"Get out. Before you try my patience any further. I expect your desk to be cleared by the end of the day"
The little man stood there for a second, mouth hanging open. Eric continued to loom over him menacingly, and the realization that he was serious finally sank in. Mr. Oliver nodded once, then hurriedly left the room.
Eric sighed. Certainly he didn't look forward to being in this place for several hours. Still, there was no way he was going to delegate the task to anyone else. He couldn't trust anyone not to be in on whatever scam was being run here.
There was no doubt in his mind that it was a scam. Mermaids. He would laugh if it wasn't so serious. That a grown man could be fooled and fooled so badly by such an obviously absurd idea really made him lose respect for Mr. Oliver. Firing was too good for the man.
He pulled his cell phone from his pocket, hitting the speed dial for his office. A friendly female voice answered.
"Mr. FitzPatrick's office. Who may I ask is calling?"
"It's me Brenda. I need you to make a note on the calendar for me."
"Right away sir. What note?"
"This Saturday from 9am to 1pm, I need to be at the Fairchild Aquarium. Important business has come up."
"Just a moment sir." There was a brief pause, followed by, "I'm sorry sir. You already have an appointment on Saturday, with your uncle and Ms. Donovan? I believe it is important."
He cursed his uncle again. The Donovan woman had briefly met with them to ask for this meeting on Saturday. When his uncle agreed, Eric was roped into it as well, against his will. Well, now he had an excuse to miss it.
"Cancel that appointment. I'm sure my uncle can handle it on his own."
"Yes sir. Already done. Thank you for calling."
With that, he terminated the call. Well, now he had given his uncle two reasons to be angry with him. But it didn't matter. He felt confident that he was doing what he needed to do to protect himself and the business.
His mind returned to the memory of the man he had long called friend, lying dead at his feet. It was a sacrifice that had to be made. And when he finally found out what game this Alex Taylor was playing, he would show him no more mercy.