It was 7pm, and I was on my way to the IHS event in Santa Clara. Bushra and Iter we're both going with me. Bushra was surprised to hear back from me so soon, but was game enough to join us at the event tonight. I figured having another set of eyes and ears might help, and having a group made us harder to pin down. I wasn't sure if it made sense for Iter to come, but he insisted he wanted to stay close. I didn't see any reason to refuse.
I'd dressed in more San Francisco business casual attire, a nice dress blouse and jeans, with a black wool top coat to go over it all. I took a simple black leather backpack purse as well, for easier movement. Iter's outfit was perfectly suitable as is. I showed him some examples of fashionable outerwear, and he picked out a relatively simple caramel colored mid-length wool coat. Of course, it was fitted perfectly and looked divine on him. Pun intended. He looked more like he was heading to a fashion event, but what the hell. He'd pull attention no matter what he wore.
The trip south was faster than expected. Traffic on 880 is typically bad in the evenings, even on weekends. But we sailed through without issue in my compact silver Mazda sedan. Maybe this was my Luck was kicking in?
Iter was intrigued by the experience of riding in a car for the first 10 minutes or so. Then he spent the rest of the trip picking music from my phone to play as I drove. Fun fact: gods apparently enjoy BTS. Well, welcome to the club, I suppose. I wondered idly if this was even the boys first divine fan, given their fairly miraculous rise. I'll also add that it was a wonderful experience, thanks to Divine Translation, to listen to a song in Korean and understand the lyrics. I should watch a K-Drama or anime this weekend to see what that's like.
We met up with Bushra outside the IHS offices. It seems they were hosting the event onsite at their building rather than booking an outside venue. I wondered what kind of draw there would be for this kind of event on a Saturday night, but there seemed to be other people showing up already. The air was brisk and chill for the Bay Area, and I could see my breath against the haze from the street lights. Bushra had opted for the same black shirt, but with dark slacks to match, and a stylish double-breasted peacoat. We joined the small stream of people making their way inside.
"So we're here to find evidence of a scam or blackmail?" Bushra whispered to me as we passed through the main lobby, following the event signs to the elevator. IHS owned the building, it seemed, but rented out all but the top 2 floors to other tenants.
"We're unlikely to find anything so obvious. I'm hoping we can learn more about their relationship with our company, specifically any individuals that seem to have close connections." Despite working with this vendor, I'd never actually been here. Their representatives usually showed up at our offices for meetings, or one time we went to a small manufacturing site for a tour. Large orders were fulfilled via overseas partners for the most part, but small proof of concepts and custom orders were apparently designed and made locally. But this was their corporate headquarters, mostly sales, marketing, and design, I gathered.
We entered the elevator with two other men chatting quietly with each other, then we all exited into the office reception. Our group held back, letting the others check in first.
"Okay," Bushra looked uncomfortable. "So what do we do? I've never been to one of these before." I was a little surprised, but then recalled Bushra was only a short time out of college.
"You've been to academic mixers and such before, right?" She nodded, intent on my words. "No real difference, except they sign you in with your business card or company email to add you to their marketing database."
Her expression still held misgivings. "Is it all right to use our previous Complyze email addresses?" Bushra asked warily.
"Should be fine. No one here likely knows us or what happened. News travels fast in the Tech community, but not that fast." I turned to Iter, "I'll sign you in as Ignaz Strauss." That was the name of one of our colleagues on the European team. "Bushra, let's keep up the pretense of Iter being unable to speak English. He may overhear things people wouldn't let slip otherwise. Iter, feel free to avoid any conversation due to the language barrier." He nodded genially. There was an outside chance there were Swiss people or polyglots here, so that lie was risky. But we could always say he was from somewhere else.
