Vendetta

  Vendetta

  Craig Gaydas

  Copyright (C) 2013 Craig Gaydas

  Layout Copyright (C) 2014 by Creativia

  Published 2014 by Creativia

  eBook design by Creativia (www.ctivia.com)

  Cover art by http://www.goonwrite.com/

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Revenge is never a straight road. It's a roundabout. And in a roundabout, if you don't make the correct turn, it's easy to end up right back where you started.

  -Dalton Fitch

  Revenge is a dish best served cold

  -Ancient Klingon Proverb

  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

  -Revelations 13:2 (King James Bible)

  Preface

  Death is eternal. At least that is what we are taught to believe by most religions. Other religions speak about animal spirits watching over us and guiding us. Some animals symbolize strength, while others represent a “rebirth of the spirit”.

  This brings me to an animal said to represent death and rebirth in the spirit world, the black panther. This animal has been portrayed in writings and beliefs dating as far back as the ancient Greeks.

  According to legend, the black panther's power includes astral travel, guardian energy, feminism, death and rebirth. Some legends say that the animal is said to be a guardian, guiding the soul to the afterlife. They also state that a panther spirit accompanies a soul, wronged in life, as a vessel of revenge on the people who had wronged them.

  Most of the legends portray the panther as an animal involved in death in some way, shape or form. What inspired me to write this book was something that I read about in the news years ago, during my years living in New Jersey. There had been several sightings of large black cats near the Pine Barrens section of southern New Jersey. The Pine Barrens is a dense wooded section lying among the coastal regions. The area is home to myths ranging from the Jersey Devil to Bigfoot.

  Panthers, however, are an unusual sighting in the area (people have experienced more Bigfoot sightings than panther sightings). The panther is not an indigenous species to New Jersey and the reports were not able to be confirmed by local authorities. Despite that, several photos of the beast circulated the internet depicting a large black cat roaming the woods.

  Could this animal have been a black panther or just a very big house cat? If it was a panther, what was it doing in New Jersey?

  Could someone be lying in the Pine Barrens, dead and alone, yet to be discovered? Perhaps this poor soul is wandering the vast emptiness of the Barrens, yearning to complete their journey to the afterlife.

  Or could this animal be seeking out the parties responsible for their misfortune, yearning to exact revenge?

  Chapter 1

  Jody turned from the computer screen with her eyes closed and rubbed her temples. The beginning stages of a migraine were poking at her brain from inside her eyeballs. She was only finished with half of the department audits before the familiar throbs interrupted her work. Narrowing her eyes she looked at the desk calendar. The deadline was Friday, which left her two days to finish the quarterly audits. It was as if the day had a large red neon arrow pointing toward it, blinking in conjunction with the throbbing in her head.

  Glancing at the stack of papers, she wondered if the company's underwriters set a new world record for policies issued within the quarter. The new business was good for the company's profit margins, but all it did for her was increase the size of her workload. Although she was used to the tedious process of auditing, it nonetheless drove her to the point of insanity every quarter.

  “This sucks,” she groaned, tapping at the keyboard.

  Mark Sherwood, her obnoxious cubicle neighbor, poked his head up from his cube like some macabre jack-in-the-box. He tossed her a derisive smile which made her want to punch him in his jaw. Better you than me, is what the smile inferred.

  Mark made his disdain for her obvious whenever he could. Jody believed that his disdain stemmed from his low self-esteem, coupled with the fact of a woman overseeing his work. She was the “bad guy” who policed his department to make sure there were no discrepancies or violation of regulatory laws.

  “Aw, what's wrong, buttercup?” he asked.

  Jody looked up and put on her best “go jump off a cliff” face. “Nothing, it's just a migraine,” she said dismissively.

  “Well, let me know if there is anything I can help you shred,” he replied with a wink.

  “Don't worry, buttercup, your reports are next.” She cocked her head and returned the wink.

  Mark scurried back into his cube. The clackity-clack of his keyboard couldn't hide the vulgarities he muttered under his breath. Jody performed a mental high-five with herself.

  With a few taps of her keyboard, his underwriting efforts for the quarter flashed across the screen. Jody hit PRINT and a familiar voice called from outside her cubicle.

  “Hey missy, it's just about lunch time.”

  Jody's friend, Shelly Waters, stood in the doorway, her auburn curls cuddling her freckled cheeks. She snatched the print out and slid it to Jody.

  “I'm going to spring for lunch today so we have a choice between Ruth's Chris and Sunset Diner.”

  Shelly melodramatically rummaged through her purse.

  “Oh damn, I forgot that my ship hasn't come in yet, so we're stuck with the Sunset for this little shindig.”

  “You're hilarious,” Jody chuckled.

  She placed the printout in her desk drawer, locked it and grabbed her purse. “I would tell you that I'd go ahead and pay for the high end stuff, but my ship sank.”

  They giggled and sauntered out the door. Mark looked at them with a grimace and shook his head, which caused them to howl with laughter.

