Authors: Garrett Addison
Albert nodded before breaking into a deep, chesty cough.
He held up his hand as if to indicate that the interruption was nothing out of
the ordinary and that it would pass. Devlin took the opportunity to look
around the car-park, the heavy smell of ammonia biting into the back of his
throat. He naturally attributed Albert’s coughing episode to the smell, and
sub-consciously at first, then physically began to cough himself, though not to
the convulsive degree that Albert was experiencing.
Finally, Albert composed himself and returned to a normal
breathing pattern. With bloodshot eyes, he started talking once more. “Tell
me the truth. Was it a rapist, a sinner’s rant or someone who should be on a
suicide watch?”
Devlin was initially puzzled at the question before he
twigged at what Albert was asking. “The latter. Poor guy lost his family to
some drunk.”
Albert nodded. “Don’t worry, I won’t write you off as the
sentimental type just yet.” He sat himself back down on his crate and picked
at something between his toes. “How are you settling in? They’re a good crowd
up there.”
“I’m getting there, just getting to know the ropes at the
moment. Ikel and Lori are certainly nice. And David, well he’s a bit moody
for my liking.”
Albert nodded knowingly, fidgeting and looking around the
car-park. “I’d offer you a seat, but I’ve only got one crate.”
“That’s OK. I’ve got to get back anyway,” Devlin figured
that his visit had come to a natural conclusion. “Can I bring you anything
when next I visit?”
“I’m not a charity. Just your company and a chat would be
nice.” Albert smiled deeply, adding, “Though feel free to bring a snack if you
like.” He started to laugh, but the laugh quickly degraded into another
coughing episode. He waved Devlin off, indicating that he needn’t wait around
to close out their conversation.
As Devlin returned to the office, Conrad was brazen in his
effort to engage him, waiting on the footpath directly in front of LastGasp’,
but Devlin just ignored him and pushed past. He almost felt obliged to buy the
guy a coffee, if only for his persistence.
It was apparent as soon as Devlin entered the building
that the mood was different, but it took some time to identify exactly what was
wrong. Instead of what had previously been a casual work environment, he was
met with a decidedly hostile atmosphere. Initially, it seemed that he’d
interrupted some heated debate between Glen and David, but not a word was
spoken between them as soon as they had company. Whatever the cause, the mood
did not improve with Devlin’s entry, or even the subsequent arrival of Ikel and
Lori from the bunker. David soon stormed from the building, leaving Glen to
make light of the situation.
Despite his best efforts, Glen could not mask a tension
that remained long afterwards. Everyone else had adjourned to the bunker, but
not a word was spoken among them. There was no idle banter, no passionate
discussion about a message flagging, or even subjective conversation about a potential
sender identification.
Glen made an appearance in the bunker and made an
announcement. “David is leaving.” He silenced the volley of questions that
ensued, particularly from Lori and Ikel, and continued. “He’s got his reasons,
but it’s his call and that’s OK.” He left the bunker immediately.
Devlin was slow to embrace complete deference to Glen. He
was beginning to understand why Ikel and the others thought so highly of him,
but he was not so easily silenced. He followed Glen from the bunker intent on finding
out more and intercepted him in the kitchen. “Can I talk to you about David
and why he’s going?”
“I’ve already said all that needs to be said on the
matter. David’s history.” There was nothing sinister about the way it was
said, but it was said with an air of finality. Devlin considered pressing the
point, but he left it at that.
Devlin was in no mood to return to the bunker. It felt
like when he’d survived a round of redundancies at work many years earlier;
most of the people remained, and effectively nothing else had changed, but a
gloom was present. Whether David had left of his own volition or was pushed or
sacked, the work group dynamic would be changed regardless. He opted to head
back to his room at the hotel.
Chapter - 29.
Having left work early, this was the first time that
Devlin had spent any time in his room during daylight. It occurred to him that
at least one down-side of living at a hotel was that his room was never really
‘
his’
room. He knew that even after weeks
in-situ,
if he lasted
that long, his room would look no different to how it looked now. Perhaps
there would be several days’ worth of casual clothes all cleaned and pressed
and hanging in the wardrobe whereas now the wardrobe was empty, but the room
would never be home. While his first impression of the room was that it was
spacious and luxurious, he now saw it for what it was, just a room.
Devlin was surprised at his reaction to David’s departure
because he knew he’d miss the perpetual ‘stick in the mud’ attitude. Particularly
in comparison with easy-going Ikel and friendly Lori, time with David was
almost a chore, but it was tolerable. Glen was sure to recruit someone to take
David’s place and Devlin couldn’t help some apprehension that any newcomer
might well be worse.
Whether he liked the guy or not, he felt like he needed to
find out more about why David was leaving, and it occurred to him that David
may well still be in his own room in the Hotel. With this in mind, he grabbed
one of the obscenely overpriced bottles of Shiraz from his in-room bar and
headed for David’s room which he knew to be only five doors along the corridor.
David was not very friendly as he greeted Devlin at his
door, but he did invite him in after Devlin held up the bottle of wine. “Come
for the news?” David asked cynically. He poured two glasses after removing and
savouring the smell of the cork.
Devlin drank from his glass, enjoying the taste but
nothing more. “Glen spun me the line of people leaving when they are ready. I
guess I want to know whether you are in fact
ready
?”
“Ready. Not ready. It doesn’t really matter. I’m
leaving.”
“But why?”
“I didn’t play by the rules.”
“Does that mean that you can’t play by the rules, or you
were busted for not playing?” Devlin asked earnestly as he watched David
nervously pacing in his room. David had obviously consumed quite a quantity of
alcohol since leaving the office; with several spirit bottles on the bar were
uncapped and somewhat depleted. He gathered that David wasn’t entirely
comfortable in his departure.
