[Contributor 02] - Infiltrator (2013)

by Nicole Ciacchella

  “Assistant Morrow, I’d like to introduce you to Head of Accounting Adams.”

  “It’s an honor to meet you, sir,” she said, extending her hand to the tall, handsome man. She fought to tamp down her sense of alarm. Apparently her father’s information had not only been good, it had been timely.

  “I hear you’re very eager to prove yourself,” Adams replied. He had an easy smile, his white teeth a startling contrast to his ebony skin. His curly black hair was threaded with gray, and he wore dark-rimmed glasses that lent him an air of gravitas. Dara’s initial reaction was to relax. Where Andersen was all coldness, his gaze piercing, Adams had a kindly, paternal aura that made her feel safe—which immediately put her on guard. Letizia had admonished her that not everyone was working for the system, but that didn’t stop Dara from looking on everyone with suspicion. Nothing and no one seemed safe anymore.

  “I am indeed, sir.”

  “As you know, Arthur, I have very exacting standards,” Andersen said, chortling and clasping Adams’s shoulder.

  “Oh, I haven’t forgotten about that! Who else could have made such a success of the engineering department? I hope you know how clever your superior is, my dear. When we were students, he got away with contradicting his Instructors.” Her eyes widened, and she stole a glance at Andersen. That kind of boldness was unheard of.

  “I merely corrected their mistakes,” Andersen said, his predatory smile not reaching his eyes.

  “Right you are.” Adams let out a hearty chuckle, shaking his head in evident admiration. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  Filing the information away, Dara smiled. “Can I get you anything, Head of Accounting Adams, Head of Engineering Andersen?”

  “Coffee,” Andersen said. “Arthur, shall we retire to my office? We have a great deal to discuss.”

  “Yes, we do,” Adams replied, checking his watch. “And I have another meeting in two hours, so I’d like to get right down to it.”

  Andersen put his hand between Adams’s shoulders, leading the other man into his office. Dara bit back a curse, wishing Andersen hadn’t told her to bring coffee. They wouldn’t say anything of importance until they were in the privacy of Andersen’s office, but she was reluctant to leave her desk, desperate for whatever scraps of information she could gather.

  Could this really all be about Javier? Andersen can’t be that eager to ruin him, can he?

  Chewing her lip, she went to the executive alcove and filled an insulated carafe with coffee. The rich, fragrant smell of it made her nose twitch, and she scowled as she thought of the weaker brew that was allocated to someone of her station. Why had she never before noticed the millions of tiny ways in which everyone’s social standing was so clearly delineated and subtly reinforced?

  She put the full carafe on a tray, along with sweetener, mugs, and cream, and took it to Andersen’s office. Tapping on his door, she composed her features, meeting him with an expression of submission, head lowered in what she hoped he’d interpret as respect. She carried the tray into the office and set it on Andersen’s desk.

  “Would you like sweetener or cream, Head of Accounting Adams?” she asked, pouring a cup for him.

  “No, thank you.” Adams accepted the cup, and she poured one for Andersen. She already knew he didn’t take cream or sweetener, had noted it when she was still an apprentice.

  “Will there be anything else?” she asked, folding her hands in front of her and looking at Andersen.

  “That’s all for now,” he said, waving his hand in dismissal.

  Inclining her head to the two men, Dara left, easing the door closed behind her. She stood before it for a moment, but it was impossible to hear anything through the thick steel. She suspected each department head’s office had been soundproofed. After all, they often talked with the Job Creators over secure lines, and it wouldn’t do for their underlings to overhear the secret exchanges.

  How the hell am I ever supposed to uncover anything useful?

  Her frustration mounting, she drummed her fingers on her desk as she signed in to her terminal. Mal had told her to pass along any information she thought relevant, but she doubted that included reporting how Andersen took his coffee. There must be surveillance gear she could use to listen in on his conversations, or some way she could hack his computer in order to access his private correspondence. Right now all she could do was make notes about his calendar and the meetings he attended, but it was flimsy intelligence. Andersen hadn’t reached the level he had by being sloppy, and she was willing to bet he kept his own private calendar to which she had no access.

