Agency

In Which There is a Showdown in the Creative Room

Monday afternoon

Berry wished he hadn't come down to the third floor. The air in the creative team room was palpably hostile.

Niall sat on the couch, glum as a teenager, swiping through his phone.

David stood, stern as a hall monitor, updating the team leaderboard with Margot's name again.

Margot slumped, embarrassed to have won again, behind her monitor.

Martin played with a Rubik's cube and wondered what Berry was doing here. Based on what he'd heard, the dude should've been fired first thing this morning.

"I'm surprised to see you here," David spoke Martin's thoughts aloud. "The client must be livid."

"On the contrary," smiled Berry. "The client is very excited about the next phase of their campaign. Turns out, you've done us a big favour in stopping that tired old creative from running. You were right, Niall. The warrior thing has legs."

Niall looked up, always happy to hear he was right about something.

"Yes, well," said Niall. "I told you so."

Berry nodded. Back to the matter at hand.

"Anyway, as I said -- on to phase 2. We're looking for some large scale banners to put up at an outdoor event. Atrabax logo, warrior women... tagline something like: 'Celebrating Canada's Indigenous Warrioress.'"

"Hold on," David stopped him. "Have you forgotten why we pulled the last round of work? There's no money left in your client account, Berry. We don't work for free."

Berry waved David's concern off.

"Don't be silly. Just an accounting error. Plenty of funds in there now."

"Bullshit," David challenged. "We know you drained the account up to its limit. Don't we, Niall?"

Niall smiled.

"That's right, my boy. That's what we know. What we don't yet have a grasp on is ... where the money's gone to exactly. But I'm thinking Allegra should be able to help us sort that out. I'll text her just now and see if she can pop down for a wee chatter."

Berry swallowed. He didn't like the idea of involving her, but he had his cover in place.

He looked from David to Niall and in a careful, calm voice said again, "I assure you, there's no problem with the account. There's plenty of room."

David picked up his phone and started poking at the screen.

"I'll call Samara then, shall I? She can confirm what you're saying?"

Berry shrugged and gave him a be-my-guest hand signal. He maintained eye contact with David as he connected with Samara's assistant.

"Yes, hello..." David reached for the dull-eyed assistant's name and couldn't think of it. "Hello. This is David, calling on behalf of Niall. Please put me through to Samara."

There was a pause while the assistant presumably checked to see if Samara was interested in taking a call (from David on behalf of Niall). Apparently, she wasn't, because the next thing David said was, "Well, I urgently need to run some billings through the Atrabax account. Can you tell me if there's room for--" there was a heavy pause wherein David looked at Berry as if challenging him to a duel, "--say, one hundred thousand dollars?"

David smirked, confident there wouldn't be enough room.

During the moment's pause, where presumably the assistant put him on hold and was pulling up the account details, David's smirk held steady.

Martin and Margot looked on in awed silence. They couldn't believe this executive scuffle was happening right in front of them. Martin itched to involve himself. He gently placed the Rubik's cube down on his shared desk.

"Yes?" said David, signalling the return of the assistant. The smirk slid from his face. "No, that can't be right. When I checked on Friday, it was over its... I see."

David's face darkened. He turned to Niall and said, "There's 200 grand in there."

Niall stood up. "How's that, then, Berry?"

Berry shrugged again. "Accounting?"

The sound of Allegra's heels on the wooden hallway floor signalled the end of that battle and the beginning of the next.

"What do you need me for, Niall? I was busy," she said tetchily as she entered. Her glance took in the tight quarters and the mess of cords, post-its, and whiteboard markers. "Dear God, it's a pigsty in here. How do you stand it, Margot? Side-by-side with these slobs?"

Margot blushed and smiled gratefully. She wouldn't have bet a dollar that the Managing Director even knew her name.

Niall cleared his throat. "Seems like it was something of nothing, Allegra. Must've been a clerical error. We thought the Atrabax account was frozen. Turns out, not."

"Of course not!" she said, grinning. "I've just come off a conference call between their CEO and my superior at Global Head Office in London. Between us, they're really pleased. Sounds like Bertrand has sold them a significant billing opportunity. Everybody's just wild about it. Outstanding work, Bertrand."

She patted him on the shoulder.

Suddenly, Martin was on his feet.

"I know something," said Martin, mostly to Niall. "There's an inappropriate relationship going on. I think everyone should know."

A stunned silence descended on them all.

Martin's heart raced and he could hear his breath. There. He'd let the cat out of the bag. He'd been hoping for some kind of payout, but he thought maybe proving himself loyal to Niall might be the closest he was going to get.

"Pardon me?" said Allegra, face drained.

"What relationship?" said Berry.

David and Niall looked at Martin with interest.

"Between whom?" asked David, shifting uncomfortably.

Martin drew a breath and prepared to deliver Berry a death blow. But before he could, Margot stood up. She stood so abruptly that her chair carouselled against Niall's shins.

"Ow, fuck!" he bellowed.

"It's me," she said quickly, cutting through the chaos and taking the attention from Martin. "It's Otto and me. That's who Martin means. We've been seeing each other. And I did the diaper work, David. I did it!"

David looked at Margot in open confusion.

"You're the freelancer?"

She nodded. "And I've been, um, dating Otto. I know that's against Agency policy," she added quickly, looking over at Allegra who, it should be said, looked strangely shaken by Margot's confession.

"I'm sorry, Allegra. Niall, I would understand if you need my resignation."

Niall gaped and looked toward Allegra.

Allegra gave a small shake of her head. "No, don't be silly. Office romance. It happens."

With that, Allegra retreated from the room on legs of jello. That was close.