She's mine (1)

As Emma was getting ready for work, in a different part of the building two nervous men stood with lowered heads in front of a large wooden desk.

Behind the desk sat Mr. Long. He was seemingly leaned back in a relaxed, casual position, but the cold aura eminating from him was unmistakably ominous.

Chen Zhongfu, often simply referred to as Mr. Chen, stood to the side and calmly observed the two frightened subordinates. He had absolutely no sympathy for the two, if they had been more competent, they would not be in this situation.

Mr. Long, along with Mr. Chen, had been absent for the past few days to take care of some urgent business elsewhere. These two subordinates had been given an important, but simple task, which they had accomplished well considering the circumstances. Unfortunately for them, the information they had gathered was not all to their boss' liking.

Mr. Long's stony expression as he leaned forward scrutinising the two men, gave even Mr. Chen, who was used to it, shivers.

"Repeat to me again, what you just said."

Chen Zhongfu had to admire how his boss managed to instill such fear and deference in hardened and well trained professionals like these two men. Even though they were visibly affected by their boss' behaviour, the taller of the two obeyed and repeated the information that had upset his boss.

"We followed the target to a small village popular with tourists, about an hour outside the city. We lost sight of her as she left the village market. We searched, but couldn't find her again until the next afternoon."

"So you lost her for an entire night and morning?"

The subordinate couldn't do anything other than now his head and reply, "Yes, sir."

"But she didn't leave the area around the village?"

"We don't think so, sir. She was on foot. And like I said she was still in the village when we found her the next day."

Mr. Long stood up suddenly from his seat and started pacing back and forth.

"Continue," he ordered.

"She came back to the city that afternoon. Since then she has only been at home, work or school. No apparent contact with anyone, outside of those places."

Mr. Long dismissed the two subordinates with a wave, and they seemed relieved that they were not going to be punished. But as they left the two subordinates couldn't help but wonder who this girl was, that she was so important to the boss.

As the door closed behind the two men, Mr. Long turned to fix his icy gaze on his most trusted subordinate. He knew the other two hadn't made any serious mistakes, but he couldn't tolerate any mistakes when it came to this particular task. Chen Zhongfu looked back at him steadily, waiting for instructions, with a professional and collected air.

"You will take charge of the surveillance," he ordered. "And I want you to dig up more information on her."

Chen Zhongfu nodded in acknowledgement and left, not needing any further instructions.

Mr. Long's lips twitched imperceptibly in an almost invisible smile. This was why Chen Zhongfu was the best man to handle important tasks. He was highly competent, loyal to a fault, unflappable, and ruthlessly brutal when required. Truly the perfect subordinate. Mr. Long sighed. If only he had a hundred Chen Zhongfu's at his disposal, he could make the entire world tremble at his feet.