The Fire Within

Chapter 14 - Busted?

Sarah clasped her hand on her mouth to prevent the gasp escaping her mouth. Her heart started to beat so loud that she was afraid she'd be discovered any minute. She was rooted to the spot, panic stricken. Who was Kevin talking to? What do I do now? Oh no, please let it not end like this.

"What?" The other person spoke and Sarah instantly recognized it as Robert's. There was a hint of surprise and incredulity in his voice. "You mean my assistant?"

"Yes. Is there another Sarah Brooks in here?" Irritation was evident in Kevin's voice.

Robert laughed humorlessly. "Stop making such ridiculous suggestions, Kevin. Why would the poor girl do it?"

"I-I don't know!" Kevin's voice raised an inch. "How would I know what she'd want?"

"Then what makes you think it was her?" The irritation was now passed onto Robert's voice.

"Because she left the office pretty late and the light was on and when I asked her she tensed up -"

"You've already spoken to her?" Robert was angry now. "For God's sake Kevin, stop trying to scare off my assistants! I'm starting to think you scared off Hailey too."

"You know that's not true." Kevin's voice was significantly loud now. There probably wasn't anyone in the building if they were talking about such trivial things in the open. "And that's off point. We're talking about Brooks here. I know it sounds ridiculous – "

"It is ridiculous, Kevin." Robert cut him off. "I don't for a second think it was her. She'd been up here late because I gave her work to do. She must've forgotten to switch off the light in her anxiousness to leave. We shouldn't waste our time thinking about unlikely subjects."

Sarah was so relieved that she almost wanted to hug Robert. Her respect for him increased tenfold and she couldn't thank him enough for the trust he had in her. She didn't want to imagine the disappointment on Robert's face if he ever found out the truth.

Kevin wasn't pleased. Sarah could tell he had trouble keeping his temper in check. "Who do you think it was then?"

Robert sighed and there was silence for a while before he spoke. "Fred Adams."

There was silence again. Sarah knew who it was. Fred Adams was the owner of Adams Corp., another one of the country's leading beverage manufacturing companies. Their products were as famous as Harper's and it was no secret that they were Harper Inc.'s biggest competitor. If Sarah remembered correctly, Kevin was even dating Fred's daughter, Natalie.

"Do you really think so?", said Kevin finally. "After all that effort?", he added, and Sarah thought she detected something that sounded like guilt in his voice.

"I know so. You don't know what Fred is capable of. That sick man is playing mind games again."

The two men were lost in their thoughts for a while. Sarah wondered if they'd gone. She badly wanted to peek but didn't dare to move. She'd caused enough damage already and she wasn't going to dig her own grave.

"Why are you telling me this?" Kevin asked suddenly, his voice so low that Sarah had to strain her ear to hear what he was saying.

"What do you mean why? Because I want you to know – "

"Is that what you told everyone? In the meeting?"

"The Unspeakables? Yes, we discussed about it. Everyone seems to agree – "

Robert's next words were drowned by Kevin's hollow laughter. "Of course, everyone agrees with you. Why are you telling me then? You didn't think it was necessary for me to be in the Unspeakables, so why now?" His voice was harsh and demanding.