"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO. You can't do that to me," Tom shouted in horror as the computer began shutting down amidst his celebration. His face stiffened in fear as he scrambled to power it on once again.

After it powered itself on, he typed the password as calmly as he could, with his heart praying that he wouldn't input a wrong character.

He pressed enter the moment he finished entering the code and clasped his hands in prayer as his eyes focused on the screen, hoping the password would still work.

"PLEASE NO, PLEASE NO..." he said when he saw the computer powering itself off again after flashing a warning. [Your account has been locked for six hours. Please check your password and try again later.]

He lowered his head and pulled his hair in a fit of nervousness and fear, as he now knew he couldn't do anything to stop the computer from being transferred to DARPA. He'd blown his chance in his nervousness, as he either input the wrong password or it might be a one-time password that their program had scanned before the computer powered itself off as a security countermeasure.

He spent the next few minutes with his head lowered, simmering in the feelings of disappointment and fear of the consequences of what would happen if they discovered what he had done.

Upon thinking of what to do, he immediately realized that he was working for the FBI, the second-best agency at covering things up (behind only the CIA) so he immediately stood up and started tidying up the mess he had made. First, he collected the pieces he had ripped from the computer when he wanted to power it on. Then he disconnected the power cable, but as he moved to disconnect the Ethernet cable, he stiffened for a moment and famous last words came from his mouth.

"Oh, shit," he murmured, realizing he had plugged the wrong Ethernet cable that connected directly to the FBI's private internal computer network when he was supposed to plug it into the one that would connect it into a sandbox that ensured the safety of the main network. The sandbox network would monitor the computers connected to it and how they interacted with the internet to determine if a program had any malicious code without going to the extent of reverse engineering an entire system, as they sometimes wouldn't have access to it.

He turned and looked at the security camera in the room to see if his mistake could be seen from that angle and, coming to the realization that the cable couldn't be seen by the camera, heaved a sigh of relief and immediately disconnected it. After a moment of silence to thank his lucky stars, he moved fast, trying to return the machine to the condition it had originally been in.

"Whew," he sighed in relief, as he had managed to finish packing it, and even in the condition he had found it in. Then he immediately packed his things and left the office, intent on not coming back for at least a week. He could use his disappointment at not being allowed to continue working with the machine as a reason for requesting the time off in order to recover his mental health.

....

"Those fucking TRAITORS." A shout that carried an angry tone rang out as Arieh threw the glass on his table at the wall, shattering it and scaring the shit out of his secretary. She was the only one in the room with him, as she was the one that had handed him the document that sent his blood pressure skyrocketing.

"After all I did for them, they decided to betray me and side with that bitch?" he shouted as veins popped on his forehead, showing just how angry he was.

The document that had caused his outburst was a report from the private investigators he'd had his secretary hire after becoming suspicious of some of the board members on his side. He wasn't a complete idiot, after all, and had noticed them starting to make some weird decisions that, most of the time, benefitted Rina rather than him.

At first, he had thought it was just a coincidence, but when it happened more than three timesall by different board membershe'd realized that they might have changed sides and joined Rina's team, which wasn't good for him.

"But why the fuck would they do that?" he asked himself, trying to think of what benefits they could get from Rina that he couldn't provide.

His secretary, Charlotte, tried coming up with a plausible explanation. "I think... maybe it's because she can be more easily manipulated, and with them being the first to change sides, I suspect she also promised them more benefits than you were providing. And based on how they were trying to keep it secret as long as they could, it means they planned to benefit from both sides. Then they would make their decision and choose the side of the one they could be sure was going to win."

"That bitch is always causing me trouble! From the time she crawled back into the competition, to taking it as far as trying to poach my people.... I really need to get rid of her to have any assurance in getting MY inheritance! Looks like it's time I let loose and deal with her once and for all!" he said, still in his angry state as he maintained eye contact with his secretary.

"Should it be a warning or an elimination?" Charlotte asked, just to be sure.

"I don't want this to be a recurring thing, so go all the way. We have someone that'll do that for us, right?" he said, this time with a smile as if he was ordering pizza.

"Yes, sir," Charlotte said and left the office, going directly to her office and removing a brand-new burner phone from her desk, then dialing a number after powering it on.

.....

Terry and Katrin were having sex in the room that she had once warned him about going into. She had threatened that, if she caught him snooping, she would shoot him, but it appeared that during the time they'd spent together, her threat was now invalid.

They were a living example of people progressing from strangers to lovers based on the conditions they were forced to be in pushing them closer and closer. It was like something straight out of a romantic comedy.

Just as Terry was about to climax, they were interrupted by the ringing of his phone. And despite being in the most exciting situation, he immediately pulled out and answered his phone.

"Hello," he respectfully said.

"You have a job to do," a voice from the other side of the call said, not even bothering to return the greeting.

"What is it?" he asked, ignoring the blatant disrespect the caller on the other side had for him.

"You need to finish what you started," said Charlotte, not bothering to say what exactly he was supposed to.

"I need time, money, and information to accomplish it without any problems." He knew what she meant.

"I'll email you an account number. Use that money to solve any problems that arise. You have a month to take action," she said and immediately ended the call.

"You're finally being given a job?" Katrina said as she hugged him from behind, putting her hands on his waist and slowly sliding them down.

"Yeah... care to plan it with me?" he replied with a smile as he turned his head to face hers on his right shoulder.

"Depends on whether you can 'talk' me into doing it." She smirked as her hands started stroking him, causing him to rise from the ashes to finish the business they had begun earlier.

"I guess I'll just have to try my best to 'convince' you," he said, then turned around and picked her up with his hands on her ass, spreading her legs and revealing what was hiding between them, marking the start of a battle that was bound to last for a few hours.