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Chapter 21: Ada Wong — The Personal Assistant Skin
The next morning. The research facility.
Matthew sat in a lab chair with his hands in his pockets, half-turned toward the researcher giving him the update.
"The metal from his skull. Can your team work with it?"
"Absolutely." The researcher was precise about it. "The material has almost no thermal conductivity, but sufficient temperature produces deformation and ductility regardless. As of eight-fifteen this morning, we've started manufacturing the weapon you requested. Based on current smelting progress, we're looking at completion within fifteen days."
Matthew nodded.
The metal in question was the vibranium from Hammerhead's skull plate.
After planting him in the ground as promised, Matthew had made sure the send-off was peaceful. No suffering involved.
How do I know there was no suffering?
Simple. If Hammerhead had been uncomfortable, he would have gotten up and left. He didn't get up and leave. Therefore he was comfortable.
Given that he was comfortable, Matthew had the technicians remove the plate, melt it down, and manufacture it into a dagger. He would have preferred something larger, but the plate was only so big. A full-sized dagger was already pushing the limits of what the material could produce. There wasn't enough left over for anything else.
Back upstairs in the top-floor office.
Matthew was slouched in his chair working through a tablet full of department assignment approvals. Event security, escort details, the same two categories cycling through on repeat. He wasn't reading the specifics. His only point of focus was whether the pricing made sense.
He had a lot of people on payroll. Keeping them fed while maintaining reasonable pay and benefits without running out of cash was, in practice, a significant ongoing headache. Someone had to watch the numbers.
"Eleanor normally handles all of this," he said, to no one. "She goes out on assignment and it lands back on me."
He swiped through another batch.
"Boring."
His phone lit up on the desk.
[Eleanor: Sir. Anticipating potential backlog during my absence, I have taken the liberty of hiring a temporary assistant at my own expense. I have vetted her thoroughly. Her capabilities are excellent. Non-sensitive company matters can be delegated to her without concern.]
Matthew put the tablet down.
He had to acknowledge it. As an assistant, Eleanor operated in a category entirely her own.
Sharp. Organized. Capable in ways that went well past what the job description asked for. That much had been clear from the street confrontation, when she'd stepped in front of him first, watch wrapped around her knuckles and ready to go. And now, halfway across the country on an assignment he had sent her on, she was thinking about whether the office was running properly in her absence.
On top of which, she had hired the replacement out of her own pocket.
This was what made people lose all realistic expectations of assistants.
He picked up his phone.
[Matthew: Good thinking. By the way, what's your current salary?]
[Eleanor: Annual, around 1.7 million.]
[Matthew: Double it.]
[Eleanor: !!!]
[Eleanor: THANK YOU SIR. You are extraordinary!!]
[System: +50 points. Eleanor's goodwill toward you has increased significantly. She has resolved to dedicate herself to this company until her last breath.]
He typed one more message.
[Matthew: That said — finish the assignment and come back as soon as you can. I've gotten used to having you around. It's strange without you here.]
On a highway somewhere, Eleanor's hands went slightly wrong on the wheel.
She pulled over. Two minutes later:
[Eleanor: Sir. Company policy. No romantic relationships between staff at different levels of the hierarchy.]
[Matthew: ???]
[Matthew: That's exactly what I'm saying. So wrap up and get back to work.]
[Eleanor: Oh... right.]
Matthew set the phone down and looked at the ceiling for a moment.
Eleanor maintained a consistent professional composure with everyone. He had filed this under reliable constant and stopped thinking about it some time ago.
Today's response was a deviation from baseline. He hoped the salary increase wasn't the cause. If it was, future raises would require more careful calibration to avoid setting an unwanted precedent.
More careful by how much, exactly? He was still working through the math when three knocks landed on the office door.
"Come in."
The door opened.
The woman who entered was wearing professional office attire, short black hair, with features that would have been striking in any setting. She was carrying a manila envelope sealed on every edge. She stopped at a professional distance from his desk and addressed him directly.
"Good morning. I'm the assistant Ms. Eleanor arranged. You can call me Jessica."
She held out the envelope. "This is Ms. Eleanor's hiring letter and my letter of recommendation. For your review."
Matthew looked at the envelope.
Then he looked at her face.
"You said your name was Jessica?"
"That's right." She nodded with complete seriousness.
Matthew came very close to laughing out loud.
Your name is absolutely not Jessica.
You think changing into office clothes is sufficient cover?
That is Ada Wong.
What are you doing in my building? You're supposed to be running your operation on Leon.
He kept his expression neutral and thought it through.
There was no version of this in which Eleanor had actually hired Ada Wong. Eleanor's judgment didn't work that way. If she had wanted to put someone problematic inside the organization, Matthew would never have made it to this desk. He'd have had some kind of accident before the ink was dry on his inheritance paperwork.
Ada being here meant the actual assistant Eleanor had hired was currently tied up somewhere. The documents in that envelope were fabricated. By all appearances, this was the same playbook she'd run on Leon.
"Mr. Lawrence, these are my credentials and the hiring letter..." Ada pushed the envelope toward him again.
Matthew looked at it. Then he pushed it back.
"No need. I trust Eleanor's judgment, and she hired you personally, so that's sufficient for me."
He leaned back.
"As the saying goes: if you employ someone, trust them. If you don't trust them, don't employ them."
He looked at her with calm, perfectly pleasant attention.
"Isn't that right, Ms. Jes... si... ca?"