“Hello Ed,

I’ve been watching you for a while now and I’m glad to see that you beginning to climb the corporate ladder. It’s always great to have another friend in management. If you are interested in having further discussions with me, make an appointment with Kieran.

From Elizabeth.”

Another person thinking I’m about to get promoted. I think my situation’s just a little different from what everybody is thinking. If she knew I was part of the reason why Buddie was gone, then she wouldn’t be saying this stuff.

Ed folded the letter and slid it into his pocket. He would find somewhere to put it later. For now, I need to get to work.

Sitting down at his computer, he saw that there was a file waiting for him. It seemed to be flashing more intensely now that he was here. It was even vibrating, trying to get him to click. It had been sitting there unopened for far too long.

Name: Arno Fabel

Age: 33

Occupation: Administrative coordinator

Biography: Born to parents Norbert and Bianka Fabel, Arno was the oldest of two children. Graduated high school at the top of his class, he went on to study a masters of business administration. Shortly after, he started working in an office in his hometown.. He has been working there for years, and has started embezzling funds since almost one year ago...

-End of document-

A whole year and he still hasn’t been caught? I wonder how much he has taken? Can’t be too much, otherwise there’s no way he wouldn’t be in prison.

Ed stretched in his chair as he started working. As usual, he started by creating the room and placing Arno’s model inside. This time, the room was a replica of Arno’s office where he works. It was a somewhat cramped space, mostly taken up by the desk and the chairs either side of it, but it also had some shelves and a filing cabinet for storage.

A large window looked out on the park near the office building. The front wall was made of glass, allowing him to lookout on the rest of the workers in their cubicles.

Ed sat there for a few minutes, contemplating what he should do. Embezzling funds is different from theft. He hasn’t been stealing a physical asset from the company he works for. I can’t just pull off the same kind of thing we would do for thieves. Maybe I could use his computer for something?

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Not only was the computer the exact same model as the one Arno had, it even contained all the files and information stored on his computer as well. Including all his passwords and emails.

Ed searched the computer for something he could use. After a bit of searching, he managed to find a suspicious email thread, the bank account he was embezzling money through, and the rest of the information he would need to lock Arno away for a long time.

Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be using the information for anything legal.

After some thought, he expanded the range of the room to contain the rest of the office floor and filled in the space with the rest of the employees who worked there. “Have the actors do what the office workers would normally do. They’re just meant to be the background this time.”

“I’ll brief them on what they need to do,” Buddie said, sending the information of each employee to the relevant actor, giving them time to perfectly mimic the office workers.

The main idea continued to work itself out in his mind.

By now, Zara’s video had finished and she was leaning on Ed’s shoulder, watching him work.

Ed wanted to do something with the emails. There was a long chain of messages between two people, indicating that Arno was working with someone else to get this done. The messages were vague enough that no problems could be immediately seen, but Ed could tell there was definitely something hidden in what they were seeing.

Arno emailed this other person almost daily, mostly about mundane things that had nothing to do with work. Running off this, Ed used the action of Arno emailing the other person as a trigger.

If Arno was to send an email, one would be sent back from a random work account on his office floor. The email would call him out on his illegal actions and threaten him. The account sending the email would change every time, and the threats would intensify over time, becoming more real and life threatening.

More emails would be sent if Arno did one of three things: Emails his friend, doesn’t respond to the mysterious email, or goes out to talk with the employee who sent the email.

If he responded to the email, he would be given small tasks to complete that would increase in the level of danger with each new email. He would have to complete five tasks successfully if he wanted to survive.

“The tasks should all be related to him embezzling funds. They should either be humiliating or dangerous for him, either literally dangerous, or something that threatens his career,” Ed explained.

After double checking everything and making sure it was correctly balanced between redemption and death, Ed finished his work and closed everything up.

“I will let you know when your work is completed. It is time to go and check in on the interns,” Buddie said.

“Of course.” Ed got up and walked with Zara to the door. “I’ll be home soon.”

After a quick kiss, Zara walked through the door and back to her apartment. Ed followed not too far behind her, heading towards his private room instead. Walking up to the group of doors, he stopped to think on who he should check next.

He decided to push open Roman’s door first, only to be greeted with maniacal laughter. He quickly closed the door, still in the hallway, and just stared at it. Maybe I should let him calm down first.