“Will do,” Maximus said, and ended the call.
Bobby sat his phone back on its hook. Then he pointed a finger at Sloane. “If anything happens to that man, and I mean anything, it’s all our asses. But your ass will answer to me.”
“Why are you jumping all over me?” she yelled out. “I thought you knew, Bobby!”
“It is literally your job to keep up with that man and you couldn’t even do that. Don’t you talk to me about what you thought I knew. It’s about what you knew and you did nothing about it! Now get your ass out of my office and keep trying to reach him.”
Sloane wanted to cuss him out, but she knew that would be the end of her ability to be around William. Which was all she was after. “Yes sir,” she said with gritted teeth as she hurried out of his office and closed, although he knew she wanted to slam, his door.
Then Bobby shook his whole body in virulent anger. “Gotdammit!” he yelled out so loud that his secretary rushed in.
CHAPTER FIVE
“A max burger all the way with a large fry,” said the taller of the two truckers seated at the table.
“I’ll take the same,” said the smaller trucker. “But hold the cheese and the onions on mine.”
“No Che and O for you,” Joy said as she wrote their requests on her order pad. “And all the way for you,” she said to the taller trucker. “Got it.”
As she threw her order pad in her apron pocket and began gathering up their menus, what looked like a brand-new, bright-red Chevy Corvette pulled into the parking lot just outside of the window where the truckers were seated.
“Nice ride,” said the male trucker.
“I try my best,” said Joy. The truckers looked at her. “Oh you meant that car,” she added with a smile, and they both laughed.
“Is that a Camaro?” Joy asked the truckers.
“Camaro my ass. That’s a Corvette. And a brand new one at that.”
“Cool,” said Joy. “I’m gonna drive me a fancy car someday.”
“Sure you are,” said the taller trucker. “And I’m Julia Roberts.”
“You might be. I saw you sashaying those hips.” His partner laughed. “Be right back with your order, fellars,” Joy added as she headed toward the kitchen to place their orders.
Outside, a dark blue Volkswagen Jetta pulled up alongside the Corvette and William Skeffington stepped out,stretched, yawned, and looked around. He was in Bridell, Indiana, a town he’d never visited before, and he loved the smell of that farm-fresh Indiana air. He’d been on the road for over nine hours. It was high time he took a longer break, got himself a meal, and then made the final three hour leg of his journey to Chicago.
He grabbed his bomber jacket hanging from the backseat hook, put it on, and locked his car. As he headed for the entrance, he almost pulled out his phone. He knew he had to have at least a hundred missed calls. He was also certain Bobby was already apoplectic, and his senior executives would be also once they found out, but he didn’t care. Had he told any of them that he was going to drive himself back to Chicago alone, they would have had hidden security all over the place regardless of what he ordered them not to do. He understood why they would be so concerned. They didn’t want anything to happen to their meal ticket. But they worked for him, not the other way around, and it was high time they understood that.
“Welcome to Maylene’s,” the older woman at the reception podium said as he walked in. “Just one, sir?”
“Excuse me?”
“Just one at your table?”
“Oh.Yes.It’s just me.”
She grabbed a menu and took him to a booth seat midway along a line of booths. The restaurant itself was only about a third full, and although it was a far cry from the Michelin-starred, James Beard award-winning restaurants he was accustomed to fraternizing, it looked clean enough and efficient enough. It would do just fine.
He sat on the banquette and the hostess placed onto his table the menu and a fork and knife wrapped up in a white napkin made of paper. As if they were trying to be fancy withoutthe expense of fanciness. “Your waitress will be with you shortly, sir,” she said.
“Where’s your restrooms, young lady?”
The woman, who was older than William, smiled. “Right down this aisle, sir, and to your left.”
“Thank you very much,” William said with a slight bow of his head and then she smiled again and headed back up front.
“What you smiling about?” Joy asked Helen, the hostess, as she made it back up to the welcome podium.
