“I’m proposing that the three of us work an extra shift. Tonight, from ten to seven. We’ll wait in the break room, and once an hour we’ll do patrols of the store. The Showroom, the Market Floor, and the Self-Service Warehouse. If a vandal is sneaking in and trashing the place, we’ll bust him and call the cops. Problem solved.”

“I can’t do tonight,” Amy said. “I’ve got plans.” This wasn’t exactly true, but she didn’t relish the idea of being awake for twenty-four hours.

“It has to be tonight,” Basil said. “Regional already replied to Pat’s e-mail. They’re sending a Consultant Team first thing tomorrow morning. They’ll want a full tour of the store. And they cannot arrive to find a Brooka smeared with . . . you know.”

“Why us?” Amy asked.

“Because you’re both loyal and reliable partners.”

Amy rolled her eyes. “Seriously.”

Basil hesitated. “All right, I’ll be honest. I had Tommy and Gregg from Replenishment all lined up, but the Indians are playing the Sox, so they backed out. Then I asked David Potts and his brother Russell, but this morning they called in sick. So I tried Eduardo Pena, but he has to watch his grandchildren. Then I tried Tania from Café, but she’s watching an eBay auction. Now I’m asking you, because I know you’ll both say yes.”

“Really?” Amy asked. “You’re positive?”

“Ruth Anne will agree because she’s discreet, she’s responsible, and she cares about Orsk. You’ll agree because you want to go back to Youngstown. I saw your transfer request on the computer this morning. I know you don’t like this store, and I know you don’t like me. But if you work this extra shift, I’ll make sure your transfer goes through, and you won’t ever have to see me again.”

Amy’s instinct was to fire back with a wisecrack, but she was startled to realize his proposal actually sounded pretty good. “You’ll pay time and a half?”

“Even better: double overtime,” Basil said. “In cash at the end of the shift. Just to show how much I appreciate your participation and your discretion.”

Amy quickly did the math: eight hours at double overtime would net her two hundred dollars, enough to keep her roommates at bay until her next paycheck.

“Count me in,” she said.

“Me, too,” Ruth Anne said. “It’ll be fun. Like a sleepover party.”

Basil shook their hands, sealing the deal.

“Meet me at the employee entrance at ten o’clock,” he explained. “I’ll let you inside while Operations finishes cleaning. We’ll wait in here until everything’s quiet, then we’ll do our first sweep. And not a word to anyone, understand? This is a covert operation.”

The door to the break room burst open and Matt and Trinity tumbled inside. “There’s people in here,” Trinity exclaimed, feigning surprise.

“Hey, guys,” Matt said. “What’s up?”

Basil immediately tried to act like nothing was going on, which made it look like something was absolutely going on.

“We were just dialoguing,” he said. He turned to Amy and Ruth Anne. “Thank you for your feedback. It’s been duly noted and I’ll pass it along.”

“Feedback about what?” Matt asked.

“Is everything okay?” Trinity asked, searching Amy’s eyes for clues. “There’s a real weird energy in this room. Like someone’s just had a difficult conversation.”

“You better be on your break,” Basil said as he headed out the door. “I’ve got to get back.”

Trinity sat down across from Amy and Ruth Anne. “Seriously, what did he want? Are you guys fired? You can talk to me.”

“Were you two creeping around the hall eavesdropping?” Amy asked.

“We’re gathering information that is critical to staff morale,” Trinity said.

“No one’s fired,” Ruth Anne said.

“Told you so,” Matt said to Trinity. “I knew they’d never fire Ruth Anne.”

Trinity stuck out her tongue, and she and Matt began to flirt-fight. Amy had heard that Trinity and Matt were hooking up, but she’d also heard the same rumor about Trinity and half the floor partners, male and female. She was the sort of revved-up party girl that guys found irresistible and Amy found irritating.

“I gotta go,” she said, standing up.

Trinity put herself between Amy and the door. “If you weren’t getting fired, what did Basil want? Do you have to do diversity training? Is he putting you on part-time? Is the store closing?”

“Sorry not to give you your daily allowance of store drama,” Amy said. “But I’ve got more important things to do. Like floor checking Tossurs.”

“Matt and I have used science to show that big changes are coming,” Trinity said. “Things in this store are approaching a crisis point. Any information you have will help us complete the big picture.”

“Seriously,” Matt said. “Is the store closing?”

“Come on, Ruth Anne,” Trinity said. “What happened? We need hard data.”

“I think it’s probably best if I don’t say anything,” Ruth Anne said.

“You’re killing us,” Trinity said. “You are literally killing us.”

“Good,” Amy said. “Maybe then you’ll stop being so annoying.”

And with that, Amy abandoned Ruth Anne to the two most irritating people in Orsk and walked back to her shop where she spent the next two hours comparing Tossur inventory numbers.

            When her shift ended at four o’clock, Amy drove around for half an hour, then decided to get some sleep before the secret overnight shift began at ten. She couldn’t risk going back to her apartment without the money she owed, and Basil had made it clear she wasn’t getting paid until the overnight shift was finished. She was too embarrassed to nap in the Orsk parking lot with all of her coworkers walking by, so she drove a mile down Route 77, pulled into the parking lot of a Red Lobster, parked by the Dumpster, and leaned her seat all the way back.

It was hot, the interior of her car stank of oil, and her feet smelled like coffee. Amy closed her eyes, trying to still the buzzing in her head. At first she didn’t think she’d be able to fall asleep, but the day had been long and her emotions were toast. After forty-five minutes of sitting and staring and thinking about what a wreck her life had become, after forty-five minutes of wondering how she was ever going to escape Orsk and get a sit-down job, after forty-five minutes of feeling sweat trickling down her ribs, she fell into a state of sticky semiconsciousness. And as her mind closed up shop and went dark, Amy wondered dully if she would be stuck on the hamster wheel forever, stuck in retail forever, stuck at Orsk forever. But she didn’t have to worry. Tonight would be her final shift.

Excerpted from Horrostor by Grady Hendrix. Reprinted with permission by Quirk Books.