Natasha Parker walked briskly into Senator Monica Goldberg's office. "You wanted to see me Senator?" she asked.
"Take a look at this." replied Monica sliding a stack of satellite photos over to Natasha.
Natasha surveyed the photos. They showed a large land parcel that had a thick concrete wall with watchtowers, a few structures either completed or under construction, along with an access road that showed a convoy of shipping trucks. There were large thermal signatures, indicating power generation, yet very little electromagnetic radiation due to a lead mine.
"It looks like a fairly normal industrial park development" she said cautiously.
"It is an eyesore and a blight on the map of Massachusetts! I had thought that that vile lead mine had been sealed off for good. But that idiot Congressman DuPont sold it off, and now its new owner is building this monstrosity on it!" replied Monica coldly.
Natasha fought down the urge to roll her eyes at the all too familiar feeling of déjà vu. Keeping her voice steady, she asked: "What would you like investigated Senator?"
Monica tossed another report onto the desk.
"Despite efforts to obfuscate it through a set of different LLCs, that industrial park belongs to a single entity, Sirius Software, and a single individual, Aaron Zakhrov. He's barely 18, so it's probably a poorly disguised front. Infiltrate it and find a way to crush it." she instructed.
"Yes, Senator." replied Natasha, struggling to keep her emotions under control. She picked up the file, and left the office.
Monica pulled out a small face compact and checked herself in the mirror after Natasha had left. The cosmetic surgery procedures she had undergone had made her barely recognizable from the pudgy girl that was Emily Clarke.
"Aaron Zakhrov. You are going to pay for what you did!" she whispered to herself, her eyes gleaming with hate.
----
After she had ensured that her apartment was secured, Natasha's knees gave way, and she sank to the floor. Aaron Zakhrov was not a name she expected to encounter again.
The last time, was when he had run afoul of Sarah Clarke's infiltration plans for St. Ignatius Academy, and had protected Daisy Eddington from Emily Clarke's hazing. All that had done, was got him expelled and disowned, and he had basically dropped off the grid after those incidents.
"What the hell has he gotten himself into this time?" she muttered to herself.
----
Natasha fidgeted nervously in the cheap off-the-rack black polyester skirt suit she had bought to comply with the dress code mandate mentioned in her interview invitation email. The fact that it was summer, 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 to herself, as she drove up to the security checkpoint of the Sirius Software compound, massive semi-trucks rumbling both in front and behind her.
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. Natasha drove through the checkpoint, and parked in front of a small squat concrete building, that was labeled "Temporary Office".
She slipped on her black pumps with modest 4 cm heels, stepped out of her car, and walked towards the building.
A welcome 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 humming blade servers. Roof mounted HVAC ducts blasted cold air into the room, and 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 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 cool 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. 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 coldly, 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, marveling 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. 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 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 Sig-Sauer 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.
"35 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, four empty magazines and two plastic training knives, marveling 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. She was surprised at how much she had enjoyed the exercise, and how much of her training had stuck.
"Still got it! I had thought I'd be more rusty after just shadowing people for Sarah and now Monica." she thought to herself, as she greedily drank from the bottle of cold water that had been left for her.
Natasha 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 contract included a meticulously detailed dress code that mandated skirt suits, pantyhose, and high heels for female employees, along with regulations on hairstyles, makeup, lengths of skirts and heights of heels. It even had instructions on how many coats of nail polish were to be applied!
The NDA was extensive, and designed to keep extremely tight control over intellectual property and social media. Employees were forbidden from unionizing, and were forbidden 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 $100,000 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 to herself, 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 hand-print 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.