Chapter 0

0.
A group of suited business people huddled around an elongated table. Their attention was stolen by the fit, curly-haired man that spoke at the front of the room. He gestured to a screen on the wall, his toned arms flying around. Powerpoint slides, graphs, and spreadsheets, all of which promised nothing but economic prosperity flashed by.

“You see, if Cross Unlimited gets past the finish line here, both parties stand to benefit.”

One executive took umbrage at the presentation. They raised a shriveled arm and cut in.

“Rodrigo, you can’t believe that this merge will be all peaches and cream. The remediation efforts to combine Cross Unlimited’s portfolio with Kazyr Industries alone will eat up our time budget. We need concrete plans, not nice ideas.”

Rodrigo Tortella waited for the executive to finish speaking before flashing his trademark smile.

"It’s important to let these people finish their sentence, pause, then smile to let them know they were heard," Rodrigo thought. He also hadn’t cared a lick what they said. Executives were all the same. Rodrigo straightened his posture, furrowed his brows, and put a hand to his tan, stubble covered chin.

“We at Kazyr Industries completely understand your concerns. We have a production strategy outlined which we will be able to share at a future date. At this point, we would call it dotting our I’s and crossing our T’s. This shouldn’t be a reason to hold up negotiations.”

The executives arm fell to their sides, facial expression matching one of a scolded three-year-old’s. A murmur of agreement permeated the room. Rodrigo had to stifle a grin. Now was the time to put his plan into action.

“With that, I believe it’s time for lunch. Please head down to the huddle room in the Endoscopy department, today's meal is fully catered by Orlando’s own Michelin star cuisine. I will join you in a moment.”

The crowd gave a corporate appropriate amount of applause. They got to their feet and filtered out, some coming to congratulate Rodrigo on a good performance. Rodrigo kept his eyes on a laptop left unlocked on the table, smiling through the clinical interactions. A tall, lanky woman in a pressed pants-suit waved.

“You coming, Rod?” Rodrigo’s boss asked. He kept his smile bright, matching her gaze.

“For sure, just one sec, Jess! I want to make sure I got all the notes organized.” Jessica Parsons smirked and nodded.

“Always the perfectionist. I’ll see you down there.”

Rodrigo gave a thumbs up and practically shooed her out of the room. As soon as he did, he drew blinds over the glass walls of the meeting room, hurrying to make sure the laptop he spied earlier didn’t go to sleep. He drew a flash drive from his jacket pocket and jammed it in the USB slot.

“C’mon c’mon… yes!”

A window popped up on the Cross Unlimited executives screen. In bold red letters it displayed an alert message above a blinking progress bar.

“Download: 5% complete. Download: 12% complete. Download-”

Rodrigo felt his heart quicken, heat spreading over his face. This was it, the move that would take him to the top. Rodrigo was going to use these files to get the leverage he needed over Cross Unlimited during this merge. Kazyr Industries would rush to give Rodrigo the promotion he deserved once he secured this deal, and all he needed was another minute of silence. Rodrigo felt each second drip by as it passed. The download went to 15%, 22%, 30% before there was a knock at the door.

“Hey Rod! Are you there? We need to go over these figures, they are not matching up. Can I-”

“One sec!” Rodrigo bellowed back. He spun the laptop away from the door, accidentally hitting a few keys as he did. Leaping out of his chair, Rodrigo let in his coworker as nonchalantly as he could. Kumar Chadha shuffled stout legs through the door, chubby face set to a permanent frown.

“Sometimes it’s like you want to give me a heart attack,” Kumar said, “the data you gave me wasn’t peer reviewed, if we had published this-”

Rodrigo waved his arms in front of him.

“Shit, they told me it had passed! Sorry buddy. I’ll make it up to you. Go on down to the huddle room on the Endo floor. All the execs are mingling, you can get your name out there. Plus, I got a great caterer.”

Rodrigo winked at Kumar and poked his protruding potbelly. Kumar scowled but looked convinced enough.

“Ok… but you need to be careful. If Jessica found out… I don’t want to think about that.”

Rodrigo nodded and spun his coworker around.

“Trust me, ok? It’ll be alright.”

Kumar grunted uneasily but did make it to the door. He stepped halfway through before turning back. His face was pinched, it looked like he was going to give Rodrigo a piece of his mind when something caught his eye.

“You ok?” Rodrigo said. Kumar looked at Rodrigo, then past him, meeting his stare before nodding and shuffling out of the room. Rodrigo sighed and let out a deep breath.

“That was close. And I didn’t even get one of his lectures.”

Rodrigo had known full well the data he handed to Kumar hadn’t been reviewed. He knew, and did many things that were not expressly legal to get ahead. The huddle room downstairs had been chosen as the lunch spot for this express purpose after all. Rodrigo knew corporate life was a game, and he liked to play dirty. He thought of all the times Kumar had nearly caught him over the years. As Rodrigo secured contracts his career had flourished as Kumar’s stagnated. If this last project went well, and with the download nearly complete Rodrigo was sure it would, Rodrigo would never have to deal with him again. Rodrigo felt a surge of joy flood through his body. He saw himself in a private office, talking to powerful people. This was the life he deserved.

“Ding!” sounded from the meeting room speakers. At first, the sound fueled Rodrigo’s good mood further. The download was done. He had what he needed to take his career to the next level. Except-

“Meeting room speakers? But I didn't-”

Rodrigo spun, horror consuming his joy. On the screen wasn’t the blank Kazyr Industries logo. Instead, a, ‘Connected to Cross Unlimited Windows 0298982,’ message blinked at the top, the completed download progress bar showing at full resolution. Rodrigo felt like he had been shot the anxiety hit so hard. He ran to the laptop, ripping out the flash drive and slamming it shut. His chest rose and fell as he took in long breaths, wondering how much damage had been done.

“The execs were all out before I started. I had the window blinds drawn. I think I’m ok.”

Rodrigo's eyes bugged open.

“Kumar!” he shouted, the disruption turning heads across the hall. Rodrigo slapped himself in the head.

"He knocked, I moved the laptop. Must have projected when… fuck!”

Rodrigo stood straight, froze for a moment, and bolted from the room. The executives would need to wait.

---------------------------
To gain early access to chapters, exclusive one-shot stories, and more, check out my Patreon!

https://www.patreon.com/kyzarburne r