Chapter 19

Returning to the Coast — a flight Lisa loved because it was in daylight and she could actually see something from the window — Kim quickly learned that the wedding arrangements had been taken out of her hands: Donna Douglas was running the whole thing. As a great concession, she allowed Kim to pick her own bridesmaids. Carol Christian was her matron of honor, and her bridesmaids included Kathy Carlson and — surprisingly — Kelly Callahan. As they were leaving Washington, Kelly had made it known that she would be honored to be in Kim’s wedding party. Brad asked Ken Carlson to be his best man, while Bill Christian had agreed to serve as an usher.

On Sunday night, Kim and Brad were in bed early. It had been a very tiring few weeks they had been through, and they were exhausted. Moreover, things were about to get very busy again, and in unknown ways. Starring in a movie sounded fascinating, but, although neither had spoken of it, both were apprehensive. Neither had made an acting appearance since their respective kindergarten pageants.

Cuddling in bed after their lovemaking, Brad said softly, “Sweetie, are you sure you don’t mind me taking Lisa?”

“No, I really don’t. And I wasn’t kidding, either, when I said that one of us should have some idea what to do next Saturday night.” Then Kim giggled warmly and added, “By the way, it was pretty neat for me, too. You gave me the best cunt eating of my life while Lisa was kissing me and caressing me in ways that not even you can do. Her fingers are like mine — long and thin — and can reach some very interesting places.”

The next morning, in recognition of her new status as a corporate vice president, Kimberly even dressed for work for the first time in her business career. Although only late March, it was shaping up to be a very hot day, so she wore a gray cord suit whose thin gray stripes nearly matched the color of her eyes. Then she pulled out all stops: She put on some lipstick.

Since they were now formally engaged and would be married in less than two weeks, they even decided to save money by taking only one car. With giggles from Kim and chuckles from Brad, they mutually agreed that no one would be too terribly scandalized by their riding together.

Arriving at the plant, they headed for their offices but were intercepted by Jim Dempsey, the facility’s maintenance manager. “Uh ... Mr. Kramer, could I speak to you for a moment?”

They stopped and listened.

“Sir, it’s ... it’s those new girls you hired...” Dempsey stammered. Whatever it was, Jim obviously found it embarrassing.

“What about the new girls?” Kim prompted.

“Well ... ma’am, it’s the cleaning people: They haven’t been able to clean that office in weeks!”

“Why not?” Brad asked, now interested.

“Because the girls are always there is why not,” Dempsey replied. “Good grief! They’re always here for hours after the cleaning people have finished and gone home.” He paused and then added, “There’s no problem with dirt or anything — the girls do their own cleaning, although Heaven only knows when — but it’s really not fair to the girls, and the cleaning people feel badly because they think they’re not doing their job. Anyway, what should we do?”

Although she didn’t know why, an alarm had started to ring in Kim’s brain. “Brad, I think we had better look into this and get back to Jim. Okay?”

Brad felt exactly the same way. Something was very wrong, but what?

It was Kim’s idea to check with security and Brad instantly agreed. Going to the security desk at the main entrance, Kim asked about the after-hours sign-out sheet. It turned out that the last six weeks were still at the desk on the clipboard. The two started to go backward in time and were utterly stunned. They found that the Leper Colony girls were typically signing in at about 4:30 in the morning and were never out before 10 PM.

“My God!” Kim breathed. “Do they ever sleep?”

To their shock, they found that it ran right though the weekends, although they didn’t sign in until 8:00 and once they were out as early as 8:00 that night. But only once.

Then they went to Personnel to check on time sheets. There was a single sheet for the unit and every one read exactly the same: The girls signed in at 8:00 and out at 5:00 with an hour for lunch, Monday through Friday. There was not so much as 10 minutes overtime showing for the unit over their entire period of employment.

“What’s the company’s overtime policy?” Kim casually asked the girl who had produced the time records.

“Oh, it’s very strict!” the girl replied with her eyes wide. Only then did Kim realize that the girl was in a state verging on shock as a result of speaking to two corporate vice presidents at the same time. “It requires the advance approval of ... a vice president ... like you or Mr. Kramer. That’s the only way.”

Kim and Brad exchanged looks. Then Brad casually asked, “How long has that policy been in effect?”

“Oh, a very long time, sir. Since before I came.”

“And how long have you been working here?” Kim asked.

“It’s nearly two years now, ma’am.”

They thanked the girl and left. Once outside of the office and out of anyone else’s hearing, Brad quietly exploded. “Can you believe it? Those girls have been working...” He paused and did some fast mental arithmetic. “Holy shit! They’ve been working about 110 hours a week, for God’s sake. And being paid for 40!”

Kimberly just shook her head. “And it’s at least partially our fault, too. We weren’t around for them to ask, and it never would have occurred to them to ask either Bill or George, so...”

“So Greg Campbell or Ben Brewster!” Brad exclaimed. “Shit! Fat chance either of those turkeys would approve any overtime.”

Campbell was vice president–finance and Brewster was vice president–administration.

“Shall we see what other damage has been done?” Kim asked with a quirky smile. Before moving, Brad took her in his arms and kissed her. Rather than being embarrassed — they were standing in the main corridor — Kim just melted her lips to his and molded her body tightly to his, too.

