The Lethal Encounter (5 page)

The phone by her side let out
a harsh ring. Katie picked it up, recognising the extension number in the phone
display to be her immediate boss, Sue Spears.

“Hi Sue,” she said.

“Katie, Hi.....good trip?
When can we sit down and chat about your meetings?”

“Now, if you like.” Katie responded.
“I haven't yet sorted anything out but I can give you the heads up.”

“Great, see you in a tick
then.” Sue put her phone down and Katie reached for her notebook. Sue had been
her boss all the time Katie had been at Shire Electronics and Katie felt they
had a good relationship. She was in her late thirties and led the business
development team…..and did so pretty successfully if their growing revenue
figures were anything to go by. Her manner was sometimes combative.....too
combative in Katie's mind, but she tended to get the job done.....and she was
highly thought after by the senior management. As Katie considered this, her
stomach did another flip. What on earth would Sue say if she knew what had
occurred last night? Katie reckoned that she would not be impressed, not least
because Sue perceived she was the prize catch - being single, successful and
pretty attractive for her age. Katie shuddered to think of the fallout that
might occur if word got out that she, little old Katie McGovern from business
development, had almost slept with Peter Jarvis!

With this thought in mind,
Katie made her way down the row of offices and into Sue's at the end of the
corridor. She was on the phone but she smiled broadly at Katie and beckoned her
in to sit down on the sofa in the far end of the corner office.

“Great, great, we'll get that
order processed and our team will be with you first thing next week. Great,
thanks, bye.” Sue finished the call with a flourish and smile and put the phone
down.

“So, Katie, I gather your
trip went well. Logistics France has already been in contact with the legal
department and the paperwork is being drawn up. Well done.”

“Thanks,” replied Katie with
a smile. “There's still a huge amount to do and the timelines are horrible, but
we can do it OK. They went for the intermediate solution we offered them to
start, with a full scale implementation sometime next year.”

“Fantastic, that's a great
client to be working with. When do you think we can get a full spec drawn up
for the progress team?”

“I'll start working on it
over the weekend and get it finished by Monday or Tuesday at the latest. I'll
need to get input from you as well. Do you know which team leader will be
handling this? I'd like Chris Marchant or David Keenly if possible.”

“I'll have to liaise with
them.....see who's free but it shouldn't be a problem. Logistics will be an
important client for us. I know management have been trying to get in there for
ages - it's a great coup.” Sue replied with a smile. “It will make this
department, and you, look really good.”

Katie paused wondering if
there was a hidden meaning in those words. She decided there wasn't and smiled
back.

“I had better get back then,”
she said as she rose.

“Speak soon. Keep me
updated.”

As Katie sat down again at
her desk, her mobile rang. She glanced at the display and saw it was her mum.
She raised the phone to her ear and pressed the answer button.

“Hi Mum. I'm back from France now and in the office. Are you OK? Are we still on for the weekend?”

“Hello dear. Yes we're fine
and we'd love to see you. Is Sunday lunch ok? I can cook a roast. I know Dad
would like that.”

“Yes, that would be great. I'll
see you about midday then. Sorry, can't stop to chat, I'm in the middle of
something.”

“OK dear, see you Sunday
then.”

Katie pressed the off button
and put the phone down on the desk. She picked up the bundle of papers she had
brought back from France and started to try and sort them. It was mid afternoon
and her brain had switched off for the week. She idly clicked on the IE logo on
her desktop and waited while the mandatory company homepage came up. The mouse
hovered over the “corporate officers” button and she found herself clicking on
it. As the page loaded, the first image to appear was Peter Jarvis. His
biography was relatively brief and to the point - educated at Charterhouse and Durham University, Peter had left his first employer after only three years to set up his
own company - the company that had grown to become Shire Electronics. The
paragraph spoke in glowing terms of his tenacity and enthusiasm and had links
to numerous other articles about his business prowess. Despite idly reading the
blurb, Katie was drawn to his picture. Her time with him seemed like a dream
now she was back in London and sitting at the computer. She lingered on his
deep brown green eyes and the sharp line of his nose, sweeping down to his full
sensuous lips…..the very lips that had been caressing her skin but eighteen
hours before. Her body tingled again and she shifted in her chair. Although she
knew in her heart of hearts that she had done the right thing by escaping, she
also regretted her actions and felt she had missed out on something momentous,
and not only great sex!

“Ah ha, caught you, you
little minx.....staring adoringly at our big boss. Are you in love as well?” A
voice boomed in her ear. “We've all done that I can assure you.”

Katie started and swung
round. The voice belonged to Marge, another member of the new business team who
sat near Katie.

“No,” replied Katie a bit too
quickly. “I was just trying to find some info for a presentation I want to put
together.”

“Mmmn! If I believe that I'll believe anything,” replied Marge with a smile. “I
hear the trip to Logistics went well. That's fantastic.”

“Thanks Marge. I'm really
pleased.”

“So are you out for a drink
later? We're going to the George next door for a few.”

“I think I'm seeing some
friends, but I'll definitely be there first,” said Katie.

