All of a Sudden It's Too Late

By Ife

Fiction

Dr. Darrell H. Cummings is the owner of a multi-million dollar management-consulting firm, Technologies Unlimited (TU). His daughter, Jamie Patrice Atkins, who is not aware that he is her father, is hired to work at his company after being fired from a job where she had worked for seven years.

Jamie was raised as an only child by her mother Audrey Denise Atkins. She is an extremely bright, attractive, persuasive, assertive and manipulating twenty-six year old young woman. She knows what she wants in life, and how to do what it takes to get it – often at the expense of others.
Much to her co-workers surprise, Jamie is given a huge promotion three months after she arrived at TU. A few months later, three long term and dedicated employees, including Michelle Perkins and Leonard (Lenny) Nichols, are fired.
Josh Duncan is hired to fill Michelle’s position. Although Josh is a married man, Jamie falls madly in love with him. She and Josh soon develop a dastardly scheme to embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars from TU.
They had planned for Lenny to be the scapegoat for the embezzlement, but Dr. Cummings fired him before their plan materialized. Once Lenny is no longer around, Ally Wilson, another valued employee and Lenny’s girlfriend, becomes the primary target of Jamie’s treachery.

After several months of completely trusting Jamie, and often leaving her in charge of running the day-to-day operations at TU, Dr. Cummings begins to have misgivings about her inadequate handling of financial and other matters at TU. He is even less impressed with her explanations of why the situations have occurred.
The ensuing unexpected, unnerving and dramatic developments take the reader through a torrent of emotions that culminates in a surprising and troubling climax.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ife
• Release date: Mar 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9780974813615

Ife

Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, author Carole 'Ife' Keene obtained her formative education in Brevard, North Carolina, and then in Camden, New Jersey, where she graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School before attending and graduating from Howard University in Washington, DC. On her second day at Howard, she met William ‘Damani’ Keene. They were college sweethearts throughout their entire time at Howard and were married at the end of their senior year. Now enjoying fifty-six years of a happy marriage, their motto is: “Never stop honeymooning!”After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology, Ife made a drastic career change to the information technology field – a profession dominated by men at that time. She attended a training program for Programmers and graduated #2 in her class. As a result, General Electric's Space Division offered her a position. She worked there on programs related to satellite imagery for almost two years.After leaving General Electric, Ife spent an additional twenty-four years in the information systems arena. Her achievements were marked by repeated promotions to progressively responsible positions in the field, including Director of Business Development and Senior Vice President. She ultimately became the co-owner and Executive Vice President of a minority and woman-owned and operated consulting firm – Quality Solutions, Inc.Ife is also author of All of a Sudden It’s Too Late and A Trilogy of Rear Windows – an autobiography she hopes will be of value and inspiration to her children, grandchildren and to future generations. Heart Dreams, a companion musical composition of ten songs written by Ife depicting each of the women portrayed in Cancer of the Spirit, is available for production. One song, Helen’s Journey, is in the Blues genre and has already been produced. Ife is contributing author of Clandestine: The Times and Secret Life of Mariah Otey Reddick – an important historical novel written with Damani.Additionally, Ife transformed Cancer of the Spirit into a play – Cancer of the Spirit Alive. An extract from the play was chosen to be produced and performed by Fantasy Theatre Factory – the managing operator of the Sandrell Rivers Theater – a state-of-the-art “black box” theater in Miami, FL. Fantasy Theatre Factory – the gold standard for professional theater in South Florida – has an extensive state-wide, national and international touring operation.Ife and Damani are the proud parents of three wonderful children, Khalid V. Keene, Dr. Kweli K. Carson and Malik I. Keene. They are also the delighted grandparents of Nandi Anika Carson, Khalid Valentine Keene II, Brittany Mills and Danielle Newman, as well as the great-grandparents of four adorable great-grandsons.Ife and Damani are filled with love, appreciation and gratitude for family and friends.

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All of a Sudden It's Too Late

Published by Carole 'Ife' Keene at Smashwords

VIP Publishing, Inc.

Inspirations in Indelible Ink!

Copyright June 2011 Carole ‘Ife’ Keene

Other titles by Ife at http://www.SootheOurSouls.com

Cancer of the Spirit

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and events are either a creation of the author's imagination, or are incidents and events used fictitiously. Any resemblance of situations, locations or events to those of actual places or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Chapter One: The Multi-Million Dollar Contract

Chapter Two: Darrell H. Cummings’ Big Day

Chapter Three: Jamie’s Story

Chapter Four: Jamie Takes Over

Chapter Five: How Many Lives Can One Tyrant Ruin?

