Chapter 4
The office was spacious. Not as spacious as her office in Denver, but large enough for a backwater town like Haven Springs. Yes, Diane used to get a lot of privileges; that was, until she had chosen to grow a conscience.
Now, it was Leena Clark's office for the time being, until the company would call her back to Denver, which would hopefully occur in the next few weeks.
Being fired and put under arrest on short notice, Diane hadn't even had the chance to clear out her office from personal belongings, and the first thing Leena had done was to throw them into the trash bin or to put them into boxes and toss those into the next container of the Typhon administration building.
Sighing in satisfaction upon the thought of having trashed and overtaken everything that had once belonged to Diane, Leena hummed a melody while swishing with her finger over her hi-end iPad, her feet resting on the table.
Only as a tone from her laptop sounded, the blond woman sat straight up again and checked her appearance one last time in a handheld mirror before taking the incoming call.
A window opened on the screen, revealing a woman at maybe Leena's age, yet her face was thinner and her short hair white.
"Mrs. Chairman...or is it chairwoman?" spoke Leena with a snicker, which, however, wasn't replied by the other woman.
"If you want to get formal, it would be Mrs. Clark for you, Leena. Now stop foolin' around and report!"
"Of course, my dear step-sis'!" returned Leena with some amusement. "I took over command in Haven Springs. We've lost ten percent of our employers due to the scandal. But most just wanna continue their jobs."
"And our little problem?"
"I delivered the contract and gave her the plain facts."
"Is she gonna sign it?"
"The chances are slim, considering the hostility of her friends towards our company. Especially her girlfriend doesn't trust us."
"It was your idea in the first place, Leena!" blurted the woman's voice through the speakers as she leaned closer to the camera on the other side. "Do I have to remind you what this is all about? That it had been me who pulled your neck out of the sling? You owe me, Leena! You owe me big time!"
"And you'll get what you want, Anna!" replied Leena sternly, her nails scratching over the wooden table. "This lil' bitch will soon be mine and then I'll use her like my lil' puppet. I'll use her powers to control the town's council, and once we get what we want, I'll get rid of her like an ol', sick dog."
"I hope so," was Anna Clark's satisfied answer. "Don't forget, we're about to open up one of the biggest deposits of REEs in the entire US. Now, don't lemme down, Leena!"
"I won't!" was Leena's definitive answer, and with that, the call was terminated.
Right next, the blond woman opened a new window on her computer, which showed a geological exploration map.
'Who knew, that the seismic analysis of the two explosions would show us such a treasure. Nice idea, Diane, to use the shockwaves as an exploration-tool! Just too bad, that a hicktown is sitting right on 'em.'