The blonde man approached his boss's office resignedly, taking a deep breath before knocking on the door and entering. He stood waiting patiently until the man behind the desk deigned to acknowledge him. The large man sat in his leather chair, his back to the door, gazing out the window. "Have you found the disk yet?" he asked without turning around. The other man shifted restlessly as he prepared to deliver his report.
"Not yet, but we've begun to narrow it down." He flinched as his superior swung around in his chair and impaled him with his ice cold stare.
"You've begun to narrow it down?" he yelled as he slammed his fist down on the desk. "Let me narrow it down a little more for you! Howie's bitch has it!"
Dani rushed around the living room trying to finish her last minute straightening before Sam arrived. She finished dusting the media center and loaded the CD magazine. Dani smiled to herself as she put in CD's by Wham!, Madonna, Culture Club, Duran Duran and other pop acts from the late Eighties. She knew full well how Sam felt about pop music and she took great pleasure in torturing her with the music of their college years. Howie gave her a mischievous grin and shook his head as he realized what she was up to. Dani walked over to the couch, flashing him a tense smile, and began to fluff the large pillows that adorned the back of the sofa. She gathered the sheet music he'd been working on from the coffee table and dumped it into his lap. She unceremoniously shoved his feet, which had been propped up on the table, into the floor. "If you're not going to help me, then at least get out of my way," she said impatiently. Howie gave her an irritated look. "I've been in your way for two days now. Why should today be any different? You and your damn computer secrets," he muttered as he stomped out of the room with his music.
Dani threw her hands up as she glared at his retreating back. "Like I don't have enough to deal with already! Now, I've got to coddle him too!" she said under her breath. She gathered up a few stray items and was about to head upstairs with them when the phone rang. She answered quickly, hoping it was Jeff with the information she needed. "Hello," she said anxiously into the receiver.
"Hey Dani," Jeff replied. "I just e-mailed you that list you wanted. I just wish you would have told me yesterday you were going to go ahead and okay production before I did all that work." Dani's eyes widened in surprise. "What do you mean I okayed production?" she asked confused.
"Your approval came through last night," Jeff told her. "It had your security clearance on it. They began production this morning."
"But I didn't give my approval!" she said, her voice rising as she began to panic. "Jeff, tell them to stop production immediately! There are serious problems with that prototype. If any of those CD's get released, there could be major repercussions!"
"Dani," Jeff said worriedly, "I'll see what I can do, but it's Friday afternoon. Anybody with the authority to halt the production has probably gone for the weekend." Dani rubbed her temples as she felt the beginnings of a headache. "Fine, but get on it first thing Monday morning. And I want you to make damn sure all of those CD's are destroyed," she said forcefully. "Every last one of them."
Howie quietly hung up the phone, shock etched across his face. He hadn't meant to listen in, but her preoccupation of the last few days now made sense to him. He left his sheet music spread across the desk in Dani's office and stalked back into the living room. He waited impatiently for her to finish her conversation with Jeff. Dani eyed Howie warily. She abruptly told Jeff that she would check with him first thing on Monday morning if she didn't hear from him before then. She reminded him again to make sure that the things they had discussed were taken care of before she hung up the phone.
"Tell me," Howie demanded.
"Tell you what?" she hedged.
"You know exactly what I mean," he said angrily.
"I've told you a thousand times," Dani shot back, "it's nothing you need to worry about. I'll handle it," she said, trying to brush past him. He reached out, grabbing her arm and spinning her around to face him. "It doesn't sound like nothing when you tell Jeff to stop the production and to make sure all of the CD's are destroyed," he told her heatedly.
She gasped. "You listened in on my conversation?" she said incredulously, as she pulled her arm away from him. "I didn't mean to listen," he tried to explain. "But if it was that serious, you should have told me. I have a right to know," he continued. "It affects me too. And I never keep things from you!" he shouted. They stood there glaring furiously at one another until the chiming of the doorbell broke the silence. Dani groaned. "Great timing, Sam," she muttered sarcastically as she stomped to the door and threw it open.
Howie covered his face with his hand and looked heavenward. "Oh, shit!" he said. Dani glared at the unexpected visitor before turning her wrath on Howie.
"And you never keep anything from
me?" she said coldly. "Fuck you, Dorough!"
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