by Nella Tyler
He sighed heavily and stepped toward her to wrap his arms around her. She leaned into his embrace, feeling sheltered and protected. Much too soon, Brecken took a step back. He cleared his throat and leaned against his desk, half-sitting on the edge. He carefully placed the paper with her image on his blotter and then turned to her, his arms crossed over his chest. "Heather, this is a computer programming company. We have lots of competition domestically and abroad. There are going to be people who lose out on contracts, get upset, and make idle threats."
"But I don't have anything to do with the day-to-day running of your business!" she argued, shaking her head. "Why would they take pictures of me? Why am I getting strange phone calls?"
He frowned. "What exactly did the caller say?"
“He said, ‘How does it feel to work for a traitor?’” She clasped her hands together in her lap to keep them from shaking in front of Brecken. While she was scared down to her bones, she didn't want to appear like a ninny who jumped at her own shadow. "Why would someone say something like that? How did someone from outside the company get my number and extension? I've only been here a week. It's not public knowledge."
He shook his head and sighed. "I don't know, Heather, but I’ll get to the bottom of this."
"Did your security guy find out anything? Did you look for anyone this week?"
"He's reported to me every day," Brecken nodded. "He hasn't seen the guy following you, at least, not a man based on your description." He shook his head. "Look, Heather, why don’t you take some time off if that will make you feel better-"
"But I just started working here!" she gasped. "How will that look to the staff if you give me a week off a week after I start?" She shook her head. "Besides, I think that man, whoever he is, probably knows where I live by now.” She paused and stared out the window a moment, not seeing the vista of downtown Boston spread out around her. “Are you going to call the police?"
He shook his head. "I don't really have anything to tell them other than you believe you're being followed, have received a phone call, and this image. You know what they’ll say. They’ll need proof-”
“But the photo-”
“Anyone could have sent that,” he calmly explained. “They would have nothing more to go on than my own security team, and they’re good. Let me see what I can dig up. I'm certain it will find who's at the bottom of this, and I promise you, I’ll put a stop to it."
At this point, Heather began to second-guess her decisions. Had she leapt at this job too quickly? Had she allowed the lure of money and the perks get to her head, override her better judgment? She usually took the time to vet a company she worked for, but she had given Shaw & Burk’s background only a cursory glimpse before she had gotten the interview with Brecken just over a week ago. Was it only just over a week? It felt like forever.
"And, don't you worry about what the staff will think," he said. "I give time off to all my staff when they need it. Kids, family, stress – it’s no big deal. Still, I think it's just sour grapes on the part of one of my competitors for losing out on a big project.” He stood. “Let me do some digging, get my security out there asking questions and doing some surveillance of their own with some of my competitors. Don't worry, Heather, we'll get to the bottom of this."
She hesitated. "I'm not sure, Brecken," she said. “At least, when I'm inside the building I feel relatively safe. But out there…" She shook her head.
"I have to take a trip that I can't postpone. I wish I could stay, make you feel a little more secure, and try to make this up to you." He offered her a smile. "Nothing like intrigue to deal with as a new employee, isn't that right?"
She got the impression he was trying to take some of the fear away, to make her smile, but she didn't really feel like it. She glanced up at him. "Brecken, I'm not asking you to divulge business deals or anything like that. But I do need to know. Is there something I should be concerned about working here? Is there something going on that I don't know about that can affect me? I don’t understand why anyone would target me. You have more than two-dozen staff. Why me?"
He shook his head. "I don't know, Heather, but I promise you that I'll do the best that I can to find out. Do you have someone you can go visit? Someone who lives out of town?"
Now, he wanted her to get out of town? She stared at him. What could she say? He had already assured her that there was not anything that his company was involved in that would lead to her personal harm, but-
"Look, Heather, I'm not trying to scare you. Like I said, I'm pretty sure that this is just some sort of revenge manufactured by one of my competitors. I will get to the bottom of it. While I'm gone on my business trip, I'll make sure that my security detail works on it full time. We will find out who is at the bottom of this. Until then, I suggest that yes, if you have someone you can go visit that's out of town, you'll feel more comfortable, won't you?"
She thought of her parents, living up in New Hampshire. "Yes, I could probably go visit my parents," she said.
"I’ll tell Cynthia. She'll make sure that you have access to my jet at Logan Airport. I would suggest that you leave by tomorrow, if not today. I don't want you to spend your weekend looking over your shoulder and afraid to even leave your apartment. Okay?"
She looked at him. He did seem genuinely concerned and regretful that he couldn't stick around. Once again she was drawn to him, to his eyes and his apparent concern over her welfare. She wanted to be in his arms again. More than that, she wanted to feel his lips on hers.
Even though she had known him for less than two weeks, she nevertheless felt the attraction, the pull, the sexual tension between them. Did he feel it, too? She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She didn't expect him to cancel his trip and babysit her. In fact, the thought of getting out of town for a week rather pleased her. She hadn't visited her parents since Thanksgiving, and it would be nice to spend some quality time with them rather than just a rushed weekend.