  * * *

  They entered the diner and took their usual seat at the corner booth, always finding it amusing that the oldest people in the community chose to hunch over newspapers at the counter, sipping coffee. Most of the time they quarreled with each other about politics or the state of the economy, but today they sat in relative silence. Not enough political shenanigans going on in the country today, she thought. Sometimes she wondered if the diner was secretly a retirement community hangout.

  The waitress approached them and took their order. She had been taking their orders for as long as Jody had been frequenting their establishment, a little over five years. Her name was Olga and she came over on a Hungarian boat around forty seven years ago. She had also been planning on retiring for the last five years.

  After Olga took their order they began their usual banter about how much their company, Martins Insurance Group, sucked the life out of them. They spoke about Shelly's upcoming vacation and love life and Jody learned that Shelly was having more luck planning vacations than finding a suitable date. After several giggles and groans, the conversation turned back to work.

  “So how's the auditing going?” Shelly asked as she fidgeted with the portable jukebox mounted on the wall.

  “So far so good, but I'm way behind,” Jody sighed.

  The waitress dropped off their drinks and Shelly watched Jody pour her customary half-pound of sugar into the coffee.

  “The only underwriters that I need to finish are Mark and Danny. Danny's should go quickly, but Mark's report is going to take me past the deadline.”

  “Yeah, Mark has been a man on a mission this quarter.” Shelly looked at Jody's stress addled face and shook her head.
“I guess all of the auditing has been taking its toll on you, huh?”

  Jody took another swig of coffee. “Yeah, just looking at the print out today made my eyes bleed.”

  “Ok, enough about work.” Shelly nodded at Jody's engagement ring. “When's the big day?”

  Jody smiled. Thinking about Alex always made her smile. “Two weeks from today.”

  “I wish you would have a real wedding,” Shelly pouted.

  “I know, sweetie. I wish we could afford it.”

  The waitress interrupted them and slid their food in front of them. Shelly stuck her face in her salad and didn't push the subject.

  “I'm sorry Shel, Alex and I really wanted to have a wedding that we could share with our friends but we barely have enough cash for a decent honeymoon.” She poked at her patty melt with a fork.

  “We hope that once Alex gets his book deal, we can have a second ceremony so we can share the moment with friends and family.”

  The subject burdened Jody. She hated the fact that she couldn't have a real wedding, but fortunately for her and Alex, their friends and family were very understanding.

  Shelly flipped Jody a sympathetic look and nodded.

  “So how's Alex book coming along?”

  Jody stopped stabbing her food to death. Her face brightened.

  “He sent his manuscript to publishers. A few seem real interested, so he's close.”

  Shelly pumped her fist. “Hey when you guys get that big movie deal make sure you don't forget your friends.”

  “Yeah I will make sure to have them cast Angelina Jolie for the role of `Shelly'.

  The waitress brought the bill but when Jody reached for it, Shelly's hand shot out and snatched it.

  “Uh-uh, I got this one.”

  Jody drew in a deep breath. “Why do I feel like such a charity case lately?”

  Shelly threw a twenty on the table and looked at her. “You, my dear, are the official American Red Cross of Palm Harbor, NJ.”

  Jody stuck her tongue out. “Great, I better get back to my cubicle so I can donate some more blood from my eyes.”

  They laughed like schoolgirls as they left the diner.

  Chapter 2

  Jody crawled into her chair and stared at the stack of papers piled on her desk. She chewed on the end of a pencil, wondering how she would tackle the stack.

  Mark's chair gave a grateful squeak of relief as he hoisted his huge frame out of it. She could almost sense him as he waddled over to her cube. With a heavy sigh she closed her eyes and wished for him to go away.

  “So, whatcha working on there?” His beady eyes locked in on the stack of paperwork.

  Jody clenched her jaw and breathed deeply. She felt a vein pulsate in her neck. “Well you know I can't talk about it Mark.”

  She opened her eyes just in time to catch him scratching his ass. It was an image she would never get out of her brain and two minutes of her life she would never get back.

  Mark had a pained look on his face. “Sorry, I didn't mean to pry, just trying to make small talk.”

  Jody threw him a thin smile and her features softened. “It's OK, all I can tell you is that I am working on audits and trying to complete them before the deadline. Unfortunately I only have two days to do it, so I'm a little under the gun here.”

  Mark returned to his cubicle without another word. She pulled out a highlighter and started to slice and dice her way through the spreadsheet.

  Two hours later she heard Mark's step out of his office. His footsteps receded toward the exit. She looked at her watch—3:15 pm. Leaving work early again. She despised the fact that he got away with murder just because he was one of the company's top underwriters. A speck of jealousy crept into her heart, but she dismissed it as quickly as it came. She tapped her pencil on the desk and buried her face in the paperwork.

  While she reviewed the reports, a disturbing trend began to emerge. A large portion of Mark's policies were assigned to people already deceased. Although it wasn't uncommon in the industry to issue high risk policies to those who pass away not long after the policy is written, the percentages seemed way off base. Some of them seemed to have been written after they died. The industry standard normally fell between fifteen and twenty percent high risk policies. However, Mark's percentage was over forty-five percent. Her first instinct was to question the data.