“Great, see you then.” With
that, Marge swivelled round in her chair.

Katie returned to the screen
and closed the corporate page before she could be accused of staring by anyone
else. She opened her e mails and set down to answer as many as possible in the
last few hours of the day.

An hour later, her mobile
rang again and she answered it.

“Hi Josie, how are you. I'm
back from France…..are you on for a drink later? I need to talk.”

“Really? Now that's
interesting. Sure, we'll be at the usual place from 7.30 onwards. Did you have
a good trip?” said Josie, one of Katie's best friends.

They had met at university
and had shared a flat in the third year before coming down to London to
continue their friendship in a run down rental flat in Chiswick, together with
another friend Sue. Despite them now living apart, they stayed in constant
contact with each other.

“Mmmn, that’s what I need to
talk about. It was almost too good!”

Josie squealed with delight.

“Oh my god, you're talking
about a bloke aren't you? What? You had a fling with some rich old Frenchman
who wants to whisk you away to his South of France hideout.”

“Not quite, but something
like that,” laughed Katie. As usual Josie managed to lift her spirits and she
immediately could not wait to see her.

“I'm going for a quick drink with
some people here, but I'll be there later” said Katie. “Got to go now.”

“See you then,” replied
Josie. “Can't wait.”

As people started to pack up
their desks, Katie too was finishing a preliminary report on her trip and had
already started to draw up a project implementation timeline. She knew she had
done well with the deal and was feeling good about herself. With this, and the
prospect of a good evening ahead, she turned off her computer and started
putting her things away.

The end of the week atmosphere
hit her as she pushed open the doors to the pub next door to the office. Whilst
the cavernous room was mercifully free of cigarette smoke, the air was thick
with the smell of alcohol and general reverie. She pushed herself through the
crowds, nodding to several people she knew vaguely. As she reached the bar, she
felt a hand grasp her elbow. She turned to see Hugo beaming at her. In his hand
was a half drunk pint of bitter and from the look in his eyes, it was not his
first drink.

“Hi Hugo, how's things?” said
Katie. Despite the emotional turmoil of the last twenty four hours, she felt a
genuine wave of warmth towards Hugo. They were, after all, on the verge of
sleeping together and Katie knew they would not have got this far unless she
had real feelings for him. Their relative positions as work colleagues of sorts
meant that he could not really be a casual relationship…..it was either all or
nothing.

“Marvellous, fantastic and
even better for seeing you. Let me get you a drink. We're all over there, by
the window and I've saved you a seat. Go and bag it before anyone else takes it.
What do you want?”

“I'll have a glass of wine
please - but make sure its cold and not one of those cheap plonks they serve up
at this time of the week,” replied Katie with a smile and a quick squeeze of
Hugo's arm.

He turned to the bar and held
his arm up to attract the attention of the barman as Katie turned to make her
way across the room.

There were about eight people
sitting around a table, all of whom she knew either well or in passing.

“Hey, it’s Katie, salesperson
extraordinaire. Come and sit down next to me here,” bellowed Steven Dunn, her
opposite number dealing with the Eastern European territories.

“Well done on that deal, tell
me all about it. What’s it worth? How big is your bonus going to be compared
with mine this year?”

Katie sat down next to Steven
and smiled at everyone else. “Thanks Steve.....and don't worry, I'm not about
to take your king of the sales crown away just yet. Maybe next year!”

Just then Hugo arrived and
put Katie's wine down in front of her. She raised it to her lips and took the
first sip. As pub wines went, it wasn't bad and Katie felt its cold warmth
slide down to her stomach. She turned to face Hugo.

“And how are you? Thanks for
ringing me yesterday. It was nice of you.”

Hugo looked at her strangely,
as if sensing that something between them had been lost in the past few days.

“No problem,” he said. “Why
wouldn't I?” He looked at her deeply and their eyes met. She immediately became
aware in that instant that, whilst Hugo had piercing blue eyes, his look did
not stir anything like the same feelings that had been roused from their
dormancy less than a full day ago. However, she smiled back at him but then
broke the stare to turn her head to Marge who was asking a question.

“So what did grumpy old Sue
have to say? She must be pleased with you,” said Marge.

“She was, said it was a great
coup for the team and how it would look good with the management.”

“Oh yeah? Look good for her I
expect,” retorted Marge sarcastically. Katie knew that she and Sue had a
history but she tried to avoid getting caught up in any internal politics,
particularly if it was close to home.

Katie did not want to dwell
on this so moved the conversation swiftly on.

“It does mean I will have to
spend a whole load of time in the South of France, which is terribly tough of
course.”

This comment was met with the
usual round of mock groans from the assembled crowd. Katie smiled and took another
long sip of her wine. On an empty stomach, she could already feel the effect of
the alcohol and was feeling more and more relaxed. The next comment however,
would change all that.

“And I hear our esteemed
leader Mr. Peter Jarvis was also in Cannes on business,” said Nicola Radcliffe,
a sales back up person in their department, to the girl sitting next to her.
“Probably wining and dining his latest conquest no doubt.”