CEO'S GIRLFRIEND IS AN AGENT

THE WALLS HAVE EYES

When Georgina settled in her office two weeks ago, the first thing she searched for were hidden spy cameras and voice recorders.

Being the CEO's EA, she has her own office, which looks like a reception area, next to Eric's office. She's aware of how confidential the documents that go in and out of the CEO's office are.

The security cameras in the office were given. Nowadays, it is more unusual for companies, like GenBio, to not have cameras, at least in the hallways, entrances, and exits. But if they engage in fraudulent activities, hidden cameras in and around the top executive office should be expected too.

She found one of the hidden cameras in the large painting behind her desk. The painting was strategically placed since it would be the first thing that welcomed the guests who wanted to have a private meeting with the CEO. Georgina was aware that anyone who watched from the hidden camera would also see her computer screen. And although Georgina had considered the possibility, she was still stunned when the NBI hacked and accessed the hidden cameras and found out they could be zoomed in to focus on her smartphone screen. Thankfully, she's always on guard and rarely uses her cell phone at work.

The other one was hidden on the plant pot in the corner, between Eric's office door and the water dispenser in Georgina's office. The camera was placed at such a low angle that it captures from the chest down to the legs of anyone getting water from the dispenser and walking through the door.

"Pervert." Georgina and Ricky said at the same time when they saw the recorded videos from the said hidden camera.

They found more hidden cameras inside Eric's office. Just like in Georgina's office, one of the cameras was placed in a huge painting on the left side of the wall. When they watched the footage captured by the security cameras, they learned that there was also a safe behind the painting. Every night before Eric leaves the office, he opens the safe and leaves a storage stick there. And every morning, the first thing that Eric does is open the safe and retrieve the storage stick that he hid there the night before. But more than the content of the storage stick, they were more curious about the spot where the hidden camera in the painting was fixed. Although the said hidden camera does have a wide-angle view, it focuses whenever someone stands by the shelves from on it.

They first noticed it on the day when Georgina had to tie her shoelaces and she stopped in front of the shelf to put down the iPad. The camera in the painting focused its lenses on Georgina. The camera screen seemed to have a short glitch and she caught a glimpse of a faint light that flashed when Georgina stood facing the shelf and picked up the iPad.

Ricky suspected that there might be another safe on the shelf that uses an iris scanner. However, they found it odd because the only times that Eric approaches the shelf is whenever he needs to get a book.

"What books are on that shelf?" Ricky asked Georgina.

"They're mostly biotechnology and medical books on the left side and business and trading books on the right. On the lower shelves are various kinds of magazines, some of them have Eric or the GenBio Lab on the cover." Georgina lengthily explained.

"Did you notice anything odd on that shelf?" Ricky turned his head towards Georgina, who was at the dining table and working on a PowerPoint presentation for Eric.

Georgina stopped typing. She put her thumb under her chin as if trying to remember something.

"There are customized figurines on that shelf, like the UP Oblation, the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, and another one I do not know what to call. All three are movable except for the one I could not recognize."

"What do you mean it does not move?" Ricky switched his body. He rested his arms on the back of the sofa and left one foot down on the floor.

"It's fixed on the shelf. I checked all the other ones and that was the only one that couldn't be lifted or moved." Georgina got up from her seat, bringing her laptop with her. "I did not think anything odd about it at the time."

"Why not?" Ricky furrowed his brows as he watched her typing and clicking on her laptop.

"Surprisingly, Eric is quite easy to read." Georgina rolled her eyes. "I mean it's either he's too easy to read or he has just mastered how to mask his feelings."

She put her laptop down on the center table before she continued. "Anyway, Eric becomes fidgety whenever he wants to shy away from a topic. For the past few days, I have learned to memorize his facial expressions and hand movements whenever there is something that he wants to keep hidden."

"Do you mean he was around when you moved the figurines?" He cracked his knuckles.

"Uh-huh. I got curious about what he read, so I walked to that shelf while waiting for him as he went over some documents. He only looked at me once. Then he asked me to bring the displays back to exactly where I found them. You can double-check the footage we saved. Eric did not even take his eyes off the documents he was reading in all those times I was exploring the shelf."

"The figurine, what does it look like? Did you ask Eric about it?" Ricky walked to the fridge and got them some beer.

"He just said it came with the shelf. He did not say anything in particular about it." Georgina shrugged her shoulders before she continued. "How would I describe it? It looked like a totem pole, with a face on it. Ah, hold on."

She clapped her hands and then snapped her fingers in front of Ricky's face.

"Do you know that machine in the arcade that tells you your fortune when you place a hand on its mouth? That! It looks like that! But it isn't round. Like I've said, it looks like a totem pole."

Ricky's brows remained furrowed, telling Georgina that he did not know what she meant. She typed and searched at Google and then exclaimed, "This one! The mouth of truth! It looks like this but the mouth can only fit a finger instead of a hand."

They both stared at each other with widened eyes.

"Don't tell me it was a passcode that runs on biometrics!" Georgina covered her mouth with her hands.

Ricky went to his room without saying anything. When he came back, he was already holding a black blueprint case. He took out the roll of papers inside it and asked Georgina to clear the center table. He laid the paper down on the floor and asked Georgina to identify and cross-check whether the rooms identified on the blueprint were carried out when the office was set up.

Georgina pointed to where their offices were and spotted right away the location of the laboratory next to their offices.

"Hang on. I have been to the laboratory numerous times in the past week. It is in no way that huge." She pointed to half of the area that is supposed to cover the laboratory. "I am sure this part does not exist."

"What if it exists?" Ricky pointed to the line dividing Eric's office and the laboratory. "What if the shelf is a secret door leading to the secret laboratory?"

Georgina's jaw dropped. "No way!"