Trigger (3 page)

Mom, Dad, two older brothers and she shared a two
bedroom flat. It was a horrible apartment and horrible people lived
in it. Her flat is close to the old neighborhood because rent is
cheap and she only spends money on Stalwarts, BB and her training.
But the Mom’s vision smile sparked too many unwanted memories

Stuffing her feet quickly into her running shoes,
she straps on her ankle holster, grabs her gun, carry permit,
driver’s license, cell phone and she’s out the door.

Time to think through the pending acquisition that
was supposed to build her company would be good, but running in
this neighborhood is not the place to let her mind wander or her
guard down. It’s a dangerous place in daylight, let alone in the
dark. Usually she runs here at dawn the safest time because most of
the seriously dangerous people are sleeping off a night of havoc
and mayhem.

But she needs this run. Even with her Kempo class,
her mind is whirling in a million directions. Between the
Wade/Shockley buy, her Mom and Simon Perry, she’s too keyed up to
sleep and only sleep will bring her a calm head to face
tomorrow.

She runs faster than usual. Vigilant and on full
alert to danger, she runs. She changes course numerous times to
avoid groups of boy gangs and older boy gangs, a few hookers, and a
big black limousine with three men arguing into a back window. Dark
windows hide the person inside but the voice – hard and threatening
– carries to her feet. She’s gone.

She runs until she feels adrenalines weaken and that
delicious bone tired feeling begin to take over. Her brain and body
are in synch. She doesn’t have to think. Her feet fly. Her brain is
clear. Jumping easily over a fallen garbage can, Judy startles to
see a black car pass her. It’s the second time and it slowed both
times it was near her. All danger signals fire her brain and her
legs. She grinds out a higher gear and her feet and long legs fly
upward to warp speed toward home.

As she gets through the front door the car passes
again nearly coming to a stop at her apartment building. Flat
against the inside wall she peaks out, memorizes the license plate
and quickly runs the four flights of stairs to her flat. That
wasn’t good, someone was cruising her, “that’s so not good.”

She’s lived here since she was sixteen and a month
after her Dad beat her Mom to death, but she doesn’t know anyone in
the building and they don’t know her. If she hears someone in the
hallway, she waits until she hears a door shut or the sounds of
footsteps on the stairs before she goes up or down the stairs.

Quietly, she closes the door to her apartment and
throws the locks. She pats it. She had it installed a few years
ago. It’s steel and if the building falls down that door would
still be secure. She paid for door and the work and the owner of
the building actually raised her rent. It’s time to leave this
place. Clearly it’s not going to be renovated into a fusion
neighborhood anytime soon. She was going to buy a nice condo in a
tall building as soon as the deal with Mr. Wade was done. She’s got
to make that happen.

She’s thirsty, hungry and now physically exhausted.
She falls on her futon fully dressed and she’s asleep.

“Baby girl wake up, it’s time to get ready for
school.” Mom is smiling at Judy, but it’s hard to smile back. She
has a black eye and a swollen and cut lip.

“He beat you up again?”

“Shhhh. Your Daddy is asleep. I’ll help you get
dressed and I made you breakfast this morning.” Mom whispers.

She feels her anger rage. She’s angry at her psycho
Dad and brothers, who probably helped beat her up, but she’s more
furious with her mother. How could she let them do this to her.

The image floats away. Mom always moves gracefully
like a dancer. She’s gone and Judy is walking home from school when
she sees a familiar flowered dress in the alley. She’s sure it’s
like Mom’s. She wears it all the time. Cold fear strikes her. She’s
rooted to the sidewalk. The dress isn’t moving. Judy has to see if
it’s Mom’s.

“Mom?” Her voice is so low she’s not sure if she’s
speaking or thinking. Her left foot moves first and her right has
to follow so she won’t fall over. Again and again they move against
her wishes. It’s Mom’s dress but the face is bloody and misshapen.
She can’t tell who is under the blood. The hair is the same color
as Mom’s, but it’s the ring that tells her what she needs know. She
screams and screams and screams.

