17 CHECK THE NEWS

Mary asked the driver to stop at the corner of her building fence and stealthily hid behind it. At the back side of the building there was a rear entrance to the yard and a fire staircase. Mary used them to get inside the building, and then exited it through the front entrance heading to Marcus, who showed no signs that he noticed any of her previous escapades.

She insisted that they went to Olivia's office building once again and Marcus took her there.

Mary showed the papers to Olivia and saw her gasp when she understood what kind of information was in their hands.

"If we publish it we are dead!" Olivia exclaimed.

"We won't publish all of it. You can't show all your trump cards in one go.'

Mary explained her plan to Olivia and took photos of all the files while the actual copies got hidden in Olivia's safe.

"But we also can't publish it in our magazine, we're not so much into scandals. We just give reviews, and statistics, and general news. I've got a friend in one newspaper, he would be only too happy to help us out. I'll write the article and give it to him."

"Only change the name of the author…" and Mary wrote a different name on a piece of paper. "And better just send the article to him through a fake email, no need to introduce yourself. We don't want them to find you."

After all was decided about their plan Mary went to Daniel's apartment. She checked the fridge and saw that for some reason he did not eat what she prepared for supper yesterday. Was he even home in the evening?

She decided not to cook a new supper and to spend her day otherwise. She knew that Daniel asked her not to leave the house without Marcus but she needed some time alone.

She took whatever cash she had left from her previous life where she was not on any probation and could use cash as well as credit card and left the house. She went to one of her most favorite cafes where low and small square tables were standing on the floor and instead of chairs you sat cross-legged on cushions, drank green tea and listened to eastern meditational music. Tables were separated from each other with curtains and when you closed the curtains no one could see you.

She chose a remote table, ordered the tea and eastern sweets, lay down on the cushions and escaped into the world of hypnotic music.

She was looking for answers to questions which she yet could not name. And the answers were floating right beneath the surface in her hand's reach and yet she could not see what those answers were.

She realized suddenly that she could not and did not want to wait for any money allowance that Daniel promised to her. For some reason she felt that he might refuse her this money because cash meant that he could not track her actions. Or maybe she just imagined it all.

None the less she opened a head hunter web site and started scanning for vacancies. This time she did not need any full time job in a big company where a head spinning career was possible, she just needed some additional income. She chose several vacancies where they were looking for a person to help with negotiations and to strike buying deals and sent her resume hoping that at least some of those small companies would not know anything about her blacklisted status.

Actually she had a working experience anyone could be envious of, so the chances of her receiving a job offer were rather high. Harder would be persuading them to not add her to their staff officially because she did not want Daniel or even Jim, for that matter, to know that she took a job. At least for now.

When they brought her tea and sweets, they offered her to take a hookah as well and she unexpectedly for herself agreed. So she spent next couple of hours smoking hookah and thinking, thinking, thinking.

She liked Daniel, maybe even loved him, but she was not sure that she could follow all of his rules. She discovered that in her there was a need to escape and she could not ignore it any longer.

When she was finishing her tea and the smoke from the pipe was already very scarce, she received an invitation to a job interview from one of the companies she sent her resume to.

She called them back, offered to use a Skype interview instead and also advised the conditions she wanted to work under. After considering it for some time, they agreed to hold the Skype interview right in the cafe and she was officially (or half-officially) hired.

She knew it was a risk because she would not have a contract with them, but if she did not receive her wages in two weeks she could just stop working for them, problem solved.

She wondered whether anyone (that is Daniel or Jim) was really checking her phone calls and would learn about her new job regardless of her secrecy, but decided that these thoughts were more like paranoia already.

"Now I can't drink to my jobless life anymore..." she whispered with some regret.

While she had some time left before Daniel's arrival she returned home to install a remote desktop to her laptop following the instruction given to her by the IT department in the company which hired her.

When Daniel came home she did not meet him in the hall, so he went into the bedroom and saw her typing something on her laptop sitting on the bed. She quickly closed the laptop and lied that she was writing a romantic story and would show it to him later when it was finished.

"You can write in my cabinet while I'm out, " he said and kissed her on the cheek as a greeting.

"Thank you. I'll warm up the supper," she knew that lies were no good for any relationship, but now she saw no other choice, a little freedom she needed, really needed.

