SECURE, WASHINGTON

Chapter 14 My rental car’s nav brought me into Secure from the west, angling south on Workman Creek Road just before the West Gate entrance and guard station. This route was how staff and visitors entered the city, parking just to the south of an imposing structure known as Main Secure. I was struck by the relatively small size of the parking lot. I had expected a multi-story parking garage in keeping with what I imagined would be a large staff, but what I found was a simple asphalt-paved lot that could hold maybe 100 vehicles. My rental car dropped me in front of an arched overhead canopy that extended about forty feet out from the building. Large lettering was integrated into the facia to spell out a single word: FORWARD. As I walked below the canopy, it came up short of the building by about twenty feet, but to keep people dry during rainy days, a second, higher canopy butted right up next to the building and extended out so that it overlapped the lower canopy. Hanging chains on the corners helped direct rain from the upper to the lower, and from the lower to ground level. Just before entering the sliding glass doors that had opened for me, I turned around and noted the same FORWARD lettering on the facia facing the building. Interesting. Once inside, the foyer was comfortably large, but certainly not grandiose. An Information Desk protruded out from the rear wall in a sweeping semi-circle with only two people behind it. To the right was a wall with a guard station that included a metal detector, and a sign above the station read East Secure. Its twin for West Secure was to my left. I told one of the attendants who I was, and who I was here to see, and they pointed me over to a section of chairs to wait while they made a call. About five minutes later, a short woman who looked to be in her early 60s with a little paunch to her figure and a little gray to her shoulder-length hair came through the West Secure guard station. She saw me waiting and immediately broke out into a big smile. (Macie) “Hi there! You must be George. I’m Macie, and I’m a volunteer at Secure. I love your books! It’s an honor.” (George) “Macie, the honor is mine. So nice to meet you. (looking around) I understand that I’m the first non-resident who will be living within the walls of Secure—even if it’s just through July 4th.” (Macie) “I guess that I need to be on my best behavior, as it is apparent that you know some people who know some people.” (laughs) (George) “I can already tell that we’re going to get along splendidly! Now, my understanding is that I’m going to get the entire ‘new resident’ treatment. I can’t tell you how excited I am!” (Macie) “I’m told that there will be a few exceptions to our normal protocol—but nothing that will rob you of the experience. I’ll point those out to you as we go. Now, let’s get started by fitting you with a temporary location band.” Macie escorted me back to the other person at the Information Desk, who removed what almost looked like a single handcuff from a drawer. She did something on a computer screen and then scanned a code that was embedded into the band. It was padded, and as she wrapped it around my left wrist (since I’m left-handed), she closed it and it ratcheted little by little until it was snug but not tight-fitting. She brought out a special key-like tool and locked it into place. (Macie) “There you go. All of the staff go through the same process each day—and when our shift is over, they then remove it. This is a slack time right now. In the early morning hours, the Information Desk has a few more people helping out. Now, if you will follow me, we’ll go through security.” I followed Macie through the West Secure guard station and metal detector, and then we turned right into a hallway with directional signs posted on the walls. We walked straight ahead until we exited the structure. I looked around me. I was now inside the city of Secure!