His phone started to vibrate, and Grayson turning to Emma said, "I have to go and deal with this text. Thanks for lunch. I will see you tomorrow." Grabbing his half-eaten sandwich, he left the office. Emma was looking around the office and thought to herself, "Well, at least the desk and shelf match." Looking at the wall, she further thought, "I wonder how they got this color, it matches my bedroom perfectly, and Amelia and I mixed those colors in a unique blend." Looking again at the stack of boxes, Emma finished her lunch and was ready to label the shelves in the unit, which would no doubt take her the rest of the day.
Emma looked at her watch and saw it was six p.m. Deciding it was time to go home; she thought, "I need a glass of cold wine. Maybe I will bring a box home with me to go through on the garden patio.”
Grabbing a box, Emma proceeded to the parking ramp, and loaded her box of files onto the passenger seat, she walked around the car and got in thinking "Sgt. Pepper tonight we leave the top up, don't want to have any of these documents blow away before I can get them scanned. Wait, wasn't the scanner supposed to be delivered this afternoon? I need to check on that right away tomorrow morning.". Starting her car, she backed out of her parking spot to head for the parking ramp exit.
Meanwhile, Grayson, who was seated in his truck behind a pillar, was talking with Jack on his cell phone, "Emma is just leaving now." Jack laughed "What are you stalking her now?" Grayson, replied, "Funny Jack, got a question for you. When you went and pulled the Oklahoma Project Environmental Study out for me, wasn't it on the main server?" Jack thinking said, "Yea, each project is indexed individually and labeled by report sequence why?" Grayson continued, "I was in Emma's office today. I had to take her shopping and…" Jack screamed into the phone, "Did you just say you had to take her shopping?" Grayson heard Jack breaking out into a boisterous fit of laughter. Disgusted Grayson said, "Stop and listen to me, funny guy. I was in her office, and there had to be a hundred boxes stacked in there, Hopkins had them brought in. I looked through one, and there are project docs from all different projects, all different years. There is no order to anything. Her job is to organize each project, by year, and scan all documents, into the server." Jack quieted not responding immediately. "Jack, my man, are you there?" Grayson asked.
Jack replied, "Grayson, something is wrong here; those files are already on the main server. Did you say Hopkins had them delivered?" Grayson answered, "Yea, why? "Jack responded, "There is something off about that guy, he buddies up with Martin and Westley, sometimes it seems like he's their lapdog, know what I mean?" Jack continued, "Wait, come to think about it, Green Touch Renewables hired fifteen administrative assistants last year to scan and organize all the files. Can you get your hands on one of those boxes? I want to cross-reference them to the server. Has Emma been connected to the server yet? She should be able to determine what is scanned and what isn't." Grayson's mind was going a mile a minute, "Jack, let's meet in Emma's office at seven a.m. We take a closer look at those boxes. She won't arrive till eight." Jackson seriously replied, "Good idea, I will be there, but Grayson, don't go looking for trouble when there may be none. It's probably nothing friend." Grayson with a worried brow replied, "Your probably right. I will see you in the morning." Grayson hung up his phone, pulled out of the parking ramp.
Emma was sitting at the counter in her kitchen, enjoying a fresh salad and a glass of wine while surrounded by stacks of files. She was looking over one of the Power Purchase Agreements from the current Navajo Project.
After going through multiple boxes, at the office, it was the second contract she had found for the project. Completing a quick scan of the deal, Emma confused thought, "Wait, there's got to be a mistake here." Standing and talking to herself, Emma said, "Where's my notebook?" Looking around the small apartment, she spotted her bag on the floor just inside the doorway. Digging through her purse, finding her notebook, she again took her seat at the counter. She knew she had made notes of all the key players in the project. Checking her records, she quickly found the name she was looking for, Clean Energy Solutions, Inc.
Clean Energy Solutions was the company that would provide specialized construction consultant services for the project. Looking through the contract in front of her for the third time, she did not find their name listed. Emma shook her head and thought, "This has to be a mistake, maybe I confused files today. Something else to put on my list for tomorrow."
Emma cleaned up the counter and stored the files again in the box. She check-marked the file box, meaning it was ready to be scanned, she kept the Power Purpose Agreement aside, putting the data in her bag. Turning off the kitchen light, she thought, "I better hit the bed, I need to go in early tomorrow morning."
