Heavy Traffic

"John, you do not need to check with anyone else before following instructions that I give you," Sean was telling the person on the other end of the conversation. "I don't care what you have been told. I own the company and unless you want to find other employment you will do what I say immediately and without question."

There was a slight pause as Sean listened. He then continued, "Fine, I will follow the verbal instructions up with an e-mail to you, but don't wait for that before doing what I instructed. I expect you to call me back in five minutes confirming my directions are being carried out."

He hung up and just stared out the windshield for a few seconds.

"What are you trying to do?" asked Amanda. Mickey was still engrossed in her own conversation and wasn't paying attention to Sean's call.

"One of the truck stops I own is up ahead about forty miles north of us. I want to get three of the trucks currently there, hopefully, ones also owned by one of my companies, to help us create a rolling blockade of the target truck somewhere along Interstate 475. I'm getting really irritated by the pushback I have been receiving every time I give instructions to people who supposedly work for me, and I don't have the time right now to deal with the cause of this irritation. It's almost like someone has been subverting my authority while I have been out on my sabbatical."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" asked Amanda.

Sean thought for a minute, remembering how assertive Amanda had been in her dealing with the Australian Consulate official, and then looked at her in the rearview mirror. He saw a way that he could use her skills at intimidation to his benefit and keep her mind off the pending rescue of the girls.

She would need to be accepted as having the authority to speak for him. "Would you marry me?"

"Excuse me?"

He had a grin on his face when he said, "Your little joke with Mickey earlier gives me an idea. Let's stop at that Subway up the road for some sandwiches and I'll explain my idea while we wait for our orders."

After placing orders for their sandwiches and one for Mickey, Sean explained his idea to Amanda and he was pleased to see her smile mischievously.

"If you were to pretend to be my wife, your authority to act on my behalf would be accepted by most people.

Returning to the car, Sean handed his cell phone to Amanda, "Here, take my phone and find a contact for my lawyers, Middleton, James, and Pierre. Call the number, put the phone on speaker, and ask for Bryce Pierre."

Amanda did as he requested and as the phone started to ring, she held the phone near the headrest of Sean's seat and leaned forward. Mickey moved her head farther to the right to continue her own cell phone conversation.

"Law offices," was the greeting.

Amanda spoke in a firm, professional voice, "Sean Wallace calling for Bryce Pierre."

"One moment, I will see if Mr. Pierre is available." Hold music filled the background.

Within only a few minutes, the voice of Bryce Pierre was heard, "Mr. Wallace, what can I do for you?"

"Bryce, I want to start by introducing you to Amanda Wallace. She will be acting on my authority for the remainder of our conversation. Is that understood?"

Amanda took her queue and said, "Mr. Pierre, I look forward to meeting you very shortly, but in the meantime, we have been receiving some troubling feedback from several of our employees that we wanted to discuss with you."

"I wasn't aware that you had married, Mr. Wallace. Did you have another firm prepare a pre-nuptial agreement?"

Amanda cut him off, "We are not calling to discuss our pre or post-nuptials with you Mr. Pierre, and unless you want to stay focused on our current concerns, I am prepared to move all of Sean's legal representation over to my own legal team at Thorndike and Roberts. If you want to call them to check on me, feel free. Ask for Jeremy Thorndike in their Sydney offices. If you call right now, you'll get their after-hours switchboard, but if you say you're calling on my behalf, you will be put right through to Jeremy. I'll give you five minutes."

The hold music returned and Sean smiled broadly and nodded at Amanda to show his satisfaction with the role she was playing.

Pierre was back within the time limit he had been given. "Mr. and Mrs. Wallace, I want to apologize and take the opportunity to congratulate both of you. Now, how can I be of service?"

"I assume that Jeremy didn't have much time but was suitably able to convince you of my validity?"

"Yes, Mrs. Wallace. He made it clear that you were someone I should take very seriously. Trust me, I do."

Amanda continued without acknowledging Pierre's comments. "We want to know what circumstances may have occurred that would have usurped Sean's authority with his own employees. Every request or instruction given today to an employee of one of our companies has been met with reluctance until it is approved by Tom Folsom. Why would employees of our company feel recalcitrant where Sean's instructions are concerned?"