As we approached where the check-in was taking place, I quickly brought up my status and concentrated on the Follow the Leader skill, and chose to boost Charm. I could sense it activate, and saw my Focus shift to Focus: 67 [max 68] (+). Good, it was working. To be sure, I thought about Bushra, and saw her stats were now as follows:
Name: Bushra Patel
Race: Human
Class: Software Engineer
Level: 1
Condition: Enhanced (Follow the Leader)
Disposition: Friendly
Core Attributes
Body: 40
Spirit: 30
Mind: 75
Luck: 10
Derived Attributes
Health: 40
Magic: 0 [max 30]
Focus: 75
Charm: 43 (+)
Intuition: 57
Will: 52
Fate: ???
Skills
Divine Translation (Party), Inventory (Party)
Perfect. Because I was watching closely, I saw Bushra make a slight puzzled frown after signing in. Then she shrugged it off and moved to the side so I could sign in Iter and myself. The event staff quickly printed out name tags for us, and we put them on. Then we followed the signs to find where the event was being held within.
This floor of the IHS offices were still well lit, and mirrored the open floor plan and colorful palette of most SF Bay Area tech companies. As we walked past the kitchen/break area of this floor, I looked and noted that the drinks and snacks for employees were nearly identical to those found in Complyze. Even the automatic coffee machine was the same. Both companies likely used the same supplier – not at all an uncommon circumstance, reflecting the copycat nature so common in Silicon Valley.
I was a little taken aback by how accessible the space was. At Complyze, we had to badge in at every floor and would not have been allowed to wander free like this. In fact, Complyze had a space on the first floor entirely separate from the physical and networked parts of the rest of the building for events like this. Our Executive Briefing Room, which is where most outside groups would be brought to. Granted, Complyze is a software company with an emphasis on compliance and security. IHS likely had secure facilities for its hardware designs and other sensitive information, but this office could be limited to other functions with less IP risk.
We moved to a larger open space converted from a lunch area, with chairs set up in front of a pair of large screens and a small raised platform for the presenters. To our left were some tables with presentation materials, laptops, and various marketing banners. Looks like IHS were able to bring in some additional sponsors for the evening. There were some sales and marketing folks talking with each other idly behind the tables, but their real work would likely start after the presentations were finished. Off to the right were windows where you could see the lights from the Dumbarton bridge, some standing tables draped with black tablecloths, and the obvious highlight of the event, a rented bar.
"Why don't the two of you get some drinks and mingle with the group. I need to find the restroom first." The crowd was still a little sparse, but it was early. I assumed Iter wouldn't drink anything, but having something in his hand to carry around wouldn't hurt.
"Wait, what should I do?" Bushra latched onto my sleeve, her smile fixed in place. I could tell she wanted to follow, but I couldn't have her along for what I planned.
"I'll be right back," I soothed. "I think that you should chat up the sales engineers. If you mention your job at Complyze, you could learn if they know anything special about the relationship. Ask leading questions and see what they say," I suggested.
"Okay, yeah. Yeah, I can do that." Bushra bobbed her head, focused inward. She let go of my arm, and walked off towards the line for the bar. Iter looked over at me, uncertain, and I tilted my head subtly in Bushra's direction. He nodded, and followed after her.
The half-baked plan I'd come up with on the way over was to have the two of them draw attention. Iter could pull focus by his presence alone, and I knew Bushra was intelligent and technical enough to keep the engineers here engaged. If Bushra was lucky, she'd learn exactly what I'd asked her to. But I had another objective, and it would be easier to handle alone.
When we'd arrived, I'd quickly pulled up Location to see if there were any additional markers. There were – three little question marks dotted my map. I planned to slip out and do a little investigating of my own.
✦ ✦ ✦
Two of the items were on this floor, almost on top of each other. I figured that would be the best place to start. The third was on the top floor. I felt bad about lying to Bushra and Iter, but explaining how I knew where to look would be impossible without going into heroes and gods in front of Bushra. So I opted for the easier lie. They would understand. I hoped.
