Breaking Britain (Completed)

Chapter 32

32
Saturday 5th January 2030
22:00

          Maria Anello was stressed and angry when she arrived back at the office. She had visualized the television show discussion to have fallen heavily in her favor. It hadn't and she had spent the whole trip back, running through a variety of scenarios that could have changed the course of the conversation.

          'I'm exhausted', Anna said, as she entered the open plan office, that was still lit up, but emptier than expected. 'Where is everyone?'

           'Not sure', Maria said, taking off her coat and draping it over her arm. 'Carel why don't you get us a coffee and we'll find out what's going on'

           'I'll go check the smoke room', Anna said, offering to take Maria's coat.

           'Okay. I'll be in my office'

            She walked to the narrow end of the office, there were two separate rooms there, both with wooden doors and glass walls. One had Maria's name on it. The other had Madu Obinna written on it. She stood outside his door, feeling as though she should knock. There was a deep sadness within, fueled by her anger at not having done him proud against Percival Granthom.

            She placed her hand on the door handle, but didn't turn it, instead she released it and stepped over to her office door. She entered, the lights above came on automatically. She walked over to her desk and sat down. She had left her computer on, although the screen had gone blank. She tapped the space bar and the screen awoke, she pulled up her mail on the screen and was surprised to see around twenty  unread messages, from most of the staff. She was about to read the first one, when Carel walked in holding a tray, with three cups of coffee and a plate of biscuits.

             'Thanks Carel. Take a seat'.

             Carel sat opposite Maria. She hadn't said much since they had left the office earlier and Maria understood why. Carel had had a great relationship with Madu and was often known to visit him and his family for dinner.

              'You can leave if you need to Carel. You can order a taxi and put it on the account'

              Carel nodded and responded, 'I'd rather stay, going home would only make things worse'

              'I understand'

              There was a knock on the door. Maria looked through the glass wall. It was Anna and Troy Duncan waiting outside.

              Troy was mixed race, half Trinidadian Indian and Half English, he was known throughout the office as a womanizer, even Maria hadn't been immune to his charms. However, the reputation that preceded him, had made her reluctant to take anything further than casual flirting. After a while she had become immune to it altogether, but still got on well with him.

                 'Come in'

                 Anna poked her head through the door. 'I have Troy with me. You're gonna want to hear this'

                 Maria waved them in.

                 Anna sat down next to Carel and wrapped her hands around her coffee. Troy closed the door and leant up against the door.

                 'Saw your TV debut today. You looked stunning'

                 'Thanks Troy, what's going on?', she asked urgently, fearing the worse.

                 'After you left for your TV interview, everyone could hear Taylor in his office yelling at his monitor. Marcus and Leroy were in there with him and the feedback was that he was on a conference call to Jonathan...'