Chapter 3

Early Monday morning, Bill felt Gail get out of their bed. It was still dark outside and he needed a couple more hours of sleep. He felt her kiss his cheek, whisper "good bye, I love you" into his ear, and head out the door. The next thing he knew his alarm went off and reluctantly he got up and headed for the bathroom. By eight-thirty he was in his lab, looking over the results of his latest experiment. He chuckled to himself as he glanced over at Megan; her left hand was indeed wrapped in an ace bandage. She didn't even look in his direction.

The morning flew by, everyone was in good spirits; most were talking about what a good time they had at the picnic. At lunch time, Bill got up from his desk and headed down the hall towards the cafeteria. As he approached his boss's office he heard the loud conversation between, his boss and Mr. Johnson, the vice president of the research division.

"Did you see the size of her? Did you see the size of her arms? No way is she a normal woman. I wouldn't be surprised if when they get in bed that there is more than one cock and hers is buried up his ass."

Then he heard his boss reply, "That's for sure, she probably doesn't let him do anything but suck on hers and take it up the ass. I'll bet at the very least he's her submissive slave"

Then they both howled with laughter and walked out of the office and down the hall to the cafeteria, never glancing back in his direction.

Bill was fuming; at that point he could barely restrain himself. He waited until they were all inside the cafeteria, and in a voice that could barely be heard, he said, "You both are such stupid assholes; the least you could do is shut your fucking door when you're going to insult one of your employee's wives."

Bill turned to walk out of the cafeteria, he had suddenly lost his appetite, when he felt a hand grab him roughly by the shoulder and pull him backwards until he fell over banging his head against the wall.

"How dare you talk to us that way," yelled his boss.

Bill scrambled to his feet. He looked around and could tell that others had seen him being assaulted by his boss. With as much strength as he could muster, he reared back and hit his boss right in the jaw with a straight right. His boss staggered backwards and landed on a stack of trays, before slumping to the floor. Bill looked around, saw the approval in the eyes of his coworkers and said in a very calm voice to the VP:

"Oh, by the way, I quit." Bill turned, glanced up at the security camera, smiled, and walked out the door.

He calmly walked down the stairs to the security office in the basement and requested a copy of the disk from today. The guard who had been at the picnic and who had always been friendly with Bill had seen the whole incident and immediately complied.

"If anyone asks how you got it, please tell them that I was out of the office at the time and that you just took it. I have less than a year before my retirement and I need my retirement money."

"Don't worry Dave; I'll only use it if they give me a hard time and I'll be sure to protect you."

"Good bye and good luck," Dave shouted as he ran up the hallway towards the staircase on the opposite side of the building in order to make an appearance at the scene.

Bill was extremely busy for the next several days. He made several calls to the human resources department trying to get the paperwork for rolling over his retirement money. But after speaking to several different people, he felt that they were being uncooperative and evasive. That's when he called his old friend from college. Ed Williams was their attorney; he had done their wills and even some estate planning.

"Hi Ed, its Bill Young. I've got a little problem I'd like to run past you."

Later that afternoon, Bill was sitting in Ed's office. He told him the whole story. He also told him what his plans were for the future.

"Bill, did you bring the disk with you?"

Bill handed Ed the disk, he loaded it into his computer and together they watched the entire incident.

"Bill, I have to ask, how did you get this disk?"

Remembering his promise Bill said, "I walked downstairs intending to ask the guard for a copy, when I got there I saw him run out of the office and before the door closed behind him I snuck into the room, figured out which recorder the disk was in, took out this disk and put in a new one, and left.

"That could be a problem if we ever get to court; but I don't think this is going to get that far. Let's call Johnson and see if we can end this before it starts.

Ed got on phone and after introducing himself as Bill's attorney, was able to get his secretary to put him through to Mr. Johnson.

"Mr. Johnson, I represent Bill Young. I understand that there was an incident at the company involving my client and his boss a couple of days ago. At that time my client gave his official notice ending his employment. He is now looking to receive his retirement plan distributions and..."

Bill could hear Johnson yelling into the phone as Ed held it away from his ear.

"That's all well and good Mr. Johnson, but I have sworn statements from half a dozen of your employees that indicate that it was Mr. Harrison that started the fight and that my client was just protecting himself. By the way, Mr. Young indicated to me that there are security cameras throughout the building. I'm going to need a copy of the surveillance tape."

Ed listened for a short time and then responded. "You say the tape was accidentally erased; how unfortunate." He paused for effect then continued. "Mr. Johnson what if I told you that I also have a copy of the disk and have seen the incident first hand."

Again there was a long period of yelling and then an even longer period of silence.

"Listen, Mr. Johnson, my client wants nothing more than what he is entitled to; mainly his retirement money, his final week's paycheck, and severance pay in the amount of, let's say, one week for each year that he was employed with the company. Mr. Johnson, just consider it a cost of doing business and the cost of an insurance policy protecting your career. If this goes to trial, the company's name will be dragged through the mud and, more likely than not, I'll get a bigger settlement for my client and both you and Mr. Harrison will be looking for new jobs."

After a short time Ed continued, "I thought you'd see it that way. Please have the necessary paperwork sent to my office, and send Bill's pay checks directly to his home address. It's been a pleasure talking with you Mr. Johnson; good day."

Ed sat back, smiled, looked over at Bill and said, "That was easy." Then they laughed, stood, shook hands and headed out to Ed's favorite steakhouse for a celebratory dinner and drinks, Bill picking up the tab of course.

The next morning, Bill woke up with the wonderful feeling of freedom and the energy to start on a new journey in his life. After an hour in the weight room, he showered, shaved and sat at his desk, reviewing one last time their financial position. Gail wasn't due back for a couple more days and he wanted to be totally prepared to prove to her that their financial future was secure. When he was satisfied, he decided to call Carlos, Gail's supervisor, and set up a meeting.

They agreed to meet at Carlos's office on Saturday morning at 9:00; he was coming in so that he could catch up on some paperwork. Promptly at 9:00, Bill arrived at the warehouse. After the usual social questions about each other's family, they got down to business. Bill explained to Carlos that he had quit his job and told Carlos that he would like to share driving duties with Gail, just as Gail and her father had done fifteen years before.

Bill pulled his wallet out of his pocket and proudly displayed his newly acquired license. Carlos studied the license and then, after handing it back to Bill, sat in silence for several minutes; he appeared to be deep in thought. Bill sat across from him, worried that the silence meant bad news. Suddenly, Carlos gave him a big smile, stood up and shook his hand saying: