~Chapter 4~

~Chapter 4~

~June 8th, 2019- Regency Inc Building, NY City
Emma Lector stared out of the window in the room outside James’ office. Mabel Bethany, James’ secretary, sat typing at her desk by the door into the office, but besides her there was no one else in the beige walled room.
Today started out bad, and if Emma’s meeting with James went as she expected it might, it was just going to get worse. She had woken up with a headache, only to find her guestroom on the thirteenth floor of the Regency Inc building was out of caffeinated coffee. Then her breakfast was overcooked, the radio in her room was broken, and she discovered that James had not transferred the promised funds into her bank account. It was after that last discovery that she demanded an appointment with James.
So now she was waiting outside his office while James finished some business with Cipher and Jeff Mirky. And she had been waiting for over half-an-hour.
The door leading in from the hallway opened and Emma spun around to see a tall man walk into the room.
The man’s hair was black and cut close to his skull. His face was gaunt and his skin pale, giving him the appearance of a vampire or ghoul. But his soft gray eyes held a warmth and kindness that could make people forget his disturbing appearance.
He approached Mabel’s desk and she held up a hand for him to stop.
“Hold up, Grayson, I can’t talk to you just yet.”
The man bowed his head respectfully and turned to Emma, a smile playing across his thin white lips.
“Miss Lector, I presume?”
Emma nodded, “Yes, and you are?”
The man’s voice was harsh like that of someone who had spent most of their day screaming at the top of their lungs.
“My name is Samuel Grayson.”
“It is nice to meet you, Mr. Grayson. What do you do around here?”
Grayson smiled, and his canine teeth where slightly pointed, making him look even more like a vampire.
“I normally run an armored car business that does business in almost every state. But recently I have been doing financial calculations and estimates for Mr. Hughes.”
Emma threw Grayson a suspicious glance, “Is that all you do, Mr. Grayson?”
Grayson’s eyes gleamed, “Please, call me Sam. And I see there is no hiding from you, Miss Lector. I must admit, then, that I do supply data to Mr. Hughes and some other Board members on certain valuable cargoes my agency is transporting.”
Emma cocked an eye at him, “Do you get paid well?”
Grayson smiled widely, “Why of course! But why do you ask?”
“Grayson, do you have something for me?”
Grayson turned to Mabel and handed her the folder he had in his hand.
“Yes, I actually do. This is the estimates Mr. Hughes wanted. Tell him if he has any questions he knows how to contact me.”
Mabel tossed the folder onto a small stack of other folders destined to be delivered to James’ desk.
“Yeah, thanks Sammy, that all?”
Grayson shook his head, “No, Mabel, I believe that is all. Good day!”
Mabel threw him a cranky glare, and Grayson turned to Emma.
“It was good to meet you, Miss Lector, but it seems I have outstayed my welcome. I hope to speak to you again.”
Emma nodded to him as he left the room, thinking to herself that a man like that should not be in the business he was in. It just seemed strange to her, the man and what he did didn’t seem to match somehow.
Cipher and Mirky walked through the door to James’ office and, after greeting Emma, left the room.
Mabel gestured to the now open door.
“Go on in, but close the door behind you.”
Emma took a deep breath and walked through the door.
James sat at the desk once occupied by Regent Taske. He was glancing through papers filled with statistics and estimates and reports from operatives all over the country.
He looked up as Emma shut the office door.
“Emma, darling, how good to see you!”
Emma just stood there, looking at him.
“James, you never transferred the funds.”
James’ face fell slightly, “Oh, is that why you are here?”
“Yes, it is.”
James stood and went to stand by the window.
“Well, I’ve been rather busy…”
Emma glared at him, “That’s bull, James. I just met a Mr. Samuel Grayson in your office who does financing for you; I know you have an entire floor of people who manage your company’s finances. I know that more than half the people in this building answer to you directly, and the rest of them indirectly! And you have the nerve to tell me you can’t find someone with a few minutes who can make the transfer!?”
James walked over to her and tried to put his arms around her. She pushed him away, but he pretended to ignore it.
“Baby, I just forgot…”
“Once or twice is forgetting, five or six is you avoiding paying me.”
James’ eyes flashed, but he kept his cool.
“Emma, don’t you love me?”
Emma felt used, betrayed, and her blood began to boil.
“Does it matter? So what if I love you, do you love me? Love isn’t something one person can maintain, it takes two people to make it work! And you are not working at it!”
James’ face began to turn red, “Emma, listen, you aren’t being rational…”
Emma’s smile was cold and spiteful, “Not being rational? Because I believe the man who claims to love me but won’t devote even the tiniest fraction of his resources to fulfill the smallest of his promises really doesn’t care for me at all? Am I really so irrational?
By now James’ eyes were dark and angry, “Yes, you are being irrational. I’m the one who took you away from that crummy position as Whitehouse secretary and brought you into this life of luxury! I’m the one who promised you the world and is well on his way to giving it to you! I’m the one who is giving you everything you ever wanted!”
“Maybe if all I ever wanted was money,” Emma snapped, “What if I wanted you to abandon all these plots and schemes and spend your time with me? What if I just want you, and don’t give a damn about all the money and wealth? At least when I was a secretary I knew I’d have a paycheck at the end of every month!”
“Then go out and find a man who will give you whatever the Hell you want, you ungrateful witch!”
With tears in her eyes, Emma nodded and turned to leave.
“Then I will do just that.”
James grabbed a vase from off his desk and hurled it at her. It missed Emma and smashed against the wall.
Emma ran from the room, not even bothering to close the door behind her.
James’ irate voice followed her into the hallway.
“Then leave, but don’t ever expect to come back! When I possess the pitiful amount of money you are left with, don’t expect me to come to your aide!”

