Gamer Girl (7 page)

Sarah had a thought. “Then if the Little Blue needed…” she stopped. A week ago, she would have asked Eamon to give the choir production time in lieu of a donation, but a week ago
they’d been friends.

“Go on, Sarah, ask me.” Eamon prompted.

“I wasn’t…”

“
Ask me.” Eamon stood there, arms crossed now, waiting to see what she would do.

Sarah swallowed her pride. She looked up into Ea
mon’s eyes, refusing to look away. The Little Blue choir made do with live recordings at their concerts. It was adequate, but it would be nothing compared to recording their best works in a studio. “Mr. Byrne, would you consider donating some studio time to the Little Blue Community Choir?”

Eamon stepped closer to Sarah. It took everything Sarah had not to step back. “Say
please, Eamon
.”

Sarah
glared but she said it. “Please, Eamon. We would…I would really appreciate this.”

Eamon waited
. Finally, he leaned in and whispered in her ear. “Then you’ll have it, Sarah.” He walked past her before she could thank him. “Come on,” he told her in a normal voice.  We have to get up to legal, get you a temporary card key and get you out of here so that I can get back to work.”

Jim Saunders was seated in Martin Ellesworth’s office
when they arrived. The two men stood up as Sarah and Eamon came into the room

“Ah, here you are,” Martin said to Sarah. “Miss Adams, I have a temporary card key for you. A permanent one will be made some time next week.” He shoved some papers across his desk. “This is a confidentiality agreement. I suggest you read it carefully before you sign it, because we tend to prosecute the terms of this contract to their fullest extent if we believe someone has violated it”

“May I sit?” She asked.

“Oh, forgive me. Of course you may, please be comfortable.” Martin indicated a chair. Once she sat down, the men did as well.

Sarah read
through the agreement. It was a very strict confidentiality agreement but there were no hidden traps. She looked from the document to Mr. Ellesworth. “There is no ‘non-compete’ clause. Why?”

Ellesworth shrugged. “We consider
you auxiliary personnel.”

“
You don’t think I’m smart enough to actually use the company secrets, you only think I’m smart enough to sell them.” Sarah looked at the two men expectantly but they didn’t bite. She signed the agreement without further ado.

She handed it
to Mr. Ellesworth, picked up the key card and put it in her purse.

“Thank you, Miss Adams.
We will have a desk ready for you by eight tomorrow morning. Human Resources will send you an electronic link to some forms. Mr. Saunders, Miss Adams, thank you for coming today, and we will see you both tomorrow.”

Politely but firmly dismissed, Sarah and Jim walked out together.

When they were gone, Martin turned to Eamon. “Do you really think this is a good idea? She has no experience, and anything she says will be discounted by our staff.”

Eamon looked at his friend and nodded. “Exactly, Martin. She’ll be very high profile, sticking her nose into things with my authority and everybody
on our team will be wondering if she slept her way to the job. Eyes will be on her, resentments will focus on her. The beauty of it is that she offered to do it for her present salary because she thinks she’s helping her friends to keep their jobs.”

Martin turned toward his friend.
This wasn’t the first time Eamon had used a highly visible employee as the focus of any possible resentments, but there was something in Eamon’s tone of voice that said there was more to this than met the eye. “So how long are you going to keep her on staff?”

Eamon wasn’t smiling now
. He was looking at the empty hallway with an intensely angry expression. “Long enough to sort out Rainwhite.  Long enough to make it hurt.”

“Jesus, Eamon, what did she do to you?
”

Eamon turned, startled. He shook his head and smiled at his friend. “Nothing.
She’s a trinket; she's a glittery bauble to distract the audience from the magician’s trick. I’ll make sure she’s compensated when it’s over.”

Martin shrugged his shoulde
rs. “Not my business, man, but—”

Eamon shot him a look that brooked no dissension. “That’s right. Now, I need to get upstairs and get to work.”

As soon as Sarah got outside Gryphon World, Inc.’s building
, she turned on her phone. Text messages began coming in from employees at Rainwhite Games. Their office was locked down; no one could get in.

The day
was bright and sunny, so Sarah suggested meeting in the park in front of the US District Courthouse. Consensus was reached, and thirty minutes later, most of the Rainwhite Employees were in the park, including Aaron who must have been messaged by a Rainwhite loyalist.

Everyone was milling around aimlessly
. This wasn’t going to help, so Sarah got up on one of the steps and said, “Hey everyone, look, I need to share something with all of you. Come over, please?” Once everyone assembled, Sarah said, “As you know, Jim and I have only been actual employees of Rainwhite for about three months. Here’s the deal: This morning, Mr. Byrne of Gryphon made me an offer. He asked me to be his assistant project manager. I signed a confidentiality agreement, so I cannot divulge anything, but I can tell you this. The ONLY reason, I accepted the position is because I honestly believe I can help optimize the situation for all the Rainwhite Employees by being there.”

