Read All Due Respect for Free Online Page B

and sane, and then with staying alive.
    “You look stressed.” Seth steered her toward the lab’s entrance. “Is everything okay?”
    She forced herself to smile. “I’m just a little nervous
    about being back in this environment. A lot changes in three years.”
    “You’ll be up to speed in a couple of days.” He passed her a name badge. “Clip this to your collar on the left.”
    That, she hadn’t forgotten. She took it and attached the clasp to her jacket lapel. Thin laminated plastic, but it felt strange. “Why is it so heavy?”
    “There’s a chip inside. It allows security to track you anywhere in the building.”
    They knew who was where at all times. Considering the nature of the work, that was clever and, in a sense, comforting, but it also felt damned invasive. “Why are there windows in the lab?”
    “There aren’t. Just in the outer-rim offices. They’re bulletproof,” he assured her. “Not a security threat.”
    Seth seemed displeased about the lack of windows away from the outer-rim offices, which made no sense. After all his years of working in secure labs, he should be used to it. Though many did suffer physical and emotional challenges due to the lack of natural sunlight and fresh air. It was a hazard of the job that a couple weeks’ rest and relaxation typically cured. Those not cured transferred out to jobs that required less secure environments.
    They stopped at the back of a line of four people waiting to get through security’s entrance checkpoint.
    When they stepped up to the desk, a brash young lieutenant greeted them. ” ‘Morning.”
    “Lieutenant Dean,” Seth said. “This is Dr. Hy—”
    “Warner,” Julia interrupted. “Dr. Julia Warner.” She smiled and offered him her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Lieutenant.”
    “Thank you, ma’am.”
    Seth looked at her strangely, but said nothing about her dropping Karl’s name. “I’ll show her the ropes.”
    The lieutenant nodded, Seth swiped his ID card in the system’s slot, and when the light turned green, he crossed the threshold of a metal archway.
    Julia followed suit, clipped the badge back to the lapel
    of her navy suit jacket, and then followed Seth, her heels clicking softly on the gray tile.
    The inner building was a maze of long and winding corridors that all looked alike: bare white walls, gray tile floors, and closed doors. “It would take six months to stop getting lost in here.” Julia stepped around two colonels who had paused to talk in the hallway. A map of the place would help tremendously, but Security would veto one being drafted, much less one being distributed for use.
    “It’s not bad, really.” Seth chuckled. “Just visualize the layout. The center of the building is the inner lab. The vault surrounds it. There’s only one corridor leading to it, no windows, and one door. Security is far more extensive and sophisticated here than the lab in New Orleans.”
    “How extensive and sophisticated?” Already, her every move was being monitored by a chip in her ID badge. And she would have to be blind not to see the cameras at every intersecting corridor and door.
    “Very.” Seth led on. “The offices out here are for the general lab. Lots of dual technologies being developed. Secure, but not—”
    “I understand.” Dual-technology programs had civilian and military applications. The projects in the outer lab weren’t Black Box projects developed solely for military use. Black Box projects were developed in the inner lab, and unless you headed the program or you were the sole source contractor’s project representative, you knew only the portion of the project you worked on. You might have a general understanding of the overall mission, but more than likely, you knew only your own specific personal mission. In the general lab, you were more apt to know not only both the civilian and military applications of your entire project, but those of the others being developed around