Blue Skies

  That was what she wanted to believe, but clearly Riddle wanted her out of her job.

  But Sam had been on her side since the beginning, and that was worth a lot to her on this cold, dark morning. “Thanks, Sam. For insisting. For stalking me.”

  “Sure. One of these days I’ll let you catch me.”

  “I look forward to that.”

  At least a half dozen people saw them return to the office building at 8:00 a.m. Eyebrows lifted above sly smiles, for of course no one would believe they’d just gone to breakfast. She was past caring. In fact, she’d made up her mind that as soon as she could get her life in just a little better order, she was going to officially date him. If her children gave her permission, that was.

  But first things first. She told Sam to have a good flight and returned to her office. Her first order of business was a call to the University of Michigan’s School of Business. She was transferred to the postgrad department, where the dean’s assistant informed her that no one named Robert Riddle had a masters in business. There was a Robert Riddle who had an undergrad degree in business, but far from being sigma, he had graduated with a 2.8.

  Riddle would know that while airline employers would check licenses, flying hours and violations, they wouldn’t bother with the college GPA for fifty-year-old applicants. He was such a liar!

  Ah, Nikki thought. Let the games begin.

  She called the Wrench with a list of five airlines, now gone, and it turned out he knew executives from two of them. “Two is enough,” she said. “Will you find out from them what they know about Riddle’s performance while there? He has himself listed as special assistant to the vice president of Ops at one and director of training and standards at the other.”

  “Where’s this going?” he asked her.

  “For starters, I’m making up a nice little packet of misinformation. I started with a dynamite résumé registered with the Department of Transportation. Hell, I’d hire him sight unseen.”

  There was a moment of silence. “Maybe I ought to take a look at it.”

  “If you do, I’d love to hear your reaction. But in the meantime, I’d like to know if any more of it’s fiction.”

  “Any more?” he asked.

  “I’ve taken your advice,” she said. She didn’t respond to his nudge. “I’m hunting and gathering. For now, I’m just holding.”

  When she got off the phone, she called Jewel and asked when Joe had time for a brief meeting with herself and Bob. “We have some hiring issues to work out and Joe’s input would be very valuable.” Jewel set her up for 11:00 a.m.

  She looked at her watch. It was a little bit after eight. Rather than trust voice mail, she walked down the hall to Crue’s station. She knew it was too early for Bob, but his secretary would be there. Nikki stretched the truth a tad. “Tell Bob that I just spoke to Jewel and she asked me to pass on that there’s a meeting with Joe Riordan at eleven that he’d like Bob to attend.”

  “Will do,” Crue said.

  The mystery was, where was her secretary? Nikki wondered. It was unlike Dixie to be late coming to work, and when she had heard that Branch Darnell had been hired, she had been so angry that Nikki had expected to see her at dawn, spoiling for a fight. There was nothing quite so potent as a Texas beauty queen’s pique.

  Nikki resisted the urge to call Dixie; the woman worked long, hard hours, and if she was a little slow one morning, so what? She vowed to call her only if she hadn’t seen her by nine.

  Mark Shows called her within the hour. He had spoken to the former VP of Flight Ops at the now-out-of-business Dolphin Airlines and, remarkably, he had never known Bob Riddle to work in management at that company. He was a pilot, he might have served on an employee committee, but he was never on the payroll as a director or special assistant.

  “He’s a liar,” she said before she caught herself.

  “You get fired for that kind of stuff around here,” the Wrench said. “Are you going to take it to Riordan?”

  Before she could answer, Dixie stuck her head in the open door and gave a little wave announcing her arrival. “Dixie, get your steno pad and come in here, will you please?” Then to Mark she said, “If I decide to do anything like that, I’ll let you know. Thanks. You’re a pal.”

  Dixie just stood in the doorway, a perplexed look on her face. When Nikki hung up the phone, she said, “Steno pad?” Dixie didn’t take shorthand.

  “Please.” Nikki smiled sweetly. When Dixie returned with a notebook and pen, Nikki asked her to close the door.