“Caught with my hand in the cookie jar, does it matter
that I was eating the cookies or that I was caught? I’m fucked in any case,”
David replied, slurring the occasional word.
“So did you choose to leave?”
“LastGasp’ is all about trust. If Glen doesn’t trust me,
or I guess I don’t trust him, it doesn’t matter. Without trust, LastGasp’ is
nothing. Without trust, I can’t work there.”
“That doesn’t actually answer my question.”
“I don’t frankly give a fuck as to whether I’ve answered
your question?” David sculled the last of the wine in his glass and
immediately poured himself a refill.
“What does a
Media Analyst
do when he leaves
LastGasp’?” Devlin asked, looking to start some conversation as a distraction
to the drinking. “I think I asked more or less the same question when I
started.”
“My answer then was a little naïve, though I can’t
remember even the gist of what I said.”
“I think you said ex-employees typically don’t keep in
touch.”
“Something like that.” David sighed and then drank the
last of his wine straight from the bottle. “Actually, can you please take Lori
a message?” He scribbled a brief note on the hotel stationery and sealed it
inside an envelope. “Of course, I’d take it myself, but …you know the deal.”
He handed the envelope to Devlin and then ungraciously coaxed him to the door.
Devlin took the hint and proceeded on his errand with only
a simple goodbye.
Chapter - 30.
Devlin took his time in delivering David’s message. He
figured he was under no obligation to deliver the message
immediately
,
only to deliver it, and as such he allowed himself to be distracted. He headed
to the car-park to discuss matters with Albert, taking a roundabout route and
enjoying the mid-afternoon sunshine on the way.
As well lit as the car-park was, it was still
substantially less bright than the sunshine outside. Combined with the ammonia
fumes, Devlin’s eyesight was struggling to adapt to the changing light to see
if Albert was even there. “Albert?” he called out.
“I’ve heard,” Albert announced before he was even visible,
slipping into view only after Devlin was almost on top of him. “No great loss.
Maybe his replacement will be better.”
“So no deep seated compassion for the man from you then,”
Devlin quipped. He’d anticipated Albert’s almost obnoxious forthrightness, but
still his comments seemed more than a little harsh.
“Don’t sound surprised. You’ve bitched to me about him.
I thought you’d be happy.”
“Well yes. He wasn’t a favourite of mine, but still, I
didn’t want him to leave under a cloud,” Devlin conceded. “It’s just changed
the mood in the bunker, that’s all.”
“That will pass. It always does.” Albert fumbled in the
pocket of his excessively out-of-season coat, and only after extracting a phone
did Devlin understand why. He answered the phone looking at Devlin, nodding
but without saying a word. “Glen wants you upstairs.” He waved Devlin off
before starting another chesty cough.
Chapter - 31.
By the time that Devlin joined the remaining staff in the
lounge room, LastGasp’ had almost an air of sedition about it. He could tell
just by looking at Ikel and Lori that they were in a confrontational mood, and
it appeared that Glen was going to keep them waiting until he was ready.
Revolution or not, Glen was still in charge but his forever loyal employees
were looking for an explanation. No-one looked particularly happy, and
Devlin’s arrival seemed to only add an urgency to the room.
With his staff assembled, Glen took control. “Sit down
and listen in. I’d like to explain some things about David.” As ever, he was
calm and collected, and in just a few words Devlin could feel the ambient
tension reduce. “I’d like to explain David’s departure as clearly as I can,
knowing full well that you’ll want to get his side of the story, if you haven’t
done so already.” Devlin felt himself lower his eyes like a teenager being
confronted for some regrettable misdemeanour.
“I’ll miss David as much as any of you, arguably more so.
He’s been a good friend, and he’s worked well. It’s sad he’s gone, but we’ll
all move on.” Glen sighed non-committally looking at everyone, but no-one.
“It’s funny, you know. Had it been anyone else, David would have been a voice
of experience, because he’d already experienced losing someone. But alas,
you’re all going to have to trust me and learn from it. Actually, it’s this
that LastGasp’ will miss the most, because David had a sense of maturity about
him that will be missing in the short term, until at least one of you step up.
And I know you will. Until then, we’ll cope.”
Devlin thought Glen’s speech was nothing extraordinary,
but it served its purpose. His assembled audience was silenced, temporarily at
least, and their attention was distracted from their concern for the departure
of a peer, a friend. However, it did not satisfy Devlin’s curiosity but Glen
silenced him with a gesture of his hand before Devlin could utter a syllable.
“I’d like to leave you with a quick video, and I’d like to
re-iterate my security concerns.” Glen stood and pointed his remote control at
the bank of televisions. He left the building leaving Devlin, Lori and Ikel
fixated on the preliminary static of a video.
It didn’t take long for Devlin to work out he was watching
security video of LastGasp’, semi-professionally collated into a multi-scened
movie. The quality of the imagery and associated sound was excellent. High
resolution and in full colour, it was more than adequate to identify people
right down to skin blemishes and the subtleties of breathing patterns. Since
his first day, Devlin had been well aware he was under surveillance in the
building, but he was taken aback at the extent of the surveillance evidenced in
the video. He’d naïvely assumed that there would be some dead-zones in the
building, invisible to the cameras, but clearly he’d been mistaken.
It was apparent that the subject of the video was David
Yeardley, the latest now
ex
-employee of LastGasp’. Initially everyone
watching assumed that the purpose of the video was to allow some degree of
sentimentality, in much the same way that home movies had become routine at
twenty first birthday parties. There was nothing amusing in the watching,
other than sly nose-picking caught on camera as clearly as the subsequent
expression of relief on David’s face. Clearly, he was happy to remove the
nasal obstruction.