Tracy An Imperfect Warrior

1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 979-8-9906489-1-3
Verlag: TPAG Enterprises LLC
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 290 Seiten

An Imperfect Warrior is a triumph of the human spirit in a riveting romantic thriller that will leave you on the edge of your seat and yearning about your adolescent and young adulthood fantasies and experiences.

David Tracy has had a distinguished career as a CEO, Board member, lawyer, and CPA. He traces his roots to St. Louis and a largely blue-collar upbringing. An Imperfect Warrior is his first novel.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Tracy, David

Leseproben

CHAPTER 2
Sam was in a deep sleep the next morning when he was awoken by the shrill ring of his alarm clock. Mindy rolled over in bed and nudged him. “Sammy, it’s time to get up,” she whispered softly in his ear. Sam immediately jumped out of bed and into the shower. Although he was only half awake, the day was already beginning to take on a surreal quality. It was as if everything was happening in slow motion. Things that he normally did unconsciously–for instance, shampooing his hair—commanded thought and focus. As he stood in the shower, Sam’s heart was beating so fast that he thought it would burst out of his chest. He was one of only two members of the new thirteen lawyer class who had not worked as a law clerk at Wilson, Smith & Trone the summer before. Instead, Sam had opted to clerk at an Indianapolis law firm, which had been highly touted by his favorite law school professor. Sam had obtained an offer to return to that firm on a permanent basis. However, he ultimately decided that St. Louis was the best place for he and Mindy to settle, and accepted an offer to join Wilson, Smith. Sam had left St. Louis when he was a young boy, but both he and Mindy still had family and friends in or near the St. Louis area. The decision seemed logical at the time. Now, the reality of it was weighing heavily on Sam. He did not know anyone at Wilson, Smith, other than a few of the lawyers that he had met briefly during his interviews. He was hired by Wilson, Smith based solely on his performance in law school; he had finished as the valedictorian of his class. However, he knew his law school performance mattered little now. As he was pondering this, Mindy jumped in the shower with him. “What are you doing?” he asked in a startled tone. “I just wanted to make sure that you were totally relaxed for your first full day of work,” she said, and proceeded to start to hug him. Sam stopped her. He was a bundle of nerves. “Thanks, honey, but I’m just too nervous.” he said. “Okay, baby,” Mindy said. Sam realized he must have been very uptight because he never spurned a romantic advance from Mindy. He quickly got out of the shower and dried himself off. Sam put on his new blue pinstripe custom made suit, a white shirt, red tie and black wing-tip shoes. Some would say the look was old school, but Sam thought it was classic and suited for the firm he joined. He took one final look in the mirror. He was a very handsome twenty-five-year-old man, with a muscular build, dark brown eyes, and black hair. He took a deep breath as he kissed Mindy goodbye and left his apartment for the thirty-minute drive to Wilson, Smith in downtown St. Louis. It was a beautiful late summer morning in St. Louis. As he approached the city, he could see the St. Louis Arch and the knots in his stomach tightened. Sam pulled into the parking garage near the Wilson, Smith offices in the heart of downtown St. Louis. After he parked, Sam sat in his car for a moment in a daze. For a few minutes, he toyed with the idea of driving back to his townhouse and telling Mindy that he should do something else with his life. However, Sam finally composed himself and proceeded to the elevator. Sam entered a packed elevator. When someone asked him what floor he’d like, he momentarily stammered before asking for the twentieth floor. The elevator stopped at several floors, and different people got on and off along the way. Sam was oblivious to it all. His eyes were fixated on the electronic sign above the elevator door which indicated at what floor the elevator was. After what seemed to be an hour, floor twenty was lit. As he got off the elevator, so did a tall, silver-haired, very intimidating looking man. Although the man said nothing to him, Sam surmised that he must have been a high-profile partner in the firm. They both approached the reception area. “Good morning, Mr. Smith,” the receptionist said, “your secretary asked that I have you go to the twenty-first floor large conference room as soon as you get in. Should I have the service center send some coffee or something?” “No thank you,” he replied, and immediately proceeded to the flight of stairs leading to the twenty-first floor. She then let out a sigh of relief as she looked at Sam and said “May I help you?” “Hi. I’m Sam Hughes, one of the new lawyers.” She