“I thought you were dating him, Sarah.” The voice came from someone in the crowd.

Sarah mentally acknowledged the power of the grapevine. Aloud, she said, “True. I saw him over two weekends. We shared pizza, video games, dancing, clubbing. And just so we’re clear, I didn’t sleep with him. I think he took me out hoping to get information from me. I don’t think I told him anything.”

Aaron climbed up beside her
. “Listen, guys. Sarah tried to stop this takeover. Unfortunately, Byrne was one step ahead of us.”

“Hey Aaron, how about you? Are you okay?”

Aaron tried to smile. “I’m fine. Since I own a large block of our stock, I just made a small fortune. My parachute may not be golden, but it certainly is sterling silver.  I’m not happy about losing my company, but I built it from the ground up and I now have a large chunk of cash to rebuild. So, if you can afford to be poor for awhile, you are welcome to speak to me later because I have some ideas.”

“What about the rest of us?” Mike from the art department asked.

Sarah climbed back up on the step. “Look, you know how this works. Some of you are already looking for new jobs. Others of us have ties here that we cannot abandon. For those of you who have to hang in as long as possible, we have got to, somehow, show Gryphon World that we have much more than just our game engine to offer.”

“And how do we do that?”

“Well, we have a product out there in the market that’s good but should have been great—sorry Aaron. I know squat about building video games, but to my mind what the hero or heroine of
Wickerworld
needs is a companion. If we could come up with downloaded content that had a great quest and companion that can accompany us through the game…well, think of what Bethesda did with their DLC’s how well they did…” Sarah shook her head. “Go home, think about it, and I’ll see you all Wednesday.” Sarah started walking to where her car was parked.

“Hey, Sarah, mind if I walk with you?” Aaron caught up with her and began to walk with her down the street.

“Not at all. I hope you don’t mind what I said about
Wickerworld
.”

Aaron sighed. “
I can’t argue with the truth. It was the budget. We had to make a decision where to cut. We made the wrong decision.”

Sarah stopped in her tracks. “You mean you wanted to include companions in the game?”

“Yeah, we did. We ran out of money. Voice actors cost a lot.” Aaron shoved his hands into his pockets. “In retrospect, we should have made the world smaller and included some companion choices.”

“
Aaron, it’s not too late to help the game. Did your people get into writing some of the programming?” Sarah started walking again, her brow knit in concentration.

“Oh yeah,” Aaron assured her, “we did. It’s there.”

“Wow. So why are you telling me this?” Sarah asked him.

Aaron
shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe I’d like to see my vision for the game realized. And I’m coming out of this in good shape, but some of the others are really going to be hurt by losing their jobs.” Aaron shoved his hands in his jacket pockets.

“
If it’s within my power, I’m going to see that Rainwhite employees get a fair shake when it comes to their jobs,” Sarah told him.

“I believe you, Sarah.
If you have a question about something, give me a call.” Aaron gave her a hug. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to know you better. You take care, you hear?”

“I will.” Sarah got into her car and drove off. Aaron stood on the sidewalk, hands in his jacket pockets and watched her go.

Sarah had one more stop to make before going home. She pulled into the parking lot of Cute Cuts and went inside.

A woman looked up fr
om the haircut she was giving.

“Do you participate in the Locks of Love program?” Sarah asked.

“Sure do. You want to donate?”

Sarah took a deep breath. “
Yeah. Can you find time for me today?”

“For the chance to donate that lovely hair to Locks of Love? You betcha. I
’ll make time.” The hairdresser pointed to a pile of magazines. Find something you like. I’ll be with you in a few moments.”

Sarah went
to the rack of hair magazines. She knew what she wanted and kept looking until she found pictures that came close.

By that time, the hairdresser
was done with her other client. Sarah laid the pictures on the counter. Both the hairdresser and the customer gasped.

“
Honey, you really want to go that short? You don’t have to go that short. You’d still have a long enough pony tail to donate.”

“That’s what I want.” Sarah felt a thrill. Cutting her hair gave her a sense of freedom.

“Okay, have a seat and let’s get to it.” When the hairdresser was finished, all Sarah needed was a pink streak in her hair to fit right into the latest Japanese Role Playing Game.

“Nice hair, honey. It’s in good condition. Some kid with cancer will have a really nice wig because of your donation. By the way, you’ll need some product to keep that look.”

Sarah bought some product, gave the hairdresser a substantial tip and left happy.
The next morning, Sarah did her hair, slipped into a pair of black skinny jeans, a shrunken fluffy lime green sweater that showed the barest hint of skin when she stretched and boots that had a thick sole, a nice high heel and buckles. Dangling earrings and a gold chain completed the look, along with a big slouch purse in purple. She was ready to take on Gyphon World, Inc. and all its minions.