Grayson and Jack arrived at Emma's office at seven a.m. to find Emma, sitting on the floor dressed in a pair of designer jeans, and sleeveless tee-shirt surrounded by boxes. Grayson taking in the site said, "You're in early this morning, did you lose something?" Emma looked up, "I'm busy; what can I do for you, gentleman?" Emma jumped up, with another Navajo Project file in her hand. Jack stunned said, "Holy cow, how did you jump up like that? You had to have made at least two feet of air." Emma looking at both men with disdain, replied, "I have work to do, please close the door on your way out." Grayson said, "We are here for a purpose, I'm looking for the Environmental Report for the Oklahoma project. We are experiencing some changes in the soil there, and we want to address the issue as soon as possible." Emma walked to the new wall unit finding the labeled Oklahoma slot and pulled the files out. The records were in alphabetical order, which allowed her to locate the Environmental report quickly. Handing it to Grayson, Emma said, "Here is your file, my copy machine…" Two men knocked on the door with the new scanner copier on a dolly ready to be set up. Emma pointed to an area on the left side of her new shelf and instructed the men to set it up in that exact spot. She followed the men to the set- up location to ensure they correctly set-up of the new equipment. Meanwhile, Grayson and Jackson took seats in the two burgundy colored wing-backed chairs in front of Emma's desk.
Jackson quietly looked at Grayson and said, "We are going to need a copy of this." Standing, Jack turned to Emma, "We need a copy of this, do you have that copier up and running yet?" Emma was arguing with the installers informing them that she did not, in fact, need any training, on how to work the new machine, quickly exclaimed, "Gentleman, thank you for your delivery, now if you could excuse us, please close the door behind you." The two men left promptly.
Emma taking the file from Jack placed it in the copiers' feeder slot and hit the start button. Just 30 seconds after handing the copy to Jack, Emma said, "Now if you two would excuse me, please close the door behind you." Jack and Grayson looked at each other and left, closing the door behind them.
Emma sat at her desk, comparing the now three contracts in front of her. Only one had the Clean Energy Solutions specialized consultant services inside and by the looks of the attached budget was awarded four percent of the profits for the life of the contract, twenty years. Thinking, "Why one and not the other two." Looking at the boxes, she sighed, I need to find the other twenty-two contracts." Walking to the stack of boxes, Emma stacked the boxes she already went through separate from the rest, she then sat down on the floor and started the process of going through the remaining boxes. At the same moment, Martin walked by her office, seeing her on the floor surrounded in boxes he thought, "Good she's hard at work, that ought to keep her out of our way for a while." Chuckling, he continued walking to his office.
In Jacks office, Grayson was standing over Jack's shoulder while Jack was searching for the Environmental Report in the secured cloud files for Green Touch Renewables. Jack said, "Here it is. I knew it was here." Grayson moved closer, asking, "Is it the same file?" Jack looked at Grayson, "Yes, it's the same file, are you trying to kiss me? Back off a bit." Grayson ignoring the comment sat down in the folding chair next to Jack's desk, "So if the files are in the system, why is Emma rescanning them?" Grayson asked. J
ack shook his head and replied, "I don't know; it doesn't make sense."
At seven p.m. that evening, Emma tiredly sat back in her office chair with all twenty-five Power Purchase Agreements in front of her. She asked herself why would twelve of these contracts require specialized consulting services, and the others do not?
Hearing a knock on the door, Emma looked up to see who it was. Grayson opened the door and asked, "Hey, wondering if you would like to go on a field trip tomorrow and do a site visit of the project, I can pack us a picnic lunch." Emma's first instinct was to say no, but something like a flash of light bulb went off in her brain, maybe if she saw the project, asked the right questions she could find out what the inconsistencies meant. Looking at Grayson, Emma said, "That would be great, pick me up at seven am?" With a tilt of his head, Grayson replied, "See you then." He closed the door and headed for the elevator, thinking, "That was easy, now let's see if I can impress her with a great picnic basket of wine and cheese. That should get her to tell me what she is doing and why."