"Well, it's rather complicated to explain over the phone..."

"There is nothing complicated about this Mr. Pierre. I am still the sole owner of Wallace Enterprises, am I not?" asked Sean.

"Yes, of course, but..."

"No buts," said Amanda. "We want you to do your job and represent our interest over all others or I'll find someone who will. Is that understood?"

"Yes, of course. What would you like me to do?" said Pierre.

Amanda continued the authoritative lead that she thought Sean was seeking from her, "We want you to immediately draft a memorandum to all employees reminding them of who they work for and that any further hesitation on their behalf to follow direct instructions from either Mr. Wallace or myself will be considered insubordination and subject them to immediate termination. I want to see a copy of it on Sean's phone within thirty minutes. Also, we want you to initiate a forensic audit of all company financials to commence no later than 48 hours from now. I want you to use auditors recommended by Thorndike and Rogers and no others. You will not notify anyone at Wallace Enterprises of this pending audit. Finally, we want you to notify all manager-level employees and higher that they are to remain on-call for a meeting with Sean and myself at a time and place to be communicated to them shortly. This will be a mandatory meeting and nothing short of the person being confined to intensive care will be accepted as an excuse for not participating."

"I'll get right on it," said Pierre.

"We suspect that some wholesale personnel changes have been going on in Sean's absence and I must tell you Mr. Pierre, Sean and I are both disappointed that we had to make this call to you. Your firm was entrusted to represent the interests of Sean Wallace and it appears that you have failed miserably. Your actions now will determine what the future holds for your entire firm. As Jeremy told you, you had better take me seriously when I tell you that I am going to be looking into your failures much more thoroughly."

Sean spoke up, "Mr. Pierre, you had best make certain that everyone in your firm, as well as everyone who works for me recognizes that Amanda Wallace speaks with the full authority of the owner. If I hear of anyone questioning her authority it will be the last thing they do as either an employee or representative of my companies. Understood?

"Yes, sir. I'll make certain that Mrs. Wallace's role is clearly communicated to everyone."

"Do you have Sean's cell phone number Mr. Pierre?" asked Amanda.

"Yes, it is in our files and in my own contact list."

Amanda wanted to drive their point home one last time, "Then I strongly suggest that you learn how to use it, Mr. Pierre. If another major decision is made concerning our companies without us hearing from you first, your days of practicing any type of law will be over. Have I made myself clear?"

"Completely Mrs. Wallace."

Amanda ended the call only seconds before she broke into laughter. Sean was proud of her and wanted her to know it.

"Amanda, you are the best thing to come into my life that I can ever remember. Thank you."

"I feel the same way, Sean. I would do anything for you. I hope you know that."

Mickey had finished her call just as Amanda was making this statement and she looked between Sean and Amanda trying to see what had happened while she had been distracted. "Is everything alright?" she asked.

"Sean and I were just discussing how many children we each wanted to have," teased Amanda.

"I see," said Mickey as she started eating her sandwich. "Well, a bus is on its way south. Our challenge is finding someplace for the girls to be processed that doesn't add to their fear and confusion. None of the medical facilities in the metro Atlanta area have space for 25 young girls and our Immigration Detention Center would be a pretty brutal environment considering what these girls have been through. We're trying to find a hotel or other facility that we would be able to secure for a couple of days."

"Does Mrs. Wallace want to work some more of her magic?" Sean asked. Mickey raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"What do you have in mind?" Amanda asked.

"I need to leave my phone open for a few minutes to get the roadblock coordinated, but if you'll look through the contact list and write down the information for Keith Longo, maybe you can call him on Mickey's phone. He is, or at least was, the vice president of my hospitality division. We have multiple hotel and motel properties in the Atlanta area, so see if he can find us twenty to thirty rooms at one location that we can use while processing the girls. Mickey, do you think that would be enough rooms for the girls and your personnel?"

As Sean was finishing Amanda found Keith Longo's information and was writing it down.

"Got it," she told Sean.

After considering the situation, Mickey answered Sean's question as she handed her cell phone over the seat to Amanda, "If we double some of the girls up, putting a younger girl with an older one whenever possible, twenty to thirty rooms will be more than adequate."

