First Class Stamp by Aj Harmon Page A

okay?”
    “Yeah,” she said. “Just shaken up. Everyone is in the
process of evacuating the building…voluntary not mandated.”
    “Once everyone is out I want you out, too,” Ben ordered.
    “As soon as I’ve gotten someone to secure the hole in the
building. But I’m completely safe now,” she laughed, more out of nervousness
than amusement. “I’m surrounded by the police. But this might be a good time to
consider the offer you got this morning in the mail.” 
    “What offer?” Ben was starting to think he had absolutely no
idea what was going on in Rio.
    “The offer to buy the building.”
    “From who?”
    “Some company I’ve never heard of.”
    “Fax it to me please. To me …not Patrick!”
    *****
    “If anything had happened to her I would be strangling you
with my bare hands this very second!” Ben screamed as he entered the building
management offices of MEL Holdings. Everyone froze and gasped at Ben striding
through the desks pointing at Patrick who was on the phone with his
girlfriend.  “I hope you have some friends in here who are willing to stand
between you and me or I swear to God I’ll break your neck right this second.
That is, unless you have a fucking good reason why you sat on the letter that
was faxed to you from Crystal Towers in Rio.”
    Not one of the ten or so employees in the room had ever seen
Ben anything but personable and professional. They were stunned into silence.
No one moved. No one said a word. No one even breathed.
    “Well?” Ben demanded.
    Patrick hung up the phone, never breaking eye contact with
his boss. “I…I got the fax and…and we get…get letters like that every so often
and…and they don’t usually…”
    “Don’t usually what?” Ben glared at him, his legs touching
the desk only a couple of feet from Patrick.
    Patrick shrugged. “They mean nothing.”
    “Maria, you remember Maria don’t you? She’s the one who
faxed you the letter. Well, she’s had two bricks hurled at her car…WHILE SHE
WAS IN IT!”
    Patrick retreated, shoving himself backwards, away from his
desk.
    “And today,” Ben lowered his voice, “a truck just drove
through the front door of Crystal Towers, the crowd cheering behind it, WHILE
SHE WAS IN THE BUILDING! Along with all the tenants!” He slammed his palms down
on the desk and leaned over, teeth bared, looking like he was going to tear Patrick
apart, limb by limb.
    Patrick didn’t have a reply.
    “Where’s the letter?” Ben asked in a more controlled voice.
    Patrick stood, hurried to the file cabinet a few feet from
his desk, opened the second drawer, skimmed through some papers and pulled out
the fax and handed it to Ben.
    “What did you do after you got this?”
    “I called Maria,” Patrick defended himself.
    “And you told her you’d ‘look into it’?” He didn’t get a
response. “So what did you do? How did you look into it?”
    Patrick shrugged and remained silent.
    “I’ll tell you what you did,” Ben snarled. “You put it in
that fucking file cabinet, that’s what you did!”
    Again, Patrick didn’t say a word.
    “You’re fired.” Ben turned to one of the other employees
behind him, who was watching the drama unfold. “Call security…NOW!”
    Forty-five seconds later, two men who appeared to be WWF
wrestlers in a former life appeared in the doorway. “Get him out of the
building before I rip him to pieces,” Ben spat.
    “Yes, sir.”
    With the fax still in his hand, he ran up the flight of
stairs and back to his office. He had to call Matt…a call he desperately didn’t
want to make.
    *****
    Maria arrived home just before Luca was expected to come
home. It had taken her longer than expected to deal with the police and find a
contractor to come and secure the building with plywood. Once that was
completed, she gathered up her things, including some work files, and headed
home. She took the long route which added almost thirty minutes to the drive
because of traffic congestion,