"You should be wearing glasses," Mela teased. "You look like a young school teacher."

"A young school teach on fire, maybe," Claire chuckled as she glanced down at her vibrant red pant suit. Yes it was professional, but still the color was eye catching. She was just happy she could hide a pair of boots underneath the pant legs so she could avoid the horror of high heels.

"Take your hair down from that silly bun," Mela made a move to go for the aforementioned bun, but Claire dodged the hand easily. "You don't have to be so severe."

"It's not severe. It's professional." Claire glanced out the car window as they pulled through the main gate of the Tricell facility. "I'm representing TerraSave publicly. I don't want to screw it up."

"You're not going to screw it up. You've done this a hundred times."

"A hundred and ten, but never with a company with this much publicity on it." Claire let out a sigh. "I just want them to see that TerraSave means business."

Mela pulled the car to a stop in front of the main entrance. The building was tall and all glossy silver metal. It wasn't the elaborate air dome that WilPharma had been, but it was impressive in it's own right. Claire took stock of the place quietly for a moment, then reached for her seat belt buckle.

"Claire," Mela's hand touched her shoulder lightly, gaining her focus. "You will be great, and I'll see you in a little while."

Claire smiled at the older woman with a sudden warmth that swamped her. She gave a short nod and winked at her. "I won't keep you waiting too long." Then she opened the door and stepped out to face her next challenge.


Amazingly enough, Excella Gionne didn't keep her waiting like she'd expected. The woman, with a black suited body guard trailing behind her, practically met Claire at the door. Dressed in a stunning white skirt suit, that might just have dipped a hair too low in the neckline, the woman was model pretty and poised. Claire disliked her almost instantly.

"You must be Ms. Redfield," the woman's Italian accent made her speech a purr. "I am Excella Gionne. I am so pleased to make your acquaintance."

Claire accepted the woman's offered hand, and had the awkward feeling that she ought to plant a kiss on it, instead of shaking it. But shake it she did. "It's nice to finally meet you, Miss Gionne. Thank you for taking the time to let us interview your company."

"We are aware of the reputation of WilPharma prior to our purchasing the company," Excella turned and began to walk toward a set of elevators, simply expecting Claire to follow. And since there was little choice, Claire did. "We wanted no rumors to erupt when we absorbed the company into our own. That is why we contacted TerraSave directly."

They stepped into the elevator and Excella pressed a button and the car began a smooth decent. "We wanted an open communication with groups such as yours," Excella continued. "Our goal here is to help people, not to bring them harm. I am not sure if you are aware of this, Ms. Redfield but TriCell is a major funding source of the BSAA."

"Yes, actually," Claire interjected. "I was aware of that."

She thought she saw a flicker of annoyance on Excella's perfectly painted face, but it was gone too quickly to be certain. The smile was there and bright as the sun. Claire was certain Excella meant for it to blind people, so she wasn't going to stare directly at it. The doors opened and Excella led her out into a hallway, silver as the rest of the building, but the walls were clear glass. Behind the glass were many people working at lab stations, dressed in uniform white coats.

"This is our laboratory division of the facility," Excella explained on the go, her high strappy white heels muffled by the thin carpet. "I would explain what proceeds here, but I am sure you are already aware of such things. We are prepared to give TerraSave a full listing of our current projects."

"That would be appreciated," Claire answered, trying to hide the annoyance she felt. It was like she was being led by a leash, and being force fed. Force fed treats, to be sure, but why? "You're facility is rather...large in scale. What else is housed here?"

Excella didn't even break stride. "We have office levels, as well as on site housing for many of our employees. Often it benefits them to remain on site as oppose to commuting. In addition, we also offer the amenities required to those employees we house; school, day care, shopping, recreation, etcetera."

"That's rather generous of you." Claire couldn't quite hide the taste of sarcasm in her words.

Excella stopped smoothly, turning around. That smile firmly in place, but the look in her eyes was cool. "Happy workers work harder, Ms. Redfield, surely you understand that. Even the most dedicated to their career can become unhappy, disillusioned, if their other needs are not properly met."

"Yes, of course."

The smile spread a little wider and she side stepped easily. She made a gesture and Claire realized she was being waved back onto the elevator. Excella had cruised her fluidly through the area and back to the starting point before Claire had really noticed it. The woman was good.

"What else are you required to inspect, Ms. Redfield?" The words were cooed at her as she stepped inside the elevator.

"I'll need to see the other levels, the office spaces and others you described."

"All of them?" The well groomed eyebrows ticked upwards. It gave Claire a small bit of satifaction.

"Yes," she did her best to keep her smile professional. "I'm sorry if this is an inconvenience."

"No, no, not at all," Excella replied smoothly. "I understand you must verify what we have stated with your own eyes. I would love to give you an extended tour."

The look in Excella's eyes gave the lie to her words, but Claire so no reason not to put out this smooth talking fashion plate. If for no other reason to see how long she could walk in those silly heels before breaking an ankle.


"I do hope the tour was satisfactory," Excella purred as she shook Claire's hand once more.

"Yes, thank you. You've been most cooperative."

"It has been my pleasure. We shall be faxing over the documents within the next few weeks."

Claire disengaged her hand from Excella's with as much politeness as she could. "That would be more than fine. Thank you again for your hospitality, Ms. Gionne. Good afternoon." Claire bobbed a nod to the woman and turned away. She didn't get three steps before Excella called out to her.

"Oh, Ms. Redfield." Those silly heels clicked purposefully across the tile floor as Excella caught up to Claire. "I nearly forgot," Claire didn't believe that for an instant. "We are holding a fund raiser on Friday. A bit of a going away bash, as I will be transferring to another facility in the next week. I would be very pleased to have TerraSave represented at the event."

Excella extended a white envelope toward Claire which she accepted automatically. Glancing inside she found two card stock passes with fancy scrolling text printed across them. Excella smiled at her smoothly. "I would not want you to feel you must come alone. I hope to see you then. Ciao." Excella gave a little wave of manicured fingers and turned her back on Claire, striding away.


"So how did it go?" Mela asked as Claire slid into the car.

"Smoothly," she answered, snapping her seat belt into place. "The facility is, as far as I can tell, on the up and up. They'll be faxing over reports on all their current projects sometime during the week."

"But?"

"But," Claire continued, tapping the envelope against her knee. "That woman is slime in a designer suit. I couldn't prove it, but it's a gut feeling."

"Always, trust your gut, Claire."

"Bet on it."


A/N: I almost feel like I updated way too quickly, but the third chapter is nagging me incessantly, and I had to give you this one first before I could touch that one. So I guess this is a good thing.