Navia pushed open the bar door, and tried not to let the distaste show on her face. It wasn't her kind of place, too loud, too bright, too many people desperate for the wrong things. Unfortunately it was where she needed to be. She managed to find a table off to the side, and caught the eye of a server. The pretty thing wove her way through the crush, all to happy to take Navia's order. The cheerfulness morphed into confusion when she was told a glass of water would be fine. Navia then went on to order a tumbler of their finest to be delivered, giving the girl a hefty upfront tip to make sure it got where it needed to. Then she waited.

She didn't have to wait long, which really didn't surprise her. Kegan was the one with the surprised look, tumbler in hand. "You are not what I was expecting." He grinned and took the bait, sliding into the seat across form her. Hazel eyes ran an appreciate gaze over her before returning to her face. "Fresh from work? You didn't even stop to freshen up before rushing to my side. I'm touched. Seriously though, this had better be good, you just nixed any chance I had tonight."

"How do you figure that?" Navia asked, curious.

"Because now that they have seen me with you, any one I hit up is going to think they are my second choice." He smiled brazenly. "You do know your the prettiest thing in here, right? Even dressed for the office."

Navia just shook her head, a smile tugging at her lips. Kegan at the lab was bad, Kegan at a bar was exponentially worse. She slid a peace of paper across the table at him. "I need a favor." She explained as he read over the list of names. "I need to look at their medical files for the last two months at least."

The names hadn't been hard to come by just tedious. She had approached the personnel resource manager with a request for access to attendance records for all employees of the Science Division Lab complex. She had intimated that the Chief Scientist wanted to do an efficiency study. The sheer number of files that the manager produced was astounding, but the information she had needed was in there. After several hours, Navia had gleaned a list of 18 names, all whose attendance had dropped dramatically in the time stated.

Kegan folded the list, one finger tapping it as he spoke. "This isn't a small favor, Beautiful. Not like our usual games. I don't want to know why you need it, but it must be important. " He leaned back, and she could see him calculating just how much 'important' was worth. Taking a sip from his tumbler, he paused. Swirling the liquid amber, he gazed at it for a moment before setting the glass down. It seemed to have made up his mind. "The perfect night."

"What?" Navia wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but that wasn't it.

"I want the perfect night out. I'll foot the bill, but you have to plan it. Beginning to end." As he spoke, his grin grew more and more confident, he was thinking he won already.

It was too easy. "And do you have a preference to companion?" Navia formulated a short list of those she would not regret foisting Kegan off on.

"Oh yes, but she is way above my paygrade. A slim little brunette with gorgeous legs and an exotic pair of dark eyes that can bend a mans will..."

With every word, Navia's expression grew more incredulous. "You have got to be kidding."

"Not a chance, Beautiful. I've been chasing you for years, and if this is what it takes to catch you, I am deadly serious. Do we have a deal?" He was leaning forward now, his hazel eyes watching her intently. Kegan want this, badly.

"It will take time to plan." She stalled. Actually the planning would be easy, she just didn't need the distraction right now. Not until Ladon was done with her.

"I can wait." He breathed, enunciating every word.

A considered moment later, Navia nodded and she could almost see the tension in him unravel. With a cocky smile, he threw back the remainder of his drink in celebration. "Whats is your access code?" She asked.

"Oh no, I'm going with you. If my access can carry this kind of price tag, I'm not just going to give it up. You may need it again." He flipped the tumber over on the table, rose from his seat, and held out a hand to her. Helping her to her feet, he leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Besides, I wanted all of them to see us leave together..."

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Getting into the records department wasn’t hard. Any medical personal with a high enough clearence had a key. Kegan swung the door open and reached for the lightswitch. Catching his arm, Navia shook her head. They want to keep this incursion as quiet as they could. “Right” He whispered. He stepped aside, gesturing for the lady to enter first. The mockery in his gaze was not lost on her. With an exasperated sigh, she did.

The front office of the record department consisted of several waiting chairs, a few large tables, a corner full of hand trucks, and three desks. On each desk was the cream of Genii processing technology. A monitor that worked off the vacuum tube that Ladon had been so enthusiastic about a few years ago, conected to a futuristic looking armless typograph. Both devices were hardwired to a computation system she could hear humming away in the back room.

