Natasha fidgeted nervously in the cheap off-the-rack black polyester
skirt-suit, and uncomfortable synthetic leather pumps she had bought
to comply with the dress code mandate mentioned in her interview
invitation email.
The fact that it was
a hot day, and her car's A/C was busted, made her even more
uncomfortable.
"I could endure
the deserts of Iraq, so why am I so nervous and uncomfortable?"
she thought, as she drove her old, barely functioning Ford Focus
sedan up to the security checkpoint of the Sirius Software compound,
with massive semi-trucks rumbling both in front and behind her.
"Actually, I
know why. That application made me enter my body measurements and I
needed to upload a Photo ID, that's why" she thought, as she
recalled the frankly invasive application form.
The semi truck in
front of her rumbled forward. A security boom came down, and a wicked
set of spikes sprung up behind it, forcing her to stop.
She rolled down her
window, and showed the interview email on her phone to the checkpoint
guard.
The guard examined
the email, and then waved her through. The boom lifted, and the
spikes retracted.
She drove through
the checkpoint, and parked in front of a small squat concrete
building, that was labeled "Temporary Office".
A blast of ice-cold
air conditioning hit her as the automatic door slid open, and she
stepped inside.
The main foyer was
lined wall to wall with loud, whirring server racks.
Unconcealed
ceiling-mounted HVAC ducts blasted cold air into the room, buffeting
her hair and clothes, making her shiver.
At the far end, was
a featureless black door with a hand-print lock and an intercom
panel.
The name "Aaron
Zakhrov, CEO" was emblazoned on the door in large white letters.
Natasha walked up to
the door and buzzed the intercom. "I'm Natasha Parker. I'm here
for the security guard interview," she said, trying to keep her
voice steady.
A dull click
sounded, and the door swung open with a hiss. Natasha stepped inside,
and the door closed behind her with a soft thud.
The room was a small
office, with a large desk equipped with a massive computer monitor,
and a single chair in front of it.
Behind the desk sat
Aaron, dressed in a sleek black leather business suit, with a black
shirt and tie.
He was looking at
her with a cold, calculating gaze.
"Have a seat,
Ms. Parker," he said, in a deep gravelly voice.
Natasha sat down in
the chair, the cold air conditioning and the scent of the black
leather furniture making her feel more comfortable.
"Let me get
right to the point. I'm not running some affirmative action charity
show.
As a Sirius Software
security guard, you will need to protect the facilities you are
assigned to from unauthorized access or entry, and detain or even
incapacitate intruders or threats.
If you have the
skills I require, you're hired. If you don't, then you're wasting my
time. So are you still interested in this position knowing that you
might face real bullets and might have to kill someone?" asked
Aaron, looking at her with a steely gaze.
"Yes sir. I
agree to those risks," replied Natasha switching into her
soldier persona.
"Come with me,"
commanded Aaron, getting up and striding to the door.
Natasha fell into
step behind him, marvelling at how much his physique had changed
since she had last seen him.
He had grown tall.
She estimated that he would hit 2 meters, and his broad shoulders and
movements belied a body that was lean and toned from hard training
instead of steroids and supplements.
She was in great
shape, and was trained in close quarters combat, but assessed that he
had a significant advantage over her in both height leverage and
upper-body strength.
Aaron led her out of
the temporary office building and to another featureless concrete
building secured with the same kind of heavy door and hand-print
lock.
He unlocked the door
and beckoned her inside.
Natasha entered to
find a room lined with lockers and a table in the center with a
disassembled handgun.
She recognized it as
a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol.
"Your time
starts now," said Aaron, clicking a stopwatch on his phone.
Natasha's soldier
instincts kicked in, and she quickly assembled the handgun.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
"25 seconds.
Not bad," said Aaron clicking the stopwatch off.
He opened a locker
and pulled out a sleek black leather harness that had two holsters,
four magazine pouches and two knife sheaths.