I walked over to one of the event staff near the door, and politely asked where the closest restrooms were. He directed me back towards the elevator lobby, and I headed off in that direction. While I walked, I brought up Location. I could see the folks in the event space, as well as a few more clustered in reception, and sparsely scattered through other parts of the floor. Fortunately, none were around the location of the first two markers, in a small alcove and the west end of the building.
It was almost disappointingly simple to navigate my way there while avoiding any blue dots using Location. I castigated myself the whole way – I'd been so against doing anything that made me seem like the thief they portrayed me to be. Now here I was, literally trespassing in another company's offices to dig through their things. What a hypocrite. Maybe I should've picked the rogue skills right from the start. I had to keep myself from looking around and crouching down as I made my way along the interior wall.
When I found the space the marker indicated, it looked like a cross between a printer/copying station and office supply storage. Boxes of pens, paperclips, and notepads lined the shelves. Next to the larger copier was something that looked like an oversized waste paper container, with a slot in the top to drop papers in. It was a shredding service repository – if you had any printed items that were sensitive that you didn't need anymore, you could drop it in this container, and a shredding service would pick up the contents and shred them for you, usually onsite. The markers were both right on top of the repository, practically overlapping. And of course, it was padlocked.
I thought about it for a moment, wondering how to circumvent this obstacle. Without the key to remove that padlock, it was going to be difficult. Could I break it somehow? Or maybe I could dismantle the container or the latch with a screwdriver, get in that way. I looked around swiftly, but saw no convenient key or screwdriver in view. I licked my lips and thought quickly. What could I use? I opened my inventory to see if there was any convenient item or tool I could select, but all I saw was:
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Equipped:
Dress blouse [Upper Body] (capacity: 1, empty)
Blue jeans [Lower Body] (capacity: 4, empty)
Backpack (capacity: variable, 14 in use)
>Front pocket (capacity: variable, 5 in use)
>>Eye liner
>>Lip balm
>>Receipt
>>Ballpoint pen
>>Headphones
>Main compartment (capacity: variable, 9 in use)
>>Phone
>>Wallet (capacity: 7, 7 in use)
>>>Money pouch: $43
>>>Card holder 1: Drivers license
>>>Card holder 2: Credit card
>>>Card holder 3: Credit card
>>>Card holder 4: Debit card
>>>Card holder 5: insurance card
>>>Coin pouch: $2.83
>>Power/data cable
>>Mints (capacity: variable , 14 in use)
>>>14 mints
>>Nail clipper
>>Lipstick
>>Compact mirror
>>Hair brush
>>3 Paper napkins
Dress boots [Feet]
Overcoat [Outerwear] (capacity: 3, 1 in use)
>Right front pocket: Keys
Woah, it looked like a lot of stuff listed out like that. But nothing seemed useful at first glance. My keys maybe? Growing anxious at the time this was taking, I quickly scanned the shelves of office supplies for anything I could try. On the third shelf I saw some heavy duty paper clips – maybe I could fashion one of those into a screwdriver or try to pick the lock? I reached up, and the box disappeared. At the same time, I felt a weight in my coat pocket.
I blinked. I could see my inventory screen where I'd left it open, but the list had changed slightly.
Overcoat [Outerwear] (capacity: 3, 2 in use)
>Right front pocket: Keys
>Left front pocket: Box of paperclips
I put my hand into my coat pocket, and pulled out the small box. It was the same as the other boxes on the shelf I had been reaching for. I thought about putting the box back, and it disappeared from my hand and my inventory list, at the same time it reappeared on the shelf above me.
No magic my ass. This was some fantasy-level shit. I thought for a moment, then closed my inventory screen and reached for the paperclips again. Nothing. I opened my inventory, and merely thought about moving the box to my pocket. It happened instantaneously. Damn.
