31: Ally

The office seemed lifeless without Sophie. The younger recruits were slacking off and the most senior ones were trying to push them into working but in vain. Mr. Lawson sat alone in an office at Sophie’s floor staring at the blank screen of his laptop. There were no last minute meetings or urgent emails from a foreign client, eager to divert his brain from the damage that had occurred on his watch. He had arrived before the rest of the staff in the entire building. It usually gave him more time to think, work and be productive but this time around, it made him miserable. He was drowned in guilt for what he had let happen. A part of him told him that it wasn’t his fault. He had never met the elders of the werewolves yet he respected them and offered them his services. However, their paranoia didn’t assist him in serving them. They were always too cryptic for their own good. They had been effectively arranging and switching safe houses and aliases for their prodigy which convinced Lawson that they also knew precisely who was after Aaron. They didn’t feel it important to let him in on that. There was a whole spectrum of possibilities and ways how he could have easily averted the catastrophe without making Aaron blow his cover to survive. He barely shook off the thought and waited for the day to end.

A knock on his door pulled him out of his dreadful thoughts of self-pity. He was visibly irritated yet he welcomed the diversion. “Come in!”, he responded softly yet loud enough for the person outside to hear it. The door opened and the ever-nervous young VP entered the office. He was over the moon and seriously concerned at the same time. It was neither the first time Lawson had received him in such a pitiful state, nor the last. Lawson was convinced that it was just another spoon-feeding session for the young, half cooked and nepotism fueled VP.

“Hi Eddie! What’s up big man?”, the young VP casually blurted the moment he stepped into the office. He had brought a couple of beer bottles with himself like a fun-guy entrepreneur who liked to keep things friendly. Mr. Lawson didn’t like it when someone younger than him called him by his first name. Only the ones that had grew up with him or were in the narrow circle of people he called friends were allowed to call him that. The late father of the VP fell in the latter category while his bratty son fell in neither. Chuck Bjorn was an insult to even the shadow of late Erik Bjorn. The father only needed Edward Lawson in his high stake negotiations while Chuck didn’t mind asking him for an advice before taking a dump. Lawson gave him a nod of acknowledgement and a fake smile in response. He collapsed on the chair on the other side of Lawson’s table and whacked the bottles on the wooden table. The young guy was already two strikes in. He could see that his senior in age yet junior in rank advisor was in a grumpy mood.

“Cheer up pal!”, the VP tried to lighten him up and pushed a bottle toward him. “We have something to celebrate but we need to keep it on the down low until it’s official”, he added. Lawson was not in mood and he could smell that there was work coming his way. The young VP never celebrated a monetary win with the staff. He would spend the weekend with his girlfriends in an overpriced resort. The meeting reeked of a hidden favor just behind the door.
“You know Rick Hudson? The big money guy who paid us a visit?”, Chuck continued when he realized that Lawson wasn’t going to ask him the reason for the beers. He asked like Lawson would forget the visit anytime soon. “He is a happy man. He wants to hire us!”, he added with his arms wide open like a showman, waiting for a response. It gave Lawson much more to think about. Hudson was going all in. The man was willing to go slow and steady to get his hands on Sophie, he thought. In which case, he needed to relocate Sophie to some far off outfit that worked under Bjorn Inc. Sophie would surely resist the sudden change but there is nothing the money can’t buy. He planned to send her to the smaller set-up established in Fresno and would triple her pay if she even looked unhappy. Lawson popped open the bottle with his wrist watch.

“But he wants a one on one meeting with your Team leader”, the VP said, trying to sound unconcerned. The hidden favor just jumped into the view. It was as ugly as it gets. There went Lawson’s hopes that Hudson was playing it slow and steady. He was out for blood and he wanted it quickly. “I don’t know what’s up with that. He was keen to meet her the other day too. Maybe it’s just the way they do business back where he’s from”, he continued. Lawson put the beer bottle back on the table. He was genuinely worried.

“You two are close, right? Maybe you can talk her into a meetup”, the younger Bjorn suggested.
“How much is that contract worth, Chuck?”, Lawson coldly inquired, trying to see if he could talk the young brat out of signing it at all. The VP fell silent and stared into nothingness. He took a gulp of the beer.
“Fifty mil.”, he spoke after a moment of deliberation. “Annually”, he added. Lawson was sure that the brat would sell his soul for such a sum and talking him out of it was no longer an option.
“Why would he want that meeting so badly?”, Lawson asked, trying to sound unaware. Chuck Bjorn shrugged.
“The hell would I know”, he said and took another gulp. The old advisor saw an inch of opportunity and went for it.
“Filthy rich men like Hudson sniff out naïve girls like Sophie and take advantage of them”, Lawson softly lectured, almost in a whisper. “We will put her in danger if we send her to those hounds alone”, he added. Chuck’s expressions shifted and he took another gulp which was the last. He bashed the bottle down on the table.

“Just give her a pepper spray or something! Fuck that bitch!”, Chuck pleaded. Lawson stared at him bewildered. “‘Occupational hazard!’ ever heard of it? If she is too modest to sleep with a billionaire for her company, she should quit”, he added. “That’s why I employ so many girls. You can’t tell when an opportunity like this may arise”, he continued. He was trying to sound reasonable. Lawson was fuming with rage. He was waiting for the declaration of the bad joke, which never came. He knew that Hudson’s demand to meet Sophie was not driven by lust but the realization that the person he had been mentoring and had been working for is such a shameless excuse of a human being, was maddening.
“You must not believe that”, Lawson implored, preventing his angst to show. Chuck shook his head and stood up to leave the room. His mood was spoiled by his advisor’s pain in the ass conscience.

“I don’t care if he talks with her, dines with her or straight up rapes her. Either she meets him or she is fired. There is too much at stake here”, Chuck spoke. Lawson was feeling his grip loosen on his temper. “And besides, if she actually ends up getting raped, pay her. It’s not like she is unused at that age”, he added. Lawson finally lost it. He sprang up to his feet and slapped Chuck hard across his face. The clap sound originating from his cheek was deafening. Chuck almost fell to his knees. He was sure that the sound was loud enough to penetrate the office walls. It took him a moment to realize that it had really happened. He looked back at Lawson, his eyes red with rage.

“You dare …?”, Chuck’s warning was interjected by Lawson, “If your father had said it, he would have received an even harder one”, Lawson scolded. Shadows of the staff were visible on the door, trying to eavesdrop on the exchange after the thunderous slap. Chuck was trying to make up the most cutting ‘You Are Fired’ in his mind. Lawson saw it coming.
“You fire me and everyone hears why your left cheek is redder than the other”, Lawson calmly spoke and gestured him to get out of the room. Chuck’s gaze lowered in an instant and he paced out of the door. “Try to talk him into signing it without the damn meeting”, he added loudly as Chuck exited the room.

Lawson had doubts before but now he was certain that the Bjorn Inc. was a no go area for Sophie. He hoped that the couple was safe and that the help from the Aaron’s elders arrived soon.