Tom rubbed his forehead as he stared tiredly at the computer screen in front of him. He had been making his way through overdue and new reports. Coming back from Mexico City as late as he had caused him to be chained to the desk for the last two months. He had never worked so much over-time in his life. Loosening the tie on his neck, he picked up his coffee cup and downed the bitter black liquid. It had been a long day.
He had gone through hell during the first week back. His superior already hated his guts; now he had an excuse to put him through the wringer. The only time Tom had to catch his breath was when he went to sleep, and that was for only 3 hours. Even with the overtime, he still had to carry work home to do as well.
He had been terrified on the drive away from the restaurant. Gabriela was shivering as she sat in his embrace. Even though she lived in a gang area, she had never been witness to murder as it happened. And as much as she hated Marquez, she never expected him to die like that, and so suddenly too.
As the restaurant had been some distance from their apartment and Gabriela was a strong person, the tension and fear they felt soon simmered down. "You knew about what he did?", she inquired as she finally raised her head from his chest. Tom took a deep breath and nodded. Even though the whole scenario was over, Alpha still listened in through the microphone and instructed him accordingly.
"I'm sorry for intruding into your life", he said dejectedly. He meant it too. As much as he liked the girl, he never expected her situation to be as insane as it was. He would have dropped her if he did. 'And Alpha called this a minor problem', he scoffed inwardly, 'What does he consider as major? Or critical?'. He shivered slightly.
"I was just so annoyed when I found out that such a wonderful person like yourself chained to that animal", he continued, stroking her hair gently. "So I did some snooping with a friend. And found some nasty secrets". She remained silent for a while. Tom began to feel nervous.
Gabriela sighed; she knew he had no evil intentions, things just got out of hand. "I don't hate you for what you did.", she finally said, "But next time fill me in on it. Especially if you had plans to kill them.". Tom shook his head. "I never expected the situation to blow up like that", he said, "Nor did I give the kill order".
"Remember when I said that I have friends in high places?". She tilted her and nodded. "Well, when we found out that Marquez was involved in some shady dealings, we deemed that some protection was needed. So he assigned one of his special operatives to me. He acted on the presence of danger he observed yesterday.".
Gabriela closed her eyes for a good while this time. Tom could understand. Witnessing such a massacre for the first time would take a toll on anyone. He tightened the hug he was giving her and silently rocked her. Raising his head, he saw their apartment building in the distance. He sighed deeply. 'Shit's just gonna get crazier, huh?'.
Swivelling around in his chair, he observed the other workers in the office as he sipped his coffee. He panned his eyes across the room and finally settled his gaze on a slightly overweight woman with too much makeup on. She was hunched over her keyboard, fiercely punching its keys as she chewed a huge wad of gum. A massive bubble grew from her mouth now and then.
'Mrs. Patricia Greene, our most exclusive gossip.', he recalled as he watched her, 'No news gets past her as long as it passes through this office. Which makes her the perfect target.'. He put his cup down, stretched and got up. He whistled a slow tune as he trudged toward her.
As he walked past her desk, he 'tripped' over her CPU's cables and fell. 'That fucking hurt!', he raged in his head as he got up and dusted off. His knees were screaming bloody murder. He was about 70 percent sure that one of them had scabs on it. But the desired effect was in place.
It was a very drab day for Patricia. Most of the gossip today was old news. And the rest wasn't even worth her notice. Oh yeah, work was boring too. She was 2 seconds away from powering down her monitor and getting a couple of Z's in when a figure walked past her desk. Or tried too. Halfway through, he tripped and fell. She quickly got up to help. She clucked her tongue as she saw the face: Tom, the once shining star down on his luck. Though his looks were still there, his demeanour was gone. And his dressing was nothing to write about. Patricia shook her head inwardly; a real shame. Obsession could make a fool out of anyone. She would know.
'Huh. He shaved today. Looks tidier too. And... smells good?!', Patricia's mind went into overdrive. 'A new case? No. Even though he's a workaholic, he's never like this. And that twinkle in his eye! The constant phone fiddling! Could it be? A new girl?'. She wanted to know so badly! Tom's ex-wife was a pain and hated seeing him around other women, especially as he was so popular. 'If she found out he had a new girl', she thought, 'and the chick is hotter than her, some shit may fly!'. She fixed her blazing eyes at Tom who unconsciously backed away.
'No, no... I need to calm him down. Ease him into it. This opportunity can't be missed!'. The light in her eyes slowly vanished and was replaced with a gentle smile. She rejoiced inwardly as she saw his shoulders relax. Moving closer, she helped him finish dusting off his suit. 'There are iron creases too!', she screamed inwardly as she forced her hands to stay steady.
"You okay?", she said concernedly, guiding him away. He nodded slightly. "I was just on my way to get a coffee. Planning on taking a break", he said tiredly rubbing his forehead. She smiled brightly. "Me too! It's been such a drab day", she replied nodded wisely. "Lemme pack up here and we can go together". He thought for a moment and nodded. As she turned to her desk, a sly smile came on both her and Tom's face.
"Gotcha!"