The Secretarial Pool at the Landgraab Corporation offices is, arguably, the most important part of the company. Diktats and orders came on down from the high ups and the boardroom to the pool to be transformed from often vague or bombastic ideas into slick, corporate policy courtesy of the well trained ladies of the secretarial class.
The older, more experienced ladies had graduated from the Pool to becoming personal assistants to the bigwigs of the company. Only the top P.A.s would be assigned to a family member of the Landgraabs. Nancy always ensured that women past their prime or who weren't particularly gifted in the looks department would be assigned to Geoffrey, although Nancy thought his tastes in women were often strange...given how besotted with their new cleaning lady, Beulah, who had to be pushing 40 and not just past 30 as Beulah had said. For her own assistants, she had one young man who looked good in his tailored suits, a dumpy but fierce looking woman of 50 who actually got stuff done and a young 20 something girl who was there mainly for Nancy to get fashion inspiration from.
The secretaries of the Pool were all very good at their jobs and were there for mainly three reasons: One, those who wanted to catch the eye of a senior executive who would promote them to P.A. or even a minor management role. Two, those who wanted to date and then marry a corporate executive and three, those who saw a job as a secretary at Landgraab's as a temporary job before moving on to other things or to settle down. But one thing they had in common was a brisk efficiency and devotion to the company...it did provide excellent perks, after all.
The Pool's reputation in the corporation was a mixture of awe as some of the men in the company saw them as goddesses: As if they were Vestal Virgins or temple guardians of the Greek goddess, Athena. From the lecherous senior executives long well versed in the arts of the company affair through to the mail room clerks, fresh from high school or college, for whom every task to take the mail to the Pool was seen as being "chosen from on high" to gaze upon these lovely young women in their stylish clothes for just a few seconds. Of course, the ladies of the Pool wouldn't waste time on these young wannabe suitors: They should come back when they can wear a suit and tie and have lost their spots.
At her desk, right at the top of the Landgraab Tower, Nancy Landgraab drafted a memo in a barely legible scribble that was then passed on to Phyllis, her old, experienced P.A. who had a permanent scowl on her face. She interpreted that memo and wrote it out, neatly, before taking it through to Geoffrey Landgraab's office, where his P.A. took charge of it, made a clarification and then handed it to the man himself. Geoffrey read the memo, nodded in agreement and then countersigned it to give it his full approval before adding "ATTN: ALL DEPARTMENTS" at the bottom of the page.
The memo now went downstairs to the Secretarial Pool for it to be typed up, photocopied and distributed throughout the building. The Pool didn't waste any time and within 20 minutes the request became a reality. 200 typed directives ready to go with another 200 in the pipeline. Secretaries and mail room clerks were pressed in to service to get them to everyone and it was a rare moment where both groups rubbed shoulders with each other. The clerks tried to attract the attentions of The Pool but with no luck on this occasion.
The memo finally arrived on Jeremy Saint's desk merely minutes after it had been photocopied. On immediately looking at it he noticed the word URGENT in big, red capital letters stamped across the top of the page. Jeremy's stomach tightened a notch after reading that one word.
That tightening continued as he read the whole memo; it was a notification of an impending high level security check throughout the whole company. In light of recent news of industrial spying in other companies, Landgraab Corp. will initiate an unprecedented security sweep and investigation of the entire business in order to "check its confidential integrity".
Jeremy felt uneasy: He had been trying to find incriminating evidence against the Landgraabs and had accessed material that was classified confidential and he shouldn't have read. The security sweep might discover what he had been up to and incriminate him.
It was hard to concentrate on his work after having read that and he sat in a departmental meeting with a glazed look on his face and barely concentrating on what was being said. He contributed nothing except a couple of nods and left the meeting room feeling ever more anxious. His silence at the meeting was picked up on by a colleague; Fanshawe. Fanshawe had known Jeremy since their days together at Dewey, Cheathem & Howe but, like a lot of other people...Jeremy included...he had been headhunted by Landgraab for a better paid position.
"Not quite with it today, eh, Jeremy? Barbara hasn't been keeping you up late has she? Haw-haw-haw"
"I'm just a bit under the weather today, Fanshawe. Hey, what do you make of that memo? You know, the one about the security check?"
"Oh just the usual company shenanigans...someone's been a bit light fingered around the petty cash box if you ask me. You've been here longer than I have, don't you have the lowdown?"
"The memo came as a complete surprise to me" replied Jeremy. He gulped nervously and quietly followed Fanshawe back upstairs to their respective offices.
At the top of the flight of stairs on Jeremy's office level stood a pretty blonde woman, barely out of her teens, who stood out from the muted colours of the suits and the office decor in her bright sky blue and yellow outfit. She had her gaze fixed on Jeremy as he ascended the staircase and as he got to the top, she interposed herself between him and Fanshawe.
"Mr Saint" she said in a voice that was succinct and to the point. Jeremy had never met this woman before but she said his name in a manner that indicated she knew exactly who he was.
"That's me" Jeremy replied.
"I'm Alice...your new office assistant" she replied.
"Oh..." said a startled Jeremy. "I didn't get a memo about an office assistant"
"It's all part of the security check. I have been assigned to help facilitate matters, take the administrative burden from you and to ensure you and your department pass the investigation with a clean bill of health." she said in a very matter of fact way but with a light lilt to her voice that bordered on being like an air hostess who was delivering serious news. Her eyes, a bright blue and made up in the latest mod style with heavy black eyeliner, never blinked and her lipstick was practically the same shade as her skin. Jeremy was momentarily fixated by her looks but the tone in her voice made his stomach tighten again.
"You're in luck, Saint old boy...haw-haw-haw" said Fanshawe. "Alice, once you're done with old Saint here, you can check my security anytime, haw-haw-haw"
"I'm certain someone has been assigned to your office, Mr Fanshawe" said Alice, unemotionally.
