Tony joined the rest of the GHS staff as they sat in the big light-filled room, chattering among themselves about the reason for the all-hands meeting and drinking the free sodas provided. Someone had told Tony that Erica wanted the cafeteria to be totally free because she didn’t want GHS people to go out for lunch but to stay on campus all day, every day, and work more. And at least one wit had added, “And not be able to talk to anyone besides other GHS employees.”
At fifteen after four, Erica walked in accompanied by a short, dark man. She was very good at making an entrance. Whenever she called a meeting, she was between ten and twenty minutes late to make sure all eyes turned to her when she entered the room. Tony considered Erica disrespectful of her employees to use this trick, but like most things about Erica, it worked for her, and she kept right on doing it.
The assembled employees applauded as Erica and her mystery guest took spots in the front of the cafeteria, which had been designed with large meetings in mind. It even had a small stage.
Erica waved and grinned, acknowledging the applause. The strange man did an even stranger thing: he waved as though everyone knew him. Tony pegged him as Indian or Pakistani. A head shorter than Erica, he wore blue jeans and a white shirt.
The noise finally died down, and Erica, as was her custom, scanned the room silently for a good thirty seconds. The man with her grew solemn and turned his focus to her.
“It’s good to see everyone. Welcome to another day of changing the world.” Everyone laughed and cheered. Erica liked to spout motivational quotes and sayings.
When the noise died down, Erica said, “This is a very special occasion and this”—she turned to look at the man next to her—“is a very special person I’d like to introduce to you. Hakim Alvi. He likes to be called Huey. He is GlobalHemoSolutions’ new executive vice chairman and chief operating officer.”
Huey? Sounds like a cartoon character.
Erica continued. “I’ve had to spend more time traveling and working on business deals, so I needed someone to look after the day-to-day operations. That’s going to be Huey. He comes from the software world, where he made a lot of money in the first dot-com boom. He doesn’t need to work, but he agreed to help us out. Please welcome Huey to GHS.”
More cheers and shouts erupted. Erica had made it clear early on that when they had a big meeting, she expected a lot of enthusiasm, and people delivered.
This might be a really good development. Erica was obviously busy. An executive who was around all the time and accessible to the employees could surely be helpful to their day-to-day work.
Huey made a nice generic speech about how much he was looking forward to working with everyone, and that was that. After the meeting broke up, Tony sought out Gordon, intending to ask him about the next step for Leonardo.
He was standing next to Ricardo, the supply-chain manager who always knew more company gossip than anyone. Though Ricardo was an affable and good-natured fellow, Tony didn’t like gossip, so she avoided talking to him.
Ricardo rubbed his chin as he watched Huey go around shaking everyone’s hands. To Gordon he said, “I know this dude.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. One time, Erica got a little tipsy at a party, and he came to pick her up.”
“I don’t remember that,” Gordon said, sounding dubious.
“Yeah. Only a couple of people noticed. He’s an odd sort of guy, don’t you think? Maybe stuck in a seventies time warp? Those designer jeans?” Ricardo shook his head.
Gordon laughed and so did Tony, in spite of herself.
“Well, he’s our boss now,” Tony pointed out. “So we have to get used to him.”
“Right,” Gordon said. “Got to get work. See ya, man,” he said to Ricardo as he turned to walk away, and Tony followed him, waving to Ricardo as they left the cafeteria.
“What’s next with Leonardo tests?” Tony asked.
“Nothing,” Gordon said. “I’m getting some help, and we need to come up with a new box.”
“What?” This abrupt change of direction astounded her.
“Well, the good news is Erica is okay with this new Leonardo being bigger. I can take most of the Leonardo innards and transfer them into something that fits better.”
“What am I going to do in the meantime?”
“Don’t know. You might ask Huey.” Gordon grinned evilly.
* * *
Tony had come to realize that staying over at Sheila’s house saved her a huge amount of commute time. Sheila would drive her to work to make certain she’d arrive at seven as usual, without her having to get up at five. She and Sheila woke up about five forty-five, lolled in bed for a half hour or so, had breakfast, showered, and voila. She was at her desk. It was easy. Part of Tony’s mind told her it was way too easy.
She was able at least to voice this concern to Sheila and have a serious conversation about it, another first for Tony. She had become accustomed to keeping mum about what was bothering her after several bad reactions from her mother when she’d disclosed things about herself as a teenager. She deduced that when people were dating, they talked over things. They spent time together and talked. With Sheila, she was on the hook for being honest about what she was thinking. Their interaction over the fake Leonardo blood-test results showed Tony that she could be forthcoming, and Sheila was fine; she didn’t freak out or lose her temper. Tony wasn’t even sure she’d ever get angry. At least Tony had yet to see it happen. She had not, however, stated the current primary thing on her mind.
“What about staying with me bothers you?” Sheila asked, reasonably.
“I’m imposing.”
“That’s definitely not true. I want you around. I like you being with me. I like sleeping with you. It must be something else.”
“I don’t know,” Tony said reluctantly, though she did know. She was afraid she was becoming far too dependent. She was used to being on her own, going her own way. But all she said was she thought she was staying with Sheila too often.
