New York. 25/10/2012. 08:20.
Lina was looking at herself in the mirror, fixing her outfit. Today was to be her first day as an employee in the Lyndon label and she was anxious. She had put on her more serious get up which consisted of only black pants, a white T-shirt and a grey jacket. These clothes were chosen by her mother since she was not very good at shopping. She had no sense whatsoever of fashion and since her money was tight all of her clothes were kind of old.
"You look good Lina." Helena Campbell said, entering her room without even knocking.
Lina just put on a little smile as an answer, trying to soothe her hair.
"Don't be anxious, everything is going to be fine." Her mother said, taking the hand that she was using on her hair.
"What if I ruin everything and they fire me instantly? We will lose everything." She said anxiously.
Looking at her mom now she could barely believe it. For the last five days since they had accepted the proposition of Nathaniel Lyndon, the condition of her mother had steadily improved. So far they could barely afford the basic medication for her illness and they could only watch as she faded away. But now that the Lyndon label was taking care of all the medical bills she was doing better each day. Just looking at her now, capable of walking and staying upright like that was heartwarming. She was not going to be cured anytime soon but now they could live a little lighter.
"Lina, that Lyndon kid is just the first to notice what me and your father have known since you were little. You are gifted in what you do. Just be you and more people will realise that you are gifted as well." She said, soothing her hair.
"Thanks mom." Lina smiled, calming down.
"Lina, are you ready?" Her father said, entering the room as well.
He was wearing a nicely cut black suit which was complimenting his imposing aura. That particular suit was there when they had arrived, along with two other sets. That was not the only thing that was here when they arrived. Nathaniel Lyndon had even taken the liberty to buy them two brand new king sized beds.
"You look really handsome in that suit, love." Helena said smiling.
Hearing the compliment, Michael cracked a smile. He was not smiling or laughing that often when he was at his job but at home it was totally different. He was loving the two women in his life more than life itself and did not bother trying to hide it.
"Thanks. So are you ready kiddo?"
"Yes dad, I think I am." Lina nodded resolutely.
"Good, let's go or we will be late. There is no way I'm going to be late on the first day." He said.
"Mom, you are going to be okay alone?" Lina asked.
"Yes, don't worry. I will busy myself with unpacking." She smiled.
"Just take it slow and unpack only the clothes or the other light objects and take breaks. Manage yourself love, alright?" Michael said.
"I know my limits, don't worry about me love."
*****
They arrived fifteen minutes earlier than the time they were supposed to check in. Entering the huge lobby, Lina followed her father who was walking in the direction of the front desk.
"Universal Lyndon Records, can I help you?" The man in the front desk asked.
"Yes, we are supposed to meet here to start working this morning. I'm Michael Campbell and this is my daughter, Lina Campbell."
"Alright, let me check on my computer for a second." The man said.
"That will not be necessary." A pleasant voice sounded beside Lina, surprising her.
"Of course, sir." The man said seeing who had come over.
Turning to the side she realised that Nathaniel Lyndon was there beside an imposing man. The eyes of the man passed over her without lingering and settled on her father. Even if there was a huge difference in build between the two men Michael did not appear intimidated by him and just looked at him impassively which elicited a nod of approval coming from the man.
"Hello Michael, hello Lina. Glad to see that you made it." Nathaniel said.
"Of course sir." Michael said while Lina simply nodded shyly.
"Oh, let me introduce you to Jean Martin here. He is one of my grandfather's personal bodyguards and technically your boss, he will show you around."
"Campbell is it?" Jean asked.
"Yes sir."
"Good, follow me." Jean ordered, Michael following him in his step with a last nod of encouragement to his daughter.
"Lina, I will be the one to show you your post and explain what your job will be." Nathaniel said.
Walking with her to the elevator he slid his badge to unlock it and then pressed the button to the tenth floor. A minute later they arrived on the floor and the door opened. Nathaniel led Lina through a succession of corridors until they arrived at a door named 'IT department'. Nathaniel walked through the door. Lina followed him and could see that there were already quite few people working, so far all men with geeky apparences between twenty and thirty years old.
Seeing Nathaniel entering their department all of them got back to work, closing a couple of games from their work computers making Nathaniel smile. Lina could see that the two of them gathered a lot of attention and she closed in on Nathaniel, trying to hide in his shadow. She was not very comfortable being stared at.
Passing in the open space, Nathaniel guided Lina to a small office and closed the door once they were both inside. Lina was mesmerized, looking at the high end computer on the desk and the two 17" flat screens on it.
"This is your home." Nathaniel announced spreading his arms wide.
Lina was so focused on the computer that she almost missed his words and it did take a couple of seconds to fully comprehend what he was saying.
"What? Why am I not with the others in the open office?" She asked troublingly.
"Because they are here to make sure every computer in the building works and fix them when they don't. You are here for another reason. I want you to conduct a thorough investigation of our cyber security and our firewall. As of now, we contracted an outside company to provide us protection and I'm not satisfied with their work so far."
"But I'm not qualified to do that!" She shouted.
"If you are not qualified, nobody is, I'm afraid Lina." Nathaniel said, putting emphasis on the 'you'. "Come on, I saw the program that you developed on your computer, you are uniquely qualified to do what I'm asking."
"Yeah, well euhh…" She stammered.
"Just to let you know, you are under my direct supervision so if one of the managers here try to use you just tell them no and if they insist just use my name and it should be enough." Nathaniel said pressing enter, making the two screens light up and a window open on one of them, requesting a name and password to enter the system. "The security is going to come get you in one hour to get you into the system to provide you with login and a personnel badge and since I have class in half an hour I will leave you to it."
"Wait! What am I going to do for the next hour? Just wait?" She asked with disbelief.
"No, did you already forget your assignment? Since you have one hour to kill, try to hack your way into the system without triggering any alarm." Nathaniel said.
"I don't have any of my hacking programs on me!"
"So what? You have the necessary element to build one."
"And if I fail and disappoint you?" She asked, starting to panic.
"I have faith in you Lina, you will not disappoint me." He gave her a smile before leaving the office.