“What’s this?” a man’s irritated voice interrupted. They turned to find a short, middle-aged, balding man approaching them at a brisk pace. “Who areyou?”
Shelby took a deep breath, and Wade put his hand lightly on her lower back in support.
***
“Martinez,” Shelby said, her voice low, “is security on their way?”
“Yes, ma’am, just as you instructed.”
Wade glanced over his shoulder. The bodyguard’s eyes darted to where his hand still rested, a brow cocked and one corner of her mouth curved up, like she had him all figured out. How embarrassing.
“I’m Shelby Nash,” she said to the man. Her simple statement stopped him in his tracks, the look on his face making it clear he recognized the name. She reached into her large purse and pulled out some paperwork. “You’re Theodore Conti?”
“Yes, that’s me. Why did Mr. Bradley send you?” He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his shiny forehead.
“I’m here to inform you that Grantham Industries is terminating your contract.”
“You’re firing me?” The short man bristled like a rooster, preparing to do battle. “You can’t do this. I’ll—”
“You’ll do nothing.” Shelby held the paperwork out to the man, pinning him with one of the stares Wade had seen her use many times over the years. He kind of felt a little sorry for the guy. “It was all in the contract you signed, Mr. Conti,” she said. “As an ‘at will’ employee, you work at the will of your employer. Surely you knew that.”
“Well, yes, but—”
“Mr. Bradley has determined your services are no longer needed here. Your termination fee will be wired to your account—per agreement—once you’ve signed this.” She pointed to the contract. “It’s on the back page. There are two originals.” For the first time she glanced at Wade, and he blinked in surprise. “Once Mr. Masters has witnessed your signature, you may keep one for your records. Mr. Shang will then escort you to your quarters to gather your belongings. Anything you can’t carry now will be shipped to you.”
The tension that had continued to rise stopped when she mentioned Shang. Then, the little man seemed to wilt. Conti shot the bodyguard a look and meekly accepted the pen she offered him. After he signed it, he thrust it at Wade. He scribbled his signature and gave it to Shelby.
She removed the back page and returned it to the little man. “I’ll need your passwords.”
“What?” An odd expression flashed across Conti’s face and was gone. It set up Wade’s hackles and, for the first time, he understood what Shelby must have known automatically. The manhadbeen up to something.
“Allyour passwords.” Shelby put the contract back in her purse and removed a small notepad.
Conti took it with a dark look and wrote down some things. He held the notebook out to her and, just before her hand touched it, he let it drop to the ground.
Martinez bent over, picked it up, and brushed it off before giving it to Shelby.
“Very mature, Mr. Conti.” Her voice held the perfect edge to it. “I wouldn’t recommend you request a referral from us; you won’t be pleased with what we have to say.” She put the notebook in her purse. “Go with Mr. Shang. The helicopter is waiting to take you back to San Diego.”
Wade stood on one side of Shelby, while Martinez took position on her other side. They watched in silence until Shang had escorted the little man out of hearing.
“I assume you’re here for your tekkie skills as well as a bodyguard, right, Martinez?” Shelby still focused on the retreating figures.
“Enough to get his system online for the real techs.”
“You expected this?” Wade asked, fascinated at an inside look at the workings of a large corporation. He wondered if this kind of thing happened very often.
“Not necessarily, but I knew there was a problem just because Alan said so little. Even before I got the email and read the original contract and the termination notification.” Shelby pulled out her phone. “Oh, good. This place has great reception. Excuse me.”
She stepped away from them a few paces and placed a call.
“So, you’re a woman of many talents.” Wade turned in a slow circle, studying the landing pad. It had a good view of the various construction areas.
“With this job, I need to be a little bit of everything,” the bodyguard said.
Wade paused in his perusal of the area and turned to find her looking at him. “What?” he asked.
“You and Ms. Nash have a history.” She folded her arms across her chest. “Is that going to be a problem?”
