Under Surveillance

Elias felt it first as a prickle on the back of his neck, a sensation akin to standing too close to a crackling fire. It wasn’t the warmth that bothered him, but the certainty that he was being watched. The hum of the office air conditioning, once a comforting drone, now sounded like a thousand tiny eyes, each one fixed upon him. He’d spent the morning meticulously reviewing the latest quarterly reports, his fingers flying across the keyboard, but his mind was miles away, replaying the cryptic phrases from the ledger, the chilling resonance of Silas Blackwood’s veiled threats.

He’d tried to shake it off, chalking it up to paranoia, the natural byproduct of unearthing a secret so monumental. But the feeling persisted, a persistent shadow clinging to his every move. When he’d requested a printout of a specific historical market analysis, the request had been met with an unusual delay, followed by a polite but firm refusal from IT, citing “system-wide security protocols.” A system-wide security protocol that had never, in his two years at Sterling & Finch, prevented a simple print job.

Later, during his lunch break, he’d decided to take a walk in the nearby park, hoping the fresh air would clear his head. As he strolled along the familiar path, he noticed a man sitting on a bench, reading a newspaper, his face obscured by the broadsheet. Nothing unusual, except the man remained in the exact same spot, his posture unmoving, for the entire twenty minutes Elias spent circling the lake. When Elias finally left, the man’s head, still hidden, seemed to follow his retreating figure.