Chapter 3The executive offices of International Resource Corporation were elegant. They swallowed up the thirtieth through thirty-fifth floors of the Eastern Bank building. The thirty-fifth floor was known to the rest of the corporation as “Upstairs.” It housed five senior vice presidents and, at its innermost sanctum, two executive vice presidents and the president.
In one of the three office suites of the inner sanctum, Michael Hayward stood staring out the window at the afternoon skyline. Evening traffic that didn't move jammed the streets. Pedestrians ran in seemingly random directions, making their way to their cars to further the congestion. He moved his eyes upward, and his reflection smiled back at him.
His salt-and-pepper hair and mature good looks would soon be featured in the