  “What is going on?” Dixie asked.

  Since her research had turned up Riddle’s lies and exaggerations, Nikki had actually felt a little heady with excitement. She showed Dixie the folder and told her about the meeting she’d set up. “And here’s what I’d like you to do. You have a favor you can call in down in HR, don’t you?”

  “I hope to shout,” Dixie confirmed.

  “Go see our goddess and get her on our team. First of all, no hiring without giving us—you, at least—a heads-up. And second, I’m going to get Joe’s permission to do an internal posting for a crew scheduler, and I don’t want to bring in anyone from outside if we have a qualified person in the company.”

  Dixie gave a small huff. “Those aren’t even favors,” she said. “Those are like procedures.”

  “Great, then here’s a favor. See if you can find out how Riddle got Shanna to go along with hiring those three Aries guys without going through the usual process.”

  “I’ll give it my best,” she said. “I hope I don’t slap her for bringing that slimeball up here.” Dixie stood and brushed down her skirt. “What are you going to do to Riddle, now that you have the goods?”

  “It’ll suit me fine if I can just find a way to get him to stop doing me.”

  “Amen.”

  “How come you’re so late today?” Nikki asked.

  Dixie immediately broke eye contact and flushed slightly. “Oh, just couldn’t get going,” she said, but she looked away nervously.

  Nikki looked at her more closely. After being friends with Dixie for more than ten years, she could read her pretty well. Her cheeks were rosy, her eyes twinkled, and even though she tried to suppress it, she had a cunning smile. “Oh, my God,” Nikki said. “Not Darnell!”

  Offended, Dixie slapped the edge of Nikki’s desk with the steno pad. “Don’t be obscene. I despise him.”

  This time Nikki squinted a little as she looked at Dixie’s face. “Who is it?” she asked. Immediately her hands went to her temples and she closed her eyes. “No! Don’t tell me! I don’t even want to know!” Her eyes flew open and she leaned again on the desk. “Not a pilot. Tell me he is not a pilot.”

  “Nikki…I…”

  “No, don’t tell me! Don’t!”

  “Nick, I…”

  “Dixie, you promised!”

  “But this is different,” she said, her tone a little whiny. “I know what you’re thinking, but this is—”

  “Damn it, Dix, it’s always different! But it always turns out the same!”

  Dixie straightened indignantly. “I probably deserve that, but eventually you’ll see.” She lifted her chin. “I’ll take care of HR for you.” And she left, her back ramrod straight.

  Nikki let out a long, tired breath. Dixie was in the saddle again. That “swearing off men” resolution hadn’t lasted long, but then Nikki scolded herself for even thinking it would. Actually, she should give Dixie credit—three or four months was a long time for her. Dixie never could go long without a man. And it showed all over her, the pink cheeks, the secret smile, the satisfied twinkle in her eyes. She’d better not screw up her job on account of this; she’d better not let some tall-dark-and-hung talk her into helping get a friend hired or some other inappropriate favor. Brother, when Dixie had a man in her rack, it sure was obvious.

  Nikki shook her head in exasperation.

  She was jealous! She put her head down and groaned in equal parts petty envy and fru
stration, pounding her fists on her desk.

  “Whoa,” she heard a man say.

  She lifted her head and saw Bob Riddle in the doorway. “What?” she asked impatiently.

  “You have any idea what this eleven o’clock with Riordan is about?”

  “No, but after we’re done with him, you and I are going to go a few rounds about this little hiring spree you’ve been on.”

  He grinned arrogantly and touched his index finger to his brow in mock salute. “I’ll look forward to it,” he said, and left her.

  Dixie waltzed right into HR like she owned the place. She pulled the chair that faced Shanna’s desk right up close. Shanna flushed—she knew she was in trouble. She tried leaning back a little, but Dixie just leaned forward. “And here I thought we were friends,” Dixie said.

  “We…We are,” Shanna insisted.

  “Don’t toy with me, precious, because I’ve seen you with vomit on your shirt. You rear-ended us in Flight Ops. Why’d you do that?”