  With a sigh of resignation, she forced herself to focus on her work. She was surprised when Letizia appeared before her desk, and she glanced at her clock to find it was ten minutes to ten.

  “Head of Engineering Andersen is in a meeting. May I get you anything while you wait?” Dara asked with bland politeness.

  “I’m fine, thank you.” Letizia’s gaze darted around engineering. No one seemed to be paying any attention to them, but there was no real way of knowing for certain. Their best bet was to act with professional detachment toward one another.

  Settling into one of the two chairs in the small reception area, Letizia began pecking away at her tablet, and Dara redirected her attention to her work. It was odd acting as if she and Letizia barely knew one another, and it made Dara want to squirm. Fifteen minutes passed, then twenty, but Andersen’s office door remained closed. Letizia’s face was composed, but there was a spark of impatience in her eyes, and her mouth tightened. She likely had a lot of work to do, given the number of people she supervised. But no complaints would pass from Letizia’s lips, even though she, like Dara, must suspect that Andersen was doing this as a way of reminding Letizia of her place.

  When the door finally opened, Letizia and Adams greeted one another, and Dara discreetly slipped into Andersen’s office to clear away the coffee things. She didn’t need to ask to know he wouldn’t be offering Letizia any refreshments.

  “Assistant Morrow, I’ll need several things in preparation for this afternoon’s meeting,” Andersen said as she headed for the door, tray in hand. He began to rattle off an extensive list, and Dara felt a flutter of panic. Should she ask him to wait while she got her tablet, so she could take notes? His mouth quirked in a faint sneer, and she stiffened her spine and looked him in the eye, nodding and making noises to let him know she was following him.

  “Also, I’m not content with the schematics. I suppose they’re…sufficient, but they could be much stronger.”

  “I’ll revise them, sir.” Dara could feel her lips thin, and she forced herself to smile. Yesterday Andersen had given the schematics his okay, which had been a relief, in light of the hours she had spent slaving over them.

  He paused and tapped his lips with a finger musingly. “Oh, and have you finished the report Head of Logistics Gonzales requested?”

  “Not yet, sir.” Her arms were beginning to ache. She shifted the heavy tray.

  “See that you do. It’s top priority.” His voice was severe.

  “I understand, sir.” Internally, she was screaming. What wasn’t top priority?

  “That will be all.”

  Leaving his office, she could practically feel the steam shooting from her ears. Andersen’s stream of commands had wasted another ten minutes of meeting time, and she was reasonably certain Letizia also longed for Andersen’s head on a platter.

  Dara stalked back to the alcove and put the coffee things away, unable to resist banging them around in frustration. Closing her eyes, she forced herself to calm down, taking a couple of slow breaths before returning to her desk to get to work. She’d be stuck there for hours past her shift’s end, completing Andersen’s laundry list of tasks.

  Chapter 4

  Dead tired when she finally finished her work, Dara dragged herself to Letizia’s apartment. She had no idea if her former master would be home, but if she had to continue this charade with A
ndersen without any sort of payoff, she’d start tearing her hair out by the handfuls.

  “Dara,” Letizia said by way of greeting. She looked as exhausted as Dara felt. The heavy circles under her eyes were so dark they were like bruises.

  “This is bullshit,” Dara exploded as soon as the door closed. “How am I supposed to collect any kind of information about Andersen if I’m not privy to anything?”

  Letizia rubbed her forehead. “Observe, Dara.”

  “What good is that going to do?”

  “You won’t know until you do it, will you?” An edge crept into Letizia’s voice, and Dara stared at her former master, mouth agape.

  “This is some sort of test, isn’t it?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.” Brushing past Dara, Letizia headed to her sofa and dropped down on it, letting her head fall back.

  “You know exactly what I mean. You all have to decide if you can trust me before you’ll let me do any real work, don’t you?”

