Gordon Gobbraith was not the kind of man who enjoyed work, not that any man ever does. He was nearing retirement in a Fortune 500 company, highly placed and well paid to move bits of paper around all day, shout at his subordinates, and generally keep things running in a very dull but orderly kind of way. He was in a skyscraper with an office that had a nice big window, looking out at other skycrapers where men like him did the things he did.
But something good had happened at the company lately, something that boded well for Gordon. Employees above a certain level on the managerial ladder had gotten to vote on a new perk they'd like to see for their job and they'd voted in (by a narrow margin over a private barista and espresso lounge) an in-office massage service. Three masseuses had been hired on and a little-used corner of Floor 36 had been converted into a massage parlor, complete with beds, changing rooms, lights with dimmer switches, and relaxing music. Gordon had been four times already and had had each of the masseuses work on him. The first two were uninteresting: a man with those disgusting gauges in his ears who was almost certainly gay, and a very stern, professional woman with fake nails who sometimes scratched her patrons, possibly intentionally.
But the third was a woman he liked to call 'Chica', the Spanish word for 'little girl', even though he knew very well that wasn't her name. It was the first step in degrading her, for she was a Mexican woman in her thirties with fair-to-middling brown tits, long, wavy black hair, and the most tempting set of plump red-painted lips he'd ever seen. The first time he felt her work on him he'd gotten a semi just from the massage as he imagined her lithe, strong fingers rubbing and squeezing other parts of him. He'd gotten out of the massage room and back to his office posthaste, where he'd called up a private eye to do a little digging for him. In the meantime he set up a daily appointment with her just after lunch, joking with his peers that a man as long in the tooth as he was needed as much help relaxing the muscles and joints as possible. A week later Chica was used to his periodic visits and the private eye called back with exactly what Gordon had expected he would find; a falsified work visa and an expired immigration visa, along with a couple other interesting treats he hadn't anticipated coming his way. He thanked the man, paid him his hush money, and printed copies of everything out in full color.
On the day of reckoning he entered the room in his towel, sat on the table, and waited. Chica entered only moments later, perfectly dressed in her starched white masseuse's uniform, hair pulled back, brown arms exposed and ready to work.
"Please sit down, Meester Gobbray," she said, smiling her red smile as she pointed to the table.
"I have something for you, Chica," he said.
"My name ees not Chica," she reminded him for the millionth time.
"Do you recognize this?" he asked, passing her the picture of the falsified visa.
She took it and for a moment didn't seem to understand, then her cheeks went white. "Can you read, Chica?"
"My name ees not Chica," she whispered, eyes not leaving the picture.
"This is a work visa that someone has paid a lot of money for. You know why they paid a lot of money for it?" He paused for a moment, savoring the scared, desperate expression on her face. "Because it isn't real, Chica."
"Meester Gobbray," she gasped, starting to cry.
"How about this, do you recognize this?" he asked, passing her the picture of the expired immigration visa. She was starting to cry in earnest now as she recognized it. He tapped one finger on her picture. "Is this you?" She nodded, tears dripping down her cheeks onto her chest. "Are you sure you know how to read? Because according to this date-," he tapped another portion of the document, "-your immigration visa expired almost eight months ago."
"Please- please- Meester Gobbray," she gasped, then said a string of Spanish, dropping both pictures and clasping her hands in front of him before switching again to English. "I not want to go. I am needing this money, very much."
"Go? You mean get fired? I'm afraid it's much more serious than that. You could get arrested and deported."
"No, no! I go then, I go, please Meester Gobbray, no tell no one, please, please!"