Detective stuck on assignment!
Part 1
The sign outside said Anderson Adhesives. A grey rental car pulled up, the driver checked the sign then parked a street away. It was Sunday when the factory and lab were closed, there was virtually no one about. A woman stepped out of the car, she checked her directions and began to walk towards the factory. She would have been five foot seven without the two inch brown boots that adorned her feet. She wore tight blue jeans a white t shirt and a black jacket that hinted at an athletic body. She had short red hair under a billed cap black sunglasses and a smog mask so you couldn't really see her features. If you could you would she that she looked quite fit with a good muscle definition. Her entire appearance was rather bland playing down her physical features. There were no logo's on her clothing no distinctive marks, about all you could say was that she was a woman, as to her age or looks it would be hard to tell.
The site that made up Anderson Adhesives was quite large, it had a big grey box of a factory. A testing lab a chemical storage silos and tanks and a warehouse for finished goods, as well as the office building, they were all really big grey boxes. The boundaries between one area and the other were a little vague, as one area had grown and been changed over the years. The entire site smelled a little like bleach and charcoal a strong chemical smell. The woman looked at the security the camera's the gates. Lots of camera's were not much use if you didn't have people who knew what they were doing monitoring them. If you didn't have the camera's properly set up more camera's were a detriment as you just had your attention split in multiple directions.
She cast a professional eye over it, this system looked like it had been put together a bit at a time and would have some significant historical deficiencies. There were some really old cameras on the really obvious places, they didn't look like they would work very well at night and the lenses needed to be cleaned to make them effective. There were newer camera's on the slightly less obvious area's and really new camera's on the most obscure cracks. That wouldn't help if you had something happen as they had not been set up very well with there coverage. It didn't look like the camera's were maintained or cleaned with no mobile camera's covering wide area's, it was not going to do the job it was intended to do. In fact it advertised to anyone who knew what they were doing that the security didn't have a good strategy.
She walked over to the main entrance, she was wary as she carefully observed the physical security in place. She gauged what precautions were in place then kept walking, there were several spots where anyone could easily climb over the wall. You would need to put some spikes up cut a few trees back, uninvited she would have been able to get inside with ease. The pass code she had picked up let her into a side gate close to the main building. The front of the building had been washed and the entrance area had been cleaned up and maintained, presumably for marketing purposes to present the right first impression, this area was less impressive to say the least, she noted the back gate a cheap one a pry bar and a little effort and she could leaver it off its hinges and open it in 10 seconds or less, she was not impressed.
She went into the back entrance that had seen very little maintenance and very little cleaning. The door she went through was very sturdy and old, with quite a new lock bolted to it. She observed how you could break a window hit a fire alarm and the door would open, not subtle but an easy way to get access. She went through a dimly lit corridor into an office area that was cleaner but still probably hadn't been painted in the last 30 years, some sort of support or admin function. There was a bank of lifts that served the building, a lot of them appeared to be for freight stacks of merchandise and raw materials. One lift was left working with the light still on. the pass code that she had been given activated the lift. It was different to the rest smart inside taking her up to the top floor the 6th floor of the building. It moved smoothly and swiftly opening up directly into a pretty nice if old fashioned office, she noted that it was currently occupied.
The woman cautiously stepped out of the elevator and looked around the room, her eyes capturing every detail. The room was designed to draw your attention to the centre of it. There was an ornate desk, with a big high backed luxury leather chair that was currently turned away from her. It looked more like a throne where some mastermind plotted and schemed and gave out orders than the position of a CEO. The table itself was impressive ornate, but it was the chair with its aged leather rivets and edging that really stood out.
The room was furnished with a plush carpet that had probably been laid 30 years ago and really looked good, it was also probably really expensive and had been cared for. Behind the desk were some shelves that were filled with official looking leather bound books that had probably been brought from an antiques store, situated behind there to give there owner gravitas. Put in place and never opened a simple sign of prestige. On the right of the room were various certificates and awards. On the left of the room were portraits of various people that made it appear as if it was a family run business of at least three generations.
