I had nothing to offer Hannah—not even a lie or a word of comfort—so I stared blankly at her and Sheila, who was grinning. Sheila rubbed her hands together and took a seat.
“Because my parents and my sister wanted me to marry her. I could never love her as much as I love you, Ginger. She’s fat, and she’s just let herself go.”
“Were you ever going to tell me about you and Mike?” Hannah asked me again. “Or were you just going to continue enjoying making me suffer? Is that what friendship means for you, Janet? You befriend people so that you can take their men?”
Sheila was smiling, and she threw a stick of gum into her mouth, which she chewed with her mouth open.
“I can’t believe that you’d do this!” Hannah said as she adjusted her crimson-rimmed glasses. “You’re really sick, Janet. You know that, don’t you? You’re really twisted. You even went up to Menlo Park to see him so that you could gloat behind my back. Here I was, worrying about him, and you knew all the time. Greta forced him tell me. He wants you. Well, you can have each other. You’ve lost my respect.”
Hannah looked at Sheila, who nodded at Hannah as she smacked her gum, which gave Hannah permission to go in for the kill.
“I will never ever speak to you again, Janet,” Hannah said. “You’re so lucky that the Right Path doesn’t allow revenge—thank you for the Right Path—because I wanted to hurt you just like you’ve hurt me. You’ve really hurt me badly, Janet. The Right Path—thank you for the Right Path—allows you and Mike to be together only if you convert, but it doesn’t require me to sit by idly as you defy us.” Hannah looked at Sheila, who nodded again.
“You’re fired, Janet,” Hannah said. “Get your things and go.”
I stared at them both.
They had no authority to fire me.
I worked for Larry, Amandine, and Andy, and only they could fire me.
“You heard me,” Hannah said. “Get out of our office. Go!”
I didn’t say a thing.
We stared each other down.
“Cat got your tongue?” Sheila asked me as she spat her gum into the trash can. “This is a CWP law firm, Mrs. Whit. Virdis, and you’re no longer welcome here.”
“I want to see Larry—”
“Larry works for me,” Sheila said. “Amandine and Andy work for me. Hannah works for me. You have thirty minutes before we toss you out on your ass.”
I stared at Hannah, and she turned away and looked out the window, her arms folded.
When I got back to my desk, Larry’s, Amandine’s, and Andy’s doors were all closed. I knocked on their doors—they were in their offices—but none of them answered. I called their names out individually as I knocked. No answer.
I thought of going to LSD’s office, but she’d resigned months earlier and had moved to Alaska with Bo Lin and their kids.
I walked by Lawrence’s office, who’d always been kind to me, and he ran up to me and gave me a hug.
“This too shall pass, Janet,” Lawrence said. “Every story has its ending, and this one does, too.”
On Lawrence’s desk were CWP shoulder boards and a CWP uniform.
I went to say goodbye to Diana, and she hugged me.
Diana apologized because she’d just gotten off the phone with Larry a second before, and he’d just offered her my position. She’d be sitting just across from him, doing my job. Diana asked if she should resign, instead of taking the position.
“No, Diana,” I said. “Larry, Amandine, Andy, and Hannah couldn’t be luckier. They’re great people, and they mean well. Be good to yourself. Be kind. Remember to carve out a little time for yourself each day here. I’ve spent twelve wonderful years here, and I wish you at least as many wonderful years at WS&X.”
I walked to my car, carrying boxes of my stuff. I turned back and took one last look at the building in which I’d spend more than a decade of my life. I recalled the snippet of the prayer I’d heard as an adolescent.
“Help those, like me, who don’t know what they’re doing and where they’re going.”
My heart pounding, I picked up my phone, texted Mike, who wrote back immediately and said he’d call me shortly.
I looked up the contact information for the Golden State Herald, where Linda Maywrot was the chief investigative journalist.
I called the number, sobbing and trembling, and said I had a confidential news tip for Linda Maywrot.
“This is Linda Maywrot,” a woman said a few moments later. I recognized her voice.
“My name is Janet Whitaker, and I have some information you might find useful.” I explained that I had confidential CWP files. “Yes,” I reassured Linda, “I have all the documents in a safe place. Of course, I’d be glad to meet tomorrow.”s
Acknowledgments
I am, as always, grateful for the support of wonderful friends and family members. It makes a difference to have delightful, loving, and inspiring people in one’s life. I’m especially grateful to MF, CD, DH, and LR for believing in me.
I would also like to acknowledge the following sources, which I have quoted: Augustine of Hippo’s Letters Against Petilian (c. 400); Publius Terentius Afer’s (c. 195/185 - c. 159 BC) Heauton Timorumenos; Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī’s (1207 - 1273) “A Great Wagon”; the King James Bible (1611); William Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra (1623); Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850), particularly Sonnet VI, “Go from me. Yet I feel that I shall stand”; and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake (1875-76), which are all in the public domain. I have also cited propaganda from the 1930s and 1940s, which is also in the public domain. I have also quoted from Sands Rising: The California Ballot Killings Book I.
I would not have been able to write Fire Sweeping without the example of VLGEMP and am in awe of his example. I also refer to Neferneferuaten Nefertiti (1370 BC - 1330 BC), Cleopatra VII Philopator (69 BC - 30 BC), Edgar Allen Poe (1809 - 1849), Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906), and Harriet Tubman (c. 1822 - 1913).
Many thanks, reader, for purchasing this book. If you enjoyed the book, please consider leaving a review, as it will help other readers. For updates regarding upcoming releases and other information, please visit hmwilhelmborn.com
HMW.
Afer sum.
Note: Fire Sweeping includes references to mental health issues. If you are struggling with hopelessness, suicidal thoughts, crises, or other events that destabilize you and make life less safe, there is help.
Please reach out to someone.
Hope is on the way.
If you’re in the United States, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1 800 273 8255. For other countries, please find a list here: https://ibpf.org/resource/list-international-suicide-hotlines
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by H. M. Wilhelmborn. All rights reserved. Thank you for purchasing this book. Except for review purposes, no part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of H. M. Wilhelmborn. Thank you for supporting the author’s copyright.
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Edited by Luke Gerwe.
Cover by Kingwood Creations.
Book design by Vellum.
Published by Wilhelmborn LLC.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Library of Congress Control Number:2019918781
Ebook ISBN:9781951396039
Paperback ISBN:9781951396046
Audiobook ISBN:9781951396053
Synopsis
This is a story about who we believe we are and who we actually are. 2039. California. Dust storms and illnesses are on the rise, and fire sweeps across land still holding vegetation
.
Janet Whitaker Virdis, a mother of four, who believes herself devoted and good, struggles to deal with the consequences of her infidelity, which led her to the bed of a high-ranking man from a powerful and dangerous political party. Janet wants two things: She wants to maintain the illusion of a happy marriage to her devoted and considerate husband. She also wants the married man with whom she was unfaithful to her husband.
The political party presents Janet with an ultimatum. Janet rebels. Her rebellion begins quietly, it grows steadily, and it plunges her even deeper into the pit she had hoped to escape. This is Fire Sweeping: The California Ballot Killings Book II.
Fire Sweeping: The California Ballot Killings Book II Page 26