Page 1 of Boss

Part One

Chapter 1

March 2014

“Wow! No one told me how cold it would be in Chicago,” Kassidy unraveled the scarf from around her neck. Daniel didn't look up from his laptop. He kept pecking away. His dark frame glasses were pushed up on his nose and his eyes were magnified as they scanned the screen. His passion and dedication to the cause of climate change and wildlife preservation was admirable but borderline obsessive. If he were working on a new blog update, she'd have to sit in silence for however long it took for him to finish his thought.

Kassidy removed her gloves and glanced around at the posh restaurant. They were in the lobby of the Langham Hotel in downtown Chicago. Dining was set under white table cloth tables with spit-shined utensils and crystal glasses. The people enjoying an early dinner were sparse and spaced away from each other. Daniel sat in the only booth seats that were next to the windows.“This place is fancy! Are you sure you can afford to put me up here?”

“I’ve already paid your bill. You need to go upstairs and get your things and check out. We're calling it off.” Daniel’s voice snapped like the tail of a whip.

Kassidy gaze swung back to him. “What did you say?”

“It's not going to work. This plan of yours. I'm working on something else...”

“Wait! Wait,” she lowered her voice and forced the lid of his laptop to shut. Daniel blinked as if he were unplugged from the thing. He looked at her as if just seeing her.

“We had a deal. This will work. Remember I'm the one that knows him. I’m the one that has been sitting in these boring lectures all week to get close to him. He’s supposed to be here any minute.”

“This man is dangerous. We aren't talking about corporate greed. We're talking about real danger. I'm going to post my latest YouTube vlog. It'll get everyone talking.”

“Without proof? What do you have?”

“This is America. We don't need proof. Just speculation. The media doesn't look for news. They want sound bites. And I got plenty.”

“Your team has tried for over three years to expose the Marshall family. No one listens, not the government, not the media, no one. And your hackers are crap. We have to fight dirty. Really get into this fight Daniel, or nothing will ever change. Trust me. I learned a lot here at the conference. Get me close to him and I can do the rest.”

“No,” Daniel said, he lowered his voice. “What you're talking about is prostitution.”

Kassidy laughed. “I'm not going to sleep with him, dummy.”

“You think you're going to share a glass of wine with him in that dress and sex isn't on the menu?”

“Sex is always on the menu with men. I just need to get his attention. And then I can work on gaining his trust. We have to find a way inside. Right?”

Daniel sighed. “He's a redneck Texan oil man who lives by the code of the stars and bars. He might not even look twice at a black woman.”

“Oh? So now it’s going to fail because I’m black?”

“It’s not a race thing for me,” Daniel mumbled.

“You sure? You don’t treat Carmen and Meg like this. And they have both taken big risks for you before.”

Daniel looked back at her with what she read as distrust. What had she done to piss him off?

“He's a man. They've been looking at us ‘black women’ since we got off the ship.”

“Very funny.”

“None of this funny Daniel. That’s the point. I have to do what makes us both uncomfortable for the greater good.”

“Listen to me damn it.” Daniel said through clenched teeth. “I have information that says he may be connected to some dangerous people. That drilling in Alaska is tied all the way back to the Kremlin. I don't feel comfortable with this.” Daniel sat back. His eyes stretched, and his features were slack. “And you shouldn't either.”

Kassidy could tell by the frozen look of disbelief on his face that their target had arrived. She did a half head turn to glance back over her shoulder with her eyes only. Tarek Marshall walked into the restaurant with two other men. They were all dressed in black long coats and wore black leather gloves. They must have just arrived from outside because they had expensive cashmere scarfs tucked in the collars of their buttoned down coats. And Tarek took the lead. He had a different stride. The kind that forced the other two men to remain a step behind.

“That's him and his brothers, isn't it?” Kassidy asked. She tried to mask her excitement. It was hard.

“The convention is about to close. Every day this week after their meetings he comes here alone. Today he’s with them. Another reason to call it off.”

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