The woman entering the room twitched slightly at the sound of the elevator doors shutting. That seemed to act as a signal to begin the proceedings. The chair in front of her stated to slowly spin around to reveal a woman in her late 30's. She had light blond hair that stopped just above her shoulders with high cheekbones and grey eyes. She was dressed in a plain white shirt and an expensive business suit, she looked at something on her desk then up at her guest smiling warmly.
“Hello, let me introduce myself, I am Michelle Anderson I am the current operations manager of Anderson Adhesives. I am the great granddaughter of our founder Andre Anderson”. She gestured towards a chair planted in front of her desk. The woman slowly walked over from the elevator eyeing up her potential employer. She was thinking about how to present herself to get this work, though with this meeting set up that might mean she already had the job in the bag.
She smiled and pulled out the few papers that she had been given.
“I came about the assignment. You said that you would explain everything”? She walked over to the desk and they shook hands. She had a firm reliable hand shake. Both women gripped a little longer than was necessary they were taking the measure of each other. She let go of the extended hand then sat down at the table. The guest took a moment to compose herself shifting a little in the seat to get comfortable, the gap was filled with a little cushion that didn't quite fill the space. Michelle sat back the chair, it seemed a little too large for her. She took a sip of water and composed herself ready to begin. She had chosen to meet in her office in the middle of her family business. A place that she was the most confident in the place that was most familiar to her.
“Miss Dolores Devan … its a pleasure to meet you. Confidentially between the two of us I must admit that we have been suffering from a series of err … thefts. What I … well really the entire management believe what is happening, is that its attempted industrial espionage. You will be paid to investigate these thefts”. Dolores looked intently at her new employer, well she wasn't quite signed up yet. She had not had a good case in a while. Doing smaller jobs paid a bit hear and there, finding out who had been siphoning off the company gas. Or who was pulling out the cables from the old buildings to sell for scrap value only got you so much. This seemed to be something quite important for a large company and she would charging them accordingly. She tried to be as professional as possible, she would rather like to have a nice pay check. If she made a good impression she might be able to get a little more up front to cover expenses for her expertise.
She offered a number of services from security consultation, to simply reviewing CCTV and data protection systems and procedures. She did offer more complex investigative services but they came at a premium, as they were very time consuming.
“Ok, how do you want me to do this? To go undercover or out in the open. There are benefits and disadvantages to both. I could start undercover, then if I am found out I can still carry out an open investigation”. The operations manager had sent her a very basic hypothetical scenario and sought her advice on a number of points. Dolores had given her some broad stroke answers on how she would go about the investigation and the interview had been requested.
“I have already read your proposal. To begin with you will carry out an undercover operation. To this end I need you to be familiar with our product range. To successfully pose as a new member of staff, I will give you the basic orientation presentation now”.
The manager stood up and pressed a button on edge of her desk. A sturdy door to the right of the room opened up, there was a mechanical whir as a bold disengaged and the pop of a rubber seal. There was a strong chemical smell as if you were sniffing solvents that suddenly wafted into the room, a fan motor kicked in and the smell dissipated in seconds.
“Please follow me, this is a demonstration room, we use it for sales meetings and similar high level endeavours. That includes showing our range of products off to investors”. Dolores cautiously followed her new employer into the next door room, noting the carpet transitioned to white tiles. She stepped over a rubber seal around the door and looked around the lab. Michelle pulled on a white lab coat, pulling white elbow length rubber gloves and putting sturdy safety goggles in place.
She stepped behind a bench, stretched a little to stand up to her full height seemingly taller, as if this was her natural environment and she was more at ease than sitting behind a desk. She held up a blue beaker with a oily liquid in the bottom. The way she did this she had probably been giving this pitch to investors for years. They probably went through this little show and tell routine for all members of staff to get them familiar with the business, there was pride in her voice.