Sarah walked into Gryphon’s
lobby and took the elevator to the eighth floor. When the doors opened, she saw that a desk had been placed for her use opposite Nicole’s. Nicole was eating breakfast. Her fork stopped midway to her mouth as Sarah came into the room.

“Hi
, Nicole. Is there a coat closet nearby?” Sarah held up her zebra striped faux fur jacket.

Nicole set her fork down and came ar
ound her desk. “Here! The latch is hidden.” Nicole pressed the latch and pushed the door back to reveal coat hangers and shelves.

“Thanks
.” Sarah went to her desk, sat down, and explored her new workspace. Her logins to various and sundry systems were on a paper. The PC was brand new, as were the smart phone, and smart tablet. Everything was properly sync’d. Sarah accessed her email, Eamon’s personal and corporate calendar and a database of sorts by the time he came in. She heard his step, heard a pause and then he resumed walking. Sarah did not look up.

“Nicole, forward my m
ail. Sarah, bring me a cup of coffee, black.”

Sarah
finally looked up but Eamon was already through the large double doors to his office. She looked over at Nicole. “Where do I find the coffee?”

Nicole smiled. “There’s another hidden latch in that wall about ten feet west of the closet.”

Sarah found it and discovered a mini-bar complete with refrigerator, ice maker, sink, coffee maker and just about anything else you would need. The coffee pot was already filling. “I hope he’s paying you what you’re worth,” Sarah said to Nicole.

“
No need to worry on that score,” Nicole replied.

Sarah looked over and held up a cup. “Want some while I’m here?”

“Thanks, I take it black as well.”

Sarah poured Nic
ole a cup of coffee. Sarah pulled a steno pad and a pen out of her desk went through to Eamon’s office. Sarah had Eamon’s coffee as well.

Eamon look
ed up from his PC and held out his hand for the coffee. “Good morning, Sarah. What’s with the get up?”

He meant her
look. She didn’t plan to make it easy for him. “The
get up?
”

Eamon cocked his head to one side. “An audition as the art model for a new anime series, perhaps?”

Sarah rolled her eyes in mock puzzlement and then raised her eyebrows high. “Oh. The hair. That was a donation. It’s one I make approximately every three years.”

“Locks of Love,” Eamon replied at once.

Sarah gave him a thumbs up. “I’m impressed Mr. Byrne.”

Eamon pointed to a chair. Sarah sat down. “I don’t suppose it occurred to you that I hired you to present a professional corporate image for our company?”

“Nope. Your charge to me was to assess the employees of Rainwhite and determine if any of them are worth keeping. You also charged me to suggest any intellectual properties Rainwhite may be holding that could be profitable.” Sarah stood up and walked toward the window, turned around and stared down at Eamon who was now leaning back in his chair with his cup. “There was nothing in your proposal to me that suggested I had to dress as a corporate serf.”

“True, but there will be times when I will want you to present a more…professional appearance. Think that’s possible?”
Eamon asked, amused.

“Certainly sir. W
hen you need a corporate serf, I will oblige. I will put the uniform in that cute little closet outside along with all the appropriate regalia. I can be Little Miss Corporation in five minutes. Will that be sufficient?”

Eamon nodded. “It should be. Now, sit down and let’s discuss what else you will need to do
. What’s your plan, Sarah?”

Sarah came back to the desk and sat down once more.
“Please call me Miss Adams? A professional appearance begins with professional courtesies. Of course, you pay my salary so it is entirely up to you.”

“Miss Adams it is.” Eamon gave nothing away in his expression.

“Okay. Here is my plan. I’m going over to Rainwhite tomorrow when everyone comes back to work to start my assessments. How long do I have before you will make decisions?”

Eamon
twirled a pencil. “A couple of weeks, maybe three. I want to consolidate the two companies by the end of the quarter.”

“It sounds as thoug
h my position is very temporary.” Sarah could tell he was enjoying this.

“Not if you find something worth pursuing. I expect you to see it through and make it work. That is how you save jobs,” Eamon reiterated
, twirling the pencil.

His reasons
still didn’t make sense, but Sarah wanted the chance to make a difference. “Okay, I’ll do what I can then.” She faced him once more. “Anything else?”

Eamon balanced the pencil on his palm. “That’s all for now.” Sarah rose and started for the door. He let her get half way. “
Miss Adams?”

She turned around
. He held up the cup. “Mind getting me another cup of coffee?”

“Not at all.” She took his cup and headed for the door once more.

Eamon had the pleasure of watching Sarah’s sweet bottom rotate in her skinny black jeans three times in the space of a few minutes. It made his morning.