Undercover Ch. 02

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," she said with her voice filled with false sympathy. "I cannot understand how that could've happened." Then she reached for the first aid kit and tried to stop the bleeding.

"You're bloody well trying to kill me," Cade interceded. "It's so typical of a female not to be happy before draining the male of some blood," he added grumpily.

"Well!" she huffed. "Would you like my help to stop the bleeding or what?"

"No, thanks," he said while looking both affronted and injured. Then he turned around and yelled "Mrs. Anderson!" The older woman came walking into the office, a curious look on her face.

"What happened?" she asked.

"This murdering bitch is trying to kill me with a stapler," Cade explained.

"Now, you are so ungrateful," Erin said. "It was an accident, and I apologized before offering my help." He just glared at her, before allowing the older woman to tend to him while he enjoyed the ministrations and coddling.

***

"Where are all the staplers?" another female employee asked Erin later that day. "I have looked in all the offices and still can't find even one of them."

"Ask Mr. Mason. He confiscated them all after he had a small accident this morning," Erin said grumpily. He deserved all the pain he could get, she thought glumly. Only, now he only received compassion and Mrs. Anderson was drifting about and treating the poor man with warm coffee and freshly baked pie.

The woman laughed. "So that's why he wears those large bandages around his hands?"

***

"So how is my favourite employee getting on?" Warren asked as he called in later the same day.

"Who?" Cade asked surprised. "You don't mean that murdering bitch you sent me perhaps?"

"Huh?" Warren said perplex.

"She's a disaster in disguise. All pink and sweet, but underneath...ha-ha... Today, she tried to staple my thumbs together and now she's fretting because I survived her attack."

"What?"

"Why do you ask? Perhaps you would like her back? I would be happy to return her right away. I'll even pay the flight ticket to get rid of her. Maybe I'll live longer then."

Strange, Warren thought. She had always behaved nicely before and he had always thought the two of them would be perfect for each other. What was going on here?

"No, you just keep her for the three months we agreed on. Remember?" Maybe the two of them just had to battle it over first. He would really have liked to have a front seat to their encounters but that would probably ruin the whole set-up.

"You own me major from this," Cade interjected. "The woman is a menace to society. She's a walking disaster area. She's incredibly clumsy, damaging all her surroundings and falling down stairwells."

"What? Is she badly hurt?" Warren asked worryingly.

"Not a scratch! She is the only one undamaged -- or soon will be the only one left. She fell on my chief operator. He's got a concussion. And, the final drop, she actually threw away my best cigars while tidying my office. Who knows what she can accomplish in three months time when she can cause so many disasters in just one day? She would likely burn down the place -- or something worse. Right now she's probably studying the best poisons to use on me."

"H'mmn, maybe you should keep a closer eye on her?" Warren suggested.

"You bet!" Cade answered.