Chapter 17

Williams stomped ahead to find a vacant office, livid at the interruption and Garrett’s apparent laissez-faire attitude. He waited for Garrett to enter then closed the door behind him.

‘Where the fuck have you been?’

Garrett ignored the question. Instead he took a seat and made himself comfortable. ‘I’ve never been in this office, you know that? In all the time I’ve worked here, I’ve never actually been in this room,’ he said, taking in his new surroundings.

‘And what the fuck has that to do with anything?’

‘Just saying.’

Williams raged back and forth, his glasses held in his right hand slicing through the air working out his frustration. ‘Have you any idea what you’ve done? We’re looking at a potential lawsuit, hundreds of thousands of pounds. And you go fucking AWOL, off the grid, then turn up here, looking like...’ He appraised Garrett from head to toe, noticing the cut to his eye, then his swollen hand. ‘I don’t know what...’

Garrett brushed an imaginary speck of dust from his shirt. Then raised his hand to his eye. ‘Yeah, what can I say? It’s been a strange couple of days.’

‘That’s it? Your answer, a strange couple of days... Fucking unbelievable. Are you drunk, or high? Are you on some kind of medication?’

Garrett smiled, then exhaled, shaking his head. ‘You don’t get it do you, Matt? I can call you Matt, right? After all this time, it sounds a little pretentious to refer to you as Mr. Williams. So here it is, you ready for the newsflash? I don’t give a fuck about the contract, you, the board, or this place.’ He paused, waiting for the reaction.

Williams clenched his jaw and moved closer to Garrett, the muscles tightening then relaxing along his jaw line. ‘Is that right? Well that’s an awful lot of jobs on the line besides yours, so you’ve got thirty seconds to explain, before I go back in there, and tell them to fire you right now. And you can forget about the severance package. We’re looking at gross negligence, Garrett. Know what that means?’

Garrett looked on, non-plussed.

‘No? Well allow me to enlighten you. Nothing, you get nada, zilch, and you can kiss goodbye to the three months salary, along with any shares or pension annuities—it all goes. Oh, and let’s not forget the car, your beloved R8.’

‘The cars mine, has been for over a year, bought it when the downgrade went through. Couldn’t picture myself driving a Ford or a Vauxhall. Just didn’t feel right to be turning up to a client driving a dad car. Go check with the lease company, but I’m telling you it’s mine.’

Williams turned on his heel. ‘Well maybe I’ll just use it as a down-payment for the lawyers we’re going to need to sort this mess of yours out.’

‘Always true to form, Matt, I’ll say that much for you, but I’m not playing scapegoat, so go find yourself some other mug.’ Garrett shifted in his seat, ‘know your trouble, Matt? Always too quick to take the glory, and never around to carry the can when the shit hits the fan. If you’d listened to me none of this would be happening right now. You signed it off, your signature—your fuck up.’

Williams snorted his derision, ‘you’ve never had the balls or instinct for this business, you’re nothing more than an also ran. Only reason you’ve lasted this long is because of old man Hendricks. You’re a lame horse, Garrett, have been for the last six months or more.’

Staring at the floor, Garrett shook his head but said nothing.

Williams wasn’t done, ‘and I’ll tell you something for nothing—it’s your team that’s carried you this far, and stupidly I’ve covered your arse, thinking it was a temporary measure, a glitch, a mid-life crisis, or God knows what. But there’s only so much goodwill to go around. You’ve had your nine lives, and this time there’s no one looking out for you. You’re out on a limb, on your own.’

Garrett leaned forward in the chair, resting his forearms on his thighs, still massaging his left hand. Hendricks had been like a father to him, given him a break and took a chance on him when no one else would, schooling him in the business from the ground up. The old man had taken ill over the last six months, the Alzheimer’s affirming its grip, and now he was in a nursing home somewhere, drugged up to the eyeballs just to keep him quiet. What a way to end up.

‘You know something, Williams, you can paint it any which way you like, I don’t give a shit.’ He rose to his feet, standing two inches taller, eyeballing his soon-to-be former boss. ‘All it’s ever been about with you is looking out for number one, and screwing people over to suit your own ends.’

Garrett sidestepped Williams and made his way to the door.

Williams grabbed at his shoulder, ‘you’re done, finished; I’ll see to it that you never work again. Go on get the fuck out, before I throw out.’

Garrett swung round and launched himself, his head connecting with the bridge of Williams’ nose, obliterating the cartilage. He slumped to the floor. Garrett stood over him, his size tens jabbing Williams in the ribs. ‘You just never know when to shut up do you?’

His victim squirmed on the floor, bloodstained hands clutching at his ruined nose. Garrett jabbed him again. ‘Just be sure I get what I’m owed.’ Garrett straightened up, adjusted his attire and turned to leave, giving one last smack of his boot into Williams’ sternum. ‘You see to it that I’m paid in full, otherwise I’ll be back, and see that balcony, you’ll be taking a swan dive straight off it.’

He made his way to the door and opened it, greeted by a crowd, none of which tried to stop him. Tina was upfront, her jaw gaping wide open. ‘What the fuck, Garrett?’

He gave her a little nod of the head and walked past in silence, leaving the door ajar, allowing the entire office to witness his handiwork.