Chapter 84
I phoned Brad on my way to FoodTech labs, and from the tone of his voice I knew something was wrong even before he told me.
“Are you all right?”, I asked
“When will you get here?”, he asked in return, instead of answering my questions
“We had…issues on our way there, you see. But I’ll be there in about 20 minutes, I would say”
“Ok, I’ll go get Alice and we can drive out somewhere, talk over lunch”, he replied, obviously too preoccupied to notice the oddness in my tone
“Ehm…”
“No?”
“Avery doesn’t want me to drive around alone…”, I explain
“Ok then, she can be our driver and eat with us. I think she should know what’s happening”, he replied curtly
“But what is happening exactly?”, I insisted to know
“They told Alice and myself that we should leave in two weeks, and they’ll probably tell you the same as soon as you step in the office”
“What?!”, I exclaimed
“You’ve heard”
“And what is the rationale they gave you?”
“Vague crap”
“That is?”, I pressed
“Our company has been having some difficulties and we need to do some restructuring, that’s their excuse”
“I see. And I bet the restructuring plan affects only three people”, I replied plainly
“Bingo”, said Brad
“They are laying us off”, I said, turning to Avery
“Who are “they”?”, she asked
Good question, I hadn’t thought about it. “Who spoke to you about this? Who is the new boss?”
“A guy…”
“Thank you Brad. And what’s the guy’s name?”
“Michael Gill”
“Michael Gill”, I repeated for Avery. “That’s the new boss and he wants to lay us off. Do you want to have lunch with Brad, Alice and I?”
“Gill?”, Avery asked
“Yes”, I said, wondering why she asked
“Gill as in Mark Gill…”, she commented, almost talking to herself
“Yeah, that’s right…”, I said, all of a sudden realizing the odd coincidence, if it was a coincidence
“We’ll have to keep lunch short, but I’ll join”, Avery said abruptly, answering my previous question
“If you don’t have time to come…”
“I do, but then there are things I want to check, among which who is this Michael Gill”, she cut me off before I could finish my sentence
I nodded to her and said,“Ok Brad, we’ll be there is a short while”
“Call me when you are few minutes from here and we’ll come meet you at the entrance”, Brad told me
“Sure thing”, I said, and hang up.