Andrew Price - Without A Hitch

Kak broke first. “This is the first. . the. . the first I heard of it!”

“Actually, it’s been like that since I got here,” Beckett countered immediately.

Kak’s nose flared. He glared at Beckett. “I, I asked everyone to. . uh, to report any problems. Why didn’t you report this?”

“But I did,” Beckett replied innocently. His smile widened.

Kak whipped out a piece of paper from a folder he held. “Here’s the uh, form. I don’t see any mention of electrical wires!”

The woman took the form.

Beckett peered over her shoulder. “That’s not the form I gave you. That’s the second one you made me sign. The one I sent you originally listed the wires and the mold.”

“Mold?! What mold?” It took the woman only a split second to locate the brand new, clean ceiling tile near the air conditioning vent. “Are you saying all y’all were told to hide hazards from me?” she asked crossly.

“Wha. . what are you talking about!” Kak erupted at Beckett. “There was no second form! This is the form you gave me!”

“No, that’s the form you brought me and told me to sign. I’m talking about the form I gave you originally. I think I may even still have a copy of it.” Beckett pretended to rifle through his inbox, before pulling out the original inspection form. “Oh, here it is.”

The inspector took the form and compared it to the original. “Mr. Kak, we need to talk about your obligations to GSA.” Almost before she finished her sentence, Kak retreated from the office. The woman chased him down the hallway, battering him with questions.

With the inspector and Kak out of earshot, Corbin finally spoke: “Holy shit, dude!”

Beckett let out a relieved laugh. “I don’t know what came over me. I only planned to leave the form on my desk, where she could see it, but then this euphoria set in and. . well, you saw.”

Corbin ran his fingers through his hair. “This one takes the cake. I mean. . shit! He’s gonna get you now, if it takes the rest of his life. You’ll be lucky if he doesn’t fire you this afternoon.”

“He can’t, I’ve got my time in grade.”

“He’s dumb enough to try it.”

“No, that’s not his style. He’ll probably give me a horrible evaluation.”

“That or knife you while you sleep. I’d stop napping in the office for a while.”

Beckett looked at his hands; they were shaking. “Do you think she’ll do anything to him?”

“Does anyone ever? If there was any justice in this world, he’d have been fired years ago.” Corbin pulled his book from his desk. “Of course, so would the rest of us.”

“I guess we should be thankful the government keeps people like him.”

Corbin looked confused. “Why?”

“If they didn’t, he’d be out in the real world labor force. Then you’d never get your order right at McDonalds.”

“Good point.” Corbin stared at Beckett for a moment before rising to close the door. He sat down in the extra chair by Beckett’s desk. “Listen, don’t take this the wrong way, but until this thing is done, you need to stop drawing attention to yourself.”

“You’re right,” Beckett responded too quickly to have considered Corbin’s words.

“Evan, the more people you provoke, the harder it’ll be for you to disappear on June 14th.”

“I agree. You’re right,” Beckett conceded more contritely, only to suddenly clench his fists like a boxer and exclaim: “I just feel so energized right now.”

Corbin turned on his friend. “Dammit! You’ve got to keep the emotion out of this! Emotion makes you erratic. We’ve got to be calm, cool, collected.”

“I know.”

“I’m serious!”

“I know.” Beckett held up his hand as if swearing an oath. “I swear I will do my best.”

“Keep your eye on the prize,” Corbin said, before opening the door again, only to find Molly looking smug.

“Boys.”

“Molly. To what do we owe the pleasure?”

“Can’t a girl visit her two favorite coworkers without a reason?”

“Anything’s possible,” Corbin said doubtfully.

Molly pushed past Corbin and seated herself next to Beckett. She picked up Beckett’s dictionary and flipped through its pages. Trying to figure out what Corbin and Beckett were up to had become Molly’s new hobby, a hobby of which they were keenly aware. She set the dictionary in her lap and focused on Corbin.

“So how are things?”

“Unimaginably fantastic,” Corbin replied. “You?”

“Can’t complain, can’t complain.” Molly smirked. “My that’s a lovely suit, Corbin. Olive green is your color; it really suits you.” It was clear to all she was toying with him, waiting to spring some big surprise. In fact, it sounded a bit like she was gloating.

“This old thing?” Corbin played along. “Well, let me say, that’s a beautiful blouse Molly. You’ve done something with your hair too, haven’t you?”

“Oh, I’m letting it grow a little. You like?” Molly put her hand to the back of her head and puffed up her hair.

“Very fetching.”

“What do you want, Molly?!” Beckett interrupted.

She smiled. “I’m glad you asked,” she said, patting Beckett’s forearm. “I wanted to be the first to congratulate you on your complete and utter humiliation of one George H. Kak. Nice work, pal! Have ya given any thought to your future?”

Beckett recoiled. “You heard that?!”

Grinning like the Cheshire Cat, Molly pressed her advantage. She struck a nerve and they all knew it. “ Everyone heard it. You’re famous.”

Corbin jumped in to buy Beckett time to regain his composure. “Did you want an autograph or something? Is that why you dropped by?”

“Oh, as if.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I’m glad you asked. I came to use the dictionary.” Molly flipped open the dictionary to a page she marked with her finger. “Oh, here’s the word I wanted. Noun,” Molly read to Corbin and Beckett as if they were third graders. “‘Something exceptionally desirable’. Hmm.” Molly put a finger to her lips. “Or maybe you prefer, ‘something taken by force, stratagem, or threat’?”

“What is?” Corbin looked puzzled.

“A prize , of course. How do you define prize?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Corbin said without missing a beat.

Molly winked at Corbin and sauntered from the room. “Carry on, boys.” She closed the door behind her.

Corbin signaled Beckett to remain silent as he peered beneath the door. Molly’s feet were nowhere to be seen. “It’s ok, she’s gone,” he whispered to Beckett.

“What do you think she knows?” Beckett whispered back.

“Nothing, she just overheard the word ‘prize.’ Otherwise, she would have pounded us with specific questions. Trust me, it’s killing her to think something is going on she knows nothing about. If she knew anything, she would relentlessly throw it in our faces, hoping we either let her in on it or panic and give her more clues. She’s bluffing.”

“I hope you’re right.” Beckett fiddled with a pen. “You handled that well. You didn’t sound surprised at all.” It wasn’t clear if Beckett meant this as a compliment to Corbin or an indictment of himself.

“We can’t afford to be surprised. Whatever happens, just keep the emotion out of it. If we don’t, we’ll give ourselves away. We can’t allow that.”

Beckett nodded. For a few moments, the only sound in the room was the ever-present buzzing of the fluorescent lights.

“Do you think she’s right? Do you think everybody heard?” Beckett stopped whispering.

“Everyone on the hallway, that’s for sure. The rest’ll get blow-by-blow transcripts within the hour. But it doesn’t matter, what’s done is done. You just need to stand there and take it. Don’t flinch, don’t panic, don’t cause a scene. Remember, you’re out of here in a month. Stay cool and this’ll pass. Get upset and you’ll give Molly or Kak exactly what they need to rip you apart.”