How to Catch Butterflies (33 page)

The man at the head of the table, averted his eyes back to Rebecca,

“We have secured you an apartment, your expense account is ready to go, so I suggest you go home and start packing up for your move” he smiled at her;

“You do realize our long term plan for you is to become a partner in the business” she nodded her head.

“Yes I do.”

“Good, then let’s get down to business. Right, our plan for how your bonus scheme will work is set as this; in year 1, your bonus will be £500,000. In year 2, your bonus will be 1 million.” He cleared his throat before speaking again after having a sip from the glass of water in front of him.

“By year 3, you Rebecca will be made a full Partner in ‘Black Card’ and all its subsidiaries”.

Rebecca certainly hadn’t expected to have her 10am meeting with Mr. Nichols, to run to this, she had only thought it would have been a drop in to familiarize herself with the employees, the office.

And here she was, having brunch in the boardroom with the senior partners. She was glad she did as she could feel her stomach grumble. The lunch was amazing; all finger food consisting of sandwiches, mini quiches and other appetizers, they were delicious.

Once her meeting with the senior partners had finished, she was then escorted to the legal department, where she had to sign her contract, on the way she casually said to him

“I’m sorry Mr. Nichols, I thought I had already signed the necessary paperwork” she questioned puzzled.

“Yes Rebecca you did for ‘Natural Logistics’ this is for ‘Black Card’. Here you will be given your expense card, documents, everything you need plus the keys to your new apartment. The company pays for this, seeing as there is a fair degree of travelling. And sometimes this can be at short notice”. Rebecca could only nod her head as she listened intently.

“As you’ve heard, our bonus schemes are excellent. We pay well, we pay for the best and we expect the best. This is just the confidentiality agreement between you and ‘Black Card’, every project you work on has its own contract which you sign on each assignment. Don’t look so worried”

He could see Rebecca eyebrows raise to a couple of things, as they continued to briskly walk at his pace.

“Look the company are not your typical employers, confidentiality and trust is paramount. That is why we reward appropriately. Our exclusive client list and reputation is absolute”

Rebecca smiled as she tried to continue to match the quick strides of Mr. Nichol, “It just sound’s so MI5-ish,” she laughed making a joke.

“Yes we have some ex- intelligence working with us “. He winked, well she thought he did. “With the nature of our business, we have all types of personnel working with us. Everybody with us are the best of what they do, and that’s across the board.

“What if I hadn’t have said yes to ‘Black Card’” she asked, a little nervous at him mentioning ex- intelligence people.

“Easy….we’d have to kill you” he laughed as he winked opening the door to the legal dept.

Rebecca stopped dead in her tracks causing Mr. Nichol’s to chuckle,

“I’m only joking, I couldn’t resist it. Sorry not a good joke to make, but then again I’m not known for my jokes” he stood waiting for her to cross the threshold of the door, “Rebecca, are you coming?”

She stepped through and continued to walk to another office; it was the largest on the floor. Mr.

Nichol’s rapped on the door with his knuckles. The door opened allowing Rebecca to step through.

As they walked to the large desk, she noticed there was a man sat in a arm chair in the corner.

She had seen him out of the corner of her eye as they proceeded to the desk, to the two gentlemen standing behind it. One of the men spoke.

“Right Rebecca, this is our contract”, as a large manuscript was pushed in front of her. ”Of course, you can take your time to go through it. In fact why don’t you go thru it in your office?

He looked at the man in the armchair who had now risen to his feet and started to approach them at the front of the table, he extended his hand to her as Mr. Nichol’s introduced him

“Rebecca, this is Duncan Peters, he will be showing you the ropes, any questions I’m sure Duncan will answer anything you ask” as Duncan Peters escorted her out the door leaving Mr. Nichol’s there with the two lawyers.

They walked down the corridor till they came to her office, on the door plaque her name read as

‘Rebecca Armstrong’ she took a double take of the name

“They think your more of an ‘Rebecca Armstrong’ I see”, as he noted the name on the door, “I won’t ask you your surname as it’s against company policy. You will see that on your contract when you look through it. I will take you to your accommodation later and help with all the necessary arrangements” he smiled at her,

“Don’t worry; I know everything seems a bit cloak and dagger, but I’m afraid it’s all necessary. As you can appreciate, all the obligatory security checks have already been completed on you, hence why you are sitting at your desk”. She could only smile at him.

“You have a cover story, which you can tell your family and friends, which is also attached to your contract bundle. I suggest that you read it and learn it off by heart. Never deviate from it, you’ll find it will hold you in good stead with having to give explanations of what you do and why you travel so much” she sat there it was so much to take in, she held her composure.

