Contributor (Contributor Trilogy, book 1) (2 page)

"Thanks." She squeezed his arm gently and he placed his free hand over hers.

"And you look fantastic," he complimented, shooting her a quick, appreciative gaze.

She blushed. Though he bestowed compliments freely when they were alone, they both usually kept things at a more professional level when they were out in public. After all, they were always representing Magnum.

However, she couldn't deny that she felt fantastic. From her sleek, dark stockings to her fitted black skirt and blazer, she felt every inch the Contributor. She had carefully tamed and smoothed her thick, golden brown hair into a perfect twist at the nape of her neck. Her deep blue eyes were clear; she had gone to bed early to ensure they would be, and she had applied her makeup with a meticulous hand.

"You're a very professional representative of Magnum yourself," Dara complimented. He was an unusually handsome guy, with thick, waving chestnut locks and striking green eyes, chiseled cheekbones and perfect lips. His tall, lean frame was meant for his tailored black suit, which added an air of smooth sophistication to his natural grace. There was no doubt in her mind he'd be a smashing success.

He couldn't suppress a smile, though he smoothed his features as he said hello to a friend of his father's. "I want to just savor this moment," he murmured.

"You should. You've worked so hard for it." For a long, satisfying moment, Dara basked in the golden glow that seemed to envelop them.

As they approached Magnum's headquarters, Jonathan gave her hand one final squeeze before she removed it, allowing it to hang casually by her side. She took a deep breath, drew herself up to her full five feet five inches, and lifted her chin confidently. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a small smile play across Jonathan's mouth.

"Good morning, Dara," Contributor D'Angelo said, as they stepped inside.

"Good morning," Dara replied. D'Angelo looked rather appraisingly at Jonathan, and Dara decided introductions were in order. "Allow me to introduce you to Jonathan Canterly. Jonathan, this is Contributor D'Angelo."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Jonathan," D'Angelo said, extending her hand to him. Her face showed approval at the firmness of his handshake. "I've been fortunate enough to work with your father in the past. Please give him my regards."

"I'm very pleased to meet you, Contributor," Jonathan said with a smile. "I'll give my father your message. I hope you'll both excuse me. I don't want to keep Head of Logistics Gonzales waiting."

"Have a productive day," D'Angelo said.

"Thank you. You as well," Jonathan replied. He turned to Dara, his warm gaze reassuring. "I'll see you tonight."

"He has the makings of an excellent Contributor," D'Angelo commented, as Jonathan walked away. Though her words sounded like a compliment, something in her tone gave Dara pause.

"Thank you, Contributor D'Angelo." Dara studied her master but could discern nothing.

"Please, call me Letizia. You're the daughter of Joshua and Leona Morrow?"

"Yes, I am."

"I understand that your father has been instrumental in streamlining Magnum's accounting processes, and that your mother is one of the managers of information systems."

"That's right." It surprised Dara that Letizia was so well-informed. Though her parents were both widely respected Contributors, neither of them worked in engineering. It was a little unusual for Letizia to know that much detail about someone with whom she didn't work closely.

"Head of Engineering Andersen and I are of the opinion that knowledge can be quite valuable," Letizia said, apparently noticing Dara's surprise. "Come on. I'll take you to him. He'll be pleased that you're early. "

Dara wondered if Andersen kept some kind of score, and she tried not to worry. Though Letizia had just offered a certain level of casualness, Dara knew Andersen wouldn't extend the same courtesy. All of his underlings, no matter how senior, would always be expected to address him by his title, never by his first name.

As Letizia led her through the building, Dara's mind raced. Her master was so hard to read, and there was something about the woman that Dara found very disconcerting. She was so distracted that, by the time they arrived at the engineers' floor, she couldn't have said how they'd made it there. She knew she would be hopelessly lost if she tried to find her way back to the front entrance, and she mentally kicked herself for being so lax.

Andersen appeared before them, seemingly materializing out of nowhere, and Dara nearly jumped.

"Ah, Apprentice Morrow," Andersen said. "I'm pleased to see you arrived a little early for your shift. I approve of initiative." The appraising way Andersen studied her made her extremely uncomfortable.

"Thank you, Head of Engineering Andersen," she said, with as much composure as she could muster.

"Please, there's no need to be quite so formal. You may call me 'sir'."

"Thank you, sir." Dara's palms began to sweat. This man intimidated her as no one else ever had.

"Shall we begin?" Andersen asked. "We have a lot to cover, and chances are you're very ill prepared."

Alarmed, Dara cast quick glance at Letizia. The faintest of creases appeared between her master's eyebrows as Letizia attempted to conceal a frown.

"Then I am eager to defer to your guidance," Dara responded. To her relief, Andersen nodded at her approvingly.

"Follow me." He strode off briskly toward a door on the far side of the room.

The bubble of happy anticipation that had been in Dara's stomach all morning hardened into a lump of icy anxiety.

Chapter 3

As she entered the conference room, Dara held her breath. To her immense relief, she had arrived before the other candidates, a fact which seemed to please Letizia enormously. Her master didn't even bother hiding the triumphant look on her face. Andersen sat at the head of the table and indicated chairs to his right.

A moment later, the door to the conference room opened, and Contributor Chen entered. Dara's stomach sank as she saw who followed him.

"Ryan LeTour is one of the apprentices?" Dara whispered to Letizia, who quirked a brow at her.

Ryan looked at Dara with a rather sour expression, and she smiled sweetly at him in response. He glared at her for a second before turning his full attention to Andersen.