“Well, when you know, you can tell me. Meanwhile, what do you want for dinner?” They were trying to eat out less. This meant Sheila would cook, which she did very well. But of course, it was another example, in Tony’s view, of how intertwined they’d become in an extremely brief time. It had been only a couple of months since the fateful hot-tub night.
“Quinoa and beans and salad?”
“Sure.”
It was over dinner that Tony finally blurted out, “Are we doing that lesbian thing and moving way too close, way too fast?”
Sheila didn’t answer right away. She wrinkled her nose and grinned to herself, for she wasn’t looking at Tony.
“Is that what you think is happening? I know it’s annoying for me to answer a question with a question.”
“Yeah. I do think that,” Tony admitted. “And yes, it is a little annoying when you answer a question with a question.”
“Well, I’ll watch out for that thing. As to what you asked, I like to let things unfold organically. I don’t like a lot of process, I like to allow matters to progress naturally, but I do, however, not want you to be uncomfortable. Although…” Sheila raised her eyebrows.
“What?”
“Lack of comfort isn’t a bad thing all the time.”
“Right,” Tony said. “I’m not used to any of this, and it feels weird.”
“May I suggest that you may not always recognize happiness for what it is.”
Tony sat back in her chair and looked back at Sheila, who was smiling gently. I’m crazy about this woman. And, amazingly, she’s crazy about me. That’s probably why I feel unsettled. Too many good vibes and not enough angst. I’m used to angst or…nothing. Why can’t I tell her how I feel?
“I’m a dope.” Tony put her head in her hands.
Sheila stood up and came around the table, then made Tony stand up and hug her.
“You’re not a dope. Just a slightly nervous human. It will pass.”
They
kissed and Tony relaxed.
Tony backed up a bit so she could meet Sheila’s eyes. “I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you.”
Sheila tilted her head. “Oh? Pretty sure?”
Tony was suddenly uncertain. “Yes. I think so.”
“Well, I hope you’re sure, because I’m sure I’m in love with you.”
“Okay.” And the rest of Tony’s response was another kiss.
* * *
It took six months for Sheila to bring up the idea that they move in together. Tony did agree that she was occupying the world’s most expensive mailbox, i.e. the apartment she rented in the City, but she had misgivings and wouldn’t say definitively either way.
“I’ve never lived with anyone before. I don’t think I’d be very good at it,” she said.
“Well, you’ve been doing it for the past six months in reality, though we don’t call it that.”
“Well. Yes. But I could always go back to my apartment if this doesn’t work—back-up plan.”
“True, but do you know what that sounds like? Like you don’t think this is going to work. Is that what you think?”
“Er. No. I don’t.” She was shading the truth. She wanted Sheila and her to work. She just wasn’t sure they would.
Sheila had an answer for everything. Nothing about their relationship, either in a practical or emotional sense, was problematical. Tony couldn’t think of a time she’d felt more secure; Sheila was an outstanding girlfriend. And Tony no longer had to endure an hour-and-a-half commute on the Muni and Caltrain to get to work. She was working longer hours than ever, and Sheila was picking her up at work to take her back to the condo, where their relaxation in the hot tub and shared dinner infinitely soothed her. She could find no real reason not to move in with Sheila.
Except the differential in the levels of their income. That was jarring. One of the few things Tony remembered her mother saying that she agreed with was that Tony had to be able to take care of herself.
“And…” Sheila said. “Once GHS goes public or gets sold, I’m going to be a full partner, and I’ll make a couple million.” Another huge shock for Tony, but she didn’t say anything. Again, Sheila’s attitude toward money was light years away from hers.
Sheila said, “Get in there and work your butt off so GHS will go forward.” Tony knew Sheila was teasing, but the admonition still gave her pause.
Sheila added, “When that happens, we’ll take a trip somewhere—wherever you want to go. Africa? China? France?” She laughed and hugged Tony, who hugged her back and kept her misgivings to herself. They seemed trivial and unrealistic. It was, Tony decided, just her fear of the unknown and perceived lack of control. She and Sheila talked about that frequently. Tony had been open with her finally about how much she didn’t trust herself when dealing with new things.
The pace of change at GHS was speeding up. Because of her background, Tony had been transferred to the new clinical department. Huey Alvi had given her this news. She wanted to ask him about Gordon but was afraid to. The week before she was transferred, Huey had fired Gordon. One day he was there, and the next day he was gone. He didn’t even say good-bye to Tony.
In desperation, Tony sought out Ricardo down on the loading dock for possible explanations.
Ricardo affected a blasé attitude as he sat with his feet on his desk and supervised the incoming deliveries and tracked the orders made.
“Hi, Ricardo.”
“Hey, Tony. You looking for something?”
“Nope. I’m not looking for a delivery. I want to know what happened to Gordon.”
“Oh, boy. What a shit show. I heard from Albert—he’s one of the product managers—Gordo got the boot because Erica wants a better box than Leonardo. She’s made some wild promise to the Graff people, the drugstore folks, that there’s going to be a GHS device in every one of their chains by next year. And they’re planning to start with a pilot project of forty in Nevada. Huey found out Gordo was emailing with some other ex-GHS people and talking smack about the company. That’s the real reason. If Erica likes you, she’ll keep you around and find you something else to do if you’re somehow not making it happen in your current job. If she doesn’t like you or you piss her off…” He mimed someone being kicked.
