Enter Sandman Ch. 06

I looked stunned but was I really stunned? Kelly took the look on my face as a sign of elation. She had a big smile on her face and had I been a lesser man I would have punched her right in the kisser.

"Rog...this is so unbelievable. I wanted to tell you sooner but I wanted to pass my 11 week mark first."

Kelly then started prattling on about a nursery, baby shower and maternity leave. By then I had zoned out. There is nothing worse than being played for a fool except when you realize you are the court jester.

The Army taught me to be a logical man and so I figured things out pretty quickly. The only question remained what was I going to do about it?

I felt physically ill being in bed next to Kelly that night. One thing was certain she was out on her ass as soon as possible. I couldn't believe the bitch was going to pass the baby off as ours. Surely she had to suspect it wasn't mine? I mean our sex life was practically zero.

I tossed and turned for a couple of hours. I started watching Kelly peacefully sleep with a small smile on her face and it made me want to grab a gun and shoot her. So I got up and went downstairs to my study.

I must admit I did look at my gun and considered it but that was a weak way to go. What did I really know?

Going through the years up to now I came with some definite facts.

1. The baby wasn't mine as I was sterile.

2. My wife was a cheating bitch.

3. Sandman was my worst enemy and he was fucking My wife.

4. Doug Peterson was an asshole but he had been set up by Sandman.

It is a hard thing to come to terms with when you realize your whole life is a lie. It feels terrible to be surrounded by enemies. What I couldn't understand is why. I was a loyal and trusting person. Is that a crime?

I didn't know what to do but I had to make some quick decisions. I took Sandman's advice to heart and knew I had to make everyone think I knew nothing but at the same time sort this out.

Physically and tactically I wasn't in Sandman's class so the only way to hurt him was to undo what he had done. They say the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I had to speak to Doug Peterson.

With that decision made I went back to bed and tried to sleep. I awoke early next morning, well I never really got back to sleep but finally I had a purpose. Kelly was still asleep so I left her sleeping. I had a quick shower and then left for the day.

As soon as I got to work I made a call to Peterson Corporation and left a message for Doug to call me urgently. By mid morning I knew he wouldn't be returning my call.. I was now in a predicament. I couldn't take the chance of going to his place of business due to Kelly working there and the chance of being seen going into the CEO's office.

I made a hasty decision and one I hoped would pan out. I have a pretty relaxed schedule being the boss so I told my underlings I would be out of the office for the rest of the day. And to only contact me if it was a matter of life or death. I went outside and went next door to the Hertz office and grabbed a big SUV rental for the day.

I was sipping a coffee in the rental as Doug Peterson came out of his office and jumped into his new BMW Z4 Roadster. I followed discreetly behind and as luck would have it he stopped outside an apartment building. Before he had a chance to go inside, I hit the curb in my rental, ran out and grabbed him. I thought it was a pretty smooth move but in hindsight it must have looked like a kidnapping.

I floored it and we left the apartment building behind. I looked at Doug Peterson and he was as white as a ghost, in fact I think the poor bastard thought I was going to kill him. I would have liked to but I needed him.

"Roger please don't kill me, I swear I didn't touch Kelly!" Doug cried

"Jesus... get a hold of yourself man, I left you a message and you didn't get back to me"

"So you fucking kidnap me, I don't want to die"

Doug Peterson then proceeded to blubber like a 5 year old child who dropped his ice cream. On reflection I guess I understood his fear. I mean we disliked each other immensely.

I knew I had to get to a safe place to talk so I drove out of the city and towards a lake I knew well that would give us the necessary privacy to talk. As soon as I turned down the road he started his crying and wailing again. I couldn't believe that this guy was a CEO of a large corporation.

I finally calmed Doug Peterson down and took him to a picnic bench and tossed him the report that Sandman had compiled.

"Read this and then we will talk"

For the next 15 minutes Doug read the report. He made comments like "This is bullshit" and "No fucking way".

"Well what do you think Doug?"

"It's complete and utter bullshit! This has fucking Susan's vile hands all over it!"

Well I figured the report was bullshit I just wanted Doug to read it to understand he was in deep shit with an enemy coming out of the woodwork for him.

"Doug, it wasn't Susan that gave me the report, it was Greg Sands"

Doug turned even whiter and proceeded to tell me that he now knew I was going to kill him. Then I gave the slimy bastard the biggest surprise of his life when I told him I didn't believe a word of the report except for the fact that he most likely cheated on his wife. I then further stunned him when I told him we were going to help each other out.

It seems lies were part of the agenda. There is no doubt that Doug was a weak spineless toad but the report gave him too much credit. In all reality his father was still running the company with Doug taking orders and implementing his father's plans. Doug was just a figurehead, granted he was a playboy but mainly with hookers. Doug couldn't afford a gambling or drug habit not with daddy still pulling the strings.

I then shocked him to the core when I told him that he had to get out of town right now or he would be in prison for the rest of his life. I related the fact that Sandman would be planting drugs and a very public arrest would happen soon.

"Why are you helping me and why is Greg Sands trying to destroy me?"

The first part of the question was easy to answer. I told him I needed his father's connections to get a full background done on Sandman including his current activities. Doug made the call in front of me aranging for a flight out of the country ASAP. He then called his father and explained the situation. Doug surprised me by handing me the phone. Mr. Peterson Sr. then begrudgingly gave me his assurance that I would have a full report within several days on Mr.Greg Sands.

The second part of the question to answer was more difficult. I just shrugged my shoulders and said I couldn't provide any insight as to why Sandman was doing this. I secretly believed this was a twisted way of Sandman thanking me for fucking my wife.

I sat with Doug for an hour while we waited for his father's people to collect him. Doug didn't want any more information he just wanted to quickly get out of the country. Soon enough a large black SUV turned up and took Doug away.

I knew Sandman would be pissed not being able to find and frame Doug as quickly as he would like, but hopefully this bought me the time to figure out what was going on.

I drove back to the city and returned the rental. I could now only play it cool and wait for the report to hopefully give me some insight and leverage against Sandman.

In the meantime I had to get away as I couldn't stand the sight of Sandman or Kelly. I went back to work and spoke with my boss. He had been pleading with me to get out to the regional offices to conduct some training. Soon thereafter I had a ticket for a flight and was off on my whirlwind 2 week regional office adventure.

Kelly was upset about the abrupt 2 week absence this caused until I reminded her that I needed to keep my boss happy with our baby on the way, which shut her up.

The 2 weeks went by fairly quickly. I had tried numerous times to contact Peterson Sr. regarding the report to no avail. Imagine my surprise on the last day of my tour when a courier delivered a fairly thick package to me.

I have to admit Peterson Sr. was good in that he found me easily enough. Finally I had the report on Greg Sands and one night to digest it and come up with a plan of action.