  “What did you expect? Did you think you’d be brought into the inner circle?” Letizia asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

  Grunting in frustration, Dara paced the length of the room, her hands balled into fists. She was so angry that she wanted to scream until her throat was raw. Her mother had disappeared who knew where, Letizia was no longer around to guide Dara safely through the dangerous waters of Magnum, and she had to kiss up to Andersen in the seemingly futile hope that he might let slip something she could use to prove herself to Mal.

  “Are you sure you’re doing this for the right reasons?” Letizia’s soft voice startled her, and Dara stopped pacing.

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Are you doing this because you want to help or are you doing this because you want vengeance?”

  “Does it matter?” Dara began pacing again. At this rate, she’d wear a groove in Letizia’s floor.

  “Of course it matters. Use your head for once, instead of letting your emotions get the better of you,” Letizia snapped. “This is precisely why I didn’t think it was a good idea to let you do this.”

  “Might I remind you that I neither need nor want your permission?” Dara snapped back.

  Jumping up, Letizia strode over to Dara and seized her shoulders. “Stop acting like a spoiled little girl. I know you’re pissed about your mom, and you have every right to be, but stop channeling your anger in Andersen’s direction. He’s only a small part of a much larger problem.”

  The fight went out of Dara.“You’re right,” she said grudgingly.

  “Do you have any idea how frustrating you are? Sometimes I feel like talking to you is about as productive as beating my head against concrete. You have to stop doing this. It’s going to make you sloppy. You have to learn to be cold, calculating, if you’re serious about helping us.”

  Jerking out of Letizia’s grasp, Dara took a few steps away and ground the heels of her hands into her burning eyes. “I’m so angry all the time. I thought nothing could rattle me anymore, but then Andersen conveniently neglected to tell me that logistics would be at his meeting yesterday, which meant I wasn’t prepared to see Jonathan. Now Andersen’s busy buddying around with the Head of Accounting just as Javier is trying to change departments to work with Jasmine Shah—”

  “Wait, what?” Letizia interrupted, moving closer and peering down into her face.

  Dara dropped her hands to her sides. “Which one are you asking me about?”

  “Both.” Letizia frowned in concern. “I’d say I can’t believe he put you in that awkward position in the meeting, but, problem is, I can and do believe it. I’m sorry, Dara. That must have been hard.”

  “It was.” Wrapping her arms around herself, Dara considered telling Letizia about Jonathan’s surreptitious caress, but she didn’t want to share that information. Her loyalties were still torn. He had disappointed and hurt her, but she couldn’t accept the thought that he might be working against her, now that he suspected she was engaged in something subversive. She hoped she wouldn’t live to regret her conviction.

  Sighing, Letizia slipped an arm around Dara’s shoulders and gave her a light squeeze. “I wish I knew what to say to make that whole thing better.”

  “There’s nothing you can say. There’s nothing to do but get through it, and it would help if Andersen wouldn’t rub my face in it.”

  “Be prepared. This probably won’t be the last time.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Dara pulled away, flopping down on Letizia’s couch. She planted her elbows on her thighs and buried her face in her hands. The temptation to lie down and pass out on Letizia’s couch was nearly overwhelming.

  The cushions compressed as Letizia sat down next to her. “What did you say about Javier?”

  Rubbing her face one last time, Dara balled her fists against her knees. “My dad told me last night that he’d heard Javier was trying to move to accounting, to work with Jasmine Shah. He said Shah and Andersen pretty much hate each other.”

  “They do,” Letizia confirmed. Her face was troubled.

  “You don’t think it means anything, do you? Andersen’s meeting with Adams today?”

  “It might not. Andersen meets with Adams on a fairly regular basis. Still, I think it’s something worth paying attention to.”

  “Do you think Andersen would be that vindictive?”

  Letizia gave her a look that implied she thought Dara’s brains had oozed out of her ears. “Do you really need to ask me that?”

  “I guess not.” Dara sighed.

