Steps
Thursday, continued…
After sending the message to Hou Yi, Anna decided to maintain their facade. She used the internal telephone system to contact Assistant Wang and arrange a meeting. Logging out of the CEO’s intranet, she walked towards the door.
On her way out, Anna spotted Supervisor An and stopped to ask, “Supervisor An, I need to contact Assistant Wang to arrange a time for the CEO to sign some documents that require my witness. How do I use the internal phone system to do that?”
Supervisor An hesitated, clearly reluctant to help, but wary of Anna’s previous assertiveness. After a brief pause, she responded, “Lawyer Jones, the best way to do that is to dial #010 on the phone. That will connect you to reception, and they can put you through to Assistant Wang. Any other method would be too complicated.”
“Thank you, Supervisor An,” Anna said, grateful for the information. She then closed the door and re-logged into the CEO’s intranet, quickly sending a message to Assistant Wang: “Wang Long, about to call you through reception to formally request an appointment. If you don’t hear from me, please give me a call. Thanks, Anna.”
After sending the message, Anna dialed reception and asked to be connected to Assistant Wang. The receptionist, aware of the earlier situation involving Anna, immediately routed her call to Assistant Wang, thinking she might be able to gather more information for Yang Lin.
“Assistant Wang, it’s Anna Jones,” Anna said as soon as the call was answered.
“Miss Jones, a pleasure to hear from you. Are you calling to set up a time for the CEO to sign some of those documents that need to be sent back to Australia?” Assistant Wang responded warmly, her tone professional but slightly guarded.
“That’s correct, Assistant Wang. Would it be possible to come by in about forty-five minutes?” Anna asked, trying to keep her voice casual.
“Given the urgency of the matter, CEO Hou has instructed me to prioritize your request, Miss Jones. How much time will you need? I’ll need to shift a meeting around,” Assistant Wang replied.
“No more than thirty minutes,” Anna responded.
“Thank you, Miss Jones. We’ll see you in about forty-five minutes.”
With that, Assistant Wang hung up. Anna briefly heard a faint noise before the call was completely cut off, confirming her suspicion that someone was listening in. She would need to inform Hou Yi about this.
Turning back to her desk, Anna resumed working through the documents, sending several to Hou Yi’s printer. Just as she was about to pack up and head to Hou Yi’s office, she received an email.
“Anna, file has been opened with restricted access. Application drafted in there for you to review, along with cost agreement. Let me know when you’ve drafted the affidavit. —Alfred”
Anna immediately responded. “Alfred, thanks. I’ll try to get to that tonight. —Anna.”
She then messaged Hou Yi: “Packing up here, will be up in a few minutes.”
“See you when you arrive,” Hou Yi replied.
Anna logged out of the intranet and gathered her things. As she exited the office, Supervisor An spotted her.
“Lawyer Jones, where are you going? The workday isn’t over yet.”
Anna paused and smiled politely. “Supervisor An, I have an appointment with the CEO in a few minutes in his office to go through documents. Once we’re done, given that the remaining documents haven’t arrived from my Australian employers, there’s little more I can do today. I don’t want to waste Hou Enterprises’ time and resources by staying here unnecessarily.”
Supervisor An seemed satisfied with Anna’s explanation, and Anna quickly left the office, heading toward Hou Yi’s.
