News travelled along the live wires underneath the floor and behind the plastic conduits on the walls. There were sudden gatherings in corridors.There was horror and outrage; there was laughter. Pete Varney had been beaten up by the Project Manager.


“In the bogs.”

“The blood's still there on the mirror. Got his head kicked in. Really kicked in.”

“He had to go home. They patched him up first and then Janice drove him.”

For two hours the building vibrated with the news. It was the biggest fight of the year, maybe one of the biggest ever. All of the men were thinking about the Project Manager. They wanted to get on his side now, of course, but first they wanted to see what kind of trouble he was in.

Nicky Lee was the Project Manager and he was at his desk, mainly feeling good about himself, but aware that it wouldn't last. He knew there would be trouble and that the Chief Exec or the Deputy Chief Exec would be round to see him soon. There was no denying what he had done, because too many people had seen him drag Varney from the meeting room. Maybe he should have waited till going-home time, but Varney was behaving like such a dickhead that he had to teach him a lesson there and then. Nicky had been in charge, drawing on the whiteboard and going through his project plan, while Varney had been making smart comments all the time. Some of his creepy friends and even a few of the women were laughing with him. Nicky had put up with it and smiled, but Varney just kept on, raising his eyebrows and pursing his lips and just doing everything that would irritate the hell out of anyone trying to hold a meeting in front of a dozen people. Nicky needed to make an example of him, a clear example.

“Shut it Varney.”

“Or else?”

Nicky couldn't believe that he said that. 'Or else?' Like he stood a chance.

“That's your last warning,” said Nicky.

“Or else?”

“Or else I'll bash you up.”

Noises from the audience: shock and excitement.

“You wouldn't dare,” said Varney.

“Would so.”

“Like to see you try.”

Pete Varney made a face and looked at his friends, men in glasses, and they all laughed. That was when Nicky dragged him out and kicked his head in.

Now Nicky was alone. He went down the corridor to fetch a coffee and a group of gossipers separated while he stood at the machine. He waited for a while, letting his coffee grow a skin. Finally there was an approach.

“Alright mate?”

It was one of his team, standing nervously.

“Alright.”

“How's it going?”

“Alright.”

They went back to the office together and there was a slight swagger to the other man's walk. Nicky returned to his desk and tried to work but failed. The other people who worked in the office came back in and there was the silence again. They all tapped at their keyboards and stared at their screens but he knew that everyone was on the skive. When his phone went, the silence seemed to grow more intense.

“Hello.”

It was Geoffrey Martinson, another Project Manager who had joined the company at the same time as Nicky. Martinson worked hard, he took work home and didn't try to deny it. Nicky and the others who had been on the same trainee course seven years ago had always taken the piss, sometimes in front of Martinson, but he didn't care.

“You're all so immature.”

He said that a lot. He was another creepy guy, like Varney, but took his work very seriously. Now he was talking about what had happened and Nicky wasn't sure why.

“I heard there has been some trouble.”

“You heard?”

“Yeah. I heard.”

“You heard wrong.”

“I don't think so Nicky.”

Martinson said 'Nicky' with some emphasis. When they had been trainees and first discovered that they didn't like each other, Martinson had called him 'Nicholas' in a sarcastic way that made it sound like 'Knickerless.” Some of the creeps and girls had laughed at that, so Martinson kept using it for some months. Then Nicky had started calling him 'Fartinson' and the girls didn't think that was funny at all, it was too vulgar for them, but it stopped Martinson calling him 'Knickerless.'

“Someone should report you,” said Martinson. “You can't go around hitting people.”

“Who said I hit anyone?”

“Oh come off it. Everyone knows. You'll never get the Migration Project now.”
That was what it was about. There had been a takeover recently; the company had acquired a twenty million pound business, along with several hundred new employees willing to do almost anything to keep their jobs. There were profits and reputations to be made and Nicky and Martinson were two of half-a-dozen possibles for the Migration Project Manager role. Even Nicky spent several hours a night working on figures and online presentations in preparation for interviews with the Execs.

“What, like you'll get it?” Nicky was sneering, but he was worried.

“So has anyone reported you?”

“I don't know and I don't care. Anyway, you'd better not.”

“Are you threatening me Lee?”

“No,” said Nicky, suddenly thinking that the dirty little sneak might even be recording the conversation. He wouldn't put it past him at all.

“I'm going to report you anyway. Someone's got to and you'll be in really big trouble.”

“Bastard!”

Nicky couldn't help it. He couldn't stand Martinson and he could see his chances going down the toilet. And thinking of the toilet made him think of that other creep, Varney, and his blood on the floor. Most of the satisfaction had gone now. He was in trouble and the Chief Exec was going to be here soon and give him a rocket.

“Ooh,” said Martinson and put the phone down. It wasn't a sarcastic 'ooh' like when Varney said it, it was more prissy. Martinson never swore and he never stepped out of line. He just kept on being average and doing the right thing.