While they were eating she suddenly asked him, "What kind of people are your parents?"

"Why are you asking?" he looked surprised.

"Just curious..." she avoided the reasons of this question.

"Like any other parents. They want me to be well and happy. There are times when they are determined on it a bit too much." After that he fell silent.

"Were they strict?"

"Sometimes... More often they were manipulative. At least my mother."

"I see." Mary understood that the best knowledge you can get about a person is the knowledge collected during your own encounter. Daniel could not give her a full picture.

The next question she asked was formulated very carefully, "If supposedly I decided to return to work, what would be your attitude to it?"

"While you are with me, there's no need for you to work. I wouldn't think it to be a good idea." He also tried to phrase his reply rather carefully.

"Oh, I see... I offered my help to Helen lately. Have you heard?"

"I have. But just as I told you, there's no need for you to work... I'll find someone else to fill in for her. Don't worry; just use your time however you like." The topic seemed to be closed for him and Mary shrugged seeing no point in direct argument.

Next morning before she went out for her run she asked for permission to visit Daniel in his office once again just to see him and maybe drink a cup of coffee together. He promised to free some time for a coffee break with her and she left the house in a good mood.

This time during running her lungs did not hurt that much but she still could not say that she enjoyed her time. Marcus followed behind her as usual but did not give any comments to her this time. She decided that it was a good sign; it meant she was improving.

Mary did not notice anyone following them this morning and felt ashamed of her paranoia from previous days. But Marcus was not that optimistic, he managed to see at least one man taking a photo of them. But this time the man was trying hard not to be seen, so maybe there were others as well.

After their running Mary asked Marcus to go directly to a food store, she did not want to waste time in order to catch the window between Daniel's meetings.

She cooked supper hastily and answered emails from her newly found job also in a hurry. Though the wages they offered were rather low, the job did not take a lot of time and Mary was not on the brim of starvation, so she really thought that as long as she did not pursue a career in grand companies her blacklisted status was not much of an issue.

She arrived to Daniel's office earlier than agreed time and did not go to visit her old colleagues; she headed straight to Helen but asked her not to inform Daniel about her arrival yet. Mary took a chair and sat beside Helen meaning to chat with her a little.

Helen as it turned out was not very much upset that Daniel refused to give her an annual leave once again, her hope was not high in any case. Mary asked how many meetings there were in Daniel's schedule and with whom, and Helen did not mind sharing because she thought highly of Mary and was glad that she cared enough to offer her help earlier.

Mary's eyebrows went up a little when she heard that there was a meeting with Gabriella scheduled later that day. The fact was the article would probably be published in the evening online issue of the newspaper where Olivia's friend was working, or it could be printed in tomorrow morning issue.

But Mary wanted to catch Gabriella at the moment when the news hit her so just in case the article was published in the evening she asked Helen to reschedule her meeting with Daniel to a later time, just before Gabriella arrived.

"What would you be doing meanwhile?" Helen asked surprised.

"Writing a novel..." Mary lied. "I feel an inspiration surge rising in me. I must catch the wave." At that she stood up and disappeared into an elevator before Daniel could accidentally find out about her early arrival.

She typed a message to Olivia and asked whether she sent the article yesterday evening, and received a positive answer. The chances to personally see Gabriella's crushed spirit were really high.

Just when Mary exited the elevator she stumbled on her previous boss whose cheeks turned red at the sight of her. He asked trying to control his emotions, "Is Mr. Melrose leaving again?"

"How would I know?" Mary pretended she did not understand why he decided to ask her this question.

Mr. Edwards's face from red turned to purple, "And where do you think you're heading?"

"Mr. Edwards, your memory is very phenomenal! Have you forgotten about coffee break time again? I wonder, whether you're forgetting other important things as well? Hope it doesn't interfere with your job..." Mary smiled sweetly.

"Oh, just go!.." He pushed his way into the elevator breathing heavily.

When the elevator doors closed Mary chuckled.

She spent some time with her old friend and when coffee break was over she went to the cafeteria to answer some messages while waiting for her meeting.

Just when she was heading upstairs to Daniel a message from Olivia popped up on her phone screen, "Check the news!"