smiled broadly. “Good morning, nice to meet you. I’ll call Simone Free, the personnel director. Please have a seat.” Simone came to the reception area about five minutes later. She was a beautiful woman in her early 30s with big brown eyes, dark black hair, and a very shapely figure. “Good morning, I’m Simone Free, the personnel director. Welcome to Wilson, Smith & Trone,” she said. Sam was stunned by her beauty. He jumped up from his seat. “Thank you,” he said in a rather halting voice. She smiled smugly, as if she was used to this sort of reaction. “Let me take you to your office. You need to fill out some paperwork, and then we will be having an orientation meeting at 10 a.m. followed by a luncheon with the firm,” she said. Sam and Simone made small talk as they walked up two flights of stairs to his office on the twenty-second floor. “We have all of the nineteenth, twentieth, twenty-first and twenty-second floors currently occupied with an option for the twenty-third and twenty-fourth floors to accommodate future growth,” she said. “That’s fantastic,” Sam replied with a superficially enthusiastic tone. Sam felt very awkward around Simone and with the newness of his environs, he was self-conscious that Simone could sense his uneasiness. Sam noticed that there weren’t many people in the office, despite that it was 8:15 a.m. He mentioned this to Simone, and she said reflexively, “You’re early. I don’t expect the other lawyers until 9:00 a.m. But, that’s the firm’s philosophy. We believe that our lawyers should have a tremendous quality of life. We work hard and play hard here.” Her words rang hollow to Sam. They turned the corner of the hallway to Sam’s office. It was not very large, but had a window view and antique furniture. “Wow, this looks great!” Sam said. “Well, I’m glad you like it, but let me show you your paperwork quickly, because I have a meeting in five minutes,” Simone said. Sam immediately sat down in his chair and Simone stood next to him and briefly described what was in his binder. Between her breasts brushing against his back and the scent of her perfume, Sam did not absorb a word she said. Simone finally left after telling him that someone would find him in time for the orientation meeting. Sam just stood in a daze for a few moments in awe of his new office. He fumbled around looking for a place to put his new brief case before finally settling on the credenza located in back of his desk. He decided that he would need to rearrange his desk, filing cabinet, bookcase, and chairs in a more comfortable arrangement. Just as he was completing his mental visual picture of his rearranged office, a gray-haired woman in her mid-fifties walked into his office. “Good morning, Mr. Hughes, welcome to Wilson, Smith, I’m Jane Jones, your secretary,” she said. “I believe you have some paperwork to complete and then the rest of the morning will be taken up by the orientation. Maybe after lunch, we can get together to discuss how we’ll work together.” “Sounds great. Nice to meet you, too, and please, just call me Sam,” he replied. His first impression was that Ms. Jones might be a little pushy, but he was willing to remain open-minded for the time being. Sam then sat back down and began to fill out the paperwork. There were literally two inches of forms and firm policy and procedure statements to read and fill out. This was the first chance his inner critic had to persuade Sam that he was not worthy of his new position. Sam could tell that his armpits were starting to sweat as he realized it was already 9:45 a.m. and he had only gotten through a quarter inch of the stack. Just then, he looked up and there was Simone smiling at him. He gulped. “Is everything okay? Are you ready for the orientation meeting?” Simone asked. “Oh, sure. I was just surprised to see you. I thought that someone else…would be coming to get me,” Sam said trying to cover up his anxiety attack. “Well, your office just happened to be on my way to the conference room,” she said. Sam followed Simone down the hallway to the staircase and then to the large conference room on the twentieth floor, known as the Founders’ Room. Although he tried not to look at her beautiful figure as he followed her, he couldn’t help it. Then, Simone quickly turned around and said, “Here we are, Sam.” Sam was startled again. Simone acted as if she realized what he was doing and smiled smugly again, as she had done when Sam was obviously taken with her good looks upon their initial introduction. Sam did not like it. They walked into the conference room and there were nearly fifty people in there, all looking very distinguished in their first-rate suits. Mr. Smith was on the other side of the room and motioned to Simone to come to him. Simone immediately did so, leaving Sam on the other side of the room. Sam strained to recognize someone he met when he interviewed at the firm last fall. Just then, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw a rather heavyset man...