Chapter 4 — The First Strike

Charlie

Charlie leaned back in her ergonomic office chair, her piercing blue eyes narrowing as she studied the glowing monitor in front of her. The office hummed with the quiet efficiency she usually found soothing, but today, it grated against her nerves. The faint hiss of the breakroom’s coffee machine sounded like taunting static, a reminder of the calm she couldn’t summon. She adjusted the cuffs of her tailored blazer, her fingers brushing the engraved "C.H." on her fountain pen as it caught the fluorescent light.