"This has to be
fully equipped and concealed. You will find the required placeholder
gear in the changing room," he said, handing her the harness.
Natasha took the
harness and walked into the changing room.
She took off her
blazer and skirt, and put on the harness, adjusting it to fit.
She started to equip
the placeholder gear of two unloaded 9-mm handguns with built-in LED
flashlights, and two plastic training knives, marvelling at the
quality of the harness.
Her blazer and skirt
created visible bulges around the waist-level holsters and knife
sheaths, but didn't obstruct her ability to draw the weapons.
Feeling more
confident, she exited the changing room.
"That looks
passable for now," said Aaron looking her up and down.
Natasha found
herself averting her eyes and blushing under his gaze.
However, she quickly
regained her composure when he beckoned her to another door, and
opened another locker.
"These are
low-velocity non-lethal rounds," said Aaron, handing her a pair
of magazines. He opened the door to reveal a brightly lit corridor
with a series of doors on either side.
Natasha loaded her
guns and entered the corridor.
The door closed
behind her with an ominous thud.
She was unsure what
was expected of her, until corridor lights cut out, plunging it into
darkness.
She quickly drew her
handgun and activated the flashlight, illuminating the corridor.
A door opened to her
left, she quickly turned and pointed her flashlight at it, revealing
a cut-out of a man with a gun.
She quickly fired a
shot, hitting the cut-out in the chest, causing it to fall over.
She moved down the
corridor, scanning the doors with her flashlight.
Doors opened and
closed at random, revealing hostile cut-outs, civilian cut-outs or
even sometimes nothing at all.
After 10 minutes,
the lights came back on, and the door at the end of the corridor
opened, revealing Aaron standing there with a satisfied smile.
"Excellent
work, Ms. Parker. You may take a break, and meet me in the office in
15 minutes," he said, as he walked away.
Panting slightly,
Natasha walked back to the changing room and took off the harness.
"Still got it!
I had thought I'd be more rusty after just shadowing people for Sarah
and now Monica." she thought, as she greedily drank from the
bottle of cold water that had been left for her.
----
Natasha re-entered
the office, feeling a little self-conscious about the sweat stains on
her blouse and blazer.
"This is your
employment contract and NDA. Read it carefully, and sign it if you
agree to the terms," said Aaron, handing her a large tablet
computer and stylus.
Natasha carefully
kept her expression neutral as she read the documents:
The dress code
mandate specified a minimum heel height of 8 centimeters, and a BMI
window so strict, it would make a 1950s airline blush.
Every detail was
micromanaged: only skirt-suits were permitted — pants were outright
banned — and even her nails had to be painted in a specific
sequence: a white or primer base coat, two coats of regulation color,
and a transparent top coat.
Hair could be long,
braided, or pinned into a bun, but heaven help you if you had a pixie
cut.
Tattoos were
forbidden. So were flat shoes, glitter anything, and any blazer not
buttoned and tailored like it came from a military parade.
The kicker? She’d
need to agree to follow the dress code as part of a binding contract
before any offer of employment.
The NDA was
extensive, and designed to keep extremely tight control over
intellectual property and social media. Employees were forbidden from
unionizing, and from discussing almost anything related to Sirius
Software, with severe financial and legal consequences for any
breaches.
She considered
pushing back that high heels and pencil skirts were impractical for a
security guard, but decided against it, partly out of curiosity over
Aaron's motives, and partly because she was still a soldier at heart,
and had learned to follow orders without asking too many questions.
She signed the
contract and NDA, and handed the tablet back to Aaron.
Aaron swiped the
tablet screen and handed it back to her.
"Enter your
bank account details here, for crediting your salary. You will be
paid $400,000 a year, plus bonuses for any successful operations you
undertake," he said.
"Six figures is
a lot of money for a security guard job," Natasha thought, as
she entered her bank account details.
"Now for your
biometrics. Place your hand in the scanner, your right first, and
then your left," said Aaron, holding out a black handprint
scanner.
