CHAPTER 4: "The Spy Who Spilled His Coffee"
The cafeteria was a sea of white shirts and the clattering of plastic trays. Usually, this was the only hour of the day where the stress of the Employees stayed outside the doors.
Aslam sat with his team, his head still a bit heavy from the morning. Jack was mid-story, gesturing wildly with a sandwich, and the rest of the group was laughing. It was a normal, happy meal—except for one thing.
About twenty feet away, partially hidden behind a snack vending machine, stood Ben.
Ben wasn't eating. He was standing perfectly still, his eyes narrowed until they looked like laser scanners. He moved his head in a slow, robotic arc, "scanning" every man and woman at the table. When his gaze landed on Aslam, he squinted even harder, his brow furrowing as if he were trying to read Aslam's thoughts through his forehead.
Aslam caught his eye and immediately looked away, rubbing his temples.
"What on earth is he doing?" Aslam thought, suppressing a groan. "First the hangover, then the contract, and now Ben has lost his mind. Ahh, forget it. Maybe he's just looking for a lost pen."
The team finished their meals, the laughter dying down as they cleared their trays. Jack, who had finally had enough of the creepy staring, turned around in his chair.
"Hey, Ben!" Jack called out. "Why are you looking at us like that? You've been standing there for twenty minutes without moving a muscle."
Ben blinked, his "scanner" eyes snapping back to normal. "Huh?"
Jack stared at him. "Huh?"
Ben tilted his head, looking suspicious. "Huh?"
Jack looked at Ben. "Huh?"
The rest of the team members were like spectators at a tennis match—their heads whipped from Jack to Ben, then Ben to Jack, back and forth, as the silence grew more awkward by the second.
Ben suddenly realized he had been caught. He pulled his short tie straight and clutched his grease-stained notebook to his chest.
"I... I just have to go!" Ben stammered, his voice jumping an octave. "I have... very important work to do! Highly classified! Extremely professional!"
Without waiting for a response, Ben turned on his heel and disappeared behind the cafeteria wall so fast he nearly tripped over a trash can.
The team shrugged, assuming it was just Ben being his usual weird self, and headed back to the production floor. But behind the safety of the wall, Ben was leaning against the cold bricks, his chest heaving with excitement.
He pulled out a pen—which, as usual, leaked a fresh blob of blue ink onto his thumb—and scribbled furiously in his notebook.
"Target survived the lunch encounter," Ben whispered to himself, a wide, slightly crazy grin spreading across his face. He checked the hallway to make sure no one was watching, then let out a low, muffled "detective" laugh.
"You are not going to escape from Detective Ben,Hahaha!"
After the lunchroom disaster, Ben scrambled up to the executive floor. He burst into Heer's office, nearly tripping over the thick rug.
"So?" Heer asked, her voice cold as ice. "Have you found any clues?"
Ben stood at attention, puffing out his chest. "Ma'am! I have identified three secret office romances, one hidden snack stash in Accounting, and a suspicious amount of personal phone calls from the IT department!"
Heer rubbed her temples. "Idiot," she thought. "I don't care about the IT department." She leaned forward. "Ben... what about Aslam?"
"Nothing yet, Ma'am!" Ben shouted, his eyes wide and unblinking. "But this detective is still on his mission. Believe me, no one is going to escape from my chaotic eyes!"
Heer sighed, waving a hand dismissively. "Fine. Just get me information on every single employee. If you do this well, I'll speak to the CEO about that promotion you've been waiting for."
Ben's face crumbled into emotional joy. "Thank you, Ma'am! You are a goddess to me! A literal goddess!" He bowed so low his leaking pens nearly fell out of his pocket before he scurried away.
The Silent Drive
Later that evening, the office shift ended. Aslam stood by the dusty roadside, waving his hand for a taxi that never seemed to come. Suddenly, a sleek, black luxury car swerved from the right lane, tires screeching as it slammed its brakes directly in front of him.
Aslam leaned down to see who the crazy driver was, and his heart skipped a beat. It was Heer.
"Oh, Miss Heer," Aslam stammered. "Do you... have more work for me?"
Heer looked at him through her designer sunglasses, her jaw tight. "What are you waiting for, Aslam?"
"A taxi, Ma'am."
"Sit," she commanded.
Aslam hesitated, his hand on the door handle. "Will you... be comfortable with me in there?"
Heer didn't answer. She just glared at him with a mix of jealousy and anger that made the air feel heavy. Aslam climbed in, and the car took off with a roar.
The silence inside was terrifying. Aslam gripped his seatbelt, his mind racing."Is she going to crash the car on purpose?" he wondered. "Is she going to murder me for saying 'no' to her proposal last night? This feels like a kidnapping."
To break the tension, Aslam reached for the console. "I think... a song would be perfect, right?"
He pressed a button. A slow, deeply romantic love song filled the speakers. Aslam's eyes went wide. He quickly hit the 'Next' button. The second song started—even more romantic than the first.
Panicked, he lunged for the 'Off' button at the exact same moment Heer did. Their hands collided, skin touching skin in the cramped space. They both froze, eyes locking for a second that felt like an hour.
"I am turning it off," Heer snapped, pulling her hand away as if she'd been burned.
They reached Aslam's small house in total silence. As the car stopped, Aslam cleared his throat. "Thank you for the ride, Miss Heer. Would you... like to come in for some tea or coffee?"
He didn't even finish the sentence before the car roared back to life and sped away.
"Ah... forget it then," Aslam muttered, watching her taillights disappear.
Inside the car, Heer wasn't looking at the road. She was looking at a second device on her dashboard. It wasn't a normal phone; it was a cloning device. While Aslam had been distracted by the music, her car's system had finished mirroring his entire phone onto hers.
A dark, victorious smirk crossed her face. "You are not going to escape this time, Aslam. Your secrets belong to me now."
[END OF CHAPTER 4]