The Darkest Word

Chapter 1

Mariana's POV

"Okay remind me of my schedule for today" I tell my assistant Luna as I am walking to my office.

"You have a meeting with Ashton Leonard at 10:00, lunch with Rachel Pula at 1:00, and a meeting with Rafael Cortez at 3:30."

I stop in my tracks and turn around to face her.

"I thought I made it clear that Cortez was not to be seen until next week."

"Well ma'am you-you did but he threatened to kill me if I didn't move it up to today."

Oh boy.

"So you let a threat lead you to go against your boss' orders? In case you haven't realized, we work with some of the most dangerous people around the world. If you let a threat scare you, you will not make it here."

Before she could respond I walked into my office. I sat in my chair and spun away from my desk to look out into the city. It was 7:00 in the morning here so the streets were crowded with cars and the sidewalk people - all probably on their way to work. That also meant I had under 3 hours to make sure I was prepared for my meeting at 10.

Ring! Ring!

I spun back towards my desk and picked up the phone.

"Good morning this is BlackOps Tech Corporations, how may I help you?"

Laughter rang on the other end. I immediately knew it was Serena.

"You can help me by telling me why Rafael Cortez is scheduled for today? I know you wanted it next week so you could have more time to prepare."

"Don't even get me started on that" I sighed, "I still have to finish his file. All I know is he wants his hands on our latest tracker. Something went down between him and another gang and he lost some members. Guessing that's what he needs it for."

"Hmm probably. Anyway, the new computer geek just walked in. Time to go train him."

"Haha be nice S, see you later."

_______________________________

I was finally done with my meetings with both Leonard and Pula. I had told Luna to cancel her other reports and to finish Cortez's file for me. He is the leader of The Hydras - the most dangerous gang in our country. They have never bought anything from us before so I was excited to get a new client and ally.

Knock! Knock!

"Come in."

"Here's the completed file on Rafael Cortez and The Hydras."

"Thank you" I simply stated. I didn't like being too friendly to my staff because they needed to not only have a backbone but respect me. I couldn't let them try taking advantage of me.

Rafael Cortez, 29 years old. Became leader of The Hydras at 22 years old due to his father's death. His mother disappeared shortly after. Giovanni Keys became his right hand man a year later. Last Wednesday at 5:37 pm, his warehouse downtown was attacked resulting in 4 Hydras dead. Who attacked them is still not clear. He is interested in buying our latest tracker and is willing to start at $70,000 for it.

Following his report were pictures of the tarnished warehouse. It had been blown up into several pieces. I'm surprised more people didn't die.

This wasn't much but it was the best we could do given the shortened time line.

It was now 2:50 and my phone rang. The receptionist let me know that Cortez had entered the building. She sounded terrified.

Ugh.