She’s on the floor and choking. She can’t breathe.
Judy doesn’t know where she is until she sees her running shoes
still tied on her feet. She throws up.

As the elevator reaches the floor of her office and
dings arrival, Charles comes bounding out of his and toward her
with her mug of coffee and startles her.

“Good morning Miss Mason. It’s a beautiful day isn’t
it?”

She smiles trying to think. It’s Saturday right?
Maybe she’s still having her nightmare. Charles looks real and she
remembers driving BB. She reacts instinctively. “Yes it is a
beautiful day. Good morning Charles. Why are you here?”

Franklin yells out from down the hall and quickly
walks toward her with a big smile. “There you are. We thought you’d
never get here. Everyone is here and Charlotte brought in a
breakfast buffet.”

“It’s seven. It’s Saturday.” She feels stupid
because that’s the only thing she can think of to say. She’s always
here on Saturday morning, but no one else is.

“Yes it is Saturday, isn’t it?” Franklin laughs.
“And to prove it we’re all wearing jeans and sneakers.”

She looks at him from head to toe. She’s never seen
Franklin in anything but a suit. “You look good.”

“That’s what Evelyn says. She says I look sexy in
jeans.”

“Turn around.”

He does and she hears a giggle. Judy doesn’t giggle,
but there’s no one else around except Charles, and she doesn’t
think he would giggle. “She’s right you do look sexy.” Her mouth
speaks disrespectfully to Franklin all by itself.

Still holding her coffee, Charles opens the door to
the conference room and she’s greeted with “good morning” times
ten.

“Did I call a special meeting?” She’s confused and
knows it shows, but she can’t help it.

“Franklin did. Now come and get breakfast before
Chad eats it all.” Charlotte pushes her to the long table that sits
quietly under the far windows. She never used that table for
anything. It came with the table and chairs.

She stands in front of food. The last thing she ate
was Steven’s green/gray sludge yesterday after her lunchtime
workout. She stares at all the food, not having any idea what she
wants or if she wants anything. The nightmare and then she vomited.
Can she eat? It looks good . . .

“We haven’t got all day, Miss Mason.”

Charlotte grabs a pretty pink and flower pattern
china plate and starts loading it up with pancakes, scrambled eggs,
bacon and a biscuit. “Grape or strawberry?”

“Grape,” Judy’s mouth speaks.

Charlotte adds a huge pat of butter to the pancakes
and covers them with a dark liquid from a green can that has the
word “Vermont” on it.

She shoves the plate at her. “Go eat. I bet you
didn’t have dinner.”

How does she know?

The conversation is animated and friendly. Everyone
seems happy to be here. The terrible nightmare, throwing up at the
end of it, she drinks the entire mug of coffee without stopping.
She remembers drinking it, but when she looks down, it’s full.

Franklin is staring at her. Concern is written all
over his face. Judy realizes she must look awful. She brushed her
teeth and washed her face. Other than that she’s the same as when
she finished her stupid and frightening run last night with a black
car stalking her.

Franklin takes over the meeting and she’s left with
nothing to do but look down at her plate and try to pay attention.
Charlotte is watching to see if she likes it. She doesn’t want to
upset a very nice and thoughtful woman, but she’s not sure she can
eat.

Her Mom’s battered and bloody face is floating in
and out of the shiny Vermont syrup. She decides to start with the
eggs. They taste good and Mom’s not there. She looks up. Charlotte
smiles and turns her attention to Franklin.

She’s been half listening but now mostly eating. She
doesn’t really remember the last time she had an entire meal. A
cookie here and there, a piece of candy from an employee’s desk, a
sandwich from the kitchen vending machine and of course, Steven’s
green/gray sludge, is all she remembers having eaten recently.

Her plate is empty except for the pancakes. Mom’s
still there. She flips over the top pancake with the syrup on it
and she disappears. Judy eats both and finishes her coffee. She’s
not really sure, but her mug has taken on magic properties. It has
an endless source of fresh coffee in it. She drinks it all. Looks
down and it’s full again. If she can figure out how this works, she
could make millions . . . billions even.