Well, this was really fucking cool, but I still needed to get in that shredding container. I examined the paperclips. Or did I? I put the paper clips back with a thought, then focused on getting the items with the question markers from the container. I didn't feel anything change, but my inventory list suddenly had two additional items on the list:
Overcoat [Outerwear] (capacity: 3, 2 in use)
>Right front pocket: Keys
>Left front pocket: Papers
I reached into my pocket and pulled out two folded pieces of paper. They'd been folded together, so the one ended up inside the other. Unfolding them, I saw a printed copy of the invoice I was shown by Ben. My name was on it as the approver, with Bruce Paap as the submitter. I suddenly recalled the name. It was the name of the same manager who confronted me on the day I was fired. I pulled out the other piece of paper from underneath. This was a similar invoice, but the amount was over 10 times that of the first invoice. The submitter was the same, but the approver on the second invoice was Jon Hu.
I folded the papers and put them back in my pocket. I wasn't sure what help they would be, but I put that matter aside for later. I double-checked Location, and the two question marks I'd seen previously near this location were now gone. There was only one more marker to take a look at.
Getting back to the elevator was as easy as getting in. I used Location to avoid people until I made it to the break room, then I retraced my steps back through reception and the elevator lobby. I was feeling a little overcautious, so I took the elevator back down to the first floor, then called for it again to go up to the top. I didn't want to be seen going from the event to the new floor after hours. As the elevator traveled interminably toward the top floor, I bit my lip and thought again how supremely stupid this was. But the papers in my pocket pulled me onward.
The top floor was dimly lit. It seemed IHS had this whole floor to themselves as well, as there were just two doors on either side of the elevator lobby, with no additional logos or markings. The door to the right was propped open.
I'd been wondering what I'd do if I couldn't get in, but this was quite a bit of luck. I quickly opened Location to see who else was here. I saw two blue dots, moving slowly over on the east side of the floor. The marker was on the south side of the floor, opposite from the door I was at. No other indicators appeared.
I made my way to the west and around to avoid any contact. I tried to walk normally, to act as if I belonged here. Maybe if someone happened to see me they'd not be suspicious. I hoped they couldn't hear the pounding of my heart above the faint sounds of the fans from the building's HVAC system. By comparing the layout to my Location map, I figured that the marker was within some frosted glass-walled rooms on the exterior – offices, I guessed. I moved to the one indicated and looked inside.
It was dark, but I could see a well appointed office through the unfrosted sections of the door, not overly spacious, but certainly a cut above the open half-height cubicles that littered the rest of the floor. There was an expensive-looking ergonomic office chair, and a set of shelves against the interior wall with photos and awards. There was even room enough for a small cloth-upholstered loveseat and chairs arranged around a low glass coffee table, with some used plates, napkins and a few half-finished coffee cups on it. Behind that, was a medium sized but still impressive wooden desk with a monitor, some disconnected cables and a thin stack of folders on top.
The map indicator was over the folders on top of the desk. I tried the glass door, but it was locked. Feeling confident, I opened my inventory and thought about getting the item marked on the map.
Nothing. Confused, I tried again. Still nothing. I checked my journal to see if there was a failure message or similar to tell me what was wrong. There wasn't. I switched back to inventory, and thought more carefully about grabbing the pile of folders I could barely make out. Nothing at all.
Flummoxed by the difference between this situation and the one downstairs, I stopped and thought for a moment. It wasn't because of line of sight – if anything, I had a better view of these folders than the papers in the shredding container. Maybe it was a distance issue?
I looked around for something to test that with, and saw a stapler on a cubicle desk a row away. I concentrated, and the stapler was in my pocket. Well, that worked. I tried putting it back. No problem. So distance didn't seem to be an issue, at least in this case. I'd have to test to see if there were any limitations to distance at some point – this could really be a broken ability if not. But first things first.
Maybe it was because the office was closed? I certainly couldn't walk in and pick it up normally. But the shredding container was locked, too. I considered for a moment, standing quietly in the dim light of the office floor. Thinking back, the shredding container had a reasonably wide opening, though, a deposit slot. Technically I could probably have reached my arm in there, as it was large enough. But the papers were mixed in somewhere near the bottom, and I hadn't seriously considered trying to reach in. But thinking of the stapler I'd just grabbed from 20+ feet away, maybe that was enough.