Chapter Six: Enter Josh Duncan

Chapter Seven: Crazy Love Sets In

Chapter Eight: Embezzlement and Illusion

Chapter Nine: Exit Lenny Nichols

Chapter Ten: Deception Keeps On Keeping On

Chapter Eleven: All of a Sudden It’s Too Late

Chapter Twelve: Picking Up the Pieces

About the Author

Also by Ife

Endnotes

Acknowledgements

Dedications

Chapter One: The Multi-Million Dollar Contract

Dr. Darrell H. Cummings proudly stepped forward, positioning himself so he wouldn’t obstruct the view of the beautiful, and quite expensive, floral arrangement located next to him. With a wide grin, he heartily accepted congratulations on behalf of Technologies Unlimited (TU), from Don Sullivan, Director of Emerging Technologies for DTA - the Department of Technological Advancement. He struggled to retain his composure and mask his excitement with a professional countenance.

TU had recently been awarded a five-year, ten million dollar contract to develop an all-inclusive interactive financial system for the department. The amount of time, work and money expended on winning this contract was unprecedented for a small company like TU. The last week of pulling all components of the winning proposal together was a frantic 24/7 affair. Someone on staff was literally at the office around-the-clock during that hellish week. Everyone was totally burned out the day after the submission of the proposal to DTA. In one of his rare acts of workplace generosity, Dr. Cummings gave everyone that day off with pay. They were shocked!

Afterwards, one cynic on the staff had said to nobody in particular, Dr. Cummings knew everyone would be sleeping at their desks anyway. But no one could deny that the employees’ devoted, but stressful, work had paid off. This award was the company’s largest contract to date.

Closing his brief remarks, Dr. Cummings, although quite serious, but in an unusual upbeat tone, exclaimed, Ladies and gents, this certainly has been an awfully long time coming!

Dr. Cummings’ Administrative Assistant, Doris Kane, and a couple of TU’s other employees did a wonderful job decorating the largest of three small rooms for the awards celebration at TU’s office. They hung bright multi-colored balloons from the ceiling that matched the tablecloth draped on the small, but full, refreshment table. TU was currently the proud employer of a total of nine employees.

Three arrangements of assorted flowers were placed in strategically visible locations in the room. Each well-worn chair was nicely draped with flimsy, but attractive material that matched at least one of the balloon colors. To everyone’s surprise, when the otherwise drab room was finished, it was very inviting.

Unexpectedly, the director from DTA brought along three of the staff who would be involved in some major way with the newly awarded contract. TU had also extended an invitation to several of its other clients and a few of Dr. Cummings’ personal friends. The absence of one of his oldest and good friends, Jack Paine, and his wife, Peggy, was most obvious. In passing he also thought that Audrey Atkins, a person once very dear to his heart, may even show up.

Every chair in the room was occupied, so even the standing room for TU’s staff was tighter than expected. Two employees were forced into the hallway right outside the door.

The company, now eight years old, had barely survived its first three years. Throughout those years, TU sought out and responded to numerous opportunities, but nothing of the magnitude that Dr. Cummings anticipated had ever materialized. The competition was fierce and TU was new to the 'dog-eat-dog' technological world. During TU’s fourth year, a newly hired marketing specialist, Dr. Leonard (Lenny) Nichols, who was very familiar with how to play, and more importantly, win the game in that world, excitedly approached Dr. Cummings.

It was a dreary Wednesday afternoon and Dr. Cummings’ mood was very compatible with it. Lenny told Dr. Cummings that he was on to something big, something that could possibly propel TU to another level. He asked Dr. Cummings to accompany him to a meeting at Aaron Space Laboratories (ASL) on Friday afternoon to meet a contracts administrator and several high-level managers that he had done business with while at his last job. Through the grapevine, Lenny explained to Dr. Cummings, he had heard ASL was preparing to release a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a large technical training contract, one of TU’s most successful service areas. During its first two years, TU had successfully landed several decent-sized government contracts that provided the type of technical services that so many agencies require. One of those contracts was with the Department of Education (DOE) and became TU's most stable 'bread-and butter' contract.

Since Dr. Cummings was not too fond of Lenny from the time he initially interviewed him, he hesitantly said to him, Let me check my calendar to see if I will be available on Friday. I'll get back to you.