"All right, Brecken, I'll go visit my parents up in New Hampshire for the week." She paused. "But it only takes a little over an hour or so to drive. I can drive-"
"You'll take my jet," he interrupted.
"But your business trip-"
"I have more than one jet, Heather," he grinned.
For a second, she noted the slight tone of arrogance. He could afford to be arrogant, couldn’t he? He probably had a handful of jets.
"Heather?"
She nodded. "I got through a lot of the paperwork that was backed up, but I'll be behind again when I get back if I'm gone for an entire week."
He waved a hand. "Don't worry about that, Heather. The paperwork will still be there when you get back. I'm more concerned with your frame of mind. I want to keep you here. I want to keep you a happy, contented employee. Like I said, things will work out all right. I'll take care of this issue, and by the time you get back, it will all be over. Okay?"
While she had no idea how he could accomplish all that when he was away on a business trip, she didn't much concern herself over it. As long as it was taken care of as quickly and efficiently as possible, she didn’t care.
*
Two hours later, Heather followed an airport employee toward a private hangar with the massive logo of Shaw & Burks emblazoned on its side. Inside were two sleek Leer jets. A third was outside the hanger, the ramp down. The employee guided her to the ramp and she stepped up into the craft. She gaped in amazement. The interior was outfitted with luxurious tan upholstered seats for six passengers, nice woodwork, carpeting, and pull down tables. Everything was exquisitely clean and fresh. Every piece of woodwork and trim was highly polished and glistening.
It was empty inside. She had the plane all to herself? As she stepped aboard, she immediately saw the pilot and copilot engaged in a preflight checklist to her left. The copilot glanced at her and smiled.
"Welcome aboard. Make yourself comfortable. There’s a coffee bar at the rear if you'd like to help yourself. We’ll let you know when
we’re ready for takeoff so you can get to your seat, fasten yourself in, and then enjoy the flight, which shouldn't take long."
Heather made her way to one of the chairs and sat down. Early evening was settling over the sky, casting gentle shadows throughout the interior of the cabin. The upholstered seats were plush and unbelievably comfortable. She took a seat in one, admiring the beauty of the interior. Not for the first time, she wondered what she would do if she had so much money she never had to worry about work.
She had a feeling she wouldn't be on the corporate jet very long, but as it taxied onto the tarmac and then surged down the runway prior to taking off, she couldn't help but feel a flutter of excitement. Maybe it was a good idea that she gets away from Boston for a few days; spend some good, quality time with her parents.
She looked forward to seeing her mom Stacy and her father Robert. They were good, down to earth people. Her dad owned his own mechanic shop, and her mom had just retired from long and fulfilling career in nursing.
They had always supported her, even though they didn't understand the appeal of computer programming, accounting, or working with formula or figures like she did. They didn't always agree with her decisions, but they had never had a serious falling out and she was fortunate for that. She had met several friends in college who had difficult relationships with their parents, and she found that hard to wrap her mind around. She supposed that was easy for someone to say who had a great relationship with their parents.
When she landed at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, she looked forward to nothing more than renting a car to drive herself south along the back roads toward Peterborough, and then toward Keene, where her parents lived in a secluded, beautiful, New England Cape Cod style home.
It didn't take her long to rent a car from a small municipal airport. She didn't get anything fancy even though Brecken told her he would reimburse any expenses she had incurred while away. She rented a simple Ford Focus. As she pulled away from the airport, she began to grow even more excited. She was looking at this more as a vacation than an I-have-to-get-out-of-town deal. She realized how much she missed New Hampshire and her parents. Not that Massachusetts wasn’t beautiful, but there was something about her native hometown and region that would always be extra special and beautiful for her.
She lived in the Mount Monadnock area, and to say it was beautiful was an understatement. Her parents’ beautiful, four bedroom home on Lake Swanzey, where she had grown up, had a thirty-foot wrap-around screened porch that looked out onto the lake. How many hours she had sat there watching the fire bugs at night, the canoes out on the lake, and the fishermen coming and going at dawn and dusk?
As she drove she admired the mountain ash, the birch and beech trees, interspersed here and there with hickory and hazelnut, recalling joyful times of her youth. Trees surrounded the home. Growing up a tomboy, Heather had spent much of her time climbing them, watching the birds above and the small animals below. She remembered picking blackberries and blueberries and then waiting impatiently for her mother to bake the pies.
Even though her mother was busy with her own job, she loved to bake and the house always smelled wonderful. Every fall, her mother made dozens of pumpkin pies following Halloween, with most of the pumpkins donated by neighbors contributing to "the cause" as they called it. Everyone in town who wanted a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving received one. It was like a community tradition.
The dogwood shrubs often sheltered wild turkey and grouse, and it most of the year also sheltered squirrels, rabbits, and an occasional duck. Looking upward, she began to recognize a number of birds that brought a smile to her lips – mockingbirds, blue jays, robins, and towhees foraged for food in the shrubs and vines along with chipmunks, white-footed mice, rabbits, and squirrels.
By the time she pulled up into the curved dirt covered driveway of the family home, covered now with reddish shredded bark, Heather was definitely feeling nostalgic. Virginia creeper vines had nearly covered one side of the old garage, where a number of birds would make their home every fall and winter.
