CHAPTER TEN
James Lester swore under his breath as he saw the three men, two in dark suits and sunglasses, and one in ripped pair of jeans and casual T-shirt enter his office. He quickly plastered a bored look of disdain upon his face as he hurriedly reached for the keyboard of his computer to call all the members of the team to his office for an emergency meeting.
"Gentlemen…..why are you in my office in the middle of a very busy workday. I really don't have time for this right now. I suggest you immediately reschedule whatever it is you are here to talk about."
The older man of the three closed the door to the ARC leader's office and began introductions.
"If you will remember, we've already discussed what will be happening here. We informed you that it would begin in several weeks, however, Ethan here thinks his prototype is ready for testing now and wants to see his work in action."
Ethan Willhauer sat in his seat chewing his gum loudly as he scrolled through messages on his phone. As his boss cleared his throat, the twenty year old looked up suddenly and put his phone in his pants pocket.
"Dude," he began, "I'm totally ready to charge this baby up and show you what it can do. I've christened it 'Monica'….named it after my girlfriend. It's ready, man…..I just need to get that tech chick off your dispatch system. You call that the ADD, right?" He jerked his thumb in the direction of Jess and the ADD.
"Anyway, man, I just need to take my security guy here and remove that girl from the ADD and get her out of here, cause, dude, I don't want her messin' with my system."
Lester stared blankly at the man as he felt his blood pressure begin to rise.
"Call me 'dude' again and I will personally toss you through the bullet proof glass of my office you slack jawed Neanderthal…and frankly, the last moron I dealt with named Ethan seemed delightful compared to dealing with the likes of you."
He turned to address the older man.
"That 'girl' has saved countless lives with that dispatch system. If your security man touches her I won't have to worry about stopping you because our head of security will very likely stop you in a very painful way. The three of you will now step out of my office and move into the hallway for twenty minutes while I prepare my team for what is about to happen. If you begin this little ill begotten venture before I give my permission I will see to it that you meet the creatures in our menagerie around dinner time. Are we clear?"
The security man stepped forward as the older man, Leonard, put his arm out to stop him.
"We will give you twenty minutes. Then we begin with or without your permission."
The three men left the office quietly and exited the hub. Lester waited as he saw Jess and Connor who were working in the hub touch their earpieces to alert them to come into his office.
Each of the team members filed into the director's office with quizzical looks on their faces. Jess looked equally confused until she noticed the strange briefcase on her boss' desk and knew that what she had dreaded was coming much earlier than she thought. Her face fell before she quickly covered her momentary lapse as the others entered. Matt and Emily entered together as did Jess and Connor. Becker walked in the door and walked to the wall Jess was leaning against as he looked expectantly at their boss.
Lester took a deep breath.
"It seems as though a change in our office staffing is going to happen much faster than we had anticipated…."
Jess immediately looked down to the floor as the rest of the team looked on quizzically.
"Our field coordinator has been offered a ridiculously overpaid job with Synco Industries and she will be leaving us."
The rest of the team stared at the young coordinator in shock. She tried to school her features with a sheepish look.
"I'm sorry guys….I wasn't allowed to talk about it. Secret tech stuff and all…I….just…."
She could feel her voice begin to falter and was afraid she might actually burst in tears when Lester, sensing her loss of composure, began to speak again.
"No time for all this emotional baggage. We will no longer have a coordinator. The ministry is bringing in a bunch of idiots who will now install an automated dispatch system. I'm sure it will not have the competency of our previous operator, but it will have to do for now."
The team looked at Jess with a variety of emotions…..shock, surprise, and a bit of sadness…..Abby was the first to break the silence. She walked up to the quiet field coordinator and threw her arms around her.
"Congrats, Jess. You deserve it! ….a posh job with a salary to match. No one deserves it more than you….I want a personal tour of your office when you get it organized. They're getting the best…..you know that, right? …..and you are DEFINITELY buying the next round when we meet at the pub!"
She smiled encouragingly as Matt, Emily, and Connor all came forward to offer their congratulations to their friend and filed out of the office. Becker stood straight against the wall as he watched each of his teammates file out along with their boss.
Jess turned to stare at the security chief as she tried to muster a smile. He gently smiled back and walked forward with his out to shake hers. Jess reached to take his hand but somehow ended up walking into his arms and wrapping her own arms around his waist as his gently encircled her.
She looked up with watery eyes into his hazel ones which were filled with an emotion that was hard to read.
As she began to speak, three men entered the office and the two teammates stepped back from one another.
The man with the sunglasses stepped forward and grasped the arm of the young woman.
"Ma'am you will need to come with me. You have fifteen minutes to gather your things and I will escort you off the property."
Jess looked up wide eyed as the security began to lead her from the office when a dark shadow came between them.
"Take your damn hands off her before I call my men to remove your ass from this office through the electric fence. I'm in charge of security here and I will be the one to escort her from the property." Becker stared at the man with a hard look. The security officer glanced at this superior who nodded and both men stepped back.
Becker put his hand gently on Jess' back and walked with her out of the office toward her station. Jess looked up at the captain with a grateful look of relief and slowly moved toward her station.
A bit of a short chapter, I know. I have the next chapter almost finished so I can update quicker. I've had a plot bunny in my head to write another story which would be a sequel to one of my favorites to write …."Secret Weapon" …..so I'm trying to write them simultaneously which is slowing down the process. Sorry! Thanks for reading!