The Boss

The Boss of H.I.S. was a secretive person who rarely made appearances in the office. She was an early 50's, no nonsense, African American woman with more skeletons in her closet than a Halloween thrift store. Skeletons that will, one day soon, be buried with her own. Her resting boss face was enough to make any assassin in the office stone cold. Whenever she wanted to see someone, it usually wasn't good. A few of the guys joked characters such as Amanda Waller, from DC Comics, were based off of her. But Jin didn't think that was completely accurate. While an interaction with her was uncommon in his years at H.I.S., he never saw her as someone completely cutthroat or ruthless.

Rather, she was just cold and direct when speaking to others. She wasn't one to show emotion and kept everything strictly professional with the employees. Which was probably for the best considering the turnover rate due to onsite deaths from contracts. The leader of H.I.S. needed to be someone detached from their employees.

Jin got up from his desk and walked over to the northern wall of the office.

As he approached the door, he began to wonder the reason for him being called over. Did he cause an issue by taking an unlisted contract? Perhaps there was an issue within the office that needed to be resolved, such as Hugh's insistence that a union should be created for the employees. Jin was face to face with the door.

Knock.

Knock,

Knock.

Jin's knocks can be heard ringing through the shadows of the office. Hovering over a desk, a pedicured hand clicked on a button for the door to unlock. A buzz rang out and the door's lock shifted. Jin entered the room, his demeanor was focused, yet tense given the uncertainty of the situation. Sitting stoically at her desk was The Boss; who's real name was Ava Davis.

Jin entered the room and Ava clicked onto the security button once again. The door locked up and was sealed from any eavesdroppers.

"Jin, please sit," she calmly ordered.

Jin obliged and sat in the left chair in front of her desk. The Boss stood up and walked over to a wall in the room with a projection screen. She turned it on and a blank presentation appeared.

"Boss, what's this for?" asked Jin.

"First question for you Jin, are you commited to H.I.S.?"

Jin was a bit puzzled by the question, "Of course I am."

"And if I needed you to take a job, would you do it?"

Jin hesitated, "Depends I suppose. We are allowed to accept and decline jobs as we see fit."

"Yes, you are correct in that assessment. But answer the question, yes, or no?"

"Can I hear the job first before I commit?"

Ava scanned the room. She returned to her desk and clicked another button. The security cameras in the room were shut off.

"Very well," she answered.

The Boss clicked on a remote that controlled the projected presentation. The slide changed to show a tabloid picture of a man in a business suit. He had grayed dark hair and a light stubble.

"Are you familiar with who this is?" asked Ava.

Jin squinted at the picture. The man looked familiar, but he couldn't place where he had seen him before.

"His name is Richard Burke," she informed Jin.

Jin suddenly remembered, "Yeah, that's the prosthetic guy. He's making robotic limbs to help our veterans and other people. I saw his ad on TV last week."

"That's correct. He is the CEO of Incognito Inc. One of the most progressive and dominant tech and medical research companies in the nation. Do you know what makes them so progressive and successful?"

Jin shrugged, he didn't stay up to date with businesses or politics unless it was directly told to him.

Ava continued, "It's their charity work, political funding, and expansive work in both the prosthesis and robotic markets. They've helped thousands, if not millions of people."

"So, what's the problem then?"

"All of this work and publicity is just on the surface." Ava clicked on the remote to change the slide. It changed to show one of their headquarters in Silicon Valley. "Before I continue, I want to make it clear. What is said in this room, does not leave this room. Understand?"

"Of course," Jin answered.

"Over the last six months, my intel has led us to believe that their operations within their Silicone Valley location contain both illegal and extremely dangerous activity."

"Okay…"

"Until last week, we didn't have confirmation; but now we do."

The projection slide changes again to show a picture of Governor Brad Pines.

Jin raised an eyebrow, "Are you saying that Incognito paid for my recent hit on Governor Pines? I get it was unlisted, but I don't understand why."

Ava reached opened a deep drawer in her desk, "No Jin, Incognito didn't pay for the hit on Governor Pines." She lifted and tossed the severed head of what was once the Governor of Atlanta onto the desk. "I did."

Jin flinched and repulsed back into his seat.

