Mei Wa walked slowly toward her office, a half-smoked cigarette pinched between her fingers and a USB Drive clutched in her hand. Though the glass-walled cubicle was barely five square meters, it was one of the few private spaces in the entire office.
A simple desk, a few black swivel chairs, and a row of iron-gray filing cabinets against the wall nearly filled the whole room. Still, compared with the team members crammed together in the open-plan office outside, at least she had her own air-conditioning vent. They had to endure the shared space, where it was either too hot or too cold.
Mei Wa sank heavily into her office chair. Its back creaked as she leaned against it.
She stared blankly at the square air-conditioning vent overhead as cold air poured down. Her supervisor's pointed remarks echoed in her mind. Everything that had happened today was so chaotic and sudden that she needed time to sort through it all.
Mechanically, she flicked the extinguished cigarette butt into the trash can, then raised the USB Drive and examined it repeatedly under the light.
After hesitating, she opened a drawer to put it away, but changed her mind. In the end, she got up and went to the small safe in the corner of the office, where she locked the USB Drive away.
Her deputy hurried to the glass office and knocked three times in quick succession.
Mei Wa turned around and asked with a frown, "What's going on?"
The deputy pointed at her computer screen. "Ma'am, you need to see this. A long-range assassination just took place at Charles de Gaulle Airport in France. An Indian businessman was killed in full view of the public, just an hour ago."
Mei Wa dropped back into her chair and quickly woke up