I was standing there wondering what to do or test next, or whether I should just give it up and head back, when I heard a muted rumbling sound moving in this direction. I quickly ducked down behind a nearby cubicle and took a peek.
It was a janitor, pushing a cleaning supplies cart down the walkway along the wall, coming in this direction. Then they turned down one of the rows and began slowly pushing the cart along the row of offices and peering inside each one. I pulled my head back behind the cubicle wall, and scanned the room for escape routes if they came this way. I tried to breathe as quietly as possible as they moved closer and closer to where I was hiding.
I heard the cart stop. It sounded like they were right next to me, on the other side of the desk. I held my breath, my pulse pounding in my ears, wondering if I'd been spotted. Then I heard what sounded like the metal jingling, then the sound of a deadbolt sliding out of place. The cart jangled as it moved. I nervously checked Location, and it looked like the blue marker had moved into the office I had been targeting.
I took a cautious peek, and saw an older woman in a gray janitorial uniform moving around the coffee table and picking up the coffee cups and plates. I let my breath out slowly, relieved. Then I realized the door was open!
Taking a chance, I opened my inventory again and tried to visualize getting the items with the map marker on it and putting them in my coat pocket. My coat was suddenly stuffed with what felt like a roll of paper.
Not daring to take it out to look, I opened Location and saw the marker had disappeared. In my inventory, there was am updated entry:
Overcoat [Outerwear] (capacity: 3, 2 in use)
>Right front pocket: keys
>Left front pocket: Invoices, papers
Interesting that the invoices were now identified that way, now that I knew what they were. But it seemed I now had more papers in my possession.
The janitor finished picking up the trash in the office, then exited with the cart and re-locked the door. I stayed as still as possible in my hiding place and waited for the cart to finish its round of office checks. When they unlocked and entered another office, I used that opportunity to quickly make my way back to the exit.
Breathing a quick sigh of relief once I made it to the elevator lobby, I took out the new set of papers from my pocket. It looked like some kind of contract or agreement. I couldn't make out what the contract was for at a quick glance, so I folded it in half to better fit it in my pocket. I'd look at it later. For now, I wanted to get back to Bushra and Iter. I pushed the elevator call button, and then had a thought. I opened my party screen and took a look at Bushra's stats. She was still boosted by Follow the Leader, and her condition was Normal. I wondered if there was anything else I could learn or interact with in this section. Inventory had seemed unexpectedly useful, though I still felt a bit uneasy about how applicable all of this seemed to be for thievery. Upon thinking of inventory, however, the display suddenly changed. But I realized it wasn't my normal inventory I was seeing:
Party member: Bushra Patel
Equipped:
Dress blouse [Upper Body]
Dress slacks [Lower Body] (capacity: 2, empty)
Dress boots [Feet]
Peacoat [Outerwear] (capacity: 4, 1 in use)
>Right front pocket: Phone
Handbag (capacity: variable, 14 in use)
>Front pocket (capacity: variable, 3 in use)
>>Tissue packet (capacity: 24, 24 in use)
>>Eye liner
>>Keys
>Interior pocket (capacity: variable, 7 in use)
>>Wallet (capacity: 10, 10 in use)
>>>Large pocket: $127 dollars
>>>Card holder 1: Drivers license
>>>Card holder 2: US permanent resident card
>>>Card holder 3: Credit card
>>>Card holder 4: Debit card
…
This is… Bushra's inventory? The clothes and bag descriptions, while vague, seemed to match what I'd remembered. I was just getting over the shock of seeing this new screen, when the elevator door opened. Standing inside was a middle aged man in a security uniform. In stark contrast to my shock, he seemed unsurprised to see me, his eyes cold and his mouth set in a firm line.
"Hello Ma'am. Can I ask what your business is here?"