Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
The next morning, the five received a page from the P.R.A. headquarters. Wherever their plans were, it was abruptly changed. Brad was the first to arrive as he met up with Dennis in the conference room “I didn’t expect such an early call.”
Dennis smiled “Me neither.”
“New mission?” Erin asked from the door. She placed her card inside her shirt pocket to keep it from falling out. It was a new feature the P.R.A. came up with. The six would have to flash their ‘badge’ in order to enter. Of course there were a few disagreements since if the card was ever stolen, someone would easily get inside the headquarters.
“Let’s wait for the rest before we talk.” Dennis advised. The two exchanged glances but decided to take a seat instead.
Brad pointed to the chair next to him for Erin to sit. Instead she took the seat furthest from him. He wrinkled his brows “What’s wrong? I have koodies this morning or what?”
Erin smiled “No…I might be coming up with a cold, I don’t want to get everyone sick.” Her normal seat next to him was filled with Mia. Brad couldn’t help but look at his friend funny, she was acting strange that day but he didn’t want to push her, maybe she was sick and was not feeling good.
“Great, now that everyone’s here…” Dennis began as he turned to the wall behind him. He used a control in his hand as he clicked it and the walls opened up showing a huge flat screen monitor.
“Wow…that’s cute.” Mia muttered.
The other four looked at each other and smiled, it was another new gift from the head of security. Dennis cleared his throat to bring their attention back “Now that everyone’s done admire the new screen.” He smiled crookedly “Our next mission is him.” He clicked on the controller in his hand and appeared a face on the screen. He turned to see Mia turning her head away as she sunk slowly in her seat. Andrew and Erin exchanged glances while Brad and Reina looked at the screen blankly.
“Is that that millionaire…uh…what’s his name?” Reina snapped her fingers trying to remember.
“Darren…Chu?” Brad offered, he remembered seeing the guy on a magazine.
Reina turned to him thoughtfully “No…it’s not, it’s Chiu I think.”
Dennis turned to the group with a grin “Don’t need to pick your brain, just ask Mia.”
“Mia?” Reina asked. The two were close friends, but she did not know of Mia’s affair with Darren. The four turned to Mia, whose face was as red as a tomato.
She covered her face with her hands as he elbows propped up on the table, she only peeked through the holes of her finger “Sorry…oh gosh, I had no idea this was coming!”
Erin frowned “What’s your relation to this jerk?”
Mia dropped her hands as she turned to Erin “Why is he a jerk?”
She snickered “He threatened me last night. I think it was an offer to work for him, but it was more like ‘if you don’t do it, I’ll kill you’. Good thing Andrew was driving by and helped me.”
Andrew grinned like a monkey “Yeah, I was the hero that saved a beautiful maiden’s life. Now she owes me big time.” He winked at Erin who refused to meet him in the eye. She hated owing favors and she knew she owed him one.
“So what bad thing did he do?” Brad asked, breaking the silence.
Dennis clicked on the button and the screen appeared St. Mary’s Orphanage. He turned to Erin “I believe this mission has more to do with you than anyone in here.”
She frowned “I was there last night.”
“Mr. Darren Chiu is the proud owner of this Orphanage and we have suspicions that he is working these kids illegally. They are all underage but he uses them to smuggle drugs into the country. We do not have proof but we have evidence that this operation is happening inside the orphanage. It’s been going on for years and for a while we could not get enough evidence to prosecute him, but we’ve picked up some clues along the way.”
Mia shook her head in disbelief “I know he is a tough business man, but he couldn’t possibly be using kids to do his dirty work. It’s unlike Darren.”
“Apparently, he had you blinded…” Reina retorted.
Mia looked down at her hands, she understood why Reina was upset with her “I didn’t want to tell anyone because I was afraid you all you would look down on me for dating a rich guy. If the media knew, they would say I was climbing up the executive ladder because of my boyfriend. I didn’t want that.”
Andrew patted Mia on the left shoulder “It’s okay. No one will judge you here.” He turned to Reina and whipped his head towards Mia as his eyes widened.
Reina sighed “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be so rough on you. I guess I’m just hurt to know the truth.”
Mia looked up, her eyes glossy “I understand.” She smiled at her friend.
Dennis once again cleared his throat “This is all very touching, but can we get back to the mission?” everyone turned back with their full attention “Erin, what did Darren ask you exactly?”
“He offered me a job as a caretaker. I would be in charge of finding the children appropriate homes. At first, I figured it would be a good deed, but when I hesitated to answer him right away, he snapped and then threatened me.” Erin explained it like it was.
“I see.” Dennis nodded “Well, you need to contact him and tell him that you will do it.”
Erin frowned “You want me to be a spy?” she found it strange since the P.R.A. was a small group, they’ve been on undercover missions before but she didn’t find it necessary for this one “If we have enough evidence, why can’t we just get hard evidence?”