The next morning promptly at seven a.m. Grayson found Emma standing on the sidewalk waiting for him in a pair of shorts, Tee-shirt, hiking boots, and large white sunglasses. Pulling up to the curb, he reached over opening the passenger door, "Ready for the day?" he asked. Emma jumping into the passenger seat, replied, "Sure am."
5
Emma and Grayson arrived at the project work site a short time later. Getting out of the truck, Emma looked across the landscape seeing wind turbine parts laying across the vast expanse of land. Emma exclaimed, "Wow, by the looks of it they already have the cement poured, and the turbines delivered. Could you show me a turbine?" Grayson came around the front of the truck and taking Emma by the arm they walked over to the first of the twenty-five different sites. The cement was in place, and the turbine was laying just six feet away, ready to be erected. Emma was amazed at the size of the blades not having realized they were so large. "So, Grayson, I have been organizing the project documents for the last two days, and I cannot seem to figure out, how the extra electricity is measured so that when the Power Purchase Agreements are over, how will the Navajo Government determine how much electricity is extra that they can sell?"
Grayson smiled and replied, "Easy you multiply the wind zone X turbine placement X height of the tower X length of the blades X size of the generator. Each one of those is determining factors." Emma tilting her head towards Grayson, asked, "Are they all the same size and have the same generators?" Grayson responded, "Yep, they are all identical." Emma, deep in thought, asked, "What is the approximate profit potential each turbine could produce in one year?" Grayson impressed by her questions, answered, "Each turbine could easily bring one to two million dollars of profit each year."
Emma looked astounded quickly estimating if that were the case, then the twelve turbines would provide Clean Touch Renewables a hefty return over the next twenty years.
Emma and Grayson spent the next few hours driving around each of the site placements. Walking around the last site, Emma exclaimed, "It's getting hot out here, and I'm getting hungry. Should we have some of that picnic lunch you brought?" Grayson started to laugh, "I called Jack to see what I should pack in the lunch, and he said forget it, just come to his house, and he would cook some burgers on his grill. Sound okay?" Emma smiled and said, "I can play with that new baby; let's go."
As they walked back to the truck, Emma stumbled, twisting her ankle. Grayson caught her before she fell to the ground. A spark of electricity raced through them both. Emma looked up, shyly, and said, "Thank you." Grayson took her hand while using the other to move a strand of loose hair from her face. "Are you okay?" he asked. Still, in Grayson's arms, she was about to answer when Grayson pulled her even closer
Bending down, his lips against her cheek, kissing her sent shivers through Emma's nerves, shivers that made her entire body tremble. "If you want me to stop, tell me now," Grayson whispered. When she still said nothing, he brushed his mouth against the hollow of her temple. "Or now." He traced the line of her cheekbone. "Or now." His lips were finding his way to hers.
Emma knotted her fists in his shirt, pulling him harder against her. This kiss stole her breath, melting into the curve of his body, she thought, every kiss I've had in my life has been wrong, this feels so right.
Grayson groaned softly, low in his throat, and then his arms tightened in the circle of her, gathering her tightly against him. Stepping back from each other Grayson was filled with profound astonishment thinking that kiss was the kind that breaks open the sky and flooded him with light. Emma smiling sweetly, said, "I'm famished maybe we should drive on over to Jack's." Grayson took a deep breath, replied, "Yea, that's probably a good idea right now."
Emma pulling her hand away and started to limp off toward the truck. Grayson followed, placing a call to Jack, letting him know they were on their way.
When Grayson reached his truck, Emma was already seated on the passenger side. Grayson said, "Jack is starting the grill, we need to put some ice on that ankle when we get there, you were limping pretty bad. How's the pain?" With a grimace, Emma responded, "Not to bad, but I think you’re right some ice would be nice."
