The pretty little receptionist stared at Jacqueline Bloom as he sat outside of Mr. Gillingham's office waiting to go in. Jacquie sensed her eyes on him but took it as a compliment and decided not to return the gaze.
The reason the receptionist gave an extra hard look at Jacquie
was because he looked different in some unclear way. He sat straight up in the
uncomfortable leather chair. He seemed relaxed but stern. He reached into his
pocket, removed his cell phone, observed the display, and placed it back in his
pocket. He seemed exact in his movements, sure of himself, and of everything
around him. The receptionist would never be able to discern what exactly made
Jacquie so oddly appealing. She would never figure it out because it couldn't
be observed, unless she could somehow see him a few hours ago. Jacquie had sex
the night before. And not just casual before we go to sleep sex, Jacquie had
raw, sweaty, unforgiving sex. Jacquie had the kind of sex that leaves at least
one member of the party in quite a bit of pain the next morning. Jacquie might
have been in a little pain but he was too high to feel anything.
"Mr. Gillingham will see you now, Mr.
Bloom," announced the receptionist.
"Thank you," said Jacquie and as he got
up to go to the door he felt her eyes move as well.
Behind the waiting room was Gillingham's
massive office that would have fit in perfectly with the rooms' great warlords
and emperors might have occupied. Gillingham sat behind a slab of marble and
giving Jacquie his undivided attention.
"Jacqueline, I assume this personal
visit has something to do with the events that took place the night before
last?" asked Gillingham.
Jacquie waited until he was seated to
reply, "Yes sir, they do."
"And how is Mr. Austin Tellamore?"
"I would assume that he is currently
doing well."
"'Well?' Is this unfortunate?"
"For us it is. It seems that Tellamore
aligned himself with some mysterious new players and in so doing found the means
to pay us the amount that he owed us in full."
"'In full,' Mr. Bloom?"
"Yes sir. I know how investments like Tellamore are supposed to go and when I saw the money I told him that it would not do. It was at that time that Tellamore's alleged benefactors made their presence known." Jacquie took a deep breath. "The reason I'm here to deliver my report in person is not because it went badly, which it did. I'm here because of what happened next."
Gillingham's eyes were
uncharacteristically wide, "well what did happen?"
"When Tellamore's allies appeared Long
Barrel Darrel and I became immobilized. We were not stunned, or drugged, we
were frozen in place. LBD had time to remove his gun as he was the 'Man Behind'
but it was taken from his hand. I don't know how it was done but I did manage
to free myself and pursue Tellamore and his allies on foot." Jacquie proceeded
to tell Gillingham how he saw Tellamore's two allies lift Tellamore off the
roof of the building and away into the night. Gillingham asked for a
description of the people and Jacquie told him at the same time he gave him a
USB key and said it contained a detailed report. "Who are these people, Mr.
Gillingham? I cannot assure you successful jobs with characters like these
running around."
In a flash Gillingham raised a fist and
slammed it down on his desk. "Yes you can, Mr. Bloom! Yes you can!" He paused.
Jacquie's eyes widened slightly from behind his glasses but there was no other
way to tell he had been caught off guard. "I will see to it that this is not a
reoccurring phenomenon. It WILL NOT happen again!"
"With all due respect sir, how will you
prevent it?"
"You need not wonder, Jacqueline. Trust
me. Future jobs will be reorganized to see to all variables. All I need from
you is the same things you've always given me: accuracy and diplomacy. Assuming
there are no other questions, you are dismissed."
Jacquie rose from his chair, turned, and
walked toward the door.
"Oh and Jacqueline, in case you haven't
figured it out. You are now my top Gun Bearer. No added pressure just thought
you should know."
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