As she was preparing to dial the number she had for Keith Longo, Sean's cell phone rang. She decided to wait to hear about the roadblock before getting distracted.

Sean answered his phone, "Wallace."

After listening for a few minutes, he said, "Text the cell phone numbers for each of the truck drivers to the following number." He provided his Uncle Kirby's cell phone number.

"They need to get in position now, so I suggest that they stay close to 475 and wait for the target to approach. Make certain that they space themselves out so they don't appear to be together until we make our move. Right, thanks."

Without saying anything to Mickey or Amanda, Sean called his Uncle Kirby.

"We're ready to implement a rescue operation," Sean said once Kirby was on the phone. "I have contacted our truck stop off exit 155 on Interstate 75. Assuming the target truck uses the bypass around Macon, in approximately forty-five minutes we will have three of our trucks positioned to box in the target truck along Interstate 475. I can probably handle the captors in the blue van by myself, but if you could get me some additional support, I would appreciate it. The cell phone numbers for the trucks will be texted to you, so I'll need you to coordinate a conference call between all of them, my cell phone, and anyone else that we can get involved in the rescue operation. We're going to have to finish our communications before initiating the actual roadblock because we will need the cell towers turned off to prevent any of the traders or someone in the truck from raising an alarm farther down the distribution channel."

"What about the girls in the truck?" asked Kirby.

"Mickey Anderson already has a bus heading south from Atlanta and my darling wife Amanda is going to make hotel reservations for everyone."

"Your darling wife?" chuckled Kirby.

"I'll explain it later," said Sean. "Are you on board with the plan?"

"How do you want to handle other vehicles on the interstate?" asked Kirby.

"475 northbound has three lanes in the area I'm targeting. Our activity will tie up at least the right two lanes for the duration of the roadblock and rescue, but once we have the situation secured, we should be able to get the entire roadway cleared and all vehicles off to the right shoulder. It might be safer if the local authorities could block the highway for the takedown and then just the right lane for a while, at least until we can get the girls loaded onto their bus."

"I think we can stage some local marked cruisers out of sight on a few on-ramps so they can support you from behind when the time is right," said Kirby.

"That's what I was hoping," agreed Sean. "Let's get to work."

Chapter Four

"Be bold, take courage... and be strong of soul."

- Ovid

***

Sean and Mickey continued to discuss their tactics for the rescue as Amanda checked Sean's e-mail and noticed a new message from Bryce Pierre.

"Bryce Pierre has sent out an e-mail," she told Sean. "Do you want me to read it to you?"

"Yeah, let's see what he had to say."

Amanda started reading aloud;

'To: All employees of Wallace Enterprises

From: Bryce Pierre - Attorney at Law

Subject: Insubordination

As the legal representative for Wallace Enterprises and its owner Sean Wallace, I have been asked to remind all employees of their role within the organization.

Wallace Enterprises is divided into three divisions; Hospitality, Retail, and Communications. These divisions are comprised of multiple independent companies operating under their own management, brand and banner, but they are all wholly owned by Wallace Enterprises. Wallace Enterprises, in turn, is wholly owned by Sean Wallace. Consequently, every employee of a Wallace Enterprises company reports in the end to Mr. Wallace.

The final authority for all decisions related to any Wallace Enterprises division, company, or employee continues to reside solely with Sean Wallace, although he expects you all to recognize this authority is shared equally with Mrs. Amanda Wallace from this day forward.

All employees of Wallace Enterprises are hereby notified that any hesitation or failure to comply with direct instructions or requests from Sean or Amanda Wallace will be deemed insubordinate and subject to immediate termination.

Questions concerning this memorandum should be directed to your immediate manager or human resources.'

"Let's see how it works," said Amanda as she used Mickey's phone to try to reach Keith Longo.

Dialing the number taken from Sean's phone she waited for her call to be answered.

"Mr. Morris' office," came the greeting as the call was answered.

"Good day," said Amanda. "I'm trying to reach Keith Longo"

"Keith Longo is no longer with us. Mark Morris is now Vice President of Hospitality."