Heather still insisted that the most beautiful place to watch the changing colors of the trees every fall was her native home state, but it had been years since she had been able to enjoy the glorious beauty of the changing leaves. Maybe, if everything turned out all right with her new job and Brecken took care of the issues that had brought her here in the first place, she would be able to afford to take time off a couple of times a year to come up and visit.
In fact, this was a place that she would love Brecken to see. She had no idea if he'd ever been in New Hampshire, but he didn't seem like the rural type. He was all city boy. Then again, she didn't know much about his personal background. She had been unable to dig deeply into his past, even with her impressive computer skills. Of course, he had the skills, as well, and could have literally erased a lot of digital information from the Internet. She would have to think about that. Brecken Shaw was a well-known figure in the Northeast. His biography shouldn't be that difficult to obtain. The fact that he was super private and obviously a bit secretive still should not prove a barrier to finding out more about him.
As she pulled up along the path of the circular driveway of the home, she smiled. She spied the hammock still swinging between the trees, the canoe placed upside down on sawhorses, the beautiful lake… No matter what had brought her here, she glad to be spending time at home. There was something about this place that made her feel very comfortable, secure, and of course, loved. She had spent so many hours wandering around these woods, sitting by the lake, contemplating where her life would take her.
The crunch of tires in the driveway brought her father to the screen door. He stared at the car, probably wondering who had come to visit. Seconds later, she saw her mother step behind him. Still smiling, Heather got out of the car and waved.
"Surprise!"
Her parents’ expressions immediately changed from wariness to happiness as they came down to greet her at the car. Amid hugs, kisses, and laughter, she was barraged by questions.
With her arms wrapped around each of their waists, they began to make their way back up to the house. "I can't believe how long it's been since I've been up here," she commented.
The minute she walked into the house, she was assailed with memories. The living room opened up into a gorgeous space, complete with well-used stone fireplace and hardwood floors. The furniture was the same as from her youth, a little worn around the edges, but still cozy and comfortable. Multi row nine-paned windows looking out into the woods in back and toward the lake in front provided a nearly three hundred sixty-degree view of the beauty surrounding them. White filmy curtains were drawn back at the moment, inviting in the colors of early evening.
"Oh," she sighed, closing her eyes as she stood inside the living room. The smell, the atmosphere, the love inside this house!
"Let me just go turn off the stove," her mother commented. "Heather, sit down. Robert, why don't you go get her luggage? I'll be right back."
"I can get my suitcase later, Dad," she said. "Mom, whatever you have on the stove smells delicious. I hope there's enough for three?"
Her mother laughed. “Isn't there always?"
She watched as her mother quickly stepped in the kitchen and her father headed back outside to the car to get her suitcase. She sank down onto the plush gray sofa and remembered the hours and hours she had studied or read her favorite books here. Wasn't there that old saying, something about everything changed, but nothing really changes at all? That's how she felt about her home. She supposed that she brought her childhood memories along with her every time she visited.
In a matter of minutes, her mother had returned to the living room, as had her father. He carried her small suitcase down the short hall to her old bedroom, now a guest bedroom, complete with brass fittings on the bed, fluffy white curtains, and a gorgeous soft teal paint with white trim. Her mother had done an exquisite job choosing paint colors and furniture t
hat gave the house an incredibly warm and inviting, yet elegant look.
The last time she'd been in the kitchen, her parents had just had a renovated with dark oak wood cabinets, glass fronts, and pitted black iron fittings and hinges. The countertops were gorgeous gray and black speckled granite that came from the quarry not far away. The floor in the kitchen was still the original grayish plank with wooden nails.
She shook her head and smiled as her father reemerged into the living room and took the armchair beside the couch.
"Honey, we’re so glad to see you, but what's wrong? What brings you up here? Are you all right?" Her mother didn’t mince words and glanced at her husband, her eyes widening as she glanced back at Heather. "You're not sick, are you?"
Heather laughed. "Nothing like that, Mom," she said. "My boss just suggested that I take the week off-"
"Didn’t you just start work there?" her father asked. "You didn't get fired, did you?"
Again, she laughed at the surprised expression on her father's face. "No, Dad, I didn't get fired. Actually, I think this is one of the perks of the job."
"What do you mean?" her mother asked, leaning forward in her chair. "What kind of place are you working where you get a week vacation right after you start?"
Heather could imagine how this looked. "There's a bit of an issue going on at work right now, an issue that has nothing to do with me," she explained. She certainly wasn't going to tell her parents about the man who had been following her, taking pictures, nor the fact that she seemed to have been targeted for some type of…she didn't even know what to call it.
"Does it have anything to do with the article that was in the Times over the weekend?" her dad asked.
Of course, her father was well informed, despite the fact that he lived out the middle of nowhere in the New Hampshire wilderness. "I'm not quite sure," she replied honestly. "I do know that Brecken – Mister Shaw – did express some concern that it might be a disgruntled competitor, and he thought that it would make me feel more comfortable if I took a little vacation while he gets it all figured out."