Kari was hard at work in her two-room office, discussing a call she received regarding one of her employees.  The employee, Resheda Greene, stood in front of her desk with her hand on her hip.  She found it insulting to have to be there at all.

Kari didn’t like it any more than she did, but right was still right, and Resheda, all evidence suggested, was dead wrong.  “You had the second floor to clean at that motel,” Kari said to her.

“And I cleaned every room,” said Resheda with serious attitude.

But Kari was already shaking her head.  “No, Ree, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did!  I’m telling you I did!  What, Kari, you gonna believe that lady over me?  That lady lying, Kari!”

“Why, Ree?  Why in the world would she lie on you?”

“Because that’s what she does!  She doesn’t like black people, that’s what it’s about.  If you truly wanna know the truth.”

“I know the truth,” Kari said.  “After she phoned yesterday, I went over there myself and viewed every room, at least those that didn’t have a guest in them, that you were assigned to clean.  I saw those rooms with my own two eyes.”

Resheda’s confident look began to falter.  “And I’m sure you saw how clean they were,” she said, but without all the attitude.

“I saw the stained sheets you left on those beds,” Kari said.  “I saw the dirty tub and showers where you didn’t even try to clean.  I saw the dust.  I saw the dirt.  It was a shame what I saw!  It was as if you walked into those rooms, and you walked your ass right back out.  A couple rooms didn’t even have their beds made up, Ree!”

“I made those beds,” Resheda insisted.

“Those beds weren’t made, Resheda.  Now don’t play with me.”

“I still say every one of those beds were made.  That lady probably threw the covers off of them when she found out you were coming to investigate, just to spite me.”

Kari couldn’t believe she went there.  “And did she put the dust and the dirt and the filth in those rooms too, to spite you?”

“She might have,” Resheda said.

“Yeah, right,” said Kari.  “And I might have too.  And Dez might have.  And Peter, Paul, and Mary might have.  Yeah.  Sure.  I’m going to have to let you go.”

Resheda’s look was less defiant and more fearful now.  She needed that paycheck.  “You believe her?” she asked.  “How can you believe that cracker over me, after all I did for you, Kari?”

Kari frowned at Resheda.  She spoke with disbelief in her voice.  “After all you did for me?  What your ass did for me?”

“I kept your business going.  That’s what I did!”

“You what?”  Kari stood on her feet.  “Bitch when?”

“Many times!”

“She’s delusional, Boss,” said Dezzamaine, Kari’s secretary.

“Bump you, black sambo!” Resheda shouted at Dez.  “Ain’t nobody talking to you!”

But Kari was talking to Resheda.  “You’re fired,” she said to her bluntly.  She tried to let the girl down easy, but she had to go there?    “Effective right now.  You are fired!  You may leave.”

Resheda stared at Kari, and then turned to leave.  But then she turned back, leaned back, and huffed-up a big wad of spit that landed right on Kari’s face.  “Fire that, bitch!” Resheda yelled, her face triumphant.

Kari didn’t fire it, but she jumped over her desk and, to Resheda’s total shock, grabbed Resheda by the hair and ran with her until she threw her against the wall.  She then slapped her, backslapped her, and then grabbed her and dragged her and pushed her out of the exit door.

Dez stared at Kari.  She’d never seen her that angry before.  About damn time!  “That’s how you tell a bitch,” she said as if she was fighting Resheda too.

But Kari couldn’t find the humor.  She wiped the spit from her face with her shirt-sleeve, and then headed back to her desk.  Tears wanted to appear in her eyes.  She hated to be reduced to that kind of person.  But she’d go there every time, if pushed.

Dez hurried to the window as Kari went back behind her desk.

“She’s gone?” Kari asked.

“Yeah, that witch gone.  Talking about her lazy butt saved your company.   The nerve!”

Kari’s cell phone began ringing.  “Mail out her last check,” she said to Dez.

Dez was surprised.  “Before Payroll?” she asked.

“Yes, now.  I don’t want her butt in this office to pick up shit.”

“Yes, ma’am.  I’ll get right on it.”

Kari looked at her Caller ID, then answered her phone.  “Hey, Benny, what’s up?”

It was Benny Church.  “How are you?”

“I’ve been better.  What’s up?”

“A lady who gets to the point this morning,” Benny said.  “Okay, okay.  I feel you.  But listen, I’m calling because I was talking with a member of your security team.”

Kari was still reeling from the encounter with Resheda.  She could barely concentrate on what Benny was telling her.  “Right,” she said.

“Well, one of them, guy called Hawkeye, was telling me about that shooting earlier today.”

Shooting?  That got Kari’s attention.  “What shooting?” she asked.

“Okay, you don’t know?  He thought I already knew because he assumed you had told me.”

Kari frowned.  “What are you talking about, Benny?  Told you what?  And what shooting?”

Ben exhaled.  “This is the deal.  I got it secondhand, okay, so take that with a grain of salt.  But this is the deal.  It seems that somebody attempted to assassinate Alex in Munich today.”

Kari slowly stood to her feet.  Her heart was hammering.  “Assassinate?”

“He wasn’t hurt,” Benny quickly added.  “He’s fine.  Thank God.  And he took out the shooter.  But it was real close I’m hearing.  Really close, Kari.”

Kari couldn’t believe it.  She couldn’t believe it!  “I’ve got to . . .  I’ve got to,” she started.

“No need to try to call him,” said Benny quickly.  “I’ve tried already.  His phone goes straight to Voice Mail.  The word I’m getting is that he’s still being interrogated by the police, hours after the incident, and his cell phone is off.  Word is also that his entire security detail, and I’m talking en masse, are frantically searching for whomever hired the shooter, and they aren’t answering phones either.  It’s kind of tense there right now.  Because it was such a close call.”

And Kari made a decision.  Just like that.  She made a decision!  “Will you and Faye keep an eye on Jordan while I’m gone?” she asked him.

“You know we will.  But where are you going?”

But Kari had already ended the call.  She grabbed her purse, keys, and phone, and began hurrying for the exit.

“Contact the travel agent,” she said to Dez.

“Now?”

“Now!”

“Why?” Dez asked, although she was already picking up her desk phone.  “What’s happened?”

“I need to catch the first thing smoking to Germany.  To Munich.  Get me a flight.”

“I’m on it,” Dez said.  “But is everything okay?” She began pressing the relevant numbers on the desk phone.  “Kari?”

But when she looked back up, Kari had already left the building.