“Are they reading our emails?” Tony couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“You better believe they are, and you better be careful. IT monitors everything. All our emails. You know the chat functions are turned off. We aren’t encouraged to talk to other people in the company. Huey even has HR looking at people’s Facebook pages to see if people are posting negative crap about GHS.”
“Big Brother is watching,” Tony said, trying to be funny. She didn’t find any of it funny. She was suddenly scared, though she had no plans to say anything negative about GHS to anyone by email or on Facebook. She wasn’t even on Facebook. The only person she confided in was Sheila. She rarely said anything to her dad.
“Holy 1984, Batman,” Ricardo said, but he wasn’t smiling.
“How come you know all this?” Tony asked.
“Because everyone comes down here one way or another. Except Huey. It’s beneath him. He doesn’t care about me and my boys. We’re just peripheral. I like it that way. It’s a safe space, and I’m like a shrink.” Ricardo grinned, modestly. “Everyone tells me stuff.”
* * *
All of this was in Tony’s mind when she went to see Huey after he summoned her. In his office was a strange man whom he introduced as Sanjay.
“Antoinette, we need you on the clinical side. There’s going to be a lot of lab testing. Sanjay is the new director of the lab, and you’ll be reporting to him.”
Because Tony knew a director of a clinical laboratory had to be an MD and a board-certified pathologist, it made sense. She couldn’t take such a position; she didn’t have the credentials.
Huey didn’t say any more about her new job. She assumed this Sanjay fellow would make those explanations. Huey sat down and started staring at his laptop, so they were evidently dismissed. Tony wondered if Huey really was Erica’s boyfriend. If so, yuck, in about fifty different ways. He was older and, well, ugly.
As they walked out, Sanjay said, “It’s nice to meet you. We have a lot to do.”
Tony smiled weakly. It was a puzzle as to what they were going to exactly do, since they didn’t have any GHS-built instruments that could do patient testing. That’s what Gordo had been working on before he was fired.
They had the Advia and the Siemens commercial blood analyzers that had been refitted to work on smaller sample volumes. What were they going to do and how were they going to run an actual clinical lab to test patients’ blood on the faulty Leonardos? Where did the drug-store plan fit in? She, fortunately, was not paid to come up with the answers to those questions. Sanjay was her new boss, and she presumed she’d be clued in when the time came.
* * *
When Roy came back from the GHS board meeting, Sheila wanted to ask him for an update, but she thought he ought to be volunteering to talk about what was going on with GHS. Tony told her some bits and pieces, but they mostly had to do with her frustrations in the lab, which were many. Tony, however, always put a good face on whatever craziness was going on, telling Sheila glitches were the nature of product development in the biotech world. She was upbeat, loyal, and relentlessly hardworking. Tony did mention that the employee turnover rate at GHS was astronomical, far higher than in her past experience. That was one of the things Sheila wanted to see if Roy and, by extension, the whole board was aware of and if Erica had offered any explanations. What Roy had told her seemed to indicate that Erica didn’t talk about anything that might be negative, like a high-turnover rate. And no one asked.
When they were able to spend time together, Sheila often had to struggle to cajole Tony to relax. She was wound tight almost all the time and struggled to let go of work when she wasn’t actually at the lab.
They went out for bike rides most we
ekends, and Sheila thought it was time for Tony to have her own bicycle and not have to use crummy rental bikes anymore. It was going to take some finesse, though, because Tony didn’t like Sheila to buy things for her. She wasn’t comfortable with what she considered a high level of dependence, but that’s exactly what Sheila planned to do.
She was looking online at various bicycles and sources for them when she heard her father’s voice in the hall. She walked to her door and called, “Hi, Dad.”
He was speaking to one of their research assistants and seemed quite animated. After a moment, he strolled into her office and sat down.
“You look happy,” Sheila said, and he smirked.
“We found out today that Time is going to interview Erica for a cover story and profile.”
“Wowee. That’s cool.”
“She’s going to do it next week. She’s getting a stylist, the whole deal.”
“What else came up at the board meeting?”
“Oh, not much. The Graff project is to start in six months.”
“So, did you ever see the actual agreements she’s signed? Do you know the scope of the project and how much money? That reminds me. Whatever happened to the VA project?” Sheila had asked Tony if she’d ever heard of that, and she’d said no.
“She said the VA project fell through. Lawyers are still reviewing the Graff agreement. You know how long that takes.” He rolled his eyes.
“Did anyone on the board see it?’
“Well, no, but she has, you know, lawyers—pretty pricey and famous ones, I hear.”
“Uh-huh.” Sheila was perplexed. What exactly did this board of directors actually do? They were strangely hands-off. It was a matter of confidentiality, but she hoped Roy would be somewhat more forthcoming with her since he was, well, her dad as well as her boss. But no, he didn’t say much and that made her even more curious.
Trade Secrets Page 14