As a test, while Bill and Franklin are discussing
something about space requirements. They sound excited and
frustrated. She drinks all of it and slowly puts it on the table.
She’s going to watch it this time. Charles grabs the mug like
lightening and then puts it back. It’s full.

“Thank you.”

He smiles and nods.

She thinks about Charles and the endless mug.
Another lost opportunity, there’s no way she’ll sell Charles and
his incredible gift.

Charlotte takes her plate away. She misses it
instantly. She hasn’t been included in the discussion because they
were letting her eat. Now she has to pay attention. She was going
to deal with Shockley and Wade today, but she was expecting to have
to figure it out by herself.

“So let’s look over these financials that DeShaun
brought over this morning.” Franklin’s voice is firm and in
control. She hears it in his voice. He’s already decided on a
direction.

“DeShaun was here?” She looks up at Franklin. She’s
back.

“He couldn’t reach you, so he called me. I met him
at the coffee shop on the corner about midnight last night.”

Where as she? Running. She checks her cell phone.
It’s still on vibrate. A cell phone ring while running in her
neighborhood alerts deviates that someone with a cell phone to hock
is nearby.

“That was really thoughtful of him and of you. Thank
you Franklin.”

He smiles. She must look better after eating
Charlotte’s breakfast. That unwanted and unhealthy concern on his
face is gone.

She spends a few minutes looking over the
financials, but mostly she’s admiring DeShaun’s beautiful work.
These are a masterpiece. It takes no time at to get a clear picture
of Shockley.

“He’s clear! He doesn’t owe anyone anything! It’s
all profit.”

“That’s how I see it,” Franklin smiles at her.

“We can do this!”

“I agree.”

She’s up and hugging Franklin before she knows it
and right in front of her staff. “We can do this!” It feels like it
so she must actually be jumping up and down.

“Settle down. We need to talk to the bank, but it
looks really good, Judy.”

She’s walking around the table behind everyone. She
notices their heads turn to follow her. “It’s actually better than
taking on Mr. Wade. The two businesses compliment each other. They
buy and sell from each other. Under one roof and one management the
costs will be significantly reduced the profits will soar.”

She stops suddenly. “They have been best friends
since they were just getting started. Why didn’t they see this?
Franklin. Why? What am I missing?”

“I don’t know Judy. I can only guess that they
respected each others business. Maybe they never thought of
merging.”

“DeShaun would never fudge the numbers. It’s not his
way. These have got to be true figures but they only go back five
years. That’s odd.”

A quick text to DeShaun to call her.

“Okay, Judy let’s work out a proposal based on these
reports. I think we should pitch them both, as soon as possible.”
Franklin looks around the table for agreement.

Every one agrees. Bill is going to start over, he
says, scrap the Wade proposal and rework everything. “I need my
office. Come on Justin let’s lay this out.”

The door shuts loudly behind them, but she’s still
engrossed in figuring this out. “It’s not just me, Judy.” That’s
what he said.

“Charlotte, please check out Wade and Shockley,
their wives and children and see what you can find out about them
and any connections to each other and Simon Perry or any of the
Perry’s.”

She nods and leaves.

My cell rings. “DeShaun thanks for calling me back.
I’m sorry I wasn’t available when you called. This is great work.
It’s more like art than finance.” She laughs while he gloats.
“These only go back five years, do you know how things were before
then?”

Silence from DeShaun. Shit. Not good. “I appreciate
your time and effort, DeShaun. You know my purpose is to make this
work, not only for us but for Wade and Shockley too.” She listens
to DeShaun for a long time while all eyes are on her. “Thanks
DeShaun everything you’ve told me will be kept in confidence. Have
a good weekend and don’t worry. Okay?”

Franklin and the staff watch her closely. She’s sure
they’ve seen her happy demeanor fade. Calm and controlled, “Charles
please check Shockley’s website and find out which products he’s
buying from Perry. Then compare those products to the
financials.”

“You want to know what percent of his sales are
Perry products.”

She nods.

“You’re thinking that Simon will pull the product
line.” Franklin stares at her. She watches his face harden. “Still
the company is in great shape now, at least as far as the bank is
concerned.”