A little Luck (GLs)

Crisis management

   "Good morning, Molly!" My assistant was nervously walking around her desk, her hands constantly tugging at her skirt and that brought a smile to my face.

   "Good morning, madam! Mr Fardale is here. He's waiting for you." So Andrew had kept his promise...

    "Good! Thank you, Molly!" I tried to leave but she stopped me.

   "Miss Kate, are you sure it's a good idea? I mean, all this man wants is a story. You can't be sure he'll keep it real." I gave her a small smile.

   "I know what I'm getting myself into, Molly. I know what he wants and I'll give him just that. It's an eye for an eye..." I shrugged and ran my hand through my hair, trying to make it look somehow good. The moment I stepped into my office, the man seated on the chair in front of my desk stood up and turned to face me. He was about 30 years old, fair haired and he had a malicious smile plastered to his face. He nodded once and came toward me.

    "Good morning, Ms Mullin! I'm Clyde Fardale, journalist for The Times. I heard you have something interesting for me." I nodded and pointed at my desk.

    "It all depends on you, Mr Fardale, so we'll see. First of all, let's take a seat." I went behind my desk and sat down. He did the same and sat down, watching me expectantly. "Mr Fardale, I heard you have a story on Mr Carter and some very... interesting pictures of him." He smiled.

    "That, I do have, Ms Mullin. In fact, they were taken last night." He gave me a cocky smile and I took a deep breath.

    "What would you say if I asked you to drop this story in exchange for a better one?" The reporter gave me an incredulous look and left out a dry laugh.

    "No offense, but I'd say you are crazy. Lucas Carter is a very secretive son of a bastard and he's harder to catch on camera than a ghost. There is no better story than this!" Hmm... This wasn't going to be so easy...

    "And what if there is and you miss it because you weren't smart enough to trade a story for another?" He narrowed his eyes and it was my turn to smile.

   "You think I don't know what you're doing? I'm on to you, Ms Mullin." I grinned.

   "And what do you think you know, Mr Fardale?"

   "You're bluffing!" And he actually sounded sure of himself.

   "If you think so, then why are you still here?"I raised my eyebrows and his confident smile faded.

   "What are you trying to do, Ms Mullin?"

   "What I'm doing, Mr Fardale, is called crisis management, but I'm afraid I have no time to explain what that is. Now, I'm gonna need your answer. Are you in or not?" He took his camera out and handed it to me.

   "Here's how we'll do this: The camera stays with you while you tell me this story of yours. At the end, if I like it, you get the camera and the pictures. Otherwise, you get nothing. Do we have a deal?" 

    "No!"

   "What?" He seemed truly shocked.

   "You heard me! I said no!"

   "Is this a joke, Ms Mullin?"

   "Not at all, Mr Fardale. Now let me tell you how this is going to be. You're going to sign this contract that says that you will delete this pictures and quit the story, in exchange for new pictures and a better story. Trust me, Mr Fardale, you're not going to regret this!"

   I gave him a pen and he hesitantly took it.

   "I need you to give me something I can rely on before I sign this. I need to know I'm giving up on the greatest story ever for a greater one."

   "Alright, then allow me to introduce myself again!" I stood up and extended my hand to him. "Mr Fardale, I'm Kate Carter, Mr Carter's wife. It's a pleasure to meet you!" His mouth dropped open, and he hurriedly signed the contract. "I don't need to tell you what will happen if you break the terms of the contract, right?" He shook his head and I smiled. "Good! That means you'll forget everything that has happened before this discussion, right?" He smiled back and nodded. "Excellent! When you're ready..." I sat down and started deleting the pictures one by one.

                                                                                                                    ~~~

    "Mrs Carter, it's been a real plasure, madam!" Clyde Fardale was grinning... One hour of sharing secrets with him and now he was grinning. "This will be in tomorrow's paper, so you can see I've kept my part of the deal. In what I'm concerned, there's no need to worry anymore, ma'am. This story will pay off for a lietime. I'm actually thinking about retiring after cashing this story." He laughed and turned his back on me, leaving.

   I don't care, Molly! I need to see her. I heard Lucas yelling at Molly and hurried to stand up.

  Mr Carter, please! I need to check if she can... But Molly didn't get to finish. Lucas opened the doors to my office and stepped inside.

   "What have you done?"