Duane stepped out from the washroom wiping his hands on his trousers. The sanitizer was supposed to dry them completely, but either he was doing something wrong or maybe the stupid thing just — his musing was abruptly halted when he spotted the Banu standing in the middle of the hallway. What the hell is a Banu doing here?
He reached a hand slowly to the stun baton on his belt and firmly asked, “Can I help you?”
A wide smile broke across the Banu’s elongated face, deepening the network of crags there. “Hello!”
Duane quickly checked to see if the Banu’s chest had a ‘visitor’ tag. Sometimes one of the techs would bring in a guest if they had to work on the weekend, and it wouldn’t be too surprising if Eiko had forgotten to comm him from the security desk.
No. No tag. And the Banu was carrying a datapod. Duane felt his pulse quicken. After working as a security guard for eight years at the Behring Applied Technology labs he might actually be in the middle of his first real break-in. Don’t screw this up, Duane.
Calmly, Duane informed the Banu, “If you don’t have security tag, I have to ask you to accompany me to the lobby.”
“Your tag,” said the Banu nodding to the small purple badge on Duane’s chest. “Does it open the doors for all the laboratories?”
Duane slipped the baton from its loop and pressed the primer. “Last warning. This area is for authorized personnel only and I will remove you by force if necessary.”
The Banu simply tilted his head to the side and smiled wider. “Please look at me for the next five seconds. Thank you.”
Duane realized too late that he had forgotten to see if the Banu was alone.