The Lost Knights. William Speir

do it. When do you need me over there, and is there anyone who can help me get up-to-speed on the meetings?”

      “I’ll have Cabot’s head of sales get in touch with you this week to start working on that. She can give you the background of the meetings and the attendees. The meetings will start in about three weeks, and they should be wrapped up in five or six days if we can get the scheduling worked out.”

      “Great! I look forward to her call.”

      “Good, Tom. Now, there’s something else I wanted to talk to you about.”

      “Shoot.”

      “I’ve been looking at the personnel files, and other than a day here or there, you haven’t taken a vacation since Jamie was born. How is she, by the way?”

      “She’s fine. Walking and talking and getting into every kind of mischief you can imagine.”

      “She’s two now?”

      “Two-and-a-half,” Tom answered.

      “Amazing how they grow up so quickly.” Tom nodded as his boss continued. “That’s a long time to go without a vacation, Tom. It’s not good to go so long without taking some time to recharge the batteries. I admire your work ethic, and your performance is outstanding, but I can’t risk having you burn out. You carry too many responsibilities to put your health, and the health of this company, at risk.”

      Tom sat silently at this, knowing that his boss was also referring to his work with the Order. A great many people in Tom’s company, including his boss, were also members of the Order.

      “So,” his boss continued, “I’d like to suggest that you take some time after the meetings in Europe are finished and stay over there for at least a couple of weeks. Take Emily, or have her join you when the meetings are over, and make a long vacation out of it. You need a vacation, and the company needs to make sure that you take care of yourself. You’ve got a lot of good years left in you, and I need you to be taking care of yourself the way that you take care of your people. Would you let one of your staff go over two years without a vacation?”

      “No sir,” Tom answered.

      “Well there it is. Neither can I. OK?”

      “Yes sir, thank you,” Tom replied.

      As Tom’s boss got up to leave, he added, “By the way, the company will pick up the travel expenses while you’re over there for you and Emily. It’s part of your bonus for another outstanding year.” He held out his hand to Tom, who took it with a look of surprise.

      “Thank you, sir!” he said, shocked.

      “Don’t mention it, Tom. You’ve more than earned it. And, if you succeed in Europe with the clients the way I expect you too, there will be more rewards waiting for you when you return,” he said as he turned to leave the office.

      Tom walked his boss to the elevator. Tom unconsciously began scratching his left forearm. “How’s the arm?” his boss asked.

      He was referring to the small Global Positioning System, or GPS, chip Tom had implanted in his left forearm. The board had decided that, since defense contractor executives were popular targets for kidnappers in some countries, and since Tom’s company sometimes provided services close to the front lines of a conflict, it would be best for all executives to have a GPS chip implanted in case of emergency. Tom had the procedure done a few weeks earlier. It took only about twenty minutes to implant the small tracking chip under the skin, and even though Tom couldn’t feel the chip, he always knew that it was there. He understood the reasons, but he wasn’t sure that he liked the idea of a computer system somewhere logging his every move.

      “It still itches,” Tom replied as they reached the elevators, “but I think it’s because I know it’s there, not because of any problems. I can’t even see the point where they implanted it.”

      “Me, too,” his boss said, hitting the elevator button. “It’s necessary, though. We need to make sure that we can locate our executives in case something happens. It’s just prudent in these times.”

      Tom nodded in agreement as his boss stepped into the elevator. “Thank you again for stopping by today, sir.”

      “No problem,” his boss said as the elevator doors started closing. “Give my best to your staff.”

      Tom walked back to his office, still in shock about the vacation his boss was letting him take with Emily. He had just sat down at his desk when Ralph came in. “Was that the President of the company?” he asked.

      “Yes it was.”

      “Another unannounced visit, huh? He didn’t stay long this time. What did he want?”

      “He wants me to fill in for Cabot at some sales meetings and presentations in Europe later this month, and he wants me to take a vacation.”

      “Well, you need one,” Ralph said seriously. “I don’t know anyone who works harder than you – especially with all the things that you’re balancing right now.”

      “I know. He wants me to take Emily and stay in Europe for a couple of weeks after the meetings are over.”

      “Really? That’s interesting. You know I’m going to be over there later this month to do some training with the local Commanderies. With what we were talking about earlier concerning Emily, the timing could be great!”

      “I never thought about that,” Tom said thoughtfully. “She could be with you while I’m taking care of company business, and then we can make a vacation of it afterwards. I could even make arrangements to visit with some of the European Commanderies.”

      “I think that’s a great idea. It’ll keep them feeling like they’re an important part of the Order,” Ralph commented.

      Tom glanced at the clock on the wall and realized what time it was. “I need to run,” he said quickly, reaching into his desk for his car keys. “I’m supposed to meet Emily for lunch in a few minutes.”

      “Get going, and let me know how the conversation goes,” Ralph said as he followed Tom out of the door and went back to his own office.

      8

      Thirty minutes after Emily had dropped Jamie off at Tom’s parents’ house, she was ushered into Edison’s office at SignalCorps’ headquarters. It was clear that Edison was excited about something as he motioned for her to sit down on the couch in the near corner of his office.

      “Thanks for coming,” he said as Emily sat down. “I’ve got some exciting news.”

      “Oh?” Emily said, raising an eyebrow. She was used to Edison’s excitement when it came to her surveillance system. The system had already sold several million units across the United States, and sales to allied nations and organizations, including Interpol, looked like they could begin to take off soon. “What news?”

      “The British military wants to sign a contract to buy the system, but they want a demonstration of the new modifications first.”

      “Are the new modifications ready for demos?” Emily asked, knowing that the last of the minor bugs should have been worked out by now.

      “Absolutely!” Edison affirmed.

      “Well, that’s good, but it doesn’t seem all that exciting…”

      “There’s more,” Edison interrupted. “There will be representatives from NATO and the European Community there as well. They all want to see the demo, and if the system performs as expected, they all want to make their initial purchases.”

      That’s exciting news! SignalCorps is having difficulty breaking into the European marketplace. They’re well known in the United States and Canada, but they’ve only sold a few units overseas – mostly to the local Commanderies who learned about the system at the Order’s Conclave three years ago when the system was first