The scanner beeped
each time Natasha placed her hand on it, and Aaron nodded in
satisfaction.
"Report here
tomorrow at 0800. Welcome to Sirius Software, Ms. Parker," he
said, as he shook her hand.
"Thank you, Mr.
Zakhrov," replied Natasha, as she left the office.
----
Natasha fell on her
bed, her emotions a mess.
She had been hired
by Senator Monica Goldberg to infiltrate and find dirt on Sirius
Software, and the first step to that mission was already complete.
She now had access
to the Sirius Software compound.
However, the way
Aaron had treated her, and the way he had designed the skill
assessment, made her feel more alive than she had in years.
Despite needing to
move in a hot and uncomfortable skirt-suit and toe-pinching pumps,
the skill assessment had resurfaced the same thrill she had felt
during her deployment in Iraq, where she had been an Army Ranger.
She stood up, went
to her sink and splashed water on her face.
"It's still too
early. I shouldn't be overthinking this," she thought, before
changing out of the skirt-suit and pumps.
She was about to
curl up and fall asleep, when her phone buzzed.
With a sigh she
answered the call.
"Well? What
have you found out so far?" demanded Monica Goldberg over the
line.
"I just got
hired by Sirius Software as a security guard, Senator. I start
working tomorrow," said Natasha wearily.
"That's it? You
don't have anything else? I thought you were the best in the
business!" scoffed Monica.
"All right,
here's the more that you want.
The guy running
things seems to actually be Aaron Zakhrov.
He's got hand-print
biometric locks on everything, the security checkpoint has military
grade retractable spike strips.
The compound walls
are 20 meters high and 2 meters thick, topped with barbed wire and
electric fencing.
So, unless you want
to bring in the military and roll up in a tank, I suggest you let me
do my job!" snapped Natasha, hanging up before Monica could
respond.
The phone buzzed
again, and Natasha wearily answered it.
"Now listen
here you old hag!
I'm less than
impressed by dumb kids who think they can play at being
super-villains, just because they've got a few bucks!
You get in, find any
kind of dirt you can, and give it to me.
I'll decide what to
do with it.
Fail, and you'll
never find a job again!
Do you understand?"
screeched Monica.
"Yes, Senator.
I understand," replied Natasha, her head throbbing from the
fatigue and Monica's shrill voice.
"Good. And
don't get any dumb ideas, or I swear to God, I'll destroy you along
with him!" snarled Monica, before hanging up.
Natasha tossed her
phone away and succumbed to sleep, too exhausted to think about what
Monica had just threatened.
----
"Looks like
we've got a little infiltrator on our hands," chuckled Aaron to
himself, as he looked over Natasha's information on his computer.
One of the perks of
bagging a military contract to secure their databases.
"Let's begin
operation convert the infiltrator!" he growled, and dialed
Harry's number.
"Harry, I'm
sending you and Margaret some design specs. See if you can get them
done by midnight," he said, as he sent the specs and Natasha's
measurements to Harry's account.
"You're giving
me and my wife less than 18 hours to turn titanium and leather into
an almost fetish-wear styled skirt-suit combat uniform monstrosity.
You really are a
sadistic bastard, you know that?" replied Harry petulantly over
the phone.
"Coming from
you, that's a compliment," said Aaron.
"Hey, Master
Zakhrov? After we're done with this one, can I make another for
myself?" asked Margaret coming on the line.
"Of course you
can Margaret. Just don't try to sell it. That is a Sirius Software
proprietary design," said Aaron.
"Of course I
won't. I just adore your taste in fashion sir," replied
Margaret.
"That's enough
flirting with the kid, you little minx!
And don't think
titanium chain-mail will protect you from my belt!" growled
Harry in the background as the sharp crack of leather hitting skin
sounded, and Margaret let out a squeal that was part pain, part
pleasure.
"Talk to you
later, boss. I need to teach my wife some manners," said Harry,
coming on the line.
"Alright, I'll
leave you two to it," chuckled Aaron, as he hung up.
