Welcome, welcome. Please make yourself comfortable.” The chubby looking man with the protruding stomach said to me as he pointed his finger to the couch adjacent his desk. He moved to the opposite direction of his unnecessarily spacious office which looks more like a living room and pulled out a bottle of whiskey from the shelf with two glasses.
“Do you mind?” He asked.
“Not at all Sir”.
Filling each glass up to the brim, he walked carefully towards me to avoid spilling the drink on the Italian made rug that I think is worth a pretty penny.
We both sat there for a while and drank the whiskey without uttering a word.
“Do you know why you’re here?” He finally breaks the silence and picks up the half smoked cigar from the ashtray on his desk, lights a match to rekindle the fire which he guards with his hands to avoid the light going off.
“Yes sir, I got a directive from the department of intelligence to report to you for new orders.”
“That’s right, you are here to follow up on the ongoing investigation that is tagged ‘priority Alpha. It is highly classified and just a hand full of insiders know the exact details of the investigation.” Mr Ralph said as he puffed out a smoke from his cigar.
“Can I trust you with this?” He asked.
“Yes sir!”
“Okay, good. The files will be sent to you by mail. You may go.”
I left his office feeling a bit dazzled by everything. “What is priority Alpha and why me? This does not make any sense.”
The next day, at about 3:37 am, I woke up to the sound of my door bell ringing without stop. I walked to the door, flung it open and was just about to release all hell on the person who was unlucky enough to disturb my sleep at such an odd hour.
“Who the hell…. Oh hello sir.” I was stupefied to find Mr Ralph standing on my porch with a couple of guys from the office. He looked at me sternly and gave the order for them to search my house. They immediately hurried into my apartment and started to tear the place apart.
“Is something the matter sir?” I asked confused at what was unfolding before my eyes.
“Yes Mr John, yes there is”. That’s all he said to me as he begins to smoke his cigar without minding me.
Few minutes later, the men walked out and gave him a nod that suggests that nothing was found.
He looked at me for a few minutes and signaled the men to move out. While I stood on my porch wondering what was going on, I suddenly got drawn to the sound of my phone which apparently had been ringing for a while. I had forty missed calls and several voicemails.
There’s been a breach of information and the trail led right back to me. The shock sent chills to my bones and gulps of air down my throat.
“Obviously, it’s a set up” I thought to myself as I tried to figure out who would want to set me up and why.
Weeks later, I got called back to the office and that’s when it was revealed that the person responsible for the breach turned out to be one of the tech guys who then tried to cover his step by setting up the ‘new guy’ to take the fall.
I was infuriated by not just the actions of the guy but also at my boss for assaulting my apartment building all in a bid to find something that isn’t there. My reputation within the organization deserves some unshakable trust.
“Please, accept my apologies John. All evidence pointed to you, so we had no choice but to follow through to make sure no stone is left unturned.” Mr Ralph then pulled out a cigar and match from his pocket but changed his mind just as he was about to light it up.
He patted my shoulder and walked into his office without saying another word. Moments later, I submitted my resignation letter, packed up my little stuff In a box and left the building.
I flagged down a taxi and went back to my apartment to pick up the bag I had already packed. I went straight to the airport and booked a flight back home to my family living in the countryside. I thought the change of scenery would do me some good and I’d finally get to meet my little girl that I’ve only seen through the screen of my computer for the past seven years. Carly was just born when I got the directive to travel West to my new position as the personal assistant to the director. That was the tipping point of my my life.
“Working close to the director will open up doors for me to scale up the ranks.” I’ve never been so wrong in my entire life.
So I worked earnestly and tirelessly much to the surprise of everyone who I thought were just upset about the close ties I have with the director. It wasn’t until the day of his retirement, that I got an email with instructions to report to the north west office for new orders.
It was a very exciting day for me. “Finally the time has come to move up the ladder to a position of proper authority”. I packed up my effects and hurried home to prepare for the 2 hour flight to my new department.
I arrived at the north west department at exactly 5:14 pm, and was led straight to Mr Ralph’s office to receive my orders. The charade thereafter was much to my surprise. “Why am I asked to follow up on an investigation that is clearly not within the terms of my contract?” I left his office that day a bit dejected but highly resolved to take a firm decision soon.
If it hadn’t been for the assault on my apartment, I may never have found the push I needed to finally quit my job.
As I sat there waiting for my flight to begin boarding, my brain thoroughly searched to piece together answers to the endless questions running through my mind.
“I’ve spent 10 years of my life for the organization, now it’s time to focus the rest on my family”.
I laid down my cup of coffee, picked up my bags and walked into the plane as the final announcement was made to board.
“This is it, I’m done with all of this.”