Red Hourglass : Dark Coming Of Age Romance Thriller

Haunted

I was back at work on Monday. I spent the morning trying to catch up with last week's work.

Mimi popped by my desk before lunch. After all these months working in a big corporation, she still looked like an anime schoolgirl.

"Hey Scarlet, let's go for lunch," she chirped.

"All right. Just a sec."

"Why are you so busy?"

"I was out last week, remember?"

"Oh yeah."

"Okay, lets go," I said, leaving neat little piles all over my desk. "Should we see if Liza wants to join us?"

"Sure." Mimi followed me to the elevator.

We went down to the accounting department on the fourteenth floor. I could barely see the top of Liza's thick black glasses behind the mountain of files on her desk. Liza's code name was the Pyro. She was a hot-tempered Latina. We'd been on a few of the same missions before, but we'd never worked together. I once asked Vanus if Liza could help me with a difficult task and she said Liza prefers to work alone.

"Hey Liza. We're going to lunch. Want to come?" I asked.

"Can't you see I'm busy?" Liza continued typing furiously without even glancing at us.

"We'll be at Café Ristretto if you change your mind," I said.

"Okay," said Liza as she fed some pages into the shredder by her desk.

Mimi and I took the crowded elevator down to the lobby with the rest of the worker rats. We walked over to the café and bought lunch. It was cold but sunny and we sat at a table on the empty patio.

"How's it going in operations? Do you like working with Miller?" I asked.

"I'm bored out of my skull. Miller's a balding middle-aged man with a young wife and kids. He's dull and the job's monotonous. I wish the mission was almost over, but it's going to take some time to get the info the White Queen wants."

"Maybe you should hit on Miller for the fun of it."

"Ha ha, very funny," said Mimi. "I have the hots for an accountant in Liza's department. He's really good looking and he goes to the gym."

"Maybe he has a thing for Asian girls. Why don't you join the gym and see if he hits on you?"

"I just might do that to spice things up." Mimi blushed and folded back the paper wrapper on her sandwich. "But I'd still prefer working for someone young and naughty like Conan. How are things with him?"

"Better."

"Do you still like him?" Mimi leaned forward and put her elbows on the table. She stared at me as she took a bite of her sandwich.

"It's under control," I said calmly, sipping my coffee.

"Good." Mimi leaned back in her chair just as her phone rang. "Scar, it's Vanus. I have to talk to her." Mimi stood up and walked to the other side of the patio.

I wasn't surprised that Mimi was bored with Miller and the corporate world. I thought about the mobster mission. It was one of the first assignments Mimi and I were sent on together. Playing mobster molls and having meetings in dark alleyways under the watchful eye of the moon was fun at first.

Mimi had to get close to the mob boss Vargen. They were together all the time and he was truly infatuated with her. Vargen was usually crude and rude, shouting insults and orders at everyone, but he was like a sweet little puppy around Mimi.