Hey, Franklin, I have a question for you.” I dropped by my friend’s cubicle, peering at his computer screen.

“Yes?”

“Do you think you can pull up some information on my sister?”

He raised an eyebrow in my direction. Franklin was a straight-edged fellow with fine features and well-groomed hair. In the army, he had always been the one to tinker around with the gadgets. One time, he saved all of our asses by fixing our GPS unit. If it weren’t for him, we would probably still be walking around in circles, deep in the jungle.

“What for?”

I glanced over my shoulder, surveying the area. The possibility of my attacker being a member of the VanGuard was slim to none, but you could never be too careful. Sometimes, a man’s worst enemy was his ally. I hesitated, wondering how much I could really trust Franklin. When we were SEALs, I had trusted him with my life, but I had no idea what kind of man he had become since the last time I’d seen him. Maybe he’d transitioned to the dark side, and VanGuard was just a really good cover. Maybe I had started watching way too many movies with my Netflix subscription…

“Hmm?” he prompted, waiting for me to respond. “Cat got your tongue or something?”

I sat down on the edge of his desk. “Last night, someone tried to take me out.”

His eyes widened. “Are you sure?”

“The sniper was aimed at me.”

“Then why do you want me to research your sister?” he asked immediately, trying to connect the dots. “What does she have to do with all of this?”

“Something’s not adding up. I’ve never been to London. The closest I came was our two-week respite in Dublin before we headed to Moscow.”

He nodded, a look of nostalgia on his face. “We barely left the ship.”

“Exactly.”

“So, you think that this all started with your sister, and now they are going after you?”

“Yes.”

“You know, I’m not supposed to use the database for anything other than a mission.”

“Come on, Franklin. Break the rules just this once – for my sake.”

He studied my face for a moment. “I have to go home straight after work before the babysitter leaves, but why don’t you join me for dinner? How does seven sound? If you bring along your laptop… I’ll see what I can do. Looking her up on the company’s bandwidth would be too risky; they’ll see my credentials, and I can’t afford to lose my job.”

“Fine.” I nodded. “I owe you one.” I patted him on the back and smiled. “And if you ever need anything, just remember that I’m your new boss.” I winked.

He groaned dramatically.

I left his cubicle and headed for my own. As I did, I made the mistake of looking up at Mr. Robison’s office. He took off his glasses and pointed them in my direction. There was a stern expression on his face. I had the feeling that I had somehow gotten myself into trouble.

Slowly, I dragged my feet, stalling. The last thing I wanted to do was talk to my asshole boss.

“Cruz… it’s a pleasure to see you finally joining us. I’ve been notified that you had a family emergency you needed to deal with. I hope that’s been handled by now and that you can jump into your position full throttle.” He got up and pressed a button on the wall. The blinds that covered the floor to ceiling windows were tucked into small compartments on either side. “This city is simply our place of operation, but we have a worldwide agenda. Every day, we keep people safe where authorities have failed.”

I listened to his pitch, trying to ignore the condescending tone he was using, like I was some five-year-old learning his alphabet.

“But saving people is only part of what we do. We also organize and maintain an expansive database that records certain statistics, such as agent success rate, crime reduction percentiles, and general satisfaction with the company. These numbers need to be in a certain range. If not, we do not receive the funding we so desperately need.”

I couldn’t understand why he was telling me all of this.

“As the Head of the International Division, your job is to make sure our international agents are all following SOP. If they aren’t, you’ll be required to take action.”

“Wait… are you telling me that I got promoted to a desk job?” My skin crawled just thinking about it. I couldn’t spend my entire day sitting around, making phone calls, and sending out emails. I would lose my mind.

“Is that a problem?” he asked, his eyes cold and emotionless. “Because if it is, I have no qualms with finding a replacement. But, I hope you understand that your less than five years with VanGuard will leave you with no pension and no possibility of rejoining the company, and I can personally guarantee you that this is the best place for an ex-SEAL to work. You can’t expect six figures anywhere else.” As he finished his speech, he perched the arm of his glasses on the corner of his mouth, looking smug.

I ground my teeth together. This guy was really getting on my nerves. I needed this job, but I didn’t know how long I’d be able to tolerate such a prick. “It’s handled,” I finally said.

“Fantastic. Then you’ll have no problem filling out these reports for me.” He grabbed a thick stack of folders off of his desk and plopped them on my lap. “They need to be completed by the end of the day.” He flashed a smile before he grabbed his coat off the back of his chair.

Without another word, he left his office, car keys in hand.