"When you have the courage to conquer your fears, you have the ability to conquer the world."
Robert Harper, a man in his fifties and CEO of Harper Inc, hires Sarah Brooks to be his assistant. But he doesn't realize that this was actually a part of...
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"This is breathtaking", Sarah exclaimed.
Cole had taken her on a tour of the building on Robert's orders. They had decided to start from the floor they were in, the last one in the building. He had led her to a balcony, beyond which lay the beautiful city of Seattle. They could see all the tall buildings that adorned the city. The cars below looked like tiny ants scuttling around. The view was mesmerizing.
"It is, isn't it? I always come here when I need to clear my head. It's very calming", he said.
Sarah tried to sink in the entire view before her. She could never get enough of the beauty of the city. She reminisced about the time when she lived with her parents there. She had had the best of friends, a great family and had absolutely loved her life.
Until that one fateful night.
"We better get going Miss Brooks. We have a whole building to explore", Cole said behind her.
That brought her back to the present. She tore her eyes away from the scene and promised herself that she would come back later.
"You have to stop calling me that, Mr - I don't know your last name."
"Atkinson. You can call me Cole, Sarah", he grinned at her, finally addressing her by her first name.
"Alright, Cole", she grinned back. Cole had been very easy to talk to. Despite his tough looks, he was a very kind and polite. Sarah felt very comfortable talking to him; it was like they were friends from many years.
They went to the supplies area next, where stacks of papers were arranged on shelves and several printers were running. A spare computer sat in a corner.
"This is where you take printouts and copies of documents," he gestured to the machines. "Here, I'll teach you how."
After learning how to make copies, take printouts and handle the squeaking printer, they proceeded to the conference room. "This is where most of the meetings take place", he told her. It was an enormous room, which could accommodate at least a hundred people. It was exquisitely designed to be both modern and casual, just like the rest of the building.
After walking through the rest of the floor, which mostly consisted of rooms belonging to top executives of the company, they decided to explore the rest of the building. As they waited for the elevator to come up to their floor, Cole began to list the various departments on each floor.
"The floor below us mostly belongs to Kevin's department, and so does floor twenty, nineteen and eighteen. Consumer Services is on floor ten, eleven and twelve. And then there's finance on floor fifteen- ", he stopped when he caught sight of her face. "You're not getting this, are you?"
"Not really", said Sarah apologetically, but he just laughed, shaking his head.
Sarah looked around at the building, feeling a sense of apprehension. Harper Inc. was huge, and no doubt powerful. A single employee wouldn't make much difference to the company, and that's why she had to be very careful. Or else she would be packing her bags in no time.
Cole sensed her uneasiness. "Hey, I know it's your first job. All this might seem overwhelming at first – that's how I felt at least. But you'll get used to it after a few days", he reassured her.
She smiled at him. "Thanks Cole."
The elevator pinged, signalling its arrival and Sarah and Cole stepped into it. It was when they started descending from the twenty – fifth floor that it suddenly occurred to her.
"Cole, what exactly is 'The Unspeakables'? I've been wanting to know that ever since I read the rules."
Cole looked suddenly tense. He looked behind him as if to make sure they were the only people in the elevator.
"Don't get caught saying that out loud. You aren't supposed to speak about it." His voice was low even though nobody else was in the elevator. "It's basically a committee consisting of the people from top management. The CEO invites only the executive managers of various departments to the committee meeting. Roughly six to eight members. Nobody else is allowed."
"Yeah I know. It was in the rules. But why is that?"
"Because nobody is allowed to talk about what happens in the meetings or what they're about. Hence the name 'The Unspeakables'. It's all hushed. The CEO once said that they deal with important matters concerning the development of the company, which was why it was necessary to keep it a secret, or else our competitors could make use of it."
"And who exactly are the members of the committee at present?"
"As I said, just the top guys. The head of department of various sub-branches of the company are currently the members. When a meeting is called, only they are allowed to attend it. Nobody else has ever managed to discover what happens in those meetings."
Sarah was quiet for a moment, trying to absorb everything that he just told her.
"When was this started? Has it been like this all the time? Just the top ones I mean", she asked him.
"The committee was formed when Robert Harper came to power as the CEO, fifteen years ago. He was the one who started it, and it has always been just the top guys. It has been going strong ever since."
Sarah was silent for what felt like a long time. The elevator pinged again and the doors opened, but she barely took notice of her surroundings. She blindly followed Cole out of the elevator. Her mind was working rapidly, recollecting all the things she'd read about the company. Did she miss anything? No, this kind of information was hard to miss. She had read a lot of articles in newspapers and websites, but had never heard of the existence of such a committee.
And then it hit her.
The committee itself was kept a secret from the outside world.
Why hadn't she thought of that before?
"How do they manage to keep it hidden from the media?", she asked Cole, voicing out her thoughts.
"Very few employees in the company know about the committee. Only the people working for the top guys are aware about it. They are also required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. That was why I asked you to be careful while saying it out loud", he said. Suddenly his eyebrows pulled together in confusion. "Wasn't that there in the rules and conditions document that you had to sign?"
She nodded. "Yep. But I wasn't aware I was among the few people who knew about it."
She didn't realize when the elevator pinged again, and it took Cole more than calling her name to bring her back to her senses.
"Sarah? Sarah! Are you okay?", he shook her roughly when she didn't answer.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry. I just - zoned out I guess."
"Okay", he wasn't entirely convinced. "Well, we're here."
They had arrived at the cafeteria which was on the ground floor. It was noisy and filled with people, considering it was almost lunch time.
"You must be hungry. Do you want to get some food before you start your work?", Cole asked her.
"Yeah. I'm starving."
"Okay let's go -", he was interrupted by his phone ringing. He took it out of his pocket and his eyes grew wide when he looked at the screen.
"Damn! I almost forgot. I've got to go Sarah. Kevin's appointments are not cancelled yet and that woman will have my throat if I don't do it. Will you be okay on your own?"
"Yeah, of course." She wanted to ask what he was talking about, but he was already going back towards the elevator.
"See you later!" she told his retreating form to which Cole turned back and gave her a wave before he was no longer seen among the crowds.