  Jody scoured the report line-by-line, highlighting each high risk policy as she came to it. She investigated further and found that all deceased policies payouts were deposited in an offshore bank account. Deep creases formed on her forehead as she concentrated on the information. She was so absorbed in the abnormalities that she didn't hear Shelly sneak up behind her.

  “Um, Earth to Jody, it's five-thirty.” She tapped her on the shoulder. “Your cohorts in crime have departed the establishment, what are you still doing here?”

  Jody's eyes were puffy and bloodshot. “Huh…oh right. Sorry, I've been absorbed with this audit. There are some interesting things I found in here.”

  Shelly stared at her, intrigued.

  Jody rubbed her eyes and yawned. “Sorry can't go into specifics, but I need to catch McGregor before he heads home.”

  Shelly's eyes widened. “You can't be serious?”

  As Chief Financial Officer, Devan McGregor was Shelly's immediate boss. Jody couldn't ignore the apprehension spreading across Shelly's face.

  “Maybe there's something I can do?” Shelly offered. “If it's a financial matter, maybe I can take a look at it first?”

  Jody shook her head. “I'm worried that this is something more than a minor snafu.”

  “OK, I trust you know what you are doing,” Shelly offered her a wry smile. “Call me later?”

  “Will do,” Jody replied as she gathered the papers and headed for Devan's office.

  Devan's receptionist looked up from her magazine as Jody approached. She flashed a perfectly white smile and Jody frowned. The woman looked like a human Barbie doll with her long blonde hair and perfect smile.

  “Hey Jody, long time no see.”

  Jody forced a smile and responded with feigned pleasance. “I'm here to see Devan. I hope he's still in.”

  The receptionist pushed a button on her phone. There was a buzz and a click as McGregor's voice came over the speaker.

  “Yes?”

  “Hi Mr. McGregor. Sorry to disturb you, but Jody Minerali is here to see you.”

  Devan cleared his throat and paused. “Go ahead and send her in.”

  The large oak door opened and Jody walked into the lavish office. Golf trophies adorned a bookshelf in the corner. A picture of McGregor with his arm around the Federal Reserve Chairman hung on the wall. His success with the company was narcissistically displayed throughout the entire room. Devan sat behind an oversized mahogany desk adorned with accolades from the local area Chamber of Commerce. He surrounded himself with himself. He was his own best friend.

  Devan slid his reading glasses down and looked at her. “Hello Jody, what do I owe the pleasure of your company this evening?”

  Jody gripped her papers tightly and coughed. “Um…sorry to bother you…but I thought you should have a look at something I found during an audit.”

  His eyebrows rose. “Oh?”

  He motioned her over toward a small conference table in the corner.

  “Please, have a seat,” Devan said and shoved a stack of reports out of the way.

  Jody sat and fanned out the highlighted spreadsheets. “I've been working on wrapping up the underwriting audits for the quarter. These are the reports for Mark Sherwood.”

  He scanned the reports. Jody noticed a muscle throbbing in his forehead and his face contorted like he was distressed.

  “Is this a good time?” she asked with a hint of concern.

  Devan nodded and waved his hand. “Oh yeah, I'm OK. Sorry I have had a lot on my mind lately. I assume there's a problem with these?”

  “Um…not necessarily.” Jody eyed him appreh
ensively. “Even though I found a large amount of high risk policies underwritten, the concern I have is two-fold.”

  She fidgeted with the spreadsheets and accidentally dropped one on the floor. She picked it up and collected her thoughts.

  “The first issue is that over forty-five percent of the insured have died, some have died prior to the policy being written. The other issue is that the payouts have been paid out to an offshore bank account.”

  Devan fixed his gaze on her. “This is very concerning.”

  He quickly stood and snatched the spreadsheet out of her hand. “How many more audits do you have to do?”

  Jody paused while he stood over her with the paperwork clenched in his hand. “Um, I only have one more which shouldn't take me more than an hour or two to complete.”

  His features softened and he offered her a thin smile. “OK, good. You finish with that last audit and I will run this information up the ladder.”

  His statement confused her. As the CFO of the company he was the top of the ladder when it came to matters such as these. Her internal warning bells went off inside her brain and the hair on the back of her neck stood at attention.

  “That's great, but—,” she started but he cut her off with a wave of his hand.

  “OK, that's settled. Do you have anything else, Jody?”

  His dismissive behavior made her want to crawl inside a hole. This was a big deal—she knew it in her heart—but the pompous son of a bitch just blew her off. She knew that most of the executives were egotistical douchebags, but this was a bit over the top even for them. A CFO should be more concerned about possible embezzlement within the company.

  For a moment she wondered if he planned to go to the Board of Directors directly with the information and steal the credit for himself.

  “No sir. I will get working on that last audit and I should be done by tomorrow,” she muttered.

  Devan nodded and returned to his desk. He grabbed the phone with a smile. His look told her that it was time for her to go. Her blood boiled and she stormed out of the office.