C2 Chapter One

Anya's POV

Anya Volkov's heart pounded in anticipation as she waited for the call to connect. She was nestled at a corner table in the coffee shop near her office, cradling a cup of tea. It was early in the day, just after the morning rush hour, and most of the caffeine addicts who seemed to swarm the city had gotten their fix for the day so it was relatively empty. She fixed her eyes on the computer screen, her lips stretched in what she hoped was a pleasant smile. For the upteenth time that morning, she wiped her clammy hands on her pants. Adrenaline pumped through her. She was both nervous and excited for this.

She was meeting with Alastair York, the CEO of Tessian, a cyber security company based in New York, and someone she had no business having a meeting with. To say Anya had been shocked when she got an email from someone claiming to be Alastair York requesting a meeting would be an understatement. She had gone through the entire range of emotions from shock to fear and then to anger. She thought it was a fraudster. After a series of in hindsight, comical exchanges, she believed him.

That was weeks ago, and they had since had meetings, all virtually and with no video enabled. So this was the first time she would actually see him. She knew what he looked like. She learnt it like the back of her hand as soon as they started to talk. But this time it was different. He would be a living, breathing person on her screen, not just a voice or image.

The call connected and his face filled her screen. He was smiling, the glint in his eyes visible through the screen. She was taken aback by how good he looked. The green of his eyes were stark on the screen and seemed to shimmer under his strong dark brow.

He looked completely put together physically, except his dark blonde hair which was in disarray, like he had dragged his hands through it. But even with that, he still looked better than she felt on her best day. He looked expensive. His face and torso filled most of the screen, giving her sight of only a bit of background. Bookshelves filled with books occupied the wall behind him. She could picture the rest of the room; an organized mahogany desk and sturdy leather chairs. A fireplace would be somewhere in the room, kept burning all day everyday regardless of the weather. He was in his office, she surmised. Made sense since it was the start of the work day.

"Sorry. I didn't catch that." Anya said when she realized he had been speaking since and she didn't catch any of it.

"Not to worry. I didn't say anything important." He said kindly.

They would get along, she could tell. According to the internet he was nice, smart, respectful although a bit of a playboy. He was also a philanthropist. A frequent donor to child related causes all over the world.

"We are pioneering a line in gene therapy and want you to join our team." He said. The smile had fallen off his face and he now took on a more serious expression.

Anya's mouth fell open. "Gene therapy?" She squeaked.

She knew that we meant DENZ, the conglomerate Tessian belonged to. But they didn't have any medical industries. So why the interest in Gene therapy.

"Yes." Alastair nodded. "DENZ recently acquired a biomedical startup, and they are hiring. As you know I read your journal and I think you will be perfect for us."

"Mr. York, I'm grateful you thought of me, but shouldn't this be through a recruiting agency or some sort of advert."

He nodded. "It should, but I really want you in this."

Anya thought about it. Genomics and molecular genetics have always been her first love, but after graduating with her ph.D she'd gotten a job offer in pharmacy and stuck with it. But this could be the opportunity she craved. A chance to do some groundbreaking work. She could be a pioneer. Besides, her current job didn't really pay well. Especially not for the kind of debt she had.

“You can think about it and send me an email within the week or if you are in New York anytime soon, reach out.” Alastair's voice broke through her thoughts.

"I have an event in New York next week. On Tuesday."

"Perfect. You can come by the office. I'll have my assistant reach out to you."

They signed off soon after and Anya walked back to her stuffy lab AKA her office on a cloud of air. She was on cloud nine after the call. If all went well, she might be quitting her job way sooner than she had predicted. Not to mention she would be getting to do what she had always wanted.

She pushed open the door of her lab and walked in, the loud thrum of the air conditioner hitting her instead of the cold air. Her lab was on the third floor of her building. A decent enough work space if you liked tiny spaces and weren't averse to claustrophobia. Things cluttered the two benches in the room. it was cramped. maybe once upon a time in the distant past it had been adequate maybe even spacious but it wasn't now.

