Skinwalker Apocalypse

Miss Jane Cortez

"Come in." Mr Boyd called as a knock sounded on his oak office door.

The door creaked open and Miss Jane Cortez, his personal assistant came in with a pile of files encased in a folder in her hands.

"Sir here are the information you requested that we should compile. We picked the best of the best of course." She said with a sweet smile to the man as she placed the folder onto the wide office desk.

Mr Boyd suspended the files he was going through in favor of the ones that she brought. He began to leaf through the various options, separating them into ones that he considered useful and the ones he did not. At the end of it all, he saw something that made him pause.

Miss Cortez tensed as her boss turned his steel like gaze on her, "Miss Cortez?" He called in a way that demanded an explanation. " Why, may I ask, is this file here?"

"Sir, I-I thought you might need s-someone to document the whole mission as well as someone to assist you in the way, in case of anything." Her hands shook but she clasped them in front of her, knowing that she was playing a wild card.

Fedrick leaned forward in a pose that was meant to intimidate and raised an eyebrow when the other stood her ground regardless of her shaking hands. " What, Miss Cortez, do you think I might need help with?"

" The travel is quite tough for an older man like you, sir. You would need a travel companion." Mr Fedrick Boyd's hard glare told her to cut the crap. "... in case you m-might need a witness to testify on your behalf, sir." Miss Cortez spewed out.

Mr Boyd's lips tipped in an unamused smile as he looked down to read the character's strength in the profile " Able to keep secrets and assist in eliminating unwanted things?"

" Are you really capable of eliminating things, Miss Cortez?" The man said nodding towards her shaking hands. "Your trembling seems to tell me otherwise."

Doing her best to steel herself, Jane said with the best even voice she could muster. "I can, Sir. When I need to."

Making a decision, the man added the file into one pile and handed the other pile to her. "Get rid of these. And call Johnson in for me will you?"

The lady straightened her spine and hid her smile no matter how much it wanted to show. "Yes, sir." She turned to leave.

"Miss Cortez!" Fedrick Boyd called out like an after thought, bringing the woman's exit to a halt.

"Sir?" Jane replied.

"You are an ambitious woman but I always wondered if you had guts but it seems that you do. If you gain my loyalty, you gain a lot, remember that. If you stab me in the back..." He let the *...you lose everything* be added by her mind.

Jane nodded once and exited the presence of the domineering man. She called the bodyguard that was at the door in for her boss.

As she put the rejected application into the shredder, she thought of how easy it would be for Mr Fedrick Boyd to make her disappear just like these pieces of paper would. Her boss was just ruthless like that.

But just like he said, there was a lot to gain if she played her cards right. Being his personal assistant, she was closer to her boss than anyone else. Even his so called best friend.

She knew the man like the back of her hand.

And last month, she had discovered his true feelings for his co-founder and best friend, Mr Yiska.

"I'll make you pay in the same way... for daring to survive" The man had muttered as she dragged his drunk ass home from a bar.

She had done her research and after the announcement last week, she had connected the dots. This mission was not just a breakthrough for the company, it was not even just an recovery mission like Mr Yiska had been told, it was a Revenge Plan!

But her greedy boss was going to use the company name and resources to make it all three.

The man was indeed ruthless.

Grabbing the plastic bag containing the shredded paper, Miss Cortez turned the pieces into a brick fire pit and set them on fire.

She smirked to herself. Mr Boyd really thought he had the ace card but he was all wrong. This wasn't solitaire. Oh no!

It was a chess game. And she was the motherfvcking queen.

That was why she came up with a foolproof plan, and a lot of backup plans around it such that no matter how the cake was sliced, she'd end up with a big chunk.

Seeing as the paper was completely annihilated, she turned the ash into the plastic bag and disposed it in the bin.

Clapping her hands together to get rid of the dirt on it, she walked off briskly. Time to go play good kid with Mr Yiska.

*-*-*-*

Three...

Two...

One, go!

Right on cue, Charles Yiska let out a loud painful moan as he tripped on the soapy water that Jane had upturned on his way out of his office.

The culprit ran out of the corner she was hiding in with horror written all over her face and a mop in her hand.

"Mr Yiska!" She threw the mop aside and went to help him to his feet instead. "Oh gosh, poor you. I was just going to clean this off, since it almost made me trip. If you had waited just some minutes more, I would have had it all dried up and safe for everyone to pass over." Miss Cortez kept rambling off as she helped the man off the ground and back into his office, laying honour on the couch that was there.

She noticed his red cheeks and continued her fake show of concern. "You are all red, sir. Are you in pain? Do you need anything?"

The older man shook his head and made to seat up to show that he was quite okay. "I'm... I'm just embarrassed since we keep meeting when I am at my clumsiest and you always leave whatever you are doing to come to my rescue." The old man told her. "At home, in the grocery store, and now in the office too."

"I'm always happy to help out the old, Sir." She said smiling down at the man.

He smiled back at her. "I'm truly grateful."

"Oh, forget it Sir. Let me get you some water to drink." She hurried off to his fridge to get him a bottle of water and came back to his table to pour it into a glass cup.

She handed it over to him to drink. "I really have to go now so as to clean that water hope and avoid further accidents." She murmured at the man who gave her a sad smile.

He nodded once dismissing her, then called her back as she was about to leave. " Miss Cortez, or may I call you Jane?"

She quickly nodded. Familiarity, just what she had been aiming for.

"Thank you Jane. You are such a nice and hardworking lady." She made a show of blushing and murmuring a shy thanks.

"You are welcome, Jane. If I had a son, I would want him to marry an hardworking woman like you, but unfortunately, I have none. If I had a daughter like you though, I would be very proud." Leaving those words hanging, the tired man looked off in the distance with a sad and contemplating look.

The devious lady let herself out and went to mopping the mess she had created. A smile plastered on her face the whole while.

Her plan was going just fine!