Four

"Morning," Jade nodded to her companions in the elevator as the doors slid shut and it started on its way up. She received polite murmurs back from the mostly junior staff who came in early in the morning. 8 a.m. was the start time for most support and admin staff, and they all were somewhat in awe of her and not inclined to chatter in her presence.

She left them at lower levels and proceeded up to her floor in solitude, waiting for the doors to open, then stepping out onto the executive level. Her office was on one corner, the windows wrapping around to give her a view of both the bay and the city skyline, and she pushed her way through the door to the outer office with a sigh.

"Morning, Mari," Jade said.

Her secretary turned and smiled. "Good morning, Jade… it is so much nicer in here today. My god, it was hellish yesterday. I don't know what miracle happened last night, but thank god." Mari turned and watered the plant next to her desk and smiled back at Jade. "I'll get you some coffee. I'm glad you weren't here yesterday."

Jade smiled and didn't say anything, just continued on to her office. She settled back down and powered up her computer. After finally getting three hours of sleep, coffee was definitely a good idea, she decided, sitting down with a sigh and running her fingers through her hair. She logged in, and her mail came up automatically. She scrolled through the morning's messages, stopping when she saw a response from now a familiar name.

She read it and smiled. "Short but sweet," she mumbled with a smirk. The girl had a sense of humor. She was still smiling when Mariela walked in, carrying a small tray and putting it down on Jade's desk. "Ooh! What do we have here?" she asked, her eyes glancing at the tray.

Mariela gave Jade a chastising look. "Why did I have to hear from the cleaning staff that you stayed here all last night to fix everything?"

Jade's eyebrows shot up as she reached for one of the brown, layered pastries on the tray and bit into it. "Mm," she moaned in response; she loved bear claws.

"Jade?" Mariela tapped her fingernails on the desk. They were neatly manicured and painted red.

Jade sighed and looked up at her. "Someone had to, Mari," the CEO shrugged, finishing one treat and selecting another. "Besides, these made it worth it. Where do they get these? They are great."

Her secretary sighed. "You are too much, I think." She pushed the tray closer to the boss. "Here… I have to type up those letters about the service changes." She bustled toward the door, closing it behind her and leaving her boss alone with treats.

Jade read the rest of her email while finishing the pastries and draining the large coffee Mari had added with it. She muttered as she answered most of it, sending back terse replies and in one instance just the single word "bullshit."

The phone buzzed. "Jade, I have John on line one,"

Jade sighed. "Alright." She punched the button. "What's up, John? Did you get my budget the way I want it?"

"I'm working on it," he stated, then his voice dropped a little. "We got a little problem. The Government Program is being super picky. They don't like Pete and we need you to salvage that."

She sighed. "The government could really use our security…"

"He's messing that whole thing up, and I know you have a special connection to the Pentagon," John stated.

Jade pursed her lips. "Of course, I'll fly out tonight."

"Great," John said, "that may offset the slashing of Buzz."

"Maybe," Jade said. "Alright, I gotta get working if that's going to happen."

After she hung up with John, she rang her secretary. "Mari, get my plane ready to DC and book me a room in Crystal City. Hilton."

"Jade… You have a doctor's appointment!" Mariela chastised.

"Push it," Jade said and opened a database. She searched for a phone number within the company, then picked up her phone and dialed.

"Tori Vega," the voice on the other end of the phone sounded harassed and upset.

"Well, good morning, Ms. Vega. It was nice exchanging mail with you," Jade replied evenly.

A momentary pause. "Oh." Tori cleared her throat. "Hello, I um… Thank you for answering. The information was very helpful." Her tone was guarded and borderline hostile.

Jade's brow furrowed. "No problem. What I called for was to tell you I will be out of town for a few days. If you have any more questions, you can go ahead and mail them to me, but it might be a few hours before I get to them."

A long silence. "Why don't you address the jerk you sent over here?" The frustration evident in the woman's voice spilled over into anger. "You know I don't know who you people think you are, treating human beings as some kind of dirt you can grind under your heels."

"Ms. Vega…"

"Opening people's personal possessions, locking my network people out of their offices…"

"Ms. Vega…"

"Telling me I can't have access to my own payroll records!"

"Tori!" Jade spoke forcefully, almost a bark.

