“What the fuck are you doing?”
Sloane’s head shot up to find Ash standing by the door, gaping at him. All Sloane could offer was a helpless shrug and a panicked cry. “I can’t get it to stop!”
Ash came running over, hovering at his side. He tapped the mute button to no avail, moved the sliders, tried removing and deleting the audio file, but nothing worked. It only seemed to make the damn thing louder. Calvin and Hobbs came into the office along with the rest of the agents on the floor wandering over to see what was going on.
“Call IT,” Ash said over the wailing of the harmonica.
“Are you crazy? I’m not getting IT up here. They’ll think I’m fucking nuts!”
Ash thrust a hand in the direction of their fellow agents all laughing and sniggering as they crowded by the door. “It’s a little late for that. Besides, at this rate you won’t have to call them because they’ll be able to fucking hear it from there!”
An idea came to him and he frantically tapped a sequence into the panel at the side of his desk. “Come on.” A beep later, the sound cut off, and his desk went black. Blue letters scrolled across the surface. Rebooting… please wait.
He gritted his teeth and pinned his fellow Defense agents with a glower. “Laugh it up. Just remember this. If he can get to me, he can get to you. You won’t know when, you won’t know how, but when it happens, it will be loud, horrifying, and involve awful pop music. I will also be there to enjoy every second of it. Now get the hell out of my office.” The agents all scrambled away with the exception of Ash, Calvin, and Hobbs.
Calvin cleared his throat, doing his best not to crack a smile. He was failing miserably. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that you’re not a fan of that particular song.”
“What gave me away,” Sloane grunted, waiting for his desk’s interface to finish loading.
“I’d told Dex as much.”
Sloane peered at him. “Elaborate.”
“Well, at lunch he asked me if I thought you’d like it. I had no idea what song he was talking about so he explained it and sang the first chorus. I said there was a good chance you’d want to hurt him afterwards.”
A smug grin appeared on Ash’s face. “Still want him to stay?”
“Shut up. I hope he gets you next,” Sloane grumbled.
Ash shook his head. “Not going to happen. I would hurt him. Physically. Not in your sorry-ass,
hurt feelings kind of way, but really inflict some bodily damage.”
“Go away.” Sloane dropped his head onto his desk’s surface and closed his eyes. “I have to plan my revenge.”
Ash appeared beside him. “Can I help?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to make him suffer, not maim him.”
“You’re no fun.” Ash headed for the door, Calvin snickering behind him, and Hobbs leaving no evidence he was ever there. His door swished closed, and Sloane quickly got out his smartphone, texting Dex.
I don’t know how you did it, but you’re going to regret it.
Seconds later, his phone buzzed.
I’m sorry. It’s a…. Hard Habit to Break.
“Fuck me.” Sloane stared at his phone in disbelief. He quickly texted back, Don’t you dare.
His phone buzzed again. I hope this doesn’t mean we have to go our…. Separate Ways.
Sloane groaned before replying, Stop.
You’re right. I need to learn some…. Self Control.