  “Besides, I think you’re missing something. While I wouldn’t put it past Andersen to be on a crusade to make Javier’s life miserable—he was furious at both Javier and Ryan for making him look bad—you have to consider this from a different perspective. Javier worked closely with Andersen for almost all of last year, and Jasmine Shah would do anything to discredit Andersen. She’s jealous of Andersen’s close relationship with the Job Creators.”

  Dara’s eyes widened. “You think Andersen might be worried that Javier can provide her with something she can use as leverage against him?”

  “Yes. Andersen gets his kicks from being a bastard, but his maliciousness is also driven by a sense of paranoia. He thinks everyone is after him.”

  “Whether they are or not.”

  “Yep.”

  “What should we do?”

  “Observe.”

  “I was afraid you’d say that.”

  Letizia smiled. “It may be nothing. Or it may be something. We don’t have enough information to figure that out yet.”

  “I hate feeling like I’m not doing anything.”

  “I know,” Letizia said, her face sympathetic. “But you are helping, whether you think so or not. I didn’t want you to do this, and I still think you should back out, but, well, I have to admit that I don’t have the time to keep an eye on Andersen.”

  “That’s why I’m not backing out of this.”

  “You can be very stubborn sometimes, you know that?”

  “And impatient. Don’t forget that one.”

  “Trust me, I haven’t.” Letizia rolled her eyes.

  “So Andersen really is paranoid?”

  “Yes.” Letizia’s expression became grim. “He’s ambitious. He wants to make it all the way to the top, however unlikely that may seem, and he’ll stomp on anyone standing in his way.”

  “What about you?” Dara asked, trying to suppress a shiver. What would she do if Andersen turned on Letizia? What if Letizia was forced to go into hiding, leaving Dara all alone? The thought made her feel selfish, but the truth was she didn’t know if she could make it without Letizia’s advice and counsel.

  As if reading Dara’s thoughts, Letizia smiled wryly. “Don’t worry. I won’t leave you to fend for yourself with Andersen.”

  Her cheeks flaming, Dara ducked her head. “Am I that transparent to everyone?”

  “I don’t think so. I have a special talent for reading people, I suppose.” Leti
zia shrugged. “Anyway, I’ve managed to convince Andersen that I’m no threat—at least, I think I have.”

  “What about what happened today?”

  “Oh, that? That was just Andersen putting me in my place,” Letizia said dryly, her mouth twisting.

  For the first time Dara let herself feel the fear. How could she have deluded herself into thinking she was up to the task of trying to keep tabs on this man? He would chew her up and spit her out if he found out what she was doing, and he wouldn’t feel a modicum of remorse. She could believe that someone like Letizia was skilled enough to deceive Andersen, but did she honestly think she could outsmart him?

  “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I shouldn’t be doing this,” she whispered.

  Letizia sighed. “Dara, I hope you know how much I respect you. You’re an intelligent person, but your acting skills leave something to be desired, and I’m very worried about how you’re going to handle yourself.”

  “Was it different for you when you started doing this?” The question was in earnest. She needed to know if Letizia was a natural adept when it came to dissembling.

  “I…well, I guess…” Letizia flailed around for words for a few seconds, but then her shoulders slumped. “No, I guess it wasn’t.”

  “You couldn’t possibly have been as naive as me.” The words sounded somewhat sarcastic, but Dara meant them. It shocked her to think of Letizia being anything less than in control at all times.

  “I was, actually,” Letizia admitted.

  “Well, you learned, right? I can learn too.” Dara lifted her head and jutted her chin.

  “Yeah, you probably can, but I wish you didn’t have to.” Letizia’s tone was so sad that Dara stared down at her hands in discomfort.

  “Wishes aren’t very useful.”

  “No, they’re not.” With a sound of frustration, Letizia took one of Dara’s hands. “I’ll stop fighting you about this, and I’ll try to help you as much as I can.”

  “Thanks.” Dara squeezed Letizia’s hand.

  “I’ll pass along what you told me about Javier, just in case.”