and to her left. "I'm going to call the manager," she announced, pulling her phone out of her pocket. This was a risky tactic, and she hoped the guy wasn't going to call her bluff. She also seriously hoped that Dan wasn't going to bottle it before they got in. Dan was looking at her worriedly as she marched away from the security desk, stabbing instructions into her phone. She was calling Frank, but the security grunt didn't need to know that !
Dan cleared his throat and leaned in to the guy at the desk, glancing nervously over his shoulder at Aneisha. The man leaned down towards him. "To be honest, it's much easier to just give her what she wants," he suggested in a conspiratorial whisper. "She's gets pretty vindictive if you give her a hard time, if you know what I mean," he said. Dan didn't have to pretend to be nervous. He was nervous. He hated Dr. Drama and Aneisha was laying it on a bit thick at the moment. The guy looked at Dan and then at Aneisha. He seemed to be thinking it through, slowly. Very slowly. He seemed to have been chosen for size rather than intelligence. He was very, very big and as far as Dan could tell, very, very stupid. Unfortunately, he was also proving to be very, very cautious.
Dan sighed, as Aneisha started walking back towards them. The giant sloth behind the desk seemed to be swung by Dan's disappointment because before Aneisha could even launch into her next stream of invective, he tossed two visitor's badges onto the desk and said, "Alright then. You don't go into the restricted areas though. Understood ?"
"Oh, no ! Absolutely not !" jabbered Dan, overcome with relief. "We'll keep to the straight and narrow, won't we Inspector ?" he said, to Aneisha.
Aneisha frowned and looked at the badge. "Does this give us access to all the doors ?" she asked sharply.
"All except the restricted areas," said the giant sloth.
"Hm ! I suppose that will have to do," Aneisha huffed. She picked up her bag. "Come along Morgan !" she ordered. Grabbing the other badge and his own briefcase, Dan rushed to catch her up. She waved her badge at the door lock and it opened. They were in !
"OK, Frank, we're in," reported Aneisha. They were both standing at the end of a long, wide corridor. Aneisha was apparently consulting a notebook in her hand. In fact she was waiting for Tom to tell them where to go.
Dan took the opportunity to look around. "There are security cameras at both ends of the corridor," he reported. "We need to get moving, or it's going to start looking suspicious." One of the doors further down the corridor opened. Two people came out of the door, walked along the corridor and went through another door. Dan watched closely and saw that they had to use passcards to get access. "We probably don't have access to the rooms we want to look at," he muttered.
"I'll sort that out in a mo," said Tom's voice. "Why don't you check out the rooms you do have access to first. That way you're backing up your cover story. It'll give me time to work out where you need to go. Run some scans for me OK ?" he asked.
Aneisha stopped studying her notebook and led the way to the first door. "Supply Cupboard" said the label on the door. Aneisha swiped her passcard and the door clicked open. Dan pulled the door wider and they stepped inside a room lined with shelves and cupboards. The door softly clicked closed behind them. Aneisha pulled out what looked like a tablet computer. It was a tablet computer of course, as well as a scanner, distance listening device and tracker. She waved it around the room while Dan walked down the room peering behind and under shelves. "No vermin here, apart from the one at 2 o'clock by the ceiling," he said, referring to the CCTV camera at the end of the room.
"They are even monitoring the supply cupboard !" exclaimed Aneisha, while staring at her tablet. "This is no ordinary research facility. Nobody puts cameras in the store cupboards," she added.
"Unless, they're worried about staff nicking stuff," suggested Dan. "They must really love their stationery here." He was carrying his briefcase all the time he worked his way around the room. It also contained a scanning device and he was running it over everything he came across. "Am I picking up anything interesting ?" he asked.
"Some strange electronics in some of the boxes, but nothing otherwise," said Zoe's voice. "Tom says can you run your passcard near the scanner for a few seconds for him please ?"
"He did not say 'please'," retorted Dan, dropping down so that his passcard fell in front of the scanning end of the briefcase. He pretended to be checking some marks on the floor.
"Well no, he didn't actually say 'please'," said Zoe, sounding confused. "Oh, that's enough thankyou. That was me. The thankyou," she added.
Dan couldn't help smiling as did Aneisha. "You're welcome Zoe," said Dan, standing back up. As he grabbed the briefcase, it swung towards the wall.
"Ooh, do that again," asked Zoe.
"What, stand up ?" asked Dan, confused.
"No, when you swung your briefcase, it picked up something," explained Zoe.
"Oh, OK," said Dan, putting his briefcase down next to the wall and bending to retie his shoelace. "Is that it ?" he asked.
"Hm. Yep, that was it," said Zoe thoughtfully.
"What is it ?" asked Dan.
"No idea," said Zoe.
Dan and Aneisha looked at one another. This looked like being a really long mission ! "I think we're done in here," said Aneisha. "Shall we try another room ?"
"Yes, could you try the room next door ?" asked Frank's voice. "Your scan showed something unusual that we need to investigate."
Dan and Aneisha left their store cupboard and walked up to the next door. The sign on the door read 'Laboratory'. Dan ran his pass card over the card reader and it displayed a red light. The door didn't open. "It must be restricted," said Dan.
"OK. Hold your pass card in front of Aneisha's tablet," instructed Tom's voice. Dan did as he was told. "Right, try it now," said Tom. Dan ran the card over the reader for a second time and the door softly clicked open. "Bingo !" said Tom.
Dan and Aneisha looked casually around the room as they entered, preparing for any challenges. They both sighed with relief when they found that the room was deserted. There were large lab tables distributed around the room, each holding microscopes, tiny soldering irons and small plastic boxes lined with squishy grey foam. Both Dan and Aneisha paused for a moment, as they gazed around the room. Then Frank's voice sounded in their earpieces. "It's interesting guys, but you need to check for cameras and act normal," he reminded them. The two snapped back into their roles as health inspectors.
"Four cameras," noted Dan. "One in each corner. Boy they really like to keep an eye on this place !" he said. "What are they making in here ?"
Dan and Aneisha started to circle the room, pretending to check underneath the benches and behind cupboards. There was not a speck of dirt in the room. There was no way they could claim to have found any health hazards in here. Dan spun round when he thought he heard the door softly click open. It only opened a crack and then closed again. Nobody came in. Maybe they hadn't closed the door properly and it had opened in a draught. Puzzled, Dan walked up to the door to check it was properly shut. Where would a draught have come from anyway ? An insect of some sort buzzed past his ear as he approached the door and he swatted it away.
"What's the matter ?" asked Aneisha, looking at Dan waving his arm around for no reason.
"There's a wasp or something buzzing round my head," complained Dan.
"We should go," said Aneisha. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this place."
"We still don't know what they're making in there," complained Tom's voice.
"That door definitely opened," said Aneisha.
"Well, nobody came in," said Tom.
"Ow !" complained Dan, slapping the back of his neck. "It stung me !" he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Oh, think I got it. Aw, yuk, it's fallen down the back of my shirt !" Dan stood shaking his shirt, in the hope that he could dislodge the insect which he'd swatted off his neck.
"Dan !" warned Aneisha. "We need to get out of here !" she said urgently.