"Why? Why did you do that? Why was the contract unlisted if it was from H.I.S. itself?"

"Calm down Jin, I'll explain."

Jin leaned forward and gave the severed head a second look. "It's… mechanical?"

"Yes, your most recent job confirmed my suspicions. I have reason to believe that Incognito Inc has swapped our politicians with robotic humanoids. How many, we are unsure."

"And how would they manage that? People have friends and families."

"I don't have any confirmations yet, but I believe that they are using our mindwiping technology. They initially target politicians that are younger and single. In the last two election cycles, there has been an unusual number of incumbent losses to new faces in both parties. The civilian population believe this is due to the civil unrest the country has seen over the last 6 years. That our government is progressing and turning a new leaf to the next generation with new ideas, while in reality the elections have been fraudulent."

"And the change to younger people make for easier targets?"

"Yes. Once a politician is targeted, they are kidnapped by Incognito and mindwiped. They then transfer the memories that were wiped from the host and place it into a humanoid prosthetic. With all of the hosts memories and personality installed, the artificial intelligence can easily blend back in to society and continue their work."

"And why do this?"

"To pass legislation and funding. To monopolize their industry. Technology, A.I., prosthesis, medicine, these are some of the largest sectors of growth and power withing the next twenty years. When you control what laws and direction the government aligns itself with and allocates its resources, that would propel any company to a monopoly of wealth and power."

"Especially when you can control both parties."

"Exactly, so even when the president might change, or congress leans slightly republican or democratic, Incognito can retain its control."

"And with younger politicians that have no term limits, they have nothing to stop them keeping control for the next two or three decades as long as they continue to win elections," said Jin

Ava paused for a moment, "The questions I still have is how they received that mindwipe technology to begin with. The technology is kept classified with it only being a resource to H.I.S. and the highest, most secretive branches of the US Government we work with."

"You think there's a mole?"

"I haven't eliminated the possibility."

"So that's why you left the contract unlisted?"

"Yes, I couldn't risk a leak in case one of our employees was on the inside. If there was a leak that H.I.S. had caught on, it could be a grave error."

"What happens to the people that Incognito kidnaps?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I would assume that they keep the bodies in an induced coma and cryo-sleep. In the off-chance that they lose an election for any reason or they need to switch to a new person. It would be easy to place the memories back into the host's body and leave them with just enough of a hazy memory to recount and think that they'd lived out the last span of years."

"Anything else?"

"At the moment, no. This mission, should you choose to accept it, would have you creating a small strike force. Your immediate mission would be to infiltrate Incognito's Silicone Valley location and gather intel. Either evidence of who they've gained control over, what technology they are using, how high this conspiracy goes up the chain of command, or anything else that can be helpful. Is there anyone within the office that you trust with your life."

Jin contemplated briefly, only one name came to mind.

"Allen is the only person I completely trust."

"Mr. Holiday?"

"Yeah, he's been here longer than most people. And I trust him more than anyone else."

"Good to know."

"Is there anyone else you were thinking of bringing in Boss?"

Ava clicked on the controller for a new slide. It is split across three profiles of different employees at H.I.S. The first profile was Trevor. A late 20's Caucasian male with long, thin brown hair tied up. He had slim glasses with a short chin and looked as though he made a side hustle as a barista.

The second profile was Isabella. Early 20's. Hispanic. She's attractive, but not girly. Her eyes gave off the impression that she might be reserved, but not shy. The key to her is one built through trust. Jin had no experience working with her, since she was a new recruit just this year. Her background was more in vehicle operation, rather than gunwork. More of a pilot than a soldier.

The final profile was Andre. Late 30's. African American. He had the suave charisma of a Denzel Washington character with the look and body of Terry Crews. Jin had worked with him before, but he kept most of his work to the west coast. He worked at H.I.S.'s smaller Southern California branch. Dude could handle himself in a fight, but was one to have a loose trigger.

The projector deactivates. Ava slides a dossier folder across the desk.

"Is this a mission you accept Jin?"

Jin thought to himself for a moment. A lot of information had been given to him, and this seemed like an important job. He trusted the Boss, but he was hesitant to say yes. That hesitance told him the answer.

Jin looked down at his palms; they shook ever so slightly. Then he looked back up at The Boss.

"No." he said.