The Snake in the Grass
"rstrt!" A shrill cry broke the silence. I had been enjoying a fresh cup of espresso when the Head of HR's ear piercing voice shattered my peace. "Just what do you think you're doing?"
"I was rather enjoying my espresso." I held the cup out to her. "It's still warm, if you'd like it."
"Why would I want your disgusting espresso?" She waved it away, so I took a healthy swig of it and hoped it would give me strength. "You are under contract, you can't work at another company during your employment here."
I reached for a piece of paper in my top drawer. I handed it to HoHR and smiled. It was a notarized letter from the CEO saying that he was giving me explicit permission to work with Really Cool VP (RCV) to get them started. HoHR read it for a second and tore it in half.
"You are not to take on another company as an independent client, am I clear?"
"Whatever you say, HoHR. You're the boss, right?"
"Finally, you're starting to come around." It appeared that my sarcasm was completely lost on her. She walked out, no huff or even a glance back at me. I was rightfully confused, the only people that knew were CEO, RCV and the PFY. I decided that I wouldn't let my paranoia consume me, and went about my regular tasks.
'My laptop has a black screen' read one of the tickets. I leaned over to see the PFY working away on some other ticket and assigned my name to this one. I decided that it was worth a walk to the other side of the office instead of picking up my phone.
"Hey rstrt, didn't expect you to come all the way down here for a personal issue." Runner was one of our assistants. She had participated in several full marathons and had medals all over her office. She was a complete fitness buff, going so far as to drink blended sea-weed for breakfast. I didn't realize the issue was personal when I decided to get up, but there was an espresso machine on this side of the office as well.
"So what's it doing?" She pulled the laptop out, and turned it on. 'Operating System Not Found' it said. I grabbed the small screwdriver from my pocket and opened the hard drive bay and pushed the drive back in. This model of Sony was rather bad about having it's drives pop out, even when screwed down. She thanked me and I went back to my office, with espresso in hand. I sat back down and that's when I heard it, the clacking from the Woman Next Doors' (WND) keyboard. The next morning, like all mornings at $Company, came far too fast. It was lunch time before I knew it.
"I'm going to get something form the deli." The WND said as she walked by. I waited for the door to the Dregs to shut before I spoke up.
"PFY, go into the WND's office." I shut my door and waited for a second. Then I spoke, in a regular even tone. "PFY, if you can hear this you better tell me or I'll throw you from the roof."
"Why would you throw me from the roof?"
"The WND can hear everything I say in my office. I think she might be parroting back to HoHR."
"What? Why would she do that?"
I thought back to the Black File, I didn't have anything on the WND. I had always assumed that she was clean, but why would she report back to HoHR? There was only one person I knew that would have any answers. I grabbed my cell phone and dialed his number.
"Hey, rstrt. What's up?" Motorcycle iT Guy responded.