Emma entered the elevator at the end of the long hallway. Anger and vengeance sang through her veins.
She had just stepped out of the elevator on the ground floor when a thought struck her.
Josh Taske, the one person James feared most. She had met him five years ago, just before James lured her away from her job as Whitehouse secretary. He had struck her as a nice person, one she could trust. And she had learned from James that he was also a very dangerous man.
If anyone could help her exact her vengeance on James Hughes, it was him.

~June 10th, 2019- Matt Gold’s House in El Paso, Texas
A knock on the door roused the current Mayor of El Paso from his recliner. It was about two thirty in the afternoon, and Matt normally spent the afternoons reading, watching TV, or napping.
But, upon opening the front door, Matt knew the rest of his afternoon would not be as quiet as normal.
“Nathan, Scarlet, I haven’t seen you two for a while.”
Nathan, dressed in his usual jeans, dirty T-shirt, and black leather coat, grinned at the retired President.
“Hey, Matthew! What’s cookin’? We were just passing through and were wondering if we could put up with you for the night. Even if all you do is allow us to pitch a tent in the backyard.”
Scarlet laughed, “But please, don’t make me spend the night in a tent with him!”
Matt smiled widely and opened the door wider.
“Hey, come on in! I hope you don’t mind either a cot or the couch, my guest room has been turned into a storage room and I haven’t bothered to clean it out.”
Nathan and Scarlet followed Matt into the house. Matt led the two of them into his living room and resumed his place in his recliner. Scarlet took a rocking chair to one side and Nathan took a corner of the large rust-colored couch.
Matt looked over the two assassins, “You know, I never got to thank you for everything you two did for me and Lexy a few years back.”
Nathan shrugged, “Well, hey, I got a thank-you card from your office, but I can’t remember if I framed it or burned it… Never did like them generic fill-in-the-name letters.”
Scarlet threw a look at Nathan, “I think what he means is “you’re welcome”.”
Nathan grinned, “Yeah, what she said. So how you been? Heard something about you being a Mayor or some jazz.”
Matt was beginning to remember why Nathan and him never got along. They had served together in the Marines with Josh Taske, and Josh had a hard time getting the two of them to work together.
“Yeah, I was elected earlier this year.”
Scarlet smiled at him, “Congratulations!”
“Thanks,” Matt looked back to Nathan, “So what are you two doing in Texas? I thought New York was your usual stomping grounds.”
Nathan winked at Matt, “Had a job across the border that we just finished up. Don’t worry, no bad guys on our trail this time.”
Scarlet had to hide a smile; she almost said that there was nobody following them because they were all dead.
Instead, she turned back to Matt, “You heard anything from Josh recently? We were thinking of going and paying him a visit.”
Matt smiled fondly at the thought of his son-in-law and his family.
“Well, Lola is five, and already thinks she is a grownup. The twins, Maria and Elijah, are four and Maria is a little terror most of the time. And then Jackson is one…”
Nathan interrupted, “Wait, Jackson!?”
Matt looked surprised, “Yeah, that’s their newest kid.”
Nathan looked dismayed and Scarlet had to stifle a laugh.
“Damn…”
Matt looked to Scarlet, “What?”
Scarlet was watching Nathan with obvious mirth.
“Jackson is Nathan’s middle name.”
Matt looked back at Nathan and instantly understood.
“Oh, I get it! You mean you didn’t know?”
Nathan leaned his head back and closed his eyes.
“Hell no. Think they would have still called him Jackson if I knew about it?”
He brought his head up to look meaningfully at Scarlet.
“We are definitely going to pay them a visit now! Matt, we’ll probably head off in the morning, if that’s alright with you.”
Matt shrugged and got to his feet, “Sure, either of you want something to eat?”
Scarlet also got up, “Sure, what do you have?”
“You can come see what’s in the kitchen.”
Scarlet looked at Nathan, “Anything for you, Nathan?”
“Beer.”
Scarlet laughed, “Beer it is, then.”