I drove straight to the office. I didn’t go to clock in. I had been at CoreLogix Solutions long enough to know how the machinery worked. I knew where the files were kept, I knew the override codes, and most importantly, I knew who owed favors.
One person, in particular, owed me his career.
Three years ago, Trent, a junior developer, had accidentally deleted a partition containing a massive client order. I had spent three sleepless nights recovering the data and re-coding the interface, covering for him so management never found out. He had looked at me then with tears in his eyes and sworn he’d do anything for me.
Today, I was cashing in that chip.
I found him in the server room, the hum of the cooling fans masking our conversation. When he saw my face—the swelling, the gap where my tooth used to be—his eyes went wide.
