By Day and by Night

Chapter 9- Door to Door

Adelae awoke groggily at 6:15 the next morning to an empty bed and 12 text messages. She panicked, grabbing her phone and throwing off the covers, but calmed down a bit as she started to read the contents. Three came from her husband from last night, telling her that he had to go on a trip for work at the last minute, that he was safe, and one an hour later to inform her that his flight had landed.

The other nine texts were in a group message of burner phones. One bore Connor's signature, the other two seemed to be Nik, and Minelle. The first message was from Nik, asking what product they were supposed to be selling. All the others were suggestions and bickering regarding the listed ideas. Adelae exhaled deeply, rubbing the sleep off of her face. Her phone buzzed again. It read "Adelae?"

She thought for a minute. "Could sell body armor to secretaries," she sent quickly, before adding, "Kratos has been working on it already. With all the attacks it would be easy to pitch."

The one she guessed to be Nik replied, "Smart. But why would Galen and I be selling your company's goods?"

Good question, Adelae thought. "You could pretend you were training or applying for marketing?"

"Laaaaame," came the reply of Connor.

"The Radians would never stoop so low." Nik typed back.

"IDK. Pretend it's a punishment or you lost a bet or you're doing me a favor. Do you have a better suggestion?" She sent back. "I can have sample pieces ready in the offices at 8:30." She sent this one, yawning and walking to the bathroom to turn on the shower. 

The warm water helped her wake up. She noticed then the slight cut above her eyebrow. Must've happened during the fight last night, she thought to herself. She discovered minimal other markings, and felt just a bit proud of herself. Her pride turned sour when she tried to bend over to scrub her legs, only to groan at the stretch and pull of sore muscles made worse by sleep deprivation. When all the suds had been rinsed down the drain, she turned off the water, wrapping her towel around herself, and stepping out. She wiped a space on the foggy mirror to look at her own reflection, examining the cut more clearly and noticing dark puffy bags under her eyes.

Adelae brewed some coffee, turning on the news to listen while she prepared for the day. Surprisingly, the events of the previous night were not among the stories. She dressed quickly for work, collected her things, gulped down a cup of coffee and stepped out into the chilly fall morning air.

"Hello Gina," she greeted the receptionist upon arrival. "I'm expecting a Mister Nik Radian in the next hour, he can come straight up." She tapped the desk once. Gina nodded, and Adelae strolled into a conveniently open elevator.

Adelae hastily dumped her things onto her desk and set to work immediately, striding into the developmental storage room down the hall to assemble a small display of the under armor. "One of each size, in three different styles... fit for different types of garments... that ought to do it," she murmured to herself while she moved.

At 8:30, Adelae checked her cell. A text from Nik read, "running late." Adelae clicked her tongue in annoyance and sat behind her desk.

A man in a wrinkled suit walked in with uneven steps. She recognized him as Mr. Klein, one of the members of the Board. He adjusted his glasses twice in the twelve feet between her desk and the door. Adelae thought the frames were far too small set against his round face. He simply entered, stumbled up to her desk, handed her a square fold of paper, and walked back out briskly. Adelae turned the object over several times in her lap, puzzled. She opened the note to discover it bore a name.

"Oh!" She exclaimed aloud. She'd nearly forgotten that she'd asked the board members to vote on the candidates for the new member. The paper read Allan Stevenson in shaky handwriting. She opened her laptop and pulled her notes out again on the candidates.