[Contributor 02] - Infiltrator (2013)

by Nicole Ciacchella

  Relieved, Dara nodded. “Okay.”

  “If you hear anything more—”

  “I’ll let you know right away,” she cut in, rising from the couch. “I should go. I need as much sleep as I can get before facing Andersen again.”

  “Do whatever you can to make sure you aren’t off your guard around him.”

  “I will. I’m sorry for jumping all over you.”

  Waving the apology away, Letizia led Dara to the door. “It’s better you save your emotions for when you’re somewhere safe, like here.”

  Dara rubbed her forehead with a weary hand. “I’m not convinced that anywhere is safe.”

  “The sad thing is, neither am I.”

  Chapter 5

  Dara decided to take Letizia’s advice and spent the next several days integrating into her role as Andersen’s assistant, all the while making a point of observing him as closely as she could. She hadn’t initially seen the sense in it, but it soon became clear to her. By familiarizing herself with Andersen’s normal routines and habits, it would be far easier to spot anything anomalous. He was too careful to do anything obvious, which was why keeping an eye on him had struck her as a waste of time. But she became convinced after a while that knowing him almost as well as she knew herself would enable her to spot the small, subtle tells that others might miss. If she was really successful, she might even make him forget that she was present. Being treated like a piece of furniture wasn’t appealing, but if she could convince him she was harmless he might let down his guard enough to let slip pieces she could use to try to construct a whole.

  Andersen treated her first days as a gauntlet of sorts, testing her at every opportunity. He purposely put her in as many awkward and confusing situations as he could, evaluating her endurance and her willingness to put up with the indignity. The stubborn part of her wanted to rebel, but the sensible part of her understood that being meek would garner her far more than trying to defy him, and she made a habit of biting her tongue until it bled.

  Whenever he was away, she schemed to gain access to his personal information. Covert study proved his office had been soundproofed. Unless she could get a bug inside, it was unlikely she’d ever learn what went on in it. His tablet was never far from him, and though she did find a stolen second here and there to glance at it, she hadn’t yet seen anything that stood out. Regardless, she meticulously kept a record of everything she saw, poring over it each night to ensure she wasn’t missing any common threads. Letizia had given her a self-erasing memory stick like the one Raj had used for Leona’s records, and Dara kept it spirited away in her apartment’s hiding place, along with her mother’s book.

  At the end of her first week, she and Letizia arranged to meet. Now that Letizia was no longer her master, Dara had no real reason to go to her apartment, and they had both agreed they shouldn’t be seen together. A friendship between his present and former assistants would make Andersen suspicious.

  Returning to the sculpture park provoked a metallic taste in Dara’s mouth. She’d developed an almost superstitious aversion to it ever since that awful day when she and Jonathan had overheard the altercation between Ryan and Javier. A part of her felt like the park was cursed, like her entire life had been ruined because of it. It was irrational, she knew, and yet she couldn’t quite shake her dislike of it. What would her life have been like if she hadn’t overheard that conversation?

  Tears stung her eyes, but she gave no outward sign of her distress, which made her feel a fierce bolt of pride. Andersen had given her plenty of chances to learn how to conceal her real feelings, and she had been impressed by her own skill. Perhaps she was a better actress than Letizia thought.

  Gathering her will, Dara pushed her thoughts aside. It was pointless to pretend her life would have been wonderful if she hadn’t developed the awareness she had. Maybe some people would have been content with that kind of blissful ignorance, but she wasn’t one of them. Painful as her new reality might be, it was preferable to the blindness from which she had once suffered.

  From which Jonathan still suffers.

  She suppressed a sigh. There was nothing more she could do about Jonathan. She had tried to open the door for him, but he hadn’t wanted to step through it. It didn’t make him a bad person, but she couldn’t shake her guilt at the thought of letting him remain where he was. Shouldn’t she have tried harder, done more, to attempt to save him from becoming another cog in Magnum’s machine? She felt like she had failed him.

  But that was ridiculous. She wasn’t responsible for other people’s actions. Jonathan’s mind was his own, and he had to do what he thought was right. He might still come around, but she had to learn to accept that she couldn’t open his eyes for him any more than he could lure her back into the belief that Magnum was a benevolent organization with its Contributors’ best interests at heart.

  Caught up in her thoughts, Dara almost failed to notice Letizia’s approach. She shook herself out of her reverie just as Letizia emerged from behind one of the sculptures.

  “Contributor D’Angelo,” Dara greeted, in case anyone was around to observe. The thought made her frown. She shouldn’t have become so lost in her thoughts. She should have been scoping out the park to make sure no one else was nearby.

  One look at Letizia’s face was all she needed to know her former master was thinking the same thing. “We’re alone here, though I passed a few other Contributors on my way. I’m surprised you didn’t notice them.”

  “I let down my guard,” Dara said, deciding it was better not to fight with Letizia, especially since Letizia was right.

  Letizia opened her mouth and Dara braced for a lecture, but then the other woman shook her head and sighed. “Tell me about your week.”