  “What are you talking about?” she asked, her nose up and the corners of her mouth curling down.

  “I’m talkin’ about three instantaneous new hires when we don’t even have a pilot class starting, and without goin’ through the pilot hirin’ committee or giving the chief pilot a right of veto.”

  “Well, jeez, what was I supposed to do? He’s your boss’s boss.”

  “Only if you look at the organizational chart,” Dixie said. “The fact is he didn’t hire her and he can’t fire her, but that aside, you could have called me. Warned me.”

  Shanna looked away uncomfortably, but she twisted her mouth in some kind of annoyance.

  “What?” Dixie asked. “You want to say something. What?”

  “That was part of his deal. He didn’t want anyone to know until it couldn’t be undone.”

  That pushed Dixie back in her chair. The son of a bitch. “Did he say why?” she asked Shanna.

  “He said they were friends, good pilots, and that your boss didn’t like them. Dixie,” she said, a pleading creeping into her tone, “I thought I had to, you know?”

  “Boy, you sure didn’t think you had to when Nick hired Danny and Eric. You were on her like a duck on a June bug.”

  “He reminded me of that. He said, ‘She gets one, I get one.’”

  “Except this time he got me, you know. That long, tall Texan, Darnell? We have some very unpleasant history.” She quickly filled Shanna in on the story, the whole story—six months of promises, his wife on the trip they’d planned as their tryst, the scuffle and head wound, the suspension from Aries. And she noticed as she told it that Shanna’s cheeks deepened in color and her mouth set in a line. “Oh, God, he put the moves on you, didn’t he?”

  “It was just a little flirting,” she said. “But he did say he was separated.”

  “Yeah, and by the way, he could use a place to stay when he comes to town to fly,” Dixie said. “Oh, he is going to burn in hell. Shanna, girl, take it from a pro—unless you want a standing appointment at the gyn office to get checked for STDs, you’d better not believe much of what they say.”

  Shanna chewed her lip but didn’t speak. Dixie suspected she’d be making an appointment today.

  “You owe me,” Dixie said. “I have a little favor, and you don’t have to do anything sneaky.”

  “Sure,” Shanna agreed, subdued and perhaps embarrassed. She picked up her pen. “Shoot.”

  “I’m going to call you later today with a job posting, after Nikki clears the position in Flight Ops with Joe. All I want you to do is let me know who applies. Okay?”

  “Okay,” she said. “But that’s not a favor really.”

  “Good.” Dixie smiled and stood up. “That means I still have one coming.” Shanna’s lips formed a pout. “Darling outfit, by the way. It looks positively made for you.”

  The girl beamed in pleasure.

  And Dixie thought, My God, this is just too-o-o easy.

  Bob Riddle was clearly disappointed that the meeting with Riordan included only him and Nikki. “You said you didn’t know what this was about,” he accused.

  “I lied,” she admitted.

  From that point on, there was just a lot of spitting back and forth while Riordan sat at his desk and watched, growing more and more annoyed by the minute. Joe didn’t like having meetings, much less witnessing them. He avoided board of director meetings if he could. But here he was, observing the chief pilot and VP of Ops dicker.

  “You deliberately went around me and the hiring committee,” Nikki accused.

  “I had good reason for that—I knew you did not approve of any pilots with previous union affiliation and would veto their hire.”

  “I might have vetoed these hires, but not because of their union affiliations. And you know Branch Darnell has a romantic history with my secretary that ended very badly.”

  “With all respect, it will be hard to find pilot hires who haven’t had romantic history with your secretary.”

  “Below the belt!”

  “Indeed.”

  “We agreed on a system for hiring and—”

  “You hired two management pilots without a word to me that you were even considering—”

  “Before we set up a hiring committee and parameters for the interviewing process,” Nikki shot back.

  “Still in all, you got yours, I took mine.”

  “Oh, for God’s sake!” Joe snapped, a fist hitting his desk. “Is this what the two of you came here to do?”

  At that point Bob’s cell phone twittered loudly.

  “Forgive me, boss. I’m expecting an important call. Can you give me ninety seconds?”

