The Cinderella Reflex by Johanna Buchanan Read Free Book Online

silent.
    “And if you do,” Helene continued, “I want you all to remember that any information about Atlantic 1 FM is commercially sensitive and therefore you are not, – repeat,
not
– at liberty to discuss it.”
    “So is it rumour or is it true?” Andrea asked directly.
    Helene flung her hair over her shoulder. “To be honest, I don’t have very much information at present. But as soon as I know, you’ll know.” She looked closely at Sara. “So what have you heard, Sara?”
    “I thought you just said we can’t discuss it?” Sara pouted.
    “Outside here we can’t discuss it. Inside, we can! Now tell me what you know.” Helene folded her arms on the desk.
    Sara began, delighted to have centre stage, “Well, from what I hear, Jack McCabe is reputed to have the Midas touch and is not shy of making the hard decisions!” She stopped as Ollie breathed a long, exasperated sigh.
    “You’ve just read that on the internet, Sara! We all have. Is there anything you know that isn’t common knowledge, by any chance?”
    “Actually, there is!” Sara bristled. “I’ve heard that Jack McCabe likes to have something good to look at when he comes in!” She pushed out her boobs and curled a tendril of hair around one stripey-nailed finger. Ollie’s eyes went out on stalks. Sara glared at him and let her hair go.
    “And,” she snapped, “I’ve heard he wants a youth vibe going on and that staff over thirty aren’t going to be very popular once he arrives!”
    “We’ll see about that, missy,” Ollie pulled a book out of his briefcase and jabbed his finger at the title,
Seven Habits of Effective People
. “It takes more than flashing your eyes at someone to make it in this business!”
    “Really?” Sara was ready for a row but Helene silenced her.
    “Can you both just shut up?” She had her head in her hands. Everyone fell silent. Helene looked up slowly, picked up a pencil and starting tapping it on the table. Tess realised she was holding her breath.
    “Look, there’s not much we can do about any of this – apart from working our arses off, that is,” she said flatly. “If this Jack McCabe does decide to take over or buy Atlantic or whatever it is he is considering, then he must not find us wanting. When he arrives, we must give the impression of being dynamic and ambitious ...”
    “And young,” Sara added helpfully.
    “... and working to improve our listenership,” Helene finished icily.
    After that there was an outbreak of questions, none of which Helene appeared to have the answers to. When the meeting finally broke up, the atmosphere was subdued and heavy. Tess walked slowly back to her desk, a feeling of dread settling over her. She had known the station was struggling but she had simply not seen this coming. None of them had.
    “What about that coffee?” she called over to Andrea, but Andrea was already packing up her stuff.
    “Sorry, I’m going to go home, try and get my head round this stuff. I honestly thought Sara was just repeating ill-founded gossip earlier, but after that,” she jerked her head towards Helene’s office, “it doesn’t look like it.”
    As Andrea hurried out, Tess looked forlornly around her desk. Everything was changing in her life again. So much for thinking that this job was going to provide some stability for her at last. And who was this Jack McCabe anyhow?
    She logged back on to her computer, intent on finding out more about him. The results for the agony aunts’ search she had entered into Google earlier were displayed and Tess glanced at them without much enthusiasm. What was the point, when she might be out of a job altogether soon? It was all very well for Helene to lecture them about working their arses off. Tess was already working harder than she’d ever believed possible and the thought that Helene was now going to up the ante was not a pleasant prospect. But since the recession, everyone was intent on keeping their head down, their mouths