  Dara wasn’t sure why Letizia was letting her off so easily, but she wasn’t about to protest, so she gave Letizia a recap of everything she’d noticed.

  “I get it now,” she said, once she was done detailing the minutiae of Andersen’s life. “I understand what my role is.”

  “Do you?”

  “You can gather electronic information about Andersen, but having eyes on him might provide something even more valuable. The data can’t predict what he’ll do next, and it may not catch small details that are out of the ordinary.”

  Studying Dara with an appraising gaze, Letizia asked, “What have you noticed about Andersen?”

  “He’s regimented. I think this is partially driven by his personality. He likes to feel in control at all times, so I think he finds comfort in his neatly ordered universe. It also allows him to project a carefully crafted image, which makes him immune to suspicion because everything he does appears so above board and so predictable. He seems like the ideal drone. The flip side of this is that it provides him with perfect cover. No one knows what goes on inside his head except for Andersen himself.”

  Letizia nodded. “The current system is perfect for Andersen. Having a new assistant every year means no one has the chance to get to know him too well. I know him better than most, and even I have no real idea who he is on the inside.”

  “Do you think the apprenticeship program was set up that way by design?”

  “We don’t believe so. What we’ve been able to cobble together indicates that, in the past, most high-level Contributors to the Job Creators had longterm personal assistants, including the Creators themselves. There was the occasional spot of trouble, but we get the impression that what ultimately drove the implementation of the apprenticeship program was the Creators’ need to make the system appear to be a meritocracy. They want to give Contributors the impression that their hard work has the potential of leading them somewhere, to reinforce the idea that faithful service to the Creators is rewarded. In reality, the system keeps Contributors in their place. It doesn’t seem as though this was entirely intentional, but it certainly provided the Creators with happy unintended consequences.”

  Dara stared at Letizia. “You know a lot about the history of the
Creators. Some of it sounds familiar, but it’s not exactly what we were taught.”

  Darting a glance around the park, Letizia shuffled her weight from one foot to another. “This isn’t the place to discuss it. It’s a topic we can get into in more depth at another time.”

  Curiosity ate at Dara, but she knew Letizia was right. Had anyone overheard their conversation, they’d have had grounds to report Dara and Letizia to the Authorities. Nowhere inside the dome was safe for such talk.

  “Do you have anything for me?” Dara asked, changing the subject.

  “Not yet. I passed along the information about Javier, but I haven’t had a response. Be sure to let me know right away if you hear anything more.”

  “I will.”

  “You’re on the right track, Dara. I know you’ve felt frustrated and constrained, but you needed to draw your own conclusions. We all do. For the most part, we’re all just grasping at whatever bits we can.”

  “Yeah, I get it.” Dara let out a tired sigh. She did get it, even if it left her feeling less than satisfied. Whatever she’d expected, it hadn’t been this slow, crawling process. Still, now that her thoughts had cleared, she realized how foolish her expectations had been. Carrying out anything big, bold, or daring would have drawn attention not only to herself but also to the other Free Thinkers. Taking part in Mal’s movement meant she would have to learn to be patient, and that was what worried her more than anything. She didn’t know if she could learn to temper the urge driving her to get back at Magnum for what they’d taken from her, but she would have to try.

  Chapter 6

  “Unacceptable. I can’t go into the meeting tomorrow with this. You’ll have to redo it,” Andersen said, thrusting aside the tablet, his lip curling in disgust.

  “Of course, sir, right away. I’m sorry to have disappointed you,” Dara said, lowering her eyes and speaking in groveling tones. Inside, she felt coiled as tightly as a spring, but she would not allow the tension to be visible in her body language.

  He had been like this for days. Dara had spent hours working on the presentation, putting it together precisely the way he had instructed, but he’d never take the blame himself, not when he could chalk it up to a failure on her part. She was certain he was still testing her, but there seemed to be something more going on beneath the surface. He wasn’t taking as much pleasure from this encounter as she would have expected, and it made her think something else was on his mind, something that was distracting him, though she wasn’t quite sure yet what it was.

  “Should I gather your things for the meeting?” Dara asked, checking the time. Andersen was due in a conference room on the other side of headquarters in fifteen minutes, and he’d take it out on her if he was late.

  “Yes, yes,” he said, waving his hand in dismissal. His attention was fixed on his own tablet, and as she walked past him to get his bag, she stole a glance at the screen. It was a report from accounting.

  Is this related to Javier, or is he upset about the projected figures for his latest project?

  The latter seemed more probable. What Andersen was proposing was bold, and she had heard the whispers making the rounds in engineering. Some thought his plans were too ambitious. For as much as the Creators liked to project the idea that they were constantly making strides, most of them had an aversion to taking any real risks, afraid it might upset the system. The potential payoff for Magnum was significant, but he had his work cut out for him in convincing others of his vision.

  This was his big move. It had to be. Andersen’s ultimate goal was to ascend to the level of the Creators, but there were few avenues for making such a climb, and he would need something enormous to propel him into the upper echelons.

  He’s vulnerable, she realized. If he’s going to make mistakes, it will be now, while he’s worried about his project.