Arriving at Jack's home, Grayson helped Emma get out of his truck and walked her around the house to Jacks backyard. Grace and Hope seeing Emma, screamed, "Emma" and ran over, grabbing her legs. Emma laughed, giving Grace and Hope a hug. Grayson, picked up Hope in one arm and Grace in the other, saying, "Slow down girls, Miss Emma twisted her ankle and we have to get her in a chair. Setting them down on the ground, "Can you two go find some ice for Emma's ankle? The two young girls ran off in search of ice. Grayson had just gotten Emma seated in a chair, when Jack came out of the house with a bag of ice asking, "Is Emma okay? The girls came in saying she had a boo-boo and needed ice.” Handing Emma, the bag of ice for her ankle, Jack apologized for his wife and baby not being there. "Jenny and little Jack Junior are at my mom’s for the weekend, so you two are going to have to put up with my cooking. But I do have a beer, over there in the cooler." Grayson laughed, asking Emma if she would like one and headed off to the cooler to find two cold beers.
Settling around the table under the covered deck, Jack taking a drink of his beer looked at Emma and said, "Thanks for pulling that report for me yesterday, have you scanned it yet? Where for further reference can I find it on the GTR Server? Emma surprised answered, "GTR? Oh, you mean the main server ABBA. Each file is by year, and the projects are labeled alphabetically within the year, as are the individual docs within each project. I can go over it with you on your laptop if you would like." Grayson and Jack looked at each other with confusion. Grayson asked, "ABBA? Why do you call it that?" Emma shrugged her shoulders, "ABBA is the main server within Green Touch Renewables, they had to set my laptop up to work within the main server so I could do some work in the evenings from home." Noticing the glances between the two, Emma frowned and continued, "Why do you ask?"
With another quick look at Jack, Grayson responded, "I just didn't realize the ABBA was the name for it, we just call it the GTR Server." Attempting to change the subject, Grayson picked up the bowl of potato salad asking Emma, "Ready for some more potato salad? It looks like we need more, Jack can you help me re-fill this bowl, and it looks like we need some more of this marshmallow salad as well." As the two men headed for the kitchen, Emma watched them entering the house. Seeing Jacks laptop sitting on the chair next to her, she picked it up thinking she would pull up the server for them.
Grayson and Jack entered the kitchen when Jack said, "ABBA? Never heard of it, we need to dig a little deeper into this, how was the sites today?" Grayson responded, "Sites looked great all the turbines and equipment are there ready to go up as soon as the cement dries." Jack looking confused, "Turbines are there? I haven't seen the purchase orders for my approval yet for the equipment to be ordered, are you saying they are on-site?" Grayson was chuckling, "Here I thought you were Mr. Efficient on the job." His face turning serious, he
continued, "I think we need to do a site visit and check out the equipment if you didn't order it who did?"
Walking back out to the deck, Grayson and Jack found Emma sitting at the table with Jacks laptop sitting in front of her and a deep frown on her face. All the files she was supposed to be organizing and scanning were already in the server. Seeing them coming, she quickly unlogged from the server and brought up the sign-in page. Looking at them coming towards her, "I can't seem to log into the server on your laptop." Demonstrating the use of her sign in and password, she could not log in. Jack closing the top of the computer, said: "Let's worry about that on Monday." Emma turned her ice blue eyes at Jack said, "Sure that works. I probably just did something wrong. Is that the potato salad?" Emma was quiet while the three finished their lunch. Shortly after Emma grimacing in pain asked Grayson, "Would you mind driving me home, I think I need to put this ankle up for a while and take some more aspirin for the pain."
Arriving at her apartment, Grayson helped Emma get to her apartment door. Emma opening the door turned to Grayson saying, "Thank you it was a fun day." Grayson pulled Emma towards him for another kiss. She sidestepped him quickly and brushed her lips across his cheek. "I need time to process all this Grayson, and my ankle is hurting badly. I will see you on Monday morning at the office, okay?" Grayson looked at her gravely and said, "I understand, I will see you Monday but if you need anything you call me first, okay?" Emma nods her head in agreement, softly saying, "Goodnight." With that, Emma turned and closed the door. Grayson deep in thought as he walked back to the truck, didn't see the black SUV sitting across the street nor the man taking his picture.
Emma, carrying her bag of ice and glass of wine, settled herself out in the Garden Patio, placing her injured ankle on the chair next to her. Putting the ice bag on her ankle, she sat back in her chair, taking a deep breath, trying to relax with a glass of wine and trying to get her thoughts in order, remembering that she had an appointment to skype Amelia at one p.m. the next afternoon. She thought, maybe she could help her figure this all out.
Shadow of Secrets Page 6