Her assistant, Kareena was sat at a bench, peering into a microscope. She didn't turn when Anya entered but she knew she will soon.

"You suddenly disappeared. Where'd you go?" Her voice reached Anya as she settled into her seat.

She was still peering at the slides when she spoke but spun around and faced Anya, waiting for an answer.

"To the break room. I needed some air."

"With your MacBook?" She retorted pointing at the laptop Anya was holding.

She pinned Anya with a, "you're lying" stare— her head thrown back, eyes narrowed and lips pursed.

Anya placed the laptop on the bench nearest to her. "I had a meeting." She offered.

"What meeting?"

"Kareena!"

"Fine."

"How are the cultures I asked for?" Anya expertly change the subject.

Sometime around midday, Kareena started to yell, "O my God. Oh my God."

Anya didn't turn, didn't respond, didn't even act like she heard her. Kareena yelled at least twenty OMGs daily, with a mixture of other more colorful exclamations. If she reacted to every single one of them, she would never get any work done. So she ignored her and kept on filling in her lab report.

Then Kareena said, "This is horrid. Anya, you need to see this."

Anya braced herself for anything, from kittens to perfectly melted cheese as she turned around. She stopped short at the sight of Kareena before her. She was visibly upset. Her eyes teary and face drawn.

"What is it?" Anya asked now worried.

She shoved her phone in her face and mumbled, "Watch."

There were in the woods, with sparse trees hardly shielding the earth from the sun.

The first image on the screen was a dead animal. Dried blood matted it's black fur to it body. The camera moved up it's body, and then widened the focus. A huge chunk of it's neck was missing, torn clean off it's body. The flesh underneath was already decomposing, hastened by the heat of the sun. Flies hovered around, butting into the camera lens as it moved nearer. It's head hung limply.

Anya was horrified, her head spun in shock. She vaguely heard Kareena whimper from beside her.

Her horror multiplied tenfold when the the camera moved away from the one dead animal and showed the entire picture.

The camera moved a little away from the animal and there it was, another dead animal. Maimed in the exact same way as the other.

Her hand flew to her mouth, and the contents of her stomach threatened to come out through her mouth.

A reporter began to speak. A group of hikers found the carcasses on a hiking trail. They had assumed it was a natural thing at first, the cycle of life, until they began to spot more, and the more they spotted, the more gruesome they looked. Their bodies were mangled, bitten, as though they had all been in some kind of fight then killed themselves. The missing pieces of their necks were all found a few feet away from each animal.

Anya paused the video and dropped the phone on a bench, pushing it away from her. As though the more distance she created between them, the quicker she would forget what she just saw. She was nauseous.

She took Kareena's hands in hers and led her to a chair and made her seat. Kareena was sensitive. She had a tender soul, and while sometimes Anya couldn't relate to her tenderness or thought her overly sensitive for she (Anya) had seen too much of the world to still be soft, she knew she wouldn't have come this far if she had Kareena's tenderness. But this was too much. Too gruesome even for her, and she wondered how her friend felt.

"The poor animals." Kareena whispered, pressing her hands to her cheeks. She looked up and caught Anya watching her with concern. "I'm fine. I mean I was upset and still am upset, but I'll be fine. It's just sad to think how much pain they must have been in."

"I'm sorry you had to see that." Anya said.

"Me too." Kareena sighed. "This should teach me not to click on every video in the family groupchat." She chuckled, attempting to lighten the mood.

"What do they think happened?"

"They're not sure yet. But they think it was an animal. A bigger one. Just think how beastly it is to have taken so many down." She mused. "Imagine how traumatized the hikers are. I wouldn't be able to function if I found something like that."

"The authorities better do something about it." Anya said.

"They are cordoning off the trail and have warned everyone to keep out of those woods. Whatever did that might still be in those woods. If it could do that to animals, imagine what it would do to humans."

