Gamer Girl by Carmen Willow Read Free Book Online Page B

Adams?”
    “I hope it was expensive ,” she said, looking like a really angry cat, claws out back arched.
    Eamon grew serious; his eyes were ice blue. “Oh it was. And it will cost Rainwhite’s employees more than it would have otherwise. But hey, what does that matter?”
    “Nothing to you, obviously,” Sarah rep lied. Before he could say anything further, Sarah rose and looked at her boss. “Jim, with your permission, I’ll get working notifying everyone of the meeting.”
    “Sure, Sarah. See you Monday.”
    Sarah closed her laptop and left the room without another word.
    Eamon watched her leave. His jaw was clenched tight. Jim watched the man take a deep, deep breath and visibl y force himself to relax.  Eamon faced Jim once more. “I’ll see you Monday, Mr. Saunders.”
    “Yes, Mr. Byrne.”
    Eamon went home and opened up the Rainwhite personnel files. He studied Sarah’s employment file and then went to work. By Sunday, he’d read her transcripts, her master’s thesis, and most of the papers she’d written in college. He had a copy of the district-wide poetry magazine she’d been published in while in high school as well as her IQ scores. He even went into the Mirrored Nation forum archives and re-read her posts under Elaine Everhome again. When he finally logged off, he realized just how much he’d underestimated her.
    Sarah went home and sen t out the meeting notice to the employees. She kept track of the responses and did what was needed so that by Monday morning at seven, she had notified every employee at Rainwhite Games. Those who knew Sarah got in touch to find out just what the hell had happened. Sarah gave them the facts, but she did not speculate on what the takeover meant.
    When Monday morning came, Sarah dressed in the gray business suit she usually wore to the first day of trial with a red sleeveless silk sweater underneath and simple silver earrings and lapel pin. Her shoes and hairstyle were just as conservative. She walked into the main meeting room of Gryphon World, Inc., fifteen minutes early. It was a large open space with floor to ceiling windows to allow plenty of natural light.
    As Rainwhite employees filtered in they huddled in their teams whispering softly to one another. Aaron was conspicuously absent, but everyone else seemed to be in attendance. At precisely 9:30 a.m. Eamon, Martin and his team leads came out onto the platform. Everyone still standing quickly found seats. Eamon was dressed in expensive chinos, a navy blue crewneck wool sweater, and casual boots as were the rest of his team.
    Sara h was overdressed, but her suit was her armor. She needed the psychological protection that it afforded. Eamon found her at once in the crowd, and he gave her a long enigmatic look before turning away. Perhaps the anonymity of the common uniform would have been the better choice, she thought.
    He slipped a headset on and said, “Hello everyone. My name is Eamon Byrne, and I am the President and CEO of Gry phon World, Inc. As of last Friday, Rainwhite Games became a subsidiary of our company. I want to welcome you to our conglomerate and to let you know that we appreciate the hard work that you have given Rainwhite in the past. We look forward to combining your talents with ours into our family of companies. Today our senior team leads will begin the process of integrating you into our teams.” At this point handouts were passed out. “Please note that there are groups of names listed below a name in all caps at the top. The person named at the top is your new direct report. At the conclusion of the meeting, please find your team lead who will meet with you and give you more information.” Eamon smiled at this point. “I know that this is difficult. Change always is. But I am convinced that you will find this change a positive one. Again, welcome to Gryphon World, Inc. ladies and gentlemen, I hope this is the beginning of a long and happy relationship for all of us.” Eamon then