When they eased apart, Kim giggled. She had just realized that more than a dozen people had had to get by them while they embraced, but since they were both vice presidents ... She thought it was a riot. “Sweetie,” she whispered, “we’ve got to do this more often. It will really wake up the joint.” Then she paused, looked thoughtful and then asked, “But isn’t there some higher-traffic location we could use?”

Brad just laughed and said, “I love you so very much, Kimberly Ann Kane.”

“That’s nice,” she replied blandly, but then couldn’t control her giggle. “I love you so very much, William Bradley Kramer, Jr.” Then she kissed him again.

They entered the Leper Colony’s office just in time to see a girl topple off her chair and just lie still on the floor. More alarming was the reaction of the other girls. They saw what had happened and moved to help her, but it was as if they were moving in slow motion.

“It’s Chris,” one said in a half-dead tone of voice. “What should we do?”

“Try to get her on a cot,” said Jenny Clark, the girl they recognized as having sold her body organs to live.

“You will like hell!” Brad announced. “Jenny, call security and have them order an ambulance out here right away.” Then he looked around at the condition of the other four girls and added, “Make it ambulances for five! Now!”

As the woman was weaving on her feet, Kim grabbed her and sat her down, then called security herself. She was told that ambulances would be on their way.

“Okay, ladies,” Brad demanded, “what’s been going on here?”

“It’s all my fault, Mr. Kramer,” Jenny said. As she spoke, she slipped off her chair and ended up on her back at his feet. But she just ignored it and continued, “I made the girls do it—”

She was interrupted by the vehement objections of the three who were still conscious. And then one of them toppled over.

Moments later the first EMTs arrived. Each of the pair started examining an unconscious woman. Then the senior of the two spoke into a two-way radio, then started to examine Jenny Clark. From the way his eyes widened, he didn’t like what he had found at all. His partner went to one of the other two who was still conscious. After running a quick check, he gently laid the girl out flat on the floor, too. This was repeated with the last girl.

At that point other EMTs appeared with Gurneys and, starting with the unconscious women, began to take them out.

Then another woman appeared, Jane Chalmers. Alone among the girls in the Leper Colony, she appeared to be fine. Right on her heels were George Harrison and Bill Miller. They had been attracted by the wail of sirens coming into the plant. In a few more minutes all the girls had been taken out.

As the senior EMT was leaving, Brad asked him, “What’s your assessment?”

“Complete physical exhaustion. A couple of those women are very close to death, and the others aren’t far behind. Now I have to dash.” With that he was gone.

“Let’s go back to our office and hear more about this,” George said.

“No, boss. I think we should stay right here at the scene of the crime,” Brad said. Then turning to Jane he said, “How about you? How is it you look pretty good?”

“It’s because she — Jenny — threw me out of the office at 6:00 Friday evening and said she would shoot me dead if I appeared before 9:00 this morning.” Then her face fell as she added, “She said she would sign me in at 8:00, but that’s not necessary—”

“It’s necessary as hell!” Brad interrupted. Then he explained to George and Bill about being stopped by the maintenance chief when they came in and told about the cleaners not being able to clean the office. Then he told how he and Kim had checked the security records and learned the girls had been working about 110 hours a week, but only charging 40. “And believe it or not, all five of them signed in this morning between 4:30 and 4:35!” Turning to Jane he asked, “Why?”

“That was another of Jenny’s ideas,” she said. “This way we’re ready to start calling the East Coast at 5:00 — 8:00, their time — and then move west across the country.” She paused and then added, “With the growing delivery backlog, it’s become a real bitch. How many ways are there to try to calm down an irate customer?”

“Why are they irate?” George asked quietly.

“Well, sir, wouldn’t you be pissed if you wanted machine tools that represent a make-or-break difference in your business and be told you couldn’t get them for 12 to 15 months?”

She then demonstrated a stunning computer capability no one else knew the company had. It showed the order backlog for every production machine on the floor, complete with available detailed specs for every order that was waiting.

“Where in hell did this come from?” Bill Miller asked.

“It’s something Jenny did in her spare time—”

“What spare time?” Brad interrupted. “For God’s sake she’s here all but about six hours a day.”

“But not on weekends, sir,” Jane replied. “We don’t even have to be in until 8:00 on Saturdays and Sundays, and often we’re through as early as 8:00, too. Jenny uses her extra time for things like this.” She paused and then added, “Jenny really loves you, sir, and this company. You and Aerospace Technologies really saved her life and she’s very grateful.”

“So grateful she damned near killed herself,” Kim commented.

She had been looking at the screen and noticed machine designators. “Something’s wrong here,” she murmured. “This can’t be right. This machine is one of our old ones...” Then she scrolled down the list with her eyes widening as she did. Finally she exclaimed, “My God! They all are! What in hell is going on? None of these production units are my new designs. Every one is a machine that’s been in service for at least a year.”

“I think it’s about time to have a little chat with Ben Brewster and Greg Campbell,” George Harrison said. Then to Jane he said, “Those look like comfortable cots. Jenny again?” There were two cots set up in the room. Based on what they had seen, they were for girls who collapsed from exhaustion during the day.

“Yes, sir. Of course,” Jane replied. But then she hastened to add, “But she bought them with her own money, sir. They didn’t cost the company a dime!”

George and Bill just looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

George made a call before they left, so Brewster and Campbell were waiting in the executive conference room when they arrived.