"He'll see you now," a voice announced.

She nodded. Okay. Show time.

She stood up from the sofa in the waiting area and walked the long hallway to her boss's office. The walls were lined with photos of other employees. On the left side of the hallway were the stars—the people who'd never failed at a job. For them, the sky was the limit. They could have anything they wanted: money, power, influence.

Well, anything they wanted except for the opportunity to quit.Ever .

Along the right side were the employees who had messed up a job. Failed on an assignment.

They hadn't needed to quit.

They would have had an appointment with the Boss exactly like the one she was about to have. Then their photo would be moved from one side of the hallway to the other as an example to others.

She always knew a place that listed "burial options" on the job application form had a few potential human-resource issues.

Janie had had two meetings with the Boss prior to this one. The first had been when her very ex-boyfriend had tricked her into taking his place at the Company (which was what the organization was generically known as to those unfortunate enough to know it even existed). He'd been able to trick her because she'd imagined herself in love with the good-looking creep. He'd been so convincing and charming that she'd signed the dotted line happily. A little less happily when she realized she had to sign in blood, but still. He promised that they would work there together. The jerk lied. He took off late one night when she was fast asleep and she never saw him again. He'd managed to beat the system.

Now she was the system.

The second time she'd had a meeting with her boss had been slightly over a year ago when her previous partner screwed up a job and tried to blame it on Janie. They'd both been dragged in on the carpet, and the Boss had been very calm in listening to their explanations before cleanly and efficiently decapitating her partner right in front of her.