A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 22

Diane seemed lost in thought as she went down various hallways. I realized that she was heading to Matthew's office. Well, she had told Agatha that she was coming here, so I wasn't really surprised.

His door was closed, but Diane knocked anyways. Matthew opened the door and waved us in. He gave me an odd look, as if he couldn't figure out why I was here. Matthew had always welcomed my presence, so I wasn't sure why he had given me that look. I blinked as I noticed another man I had never met.

"Oh, Brett, I wasn't aware that you were here. Sorry, I didn't bring the tea." I was confused, how did Diane not know he was here? She always seemed to know where people were.

He shrugged, "No worries, I wasn't expecting you quite this early."

Diane looked at Matthew, "I had actually come to discuss a different problem with Matthew, but we can go over what happened when you left first since you are already here."

Matthew and Brett looked surprised. Matthew tilted his head inquisitively, "Brett is in the loop on most things in the base, so if it is about the lead you talked to a while ago we can talk about it also."

Diane nodded, "Yes, and thank you."

Brett asked, "Why was it you wanted me to return so badly? Matthew said you were unusually upset and at least one of my members was acting violently."

Diane glanced at me and then looked at Brett, "Kory and the big guy with the black hair that he was often hung around with were... not being nice to the others. They are actually nasty bullies and I saw the other guy cuff someone who dared to try and reason with them."

I could tell that she was editing her responses. They all were. They were also using words that I didn't understand. It sounded like two in his group were being mean to others. Brett looked angry, "Well, that explains more than a few things..."

Matthew frowned at him, "Hard to remove them from your team without proof and bringing Diane into it could cause problems given their friends."

Brett frowned as he considered that. Diane spoke slowly as if deep in thought, "The abuse didn't seem new, is there a particular place or time you leave them unsupervised routinely?"

Brett thought for a moment, "In the loading dock, I go fill out the paperwork on what we brought back. That is about the only time."

Diane shrugged, "Why not ask one of the Commanders to quietly stand on that lift that we use to maintain the door lift? That group didn't spot me sitting on the ridge for over five minutes, if he raises it so he is near the top of the door in the far corner I highly doubt that they would notice him. Just ensure that he does not say or do anything until you return, regardless of what happens below. None of them had seemed shocked at what occurred, so I suspect that if you mention that you have a bit more paperwork to do than normal that he will get quite a scene."

Brett and Matthew both nodded. Matthew spoke up, "That works much better for me." Matthew seemed to relax a bit with the new plan.

Diane shrugged and looked at Brett, "I will give you a write up of various strengths and weaknesses I saw, but I suspect that will mostly fix itself once your two big problems are gone."

Brett nodded. Matthew raised an eyebrow at Diane, "We can arrange that, but you came here for something else."

Diane shifted her weight and I could see her irritation resurfacing a bit, "After a somewhat round about conversation with Agatha, it turns out that two people with no name tags or badges came to visit. They did not give their names but were very curious about everything that we did with the children, particularly their schedules. I did inform her that Laura is never to be left alone with them for even a second, but to see you if she wanted to know why and to not mention it or our conversation to anyone else. Turns out the only reason they left was because an off duty Raider happened to stop by to visit with Agatha."