Halloween Ch. 03

I smiled and replied, "Thank you, George. I'm pleased that you noticed."

Upon entering the dining room I walked up to Adriana and gave her a welcoming kiss which she returned without hesitation, and hugged me as well. "Thank you for seeing me so early and for agreeing to this quiet location. I wanted to see you privately and George was kind enough to consent to my request," she said with a wink to me. "These have been difficult times and I would prefer talking without the eyes of the office on us."

"Adriana, you can always call me and I will meet you anywhere, you know that. I have wanted to see you as well but I did not want to jeopardize your position by seeming to be too familiar. Office relationships are for business and it would not have given the right impression if we acted otherwise."

"I know," she said, "but it is harder than I imagined."

I took her hand and led her to the table as George entered with a tray containing cups of fresh coffee and a pot for refills. The table already contained a pitcher of orange juice, glasses, a basket of croissants and several glass containers with different jams.

"Unless there is something else, I will leave you now," said George. "You can call the kitchen if you need anything."

"Thank you, George," I replied, and Adriana smiled at him as he left.

"Well, the suspense is killing me, what's happening?" I started, "It must be important I assume."

"Yes," said Adriana. "I received a call from Roger late yesterday afternoon and he asked me to come to his office for a meeting. I assumed that it was about some issue in Indonesia that he needed background on, but I was wrong." I stared at Adriana and could see that she was anxious. She continued, "He told me that he ran into an old contact from Seattle on the street, accidently on purpose if you know what I mean, and they had a coffee together. Over coffee this fellow told him that he had been approached by a third party, someone from our company, asking if he wanted to buy the inside track on substantial shipping deal in South Korea."

"But South Korea is part of the Far East portfolio and Roger is heading that branch now so how was it that any discussion about Korean business came from someone other than him?" I asked.

"This fellow knew Roger through the North American business they did together and felt that since someone was trying to make a deal in Roger's new area he should know about it. Roger knew that I worked in that department before my transfer..." she said before hesitating.

"I'm sorry, I know that it's difficult," I interjected.

"Yes," she added. "Roger then told me that he was able to find out that that offer was proposed by Pascal whom you no doubt remember from Danielle's 'introductions' on your first day in the main office."

"I remember, alright. Something about splitting me open if I have the words correct," I said.

"I'm not sure about that part but he was there staring at your butt when I walked in. He is a piece of crap for sure."

"Anyway," Adriana continued, "he made the contact and said that he could deliver information that would give this fellow's company an edge in the negotiations. Asked how he could be sure, he said that he had someone who had access to privileged information and could guarantee its veracity. He let slip that the informant had a high position in North American operations explaining why the contact came through Seattle."

"Jason," I whispered with a trace of venom in my voice.

"Yes," confirmed Adriana, "but there's more. Apparently, Danielle kept a copy of many files and had set up a separate server to mirror the business server from outside, something that I knew nothing about, but which is still active. She can still see what is happening and she will sell this information to the highest bidder."

"So we have Danielle, Jason and Pascal working together to ruin Abdel and his business, with the ready scapegoats of you and me should their scheme fall apart," I said.

"Apparently so," Adriana replied.

"Do you believe Roger?" I asked.

"Yes, I do. He was very apologetic about what happened to you and quite embarrassed that he went along with it. He was led to believe that your 'introduction' was something that Abdel wanted to happen but afterwards realized that the only beneficiaries from your humiliation were Danielle and Jason for their own reasons. He is trying to make amends and he knows what will happen to him if he crosses me by lying."

"God, you are a tough bitch. Abdel was right about you and I'm glad that we're on the same side," I concluded.

Adriana's grin said all that was necessary.

"Roger did some digging on his own overnight and told me that a good investigator would find some interesting information in one of the banks in the Caiman Islands," Adriana added, "and we could make of that what we wanted."

"Thank you for everything that you have done, I know it's been hard. When this is over I will make it a point to see Roger and thank him as well," I said.

"I'm sure that he would like that," replied Adriana.

We finished our breakfast and walked Adriana to the door as she went off to the office as usual. I remained behind to see Abdel and explain what was uncovered so that he could take the appropriate steps to fix the situation. I also wanted to thank George for accommodating our early morning rendezvous and guessed that he might be expecting me. I had been told growing up that it is always polite to thank someone for helping you and George has been an invaluable asset who should be rewarded. It was a simple but enjoyable task for both of us.