Chapter 23 - part 2

The elevator slid to a cool halt, and the familiar electronic "ding" punctuated its arrival on the 25th floor. Strange, Vesper thought, but whenever she came back to Waterbury after a long absence, it always felt as though she had never left.

She strode out of the elevator, looking neither left nor right, nor smiling at anyone. She caught a few muffled whispers from some of the peons in their Formica cubicles; no doubt they were commenting on her fashionable new hairstyle.

She rounded the corner into her office foyer, and was surprised to see that Lisebeth, her longtime assistant, was not seated at the reception desk. Instead, it was a wide-eyed, pixieish moppet, busily punching numbers into a Palm Pilot organizer. Vesper vaguely recognized her. . .she was a PR assistant who had been hired last fall. Alyssa something or other.

"Oh, Ms. Shillington," the perky little thing said, "Welcome back. I think that--"

"Wherever Lisebeth is, tell her to be in my office in five minutes."

"Ms. Shillington, she--"

Vesper walked on, ignoring her. She flung open the door to her suite and strolled in.

Seated on the edge of her desk was a woman, deeply engrossed in a telephone conversation. She didn't look up at Vesper. She was fortyish, with a stocky build, a boyish haircut, and dressed in the most unflattering suit Vesper had ever seen on another human being. It was gray, with a droopy mid-length coat that accentuated her boxy hips. Vesper cringed.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the woman snapped into the phone. Her voice was quick, dismissive and efficient. "I understand. We just need to make it perfectly clear to them that we will take whatever action is necessary to halt A&E's production."

"Pardon me," Vesper intoned flatly.

The woman ignored her. "Exactly. Just tell them that Simon will sue for I.I.E.D. if they go ahead with the project."

Vesper cleared her throat noisily. The woman glanced at her briefly, and then held up a single finger, as if to ward her off. She then turned her attention back to the phone. "Absolutely. We'd be more than happy to recommend other subjects for Biography's Sooner Than Never week. They could start with our front running hunters. . .that couple we're paying for publicity? I think they're in Colorado. Yeah, they were stranded--"

"GET OFF OF MY PHONE," Vesper shouted, and then smiled wickedly at the woman's surprised expression. The woman's steely eyes matched her armor-like suit. Her eyes were void of emotion, Vesper decided; they were like shark eyes.

The woman covered up the receiver. "This is a very important call. Could you please hang on just one second?"

Vesper grimaced, and with one talon-like fingernail, she pushed the cradle button and ended the conversation. The woman slammed down the receiver, narrowly missing Vesper's hand.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Oh, yes, darling, you can help me. You are in MY office using MY telephone, and ignoring ME. Whoever you are, you're fired."

The woman's face was expressionless. "I suppose you're Vesper Shillington."

"Yes I am. Now get out."

The woman settled back on the desk, and folded her arms across her nonexistent bosom. "I apologize. You look different than the pictures I've seen of you. I think your hair is shorter."

"Yes, well, that's nice. Now you've had your celebrity recognition moment. Get out of here, you presumptuous cow."

The woman rose and walked behind the desk. "Ms. Shillington, my name is Nina Kellogg. Mr. Waterbury hired me in your absence to deal with Sooner Than Never project management."

Vesper's eyes widened. Simon had never hired anyone to handle her work load. Who was this woman? Instinct screamed at her to proceed delicately; Nina Kellogg could just be another cog in Simon's cruel game of cat-and-mouse. Her fury subsided.

"Oh. Well, darling. No one bothered to tell ME that someone was brought in to help out. You can imagine my surprise when I --"

"We actually attempted to contact you several times in Barbados, but we were unable to locate you."

Vesper's stomach flip-flopped. "I stayed at a very private resort," she said icily.

"I see."

"Go and get my mail, darling. And let Mr. Waterbury know that I will need to speak to him immediately. Vesper fluttered her hand imperiously, as if to dismiss Nina Kellogg. Nina didn't move.

"Ms. Shillington," she said in her flat, emotionless voice, "We will be working together, and I would like to establish immediately that I do not wish to be referred to as 'darling.'"

Vesper's eyes widened at the woman's unfaltering gall. "Fine, Ms. Kellogg," she sneered contemptuously, "I'll call you 'sir.' Go get me my mail, Butch."

Nina Kellogg stared her squarely in the eyes. "Ms. Shillington, I am not your assistant. I am your replacement."

*****

Vesper stormed off the elevator on the penthouse floor. Milton, the perennially ineffectual security guard, was dozing in his chair.

"Milton, wake up."

Milton's eyes slowly opened, and then his face lit up. "Ms. Shillington," he stammered. "You sure are a sight for sore eyes. I haven't seen you in--"

"Shut up, Milton. Let me in. I need to speak to Mr. Waterbury."

"Oh, well. Hmph. He's in a meeting--"

"Milton, darling, I know." She chnaged her tone. "I'm supposed to be in the meeting with him, " she lied through her teeth. "I'm so dreadfully late."

A terrible struggle was going on amidst Milton's feeble synapses. "But Miss Kellogg left me word last night that absolutely no one was to disturb him."

The mention of Nina Kellogg's name set her blood boiling. She briefly considered picking up one of the stainless steel tubs that Milton used to collect valuables from Simon's visitors, and backhanding him with it. At that moment, the heavy door to penthouse clicked open.

