Karen stood there blinking for a few minutes before what the man had said hit her. He was one of the most attractive men she had ever seen and did not seem to be aware of it either. What a rare and wonderful happenstance. However, he was not here to flirt or to sweep her off her feet, he was here for some files. It was doubtful that he would be interested in her even if he did think she was cute or something. She had never had much luck with men and especially ones that were good looking. "Of course. I will get them for you. You said that they were the ones for Markus? Let's see, he did send a request for some files, let me just find it...." she broke off once she had the paper and frowned. Just wonderful. The files he needed were stored in the archive, which was in the sub-basement. Just what the hell did he need with these old files anyway? The information should be computerized by now so he could just pull it up but no, he had specifically requested the paper copies. What a dick!" Turning to Rexton she said, "I am sorry but I will have to go and retrieve the files. We have been a bit backed up and I have not had the chance to get them for Markus. They are in the sub-basement. You are welcome to wait her or come with me whichever you would prefer but it might take some time since things are not well organized down there." Tucking a stray hair behind her ear she got to her feet with a blush. She ha been pissed yesterday and when the request for the files for Markus, king douche of the floor, came down she had deliberately placed it on the bottom of her stack of work. She felt no need to bust her ass getting him things when he would just change his mind a few hours later or chastise her for being too slow or fast or whatever his mood called for at that time. He was always treating the women that worked here as his won personal slaves and called them baby and sweetness and such and managed to stay just this side of a sexual harassment lawsuit while being as sleazy as possible. If she had known that he would be sending someone else for the files she would have made it a point to get them much sooner. She hated to keep a fellow worker bee waiting and facing the possible wrath of Markus when they were delayed getting back to him due to her behavior. The noise outside seemed to be dying out a bit. She no longer could hear as many screams and knew that soon the lockdown would be over. That was something to be greatful for at any rate. Any day where there was a lockdown was extremely stressful and things and people sometimes got misplaced or ended up being places where they should not. She just hoped that she did not encounter anyone odd this time like she had the last time she had to go down to the sub-basement. Just thinking about that time made her shudder. The man she had ran into had turned out to be an escaped criminal who just so happened to make it inside the shutters before the lockdown and he had not been happy to be found by her in his hiding place. She was lucky that someone had heard her scream or she might have ended up raped or dead. Taking a deep breath and pasting back on her professional face, Karen looked up at Rexton and said, "Alright. I am headed down to get the files for you. If you are staying here I will try and make it back as soon as possible but if you are coming with then please follow me." She once again walked towards the elevators and thought that she could not wait for the day to be over and for her to be back home. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grinning at Damia as she ordered him around, then slapped him, and then ordered him around some more, Nathan did not say anything and just went to start appropriating their goods. He made quick work of the small things like the blender and the couple device. Then he started on the bigger items, such as the tv and a few other things that Damia had earmarked for him. By the time he was finished, stuff was safely back at their place an hour had passed and he was sweaty. He took one last look around the neighbor's house to make sure that there was nothing else of interest, and then made sure they had left no prints or evidence that they were there. He then went back out the window and shut he place up nice and tight. Hopefully they would just think that it was another gang robbery. Hell, even if they did report it to what passed for authorities in this area not much would be done about it. Anyone stuck in the zone knew that they were bound to be fucked over one way or the other at least once a week. It was just how things were. Damia and Nathan were just lucky since they did have some connections and people knew that if they messed with them that they would be paid back threefold with interest. Nathan wasted not time in stripping off his sweaty clothes and taking a quick shower. Once he was done he got dressed and walked back into the living room. He sat down on the couch and got his laptop out. While it booted up he went into the kitchen and started the prep for dinner with the stuff he had laid out before. It did not take too long since he was jut making burgers and home cooked fires. He set the food aside and washed his hands and went back into the living room. "Babe, I am going to start cooking in about 30 minutes so if you are going to shower or something make it short." He called out to Damia who he figured was back in the bedroom again. She tended to spend a lot of her time hoed up in there. He clicked on the site he was looking for and sent his emails to a few known associates who dealt in used goods and were not picky where they came from. He made arrangements to sell all but a few of the items there with a nice profit and then sat back with a sigh. It would be late tonight before they showed up to make the exchange so for now he was done. He was upset that he had not been able to move the couple device and the blender. True the couple device could be a bit tricky to resynch to new people and erase the old data and leave no traces or old biometrics but the blender stumped him. Everyone needed a damn blender. Maybe that was the issue. Oh well. Covertly looking over his shoulder to make sure that he was alone, he logged into his personal banking account and saw that the latest deposit had been made. Nice. Then he checked one last place and saw that he had another request from a client. This one made him raise his eyebrows and whistle. He wasn't sure that he could handle it alone. His potential employer wanted to make a certain millionaire agree to a trade deal and wanted to use him to use his "influential self" to make sure that he complied with all his demands. He was to obtain one of his children to make sure that the man agreed and if not then he was suppose to get rid of the entire family, including the millionaire. All this was to be done outside of the zone without being caught. Tricky. He had not told Damia about his gift yet but he might have to since some reliable backup might be necessary. He still had a few days before he ad to get back to them with a yes or a no so for now he would table it. He loved Damia with everything he ad but trusting her with such a secret, well that was another story altogether. Nathan shut down the laptop and put it away and then went back to the kitchen to begin cooking. His stomach growled and he grabbed a bite of cheese before getting the pan out to fry the meat and fries. He could hear some noises in the bedroom and figured that once the smell of the food hit the air, his lover would come running. She did love his cooking after all.