myself. Calm down and look around you. You know all the people in the office; you got a guard post right in front of your office. That jerk Jeff might just have killed himself. I relaxed a little. ‘I’ll give you a drive.’ Tom said. I tensed. That was weird; Tom never gave me a drive in my life. I nodded glumly. As he left the room first, I quietly pulled the pistol out of my drawer and strapped it to my belt, hidden under my suit. I followed him and we left the office together. When we reached the aisle before the guard post, Tom suddenly stopped. He reached for his pocket and jerked around almost the same time, facing towards me. Fear glinted in his eyes as I pulled the pistol out and pointed towards him. ‘Put down the gun Tom!’ I bellowed. ‘What the heck boss? What on earth are you doing! Listen to me, I know what is happening! Jeff ain’t no madman! He was killed!’ Tom spluttered. ‘I know, Tom. I know it’s you. Pull out the gun kick it towards me, now!’ ‘No! You don’t understand! I am not the killer!’ Tom said, as he pulled out a black, shiny object from his pocket. I knew he was trying to distract me. I had watched my share of gangster movies to know what he was trying to pull off. I didn’t give him the chance and put two bullets right in the front of his chest. Tom gurgled and fell. ‘Guard! Come over here! This man was trying to kill me! Call the police!’ I yelled towards the guard post. The bald guy hurried over and stared at me with wide eyes. ‘What are you staring at? Call the police!’ I said, exhausted. I crouched down to retrieve Tom’s weapon. He was not dead yet, and his eyes darted from me towards the guard, and from the guard to me again. These guards are so dumb that they don’t even understand orders. They even let an employee carry a firearm into my office! I gotta fire them all. A cold object poked my temple. ‘Jesus Christ man, you have got to be the only person I kill without guilt.’ The guard said, his finger behind the trigger. I stared up with disbelief. ‘I guess that your friend here, who’s about to die because of you, was trying to call the police.’ The guard said, as he pulled the black shiny object from Tom’s pocket. It was a phone. ‘Smart guy, must have figured out I am the gunner.’ The guard smiled sadly. ‘Pity, ruined by your smart ass boss.’ He turned towards me again. ‘How…why…’ I was speechless. Then I spotted the name tag pinned neatly on his shirt. My look of surprise, realization and horror stared back at me from the shiny surface of the gold, metallic name tag. “John”, it said. *
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