"When did Keith leave the company?" asked Amanda.

"May I ask who is calling?" said the secretary.

"My name is Amanda Wallace. May I ask what your name is?"

"My name is Nina Aldaco. How can I help you?"

"Nina, do you have e-mail?"

"Sure," said Nina.

"Will you please check your e-mail and tell me if you have received one recently from a Bryce Pierre?"

"Okay, hold on." There was a brief pause before she said, "Yes, I just received it about five minutes ago."

"Please read it now," said Amanda. "Let me know when you are done."

Amanda could almost see Nina's lips moving as she envisioned her reading the e-mail.

"I'm done," Nina said. "What does the e-mail have to do with Keith Longo? He's no longer with the company."

"Nina, my name is Amanda Wallace. Did you notice me being mentioned in the e-mail from Bryce Pierre?"

"I saw your name, yes."

"Do you understand that Sean Wallace owns the company that you work for and that he has final authority on all decisions made relative to the operation of the company?"

"I understand that he owns the company, but in the six months that I have been here, I have never met Mr. Wallace, so I wouldn't know him if he stood in front of me right now. Furthermore, he may own the company, but I report directly to Mr. Morris, and until instructed otherwise by someone who I do know and recognize as having the proper authority tells me otherwise, that is where my first responsibility lies."

"Nina, please put this Mr. Morris on the phone."

"I cannot tell Mr. Morris to take a call from you or anyone else. I can inform him that you are on the phone and see if he wants to talk to you. Would you like me to do that?"

Amanda respected the way this assistant was standing up to her. "Yes, please."

"I'll see if he is available."

She placed Amanda on hold. When she came back, she asked, "Can I tell Mr. Morris what this is regarding?"

"Why don't you tell him it is regarding the e-mail from Bryce Pierre to start with?"

"Okay, hold on." After only a few seconds she was back. "Mr. Morris asks for me to take a message."

"Nina, I am not requesting any longer. You will get Mr. Morris on this phone immediately or your employment is terminated. Sean Wallace owns the company you work for Nina, and I am Mrs. Wallace. Do you need me to spell things out for you any clearer than that?"

"If you are who you say you are and want to fire me for doing my job then please do. I wouldn't want to work for you anyway. Hold on," she said as she once again placed Amanda on hold.

"This is Mark Morris. Who am I speaking with?" The voice she heard had such an insignificant tonal quality and was so devoid of inflection that Amanda was surprised it could be carried over telephone lines.

"Mr. Morris, my name is Amanda Wallace. If you have taken the time to read the e-mail from Bryce Pierre, you should know who I am."

"Actually, you are some strange voice on the other end of a telephone line and I have no evidence that you are anyone I should even be talking with," said Morris.

"Fair enough, Mr. Morris. Your employment with Wallace Enterprises is hereby terminated. You will have ten minutes to vacate the building before I have you arrested for trespassing. Please take Nina Aldaco with you."

"Now wait a minute," Morris said. "How am I supposed to know who you really are?

"That's your problem. I tried to be professional and civil with both you and your little gargoyle, but neither Sean nor I will tolerate insubordination. If you question my authority you can take it up with the police officers who will be arriving shortly to escort you from the building."

"Okay, okay," he said. "I believe you are who you say you are. What can I do for you?"

"I need you to arrange for 30 rooms at one of our properties in the Atlanta area for five nights starting tonight, preferably all on the same floor. I don't care if you have to relocate guests to other properties, cancel reservations or kick people out. Your instructions are to find me the rooms, period. Understood?"

"May I ask why?" said Morris.

"Certainly, and the reason is one that you need to remember for the future. The reason is that your boss told you to. Any further questions?"

"No," said Morris through gritted teeth. "How do you want me to confirm the rooms and the location to you?"

"Send an e-mail to Sean's e-mail address with the details. You haven't impressed me so far Mr. Morris, let's see if you can do better. Goodbye."

Amanda handed the phone back to Mickey. "That should be taken care of," she said.

Sean looked at her in the rearview mirror. "You were talking to someone named Mark Morris?"

Amanda nodded. "Apparently he replaced Keith Longo. I take it you knew nothing about the change?"