chapter 2
"Aahh, yes, Miss Winters-"
"It's Ren." she fidgeted slightly under his stern gaze, but kept her chin high, determined to keep her pride, maybe even scrape together her torn dignity.
"Alright... Ren, " Jacobs pursed his lips together and looked quickly over to Marjorie, who nodded slightly, "as you know, we've called you down here to inspect a slight problem in one of your recent projects." he recieved a curt nod from Ren, "But first, I need to insure myself as well as my staff that your....abilities are up to standard."
Ren felt her stomach lurch, up to standard?! Who does he think he is? she was damn good at what she did, and she never hid the fact that she knew it. Her face flushed slightly as her eyes unconsciously narrowed, she'd quit before she let this sniveling man with a bad beard fire her!
Jacobs watched this with amusement, she's got spirit, can't deny her that. Deciding to get this done before the firework known as Ren Winters exploded, he pressed a button on his phone, "Lila, please send them in."
A knock sounded and the door opened to reveal the remaining staff that he had sent away a little over an hour ago. "Please, Ren sit and make yourself comfortable." He waved her towards a small table to her right, beside the couch which held both Marjorie and Herbert.
Feeling her temper cool a little, Ren clenched her fists, lifted her chin, walked over and plunked down onto the hardwood seat, totally ignoring all other occupants in the room. Folding her arms across her chest, she crossed her legs and addressed Jacobs, "If you're going to fire me, I'll have you know-" she was cut off by a wave from Jacobs, who seemed to be brushing aside the idea.
"That is yet to be determined, " he inwardly smirked, if he could get her to think that she was on the brink of being fired, her performance would be all the better, "if you prove yourself to be of use to us, you won't be...let go."
Gritting her teeth, Ren stared down the lanky man, "And what makes you think that I'll go along with whatever you have planned?" No way was she going to be someone's lap dog, doing menial tasks by the snap of someone's fingers!
Jacobs signaled to one of the men in the small group who seemed to be huddling in the corner. Ren smirked as she recognized a few of the supervisors that had told her what she could and could not do, and waved. If it was possible, they seemed to shrink even smaller.
The man stepped forward with something clutched to his side, "Here you go sir, level 1, as you requested." He handed it to Jacobs who, in turn placed it on the table in front of Ren.
She eyed the laptop curiously, "And this is for....." she skimmed through all the possibilities in her mind. Could it be a program? Maybe a navi folder.....no couldn't be, those are long gone...maybe a virus, but why would they have a level 1 virus?! It has to be a code of some sort...maybe DFN....
She was so deep in thought, that she didn't hear Jacobs begin to speak, "....sition in the company totally stable until it's time that we check up on you again."
"Uuhh...yea, could you maybe say that again? And maybe a bit louder, I couldn't quite hear..." Ren was NOT going to admit that she was daydreaming.
Jacobs opened his mouth to reply, when Marjorie beat him to it, " Young lady! You will treat Mr. Jacobs with the proper respect! You are lucky that you haven't been fired sooner! As head supervisor, I have had many complaints on your part...."
Luckily, Ren's extremely short attention span came to the rescue... how does she do that to her hair?! That bun's pulling her whole face back!...maybe she wants to get rid of all those wrinkles...
As Ren began to smile, Marjorie began to feel like strangling the woman, I pity her mother, in grave or not, though, judging by this girl...definitely six feet under. "Miss Winters! You are the most-"
Herbert seemed to gain a little courage and held up a finger in protest, "Marjor-" he was cut off by both women whipping around and yelling in unison, "Stay out of this!" poor Herbert practically ran out the door in fright.
Shaking his head and rubbing his temples, Jacobs leaned his elbows forward onto the desk, god I haven't had a migraine like this since John accidently dropped a hammer on my head...."Ladies...." he wasn't heard over the various insults being shot back and forth between the two proud females, "Ladies!" still, he wasn't heard.
Both women were interrupted by an absolutely fuming Jacobs, "LADIES!!!!" Ren and Marjorie looked over to Jacobs, who had risen, had such a red face and was shaking so much that he looked like he was going to have a heart attack.
Ren looked over to Marjorie, "What's is problem?" Marjorie looked over to Jacobs, "I have no clue." They both shrugged and settled back down like nothing had happened.
Jacobs, by now had formed a rather LARGE sweatdrop, will anyone ever understand women?!
He coughed and sat back down, gripping his hands together, "NOW, since I have your attention, will Mr. Dirks please activate the code?"
Ren and Marjorie blinked and looked at the group in the FAR corner. Right now, they looked like they were halfway through the floor, "Jeez, how do they do that?" Ren whispered to Marjorie, who took on a look of great pride, "With me as their supervisor, who wouldn't know how?"
Another MIDDLE-AGED man that smelt like garlic walked forward, which they all seemed to be, middle-aged, that is, Ren thought dully, and stopped in front of Ren's table. Dirks turned the laptop around, flicked it on, and began to type furiously. About five minutes later, he smiled shakily through his mustache and turned it to face Ren, "Activated and ready, Mr. Jacobs." He ran a hand through his graying black hair and sat beside Marjorie, who, Ren noticed scooched away slightly.
