Chapter 5
Marcy closed the door behind her, and Sula braced herself. She would plead for her job if she had to. If she explained about the custody hearing, maybe-
“Hi Sula.” Marcy smiled as she took a seat in the visitor’s chair. “How have you been? I feel like we’ve been out of touch lately.” Marcy was in her early sixties, but only her sun-weathered face betrayed her age. The rest of her was still working hard at looking forty-something.
Sula mind raced. What was this about? It didn’t sound like a dismissal, but Marcy was known for being evasive. “I’m good.” She tried to smile. “How about you?”
“Also good.” Marcy paused. “I’ve got a delicate situation I need to talk to you about.”
Sula’s heart pounded. Just say it!
Marcy launched in. “An employee has filed a sexual harassment complaint about Sergio. I know for a while there he was rather flirtatious with you. Did he ever cross the line?”
Sula wanted to laugh with relief. Sergio, the creep from marketing, had finally gone too far. “Not really. He bugged me to go out with him, but he never touched me.”
“Sexual harassment doesn’t have to be physical.”
“I realize that.”
Some of Sergio’s comments had been offensive, but he was so annoying and so over the top that she had laughed at him most of the time. He had lost interest rather quickly. Sula couldn’t afford to be involved in the situation. “He was irritating, but not inappropriate. I believe he’s capable of sexual harassment, so whoever has complained, you should take her seriously.”
“We are.” Marcy unexpectedly reached over and patted Sula’s hand. Sula fought the urge to pull away. Marcy asked, “Are you happy with the company?”
“Sure.” Even small white lies made her uncomfortable.
“Good.” Marcy stood to leave. “It will be different when JB takes over, but I’m trying to stay optimistic.”
“Will you have to lay people off?”
“Most likely.”
“What about my position?”
“I think you’re safe. Thanks for being upfront with me.”
“Sure.”
Marcy gave her a small wave and left the room. Sula heaved a sigh of relief, shut down her computer, and followed her out.
Rudker pulled his short-trip suitcase from the walk-in closet and set it on the bed. Packing had become a precise operation, no more complicated than preparing a familiar meal. Two white, long-sleeved shirts, a light-blue short sleeved one, the charcoal Brooks Brothers suit, casual black slacks, underclothes, and the bathroom kit that he never unpacked. Cell phone, laptop, and financial reports were already in his shoulder bag. Traveling suited his restless personality, but the timing of this trip annoyed him. He wanted to tie up the loose ends of the Nexapra data as quickly as possible, but he couldn’t miss this board meeting. Talking with the other scientists on the Nexapra project and locating the paper files would have to wait until he returned in few days.
“Don’t forget your medication,” Tara chirped as she came up behind him. “I won’t.” Rudker turned and kissed his young, beautiful wife. He never tired of looking at her perfect face. Wide-set cobalt eyes, small upturned nose, full sensuous lips with scattering of freckles that he wanted to lick every time he saw them. She was a work of art.
They had met at a fundraiser for a local charity called Food for Lane County. She was a hostess and he was a main donor. In essence, that summed up their relationship. Tara was a good natured soul. In addition to feeding the hungry, she put up with his mood swings and sometimes distant personality without much complaint. Unlike his first wife, Maribel, Tara never said no to sex. She was good for him, and Rudker needed her in a way he had never needed anyone before. The thought made him pull away.
“How long will you be gone?” She looked worried.
“Just a few days. Are you okay?”
“Of course. Call me when you know.”
“Always.” Rudker kissed her again, picked up his bags, and headed downstairs to wait for the car service.
Entering the Eugene airport always gave him a chuckle. If he was searching for someone, it would take about six minutes to cover the entire building. Checking in also took about that long. It was worlds apart from the San Francisco airport he’d flown in and out of for the ten years he’d worked at Amgen. He’d started at the biotech company as a product manager and worked his way up to vice-president. Toward the end, he’d been traveling ten days out of every month.
At 8:15 in the evening, the airport was practically deserted. One person was in the line in front of him and a young woman paced nearby, talking on a cell phone. The guy at the counter was trying to check his bags and had some malfunction with his ticket. To distract himself, Rudker mentally reviewed his presentation to the board.
While he was checking in, the girl on the phone began to cry, then to beg the person on the other end to come pick her up. Rudker turned and stared. She was young, probably still a teenager, and her jet black hair was short and spiky. She also had silver rings in both eyebrows. Rudker didn’t understand how any of that was supposed to be attractive.
“Please,” she cried over and over. The clerk handed him his boarding pass, which he tucked into his jacket pocket. He dug out his wallet, walked over to the girl, and handed her thirty dollars. “Call a cab.”
Feeling grateful he had not had to raise a daughter, Rudker walked away before she could react. After a few seconds he heard her call out, “Thanks.” He passed through the inspection area without having his body searched and considered that an immediate payback.
Two and a half hours later, he moved through the Seattle airport with equal efficiency. At midnight it was also nearly empty. He took a cab downtown to Cavanaugh’s on Fifth Avenue and checked in. He had swallowed two melatonin tablets on the way, so five minutes after lying down, he was out and slept like the dead for five hours.
Chapter 6
Wednesday, April 14th, 6 a. m
The call from the concierge jolted him awake. Rudker splashed cold water on his face, then spent forty minutes on the treadmill in the third-floor gym before showering. Until he’d hit forty, his nervous energy had kept him lean. Now he had to work at it. He dressed in the charcoal suit, choosing a striped silver and light-blue tie. Pharma people on the west coast were slightly more casual than their counterparts in the east coast corridor. He’d been on a panel at a pharma marketing conference in Edison, New Jersey, and every guy in the room had been wearing campaign colors: dark blue suit, white shirt, and red tie. The women, fortunately, made some livelier choices.
Nervous excitement kept him from having breakfast, but he downed his usual assortment of supplements: vitamins B, C, and E, zinc, kelp, calcium, and DHEA. Prevention was the key. He’d read the side-effect profile of too many pharmaceuticals to leave his health in the hands of drugs. Except for the Zyprexa and an occasional migraine pill, he steered clear of chemicals.
The company sent a car for him at 7:15, and Rudker arrived at the Stewart Street headquarters with thirty-five minutes to kill. Not wanting to look eager, he circled the entire campus on foot, ignoring the dark sky that threatened rain. With twenty minutes left, he headed up to the executive suite. He stopped at Gerald Akron’s office, but the secretary told him the CEO was in a meeting. A meeting before the meeting? That seemed odd, perhaps even ominous. No, it could be anything, he told himself.
He found a reading nook on the west side of the executive suite and tried to concentrate on the two reports he’d prepared, but his mind kept surging forward to the board meeting. He imagined the announcement, saw them reach out, one by one, to shake his hand. A board member! Rudker’s heart pulsed in his fingertips. Abruptly, he pushed out of the chair and began to walk the hallway again. After what seemed like an eternity, the clock said 8:20. It was time.