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“I think I’ve made my point clear. Ace that proposal or you’ll be out of a job.”
“Thank you for the warning.” He didn’t wait to hear if the man responded. He slammed the phone down, got up, and paced his office.
Silverman was right about one thing. The company had lost money in some funds lately. And two new deals had gone sour in the past quarter. He had an inkling it had something to do with the trouble Murdoch Financial was in, though he had no idea how that would affect Barrett. Still, as soon as this initial bid was done and submitted, he’d be doing a deep dive into that problem. He’d get answers one way or the other and turn things around. He had before. He would again.
While he walked back to the conference room, Gerard tried to clear his head and get back in the game. How in the hell was he supposed to focus with everyone breathing down his neck? He stopped in the middle of the empty hallway as an idea hit him. It wasn’t a smart idea, but it was the only thing he could think of to get this damn project done.
He stared ahead at the closed conference room door, wondering if he had the strength to do this.
Rowan, completely focused on her laptop and checking out the truth of the text she’d gotten, jumped when the door suddenly opened. Gerard strode in and closed his laptop.
“Come on. We’re getting out of here.”
“What? But we’re all spread out.” She waved to the reports strewn over the conference table.
Her boss began piling things in a stack. “With all these interruptions, we are never going to make our deadline. We’re going somewhere we can work without people constantly needing us. Pack up your stuff.”
“Wait.” She reached out to touch his arm, to stop him from packing up, but thought better of it and pulled her hand back. “If they need us, there’s generally a reason.”
“Sandra will know how to get ahold of me if there’s an emergency. We’re only going to be gone a couple of days.”
“A couple days?” Where the hell was he thinking of going?
“Yes. And you’re not a very good director if your team can’t do the same.”
Wow. He went there. “They can, but I usually have time to get some instructions in place first. Is it wise to have both you and Emersyn gone at the same time?”
“Like I said, Sandra will know what’s important and how to get hold of me. You can check in with your second-in-command on the way to the airport.”
“Where the hell are we going?”
“To a family vacation house. Now, grab your stuff. We’ll stop at your place so you can pack a few things.”
“This is crazy.” She began putting things away in her briefcase.
Gerard shook his head. “First sane thing I’ve done all week.”
Within minutes, they were on the road, David driving. At her house, he literally gave her ten minutes to pack. Actually set a timer. A damned timer.
Rowan threw things into a small suitcase and headed out to the car, hoping she remembered everything. She had her toothbrush. She’d made sure of that.
En route to the airport, she called Michael.
“Where are you?” he asked. “You haven’t answered my texts.”
She put him on speakerphone and checked the texts. “I’m on my way to a quieter place to work on this project, and I’m looking at the texts now. Mr. Barrett is here with me, and I have you on speaker.” From the very pregnant pause on the other end of the line, she knew Michael wasn’t happy their boss was listening in. Damn. Well, she’d have to make amends to Michael later.
“Wait. Tom quit?” She reached to take the call off speaker, but the look Gerard gave her stilled her hand. Damn. Now he would think she was horrible at her job. Damn, damn, damn.
“Left without notice. Just texted both of us that he wouldn’t be back.”
“He’s never liked that I got the director’s position over him. I’ve tried to talk to him several times but finally had to let it go. He refused to speak to me about anything, including work.”
“That’s not the worst part. He took our proprietary laptop with him. And honestly, we’re still checking to see if there’s anything else he stole.”
Great. She cast a sideways glance at her boss, who sat watching her with an unreadable expression. Whatever he was thinking, he had no plans to give her an inkling.
“All right. Cancel all his privileges and, for God’s sake, kill his passwords. Get a hold of the prairie dogs and have them track that laptop. Then call the police and ask them to recover it for us. File a report and tell them we are definitely filing charges.” This time, she looked at Gerard with a question in her eyes.
