CHAPTER THIRTEEN
To protect the company’s secret formula for Brilliance, Ramon had tightened security. No employees were allowed to take samples from the lab.
The employees in the lab were walking around the building with their heads held high. They had accomplished what no other paint company had been able to. They had a new spectacular product, something quite revolutionary in the industry.
They could barely wait until the public got wind of the new product and Jocelyn’s contest idea had really captured their imagination. They wanted to see how creative people could be with Brilliance. The people in the lab were encouraging their boss to try Jocelyn’s idea every time he walked in.
Ramon informed the lab employees he thought Jocelyn’s idea had serious merit and wanted to present it to a public relations firm. It would take a couple of weeks for the firm to get back to him with storyboards. He would select the best and most cost effective ideas and the project could go forward.
A week later the public relations firm requested a sample of Brilliance to perform their own test. Ramon asked Roger to get a gallon ready to go to the PR firm. Roger went into the secure room to get the sample and returned to his work station with the gallon.
Everyone was busy in the lab working when Miranda sniffed loudly. She asked Juan if he smelled anything. He smiled at her. “I can only smell the loveliness of your perfume. However, it does have just the underlying smell of burned paper. Miranda glared at him. “I’m not wearing any perfume silly. I smell something burning also.” Miranda and Juan both looked around the room to locate the source of the smell.
Miranda got up and walked around the lab. Nothing was burning in the lab. Then she walked over to the attached file room separated from the lab by a door. She looked in the file room which housed the computer printers and walls of filing cabinets bursting with old paper records. Two of the file drawers were partially opened and the source of the acrid smell was identified. Files were on fire.
Terror flowed out Miranda’s throat. When she caught her breath, she screamed, “Fire!” The lab was full of combustible materials. She quickly ran across the lab and pushed the fire alarm button to notify the employees to vacate the building. She turned to Roger and Juan and screamed, “Fire, fire. Get out.” Then she ran toward the nearest exit yelling as loud as she could, “Fire. Fire, get out.”
Juan was right behind her. After she exited the building, she practically collapsed in the parking lot. Juan grabbed her arm to steady her and asked her what happened. She explained what she saw in the file room.
More and more people exited the building after hearing the fire alarm. As people looked around, they could see smoke pouring out of the first floor file room window. The screams of fire trucks were heard in the distance.
Gasps emanated from the crowd when they saw the gray smoke billowing out one of the window. People were starting to scatter around in search of their peers.
The safety coordinator took a head count, and she found two people were missing. Roger and Ramon couldn’t be found.
Jocelyn and Tiffany had been busy getting supplies from the utility room when they heard the fire alarm. Tiffany looked at Jocelyn in alarm, and then said, “That’s the fire alarm. We need to get out of the building.”
They exited the building as quickly as they could. They saw once they were outside, the front of the building looked normal. But on the side of the building, gray smoke poured from the room where the forms were kept.
Jocelyn’s eyes scanned the faces of the shocked employees. She couldn’t locate Ramon. Then she heard whispers about two missing men and she started to panic.
Tears began to run down her face. Then she saw Ramon and Roger suddenly burst out of the building from a side exit. Their hands covered their mouths and noses to shield their lungs from the acrid smoke.
As Ramon and Roger fell to their knees on the driveway, someone passed each of them a bottle of water. After Ramon cleared his throat and stood, he walked toward the employees and assured everyone that everything was all right.
Jocelyn rushed toward Ramon. When she was in front of him, she visually examined him every place possible. She needed to assure herself he hadn’t been injured by the fire. She told him, “I was scared to death when I looked and didn’t see you in the crowd. Are you hurt?”
Ramon shook his head no. He said, “I’m perfectly okay. I just swallowed a little bit of smoke.”
Jocelyn still shaken asked, “Was anything damaged?”
He replied, “There may be a little bit of smoke damage to the file room and some of the files were destroyed, but all of that information has already been downloaded onto computers anyway. I should have purged the paper files years ago. I was just keeping them around as a back-up. First thing Monday, I’m going to have them all shredded.”
Before Ramon could say anything else, Roger walked over and said, “I’m so sorry about the fire. I tried to save as much as I could.
Ramon said, “Look man, I’m just glad everyone got out safely. Thank you for putting out the fire.” Ramon shook Roger’s hand and patted him on the back. Then he turned to his employees, cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled, “Everybody go home. The smoke and water damage will be cleaned up over the weekend. Try to relax this weekend and we’ll start fresh early Monday morning.”
As people began to disperse toward their cars, Ramon could hear people murmuring about this latest incident. He hoped the very scary incidents wouldn’t make his employees too afraid to remain with his company. He realized that the last two incidents had to have his employees’ nerves on edge.
The incidents were getting more and more serious. He didn’t want to lose any staff. Some of them had been working at the company before he took over and their knowledge was invaluable. Ramon had to now consider the real possibility that someone was trying to run him out of business.
After all the employees had left the company parking lot, Ramon and Jocelyn stood alone. He reached for her hand and held it. Then he pulled her close.
Jocelyn swallowed and held him also.
He walked her to her car. “I’ll meet you at your condo after the building is secure and I contact the insurance company.”
Jocelyn got into her car and leaned out the window to receive the kiss Ramon placed on her lips before she drove off. She was now sure someone was trying to sabotage the company.