A DAUGHTER'S DUTY

Mr. Gary Peterson held the phone closer to his ears, giving it a firm grip. His eyes twinkled in disbelief as he listened to what the person on the other line was saying. It didn't make sense. None of this made sense.

"So, you're saying that I cannot lay my hands on this document anymore because my enemy has it?" He asked, finally finding his voice.

"I warned you," The voice on the other side of the line said, "This was your very last lifeline and you blew it. Edmund Hamilton has the list now. There's nothing much I can do to help you from here."

Mr. Gary Peterson began to pace through the empty space in his office, rubbing his forehead. His head was beginning to heat up.

"So, this is it. SkyNet is gone," He said, his voice filled with grief.

There was a momentary silence on the line.

"Maybe not."

Mr. Peterson stopped abruptly at the spot. He was sure he must have misheard something. 

"What?"

He heard the man heave on the line.

"Well, you could steal it from Edmund. The document, I mean."

Mr. Peterson's mind swirled in confusion.

"I don't understand," He confessed, "How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

The man on the other side of the line gave an impatient sigh.

"Use your initiative, Gary," He paused and added almost immediately, "If you must know, Edmund is looking for a new personal assistant."

Then, the line went dead.

Mr. Gary Peterson stood motionless for almost a full minute, weighing his thoughts. He was staring at the blank wall before him, looking at nothing in particular. 

SkyNet was his whole life. He had invested his entire life into growing and expanding SkyNet, and everything seemed to be going smoothly for a long time. He was living the dream most people only dreamed of. He had fleets of cars than he knew what to do with. He attended many of those cocktail dinners where he wore a fancy suit and shook hands with the high and mighty in the society. But all that was about to end. SkyNet was about to fall and he was watching helplessly from the sidelines, unable to do anything to save it.

There has to be a way out! He thought to himself.

The pain in his back returned, slowly spiralling its way from his torso down to his spine. At fifty-six, Mr. Peterson was an erudite-looking man with a tall and lean frame. He'd stopped going to the gym for a while because he'd gotten rather too busy with running his business. The pain in his back had started over a month ago. The pain relievers saved him from it for only a short while. It usually returned when he was stressed or tense. Those two words best described how he felt at that moment.

He walked slowly towards his seat behind the large mahogany table in his office and lowered himself unto it.

The words of the man came back to him.

"You can steal it from Edmund."

"If you must know, Edmund is looking for a new personal assistant."

It took less than a second for the idea to dawn on him. His eyes lit up immediately and he grabbed his phone at once. Mr. Peterson dialled the number and held his breath, waiting for the line to beep.

******

"What? Dad, are you for real?" She asked, her eyes filled with terror, "How the hell do you expect me to pull this off without being caught?"

Mr. Peterson remained calm. He had a thoughtful look on his face. He'd known it would freak her out. Just ten minutes ago, his daughter, Emily, had arrived in his office and he'd just finished telling her about a plan he had conceived all on his own. This was not his style, but at this point, he'd run out of options.

"Think of it this way," He began after a long pause, "If I lose SkyNet, we lose everything. I'm very sure that is not what you want."

"I also don't want to pretend to be someone I'm not, Dad," Emily said, throwing her head backwards to drive her point home.

"You're not actually going to be his personal assistant for days or even months or weeks," Mr. Peterson said, his gaze fixed on her. He was begging her with his eyes. "All you have to do is to make him feel comfortable around you, then you steal the document. That's it."

Emily pondered on his words for a moment.

"And what if he finds out who I am?"

Mr. Peterson dismissed the idea at once.

"He won't. There's a reason why my face is on all the magazine sections about SkyNet Company and yours isn't. He won't know who you are because your face is not popular, no offence."

Emily was silent for a long moment, her mind absorbing his words, trying to process them. Maybe her father was right. Maybe this was the only way out of this. But, slowly, her fears returned back to her mind. What if he caught her?

"Listen, Emily," Mr. Peterson began, as if reading her mind, "I know you're scared. I know you're worried whether this is going to work or not, but I assure you, if you don't take this chance, you will live to regret it all your life."

Her eyes flashed at him at once.

"What? Are you removing me as the heir of SkyNet?"

Mr. Peterson chuckled lightly.

"Is that all you're worried about?" He leaned closer on his seat, levelling his eyes on hers, "If you don't do this, there will be no SkyNet to run."

Emily's lips parted, as if she wanted to say something, and then she swallowed up her words almost immediately. 

Her father was rapping his hands on the desk, like he usually did when he was plotting or scheming.

"The clock is ticking, Emily."

Emily's eyes wandered to her father's face and as soon as their eyes met, she knew what she had to do.