Authors: Alicia Hope
The shuttle
lumbered
up the hill and
along the access road
.
Royce was the last passenger to
alight
, and when they got to
the refinery
, the driver pulled over
near
the plant protection booth.
When the door opened with a bang,
Royce jerked awake
.
He
hadn’t meant to fall asleep. He
grunted, blinked and frowned
at the driver, who eyed him smugly.
Royce
shook his head to clear it and
rubbed his stiff neck. He
rose and gave
the driver a curt nod on his way out
the
door. As he passed
the booth, he
saluted
the
plant protection
officers inside
, and then
strode
impatien
tly through
the gates
towards
facility one-forty-one
. His pace didn’t slow as he made his way through the heavy glass
doors
,
and
up
the stair
s to the CEO’s office suite, where he
burst in on a startled
Kerry.
‘Royce
! You’re back early.
How was
—’
‘Is Verity in?’
he
said
sharply,
in no mood for small talk.
‘Not at the moment, but she
won’t be away long.’ Kerry looked at
him
from under her lashes,
pondering
on what might have brought him
home
so soon.
Royce
exhaled
impatiently and spun around. He eyed the visitor’s chairs but chose to stand in the doorway and stare at the atrium
, thinking,
I’ve
already spent too long sitting
on my
—
‘I must say, i
t’s good to have you back
,
Royce,’ Kerry
announced
.
‘
I’
m sure Verity will be relieved ... er ...
pleased to see you
.’ She cast a
sweet
,
innocent look
his way
.
He
glanced at her
side
ways, his shrewd eyes dark slits in his face
.
‘What do you mean, relieved?’
‘Well, I didn’t mean relieved,
really
, just that she could use some
help at the moment.’ She gave him another
innocuous
look.
‘H
elp with what? A
nd don’t beat about the bush.’
Kerry sw
allowed a smirk at Royce’s impa
t
i
ence.
‘Well
,
at the risk of sounding
disloyal, there
’
ve been a few problems while you were awa
y
and
... ahem ... some weren’t handled all that great
.
...
’
By the time Verity returned to the office, Kerry had given Royce a
run-down of the
noteworthy
events
during
his absence. Verity stopped
abruptly
when she saw Royce
standing
in the outer office
, talking quietly with her PA
.
W
hen he caught sight of her
,
Royc
e
enquired quickly
,
‘Do you have a moment
, Verity
?’
‘
Back already from the US
, Royce
?
I thought you’d be there for a few more days,’
she said, glancing down at her watch. ‘Yes
,
I have some time
before my next appointment
.
’ Verity
was careful to
maintain
a nonchalant air as she led him into her office, making
a point
of closing the connecting door behind them.
Kerry stared
thoughtfully
at the closed door
and
grinned
with
delicious
spite.
No doubt
Verity would be
starting to feel
paranoid,
with
so many gunning for her
...
.
In the CEO’s
office, Royce
thrust
a
bound
document
at
Verity
,
before pulling a chai
r closer to her
desk
.
He sat down and watched for her reaction.
When s
he
read the title
on the cover
, ‘Preliminary Repo
rt on Bayer Process
Extension
’, she
leaned back to study
him
through narrowed eyes
.
‘So, you’ve decided to bring me in on this now?’
Royce’s mouth tightened a
t the sharp edge in her voice
. It was obvious
the
grapevine had indeed sowed
more of its bitter seeds
. B
ut he
press
ed on.
‘
I’d like to
give you a
quick
run-down
, if you have time?
’
‘I’m all ears
.
’
As
Royce outlined his proposal, Verity
regarded him levelly without speaking. Only when
he’d
run through
the report’s
recommendations did she ask him to expand
upon the reasoning
s
,
and
the
assumptions drawn. She surprised him
with
her obvious comprehension of the principals, and he began to regret
not
inclu
ding
her
earlier
.
M
aybe Guy’
s right about her
,
whispered his pesky inner voice.
But h
er next wor
ds brought him
back
to earth. ‘This is all very
interesting
,
Royce, but an
expansion proposal
like this
in
volve
s a certain amount of risk. A
gamble
I’m not sure we’
d be prepared to take
in
the current economic climate.’
Although
she was on
ly expressing the same concerns
Guy
had with the proposal
, Royce
fel
t a rising irritation
.
Was she
about
to prove his first instincts right and be an obstacle instead of a proponent for the project?
Was he justified
in trying
to
avoid involving
her?
He answered brusquely,
‘Of course, every innovation carries risk. That’s par
t of what makes it innovative.’
It was difficult
keep
ing
his
frustration and impatience
in check
.
He
swore under his breath, angry with himself for not taking
the
time to rest
and prepare for this discussion
before coming in
. B
ut it was too late now.
Verity said thoughtfully,
‘To do something risky
simply
because
it’s innovative is foolish—
’
It was too much.
Royce
rose
swiftly
to his feet.
‘Do you think I’m doing al
l this just because I
can
? That
I
’d
go to all this t
ime and trouble researching a
project
I didn’t think would
work,
or
,
worse still, would put the whole plant at risk? If you do, then yo
u’re wrong,
dead
wrong. I’m pushin
g this because I
know
it’
ll work. It
will
bring
higher
pro
duct
ion and greater rewards, not to mention
international recognition for
RCL as a
leader i
n this new technology. As
CEO
,
I would’
ve thought you’d have an interest in
that
?’
His tone stung her to retort sharply, ‘If I could
finish
what I was saying?
’ She raise
d her eyebrows and indicated his chair
.
Royce’s
count
enance darkened but he resumed his seat
and sh
e started over.
‘To do something risky just bec
ause it’s innovative is foolish
.
’
She took a quick breath and carried on
smoothly, b
efore he could eru
pt again
,
‘
B
ut
to
not
do something
simply
because it’s innovative is
more foolhardy still
.
It shows a lack of insight and forward thinking, which is detrimental to business growth.
We can’t afford to regard
progress a
s the foe
of enterprise.’
She sat back and
considered
him for a moment. ‘I need time to
think about
this
,
Royce. I’ll have an answer for you at the executive committee meeting.’
Royce exhaled without realising he’d been holding his breath.
She’d given him a good hearing despite his
somewhat
over
bearing approach
,
and
h
e
grudgingly admitted a growing
respect
for
his new boss.
She’s got mo
re poise and guts than I gave her credit for.
She was looking questioningly at him.
Obviously, she intended her last statement to draw their discussion to a close.
He
nodded and
got
to his feet
.
‘
Before I go
, do you need some
help with the problems
that came up
while I was
away?’
It sounded condescending
even
to his
own
ears, and he noticed Verity bristle.
‘And what problems would they be?’ Her voice was deceptively calm.
‘You know, John Reardon, among
other
s.
’
He intended the flippant response to lighten the mood, but it had the opposite effect of irking her
all the
more.
Royc
e
was beginning
to wish he hadn’t
started
down this path
.
Verity’s face coloured with indignation.
‘What about J
ohn Reardon?’
she demanded. But what she was asking herself was whether there was
a
nyone in the whole company who
didn’t
know about the Reardon case.
‘T
here’s no
need to side-step
, Verity
. I know
you’ve been instructed to sack Reardo
n, and that
you ... well ... stuffed it up
.’