Dead Presidents (An Aria Raymond Thriller Book 3) by Thomas Ransom (that summer book txt) 📕

he does, yet they were mocking him, knowing full well that he wouldn’t dare say anything back. He couldn’t. They knew that he was aware he was in the middle of something bigger than he could have imagined, and they knew that he couldn’t say or do anything or else he would be silenced with just one order.

He kept his mouth shut.

Frank tossed a few files tied together with a red string in front of Wayne. Everyone else was getting up from their seats and mingling. Some had stormed out of the room without even a single glance back or bothering to say goodbye. Wayne was used to it by now. The less they notice him the better. Unfortunately, they had noticed him today. They had noticed him a little too much for his liking.

Wayne picked up the files and got up from his seat. He turned and almost bumped into Frank, who was standing a little too close for comfort. “Listen, kid. Keep these safe. You hear me?” Frank was smiling, but there was a note of threat in his voice and his eyes were dead serious. “Guard them with your life.”

Wayne gulped and managed a nod. He could sense all the eyes left in the conference room on him. He could feel their glare burning into him.

Frank chuckled and patted his shoulder, “That’s a good boy.”

“Who wants to get a drink or two?” Frank asked the remaining board members. A few of them nodded, some muttered a few excuses. All of them left the room, leaving Wayne behind. He felt his legs shaking a little and he sat back down on the chair to calm himself down. He couldn’t let the other employees notice him all out of sorts. He was, in fact, their boss now.

A few minutes later, he made his way into his office, tightly clutching the files, and shut the door behind him. He sighed deeply. Wayne went towards the bookshelf and stared at the large painting right next to it. He carefully took it down, there it was. The safe. Not a very creative hiding place, but it was a rather sturdy one that couldn’t easily be broken into. He put in the code and heard a click. He carefully placed the files in the otherwise empty safe and shut the door. He heard the satisfying clicking sounds, indicating that the safe was safely shut. He hurried back to his desk and sank in the chair. Even though the office was centrally air conditioned, he was sweating like he had just run a lap under the scorching sun.

His breathing was rapid, and he tried to calm himself down. He went to the stunningly decorated men’s room that was attached to the office and splashed some cold water on his face multiple times. Wayne took some water in his hands and ran them over his head. His hair was slightly wet now, but he didn’t care. Looking at himself in the mirror, he noticed that he looked rather pale. He splashed some more water and went back to his office. He drank some water and ordered some food, figuring he would feel slightly better after eating something. Wayne leaned back on his chair and his eyes went straight to the painting he had forgotten to put back. He practically scrambled to put it back up. However, before he put the painting back up again, he hesitated. A very dangerous idea just formed in his head. He shook his head and firmly told himself to stop being an idiot. He replaced the painting and went back to his desk.

For the next hour or so, he couldn’t concentrate on his work. He kept thinking about the files that were in the safe. A peek couldn’t hurt, would it? No one would find out. How would they? He should maybe just give it a glance. No! Stop it. They will find out. But how would they? An inner battle was going on in his head. He even got up a few times and sat back down. He tried not to think about it again throughout the day. It was definitely stupid to do this. It was like poking a sleeping bear. Why bother risking your life?

However, his curiosity kept increasing. It was none of his business, he told himself. They have ways of finding things out. If they even had a hint, they would certainly come after him. He made up his mind not to think more about it and wait for further instructions about the messenger who would come to pick it up.

At the end of the day, he packed up his bag and stepped out of his office. Looking around, he realized he was the only one left. He silently went back inside and closed the door. He then, switched off all the lights and took down the painting using the torchlight from his cell phone and hastily entered the code to the safe. The door popped open. He took the files and stashed them carefully in his bag, closed the safe, put back the painting, and rather calmly walked towards the elevator.

“Hey!”

He stopped in his tracks; his heart pounding so fast that he was afraid it might pop out of his chest any second. Wayne turned around. It was the janitor, waving something at him.

“I didn’t mean to startle you, boss, but you dropped your phone,” said the janitor holding a phone up with one hand and dragging along his mop and bucket with the other.

“Oh!” exclaimed Wayne, patting his pockets. Sure enough, his cell phone was missing. “Thanks!” Wayne whispered. The janitor shrugged as he handed him the phone and continued mopping the floor, music blasting from his earphones.

Wayne’s heart was still pounding. He almost went back to his office to put the files back, but he figured that might look suspicious. What was done was done. He