A breathless pause answered her. "Only my friends call me that."

It was, Jade realized, ridiculous. She was the CEO of a Global Media company, and here was this two-bit manager of a half-rate website telling her off. What was really surprising, though, she admitted was how much it hurt. "Let me talk to Brady Evans."

The phone was thrown down on the desk, and she had to wait, counting to a hundred under her breath before she heard two sets of footsteps coming back to the receiver.

"Here," she heard Kerry's voice snap, and then the phone rustled.

"Brady?"

"Yeah."

"Velvet glove."

"Aw shit… you're kidding me," the growly voice of her security team leader tickled her eardrums.

"Nope, I mean it," she stated flatly. "Vega gets VIP."

"Jade, you don't know what. There's holes in here as big as my butt, and Sinjin's already put a link in for God's sake."

"I. Don't. Care." Jade barked. "Just do it."

"Alright… okay," Brady said, quaking in the wake of Jade's lowered register. "Sorry, I didn't know, my papers said regular sweep."

"Change the papers," Jade replied, her voice furious.

"Yes, Ma'am," the team leader quietly replied. "Hold on." He clicked something. "Team lead to crew." A spurt of static answered along with a soft clamor of voices. "Stop what you're doing, we need to go gold mode. Over."

A soft cacophony of protest. "Orders from the top," Brady overrode them. "Just do it." Then he exhaled and spoke into the phone again.

"Done."

"Thank you," Jade growled.

The phone rustled softly. "Ms. Vega, I apologize," Brady's voice had modulated from rough to cultured. "We'll try to stay out of your way."

His footsteps receded, and the phone jostled, soft breathing becoming audible.

Jade waited, slowly letting out a breath of air. She still felt the warm rush from the anger, and she closed her eyes, letting it seep out of her. Her temper was legendary, and Brady knew it… knew he could push only so far before she'd snap and get him into more trouble than he was capable of dealing with.

A story still circulated about a board meeting when one of the senior executives had challenged her, pushing every one of her buttons at the end of a very long day, and found himself pressed up against the wall, pinned by Jade's weight while she yelled at the top of her lungs. It was the reason she spent most evenings at the gym working with resident martial artists, perfecting several different flavors of black belts.

"Um," Tori's voice came on, hesitantly. "Thank you."

Jade took a breath. "Some places, when we come in, you have a lot of people trying to either destroy or make off with proprietary information," she explained quietly. "I know it's hard to think of your coworkers that way, but we do this from experience, not because we just decided to be hardasses."

"I… I understand that," the Latina replied. "It's… it's just so humiliating."

Jade paused, disconcerted. She'd never thought of it that way. "I guess it is. I apologize." She remembered Tori's eyes, at first willing to trust, then so quickly disillusioned. "But it's…"

"Nothing Personal, I know," Tori replied flatly.

They were both silent for a moment. "Fifteen people gave notice today," Tori finally said, not really sure why. "The rest said that they were going to stick around and see what happens."

Jade stared out of her window, hardly seeing the clouds drifting by. "That's pretty good," she murmured. "You've got a loyal staff there."

"They're depending on me."

"Shit…" the dark-haired woman slowly shook her head. "Alright."

"I'm not going to let them down," the voice was very steady. "No matter what you do or say."

Jade sighed. "Ms. Vega, I'm not your enemy."

"You're not my friend," came the flat reply.

"No," a pause, "I guess I'm not."

Now it was Tori's turn to be silent. "Well, thank you for telling him to stop, I really appreciate that a lot," she exhaled. "And… um… I'll send more questions."

"Alright," Jade hesitated. "Listen… write this number down," she waited until she got a soft go from the phone. "415-555-6647."

"I have it," Tori said.

"If you have any problems with him, just call that number."

"Alright…" Tori said after an unsure pause. "Have… um… a safe trip," the other woman said, hoping I crash more like it. Jade thought as she nodded silently.

"Thanks," Jade said softly.

It was a warmer tone now, and the Latina didn't know how to reply. "You're welcome," Tori answered softly. "Goodbye," she hung up the phone and sat looking out for a long moment. She didn't understand what was going on with her. No one had ever talked to her like that and lived… let alone give her a longing to see them again.