Three men entered the hallway. One was rather sloppy-looking, with the thickest neck Vesper had ever seen. The other was wearing a sleek and shiny Armani suit. The third had a head crowned with striking fair hair, which rivaled her own flaxen locks. Behind them, in the doorway, Simon stood in a ridiculous purple kimono, which exposed the curls of white hair on his flabby chest.

She pushed her way past the three men and shoved Simon back into his foyer. The door clicked shut behind them, shutting out Milton's doddering admonitions.

"Vesper! Good to see you!" Simon beamed, oddly nonchalant towards her rough treatment. "I had forgotten you would be returning today."

"You also forgot to tell me I've been fired, darling."

"Fired?"

"Yes, fired. I came in today to find my secretary gone and that. . .woman. . .in my office."

"Oh, Nina?" He chuckled and showed his yellowing teeth. "You're going to like her, Vesper. She's incredibly efficient. An absolute whizbang with numbers."

"Simon, what is going on?"

A curious smile played on his lips. He regarded her with a detached, almost teasing look. "What do you think is going on?"

Vesper's mind raced. What did he mean? Was this the end? Were those men in the hallway waiting to drag her away? Her knees began to twitch uncontrollably.

"Vesper, take a deep breath. You look like you're going to faint." Simon took her arm and walked her to a settee, ingeniously concealed in the fauna of the entrance hall. He spoke, relieving her of the burden of a next move.

"While you were away, I got to thinking. Waterbury Publishing is much more than Sooner than Never. When the millennium hits and this whole thing is over, we will still need to run this company."

She stared at him, sensing she knew what he was about to say.

"I've decided to remove you from Sooner Than Never. It's much too big of a project for you to handle, considering your other responsibilities. No. Now you are the Senior Vice President of Long-Range Planning and New Works Development. I want you to steer the company elsewhere: strategizing, international negotiations, wooing authors for new projects--"

Vesper fought a barely controllable urge to scream hysterically and claw his eyes from his grinning, fat face.

"We will keep you on as a Sooner Than Never figurehead, of course. You're much more photogenic and intriguing than Nina Kellogg." He chortled grimly. "And wait till you see the countdown billboard that'll be going up in Times Square next week! It's magnificent!"

Vesper stared blankly ahead. She tried to think of something to say.

Suddenly, Thaddeus, Simon's slothful Rottweiler, appeared at the top of the stairs leading up to the penthouse proper. The dog took one look at Vesper, bared its gleaming fangs, and began to growl menacingly.

"Oh, dear." Simon guffawed. "You know how Thad gets when you don't see him for a while."

"Simon, I--"

Thaddeus began to descend the stairs, one step at a time. A string of saliva descended from his hideous mouth.

"We'll talk more later, dear. I'm due downstairs for a meeting with Miss Kellogg in twenty minutes." He stood and pulled her to her feet. "Besides, you'd better go. I think Thaddeus is about to tear you to pieces." He swung open the door and gently ushered her though it.

The penthouse door locked behind her.

******

"Are you sure he's not here?" David Nimoy implored the woman at the Sheraton's desk in Niagara Falls.

"No, sir, I've looked. He checked out yesterday morning."

"Thank you." David turned and left the hotel, and followed a steep sidewalk down the hill to the edge of the river gorge. To his left, the falls thundered and sent up their continuous geyser of freezing mist.

His feeling of isolation was overwhelming. He chastised himself for being selfish. His job as CNN's Sooner Than Never correspondent was fabulous, he was making more money than he had ever dreamt possible, he was traveling the country for free, but still, he felt empty. Lost. Alone.

He wondered why Will and Laura hadn't shown up in Niagara Falls yet. The limerick clearly pointed to it as the next treasure hunt location. For the first time in over a year, David wanted to talk to Will. He wanted to apologize.

David wiped a tear from his cheek. He hated himself for carrying his heart on his sleeve. He hated the fact that he had fallen madly in love with a mysterious stranger in just a few short days. It was so entirely uncharacteristic of him. He couldn't believe that he had been dumped so unceremoniously and so impersonally. He thought he had meant more to the handsome Australian than that.

He removed his disposable camera from his coat pocket and stared at it bleakly. In it were all of the pictures he had taken of Sebastian Moffat, mementos of their five days of bliss. With a sigh, he threw it over the railing and into the roiling river below.

****

Vesper was decimated. She sat in her new, poky office on the 23rd floor, glumly staring out the window.

Simon had removed her from Sooner than Never. She no longer would have insider information. She would no longer be able to leak vital facts to her cohorts at Takamoto. She didn't have a prayer at getting near any of Simon's private papers. She no longer supervised that meddling Will Gilbert and Laura Dial. Her power and control were ebbing away, as Simon raised the stakes against her once more.

She sighed. It could be worse, she thought miserably. You could be in jail. She contemplated changing her identity and disappearing forever.

Absentmindedly, she fingered the foot high pile of accumulated mail dumped on her desk. She rifled through it, searching for something to assure her that all this stress was worth enduring.

A heavy vellum envelope, addressed to her, with the word "Personal" scrawled on it several times in red ink, caught her eye. She sliced it open and read.

My very dear Vesper:

All my best love,
The naughty and nasty man,
Chad Bismarck

Vesper put her head down on the desk and sobbed.

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