CHAPTER EIGHTH

LEARNING THE BASICS

Part One

Stay away from Mia.

Ethan's words followed him all night through a thin hotel mattress and a bad few hours of sleep, and they were still with him when he sat down at the desk by the printer. He hadn't argued. He had no right to. Mia had hired him, and she hadn't said a word to him since.

The system locked him out three times before nine o'clock.

"Wrong password," the screen said. Then again. Then, a red box with a little padlock on it.

Alexander stared at it. He had run a company with forty thousand employees. He had once signed a hundred million dollar deal on a plane. He could not get into a shipping program.

"Forgot your password already?"

Kevin was leaning over the divider with a coffee in his hand and a grin on his face. The orange shirt was even brighter today.

"I didn't forget it," Alexander said.

"What is it?"

"I wrote it on the note Daniel gave me."

"And?"

"And the note says the letter O. I think it's a zero."

Kevin burst out laughing. A few heads turned. Somebody two rows over laughed too, and then somebody else, until it spread across the floor like a cough.

"The letter O," Kevin said. "Man, that's amazing."

"Kevin," Tasha said, not looking up. "Leave him alone."

"I'm helping."

"You're not."

"I'm helping a little." Kevin wiped his eye. "It's a zero, buddy. Try the zero."

Alexander typed it in. The screen opened.

"Thank you," he said flatly.

"Anytime."

Kevin went back to his desk, still smiling. The laughter died slowly. Alexander kept his eyes on the screen and his jaw very still.

He had been laughed at before. Once, in his twenties, a reporter had written that he'd bought his first company with his father's money. He had made sure that reporter never worked in the city again.

There was no one to make sure of anything today.

"Okay," Tasha said, rolling her chair over. "Come on. I'll show you the order screen."

"You don't have to."

"I know." She pointed. "Click that. No, the blue one. Now, type the vendor code. Then the number of boxes."

"How many boxes?"

"Whatever's on the sheet."

He looked at the sheet. Four hundred.

He typed it in. He hit enter. Tasha nodded and rolled back to her desk.

He went on to the next order.

One hour later, Daniel came out of his office with a look on his face.

"Alexander. Can I see you for a second?"

"Of course."

He followed Daniel into the little glass room by the kitchen. Daniel shut the door and turned his laptop around.

"Do you see anything wrong with this?"

Alexander looked. It was the Ohio order. His order.

"No."

"Read the number of boxes."

"Four thousand."

"Right."

"The sheet said four hundred."

"I know."

Alexander felt the blood leave his face. "I added a zero."

"You added a zero."

"It hadn't shipped?"

"I caught it before it went. Ten minutes later, a truck would've been on its way with four thousand boxes of tea towels." Daniel rubbed his forehead. "That's about eleven thousand dollars."

Alexander sat down very slowly.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"It's not okay. I would have fired someone for that."

"I know you would." Daniel gave him a small, tired smile. "You did, remember? Almost."

"Page nine."

"Page nine."

They sat there for a second. Alexander pressed the heel of his hand against his eyes.

"What do I do?"

"Nothing," Daniel said. "You learn to check the number twice. Everybody makes this one mistake. Mine cost us nine hundred bucks and Ms. Carter made me buy lunch for the floor."

"She did not."

"She did. Pizza. I hate pizza now."

Alexander let out a breath that was half a laugh.

"Here's how I check," Daniel said, and he pulled the laptop close and showed him.