“This is compound X-121 it is the base for all our adhesives. My Grandfather created the X-1 formula and my parents created the X-12 refinement. My sister and I created the latest generation what you see before you the X-121. However you have to realise that its far more than just an industrial adhesive”.
She moved along the table picking up a tiny flask.
“This is a sample of X-121-B, it is a deliberately weak long lasting adhesive allowing you to move things about and re-stick them. You can see it can hold these two bits of paper together with about the strength of a post-it note”. Dolores watched as she placed the two bits of paper together then slowly pulled them apart as if they were tacked together with gum. She put down the bits of paper after re-sticking them together a couple of times. Moving the demonstration on she picked up a second tiny flask that looked almost identical but had a slightly different label.
She had two bits of pine battening in a tray. she put a dab of glue on one and pressed the second piece of wood holding it in place. Counting to three then lifting the two of the bits off the table.
“This is a sample of X-121-C its a bit stronger similar to a wood glue easily bonding these two bits of wood together but with a much quicker time”. She demonstrated this by shaking one bit of wood about the other didn't come flying off. She held a different bit of wood in each hand and put pressure on the joint, it didn't budge. Finally she smacked one end on the table top a few times yet it still didn't break the joint.
She moved along the table picking up two bits of clean prepared bare silver metal which had been ground back, stripped of any paint dust or grease ready for the demonstration. Another little test pot filled with glue was placed next to it. A little brush and a few flicks of glue on both ends.
“This is a sample of X-121-D, with a clean surface to stick to the metal to metal bond is almost as strong as if it was welded”. She stuck the two bits of metal together holding them in place for a few seconds. She theatrically tapped one end on the table holding the other end, of course the bond held true. She clamped one end in a vice and hit it with a claw hammer pretty hard, the bond didn't break. She removed it from the centre of the vice and moved to the next sample that didn't look very well prepared by comparison, it looked the way someone who was lazy might use the product.
“Now if I apply the same adhesive to these bits of metal that have not been prepared that are covered with rust dirt oil and paint”. Michelle got two similar sized bits of metal that had not been prepared. Holding them up they were obviously dusty dirty covered with paint not suitable. She left it for a few moments for the glue to set, almost the same as before. She repeated the demonstration clamping one end in a vice. This time she taped it with a hammer and it broke apart after the first impact.
“As you can see under these circumstances the bond is nowhere near as strong. You just get a bunch of paint rust and dirt that the glue bonds to instead of the metal. That weakens the joint incredibly. The adhesive bonds with all that rubbish rather than the material, so it isn't that useful. Unless you properly prepare the two halves, which frankly any glue will have on its instructions it doesn't work. That is a real problem when your in a situation where you need a solution fast”.
She removed a beaker that was slightly darker in colour than the last one.
“However this is a sample of XX-121-D, it has a special chemical that makes the bond just as secure. Even with rust and paint and dirt it penetrates all the layers deep down and ensures the bond sets properly. This was developed by a team of scientists that my aunt headed up in one of our labs on site. This is what we assume is the ultimate target of the industrial espionage as we only just finished developing it”. Dolores paid attention, this was the industrial secret she was protecting. She watched the operations manager do the same thing. Glueing the two unprepared pieces together putting them in the vice. There was a grin on her lips as she taped it with a hammer and it didn't budge. She savagely struck it again and again the metal remained in place. In the end she pulled a sledge hammer out from under the table, held it in both hands and swung it with gusto.
With one impact she managed to bend the metal, but didn't break the glue joint.
“You have to give my aunt credit. Also you can see the removing compound, the solvent to the XX-121-D ”. She held up a little orange spray bottle squirting it the joint where the two bits of material had been bonded together. It had been stuck together one moment there was a little fizz as it broke down the bond. Moments later the second piece fell onto the table. the two bits of metal in the vice had come apart almost instantly where she couldn't get it to lose with the sledge hammer. Dolores picked up the bit of metal it was warm at the joint.