A thief in disguise

He was never the type of person to turn his back on the people who needed his help and thus, people came to him with their troubles, hoping that he'll solve them all. Mike was the Human resource manager in his company and he was a hardworking man. He had strived for over three years of working there to ensure that the company moved forward. Everyone loved and adored him because of his kind heart but this was soon to cause trouble to the company, after he had shown that kindness to the wrong person.

"So, this is my office, but I'll be sharing it with you in the meantime before you can get a team that you'll work with." Mike said to the man behind him as they walked into a large office.

"Thank you, sir, I appreciate your kindness. I won't let it go to waste." The man responded and Mike chuckled and strode farther into the office.

"It's a good thing that you intend to work and earn a living instead of going into fraudulent activities, so I'll always do my best to help people with a good mindset, such as yours." Mike said to him and walked to the other side of the office.
"This will be your desk for now. Settle in and come out, they'll show you around." Mike instructed and exited the office.

After he was gone, the new man stared at the closed door for some time and scoffed. He took a glance around the office and saw the camera that was in the far end of the office, then he walked to Mike's desk and peered out from the window. He went back to his desk and unpacked his briefcase.

"This is going to be fun." He said aloud to himself and left the office.

Mike walked into the CEO's office after he had knocked once.
"Mike, how's the guy doing?" His boss asked him.

"He'll settle in, I'm convinced. So far, I've shown him to my office, where he would work for some time." Mike replied.

"Are you sure about sharing your office with a stranger? It's not ideal for me." The man asked again.

"Well, I'll keep an eye on him. What could he possibly do? I have a hidden camera in my office." Mike responded and the CEO laughed.

"Good job, Mike. I don't know where this company could've headed if it weren't for you." The man said with a serious look.

"All the reason why you should pay me more." Mike teased and the two laughed at his joke.

"What's the man's name, anyway?" The CEO asked after their laughter had died down.

"Joshua." Mike replied shortly and his boss hummed and nodded his head.

Mike stood to his feet and after a few more seconds of discussion, he exited the office.
He walked briskly to his office and without knocking, he threw the door open and met a startled Joshua on his desk.

"Joshua?" Mike called out and walked towards him.

"I'm sorry, the view from your window is just alluring. I couldn't help but take a peek." Joshua explained and moved away from Mike's desk.

"I see, but you can't be slacking off at work. There's a lot that you need to do here. So far, have you been able to get anything done?" Mike asked him.

"Yeah," Joshua went back to his desk and pulled out some documents from the drawer. "I was able to put together all the accounts the company has and their method of transactions." Joshua said and handed Mike the document.

Mike went through the documents that Joshua had given him and smiled inwardly. It was a neat and perfect work and he immediately felt at ease with him.
"This is good. I'm convinced that you'll do well here." Mike commended.

"Thank you, sir." Joshua responded.

"Take the rest of the day off. Tomorrow, you'll resume fully as an accountant in this company." Mike said with a smile and Joshua nodded happily and left the office.

After he had left, Mike made a call and a young lady walked into his office holding a file.
"Were you able to find out all I had asked of you?" Mike asked her.

"Yes sir. Everything you need to know about him is in this file. I couldn't find anything suspicious about him though, but it's all in here." The lady responded and laid the file on his desk.

"Thanks, Mary. At least now, I'm at peace and I'm certain that he'll strive here." Mike said and Mary left the office.

---

That night, a masked man in a hoodie sneaked into the company's building and went into Mike's office. He moved noiselessly and went to Mike's desk, he opened the drawer and pulled out a chip that had been in the drawer. He set a laptop on the desk and inserted the chip into it and with an earpiece, he listened to Mike and Mary's earlier conversation. When he was done, he turned on Mike's computer and after several minutes of trying, he finally broke into the computer. He laughed satisfactorily to himself and snuck out of the office when he saw the flashlight from the security men who had come to guard the place.

Source

The next morning, Joshua came to work before Mike and when Mike came in and saw him, he was pleased that the newbie was taking the job seriously.
Joshua had his eyes on Mike all day but everything went smoothly till everyone dismissed and went home.

The next day, Joshua called Mike and reported that his mom had been in an accident. Mike asked him to take the day off and tend to his mother, he even sent him some money to help get the drugs that might be needed for his mother.
As Mike walked into the office, he met the place in disarray. The employees seemed to be agitated about something. Once Mary saw him, she ran to him.

"Sir, there's a huge problem." She whispered to him.

"What's going on?" Mike asked her.

"There has been a move of great funds from the company's account to an unknown account. We've been trying to trace it for some time but there's no progress. We wanted to keep it as quiet as possible so the CEO won't find out about it but it's harder than we thought. Whoever did this, was certainly a pro." Mary explained and Mike's mouth went open but no words could come out.

"There must've been a hitch somewhere. Why keep it quiet when the company is losing money to an unknown person?" Mike finally asked. He balled his hand to a fist out of annoyance.

"It came from your office. I think your system was hacked and if the CEO finds out, you'll take the brunt for it." Mary explained.

"My system can't be hacked. It has a great deal of firewall." Mike argued.

"That's why I said it must've been a pro that'd pull this off." Mary responded and Mike ran into his office with her on his tail.

He pulled out an iPad from his bag and turned it on. Suddenly, his office came into view on the iPad's screen.
"You have another camera in the office, sir?" Mary asked.

"Yes, no one knows about it though, but since you couldn't find anything on the footage, maybe we'll find something here." Mike said.

The night of the incident came into view and they watched the hooded man who had been on Mike's computer.
"Who could this be?" Mike wondered.

"Sir, Joshua isn't here yet." Mary said.

"He took the day off to tend to his sick mom," Mike replied and almost immediately, his hand went to his mouth.
"Joshua had been at my desk before I sent him home the other day. He could've implanted that chip in my drawer." Mike said aloud.

"And now, his mom is sick and he can't come to work? A perfect disguise for a criminal." Mary countered.

Mike dialed Joshua's number but it was said to no longer be in service.

"JOSHUA!!!" Mike roared. "Find that scoundrel and bring him to me." He barked at Mary and she hurriedly left his office.

They couldn't find him and Mike had to pay for the damages that Joshua had done to the company, thus, he swore never to employ any other person out of pity for the company again.

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