They paused mid conversation at the sound of the door opening and turned to see who it was. Hardly did anyone besides the both of them come in, and especially not at lunch time.

They both hissed as a man filled the doorway. Anya's ex, Calvin.

Anger and buried pain roused in Anya at the sight of her ex. Each sight of his light hair and pasty white grin brought back memories and feelings she had left on the past. She burned with rage.

Irritation flitted across Kareena's face at the sight of Calvin. He crowded the room and made the already small room smaller. She faced him with open hostility, every inch of good breeding forgotten.

"How did you get in here?" Anya asked hotly, her voice laced with anger. The only way to put out to fire blazing within her was to scorch him too and watch him burn to ashes.

He shouldn't be able to come in here without an employee ID. Security shouldn't have let him.

"I ran into Matt and he let me in. Great guy."

Of course. Matt. The guy who thought she deserved less than she had and did everything to sabotage her. Funny how when they were still dating, Calvin hated him, but now he was "great guy".

"Well you should leave. I—"

"Kareena!" Calvin exclaimed in mock surprise cutting Anya off, as though he had just seen her."It's so good to see you. I haven't seen you in a while."

"I've just been here... working." Kareena said still glaring at him. She wasn't buying his fake pleasantries or stupid surprise. She wanted nothing more than to wipe off the smug grin on his face.

"Glad you still work here. I thought you quit."

"Nope. Still here."

"What are you doing here?" Anya asked eyeing him warily.

"I came to invite you to lunch."

"No."

"Why?" He sounded genuinely confused, as though he didn't understand why she wouldn't want to spend time with him.

"We're broken up. Besides you can't just show up out of the blue and expect me to drop everything to have lunch. It isn't that difficult a concept. Put that Harvard education of yours to good use."

Kareena chocked on her laugh, not even caring about being caught listening.

"I didn't just show up. I texted." He argued.

"I didn't get any text."

"Check your phone."

She went to her messages and right at the top was his name. She clicked on it and there was a message: Have lunch with me. She checked the time. He sent it 47mins ago.

She could berate him for his actions but she didn't have the strength to. He wasn't her problem anymore.

"I can't. We're working through lunch."

He didn't become crestfallen as she'd hoped but instead broke into a grin.

"I thought you would say that. So I brought lunch here."

"I don't want to have lunch with you—"

He brandished a takeout bag she hadn't seen him holding.

"A burrito bowl for me, and a caprese pasta salad for you." He announced pulling out paper bags.

Her brows darted up and almost touched her hairline in surprise.

"It's your favorite isn't it?" He asked looking smug. It wasn't really a question, it was more like a statement.

"One of my favorites." She wondered what he was playing at. For the entirety of their relationship, he never cared about her favorites or what she liked.

She accepted the bag he extended to her and placed it in a bench. She eyed him still rummaging in the bag.

"I got you a sandwich, Kareena."

Kareena had been steadily and intently watching their exchange. She gave them no illusion of privacy.

"Kareena." He repeated when she didn't respond.

"Thanks." She said but didn't move. She made no move to collect the paper bag he stretched out and he had to drop it on the bench next to her.

Silence descended over them as she glared at him. Without breaking eye contact, she picked up the bag.

"What is it?" She asked. She could easily look into the bag and find out for herself but she didn't.

"Turkey." He answered.

"I don't eat meat." She dropped the bag like it was hot coal.

"I've seen you eat meat."

"Today is no meat Thursday. I'll go to the cafeteria."

"No." Anya said a little too loudly, desperation seeping into her voice. "You can have my salad. I'll have the sandwich."

She begged Kareena with her eyes to stay. She really didn't want to be alone with Calvin even for the time it would take her to kick him out.

"No. Eat your salad. I'll go to the cafeteria." She got off her chair and picked up her phone. "I need some fresh air. It suddenly became very stuffy in here." She said looking directly at Calvin and making sure he understood exactly what she meant.