Page 14 of Death Wish

Simone followed Trina from the lobby into the elevator. Soon, they stepped out on the sixth floor. She glanced around, curious about her new working area. Nothing much to write home about yet. Office after office, all with doors closed. A conference room in use. More offices.

And there at the end of the long hallway, a large room with multiple cubicles. This was what she’d expected. Programming could be a lonely business. Being part of a cubicle farm meant she’d have people walking by and looking into her space to see the new girl and look at what she was working on.

If she’d been a legitimate employee, she would have enjoyed the camaraderie. Under the circumstances, though, she’d have to be clever and fast to snoop around online with no one catching her. Good thing she enjoyed a challenge.

“I’ll introduce you to your mentor, then leave you to your work.” Trina led the way to the back of the room to the space next to the corner cubicle. “Joy, this is Simone Kenyon.”

Joy spun around in her chair and stood. She held out her hand. “Welcome to the Farm, Simone. I’m Joy Walters.”

“Nice to meet you, Joy.”

“Let’s get you set up in the corner cubicle, and you can work through your orientation packet online. When you finish, I’ll help you begin your first assignments.”

“I’m ready.”

Joy grinned. “That’s what we like to hear. Enthusiasm is welcome and appreciated.”

“Who wouldn’t be enthusiastic working for Dragon Alley?”

“Let’s get started.” Joy took Simone to the cubicle and motioned for her to sit at the desk, then she handed Simone a piece of paper with her login information. She’d just given Simone instructions when her desk phone rang. “I need to take the call. I’m working under a deadline and expecting information for the next stage of programming.”

“Go. I’ll set up my password.”

“You’ll find your online orientation in your email. Work on that, and I’ll check in with you soon.” She hurried off.

Perfect. The sooner she finished her orientation, the faster she’d be able to poke around in personnel files and coworker emails. When she and Jesse returned to the safe house, Simone’s actual work would begin.

She logged in and created a complicated password. Working with a horde of computer programmers and hackers made an excellent password necessary.

Simone checked her DA work email and found three welcome letters, one each from the CEO, the head of the programming division, and the head of the special projects division, a man named Griffin Daley. She needed an introduction to Daley. If Dragon Alley had instructed one programmer to create the program Fortress was targeting, Daley had assigned the work to someone in his division.

After scanning the emails, Simone logged into the orientation program and worked through the reading and testing portions of the program. More than once, her mind drifted, and she had to corral her brain into the rookie training. She’d been right in her guess about the orientation program. Necessary but boring as dirt.

Although she’d expected intense training from a company with Dragon Alley’s reputation, the basic information surprised Simone. A list of the top people in each division was the only interesting thing to come out of the four-hour orientation.

Joy rolled her chair around the edge of the dividing wall between their cubicles. “How’s it going?”

“Just finished orientation. What’s next?”

The other woman stared at her. “You’re finished?”

Simone tilted her head. “Yeah, why?”

“Orientation took me two days to get through, and I had one of the fastest times. Holy cow, Simone. I can’t believe it.”

She shrugged. “You can check if you like. The program is like one I had at my previous job.”

“Where did you work?”

“Game Theory,” she said, naming one company Zane had created in his off time, a company which had a stellar reputation in the gaming community. Since Z owned the company, he had loaded her fake personnel file and work history into the company’s system in case anyone at DA checked more closely into her background.

“Whoa,” Joy whispered. “I didn’t know you worked for them. It’s super hard to get on with them. How did you do it?”

“A recommendation from a friend got me an interview with the owner. Since he liked my work portfolio, he gave me a programming job as a skills test. I finished the job faster than he expected. The owner offered me a job on the spot.”

“No wonder you finished orientation so fast.” Her mentor sounded awed. “You’re going to be a big hit around here, Simone. The higher ups at DA are always looking for new talent with exceptional skills. I think they’ll discover you quickly and put you to work in a different division.”

She frowned as though she hadn’t poked around enough to notice the special division. “There’s another division other than programming?”

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