The VIP Room(133)

I stood from my chair and walked toward the window, the room still silent as I admired the darkening New York City skyline. The conference room faced the east, and I could make out Lady Liberty signaling her welcome to weary souls. The city itself was alive with activity, as it always was, and from the ninety-eighth floor, everyone below looked like mere toys in the midst of a playground for the gods.

I shook my head, doing my best to clear my thoughts, as I caught sight of my reflection in the window. My broad shoulders were held in a less-than-confident manner, slumped downward even in my tailored suit. My hair was a mess, its dark brown curls ruffled by a full day’s worth of pulling and mussing. My deep hazel eyes were haggard and empty, the cold glare of my bear little more than a glimmer. He was there, waiting and biding his time, but growing ever more impatient. The stress of Hammer Industries’ financial crisis had him boiling to an edge, and if I didn’t do something soon, I was afraid he’d run loose, uncontrollable among the stone walls of the concrete jungle.

“Chase?” a voice from behind called, piercing the silence, and I turned to face the group of assembled men.

“Right,” I said, waving a hand dismissively. “What’s the latest again, Collin?”

Collin, the lead software engineer for the company, stared at me absently, his forehead wrinkled in almost agony as he began to speak, “We’re pretty much bleeding out. The costs of development are significantly higher than the profit margin should allow, and we’re a good six to eight months behind.”

I took a breath before responding, doing my best to stave off the rising fury that my internal predator threatened to exhibit. “How did this happen?” I asked as calmly as I could manage.

“Well,” Collin started, adjusting himself in his seat, and poising himself as far away from me as he could without really moving. “There were some layoffs, due to the economic pressure. That, coupled with the significant series of bugs we found during the first phase of development, and you have a recipe for, well, disaster.”

“And how does a multi billion dollar company not have the resources to get around this?” I asked a bit more harshly than I intended.

Collin stared at me, doing his best to avoid eye contact, and mumbled, “It’s not a lack of resources. It was poor instructions and architecture…on my part.”

Before I knew what was happening, I stormed across the room toward Collin, grabbed him out of his chair, and drove him against the wall, lifting him so that his eyes were on level with my well-above six feet of height. “You’re the damned lead engineer, Collin. What? Were you too busy with your whores or your blow to pay attention to what you were doing?” I dropped him on the floor and watched him spill to the floor, his face planted firmly in his hands.

The rest of the men stared at me, their eyes wide with both shock and horror, and it was all I could do to keep from tearing at them as well.

All my hard work. Years of tedious labor. A decade of gathering resources, funding, and some of the most brilliant mathematical minds in the world. And it was all crumbling because of the errors made by these men. It was all I could do to be in the same room with them without tossing them, one by one, from the ninety-eight floor.

I needed to be away from them, to be somewhere I could clear my head, and figure out how to right this rapidly sinking ship. I needed to be somewhere I could let my bear out, somewhere I could breathe.

Without so much as a word, I stormed out of the room, my bear doing his best to climb out from under my skin as my fury built.

Reaching my own office, I immediately walked up to my desk and punched a button on the intercom, signaling for my secretary to respond.

After a moment, my secretary’s voice filled the room. “Yes, Mr. Hammer?”

“Sarah,” I said, still trying to still my breathing, “Charter a flight to Boone, North Carolina. Have the chopper ready in fifteen.”

“You’re leaving now?” Sarah’s voice beamed over the intercom again, this time filled with both surprise and worry. She knew just as well as anyone that the company was bleeding out, and the thought of the CEO taking an impromptu trip to Appalachia likely didn’t seem like the best possible business move at the time.

“Yes. I’m going out to my parents’ place. It’s urgent,” I told her, offering a half-truth. My parents did, at one time, own a place in Boone. But they’d passed away over a decade ago, just as I had begun laying the groundwork for my company. Since then, their cabin had sat desolate and empty amid the mountains of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I hadn’t had a chance to visit the place since their deaths, but now seemed as good a time as any to get away from the city, let my bear roam for a while, and I could take the time to pack up cabin while I was there.

Hammer Industries would have to wait. If I stayed in the city much longer, the company would have more problems on its hands than just plummeting stocks, they’d have a vicious and hungry predator roaming the halls.

“It’s done, sir.” Sarah said after a few minutes. “Safe travels.”

“Thank you, Sarah,” I replied as I gathered a few of my things and exited the office, making my way toward the roof where my helicopter awaited.

It was finally time for some peace and quiet.





Chapter 2





Andrea