Awakening, 2nd edition Read Online Free PDF Page B

you—you rarely get to see a punch that good. And you know what happens after a good punch.”
    “So what did you do?”
    “What do I do? I just walk over there, take ‘em . . .” Dan extended his right hand with its huge hilly palm and abruptly curled his fingers into a huge fist. “The boyfriend was a quick thinker, no problem with that guy. These two . . . they were kinda slow. Just what I need. So when my guys got there, the fellas were ready for an ambulance.”
    “Impressive, ” Alex said seriously.
    “You bet. That ’s where all this stuff comes in handy. And you—you ’ve got to be bored to death at your place.”
    “No. Not really.”
    “So what do you need all this paraphernalia for?”
    Dan liked interjecting exotic words occasionally though he didn’t always know their exact meaning.
    “First, just for the sake of it. So I don ’t get bored to death. Second , it helps at work.”
    “What do you mean, it helps? Helps with what?”
    “Helps being a manager.”
    “Helps being a manager? Don ’t you all just talk? What difference does it make?”
    “It doesn’t matter what you do. It still helps.”
    “No way.”
    “All right. You ’re like a manager for your guys, aren ’t you?”
    “Yeah. So?”
    “Do they respect you?”
    “You bet. They better.”
    “Would they still respect you the same way if you were half the size you are now?”
    Dan laughed. The guy at the next bench shuddered and stopped exercising.
    “I’d be out of work if I was that small.”
    “Not literally half the size , ” Alex elaborated patiently . “Just significantly smaller. But with all kinds of martial arts training. Karate, aikido, you name it.”
    Dan scratched his chin.
    “That may work. But you gotta be really good at that. Or they ’ll smash you into a wall along with all your kicks and blocks. I ’ve got this guy on the team, name ’s Randy, he ’s like that. This tall , ” Dan put his palm next to his shoulder, “but does the job. Saw him taking out some big guys.”
    “So if you were just like him, would that be good?”
    “What’s good about it? It ’s so much better if they wet their pants as soon as they see me coming.”
    “This Randy, do the other guys respect him?”
    “They sure do.”
    “Just like they respect you?”
    “Are you kidding again? I ’m the boss. Plus he ’s got no presence.”
    “No paraphernalia?”
    “Yeah. Now you ’re getting it.”
    “So it helps a boss to have presence?”
    Dan snorted.
    “But I’m a bouncer. Not one of them talkers. Man, you ’ve got it all mixed up again.”
    Alex smiled.
    “Forget it. Let ’s go do squats.”
    They stood up. Even at this place full of ripped muscles, people looked at them as they paced slowly to the opposite side of the gym.
    “Why don’t you drive by this Friday night?” asked Dan while they were stacking weights. “It ’s been forever. We ’ve got new tables. Plus chicks, music, you know . . .”
    Alex shook his head.
    “I’d love to. But not this week. Got a workshop to attend.”
    “What workshop?”
    “Some management strategies.”
    “Sounds like boring crap. Is it any use to you?”
    “Not really. But I ’m going anyway. Some important people want me there.”
    This time Dan nodded in full understanding.
     
    Joan
     
    In the long-awaited quiet of her office, Joan could finally have her minute of relaxation. The long day had been quite tough. The firing —or, as they say in business language, ‘the employment termination procedure ’—towards the end didn ’t make it any easier.
    She lowered herself into her black leather—look chair.
    Stewart is definitely too green for this. In front of him sits a six -foot -tall bloke who ’s been told at least a hundred times to stop resting and start working. And now this slacker sits there and in plain English informs Stewart that he ’s not going anywhere because he—imagine that—wasn ’t given any advance notice. Never mind that he has