Page 13 of Breathless Recruiter

“Didshesend you?” There are things scarier than death.

The lobby of this floor wasn’t much different from our own. The walls were a similar light gray with dark wood floors. They even had a reception area like ours. The desk, however, lackeda collection of troll dolls, nor did it have a burly woman with a sense of humor I never understood.

I would have preferred Janet. Instead, Synergy had a petite brown-haired woman in a business suit. Leaning over the counter, her blood-red nails scraped against the surface. My fear of men in white jackets vanished. I assumed in the bowels of Synergy, they created this vicious human-like creature.

“She?” I stammered.

“Her.” The woman’s eyes narrowed.

“Who her?”

“The tramp.” With a quick turn of the head, her hair flowed down her shoulders. I’d call her beautiful if it weren’t for the snarl showing off flawless white teeth.

“The what?”

“Vixen!”

I stopped responding. Unless she explained herself, I’d be attacked and never know the reason. I inched backward, ready to reach for the door and flee. If I couldn’t fly away or bust a hole in the building's side, I’d jump from the second-floor balcony. Whatever it took to get away from the hissing woman.

“Janet.” Oh. Our administrative assistant had that effect on people. I should have guessed. Something similar happened when she accompanied me to the pretzel cart on the street. Janet had more enemies than any superhero.

“Did she send you?”

I shook my head.

She thrust her finger forward. “I don’t believe you.”

Flinching, I readied for lasers to fly out of her hands. “I came in to see someone. Promise.” Thin and wiry, if she punched me, I’d barely feel it. The way she glared, the knowing grin, it wasn’t knuckles to the jaw that scared me. There was more to this woman than the average secretary. Had she and her co-workers developed powers capable of dealing a fatal blow?

“When you go crawling back, tell that pathetic excuse for an assistant I’ll destroy her.”

The hatred rolled off her in waves. Almost thick enough, I could taste the mix of salt and copper. I should have kept my mouth shut, but I couldn’t resist. Ineededto know what Janet had done to warrant an arch-nemesis.

“What did she?—”

“Fish.”

I refrained from giggling at the thought of Janet in a fish costume. Though, I wasn’t sure how that equated to a rivalry ending in bloodshed.

“You really are an idiot?” Mean and unnecessary. With that realization, she sat down behind her desk. My lack of understanding somehow nullified her desire to destroy me.

“Before the renovation, she snuck in and used our microwave for her leftover fish.”

“We banned her from bringing fish?—”

“It didn’t stop her.” She sat back in her chair. “Tell her Tia will have her revenge.” She typed away at her computer. I didn’t know if I should use the opportunity to flee. I wanted to see Dustin, but incurring her wrath didn’t seem like a good idea.

She smiled. Scarier than her snarl. “Did you say you were looking for somebody?”

“Uh,” I paused as I reconsidered jumping from the balcony. I couldn’t muster the strength to say Dustin’s name.

Zaster burst through glass double doors.

“Here to see me?” No. Not at all.

The scientist had taken off his jacket, and if I didn’t know better, he’d be an average person on the street. The blue button-down shirt highlighted his eyes, and his tie had cartoon characters on it.

I didn’t want to lie, but I didn’t want to be rude. Now that she couldn’t throw accusations, Tia had moved on, already speakingon the phone, her back turned to us. I almost wish she jumped into the conversation, so I didn’t trip over my words.

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