"I'll bet...I'll bet...eh, Jeremy, old sport?"
"This is business, Fanshawe, I'm taking this seriously even if you're not" said Jeremy.
And for Jeremy this was serious business. Fanshawe rarely took work seriously, always with a joke or...more often...a comment about pretty women, he always seemed to cruise through corporate culture but then he was college boy from a prestigious university and a fraternity man as well so opportunities always came a lot easier for him than for Jeremy: A small town boy with a degree from a modest college. Plus, Jeremy knew he was at Landgraab's under false pretences and was, by strict definition, a security risk...only they didn't know it.
Another secretary, a slightly older and more experienced one than Alice, approached the small group and addressed Fanshawe directly.
"Mr Fanshawe, your 10 o'clock sales group meeting is convening in conference room 1 in 10 minutes."
"Oh, thank you Carole" replied Fanshawe with a sigh. "No rest for the wicked, eh? I'll be along now, Carole. Well, Saint, good luck with Alice here and to you, fair lady, I hope we meet again soon." he said, fawning over Alice. Jeremy hadn't asked how things were going with his supposed girlfriend, Bianca, as he didn't want anything to do with that particular woman given his bad history with her. It was hard to tell if Fanshawe was single again or just flirting with every woman in the building.
Alice had already shot off in the direction of his office and Jeremy trudged back as well, noticing that everyone in the company seemed on edge...as if the security check was bothering them as well. Furtive, sideways glances, nervous smiles and an unspoken tension seemed to infest the very air of the building.
As lunchtime rolled around the staff of the Landgraab Corporation breathed a sigh of relief that they could get out of the building for just one hour to get away from the tension and suspicion. They would disperse to the various eateries in the area with the Twin Oracle Cafe a very popular destination. One person had a table for 2 booked at 12:15pm and he was very keen to get out and make that booking. His name was Darrin Lew and he worked in the computer department. Like Jeremy, he too had a lot on his mind about security and industrial spying and a lot to lose if caught. He didn't like the idea of some low level clerk, secretary or jobsworth going through his work and finding something they considered off.
As he headed out of the building for his lunch appointment he was stopped by the co-chairwoman herself: Nancy Landgraab.
"Mr Lew. Do you have a minute to spare?" she asked.
Darrin knew that was a rhetorical question; of course he had to spare as much time as the boss demanded. "Yes, Mrs Landgraab. What's the matter?"
"Oh nothing, nothing...I just wanted to congratulate you on all the good work you've been doing recently. Your department is really shining right now." she replied.
"Oh...thank you, Ma'am. I really appreciate that." he said, with a slight smile on his face.
"And don't you worry about the security check. It's just standard company policy to have an internal audit of our security ever so often. Don't let it get in the way of your work."
"My department is very busy at the moment and I did have some concerns that extra people around the office asking for particular files might prove a distraction."
"They won't, I assure you. Just keep on doing a good job...that's all" she said with one of her icy smiles that made the person she was talking to not know whether she was happy or displeased with them.
Darrin watched her leave the building and head towards Chez Llama whilst he headed straight to the Twin Oracle Point Cafe. Jeremy was about two minutes ahead of him and scoped out a table to sit at...outdoors and away from other patrons so he and his lunch partner could talk undisturbed and out of earshot.
Almost as soon as he sat down his lunch partner had arrived.
"Jeremy, on time I see"
"Just got here, Darrin. Sit down, let's talk"
They ordered some food and drinks and then settled down to talk. Jeremy looked around the area to see if they were being observed and, cautiously satisfied they weren't, he said...almost in a whisper "Darrin, this security check...has someone come down to your office to snoop around because that's what's happened to me! I've accessed the company computer more than once and I'm..."
"Relax, Jeremy. I've sorted it" replied Darrin, calmly.
"You've what?"
"I've sorted it: I've destroyed all traces of you accessing the company computer. Those tapes have magically 'disappeared'." He said, taking a sip of coffee.
"And they won't be found?" asked Jeremy. Darrin shook his head.
"What about your trail? Have you also...."
"Oh I destroyed the records of my own activity before I destroyed yours. So they can't trace any activity back to us."
"That's a relief" said Jeremy, sitting back in his seat. "So...what do we do whilst they go through our stuff?"
"We take it easy, buddy boy" said Darrin, still without a trace of worry on his face. "It's important you don't lose your cool right now. Tough it out, be nice and co-operative to Alice, and she'll trot back off to our masters giving you a clean bill of health."
"I'm not used to all this cloak and dagger stuff..." said Jeremy.
"Neither am I but I'm telling you to stay cool: If they get you, they can get me and I'm not going to let that happen. Just smile, say 'yes' and 'thank you' and she'll be gone in a couple of days. Believe me." said Darrin, his face changing from relaxed to utter seriousness. "Don't let us down by being nervous, Jeremy. We've got a lot to play for."
"OK...you're right. We'll have to stop using the computer for now but I need more evidence of the brainwashing going on and about the plans to buy up Foundry Cove." said Jeremy.
"That will come" Darrin replied. "Now I've heard of some kind of resident's group protesting against the proposed buy; are you aware of them?"
Jeremy nodded. "I know them, but I want to keep them out of our business. The risk is all on me." he said.
"I understand" said Darrin, finishing up his coffee. "But they could help us if we pass on anything we find to them. Obviously this security check is going to delay us, but keep your contacts on the outside informed and ready to act when things ease off."
"Do you think it's wise to involve other people? I thought this investigation was going to be just us?" said Jeremy.
"This is war against the Landgraabs, Saint. Either you're in or out. Which is it, Jeremy? Which?"