  “Thirty,” he said unhappily.

  Bob stepped out of the office, saying, “Bob Riddle,” as he went. But he stood right outside the door, and though his voice was low, it was completely audible. And Jewel was at her desk, guarding the gate, so obviously he meant to be heard. “Yeah, John, thanks for calling back. I only have a second, but I’m afraid the news is bad for your side. I’ve made a commitment here and I’m going to turn down your offer.” Pause. “Yes, that’s right, I’m staying at New Century.” Pause. “Well, because I believe in this company. We’re going to kick some serious ass. But just out of curiosity, since I won’t be changing my mind, anyway, what was their final offer? Whoa, Nellie. CEO?” He whistled. “That’s three times what I’m making here. That is tempting, but damn it all, I’m here for the long haul. Nope, can’t be talked out of it. Thanks again, John. And hey, keep in touch.”

  Sparks and light bulbs were going off in Nikki’s head like mad, but she composed her features. She stood as Bob reentered the room. “Look,” she said, preempting him. “I don’t see how we’re going to work this out to our mutual satisfaction, so I would find an agreement that we won’t do this to each other again to be satisfactory. How about it?” she said, sticking out her hand.

  Slowly, perhaps reluctantly, he took her hand. “All right,” he said uncertainly.

  “All right. I have another matter to speak with Joe about, so I’ll stick around a minute. You done here?”

  “Uh. Yeah, I guess so.” He stuck his hand across the desk. “Thanks, Joe.”

  “What are you thanking me for?”

  “Uh, your time. Thanks.”

  Joe took his hand limply. “Sure. Get outta here.”

  Nikki sat facing Joe, Joe sat facing her. They did not speak as they listened to Bob make small talk with Jewel in the outer office. Very small talk, because Jewel was a tough cookie who didn’t suffer fools gladly, and by the nature of her monosyllabic responses, she was letting him know he could move along. Still, for another moment after he’d left, Nikki and Joe sat and just looked at each other.

  He broke the silence first. “All right, that did not appear to go well. It didn’t accomplish anything or end nicely, and yet you have some kind of self-satisfied smirk on your face.”

  She tried not to grin like the Cheshire cat. “I’d like your okay
to post internal to the company for a job to fall under the chief pilot’s office. Crew scheduler.”

  “We don’t have a crew scheduler?”

  “Me. And I gotta have a little help.”

  “You think you can find one inside NCA?”

  “I don’t want to look outside until some of these people get a shot. Huh?”

  “Sure.”

  “We don’t have any kind of lock on positions, do we?”

  “Just mine,” he said. “Hey, come on, what’s up? What happened to make you so happy with yourself?”

  “It wasn’t me, Joe,” she said, getting to her feet. “I was just so goddamn happy to hear that Riddle is committed enough to turn down a $550,000 CEO position to stick it out with us. Damn, that’s good news.”

  He grimaced at her, not buying in at all. “Whatever.”

  She stuck her hand across his desk. “And thanks for your time.”

  “Get outta here.”

  Which she was happy to do, chuckling all the way back to her office.

  Seventeen

  When Nikki left the president’s office, she went directly to Riddle’s office. She very quietly told Crue to watch the internal job listings and then asked to see Bob.

  Stepping into his office was like stepping into an aviation museum. All he had on his desk that resembled work was one yellow pad on which he’d been scribbling, but the desktop, book shelf, credenza and walls were covered with memorabilia and gifts from aircraft companies and vendors. There was a 757 model in NCA’s paint job from Boeing, a crystal clock from a leasing company, a framed picture of a golfing foursome from Rolls-Royce, a model of an engine from GE, to name just a few things. Where and when he’d gotten all this stuff was a mystery to Nikki.

  Bob stood from behind his desk and indicated a chair, but Nikki waved him off. “I just wanted to stop by your office and say I’m glad we’ve put down that problem and I hope we won’t have to revisit that issue. And there was another thing.” He nodded that she should go ahead. “I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation, Bob. It must have been a job offer.”