Brad nodded when he understood Dennis’s request for Erin “That’s where you come in.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea.” Erin spoke up.
“Why?” Dennis crossed his arm.
“Because I might accidentally kill him if he threatens me again. I just have a very bad gut feeling about this guy.” Erin answered.
Dennis stood there firmly staring at her “Erin, this is the head’s order, we cannot reject it. You have to do this or you’re out.”
The four turned to Erin with earnest eyes “It’s not worth it Erin, we need you here too much.” Brad was concerned.
Reina smiled at her friend “Think of it this way, the quicker you find the evidence, the faster he’ll be behind bars and the kids will be free again.”
“It’s up to you, Erin.” Dennis didn’t want to pressure her, he knew how strong headed she could be.
“Fine. I’ll do it.” Erin said after a moment causing a sigh of relief from the group.
Dennis smiled happily “Great! Erin, you contact Darren. Brad, I want you to sneak inside and set up some hidden cameras. Reina and Andrew, you guys try to dig up some more dirt on Mr. Chiu.”
Mia pouted “How about me?”
The lieutenant’s face fell “I’m sorry Mia, because of your relation with Mr. Chiu, the head of security is requesting that you remain out of this case. You can follow it with me and if there is a time that we need you, we’ll add you.”
“Okay…” Mia was reluctant. She was never left out of a mission before.
“Is there anything I need to know about Mr. Chiu before I work for him?” Erin asked Mia.
The girl smiled with sarcasm “Yeah, don’t ask too many questions. Oh and never ever touch him, he hates it.” Dennis nodded for the group to start their jobs when Mia clapped her hands “Oh, I almost forgot…don’t ever, I mean NEVER ask him about his father. I made that mistake one time and he locked me in a room for 3 days, of course he said it was a joke, but I knew better.”
“Sounds like a charmer…” Erin snickered.
“He is once you get past that torture and threatening exterior.” Reina nodded jokingly.
Andrew laughed while Brad shook his head with a grin. Mia’s face fell “No, he really is a nice guy once you get to know him better.” She insisted. Erin and Reina nodded unconvincingly while Mia followed them trying to convince them otherwise.
**************
Erin knew she would have to get it over with, so she decided to come up to Darren’s office himself and talk to him. She looked at the card that Dennis had given her, even the trims were made of real silver, in the center read ‘Darren Chiu – Owner’. The taxi dropped her off in the front of the high rise building as she entered along with the people in dark suits and some carried suitcases.
She entered casually and instantly two security guards came over to greet her “Miss, you are not authorized to enter.”
She looked up strangely “But Darren told me to come, he said I should have no problem getting in.” she smiled when the guards became flustered, she had hit the right spot “He’s expecting me at 3pm, it’s now 2:58pm. I don’t think he would appreciate you boys keeping me down here.”
“Where’s your proof?” the guy asked harshly.
Erin held up the business card “This is your proof. Now if you will excuse me…” she briskly passed them before they could even begin to stop her. She let out a sigh of relief when she got in the elevator. When the doors opened on the top floor, she was at aw the with the place. Not only was the architectural beautiful beyond imagination, the designs in itself were very homey, not at all stiff like most office buildings.
“Miss, are you here on appointment?” the receptionist asked when she saw the stranger.
“I want to see Mr. Chiu.” Erin cut to the chase.
The girl smiled sweetly “Sorry Miss, no one sees Mr. Chiu without his consent. Did he ask you to come?”
“No.” Erin shook her head.
Her face slowly faded “How did you get through security?”
“You know, I don’t have time to explain this to you…but if Mr. Chiu would like to know, I can tell him. Now, how do I get to see the all powerful owner?” Erin smiled even sweeter, but there were daggers behind the look.
The girl was easily intimidated as she dialed Darren’s personal assistant “Janice, there is a young woman here to see Mr. Chiu.” The girl paused as her brows wrinkled “Yes…she does have long hair.” Erin tilted her head strangely wondering why his assistant would ask such a question. But she wasn’t prepared for the last comment “Well, yeah, I guess she is attractive.”
Erin raised an eyebrow when the receptionist hung up and pointed down the hall “Go down to the left wing and it’s the corner office on your right, Janice will let you in.”
“Thank you.” Erin nodded. She walked down the hallway with a new admiration for the designs of the company, at least he had good taste. When she reached the end of the way, she entered a room that was bigger than her home, in it was a girl behind a desk “Are you Janice?”
The petite girl looked up at Erin with a smile “Hi…you must be Mia.” She reached out to shake Erin’s hand “My boss talks about you all the time. Although we’ve never met, he’s always described you to me. It’s a pleasure finally meeting you.”
Erin’s eyes darted away and then returned the girl’s welcoming smile “Is he available?”
Janice nodded “He is always available for you.” She picked up the phone and paged Darren’s office. “Mr. Chiu, Mia is here to see you.” The girl smiled as she hung up the phone “He’s ready for you now.”