BOOK ONE: DECEPTIONS
Chapters One to Twenty Six
Vignettes 1 - 140

BOOK TWO: YESTERDAY ECHOES
Chapters 27 to
Vignettes 141 -

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Vignette #102: Missions

Blake grinned, picked up his paperwork and left the room behind Ian.

“Justyn, wait a moment.” Ian turned to see Denver Metcalfe trying to catch up to him. He stopped and turned.

“Do you know if your boy Lee, has the two teasers we asked for ready?” He asked.

“Teasers?” Ian turned to Blake.

“Yes, Mr. Metcalfe.” Blake stepped in. “Probably by now. I’m just heading over to production to get them. I’ll bring them straight to the board room.”

“Thank you…Blake, is it?” Metcalfe said.

“Yes, sir.” Blake nodded. “I’ll let you know if there’s a delay or problem.”

“Tell me.” Metcalfe focused back on Ian. “What do you think of the fall campaign Crawford and his people came up with?”

Ian plastered on a smile. “Oh I heart HTR, Mr. Metcalfe.”

Metcalfe laughed and slapped Ian on the back. “Justyn, I’m looking forward to the rest of your surprises. What I’m most looking forward to is the one we’ve got planned for you.” He sauntered back to the room from which he came, chuckling all the way.

“I’m not so sure I like the sound of that.” Ian looked at Blake, who shrugged. “What kind of teasers is Lee doing?”

“I don’t really know.” He said as they walked to the elevator together. “All I know is that David Turner called specifically for Lee, and Lee has been up in the production office all day.”

“Any guesses or insight?” Ian followed Blake into the elevator.

“Mr. Turner knew we were doing a quick teaser for “World On A String” to show at the fall schedule meeting, right?”

“Absolutely. We wanted something to show and gage the chemistry between Jeff and Tess.”

“It was magic, I might add.” Blake smiled. “He asked for two, so my theory is they are adding it and the teaser for “Hollow Points”, our two set series to the fall campaign ads to show the board what they have in mind.”

“Yay.” Ian slumped against the wall. “I heart HTR coupled with…” Ian shook himself. “I don’t even want to think about it.”

The elevators opened and they walked onto their floor. They had about an hour to regroup and head up to the biggest meeting of the year. Pretty much, everything was set, but this was that last chance anyone had to haggle, air a concern or get something changed before the board formally agreed.

This was also where Ian had to present his daytime line up, and the newly redesigned Jeff Torkelson show, as well as all the in department designed trade and print campaigns for all their shows. Ian was stoked. This was when he felt he got to show everyone what his department was made of.

He couldn’t help but feel a little smug. This was also where he got to watch Simon Kent squirm. He knew good and well that Kent was deliberately trying to sabotage him. He warned him but he didn’t listen. Just like when he was the dirty kid in school. The taunts and teases always brought out the best in Ian. Hopefully, Simon Kent was about to learn that.

The only problem now, was catching Kent off guard. Fortunately the man was too self absorbed to see anything but flowers he’d planted. If he even had an inkling that someone else was tending the roses, he’d have enough time to prune the fingerprints.

The trick was to keep Baxter Reilly from telling Simon Kent about “Sebastian Manor”, and, for that matter, “Blood Kisses”. Even David Turner thought it was important to keep him in the dark until the formal announcement. There were too many dirty dealings, and they hoped he would tip his hand to the extent of his involvement if blindsided.

Ian wasn’t sure he was behind the accounting fraud. The only evidence at hand was Kent’s department was the only one that didn’t have bogus employees. Personally, Ian didn’t think he was smart enough. He wasn’t smart enough to not send up red flags about the “Sebastian Manor” cancellation by being too insistent upon it. Anyone that obvious, in Ian’s opinion didn’t have the smarts to pull a scam that big.

The fact that there were so many bogus employees from Ian’s department made him think that someone was setting him up. Whoever it was knew too much about how the company worked by finding loopholes in checks and balances. They were smart enough to know how to do it in a manner that was virtually untraceable, as well as how to set it up to subtly point a finger by taking advantage of someone they thought was naïve. They were also a pretty damned good at forgery. None of that added up to Simon Kent.

Ian shook his head. He had to keep his mind on the matters at hand. Members of his team had been playing “Mission: Impossible” all day. David Turner was busy keeping Baxter Reilly busy, making sure he couldn’t get to a phone or anywhere near Simon Kent. With Turner in the room, everyone was pretty sure Reilly wouldn’t dare pull out a cell phone and try to text. The man would be too busy trying to save his own hide.

Blake looked at his watch. “Okay Boss Man, time to head up. You ready?”

Ian snapped his fingers. “Piece of cake.” Ian’s raspberry blackberry buzzed. It was a text from Daryn, who was on Kent watch.

“Queen to Pawn 21”

Ian smiled. “Kent’s on his way to the board room.” He handed his blackberry to Blake.

Blake typed in “Queen on parade” and hit send.

Immediately a message from Sean came back. “Waving at crowd.”

“Headed straight there.” Blake started to hand the device back to Ian. “Wait…text from Wella…the queen’s on her throne.”

“Okay, let’s head up.” Blake and Ian gathered material and headed for the elevator. When the door’s opened, Sean stepped out beaming.

“You are having way too much fun.” Ian told him.

“Here.” Sean handed him an I-Phone. “I always knew life on the streets of Chicago would pay off.”

“What’s this?” Ian asked.

“Kent’s cell phone.” Sean smiled. “As I was texting you I bumped into him and lifted it from his pocket. He was too busy calling me a rude something I didn’t understand to realize that I was way out of practice.”

Blake and Ian smiled at each other. “I’ll call Mr. Turner and tell him to put the mutt out of his misery.” Blake started dialing as the doors shut on Ian, now alone in the elevator.

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