Robyn's Egg Read Free Page A

The more he considered, the more he sensed it was true. It fit with the increasingly oppressive environment at work. Deadlines were looming, and the fear of leaks heightening.
    “I don’t enjoy this project anymore,” Moyer said. “There’s too much pressure, too much scrutiny. I don’t even know what I’m working on. I have a piece. You have a piece. Sasaki had a piece. And none of us knows what the other is doing, or what the program will do when it all comes together.” Moyer glanced at Petro who had his lips clamped into a tight line.
    “You know, don’t you?” Moyer said.
    Petro shook his head. “I don’t. I just have a guess.”
    “More information from upstairs?”
    “No. Nobody is talking, at least not about the Worm. I’ve pieced things together from talking to you and Sasaki, and from things I’ve heard in the rumor mill.”
    “So out with it,” Moyer said.
    “Do you know what really happened this morning?” Petro asked leaving no gap for a reply. “Moyer my man, the thud of Sasaki’s fat carcass hitting the floor was the sound of opportunity knocking.”
    “What?”
    Petro grinned, seemingly amused at Moyer’s confusion. “With Sasaki gone, the lead programming position is now open. They’re going to need someone to take his place. They can’t go outside. It would take too long. And you have the most experience. You’re a natural fit. The way I figure it, you are now on the fast track.” Petro leaned forward, a crooked grin on his face. He checked for eavesdroppers before settling his dark eyes on Moyer. “And as you advance, you might bring along a friend each step of the way, someone you can trust to watch your back.”
    Moyer thought it over. There was a certain logic to it, and, he had to admit, a certain appeal. The extra money would certainly make Robyn happy. They might finally afford a baby and perhaps she could quit her job.
    But there was no forgetting what happened to Sasaki. Would the person who stepped into Sasaki’s shoes face the same problems and suffer the same fate? The cleverness of Petro’s plan didn’t escape Moyer. He had concocted a scheme to advance on Moyer’s coat tails with no risk to himself. All the risk would be Moyer’s.
    “I’m sure the company already has a plan,” Moyer said.
    Petro looked surprised. “Don’t wait on the company. Go straight to Berman. Let him know you want it, that you have the drive.”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Come on Moyer, that’s your problem. You are too much of a straight arrow. You play everything up the middle. You lack flair. You’ll never advance that way. You need to show initiative, that you can think outside the box. What’s the harm in letting Berman know you’re interested?”
    Moyer let out a deep sigh. “I’ll think it over.”
    At Tuckers, patrons sat elbow to elbow at the bar when Petro and Moyer pushed through the door. Petro found a corner booth. As the crowd of regulars filed in and the noise level rose to a din, Moyer saw the tension ease in Petro’s face.
    Moyer examined the menu. “Look at the price of meat,” he said. “It’s up again.”
    “Kelsey and I have sworn off for awhile,” Petro said, “We can’t afford it with the new baby.”
    Moyer nodded as though he understood, though in reality he didn’t. Petro’s baby announcement a couple weeks before came as a surprise. He had never asked Petro about his salary. They both held similar positions working on the same project, but Moyer had seniority so he assumed he made more. That was until Petro announced that he had a baby. Babies didn’t come cheap. Moyer and his wife had been saving for years and still weren’t half way there.
    Petro hired in at Digi-Soft a year after Moyer. Moyer questioned the hire at the time. Petro had Jobe experience, a visually based programming language. He was illiterate when he interviewed and Digi-Soft didn’t hire illiterates or use Jobe. The company trained Petro to read, and to program in