Some of Nicky's team were standing around in the office, drinking coffee, glancing over and then slowly shuffling towards him.

“Alright?”

“Alright.”

More of these vague greetings were exchanged.

“Gave Varney a kicking then?”

“He deserved it.”

“Yeah. Bit of a creep.”

Then the others joined in with each other and they all came to an agreement.

“Thinks he's 'it' doesn't he? Really thinks he's 'it'.”

“Thinks he's so funny. In the meetings when anyone's doing a presentation. Always trying to impress the girls.”

“What. Like Janice?”

They all laughed, soft and low.

“Janice,” said one in a high voice, assuming a sour expression.

They laughed again, all together.

“He can have her,” said Nicky. “Bloody Janice.”

“Yeah,” they said.

Then Janice walked in.

Nicky closed his eyes and nearly groaned. How much had she heard? The group around him eased away. He tried his best not to look aggressive or nonchalant or ashamed; he tried so hard not to look like so many things that he had no idea what he did look like.
“So I bet you feel really proud of yourself,” said Janice.

“No,” said Nicky. He shrugged and wished that he hadn't.

“You think you're so big and tough don't you?”

“No.”

“Yes you do. Of course you do. Well I'll tell you what you are.”

Nicky knew what was coming, but he didn't interrupt.

“A bully. You're just a big bully.”

He tried not to look at her breasts, which he liked. Why was she friends with Varney? She could be alright looking if she wore better clothes and make-up, if she had friends who would show her. In the right circumstances he could have a really good time with her, but instead she wasted her time with Varney and the others in that crowd.

“He got what was coming to him.”

“Oh did he? Well Mr Tough Guy, he's got a split lip and a black eye and-” she paused with a kind of triumph, like a news reporter first with a breaking disaster- “he's had to go to the hospital because his nose might be broken.”

“Hmm.”

“Is that all you can say?”

Nicky was thinking carefully. A broken nose would just be the gristle. It couldn't be a real break, not the bone. He hadn't kicked him that hard, though Varney would have deserved it.

“Nothing to say at all have you? Mr Big. You rotten bully.”

“He deserved it. He was taking the mick.”

“You're just jealous.”

This threw Nicky. He frowned and wondered what on earth she meant.

“Of what?”

“Pete's funnier than you. You're jealous.”

“Jesus!” Nicky laughed. He knew it was a mistake, another mistake in a day of mistakes, but he had to laugh. “Funny.”

“Yes. You know he's funnier than you.”

“I don't pretend to be funny. I don't care if you think I'm not funny. But how can you think he is?”

“Oh I see.”

Nicky was wrong-footed for the second time.

“See what?”

Janice spoke more softly now and even seemed to smirk a little.

“You're jealous that I think he's funnier than you.”

“What I'm jealous of him and you?”

She said nothing but shrugged and looked pleased, maybe forgetting Varney and his possibly broken nose for the moment.

“Get real.”

“Well.” Janice snapped back into her previous mood. “I'm reporting you anyway. To the very top.”

She nodded meaningfully, turned and marched out of the office. As soon as she had gone the rest of Nicky's team appeared at his desk again.

“Huh.”

“Bloody Janice.”

“Know what she needs.”

“Yeah.” Laughter.

“What she needs,” said Nicky, leaning back in his chair and trying not to care about anything, “is to have her knickers pulled down and her big arse spanked.”

“Yeah,” panted the group together.

Nicky looked out of the window and treated himself to one small moment of comfort in a day that was getting worse with every conversation. Janice over his knee. He'd not thought of her like that before but it was worth the effort. In his mind she was shrieking with laughter and they were minutes away from an uproarious session of love-making. He savoured the moment like a final cigarette. Then the door opened and the group drew back again, further this time.

The Chief Exec walked in. Not the Deputy. The Chief Exec, who had only been seen in the office a few times since Nicky had worked there. Nicky looked over at his team and they were scared. Even the hard nuts, the wise-guys, the ones who played football for the office team. Some of them looked like they wanted to cry.

“I'll see you in my office now,” said the Chief Exec.

Nicky nodded and stood up. He tried his best to look serious and businesslike. He was scared too, he couldn't deny it to himself. He followed the Chief Exec down the corridor and wondered if he had a hope of getting out of this one. He felt a little sick but he wasn't going to run away. As they went up the stairs to the floor where Nicky was only occasionally invited, and always previously for good news, he looked down. A small audience had quickly gathered and watched his progress. Some of them were smiling, all of them looked more excited than he had ever seen them look before. And Janice, who could have been alright, who could even have been his girlfriend if she'd really wanted, was in the centre. She smiled the most and when she saw him staring she stuck out her tongue and giggled with her friends. Nicky looked away and followed the Chief Exec into his office, wishing that after all this time things had turned out better, less stupid than this. Even within the office, behind the thick wooden door, he was sure that he could hear them chanting, all ganging up on him and chanting.

---

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