  She needed to be ready. Gathering up the things he needed for the meeting, she took careful stock of his office. Spartan and neat as ever, she didn’t see anything that immediately jumped out at her, but then she wasn’t looking for any real evidence. Instead, she took the chance to try to determine what, if any, hiding spots he might have in the room. His walls were undecorated, so there wouldn’t be anything as obvious as a safe concealed behind a wall hanging. She doubted he would keep anything top secret in his apartment because he would want it with him at all times. Since he spent far more time at headquarters than he did at home, his hiding place—if it existed—was probably somewhere in his office.

  There wasn’t time for a full-fledged search. Dara had no access to Andersen’s office unless he was in it, and she couldn’t break into it without attracting attention. Every hour of every day at least a few engineering Contributors were in the immediate vicinity. Even if she’d wanted to try to pick or force his lock, it required his biosignature, which would be all but impossible for her to obtain. Mal might have a trick, a device she could use, but it wasn’t the sort of thing he’d give her anytime soon. If she was caught, she’d end up in one of the secret rooms, and he didn’t trust that she could resist interrogation.

  The thought caused an icy shiver to race through her, but she ignored it. She wouldn’t do anything that might get her caught, not now. It was as simple as that. She was too unskilled to take any significant risks, and she would make her peace with that. What she could do, though, was keep her eyes open and her mind sharp so that if an opportunity arose she could seize it. Recognizing that Andersen was less likely to be on his guard because of his preoccupation was one step toward maintaining her own vigilance.

  “Do you have any other instructions for me, sir?” Dara asked as she handed Andersen his bag.

  Rummaging through it, he said nothing when he verified that she hadn’t forgotten anything. He slipped his tablet into the bag and zipped it closed. “That presentation is your only priority.”

  That coupled with the fact that he did not want her to attend this meeting was significant. This was the first time he’d left her without an extensive list of tasks to complete, and he was going to take his own notes at the meeting, which meant this presentation was of the utmost importance to him. “Understood, sir.”

  He ushered her out the door ahead of him, and she was already in her seat and working on his presentation before he had disappeared down the corridor. Her attention needed to be focused on getting the presentation done and polished to a high shine in time for his meeting the next day, but she wanted to analyze his notes in more detail, to see if she could discern anything from them. She slipped a memory stick into her terminal and saved a copy of the presentation file, preserving his notes about what he wanted changed. When she was finished she’d save a copy of the finished product as well, so that she could compare the two.

  After her first week, she’d given up on expecting to leave headquarters at the appointed end of her shift. Sometimes Andersen allowed her to finish her work at home, but he generally preferred her to stay until she had completed everything he had assigned her. She knew without question that he would not allow her to complete the presentation at home, so she braced herself for a late evening.

  He shut himself in his office when he returned from his meeting, ostensibly to handle the series of conference calls that were scheduled in his calendar. Dara’s eyes were burning and her head pounding by the time she finished the presentation. She sent Andersen a short message letting him know she’d finished, and she checked it one last time as she waited for his reply.

  Ten minutes later she was in his office, standing in front of his desk with her hands folded while she waited for him to review her work. He took his sweet time, and she tried not to sway on her feet from a combination of fatigue and hunger.

  “It will do,” he pronounced at long last, and she forced herself to smile as if he’d bestowed the highest of praise upon her.

  “I’ll arrive an hour before my shift tomorrow, in case you would like me to make additional changes.”

  “See that you do.”

 
; “Is there any other way I may contribute before I leave?”

  “That’s all.”

  “Good night, sir.”

  He didn’t bother replying, and she made as quick an exit as she could, pressing the back of her hand against her mouth to conceal a yawn. Shift change had taken place hours ago, and the thoroughfares were deserted.

  Her father was waiting for her at home. “Let me get you something to eat. You look ready to keel over,” he said, frowning in concern.

  “Thanks.” She sank down on the couch, grateful to rest her head against its back as she kicked off her shoes and flexed her pinched toes. The relief was so pleasurable she couldn’t hold back a low groan, and she closed her eyes and let herself doze until her father woke her.

  “So what was it tonight?” he asked, sitting across the table from her. He pressed his lips together in a firm line.

  “Don’t worry, Dad. Andersen hasn’t killed me—yet,” she said, the joke coming out as humorless as she’d feared. With a tired sigh, she shook her head and dug into her dinner, speaking between bites. “He has a presentation first thing tomorrow morning about that project of his.”

  “The infamous project.” Joshua’s contempt was plain, and he folded his arms over his chest.

  Dara pushed food around her plate, debating. One of the worst things about having agreed to work with the Free Thinkers was the heavy weight she felt whenever she spoke to her father. She and her parents had often talked around the dinner table, sharing stories about what had happened that day, but what had once seemed like idle gossip and chatter had taken on a far greater significance. She didn’t feel right about taking to Mal any information she’d gathered from her father. It smacked too much of dragging him into her decision.

  Reading her mind, Joshua said, “I know what you’ll need to do with any information you gain, and it’s okay with me.”

  “Are you sure?” She met his gaze, seeing the steely determination in his eyes.