Access Required
495 Words
12
Access Required
Jana’s phone vibrated with an incoming text message. She lowered it to her lap so that the phone’s screen could not be seen by anyone else in the office.
Must get access to one of their laptops. We’re running out of time. Delete this message immediately.
“Yeah, no kidding,” Jana mumbled as she deleted the message. Then a voice startled her.
“Your boyfriend?” Jeffrey Dima said as he walked closer and leaned over Jana’s desk.
“What? Oh, no. I don’t have a boyfriend.” But as soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted divulging that fact to Jeffrey.
“No boyfriend? A beautiful girl like you? What a shame. And you’re new in town, right? Well, I can show you around, if you know what I mean.”
The smell of his aftershave was enough to curl her stomach and Jana wanted to vomit. Several questions went through her mind. Was he attractive? Certainly. Did he dress well? Definitely. Was he a slimeball? Without a doubt.
“Yes, I know exactly what you mean.” Her tone had been more abrupt than she’d intended
“So hostile, Miss Baker. Really, you should give me a chance. I’m an acquired taste.”
A taste of what? Jana thought. “Sorry, Mr. Dima. I didn’t mean to be so short with you. I just—”
“You were just about to say that since you hurt my feelings, you’d be glad to join me for a drink after work today. After all, it’s Friday.”
“Ah, I don’t know about that.”
“I’ll show you the big city.”
Jana sized him up a moment and came to the realization that if she were to steal log-in access to his laptop, she’d better get close to him. “I’m not the young fawn you think I am, Mr. Dima.”
“Jeffrey. Please, call me Jeffrey. And not the young fawn? Good, I like that.”
Jana’s mind raced forward. What are you? Like, thirty-eight years old? You are sixteen years older than I am. Not to mention that I can see you coming from a mile away, and I know exactly what that look in your eye means. So keep your fly zipped, asshole. But still, this might be the one chance she had at stealing his passcode.
“I’ll think about it,” she said with a little grin.
“She’ll think about it,” Jeffrey said as he leaned away from the desk and walked toward his office. As he got to the door, he turned back and flashed his freshly whitened teeth at her. Set against the coal black of his hair and eyes, they looked fluorescent.
As Jana got back to work, she logged into another hedge fund account and began inputting wire transfer instructions for another large investment in an oil-heavy portfolio. The phone vibrated again. It was Stone.
Meet at usual place—priority is escalating.
Priority is escalating? Jana thought. What now? They want me to scale the outside of the building with suction cups attached to my hands and feet? But she knew that if Agent Stone thought the situation was worsening, it was serious.
- Writer
