Page 22 of Kevin's Destiny

“Do you know this guy?” Anderson asked in shock.

“Yes.” That’s all he said and it was anticlimactic after that. Arroy was taken away by the MP’s, in handcuffs, and the security officers followed them. Yvonne saw that her team had been texting, and she would learn that everyone was in the lobby when Arroy was led away in cuffs.

Director Anderson looked at her, and finally, shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

“No need, it’s just that I was wondering why I was receiving the cold shoulder from everyone here in the office. My team ferreted out details, and learned that Arroy was going to fire me as soon as he took over because he didn’t want women in authority over a certain age.”

“That’s against the law.”

“Yes, yes, it is. That’s why I started digging. I’ve been meeting with my team privately at my home for the last two weeks to get all our facts straight. I’m sorry I went behind your back, but there was nothing else I could do.”

“Do you want my job?” Anderson chuckled, only half joking, then stared at her in shock at her next statement.

“No thank you, Sir. I’m actually going to tell you that I’m going to be putting in my two weeks’ notice. I have another job lined up, and nothing against you, but it’s time I started working for myself. Not in actuality, but doing things along the lines of my current job, but different.” At his look, she shook her head. “No, I’m not telling you where I’m going. But I will be leaving here two weeks from this Friday.” She turned toward the man from HR. “I will be expecting an exit interview that day.” She stood and started toward the door.

“Wait,” Anderson called after her. He didn’t speak until she turned around to look at him with a raised brow. “Who do you recommend taking over for yourself?”

“Special Agent Robert Benjamin,” she said firmly, turned back to the door, and walked out with her head held high.

CHAPTER 8

Yvonne sat backon her heels and looked around at the mess in her apartment, and sighed heavily. She made it to her feet, then made her way over to the table where she’d left her glass of wine earlier. She finished the little bit that was left, took it to the kitchen sink, rinsed it, and set it aside. She leaned her hips against the counter and sighed heavily. She hadn’t realized that after living in this place for over twenty years, she really hadn’t accumulated as much as she had thought.

A thought came to her, and she pulled her phone to dial quickly, but not before looking at the clock on the microwave to make sure it wasn’t too late.

“Hello?”

“Ms. Riceman? This is Yvonne Wilson. I’m sorry to bother you so late, but I had a couple of questions for you.”

“Oh, hey, Yvonne, what do you need to know? Do you know when you’ll be here?”

“I have one more week at work. My last day is next week, Friday. I’m packing up a little bit every night after work, and I was wondering if I needed to purchase any appliances?”

“No, the cabins come fully furnished, even with beds, dressers, sheets, appliances. The only thing you need to bringis your clothes, and anything that you can’t live without.” Erin laughed. “I’m saying that, because someone, I can’t remember, brought their own coffee pot. The one that takes those pod things, so it makes one cup at a time. To each their own, but I like a full pot.”

Yvonne laughed. “Yeah, me too. Okay, thanks, Erin. As I said, my last day is Friday, and I’ll probably head out of here around nine Saturday morning, since I’m only three hours away from you.”

“Great, come to Erin’s Way first. Then I’ll take you over to New Double, after I give you a tour. The other security officer that you’ll be working with arrived earlier today. They’ll be starting tomorrow. I’ll fill you in when you get here.”

“Okay, Erin. Thanks.” They rang off, and Yvonne looked around at her packing, and felt relieved that she didn’t have to rent a larger vehicle than her SUV. She walked around to verify what she still needed to pack, and actually jerked when her phone gave a notification of an incoming text message. She opened it, read it, and nodded. That message had her going back into her kitchen to see what she had in her cupboards. Erin had sent her the text saying that she would need to stop into Fool’s Gold for groceries before she came to the ranch. She started pulling items from the cabinets, organizing them, tossing the expired items, and started a list. By the time she went to bed that night, she was happy with what she’d accomplished, and what lay ahead of her.

Around three o’clock Friday afternoon, Yvonne looked up from her work, and jerked at her visitor.

“Director Anderson, what can I do for you?”

Before he could answer, the man from HR, Yvonne could never remember his name, entered. She had no clue as to why, but his seemed to be the only name she could never remember.

“What’s going on?”

“I’m here for your exit interview,” the HR guy said.

“I’m here to sit in on it,” Anderson said. He only shook his head when her eyebrows disappeared to her hairline.

For the next hour and a half, they talked, and when they were done, the HR guy left, and Anderson stood, he looked at her intently.

“Was there anything else?”

“I know I never said this at the time, but thank you.”