"I'll take the assignment,"
Mrs Miller was on her lunch break when Riley came into her office. "That's good news," Mrs Miller said. "Have a seat," She gestured to the empty chair by her desk.
"I suppose you've read the file that was given to you yesterday," Mrs Miller asked.
"I have," Riley dipped her hand into her bag and brought it out "Here it is," She handed it to Mrs Miller.
"You'd be going undercover as a maid in the CEO's mansion,"
Riley was a bit shocked, she had expected to go undercover as a staff. "We found out that the company has two CEOs. You'd go undercover in one of the CEOs mansion. You may know him- Mr Nathaniel Marcello. The D.S. and I analysed everything and found out that if you work as a maid, you'd uncover more than a staff at the office. You'd be closer to him, and could find clues anywhere. Remember what you're assigned to do, you're just there to confirm and investigate a connection not fight or do anything life threatening. We just need eye witness report and evidence to confirm what we think. If there's a connection, you tell us. If there's not, the mission ends and you continue your work. If there's a connection and we succeed in bringing the EG to book, maybe you'd get a promotion,"
"Okay," Riley nodded "I'm ready for the mission,"
"Oh no, you'd not just start immediately. You've got to be prepared first,"
"Prepared?"
"Yes," Mrs Miller brought out some papers from her drawer "When you go undercover, I'd pose as your mother. We won't be able to communicate as boss and subordinate you know. You've got to master all these code words. Like this one- 'Mum' means everything is normal, 'Mother' means you've found a connection and 'ma' means there's no connection. Here," She passed the papers to Riley.
"You'd also be relieved of your job,"
Riley instantly looked up, with a puzzled expression.
"No, you're not fired. You'd just be doing a different job because when you are to apply for the position of a maid they'd look into your background and I'm sure they won't be pleased to see you working in a police station,"
"It'd arouse suspicion, won't it?"
"Yes it would,"
Riley was still reading the paper when she gasped, "$40 dollars per day! That's an average CEO's salary!"
"That's why it's only advertised on the dark web,"
"You should go home early and go through this. You'd also use you a walkie-talkie for communication. We've arranged a job for you in a five star restaurant 'The Verdant Plate' you'd start working the day after tomorrow. Yes it's that soon. We already had everything arranged, we were just waiting for your consent,"
"Alright Miss Knox, I have other pressing matters to attend to. I'm glad you chose this for yourself, you made the right choice,"
"Let me see you off,"
[D'oro's Mansion]
"Dad, about the maid," Melanie said, standing beside her father as he reviewed documents.
She had finally found a topic that might keep his attention. She had read online that fathers were closest to their daughters, and that when they seemed distant, it was usually because of work. She wanted to bond with him, especially since he would soon leave on one of his 'periodic trips,' sometimes lasting over three months.
"I've informed Daryl," Nathaniel said without looking up. "You'll have a new maid soon."
"No, it's not that," Melanie said quickly. "The maid who was fired was the head maid. She took care of me personally. Please be careful when choosing the next one."
"Alright."
Melanie hesitated. "I was also wondering if we could go somewhere together. An outing. Something fun."
She waited.
Nathaniel finally lifted his head and looked at her with rare affection. "I'm sorry, Melanie. I'm very busy. I have an important business meeting next week."
Her gaze dropped, but she forced herself not to look disappointed.
"Tell you what," he added, "when I get back, we'll go anywhere you want."
Melanie smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes.
"Okay."
She nodded and quietly left the room.
---
"I told you this wouldn't work," Melanie scolded her lifeless Chucky doll. The doll wore its signature crooked smile, staring into nothingness. "We should just focus on inheriting the family business and studying hard enough to make Dad proud."
Melanie refused to cry or beg for attention like most kids. She was a D'oro. D'oro's didn't beg for anything. Besides, she was doing just fine on her own.
She sat on her bed and picked up her tablet. She had a plan to use her free time to build an invention- a robot toy Darryl had bought for her. Maybe when she finished, she would show it to her father. 'But that wasn't the real reason she was doing this,' Melanie reasoned stubbornly
'This was for… leisure.'
---
It was almost closing time Mrs Miller was on a voice call with her superior, he was reviewing her activities for the day.
"Alright. Mrs Miller, the files my assistant gave me were …empty. Just the way I gave them to you. Did you even take a look at those files?"
"Yes I did sir, I– "
"I'm disappointed at your incompetence Mrs Miller, I gave you this file 2 days ago. You have no excuse,"
"I know sir, I– the thing is …I have the softcopies on my computer. I did the work here and have not printed it. You're assistant must have picked up the wrong one thinking it was the file I had already reviewed…"
The D.S. was still silent. "I was not the one who handed the file to him, neither was I informed when he arrived," She hoped the D.S. would buy her lie.
"You have the softcopy right?"
"Yes sir,"
"Send them to me,"
Mrs Miller nearly choked on her own saliva. "Um… my computer is down,"
"It's not functioning?" He sounded like he wasn't buying it.
"Low battery," There was a brief silence "I'll charge it immediately I get home. It's already lights out here at the office"
"I don't know whatever is going on with your computer but I need those files by 9pm,"
"I'll send them to you before then sir,"
He still didn't say anything and Mrs Miller had to look at the screen of the phone to confirm that the call was still connected.
"What about that lady …Miss Knox," He finally spoke. 'That was the only thing on his mind. His slut' "Hope she didn't reject the offer? I had a feeling she would,"
"She met me this morning, double-minded. I cleared all her doubts and can assure you that she is ready for the mission," Mrs Miller tried her best to sound cheerful.
"That's relieving news because we had already applied for the job on her behalf. Remember to submit those files before 9pm …I dislike tardiness Mrs Miller," He cut the call
---
"Mr Percy!" Mrs Miller barged angrily into the grade 7 staff office. "I remember giving you this paperwork to complete early this morning,"
"Sergeant," He stood up instantly and greeted her with a salute "I was busy with running antiviruses on all the files and securing the firewall so I gave the papers to Miss Knox. I had no idea she didn't do them,"
'Miss Knox again!' Mrs Miller snickered within her.
She hated that girl's guts. How can a newbie, an orphan, with no connections get into the military and within 5 years make it to one of the highest grades a civilian specialist can get! Was she jealous? Of course! She remembered all the efforts she put into this business and each time she was recommended for a promotion, the D.S. said that 'everyone must wait to be promoted by the number of years spent and experiences' why was Riley's case different? Was it because she was a civilian specialist? Her brother was a civilian specialist too but he had never been promoted.
Mrs Miller walked angrily back to her office. She wanted Riley to suffer like she did, to know that no one becomes a grade 7 staff just because of sleeping with the D.S. (If not Mary Callaghan would have been a grade 7 staff since she got hired), that's why she chose her for this mission. She had a feeling that the CEO of that company had a connection to the 'EG' terrorist organization. And Riley had every right to be scared, even the D.S. was.
Riley obeyed her every command, like a puppet.
She had big plans for Riley. Very big plans.
All she had to do now was secure Riley's trust. That naïve little thing trusted her already. She just had to make sure it was an unwavering one.