“It’s very overwhelming I know, but it’s easier than you think if you just stick to it” he smiled at her, it was then she fully noticed the good looking chap standing in front of her,

“Please take a seat. Get comfortable” as he indicated for her to sit in the chair behind the chrome and glass desk.

Rebecca walked around and sat in the nice plush leather executive chair. She flicked through some of the pages on the contract before asking

“May I ask Mr. Peters, how long do we travel for? And how long are the turn rounds on projects?, Why do I have to move?” she sat there hoping these answers would not be referred as
‘It’s in the contract’
as she paused between the questions.

“Well the move is simple due to the hours you work, accessibility is paramount, and in future, you will leave and arrive thru the back of the building. There is also an underground entrance which is on the parking level, most mornings you will be her for 6am. Now the travel, that can vary from project to project, but it’s normally 1-2 weeks, although there is longer periods of time, but they are very far and few. As from today you will cease to have official employment with your previous employers “

Rebecca sat there smiling although shocked.

“Are you sure” she quizzed, she knew her boss, she wouldn’t have let Rebecca go without a fight, she would have wanted her to at least train some newbie’s before she went knowing her.

“Yes quite sure” he sharply responded “If you look in the boxes over there you will find your personal items”

Rebecca had started to advance over to the two boxes, lifting the lids off both. Yes everything was there as far as she could see. She placed the lids back on, and walked back to the desk.

“If you would like to go through your contract now Rebecca. I will arrange to have some coffee brought to you, how do you like it?”

“Err white, two sugars please”

She responded and he was gone, leaving her to bury her head in the ‘War and Peace’ thick contract that sat before her.

Her head was already swimming with the five pages of legal jargon when Duncan Peters appeared at her door.

“Your coffee is on its way. We will wrap up at 6 p.m. I will show you your new residence at 7 p.m. we have a dinner appointment with the senior partners. You have a busy few weeks ahead, so if you have any plans I suggest you cancel them till later on in the evening. I’ll be back at 6pm; my mobile number is on your desk if you need me. Oh and before I go, the tech department will be in to give you, your new mobile phone” he was about to leave again.

“Mr. Roberts, how soon do I have to be at this desk officially?”

“We expect you to start officially on Monday, if you spend the next couple of days relocating yourself, you will be ready to do your introduction on Friday at 3 p.m.”

Since starting with ‘Black Card’ she hadn’t a minute to herself. Although she had been seeing Jackson Harvey for two months, in the last month she had to rearrange so many dates, to either later that evening or completely cancelling altogether due to very early starts she had.

**

Tonight Jackson was coming over. Lucy jumped at the opportunity to catch up and do a bit of girly shopping; she had stayed that Friday night. Rebecca would have loved Lucy to have stayed tonight, but she couldn’t cancel on Jackson again, then she smiled at Lucy with devilment in her eyes.

“Shall I cancel Jackson?” she asked Lucy with a big smirk on her face, “we can go out? Plus we need to arrange Ibiza, I should have a couple of weeks off soon. I won’t be able to give you a date until nearer the time. But that just means I’ll have to book it, I’ll book us a villa, the flights, I know let’s do it for my birthday?

She cried jumping up and down like a cheerleader rallying support,

“What do you think Lucy?” Lucy sat there amused by her excited friend,

“You can’t cancel ‘Hunky Harvey’ again, and anyway I have a hot date with a very big cock and I’m afraid a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do” she purred them both erupting in fits of laughter.

“Have you not slept with him yet? A blow job? Fingers? Anything?”

Rebecca shook her head ‘no’ to each question looking embarrassed. She could feel the colour rise up her chest up her face burning her cheeks

“It’s not that I don’t want to….. I really do, I really don’t trust myself” she trailed off.

“For fuck sake Rebecca, he is HOT with a capital H, and don’t give me that bullshit of you being professional, you’ve had his tongue down your throat?, he’s felt your boob’s? Yes? So what’s the problem?” she sat there looking at a very coy Rebecca,

“Oh Bec’s you have to get over Jason, Genie Mac. Rebecca, you have been more caught up with him than you were over that shithead David,” she changed her tone to a more commanding one,

“Bec’s you have to snap out of it girl, he’s a man, he’s not going to be happy having a PG13 relationship, and with your work, it’s not like you’ve been available for him to see all the time”

Lucy felt awful, she could see Rebecca had taken to heart everything she had said. She jumped up from her position on the bed throwing her arms around her buddy,