Creature Read Free Page B

instantly that he wasn’t being offered a new job; he was being informed that he had one. Not that he would have considered turning it down, he reflected, even for a moment. Aside from the fact that to refuse would have meant the end of his career at TarrenTech, he was as aware as anyone that being sent to Silverdale meant that, at the age of thirty-eight, he was already marked for a top position in the company. And top positions didn’t come much larger than they did at TarrenTech.
    He instinctively knew it would have been a mistake to ask just what the job in Silverdale would be. There was only one question that was relevant, so he asked it.
    “When do I leave?”
    Thornton stood up. “You report to Harris two weeks from today, so you’ll want to get there by the end of next week. The arrangements have all been made. A house is waiting for you, and the movers will be at your place in San Marcos next week to do the packing.”
    Blake swallowed, his head suddenly spinning. What would Sharon think? Shouldn’t he at least discuss it with her? But of course she knew how TarrenTech worked as well as he did, and he wouldn’t be the first executive to be transferred on short notice. He stood up.
    “Thank you, Mr. Thornton,” he said. “I appreciate your confidence in me, and I won’t disappoint you.”
    Thornton’s brows arched slightly, and when he spoke, his voice held an acerbic note. “It’s Jerry Harris I have confidence in,” he said. “And it is Jerry you won’t disappoint.” Then he flashed a smile and extended his hand. “And call me Ted,” he added.
    The interview was over. Everything in Blake Tanner’s life, and the lives of his family, had just changed.

2
    It wasn’t until they’d started south on Highway 50 out of Grand Junction that Sharon Tanner began to feel better. For two days, as they’d driven from San Jose to Reno, then across the seemingly endless wastelands of Nevada and Utah to Salt Lake City, she’d sat numbly next to Blake in the front seat of the station wagon, the desolation of the landscape perfectly reflecting the bleakness of her spirit.
    Less than two weeks, and everything had turned upside down. Of course, there had not been any question of their going. After all, hadn’t they talked about the possibility for years? But neither of them had ever seriously thought there was any chance of Blake being transferred to Silverdale—it was a research facility, and Blake’s expertise in marketing had always seemed to both of them to preclude making the quantum leap within the company that an assignment at Silverdale represented.
    And yet it had happened, and for the next ten days, until the movers arrived, Sharon had been far too busy dealing with the myriad details of winding up their affairs in San Marcos to deal with her emotions.
    Only now, as they began making their way through thefoothills of the Rockies, did the reality of it all truly begin to set in. And as the scenery began to take on a majestic beauty, Sharon felt her spirits begin to rise.
    Of the four of them, only Blake had seemed unaffected by the prospect of the sudden move.
    Mark had immediately been excited about the change. For him the advantages had instantly overbalanced the disadvantages, since the prospect of living in the Rockies, with the mountains’ towering peaks, broad valleys, and abundance of wildlife, had been irresistible.
    For Kelly it had been something else entirely. The prospect of leaving her friends had at first infuriated her. Then, when she found that her anger wasn’t going to change anything, she had sunk into a darkly sullen silence which was, Sharon reflected, at least better than the screaming tantrums of the first few days after Blake had come home with news of the transfer.
    Her own reaction, she realized now, had been mixed. The advantages of the move had been obvious—the salary was a third more than Blake had been earning, and his future prospects were suddenly unlimited. Nor did