He reached into his briefcase and checked to see if everything he needed was in there. He patted it. Lighters, cigars. Pat, pat. The essay he was going to review at home was still there. Pat, pat. Everything was where he wanted it to be. Except for one thing...
He hoisted it up to his shoulders and pressed the button on his desk. There was a faint buzzing sound outside as his secretary was notified. She opened his door.
"Yes, Mr. Hift?"
He smiled at her. Strangely enough, she didn't smile back. Oh, well. She wasn't the same after the accident, and the doctors did "the best they could", whatever that meant. So he wasn't that surprised when she screwed up from time to time. Oh, well.
"Sally, did you take the brown little envelope to the office today? The one I needed you to sign?"
"Yes, Mr. Hift."
He frowned. Something was definitely wrong.
"Sally. Out of the way, please."
She didn't budge. The indifferent emotion remained on her face.
"Sally."
He pushed her. Still, she didn't move.
"Sally, execute operation Zero-Alpha-Beta-Clifford. End."
Her eyes went blanker than they already were, and she turned around and walked back to her desk.
"Oh, Sally," he mumbled as he bent over to pick up the wires that were falling out of her plastic head.