BLACK BOX (III)

Against the exigency of time, Mona finds herself digesting everything in Dr. Watson’s file. Since they found out about his upcoming event, they decided to swing into action. The party of three took a flight to New York to set up for a few days. He is opening a private museum on his 3-acre- residential property in Central Park South. After much deliberation, the final decision was to use her to infiltrate Watson’s camp; a consensus was reached as a result of her suggestion. She plans to disguise herself as a lifestyle journalist who wants an interview with the billionaire. His latest achievement coming to the spotlight is an added advantage. She has to be convincing in her charade, time is ticking against the odds for the Black Op team.

When she approached, the front desk lady was more than willing to direct the ‘lifestyle journalist’ from The Vanguard to the secretary of the CEO after an ID check. Mona made a show as she strutted across the hallway to use the elevator. She hoped Paul was able to upload a reasonable amount of reference to her online presence for Watson’s perusal. Her cover story would dismiss any iota of the doubt for such little information; only if she gets the chance to see him.

She crossed her legs as she sat in the waiting room, making sure her red bottoms are visible to ‘his bitchy secretary’ with blue icy eyes. The petite lady ignores Mona’s attitude and instructs her to sit while she creates a schedule for her; since she was insistent on meeting Dr. Watson without a prior appointment. ‘This is my turf, no Amazon with chiseled abs, perfect boobs, and round butt is going to intimidate me’, Sarah thought and rolled her eyes; Mona squinted when she caught it. She wished she could call the shot around here, but she can’t try to be bossy because Watson might step out of that office anytime and start acting too generous. He is always generous to the people of the press and the general public when under the watchful eyes of the camera; a ploy to paint a perfect picture of himself. He must be trying to run for public office soon or just needs to plant his ideas in people’s minds when the skeletons in his cupboard start to fall out. The few actions of his she’s privy to are karmic, but she just wants to make good money for a few more months and get out before all hell comes loose on the corporation. He is a good boss and keeps a cordial relationship with his employees, but he has made a pact with the devil.

“Ms.…” Sarah sneered in her direction. Mona gave her name again, smiling, “Lisa Alton Rae.” ‘I couldn’t care less’, Sarah thought, suppressing the urge to roll her eyes at the even-toned, subservient journalist. She got up and walked towards Mona, “Dr. Watson is busy. There is no opening in his schedule but I’m going to do you a favor. I’ll go in there and inform him of your mission today. I’m not promising anything, but he’s a man of the people, he might want to fix it for a later date. Fingers crossed, okay!” she went down a small hallway, into what Mona assumed was Dr Watson’s office. ‘My mission. Wow! Bitch!’, she cussed under her breath.

Paul couldn’t hold his laughter anymore, “why are you angry at her for being a typical secretary? Mr. Stuart’s secretary was worse when she got promoted to his office. It was like we didn’t know her from the floor office.” Mona hissed, “Why did we even think I would be able to see Watson on such short notice?” Paul shrugged, “at least you were able to drop your details. If your deduction is true, he would have an idea of who you are…” Mona got up from the vacant table meant for her in their temporary office, with folded arms, “Who I am or whom we want him to think I am?” Mike clears his throat loudly and adjusts in his chair. Paul looks perplexed, the smile on his face fades away quickly, “what’s your point, Mona?” he said scratching his temple slowly with a stern look. “Am I protected? We’ve been making hasty decisions due to the sensitivity of this issue. We’ve had minor setbacks and need to review our plan to stop this rat race. I’m just saying we can’t afford to blow my cover. We need a contingency plan in place. Black Leader sent us here for a reason…result!” Paul eased up a little, “Look, it’s fine. This is an easier plan, that will help us achieve our aim with stealth. We can’t use force or be out there in plain sight. Let’s hope he doesn’t go vetting you at the Vanguard himself. He’s probably going through your ‘fake’ social media page as we speak,” he said making air quotes. “Well, it’s game time, and I am about to be impressive,” she bats her eyelids, smiling. Paul glanced at Mike oscillating on his chair, “You are oddly quiet over there.” He leaned back in his seat, “no comment. Those things on her feet are designer-made weapons of mass destruction, I still need my nuts for great exploit. You got game,” he gave Mona a thumbs up and faced his monitor. She walked over to him, bent low to his face with a smirk, while Mike kept his head still and focused on his screen, “You should be very afraid.” Paul guffawed at the scene.

…Pause