Dark Tidings

Chapter 16 - Have a Little Faith

"Thanks, Michael, you really are brilliant. I don't know how we ever managed without you."

Another problem solved, another IT-illiterate user impressed. It was bordering on unbelievable just how little the average Joe, or Jane, knew. Even the senior guys, and they were all guys, knew less than a typical schoolboy. Impressing these people was so easy.

"No worries. If I can't fix it, then it ain't broke," he said before moving off to tackle the next mini-crisis. No doubt it'd be yet another case of 'pilot error' as he liked to label the majority of problems he encountered. Put simply, no one round here knew how to use a computer properly. Indeed, very few knew how to use a computer at all. It was great for him though because even the simplest problem solved added to his growing reputation.

He'd started to make a few decent work friends. They all seemed to be of the female variety, which tended to be the way with him. 'Work friends' were people he was happy to spend time with in work, although he wouldn't choose to share his own time with them.

He'd also made one very special friend, namely the pretty girl he'd met on day one at reception. Faith had been with IIBE for nearly four years; an old-timer in terms of this company. Most lower-level people stayed for less than two years before moving on. Some left as soon as they found their next CV-building opportunity, some left once they realised how corrupt this company actually was.

Okay, ego had played a part in the attraction, initially anyway. She'd seemed to latch onto him from that first meeting. Now, she always went out of her way to welcome him when he entered the building, no matter how busy she seemed. She was interested in what he did, what his job responsibilities were and how he'd learnt to be 'so clever', as she described him on more than one occasion. She was hard not to like, particularly for someone with an ego like his.

She had a maturity beyond her twenty years and was supremely pretty, far and away the most beautiful woman he'd ever known; classically beautiful by anyone's standards. Her short dark hair framed a swarthy complexion and her bright, brown eyes lit up her face. It wasn't so much that she was easy to look at but more that it was virtually impossible not to stare. Your eyes were drawn to her but you couldn't quite pinpoint why. Or was that just him?

Even her accent was intriguing and captivating, being a confusing fusion of London English, North American twang and a hint of Australian. In summary, she had everything which attracted him, and a lot more besides.

They'd been out for a few after-work drinks together and he'd been melted by the bubbling chemistry between them. He wasn't going to rush things but he loved the fact that she already liked him, after all she'd told him so on more than one occasion.

In an intimate boutique pub near the office, chosen precisely because of its intimacy, they'd talked properly, unlike the stilted and stifled shouting exchanges they'd endured in the other busier places. They chatted about families, friends, enemies, previous relationships (that brought up enemies again), work, childhood, likes and dislikes. No one had been so interested in him before. Her questions explored his background, his aspirations and what he thought about work... all places where few others had ventured. She was interested in him and everything he did, and he loved it.

There was only one thing which seemed to bug her; she didn't like his facial hair, but then again neither did he. The hair was part of his big plan but he wasn't telling her about the plan... yet.

She shared little intimacies, like the story of how her parents had tried for ages to have a baby. Frustrated by phantom pregnancies and two miscarriages, they'd tried all the old wives recommendations, used medical interventions and even prayed for help. They were on the verge of giving up when her mum got pregnant and ran to full term. When the day of the birth finally came, her mother had cried relentlessly as she held her baby in her arms. She had never been so happy.

"This is our perfect reward. Our prayers have been answered. All we needed was a little faith. A little faith," her mother had said through the tears. "That's what we'll call her, our little Faith."

He also loved her sense of fun. She didn't really tell jokes as such; she just kept saying things which he found endearingly amusing. And sometimes her sense of humour was worn on her chest. 'Six out of seven dwarfs are not happy', one of her t-shirts proclaimed. It was doubly funny when she was beside him because at just over six feet tall, he dwarfed her five-foot, diminutive frame.

"You make me the one out of seven i.e. happy," she said the last day she wore it.

That made him happy too. She was Happy One and he was Happy Two.

As their night out in the bijou pup ended, she told him she'd never felt as close to anyone after such a short time. WOW. This was really promising, although he knew it could potentially be a problem later because she seemed to have a built-in loyalty to IIBE. He wasn't sure where her loyalties would lie when it came to the crunch, and a mighty crunch was coming sooner rather than later.

That was a problem for another time. He'd much more complex work problems to solve in the short term; difficult technical problems which taxed him to his limits. The bank had massive international networks and any small disruption to the millions of transactions which ran round the wires set off system alarms all over the place. His primary role was to fix the breaks, reinstate the systems and keep things running smoothly. Even the smallest interruption in the service could cost the bank hundreds of thousands of pounds. The faster he fixed problems, the more money they made and the more they valued and trusted him.

Mr Toner, the Chief Technical Officer, had certainly taken a shine to him. He understood most of the complexities associated with the bank's technical infrastructure so he respected Michael's skills and capabilities. To prove the point, he'd told him he was in line for a significant salary increase if he kept up the good work.

"There could be a number of big promotions for you over the next few years. Play your cards right and you could have my job before too long."

Michael smiled as he returned to his desk. Toner probably would be changing jobs sooner than he thought but it wasn't going to be by way of the promotion he was hoping for.