With a little irritation in his voice, Lenny responded, Alright Dr. Cummings, but you know this could be a great opportunity for TU. Please give attending the meeting some serious consideration.

Dr. Cummings nodded and walked away. He had hired Lenny, although grudgingly, because he was highly recommended by someone Dr. Cummings trusted, a personal friend and very successful businessman. Lenny’s track record for identifying and closing million dollar deals had been phenomenal. He had landed three major contracts for Exceptional Technical Services (ETS), the company he left before joining TU. His exit from ETS came shortly after he personally observed several unethical management practices by the company’s President. Lenny's integrity and conscience were the basis of that exit.

Dr. Cummings had not made a decision about attending the meeting when he sat down at his oversized mahogany desk on Friday morning. A nagging feeling suddenly came over him, a feeling that he had experienced in the past, and a feeling that had twice prompted him to do something that he really didn’t want to do, but, in both cases, had positive outcomes. That intuitive feeling motivated him to attend the meeting with Lenny. What a wise decision that was. TU ultimately landed the 2.5 million dollar contract with ASL, and Lenny Nichols became the man of the hour at TU. And that’s about how long Dr. Cummings’ warm and fuzzy feelings for Lenny lasted.

The word around the office was that Dr. Cummings was jealous of Lenny because he was tall, very smart, strikingly handsome, young - a mere thirty-four - and single. He was also a real gentleman. While never openly stated, it was quite apparent that Dr. Cummings thought that Lenny enjoyed the constant attention from all the women in the office far too much.

It was also obvious that Lenny’s home training had everything to do with the type of young man he was. He was born in a typically small southern town near Duane, North Carolina, and was raised by moderately strict parents who always stressed the importance of being the best at whatever you decided to do. He and his two older brothers learned the meaning of responsibility at a very early age. In their modest home, there was a division of labor among the brothers that was taken very seriously. Everyone had a job to do, and knew if it was not done, and done well, there would be unpleasant consequences. Lenny’s father had no time for nonsense and made sure that his sons didn’t either. So Lenny embraced a strong work ethic throughout his life – not only at work, but at home, at school, and at church, as well.

Lenny’s enjoyment of the attention from his lady co-workers rapidly faded when Ally Wilson, a beautiful and experienced technical trainer, joined TU’s staff as Manager of Technical Training. From the moment Lenny saw Ally, he was in awe of her. Ally’s full and shapely body, long, curly, dark brown hair and beautiful large brown eyes captured the attention of everyone in the office, particularly the men. Ally was immediately attracted to Lenny, too. That really didn’t surprise anyone on the staff. A couple of weeks after she came aboard, Lenny began going around the office lightheartedly saying, 'I think I'm in love'.

Although many of the female employees were dismayed, no one had to ask Lenny who he was in love with. One guy in the office said to him, Man, you’re real crazy and real lucky.

Ally, like Lenny, took her job at TU very seriously. She was raised in Micklesburg, Pennsylvania by a grandmother who was, as Ally put it, ridiculously strict. Now looking back, Ally realized why. The neighborhood where she grew up was in the heart of the ghetto, and was not the kind of neighborhood where kids could or should roam freely, although many of her 'friends' did. Their parents were much younger than her grandmother and didn’t monitor their kid’s activities as closely as her grandmother did hers. Many of the parents were too busy having a good time themselves. Ally’s grandmother lived on public assistance, so the two of them had a very meager lifestyle, one in which the necessities were even hard to come by. Her grandmother, although not an educated woman, was determined that Ally would be. She made sure Ally 'stayed in the books', and lived long enough to see Ally graduate from college. That was one of her grandmother’s proudest moments.

Everyone in the office loved Lenny until Ally entered the picture. After that, the 'crazy-about-Lenny' fan club, mainly the women, joined Dr. Cummings in his jealously of Lenny. Although just as intelligent as Lenny, Dr. Cummings’ average looks, his gruff, impatient and not so thoughtful manner, and his macho attitude, caused many employees to dislike him and keep at arms' length. Lenny’s Ph. D. credentials also added to Dr. Cummings colossal envy of him. Dr. Cummings was a dissertation away from actually receiving his Ph. D., but still insisted on being called Dr. at the office. Unfortunately, his resentment of Lenny sometimes overpowered his better judgment.

Dr. Cummings’ watchful eye on TU’s financial matters, including which RFPs the company would respond to based on how lucrative a win would be to TU, was a major factor in parlaying TU’s $2.5 million to $4.5 million by the time DTA’s contract came through.

