Red Hourglass : Dark Coming Of Age Romance Thriller

The Secretary

On Monday morning, I arrived at Wilmar a few minutes early. I went to the reception desk to get my security pass.

"I heard you got the job. Congrats," said Peter. "Let me get you your pass. S-C-A-R-L-E-T W-A-L-T-E-R-S." He said as he typed my name with one finger.

"Thanks Peter. I'm so glad to be here."

"First job?" he asked. He wiped his gigantic nose with a tissue and hit return on his computer.

"Well ... I interned as a secretary for a while."

"Just stay on your toes young lady. Rome wasn't built in a day and you'll probably make some mistakes, but don't ever forget that Mr. Casey has high standards." He leaned forward to hand me my pass and whispered, "When he's nice he's nice ... but when he's not ..." Peter made a fist and smashed it down on his other hand like a wrecking ball. "Watch out."

"Thanks for the heads-up." I smiled and waved goodbye to Peter as I walked to the security turnstile. Well my pass works, that's good.

I stopped to give Mrs. Little my signed contract before going up to the sixtieth floor. The elevator ride made me feel like a lab rat in an experiment.

I opened the door of the security department and stepped inside. The employees were buried in their cubicles answering calls, printing mountains of documents, and carrying them from one place to another. The whole situation was foreign and unnatural, unlike anything I'd ever known. I was miserable on the farm, but at least I could run and dance without anyone watching.

None of the worker rats took any notice of me as I walked around the clinical cubicles to the far corner. I knocked on Mr. Casey's door.

"Good morning Scarlet," said Mr. Casey as he came out of his office and shut the door.

I still wasn't used to my new name and I froze momentarily. He smelled manly, and with his jacket off I could see his well-defined arms. Damn, he's handsome. Shit! What am I thinking? I'm here on a mission.

"Good morning Mr. Casey." I smiled.

"This is your station," he said, pointing at the desk outside his office. "You'll be doing all the normal secretarial jobs ... correspondence, filing, answering my calls, scheduling my appointments, and running interference out here. Don't let anyone in my office without checking with me first, even if they have an appointment. Do you know how to use the intercom and transfer calls on this phone system?"

"Yes."

"Good. Dial nine for an outside line, and there's a list of internal extensions next to your phone. I generally take the important calls ... don't worry, you'll be able to figure out when it's an important call ... and you'll take messages the rest of the time. Each and every call is logged in our system. There's an app for it on your computer. You have to type the caller's name and message into the fields. That's very important. I'll leave a bit of paperwork in your inbox later, to help get you in the swing of things. If you're not busy, I don't mind if you read or go online. However, our system is pretty tightly controlled, so you won't be able to get on any dubious sites, and no using your work email for anything personal."

"Yes Mr. Casey."

"One more thing ... do you have any problem running out to get my lunch?"

"Not all sir."

"Great. By the way, most people here call me by my first name, Conan."

"Yes sir ... Conan." He seemed easy enough to work for, but he was still making me more nervous by the minute. I couldn't lower my guard too much.