Chapter Text
Prey; a creature that is hunted and killed for food by another animal.
“To Shane’s new job!” A voice shouts, shot glasses clink against each other, followed by a stinging in Shane Hollander’s throat.
He sits at an old bar somewhere in Montreal, at a table with garbage still on it from the customers before. Across from him is his best friend Hayden, who now has an arm around his wife. It’s a small gathering of people, all here to celebrate him. Or rather, the job that he has been needing for over a year. Finally, he would no longer have to live in Hayden’s guest room, and that was very appealing.
To his left is his other friend Scott, he grips Shane’s shoulder. “I still remember having to sneak you into bars, Hollander!” He shouts, his voice only slightly higher than the blaring music and TV volume.
He nods in response, offering a half smile. While the entire hangout and celebration is something he appreciates, the noise and crowd are not. Come to think of it, bars like this have never really been Shane’s slice of cake.
“Thanks again.” He says, now looking around the small table.
His hand moves slightly to grab after his glass of ginger ale, washing down the taste of the shot. Jackie—Hayden’s wife—stood up, she pointed to each group member at the table and recited their order before going back over to the bar.
Shane would never admit it out loud, but Jackie was his favourite partner of the group. Out of all the women Hayden and Scott had, Jackie has been the one he connected most with. Maybe it was her kindness, always sticking her fridge with ginger ale for him. Or, taking him on shopping trips, asking his opinion for outfits. In the past, Hayden’s other girlfriends did not enjoy Shane living in their spare room. He can’t blame them, it’s not perfect. There were times when he’d stay at a hotel for a few days, hoping not to bother them. However, Jackie was never like that. Even when he offered to leave for a few days, she insisted he stay.
“Keep looking at my wife like that, and I might have to kill you, Hollander.” Hayden’s voice perks up, followed by a deep laugh.
“Don’t worry, she is all yours.” Shane states, attempting a chuckle.
The evening continues on, Jackie returns with the drinks and sorts out who’s is who’s. As the night progresses, so does the group’s intoxication. Jackie now clings to Hayden’s arm, while whispering sweet nothings to her. Scott has wandered off to who knows where, and Shane silently sits watching the show on one of the big TVs. Apart from the celebratory shot he had taken earlier, all he had to drink was his ginger ale. Which means he is once again in charge of ensuring everyone returns home safely.
The first task was attempting to find Scott, who has a habit of finding the weirdest places to hide. Shane shifts his body off the high up chair, and taps the table in front of Hayden.
“I’m finding Scott, you two stay put.” He instructs, his eyebrows narrow and eyes stare at the couple.
Hayden laughs, but agrees to stay put. It’s only then, Shane wanders deeper into the bar.
It takes a while, but eventually Shane spots Scott slumped against a wall. Beside him is a slightly shorter man, who he clunks glasses with. They look deep in drunken conversation, with Scott using his free hand to illustrate whatever it is the two are speaking about. For a moment, Shane questions going to intervene. Scott is all smiles, and the man he is with doesn’t look like he’d drug him. Then, he remembers he has to be up early tomorrow for his first day, and pulls himself together before walking towards the two.
“-and then I—,” Scott cuts off, his head turning and eyes looking at Shane as he comes close.
“—Hey Hollander, just telling my friend here all about my glory days.” He explains, a drunk smile plastered on his face, his eyes full of excitement.
A groan escapes Shane’s lips, and he glances between the two men. “Come on, I need to get everyone home. I have an early morning.” He says, before attempting to grab at Scott’s arm.
“Rude, let me say goodbye to my friend.” Scott whines, slightly pulling back from Shane’s grasp.
Thus, he is stuck standing there watching Scott exchange phone numbers with the man. The two giggle and whisper words that he is unable to hear, and he feels lucky for that. Eventually, Scott turns his attention back to him. It’s only the the two march back through the bar and to find Hayden and Jackie. The two are still in the same position they were when Shane left, though a glass of water is now in front of Jackie.
At the table, Shane reaches into his jacket pocket. He snatches up his phone and quickly orders Scott an uber, feeling a bit of relief that the uber is only five minutes away. Then, he makes sure everyone has gathered their things. After the glass of water, Jackie is a bit more functional and assists Hayden in putting on his coat. Shane checks Scott, and ensures his wallet and phone are on him. Once it is clear everyone is ready, the small group leaves the bar.
With an arm over his shoulder, Shane helps Scott stay standing as he searches for the uber. Eventually, he spots the small red Sudan, and assists his friend in getting in. After seeing him off, he regroups with Jackie and Hayden, heading towards their car.
A white SUV, bought roughly a year ago. At the time, Hayden had confessed to Shane that the car was bought with the hopes that one day soon a car seat would sit in the back. For now though, in the back is Jackie and Hayden.
Shane barely drove, something about driving filled him with unprecedented anxiety. He didn’t trust anyone else on the road, he had seen those stupid driver videos plenty of times. Of course, this situation did not leave him much of a choice. So, he sits himself into the driver’s seat and hopes the roads are empty tonight.
