The Associates

Who We Are

"I'm sorry for your loss" were the constant, repetitive words that I had been hearing throughout my day, and now, once again, one of my closest co-workers had uttered those very same words.

I stiffened slightly at her speech but I didn't reply. She gave me a small smile.

"I know you're tired of hearing those words, but I have to say it. I don't know how else to comfort you, I can't understand what you're going through, all I can do is try my best" Katy said softly, without looking at me. I let out a small sigh and gave a reassuring smile, to let her know that she did not need to explain herself more.

We were walking through the hallway that would lead to my new office - previously owned by my father, and would now be mine. The staff of Allyns Associates all stood up out of respect when I passed through their office space, all dressed in black as was our uniform. I nodded my head towards them to acknowledge their greeting and Katy made her way to her desk.

Then I almost ran through the wooden dutch doors that led to my office - I needed to be alone.

I shut the doors closed behind me and leaned against them for support while I shut my eyes tight, trying my best to block out the world while tears involuntarily flowed down my cheeks. I pressed my lips into a tight line to prevent myself from making choking noises as I attempted to take deep breaths to stop the outburst.

"Don't-sob-don't-sob-don't-sob" were the words whizzing around my mind as I slid down to the floor and brought my knees up to my chest, but of course, to no avail. The sobbing was inevitable and I could only be grateful that my father soundproofed the room before he left this world.

I didn't even know what I was crying for anymore - my father's death was fresh in my mind as it had only been 2 weeks, but I was at peace with it because I knew that he wasn't suffering anymore. Then there was the fact that a boy that I thought I knew, and someone who had promised would always be there for me, had just dropped me like a hot cake.

But in the meantime, there was a company that needed running, and I unfortunately realised that the world was not going to wait for anyone to grieve so it could move on - time would pass regardless of whether you're ready or not to move on and you had to suck it all up and move along with it.

So that's what I did - I stood up, straightened my floor length black dress, and walked to my desk. The company couldn't become a mess just because I was one - and Allyns Associates was no ordinary company.

On the surface, we were a standard Accounting Firm going about our usual business. But that was just a front - a beautiful, well-crafted facade of what we really were - a company of professionally trained spies with state of the art technology to assist us - technology that our rival companies would do anything to get their hands on. Our desks were littered with financial statements of companies that didn't actually exist but we had our way around making it seem as if they did, and our staff of professional spies were made to look as trainees at our firm or assistants to the "accountants".

But when it was time, and this was mostly when night fell, then our formal black suits and dresses became skin-tight, custom-tailored black, stretchable catsuits which allowed us all to move around stealthily. We also looked pretty badass if I'm being honest.

But we weren't just regular spies relying on other companies outsourcing us for jobs. That was just part of what we did, but a larger part of us was about producing the much-needed technology our jobs required. From microscopic HD surveillance cameras to high-quality microphones disguised as nail art, you name it, we had it. And we had the best of it.

My father had worked his entire lifetime to building up a team of the best researchers, scientists and inventors to bring us to where we were.

And with that in mind, my tears stopped falling and even though my heart was still heavy, I took a deep breath.

"Let's roll" I said under my breath as I took a seat at my new desk and switched on my computer. I was ready to face whatever life had to throw at me.