Читать книгу The Lost Knights - William Speir - Страница 16

Ralph Gardner, Tom’s friend and the Director who managed one of Tom’s territories at work, was waiting for Tom when he arrived at the office. The two men had a tradition of getting to the office before most of the rest of the staff arrived so they could discuss work – both for their company and the Order. Ralph had earned the rank of Knight Grand Cross for his excellent work with the Order and outstanding leadership skills, and Tom valued his skills and his friendship.

A number of times, Tom had tried to convince Ralph to come onto the Grand Magistry, the council that supported the Grand Master in running the affairs of the Order, but Ralph respectfully declined each time. He enjoyed fieldwork and didn’t want to give it up. However, when Tom proposed that Ralph be named the Order’s Chief Training Officer for interventions, the Grand Magistry approved the idea, and Ralph accepted his new role. It allowed him to continue doing fieldwork while also providing valuable training to Knights and Dames of the Order worldwide to ensure consistency in how the Order conducted its operations. Ralph held a number of training seminars at the Headquarters Commandery each year, and he also travelled around the world training Commanderies who couldn’t afford to send their newer members to Headquarters.

“How are you this morning, boss?” Ralph asked as Tom walked up to his office door.

“Doing well, Ralph. How about you?”

“Great, boss. Got a minute?”

“Sure,” Tom said, unlocking his door and motioning for Ralph to enter. “Come on in.” Tom turned on the lights. Ralph closed the door as Tom sat down and turned on his computer.

“How long?” Ralph asked as he sat down.

“Almost two minutes this morning.”

“You were predicting just one, weren’t you?”

“Yes, but she surprised us. I was able to sit down and take a drink of my tea before the bowl went flying.”

Ralph chuckled. He liked hearing about how his goddaughter was doing. Ralph’s children were grown and had moved away to pursue their careers. He didn’t see them as much as he’d like, so he often thought of Jamie as part of his own family – especially since he had introduced her parents to each other.

“Are you going to talk to her today?” Ralph asked, changing the subject.

“Yes, we’re having lunch together, and I’ll bring it up then.”

“I really think it’s the best thing for her and for the Order.”

“I do too. I’ve been thinking about it for months, and it’s the only thing that makes sense to me.”

“Do you think she’ll be upset at the suggestion?”

“I hope not,” Tom replied. “I’ve been struggling with what to do ever since we first found that out she was pregnant. We made a deal about keeping our personal lives and our responsibilities in the Order separate, but Jamie’s a different matter altogether. Emily wants to be a valuable part of the Order, but I don’t think she’ll want to do field work again for a long time. I hope that she’ll look at this suggestion as a great way to balance her love for the Order with her love for being a mom. I guess I’ll find out at lunch.”

Ralph nodded. He opened his notebook to begin discussing the other items of business for the morning.

A few hours later, Tom heard a knock on his door. When he looked up, he was surprised to see the President of his company standing there. Tom immediately stood up and walked around his desk to shake the man’s hand. “Good morning, sir,” he said as his boss entered his office. “I didn’t know you were in town.”

“I had a layover at the airport for a few hours, and I thought I’d stop in and have a quick chat. I’m not disturbing you, am I?”

“No sir,” Tom said, gesturing toward the sitting area in the far side of his office. He was starting to get used to his boss’ unannounced visits. Tom’s boss wanted to see operations as they really were, not as someone thought he’d want to see them. So, more often than not, his personal visits were a complete surprise to everyone in the office. “What can I do for you?”

“Tom, my time is short, so I’ll get right to the point. I need a favor.”

“What is it?” Tom asked.

“Well, as you know, Cabot, who heads up the European operations, just had surgery. Evidently, there were some complications, and the recovery time will take longer than expected. There are sales meetings and presentations to some of the European militaries that he was supposed to conduct, but now he won’t be able to participate in them at all. It’s a busy time over there these days. I can’t go, and I don’t have anyone else who can step in and conduct these meetings. Can I talk you into helping out and standing in for Cabot over there?”

Tom was flattered that he was being asked to help one of his peers like this. He knew Cabot well and knew that he was a much better salesman than Tom was. “I’ll help out in any way, you know that, sir,” Tom said after a moment. “But why me?”

“That incident in Orlando,” Tom’s boss answered frankly. “A lot of the people you’ll be meeting with know who you are because of that, and they trust you. I need to have a familiar face there, and you’re the best choice.”

“Thank you, sir. I’ll be happy to do it. When do you need me over there, and is there anyone who can help me get up-to-speed on the meetings?”

