#75 Ego Part 1 - Ego Cuid 1

"What?"

Lyle held her phone open to a message from Frankie. I had to scroll down to read the entire message littered with two word sentences and techy lingo I couldn't even begin to decode. Luckily Lyle summarized it as I read. "He needs a connection on the thirty-second floor to get into that specific grid. Something about a fire wall, I can't understand the other half."

"Is he going up there?"

She shook her head. "He won't have space to work."

It was then that I looked down at her other hand. In it was a small black box with a plug in on one side. I recognized it from the drive over, Frankie had about eight of them all of which he'd given old Victorian names to. In metallic sharpie the name "Margarette" was scribbled onto the top of the box. The device as he'd explained more than a few times to me allowed his computer to access the server. "You're kidding me."

"You can stay here-"

I cut her off before she could finish the offer. "I'm coming with."

"Monroe will be there." She emphasized his name in a lower voice, the thought of him identifying me causing her jaw to tense.

Straightening the glasses on my nose I looped her arm in mine. "And now so will I."

The elevator was crowded as passengers cast the weight capacity as a suggestion rather than a warning. All of the riders got off at the top floor and we rushed out of the doors with the gravitational flood of business people.

"It doesn't look like he's gotten here yet." Lyle scanned the room as we stood close to the wall of the small lobby area.

There were a few people seated but most congregated by the glass walled office at the back of the floor.

"He's probably waiting to make his big entrance." I glanced at the television screen above us.

Less than five minutes.

"Wait here and I'll find an outlet closer to the conference room." She gave me a quick peck on the cheek then slipped into the sea of suited attendants.

Once the transmitter aka the black box named Margarette was plugged in Frankie would be able to do his thing.

I fidgeted in my seat as I waited for Lyle. I tried to avoid staring at the countdown but once it reached a two minutes it was impossible not to. Everyone around me appeared just as enthralled as we glued our eyes to the otherwise blank screen.

At one minute and thirty seconds the elevator dinged and he emerged. Surrounded by a human cloak of reporters and security they flowed out of the elevator like one organism, all surrounding and feeding off of Monroe.

The crowd parted as they made their way through. He was too deep within the crowd of impatient reporters to notice me. The reporters shouted questions his way as they stuck their microphones into the middle of the circle.

I followed.

I wasn't thinking as I did so, there was a magnetic pull that tethered me to Monroe. No one else noticed as I slipped my way through the crowd.

"Are you taking over X-Enterprises Mr. Monroe?" One reporter could be heard above all the others as she trailed the group.

The rest was muddled into the crowds quiet chatter as they stood still, waiting for Monroe to arrive. As we got closer I could see the set up of the glass conference room. Six men and one woman in suits sat around the oblong table patiently. At the head of the table stood an older gentleman with wispy white hair.

Monroe's father in law. He stood facing the door and as he buttoned his jacket his frail finger shook. On his arm a younger woman with straight blond hair reached over to help with his buttons but he batted her away.

His wife or Monroe's? It occurred to me that I'd never seen a photograph of Monroe's wife. Did he love her? How could one woman put up with his manipulative calculability for all this time? Should I pity her or would she pity me?

I was about to dive deeper into that thought when I literally ran into Lyle. A hint of surprised graced her otherwise expectant features. She knew how my curiosity ruled me.

The crowd grew louder as Monroe stopped at the conference room door and shook himself of the posse. "We need to go." She tugged at my arm as her momentum carried her back the way I'd come.

I didn't move. "I need to see him."

"Margarette is in, Frankie is uploading as we speak." Her voice was urgent as she came back to me taking my forearms in her hands. Then registering what I said she shook her head. "I don't want to risk him seeing you, I know we are in a public place, but-"

"I want him to see my face." I turned back to the room. Monroe had entered and was now shaking hands with his father in law and exchanging a neutral kiss with the blond woman.

"I want him to know."

Her freckled eyes fixated on mine and we were alone in the room. There was a side of her that wanted to carry me off to the elevator and not look back. It was a miracle already that she hadn't put up too much of a fight into my coming up. Slowly I'd been chipping away at that part of her. The part that felt every duty to protect those she loved.

Loyalty is what I loved most about her, but the strong trait required flexibility. At times providing protection meant letting someone get close to the fire, and maybe even burned. I needed to look the fire in the eyes and she knew it. With a solemn nod her hands fell to her side and we wove our way to the front of the crowd.

We stood behind a larger man holding a note pad and pen in his hand as he attentively watched the scene in the conference room. The televisions changed to project live action from the top floor as the timer hit thirty seconds. We had a better view of Monroe in person but still I couldn't help but eye the T.V. Monroe grinned smugly at the camera and winked as he strode to the tables edge. He raised his arms to tighten his sleeves and I caught a glimpse of the cufflinks he'd lost at Mo Soileireacht, his lucky ones.

Monroe settled at the front of the table when I caught a glimpse of Smith and Jones standing in the corner of the conference room. Each man stood to attention with their hands folded in front and eyes roaming the crowd. I shrunk behind our block of a journalist as I noticed the crisp white bandage that covered a section of Smith's bald head.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to be up here. Smith and Jones knew my face - would the rest of the security force have been briefed? Or did Monroe already inform them of his actions at the pond?

The timer, now in the corner of the screen ticked the seconds by slowly and I wondered if everyone else in the room was holding their breath. Five feet from the glass walls we could hear Monroe address the board room amplified by the bouquet microphones surrounding him.

"Thank you all for joining me today," He ignored the presence of his father in law and the others in the room with him. "As I am sure all of you know I have an announcement today that will reshape the city as we know it."

"He's cutting it a little close isn't he?" I leaned into Lyle.

"He'll get it done." She reassured but I could tell she was as worried as she looked nervously around the room.

"Before me is a written contract drafted by my legal team designed to initiated the transfer of power from my father in law and current CEO to myself." He pulled out a pen and signed his name with a grand stroke.

Raising it to the crowd he posed for a photo before handing the pen and paper to the old man. The soon to be former CEO patted Monroe on the back and bent over to sign the document just as the countdown hit zero.

The entire room flinched at the sound of static. The crackle of electricity traveled throughout the floor. One after another the televisions previously flaunting Monroe's face lit up with black and white fuzz. There was cursing from the audience and the camera crew looked in utter confusion from their equipment to the crazed screens.

By far Monroe was the most agitated that his big moment was interrupted. With anger in his steps he marched over to the television crew and began speaking in a quiet voice. His microphone caught none of it but from the look of his scrunched face he was not pleased. Leaning down he leered at the helpless crew who were frantically plugging and unplugging cords.

Suddenly the screen went black and the sound faded away.

"Come on Frankie." Lyle whispered under her breath.

Just as soon as she said it the screen faded again replaced by an at first fuzzy image. Gradually the image refocused. The crowd was captivated, no longer was their attention on Monroe who had stopped threatening the camera crew to stare in horror at the television.

Footage take less than twenty four hours ago began to play. I hardly recognized myself as I stood five feet from the edge of the pond.

"Is this the new announcement?" An anxious reporter stuck a microphone in his face but Monroe slapped it away. The clattering sound of the recording device was all that could be heard on the completely silent floor.

He stood frozen in time as he watched the video unfold. I recognized the feeling. It was how I'd felt so many times before. As if the floor had been taken out from under you, yet you weren't falling as you expected. Standing on nothing you couldn't move or think.

"Lovely evening isn't it?"

Monroe entered the screen clearly visible by his side profile. His words of late last night shattered his immobility. He twitched and then without warning launched himself at the dark screen.

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