Free Double Dare by Vicki Hinze Page B

easily be able to handle the majority of your requests, Captain. But am I reading this correctly? You want all employees to wear yellow tomorrow?”
    “Actually, from the time the stores close to shoppers tonight until they close tomorrow night.”
    Barone’s resistance was palpable. Too bad.
    She dredged up a smile, already weary of fighting him on specifics, particularly regarding having medical staff on the premises.
    She needed to work around him on that, and put it on her mental to-do list. One way or another, she had to have medical personnel inside the mall. Using undercover shoppers would be easiest, of course, but she’d have no way of placing them specifically and roamers would be inefficient as well as obvious. For a second she debated the value of reminding Barone that she and Justin were here to save his ass, but she might just need that leverage more later. Better save it.
    His forehead wrinkled and he crooked his mouth. “Wouldn’t red or green be more appropriate to the holiday?”
    “To the holiday, yes, Mr. Barone. But because that’s true, many nonemployees will also be wearing those colors. That renders them ineffective for our purposes.”
    “Valid point.” He paused, thoughtfully considered the other items on the list. “Will, we can have attendants in all the rest rooms and in the store’s dressing rooms, can’t we?”“It’s doable, sir,” he said. “Provided the stores cooperate, of course, and they’ve no logical reason to refuse.”
    “Fine.” Barone read on, then came to an abrupt halt. “What’s this? Prepositioning antidote?” He stared at Maggie, clearly verged on refusing.
    “That’s not a request.” Justin jumped in. “It’s a mandate, Mr. Barone.”
    “A mandate?” His expression turned dark.
    “If anything should happen here, you don’t want to have to explain on the ten o’clock news why you refused to position the antidote vials inside the facility.” Justin sent Barone a sincere look. “That could open a devastating Pandora’s box on legal issues and become a PR nightmare.”
    Justin had Barone’s attention; he wasn’t refusing or shouting down the roof. Maggie was grateful for both.
    “It’s just not worth the risk,” Justin went on. “Not prepositioning the antidote could be perceived by the public as deliberate deception that resulted in reckless endangerment. God forbid anyone should die.” Justin tilted his head. “I’m not sure exactly what your legal standing would be then, but considering anyone can sue for anything…” Justin lifted a hand. “We consider protecting you as much as possible from costly ramifications to be in everyone’s best interests.”
    If Santa Bella was attacked, just opening the mall for business could be considered deliberate deception and reckless endangerment, but Maggie didn’t say so. Barone already knew it. Will had mentioned that legal counsel had been at that seven o’clock meeting between Barone and the twenty-six A-stores. Of course, he’d been blunt on liability. That’s why he was there.
    Barone pondered a moment, then said, “Prepositioning the antidote is fine, but no medical staff. The shoppers would be unnerved and leave, and that would bankrupt at least a hundred stores.”
    Very nice job, Justin. Well, half a job. Maggie cleared her throat, then pushed for the second half. “If we have to administer the antidote, we have two minutes to do it. That’s a reminder, Mr. Barone. We have only two minutes before we start seeing shoppers become corpses,” she reiterated. “I’ve developed a plan to insert some medical professionals undercover as clerks. People who are trained to react to these types of situations. For all intents and purposes, they’ll appear to be normal sales staff. But if we need them, they’ll be in position, ready to help.” Taking a tip from Justin and his success, she added, “For your protection, this, too, is not negotiable, Mr. Barone.”
    He sent her a haughty