Wittenburg - Greshmere

Greshmere

Scott Wittenburg

Copyright 2013 Scott Wittenburg

Smashwords Edition

Discover other titles by Scott Wittenburg atwww.scottwittenburg.com

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This book is licensed for your personalenjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away toother people. If you would like to share this book with anotherperson, please purchase an additional copy for each person to shareit with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or itwas not purchased for your use only, then you should return it toSmashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respectingthe hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. The characters andevents of this book are entirely the product of the author'simagination, and any resemblance to actual events, or to anypersons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

"Heaven is what you make it."

Chapter 1

-Then

Gary Jamison tapped the steering wheelrepeatedly, lost in thought over the Briggs deal. Although MancoCorp didnt really need Briggs and its vast holdings, he wasn'tabout to let this account go down the toilet. He did not likelosing anything, period, and now that Briggs had rolled the dice atthe last minute, it was time to come back with a counteroffer theywould not be able to refuse.

And thats what made it all soworthwhilethe hunt, the shoot, and the kill.

The only problem was Briggs rep, who was aprick and very difficult to predict. As much as he didnt want toadmit it, Joel Cornish reminded Gary of himself: smart, savvy anddeceptively pushy. He didnt trust Cornish any further than hecould throw him and there was actually a decent chance that thebastard might not take the bait. But even if he

The blare of a horn snapped Gary out of it.Glancing in his rear view mirror, he saw a blue Toyota Corollafollowing only inches away. The driver, some punk in his earlytwenties, was scowling and looked as if he might implode at anymoment. The boy apparently didnt think Gary was driving fastenough.

Garys first thought was to lock up thebrakes and let the guy rear end him. But that wouldnt solveanything nor did he particularly want to hang around while thepolice wrote up a report.

So he opted for a much better idea.

He slowed down to around twenty and grinnedwhen he saw the murderous rage on the kids face. They were bothtraveling east on a two-lane Chicago city street with cars parkedbumper to bumper on either side. The oncoming traffic wasrelentlessly thick since it was rush hour, so the antsy littleasshole was pretty much being forced to go the same speed Garydecided on.

Oh, what afeeling he sung to himself.

Gary eased up on the accelerator until theBMWs speedometer read only fifteen. The kid laid on the horn,dropped back a few feet then punched it until he couldnt have beenmore than a coat of paint away from Garys bumper. Then he suddenlycut the wheel to the left as if to pass him, only to just missbeing sideswiped by a minivan.

Gary was loving this.

There was an intersection up ahead and thelight had turned red. Gary wound it down to ten mphslow enough toenable him to crawl to an agonizing, gradual stop. There was abreak in the oncoming traffic due to the traffic light as he waitedin anticipation for the kid to make his move. There were only twocars in front of him and Gary prayed that he would take thebait.

Suddenly he heard the screech of tires asthe Toyota shot around him. When he passed by, the kid gave Garythe fingerhis anger so intense that Gary could actually see hishand trembling. Gary offered his most congenial smile and bracedhimself for the inevitable sound of metal on metal

But instead of running into another vehicle,the kid miraculously busted through the intersection, just missingbeing broadsided by a northbound truck.

The joke was on him

With a scowl, Gary fished inside his breastpocket and pulled out his Droid, his wheels turning. He pressed acouple of buttons and counted how many rings it took beforesomebody answered.

Mulgrew, a voice repliedthree rings later.

I need you to look up aplate number for me. Got a pen handy?

Yeah, shoot.

28936 CN. Late modelToyota. Find out who its registered to for me.

Got it. You in a hurry forit?

Im going to pretend Ididnt hear that. Call me the second you get me a name and anaddress.

Okay, boss. You gotit.

Gary ended the call and smiled to himself.That little pissant hasnt seen the last of Gary Jamison, hethought. He would pay dearly for his little ploy at his ownexpense.

The light changed and Garys thoughtsautomatically switched to Megan Kendall, the gorgeous woman at thefirms Ohio field branch who so far had flatly rejected hisadvances. As if he were some kind of loser! He didnt know how herhusband maintained such an ironclad grip on her, and he didntreally give a crap. That was irrelevant.

Because both Megan Kendall and the kid inthe Toyota were about to learn that Gary Jamison doesnt likelosing at anything.

Not one bit.

Chapter 2

-Then

Megan pulled onto thefreeway with a death grip on her iPhone, a huge smile on herface. I am pregnant! After all these months of trying, she and Daniel were finallygoing to be parents! She was so ecstatic that she could barely keepher Mini Cooper on the road.

Her first reaction was to call Daniel togive him the news. But since she would be home in another tenminutes, she decided that she would much rather tell him in person.And besides that, she wanted to see the look on his face when shetold him. She could almost see him now, staring at her in totaldisbelief, thinking that surely she was kidding him. He was such adoubting Thomas anyway, and it would probably take a couple ofminutes for her to finally convince him that she was really tellingthe truth.

Then would come the best part: his facewould suddenly light up with that big, broad irresistible smile ofhis and hed hug her so tight that she would have to catch herbreath. Then he would lift her up in his arms to celebrate a momentthey would always cherish, reveling in the absolute joy of knowingthat their prayers had finally been answered.

She leaned over and slipped the phone backinto her purse and checked the time. It was half past five. Danielwould be in the kitchen by now fixing dinner and drinking a beer.It was always like that on Fridays since it was the one day he gotoff work before she didand the one day he handled the kitchenduties. Daniel had worked at the same company for seven years andhad finally earned the privilege of leaving early for theweekends.

It was mid-December and already growingdark, so Megan switched on the headlights. Snow flurries weredancing wildly in the beams and she remembered that the forecastcalled for a major snowstorm blowing in later that night. It wouldbe a perfect evening to watch a movie and snuggle in front of theircozy fireplace.

And an excellent time to start picking namesfor their baby.

Megan got off at theLakeview Road exit and laughed out loud. Were going to have a baby! No moredoubts, no more worries about what could be wrong and whose faultit was that nothing was happening. The deed was done! And now,instead of wasting quality time worrying and stressing over thisand that, they could start preparing for their new arrival. Meganhad always secretly wanted a girl, but she had never told Daniel.She knew that he wanted a boy, as most men did, and the last thingshe wanted was a big debate over which it would be and all of thatnonsense. She now suddenly realized why so many expectant parentssaid that they didnt care what sex it was as long as it washealthy.

What a difference really being a parentmakes.

Her cellphone rang. She fished in her purseand looked at the caller ID. Her heart took a nosedive

It was Gary!