Kegan made his way through the dim light, and slid around the far side of the desk. She could see him fiddling with the bottom of the monitor, then there was a quiet twang. She worked her way around him, curious about the odd static discharges she was hearing. Kegan didn’t seem concerned, so she assumed it was normal. Gradually the screen brightened, casting them both in a sickly green glow. The lettering on the screen scrolled up, stopped, and scrolled up again. When it finally settled, the blinking cursor asked for a log in and password. Navia had watched all this with a little fascination. While she had exposure to all the latest science, indeed had probably typed up more manuals any other Administrator, she didn’t usually interact with the technology. That was down on the lab floor, and she always had way too many other things to do. Catching her leaning over his shoulder, Kegan shooed her away. “No peeking.” He admonished.

Annoyed, she walked to the back of the office. If she remembered correctly, the computation system housed a searchable directory of the records, the actual hardcopies all lay behind this plain door with a magnetic keycard swipe plate in front of her. She was visualizing the contents of the swipe plate when she heard Kegan mutter,’oh no’ behind her. She didn’t like oh noes...

“Hey Beautiful, we a problem.” Looking over his shoulder she could see Dahlia’s name, military identity number, the medical records identification number for the test results, and under location ‘64375’. She didn’t see the problem. “This is not right. Look…” He called up a random file, under location was a cypher that listed section, shelf, and box numbers.

“Try the next name.” She prompted, a glimmer of dread forming in her chest. The files were not here.

He turned to face her, arms crossed. “I did, I tried the next five. They all list the files transferred to 64375. I can keep going with the other thirteen, but I am not liking the odds.”

She was back to the beginning, with no real results to give Ladon. Perching on the edge of the desk, she tamped down the disappointment and tried to focus. She head Kegan draw in a breath, in preparation to speak. She put a stop to that with one look. She needed quiet, she needed a new plan. The office descended into a silence only broken by the soft tapping of her fingers on the side of the desk.

The sound of a door banging shut in the outer hallway startled them both. Navia had not expected the guards to do their rounds for another 20 minutes. She had figured to be in the back room, if not already gone by then. “Shut it off, and keep quiet.” She whispered, with any luck the guard would just pass by.
Kegan ran a finger under the monitor edge again, tensely watching the door. The guard slowly paced down the hall, casting a shadow on the frosted glass of the record office door.

The monitor finished its shutdown sequence and let out a beep. There was a sharp rasp, as the guard stopped and turned back. Then the jangling of keys.

Navia turned to tell Kegan to hide, only to find him grinning down at her. He had a plan, and whatever it was, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t like it. Just as the lock began to turn, he swooped her up and kissed her so hard she was practically bent over backwards. The door opened to a classic interrupted lovers scene. Kegan released her enough that she could hide her face in his shoulder as the guards light flashed over then.

“Kegan?” Came the guards baffled voice. “What are you doing, man.”

“Michol! Do you really have to ask?” He was playing on his reputation to cover them, Navia gave a convincingly vapid giggle in support. She could feel him look down at her in surprise before continuing. “I didn’t know you worked tonight.”

“Good thing for you I did. Anyone else would have called for backup, before opening the door.” There was a pause, and by the movement of the shadows cast by the guards light, she could tell he was looking her over. After a moment, Michol gave a resigned sigh. “Look I’ll be coming back through in half an hour, be gone by then ok?”

The door closed, and Kegan finally set her free. She stepped back, fixing him with a narrowed gaze. He was grinning, hazel eyes danced with amusement. “That couldn’t have worked better if I had planned it!” They stopped dancing when he saw her expression. “Which I didn’t…”

In measured even tones, she began. “If you ever manhandle me like that again.”

Kegan took a step back, interrupting in his defense “Hey I was just trying to make it believable.”

“Believable is going to be the amount of pain you will be in when I break every bone in your grabby… Medical Leave!” Kegan’s head tilted slightly, one brow raised. The abrupt change in conversation completely stumped him, and Navia went on to explain. “Anyone who is going to be out for more than three days needs to submit for authorized medical leave. The paperwork must be signed by a physician and include diagnosis. One copy goes in their medical records, one copy goes to personnel management, and one copy is kept separate in case of audit. We need to find those audit files.”

“On it!” Since the monitor had already warmed up, it took much less time to get into the records. Within minutes Kegan had the location up in tiny green letters. Navia grabbed a graphite to it down, when the light blinked and spat out several more. Kegan sighed. “We are going to need a dolly…”

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