by Beck Rowland
“Hey Tucksworth?” she called. He hesitated, then stopped and turned.
“Spread the word. Every cocktail party you visit, every yacht club you attend, every VIP section you frequent, let the rich and powerful be warned,” Zenaida shouted. “I’ll be watching you.”
Six months later, Zenaida strolled through the ZenCorp headquarters. The company had grown considerably since the Tucksworth incident. The office was now fully decorated, with desks, cubicles, office plants and equipment dominating the floor space. There was a low, constant hum of activity as new employees busied themselves on their tasks.
As Chief Counsel, Ortega now oversaw an entire legal department, with several sharp young paralegals under her tutelage. Mike was Chief Financial Officer, with an accountant and financial administration assistant of his own.
The company had become entirely self-sustaining, bringing in enough revenue to repay Zenaida’s initial investments and cover all their operating expenses. ZenCorp’s investments, including the telecom companies and GPS mapping firm Zenaida had bought, were being managed well. Each brought in a handsome profit every quarter; Zenaida’s fortune had just passed $70 million. Zenaida had learned that it was was surprisingly easy to make money when you started off with a whole bunch of it.
As Zenaida walked through the office, Lara rushed alongside her, struggling to match her pace. Her trademark chunky sweater had been replaced with a ZenCorp polo, but her frizzy hair and glasses hadn’t changed a bit. It was a Monday morning operations review, and things at ZenCorp were moving quickly.
“How’s everything with our newest employee?” Zenaida asked.
Lara smiled. “Oh, you know… at first it was a little awkward, and then it was sort of nice. Is there still a little spark there? Possibly. Probably. But who knows what the future holds?”
Zenaida burst out laughing. “I mean professionally, Lara. Davey really liked his old job, and he left it to join ZenCorp full time. Is he satisfied here? Is he still angry about his certificate?”
A red glow filled Lara’s cheeks. “Oh, of course,” she murmured. “Yes, he’s doing great. You made him the Chief Information Officer of an entire company, with three IT assistants reporting to him. It’s everything he ever wanted.”
“Good. You guys are my most valuable assets. I can’t risk losing either of you again,” Zenaida said with a warm smile. "How are the missing children reports going?"
Lara glanced down at a clipboard. "In the first week since going live, DataVortex has located 12 missing children in Asia and 23 in North America. Authorities have already been contacted.” Takeshi Nomura was managing the DataVortex operation from ZenCorp’s satellite office in Tokyo, working within a strict ethical framework that placed a premium on privacy and security.
"What about our next operation? Any idea who ZenCorp should take on next?" Zenaida asked.
"You’ll be able to take your pick of targets. I’ve draw up a list of my top ten recommendations for your review," Lara said, handing Zenaida a print-out. “These are all companies that have made obscene profits through unfair, immoral or exploitive business practices.”
Zenaida read the sheet and nodded slowly. "Excellent. I know most of these companies— they’re the worst of the worst," she said.
“Choose one and I’ll start the preliminary planning for an operation,” Lara said.
Zenaida shook her head. “Not one of them— all of them. We need to show everybody that Peeper was only the start, not a one-off. ZenCorp is in it for the long-haul.”
Lara blinked in surprise, then just nodded and made a note.
Zenaida turned to her friend."And Jack Tucksworth?"
"He really seems to have turned a new leaf," Lara reported. "Davey’s team conducted an external privacy audit of Peeper’s systems just last week. They say the new account security is some of the best they’ve ever seen. Peeper’s quarterly profits took a hit as they increased investments in cybersecurity, so it’s been bad news for shareholders, but great news for everybody else."
Zenaida nodded, satisfied. Just as she had demanded, Tucksworth had delivered a public apology for past data leakages. He had already positioned Peeper to raise the bar for user privacy and data protection. Privacy advocates and consumer protection groups had been dumbfounded.
“You know it won’t always as easy as Peeper, right?” Lara asked. “You can’t win all your battles with kickboxing.”
“You only thought Peeper was easy because you didn’t join us until the end,” Zenaida laughed. “But point taken— Tucksworth was a one-off.”
“I still can't believe you pulled this off. You should read some of the press. ZenCorp is making huge waves. People are freaking out," Lara gushed.
All the media knew was that a tiny, mysterious company had forced Peeper to surrender the DataVortex program. Nobody knew how, nor could they decide quite what to make of ZenCorp. What kind of company had a primary focus so far removed from profit? Instead, its small team of boardroom operatives focused on penalizing the ultra-rich for any infractions against ordinary people.
There was rampant speculation about Zenaida and her team. Some cheered them for rising to challenge those that nobody else could, while others condemned Zenaida as a hypocritical millionaire vigilante. None of those perspectives captured the full picture, though. Zenaida knew that in truth, ZenCorp was far more. It was a beginning.
"We're just getting started," Zenaida said. She shot Lara a grin, and then pulled her in close. "The targets we’ve picked will make a big splash, but that’ll only be the start. In the long run, we’re going to go bigger... way bigger."
Lara looked around the office, taking in the quiet hum of activity. They had already grown so much. She wondered how far her friend’s ambitions could stretch. Lara put her pen to the notepad and turned to Zenaida. "Alright. What are we going to need?" she asked.
Zenaida looked out the window. The city stretched out before her. On the horizon, a storm was brewing.
"Billions," Zenaida said.
Dedicated to Equifax and Facebook.
Thank you for reading All About The Zenjamins!
I hope you enjoyed reading Zenaida’s adventure as much as I enjoyed writing it. Before you go, please consider sharing your opinion on Amazon or Goodreads. Both ratings and reviews are warmly received!
In the meantime, I’ll be hard at work writing Zenaida’s next adventure. If you’d like to be notified when it’s ready, drop me a line at [email protected]. You won’t get any spam, just a one-time notice about my next release. After all, Zeny was very clear: this was only the beginning. Until next time!
Beck Rowland