Before Dara could worry too much about Ryan, the door opened again. Contributor Walters entered with Javier Gutierrez, and Dara felt the slightest twinge of relief. Though she hadn't expected the apprenticeship to be easy, her competition made her unhappier than she wanted to admit.

As surreptitiously as possible, Dara studied the other senior engineers. Tall and dark-skinned, with close-cropped dark hair that accentuated her lovely brown eyes and full mouth, Walters appeared to be in her mid-thirties. Dara envied the dignified, confident way the senior engineer carried herself.

Short and wiry, Chen also looked to be in his mid-thirties. His whole body vibrated, as if it couldn't contain his energy. Even the tips of his short, spiky black hair seemed to crackle with electricity.

"Welcome, candidates, to Magnum's most prestigious engineering apprenticeship," Andersen said, rising from his seat. With a slight gesture of his hand, the lights dimmed, and the Magnum logo appeared behind him. "As you know, Magnum is a premier Job Creator, and we are all privileged to Contribute to Magnum's success.

"Much is expected of Magnum's apprentices, but this is especially true of the three of you. Your evaluation results suggest that you are the cream of the crop. You had best be prepared to work your hardest to prove it."

Andersen fixed his gaze on each of them in turn. When he turned his attention on her, Dara ignored her fluttering stomach and tried to project an air of composure. She let out a nearly audible sigh of relief as he looked away from her.

"Understand this: your being here guarantees nothing," Andersen informed them. "I have been known to reject all candidates when I've felt they had nothing to offer. It will be up to you to prove to me that this will not be one of those years."

As he continued on in this vein, Dara's throat tightened and her palms sweat. The palpable tension in the room didn't ease until he finally moved on, explaining Magnum's organizational structure. From there, he gave them an overview of each of the projects on which the engineering teams were working.

By the time Andersen began to wrap up, it was already well after two o'clock. Though fascinated, Dara struggled to ignore her rumbling stomach, and she couldn't help but suspect Andersen had intentionally carried on for so long as a means of testing the apprentices' stamina.

"We will reconvene in engineering in thirty minutes," Andersen ordered.

"Come on, Dara," Letizia said, standing up and gathering her things while Dara remained glued to her seat, dumbfounded.

"Uh, right." Dara scrambled to her feet.

"I know a spot where we can sit and talk for a while, but we'll need to walk quickly," Letizia said, speaking in a low voice. Dara nodded and picked up her pace in an attempt to match Letizia's much longer stride.

They wound their way through several corridors and, just as Dara became hopelessly lost, Letizia led her into a small alcove between two conference rooms.

"I hope you can talk and eat at the same time," Letizia said. "If not, don't eat. You need to tell me everything you know about your competition."

A little taken aback, Dara nodded curtly and began yanking her lunch things out, talking all the while. "Ryan LeTour consistently scored near the top in my classes." She paused for a second, taking a bite of her sandwich and chewing.

"Talk while you chew," Letizia said brusquely, sighing exasperatedly at the expression on Dara's face. "Get used to it. There's no time for leisurely eating."

"Aren't you going to eat?" Dara asked, knowing she was getting off topic.

"I never eat during shift—and it would be a good idea for you to learn to do so as well."

"Right." Dara's stomach clenched in protest.

"So LeTour got high scores, so what? That doesn't tell me anything about him."

"He's ruthless," Dara blurted, her face flaming from a mixture of embarrassment and bewilderment.

"Now we're getting somewhere," Letizia muttered. "Ruthless how?"

"Ruthless, ruthless: he'll stop at nothing to succeed and he'll get away with it. More than once he was suspected of sabotaging other students, but no one could ever prove it. He knows how to cover his tracks."

"So no frontal assaults on him." Letizia pulled her stylus and tablet out and began scribbling furiously. "He must have something to lose. We'll have to ferret it out."

Dara blanched. What Letizia proposed sounded every bit as ruthless as Ryan's behavior, and Dara didn't really know if she wanted to play that game. But, before she could voice this thought, Letizia moved on.

"What about Gutierrez?"

"I don't know," Dara said honestly. "He wants to win, of course, and he's brilliant. But it's hard to tell exactly how he plays the game."

"So he's a much bigger threat than LeTour. Fortunately for you, I'm excellent at studying others."

"Studying others?" Dara asked, mentally kicking herself for sounding like such an idiot.

"Yes, Dara. How do you think I got where I am? Surely you've noticed that both Jin and Maxine are quite a bit older than I am. Don't take that to mean that I'm a better engineer. I'm not. I'm just very, very good at playing the game."

"I see." Dara suddenly didn't have much appetite left. Sure, she was lucky to have Letizia as a master, but what would happen when her apprenticeship ended and she became Letizia's colleague?

"You will. I'll teach you," Letizia said brusquely. "Now come on, we only have ten minutes to get back to engineering.

"I'm ready." When Letizia turned away, Dara allowed herself the luxury of a frown as she studied the remnants of her lunch. She hastily shoved them into a trash chute, her stomach protesting loudly.

It occurred to her that Letizia and the other engineers might have much more to lose than the apprentices. She had been so focused on the competition between apprentices that she'd forgotten the competition between the engineers was every bit as fierce.

Chapter 4

When everyone had returned to the conference room, Andersen led the apprentices to their stations. Dara's first good look at the engineering department overwhelmed her. Nothing had prepared her for the reality of being a part of Magnum's team. For one crazy moment, she felt like hugging and kissing Andersen, her competitors, and the senior engineers. Her giddiness, however, didn't last very long.