Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Seeing All and Nothing ❯ Unseen Enemy ( Chapter 10 )

~~The Unseen Enemy~~

 

Laughter escaped from a hollow room, quietly invoking silence once again. He was no longer burdened with the risk of failure. With those who opposed him out of the way, the road ahead seemed full of opportunity and wealth. He was unstoppable with unimaginable power at his fingertips, now coming closer to his grasp.

 

“Frank?” Another man had stepped into the room behind him. He was of average height, but built rather huskily, wearing the same uniform as the others that were sent away, minus the apron. He had little hair to speak of, growing accustomed to shaving it to a buzz. The black, wire-rimmed glasses were only worn if necessary. He preferred contacts, assuming spectacles made him look weak. Be cool. He told himself. It's just Frank. You know what you're doing.

 

“What is it, Don?” The other was much older with a shadowed face that portrayed false kindness. His hair was thinning and badly dyed to a dark gray. As opposed to the younger, he wore a pair of gray slacks with a matching tie. Naturally he also adorned himself with a plain white dress shirt.

 

“Aria is causing trouble in sixteen again. She found one of the rebels and is consorting with them against us.” Don replied in his deep voice that would rival any base. He looked directly at Frank, not wanting to appear unwilling to meet the other man's eyes head on. A false sense of strength and equality between the two.

 

“I see.” He thought for a moment. “Send for Chuck.” Don nodded and walked away.

 

Not a moment later, a reverberating voice sounded throughout the entire store. People were blissfully shopping, unaware of the secrets that dwelled within the walls. Tammy, replacing Sammy at the service desk, was given instructions by Don to summon Chuck without alerting the ignorant masses.

 

“Chuck to the front office please, Chuck to the front.” The mechanical tone over the intercom was ignored by all who thought it to be of no importance. Chuck dropped what he was doing immediately to do as he was told. After all, his Master beckoned.

 

“What's up, Frank?” He asked lightly, although knowing he was close to being deleted.

 

“You are on the brink of being disposed of, Chuck. I am giving you one last chance to prove yourself worthy of being here. You are to report to sixteen and speak with Aria, perhaps even take any necessary action against the insubordinates. They are getting out of hand.” Frank looked directly into Chuck's dark eyes; the young black-haired man stared back then looked to the floor in submission. He knew his place.

 

“I will not fail.” He stated with determination that just barley masked fear and the underlying knowledge of what would happen should he not.

 

“Be sure you don't.” Frank replied, his voice lined with an unspoken threat. Chuck bowed his head slightly again and left. Don remained, then with a nervous glance towards Frank he decided to be daring.

 

“Giving Scott power in the store certainly wasn't your best idea.” He remarked lightly. Don knew he was being bold, considering he wasn't added to their team of managers until two years after Scott was hired as a stocker. Although, Don thought to himself, Obviously I'm older and far more experienced then Scott, which is why Frank got rid of him and not me. This place would be nothing without me.

 

“There was no one else who had so much potential at the time. No one would've thought him to be like Harvey: rebellious and determined. That man had to go before the entire operation was destroyed. Perhaps he chose Scott as his successor to continue ruining us. I believe the old man suspected something. He had to be gotten rid of.”

 

Don thought back to the kindly old man who had always been kind to the children and talked with the older ladies on Tuesdays. He was also the previous Night Manager. The Night Manager who had acted as if going along with all their plans when in reality he was against them. He had to go. It was most unfortunate that the old man had been so insistent on Scott taking his place after `retirement;' the teen turned out to have the same strong will as Harvey himself. Don frowned to himself, thinking back on the night Frank and Jim decided to promote Scott. The night Harvey had met with a rather unfortunate accident.

 

Flashback

 

“Now, now Harvey, don't be so quick to make false accusations. After all, you have no proof any such occurrences took place.” Frank stated coolly. The tall, white-haired old man with glasses thicker then Scotts glared hatefully; his usual kind smile was gone.

 

“You three have been slowly gathering more and more power in the world of business, yet your workers suffer, struggling to make ends meet while you and your little jackals sit back in luxury and take over business after business. What you're doing is immoral and illegal. You will not succeed.” Harvey replied, his words laced with acid.

 

“Who're you going to tell? The police will never believe you're story and any other will see you as a foolish old man with a vendetta.” Chuck added. “What proof do you have?” For a moment Harvey smirked, knowing he had the upper hand. He took a small, red notebook from his apron pocket. Don began to sweat.

 

“This is all the proof I need to lock you boys away for a long time. You're newest member seems to have taken to making notes and documentations of all your illegal activities. Too bad for him the notebook had been mysteriously misplaced. That wasn't too smart, was it Donny?” Frank's sardonic expression melted in seconds as he turned accusingly at Don.

 

“Don, you made this mess, you clean it up.” The store director then turned away and left with Chuck and Jim in tow. Don knew what he had to do. The soft sound of the office door locking was heard. The younger man looked up into the cool clear blue eyes of Harvey, then began to silence a man doing what he believed was right. The only perplexing portion: Harvey left with a smile on his lips and his dying words:

 

“This isn't over.”

 

End Flashback**