From time to time Lenny’s popularity, although diminished because of his growing relationship with Ally, still caused commotion in the office. Dr. Cummings learned how to sometimes dismiss and, at other times, rationalize Lenny’s personal magnetism. He often forced himself to remember how good Lenny was at what he did. However, his major focus was on how soon Lenny would bring another million or two to TU, and he certainly was not going to let his personal feelings about some 'Casanova' prevent him from making a 'boat load' of money. Although he hated to admit it, Dr. Cummings knew a major part of Lenny’s success as a marketing guru was his charismatic, charming and captivating personality.

TU’s winning the DTA contract allowed Dr. Cummings to fulfill one of his dreams. To move the company out of Ethansville, Ohio, a small but growing town, to a larger and more luxurious office in the adjoining, and bustling city of Brandon. Several months prior, shortly after the proposal was submitted to DTA, he stopped at Doris’ desk and gleefully said to her, Doris, I want you to begin looking for vacant office space in downtown Brandon. I finally had a chance to read the proposal that we submitted to DTA, and I predict it’s a winner. I didn’t realize myself how much technical experience TU has had working on contracts similar to the one for DTA. Our contracts have been smaller ones, but many of the tasks are the same as those being solicited by DTA. We’re a hell of a company, Doris!

I know, Dr. Cummings, Doris replied with a sheepish grin that exposed the cute gap between her upper front teeth. Her hazel eyes widening, and softly clearing her throat, Doris said, But Dr. Cummings, are you sure we should start looking for new space now? We haven’t won the contract yet.

Without hesitation, he responded, I most certainly do! Get on it, Doris!

With a doubtful tone in her voice, Doris said, OK, OK, Dr. Cummings, if you say so.

After assiduously identifying eight downtown locations, Doris gave Dr. Cummings a report on what she and Cindy Allen, Michelle Perkins’ Administrative Assistant, had found.

The morning after TU won the contract, Doris approached Dr. Cummings, again with her endearing sheepish grin and said, You were so on it, Dr. Cummings. I am delighted for you and TU. I'm so excited!

He and Doris spent that entire afternoon perusing one office after the other. Finally, slowing down from exhaustion, Dr. Cummings said wearily, Let’s get this office hunting stuff over with and choose one of the locations we’ve seen for our new office.

Doris respectfully answered, That’s up to you, Dr. Cummings, but we have two more offices on the list that you haven’t seen.

Forget those two places, Dr. Cummings responded in an ill-tempered way. His initial enthusiasm for office hunting had noticeably faded.

It’s your decision, Dr. Cummings, Doris quietly replied.

The space they chose was on the fourth floor of a building overlooking a beautiful park. It was also the office with the largest conference room. Dr. Cummings had informed Doris that security was also a very important factor in their choice. The lobby door at 1044 Oregon Avenue was locked at 6:00 o’clock p.m. sharp every day, so all visitors had to be buzzed in after that. This also applied to employees if they didn't have their entrance card. There was also a video surveillance camera in the lobby, a security feature that would later prove to be very important.

The move from 1415 Wayne Road to 1044 Oregon Avenue was very organized and surprisingly uneventful. K & M Delivery and Moving (K & M), a company that specialized in packing and moving computer and other business equipment, made the move. Doris had seen an ad for K & M on TV. To seek further information about them, she had browsed their website, http://www.kmmovinginc.com. She was very impressed with what she saw, and particularly with the client testimonials.

To Dr. Cummings’ delight, K & M’s efficient disconnecting and reconnecting of all equipment drastically shortened the time that the office was not functional – just the Saturday of the move. He told K & M’s lead technician, My wife is going to love you. I’ll be able to spend Sunday at home with her and my kids. Initially, TU’s staff was not as thrilled with K & M as Dr. Cummings was. Remembering similar office moves in the past, they had planned on at least two working days down time. However, the staff’s disappointment immediately vanished when they realized they would share an office with only one other person, if they had to share at all.

Unlike at the old Wayne Road location, where everyone but Dr. Cummings was packed into three small offices like sardines, everyone had ample space to stretch out at Oregon Avenue. Like Dr. Cummings, three others had the privacy of their own space, Lenny Nichols, who without fanfare had been promoted to Director of Business Development; Michelle Perkins, Director of Contracts; and John Austin, Director of Administration, whose office was located to the right of Dr. Cummings’ office. Excitedly embracing the spacious environment at 1044, a new sense of camaraderie permeated the air at TU.

Sadly, however, that didn't last long.

Seven additional