The Digital Shadow
324 Words
Leo climbed back into the black sedan where Sterling was waiting. The lawyer didn't offer a bandage or a word of praise. He simply handed Leo a sleek, encrypted smartphone. The screen was already glowing with an incoming video call.
The caller ID simply read: S. VANE.
Leo swiped the screen. Sloane appeared, sitting in her office ninety stories above the city. She was holding a crystal glass of something amber, her expression one of mild, clinical amusement.
"Impressive, Leo," she said. The digital grain of the call didn't soften the coldness in her eyes. "I didn't realize the 'help' was so fond of manual labor. You saved the company exactly four hundred thousand dollars in potential litigation and delay fines."
"I saved the hospital their medicine," Leo snapped.
"A quaint distinction," Sloane replied, swirling the ice in her glass. "But don't get comfortable. You think winning over a few grease-monkeys makes you a partner? You’ve just proven you're useful as a floor manager. But tomorrow, the game moves to the boardroom. We’re discussing the divestment of the South End housing projects. Your 'home,' I believe."
She leaned closer to the camera. "I wonder, Leo... when the choice is between your mother’s specialized medical suite in the North End and the apartment building you grew up in... which version of yourself will show up to vote?"
The screen went black.
Leo looked out the window as the car pulled away from the docks. The sun was setting, casting long, distorted shadows of the cranes across the water. He realized then that the 90-day probation wasn't a test of his skill. It was a slow-motion surgery designed to cut away every part of him that wasn't made of ice.
He leaned his head against the cold glass of the window, the black keycard in his pocket feeling heavier than the crane he had just moved.
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