"Thank you, Dirks." he nodded to him and turned to Ren, "Now, this is a level 1 tori code, one of the most difficult to break. Dirks here can break it in twenty minutes, " Dirks glowed with pride, " which is one of the fastest times recorded." Jacobs grinned broadly, "I want you to do it in under five."
There were audible gasps heard around the room, but Ren only rolled her eyes, "And what's in it for me?" she would never let Jacobs know that she was intimidated.
"As I said before," there was a clear note of annoyance in his tone, "If you successfully complete this exercise, you're position in Prima Corp. will be stable until the next time we feel the need to check your abilities once more."
If her career was firm in this place, she'd be set. Since Ren had only worked here from a few months, she didn't get many hours to work, and therefore, not much money. Hhmm...if I can pull this off, I won't have to work my other job at chuck's... her face fell but then I won't get as much time on my baby... she sighed as she pictured her car just sitting in the garage. Oh well, money makes the world go round!
"Bring it on."
* * *
"Alright, Miss Winters, " Marjorie began, "When I say, you can start the process, alright? In five minutes, I'll call time, if you're not finished...." she trailed off. She had caught onto Jacobs' plan awhile ago, if we put on enough pressure, she just might be able to do this....
A look of determination rested on Ren's face, she bent her neck to the side, successfully cracking it and making more than a few people wince, then she proceeded to crack her knuckles and stretch her fingers. Although on the outside she looked calm and collected, on the inside her stomach was doing flips, okay, Ren, you can do this....you've already done it in ten minutes, all you have to do is break a stupid code, that's all! she didn't remind herself that the last time she had hacked into a security code, she found herself in the lockup for a week. At least Prima took it easy on me....besides, this is only a tori code! she left out the part about tori's being about twice as hard as security codes....
"Ready, Miss Winters?" Ren nodded, "Alright, begin."
Jacobs watched in fascination as Ren practically dove into her work. Her fingers danced over the keys as her mouth moved as if she were talking to herself. Suddenly a beep sounded from the computer. She's already past level ten!?
* * *
Ren grinned, one down, nine to go... Ren watched as a series of 0 and 1's clammered the screen, silently absorbing the data as it raced through her mind. There are ten levels to a tori code, each one tougher than the next and with their own series to break, that's why tori's are one of the toughest codes to figure out and bypass. Usually there are different tricks to each code, but tori's are usualy only used when theres some deep shit being hidden....I wonder why they this one...
Another beep sounded, "Two minutes." Marjorie's voice rang out in the silent room, startling Jacobs who was watching Ren, as was everyone else in the room.
Jesus Christ, do they have to stare?! It's ruining my concentration!! she took a deep breath, her eyes never closing and her fingers never stopping, just don't think about them, Ren...think about something else...
Everyone stared at Ren in surprise as her head started to bob, her right foot started to tap against the floor and she started to hum.....
Now where'd you get those platnum chains wit dem diamons in it, Ren hummed in her head as another beep went off, signalling her reaching level 7, where'd you get that matching benz with those windows tinted?
Marjorie jumped when another beep went off, Somehow, she's speeding up! But how can she focus? It's impossible!
Tell me who's yo weed man, and how do ya smoke so good? Her head started to go from side to side to the beat, she always concentrated better with music.
"Three minutes." Jacobs' fists were clenches as his hopes rose, she's better than I could have imagined...maybe she can do this...excitement was thick in the room, but the tense atmosphere didn't seem to bother Ren at all.
Six levels in three minutes....c'mon, Ren, you can beat the shit out of this code!! Another level passed, then another, I'm on a roll....shut up, Ren you're gunna jinx yourself...
Ren could feel sweat gather on her brow as two minutes was called, I got my twin glock forties, cock back, me and my homies, so drop that.. Her blue eyes narrowed as she came to a particularly difficult part, then smiled as a beep arrived, level three...
Dirks watched as the young woman worked furiously at the keyboard, and felt jealousy gather like a lead weight in his stomach, how could someone nearly twenty years my junior pass my capabilities like they were nothing?! It wasn't fair! His peers looked on in an admiration that he never received, but deserved! Even his long time employer watched with more respect. How could this happen!? It just wasn't fair!!
As level two arrived in sync with two minutes, everyone held their breaths as the same though passed through their heads, she could very well do this!
"30 seconds." This time, it was Dirks who spoke up, but there wasn't any support in his tone, just malevolence.
Just as the first level sounded, her time was up. Jacobs sighed and closed his eyes, he knew that the first level had taken Dirks an extraordinary amount of time. Marjorie's face held no emotion, but there was something shining in her eyes that looked something akin to pride for Ren. Dirks smirked to himself as he saw all the faces fall, forgetting that even though she didn't make the time, she was still much faster than himself.
As the room fell silent with disappointment, another beep sounded, and a satisfied looking Ren sat up and stretched her fingers, smirking. "Aaahhh, that was jolly good fun, boys, but I would really like to know what's going on....this isn't a routine checkup, is it?"
Jacobs' surprised face fell, then brightened and he started to laugh, I guess she will never cease to amaze me!
It was Marjorie who spoke up, though her voice held no laughter, "No, this isn't a routine checkup, it's something, much, much more important."