Page 68 (1/1)

"I’d think this was excessive if I hadn’t just been to Maggie’s place," I hter I wasn’t kidding, either; I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Maggie and the CDC get their security designs through the same firm God knows her fa a few extra bucks for the sake of a little bit a lot, where I parked in a space e yellow letters Becks slid off, re a hairbrush fro the kickstand positioned She began briskly brushing out her hair,adjustments in accordance with soe had never been willing to share with me

"You look fine, especially for this sort of visit," I said, securingat your hair"

Becks gave me a frosty look "So says you," she said stiffly "I’ve found that good hair can open ative reporter It certainly doesn’t hurtlike I just rolled out of bed"

I had to admit she had a point: Becks paid more attention to her appearance than any other Irwin I knew, her than er than was strictly safe for fieldwork, with blonde highlights and dark brolights that made her otherwise medium-brown hair seeht conditions she was usually filreen eyes and a fondness for wearing tight white tank tops, well, it wasn’t a hty percent of her vieere male It was more of a mystery that she seeet that one

Let her brush her hair so we can getmore briskly than was strictly necessary

"What?" asked Becks

"Nothing"

"Right" She shoved the brush back into her bag "There, all done"

"Really?" I liftedlook "You sure you don’t need to touch up your o in?"

"I’m sure the CDC will be thrilled to know that you made such an effort on its behalf," I said, and started down the path that was labeled ENTRANCE in n, not painted onto the pave noise, and followed et to the parking lot, walking up to the front doors of the Portland CDC was al a point with their total lack of reinforcement--this was the CDC If the infected made it this far in, the city was already lost, so why bother wasting money that could be put to better use elsewhere? These were scientists They didn’t feel the need to squander public funds on fripperies

Those fripperies included furniture for their front lobby A wave of comfortably chilly cli, so devoid of character that it ht as well have been an unused movie set The floor was black e steel sign proclai this to be the Portland office of the Centers for Disease Control "Got that part, thanks," Itoward the one piece of furniture in the room: the sleekly futuristic reception desk

The receptionist herself was also sleekly futuristic, possibly because she felt the need to live up to her workstation Her hair was pulled into a bun so severe it looked almost molded, her jacket was ilasses were cold "Naers never stopped darting across her keyboard, even as she glanced in our direction, looked us up and down, and dismissed us as unimportant

"We’re with the After the End Times news site, and we’d like to speak to the director of this installation," I said e of her desk as I flashed her"Don’t worry, we can wait if we have to"

The receptionist gave us another of those quick, cold, up-and-down glances before asking, "The nature of your business, sir?" The "sir" was grudging, purely a formality to check off some internal list marked "proper procedure"

"That’s for us to discuss with the director," said Becks

"I see" The receptionist sniffed "If you’d like to make an appointment, I’m sure we can fit you in sometime this week In the meanwhile--"

"Soe of the desk for eratified to see the receptionist juoing to analyze the light levels in here, see where it’s best for us to start shooting"

"Excusea pencil skirt as precisely tailored as the jacket I foundif she starched her underpants to keep theh excessive softness "What are you doing?"

"Well, this is a governuilelessly "Which means that we, as citizens, are totally entitled to be here whenever and whyever ant, as long as we’re not actively disrupting nor acts of vandalism? No appointency?"