Rozanov Enterprises is located in downtown Montreal, in one of the many glassy buildings. It’s easily recognizable from the skyline, and sits tall enough to touch clouds. What started as a Russian company, became an internally recognized wonder of the world.
Shane pushed through the glass doors of the building, following the small crowd of business formal people inside. They all stop at a security desk and swipe a badge located somewhere on them, a badge he had yet to obtain. He moves away from the small line forming to scan badges, and approaches the desk beside the scanners. Eventually, a middle aged woman in a security uniform offers him a slice of attention.
“Vistor, broken badge or other.” She asks firmly, her fingers tap away at a keyboard in front of her.
“Other..?” Shane answers, his voice breaking slightly.
“What is your business here then? No meetings are scheduled for this morning.” She reports, now looking between him and the screen in front of her.
“I’m a new hire, I don’t have a badge.” He replies, trying his best to not give off stalker energy to this security person.
“Mm, I need to see some ID.” She claims, her eyes now refocused on the screen and her fingers tapping away.
Shane pulls at the backpack on his back, and shuffles through it. Eventually, he pulls out a brown leather wallet and grabs his ID. He reaches up and places it onto the desk before standing back up to meet her. She stares at the ID, and then him. It takes a moment, but she nods and slides the ID back to him. Shane watches as she moves to the right of the desk and starts going through a cabinet. While she does this, he puts his ID and wallet back, placing his backpack back on.
Soon enough, she returns with a badge and puts it in front of him. “It’s a simple system, scan the badge when you enter and exit.” She explains, and Shane’s hand slowly grabs at the badge.
With the new badge in his grip, he prepares to go over to the scanners. Before he can reach the line the security woman catches his attention again.
“Oh, I called up. Rose will be waiting for you on floor sixteen!” She calls after him, and he nods now joining the line of bodies waiting to scan their IDs.
Floor sixteen is…empty? There is a short hallway with two separate offices, Shane chooses the right office to investigate first. Inside there are desks, two to be exact. It looks like two man areas, one with two desks and another with a solo desk. Notably, the solo desk room seems larger than the two desk rooms. However, as Shane ventures into the office space he quickly comes to realize he is the only one on the floor. He approaches one of the desks, where a notebook and pens sit. A purse is on the floor next to the desk and a jacket slung over the back of the chair, clearly someone else was here.
On the walls are framed pictures of articles featuring the company. They mention the victories of the company, the purchase of a large quantity of stock in the MHL. As Shane stares at the framed news articles, the elevator dings.
“Shit, shit, shit.” A woman rushes in, a tray of coffee in her hands.
Silently, Shane watches as she rushes over to the solo office and places a coffee onto the desk. The woman is frantic as she rushes around gathering random papers and books, placing them neatly onto the solo desk. Her fire kissed brown hair bounces with her movements, the slight curls staying perfectly in place.
At some point, she slows down and leans up against the desk with the items around and on it. She looks up, and her eyes contact Shane's.
“Who are you?” She asks, her eyes beginning to examine him.
“Shane Hollander, I’m the new hire.” He explains, once again he attempts to look harmless.
“Oh thank the heavens.” She sighs, and turns from her position.
The woman grabs at something on her desk, a small beige folder. She then approaches Shane and hands it over to him.
“I’m Rose Landry, I’m Ms. Vetrova’s assistant. We’ll work close together, Mr. Rozanov and her are quite fond of each other.” The woman—-Rose—-explains, she moves to behind the second desk and grabs out a laptop from a drawer putting it on top.
“That file contains all the information you’ll need to use our online services. It also contains the number you’ll use to contact Mr. Rozanov with.” Rose continues, tapping the chair behind the desk.
Following her lead, Shane takes a seat on the chair and opens the file. It all seems simple enough, a username and password. Then, at the bottom of the page was a phone number. He opens the lid of the laptop, and—-with Rose over his shoulder—-he inserts the username and password. When he successfully gets into the program, Rose returns to her desk and slowly stays to gather her things.
“You’re leaving?” Shane questions, watching as Rose puts the last of her things into her purse and rises from her chair.
“Obviously, don’t worry I’ll be close. Ms. Vetrova’s office is next door. I was simply stepping in while they found a replacement.” She offers reassurance before grabbing for her coat, and heads for the door.
“Oh, and Shane.” She speaks up again, half out the door.
“Make yourself invisible.” With that, she leaves, closing the door behind herself.
Suddenly, an uneasy feeling begins to fester in his stomach. Being invisible wouldn’t be hard for him, but why? He would take Rose’s advice by all means, but couldn’t grasp what she meant. At least he uncovered a mystery, who he was actually working for.
Quickly, he opens google and types in ‘Rozanov Canada Enterprises.’ A few search results pop up, all mentioning a mid twenties man. First name, Ilya. Apparently he overlooks the Canadian division—-and parts of the USA division—- of the company. According to google he is twenty-five, and the more promising son of the company head.
Before he can search further the elevator dings once more, and when Shane looks to see who it is, it happens to be the very man he was googling seconds before.