“I’ll have Cabot’s head of sales get in touch with you this week to start working on that. She can give you the background of the meetings and the attendees. The meetings will start in about three weeks, and they should be wrapped up in five or six days if we can get the scheduling worked out.”

“Great! I look forward to her call.”

“Good, Tom. Now, there’s something else I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Shoot.”

“I’ve been looking at the personnel files, and other than a day here or there, you haven’t taken a vacation since Jamie was born. How is she, by the way?”

“She’s fine. Walking and talking and getting into every kind of mischief you can imagine.”

“She’s two now?”

“Two-and-a-half,” Tom answered.

“Amazing how they grow up so quickly.” Tom nodded as his boss continued. “That’s a long time to go without a vacation, Tom. It’s not good to go so long without taking some time to recharge the batteries. I admire your work ethic, and your performance is outstanding, but I can’t risk having you burn out. You carry too many responsibilities to put your health, and the health of this company, at risk.”

Tom sat silently at this, knowing that his boss was also referring to his work with the Order. A great many people in Tom’s company, including his boss, were also members of the Order.

“So,” his boss continued, “I’d like to suggest that you take some time after the meetings in Europe are finished and stay over there for at least a couple of weeks. Take Emily, or have her join you when the meetings are over, and make a long vacation out of it. You need a vacation, and the company needs to make sure that you take care of yourself. You’ve got a lot of good years left in you, and I need you to be taking care of yourself the way that you take care of your people. Would you let one of your staff go over two years without a vacation?”

“No sir,” Tom answered.

“Well there it is. Neither can I. OK?”

“Yes sir, thank you,” Tom replied.

As Tom’s boss got up to leave, he added, “By the way, the company will pick up the travel expenses while you’re over there for you and Emily. It’s part of your bonus for another outstanding year.” He held out his hand to Tom, who took it with a look of surprise.

“Thank you, sir!” he said, shocked.

“Don’t mention it, Tom. You’ve more than earned it. And, if you succeed in Europe with the clients the way I expect you too, there will be more rewards waiting for you when you return,” he said as he turned to leave the office.

Tom walked his boss to the elevator. Tom unconsciously began scratching his left forearm. “How’s the arm?” his boss asked.

He was referring to the small Global Positioning System, or GPS, chip Tom had implanted in his left forearm. The board had decided that, since defense contractor executives were popular targets for kidnappers in some countries, and since Tom’s company sometimes provided services close to the front lines of a conflict, it would be best for all executives to have a GPS chip implanted in case of emergency. Tom had the procedure done a few weeks earlier. It took only about twenty minutes to implant the small tracking chip under the skin, and even though Tom couldn’t feel the chip, he always knew that it was there. He understood the reasons, but he wasn’t sure that he liked the idea of a computer system somewhere logging his every move.

“It still itches,” Tom replied as they reached the elevators, “but I think it’s because I know it’s there, not because of any problems. I can’t even see the point where they implanted it.”

“Me, too,” his boss said, hitting the elevator button. “It’s necessary, though. We need to make sure that we can locate our executives in case something happens. It’s just prudent in these times.”

Tom nodded in agreement as his boss stepped into the elevator. “Thank you again for stopping by today, sir.”

“No problem,” his boss said as the elevator doors started closing. “Give my best to your staff.”

Tom walked back to his office, still in shock about the vacation his boss was letting him take with Emily. He had just sat down at his desk when Ralph came in. “Was that the President of the company?” he asked.

“Yes it was.”

“Another unannounced visit, huh? He didn’t stay long this time. What did he want?”

“He wants me to fill in for Cabot at some sales meetings and presentations in Europe later this month, and he wants me to take a vacation.”

“Well, you need one,” Ralph said seriously. “I don’t know anyone who works harder than you – especially with all the things that you’re balancing right now.”

“I know. He wants me to take Emily and stay in Europe for a couple of weeks after the meetings are over.”

“Really? That’s interesting. You know I’m going to be over there later this month to do some training with the local Commanderies. With what we were talking about earlier concerning Emily, the timing could be great!”

“I never thought about that,” Tom said thoughtfully. “She could be with you while I’m taking care of company business, and then we can make a vacation of it afterwards. I could even make arrangements to visit with some of the European Commanderies.”

“I think that’s a great idea. It’ll keep them feeling like they’re an important part of the Order,” Ralph commented.

Tom glanced at the clock on the wall and realized what time it was. “I need to run,” he said quickly, reaching into his desk for his car keys. “I’m supposed to meet Emily for lunch in a few minutes.”

“Get going, and let me know how the conversation goes,” Ralph said as he followed Tom out of the door and went back to his own office.