Broken Circuits (VeeMark)

Chapter One

Vee leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up on his desk, smirking, after he hung up the phone. He just got a new client for the company and this was definitely going to be a lucrative one.

"Pleased with yourself?"

Vee looked up to see Bar, his boss and close friend, leaning against the doorway with his arms folded.

"Yes," Vee chuckled, taking a sip of his coffee before continuing, "What brings the big bad boss to my office?"

"We have several newly hired employees starting today."

It was an odd occurrence to have multiple employees all starting on the same day, but just the week before a large group had to be fired. They turned out to be corporate spies, working together to gather information from their many different positions.

"And?"

"I would like you to give a welcome speech and tour."

"Me?!"

Vee slammed his feet on the ground as he quickly moved to sit upright, nearly spilling his coffee. He was an executive. This wasn't part of his job description, and he really didn't want it to be. Having to take care of a load of newbies didn't exactly sound like fun.

"Isn't this something for someone from HR to do?" Vee asked, standing up and walking over to Bar.

"They're busy dealing with all the login details, and badges, etc, for the new employees, so they have no one available. Come on, man, just a few hours and it'll be over. Besides you have this skill for reading people, maybe you can see if any of our new employees are suspicious."

Vee really wanted to keep arguing, but he could hear the slight note of desperation in his friend's voice, so he reluctantly nodded in agreement. Finding out that so many of their workers were corporate spies had taken a toll on them both. It looked like Bar needed the support.

"Great! It starts in two hours. You just have to give a quick speech then show them around the company. Thanks, man."

Bar slapped his arm in encouragement before turning to leave.

"Yeah, yeah. You owe me!" Vee shouted down the hallway after Bar, not caring who heard.

With a heavy sigh, Vee switched his computer on to start writing a bit of a script for his speech. He was mostly going wing it; he had a gift for talking.

Mark frowned as he stepped in the lobby. There were a lot of people waiting. The crowd made him a little uncomfortable, so he moved towards the edge.

"Mark!"

He jumped when he heard someone call his name, then relaxed again when he realised it was James, his best friend. They had applied to the same company, not expecting that they would both be hired. James would be working in the PR department while Mark would be working in Product Development. It was a good fit for them both. James was an exuberant, chatty person and enjoyed being creative. If Mark thought about it, he probably wouldn't have been friends with James if they had met now instead of when they were young. James' hyperactive behaviour and his social personality would have put him off, but because they had known each other for years, Mark knew that James was a truly good friend underneath it all.

"I'm so excited," James whisper-yelled, shaking Mark's arm.

"Yeah, I can see that."

"Oh, don't be such a sourpuss. You'll be alone with your computer stuff soon, don't worry. The introductory stuff will be over in an hour or so and the people will all go their own way."

Mark smiled, appreciating James' attempt to cheer him up. The man had an odd way of comforting him, but it worked.

James slung an arm around Mark's neck, tugging him closer before pointing at his face.

"Aha! A smile, I did it. Praise be," James joked, shaking his hand towards the sky.

"Oh, shut up," Mark muttered, rolling his eyes.

They were distracted by the arrival of a man in a suit, clearly someone important in the company as current employees darted out of his way. He was tall and handsome, and surprisingly he had silver rings in his ears, contrasting with his formal clothing. The man grabbed a microphone, introducing himself as Vee, an executive in the company. He gave a quick background on the company then an explanation of the day-to-day. The man was calm the entire time, appearing completely at ease with public speaking, even cracking jokes and sending flirty grins to some in the crowd. Mark felt a little rush of panic even imagining being up there instead of Vee.

"Alright, have I answered everyone's questions?" Vee paused to look out over the crowd, checking for any further questions, "Then we can move on to the tour. Since there are quite a lot of you, I think we should split into two groups: one with PR, HR and the like, and the other with IT and Product Development etc."

"Looks like we're splitting up," James murmured, patting Mark's back.

"Mmm, good luck."

"You too," James replied, walking to the other group.

Mark began to play on his phone as he waited for his turn on the tour. His fingers flew over the screen as he typed a few lines of code, trying to think of a fix for one of his projects. It wasn't easy to do on the phone from memory, but he went ahead anyway. The more ideas he had, the better.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Mark jumped again; he had become so engrossed in his project that he had become oblivious to his surroundings. He hadn't noticed Vee quietly return and walk up behind him.

"Uh, nothing. Sorry, is the next tour starting?"

Vee raised an eyebrow. The smaller man was clearly nervous, and the way he hid his phone quickly and pretended he wasn't doing anything struck Vee as suspicious.

"In a minute, what's your name?"

"Mark."

"Nice to meet you, Mark," Vee smiled, charmingly, holding out a hand for Mark to shake.

In an imaginary notebook in his head, Vee logged Mark's name, noting him down as dubious. He was going to be keep an eye on him.

"Nice to meet you too," Mark replied, taking Vee's hand.

Mark was a little confused. One minute the guy was sneaking up on him with a sceptical look in his eyes, then the next he had a disarming grin on his face. What a weird guy.