The Stone Beyond

bite back on her frustration and keep a calm, professional demeanor. “I won’t make the same mistake again, Dean.”
After a tense moment, Shin Xu said, “See that you don’t."
But Jennifer could already see the position her chief administrator had put her in. Jennifer had taken a position against privatization, that had been true; but it had caused her to quit and not be fired. And she’d spoken to the crowd in advance of the hospital’s position. It was only a violation of the rule to not say anything at all which had gotten her into any real trouble and given the hospital any real reason to take a position on her one way or the other.
So Jennifer was being maneuvered into a trap, where anything she might do would be considered a pattern of bad behavior and grounds for dismissal.
“And what about the security guards and the janitors,” Shin Xu asked, “how are you getting on with them?”
Jennifer smiled as yet another piece of Shin Xu’s campaign against her fell into place. The janitors and the security guards were the groups on the hospital grounds most eager for a strike, and in the position to disrupt the hospital to the greatest effect. The only other group that were reasonable candidates were the orderlies, and that was a circumstance so dire that Jennifer didn’t even want to consider the possibility; looming, though it was.
And if they did, Jennifer could be held responsible by anybody creative enough to want to see it, or describe it that way. If the guards and janitors struck, Jennifer as their ersatz emissary could be considered either a failure or, worse, an inside-conspirator. If they did not strike, she would get little credit for the fact, as her only real job was to press them to kill the rats and chase off the vagrants. And trying to get those jobs done, they might just strike, leaving Jennifer to appear as if she drove them off by driving them too hard.
She was in a no-win position, Jennifer knew Shin Xu must have been thinking.
And Jennifer wasn’t surprised to hear Shin Xu say, “The reason I called you here, Miss Carlisle, is that I’m afraid you’re going to try to use this … this unfortunate crisis to your own ends.”
“Are you?”
“I am.”
“You mean I want to climb the corporate ladder by making myself a celebrity over this … this public relations catastrophe we’re all sitting on.”
“Precisely that,” Shin Xi said. “But I won’t have it. Are we clear?”
Clear, Jennifer thought, funny you should put it that way. Now let me be clear… But she knew she couldn’t afford it, her father couldn’t afford it, and who knew what it would mean for the hospital. With her history, being fired could draw the exact kind of bad publicity they were all trying to avoid. And if that did happen, Jennifer could easily see herself taking the blame, once again bringing things around to her father, whose recommendation was responsible for her getting the job in the first place.
But there was a decreasing rate of benefit to letting Shin Xu walk all over her, and Jennifer felt they were fast approaching it. So practical and beneficial or not, Jennifer said, “What’s clear to me is that you’re using all this as an opportunity… to get rid of me, any way you can!” Shin Xu didn’t even bother to contradict her. Instead she merely smiled. So Jennifer went on, “But I’m not going to give you the satisfaction, Shin Xu. So for now, I’ve had enough of your bullying and your nasty little snarling face. And don’t think you can fire me for this. I do have rights.”
“They’ll cost you dearly,” Shin Xu said. “And not you alone.”
“Don’t you threaten my father!” Jennifer stood up, Shin Xu watching from her chair behind her desk. “You can do what you want to me … or you can try … but leave my father out of it!” With that, Jennifer turned to step out of the office, certain she’d walked right into the chief administrator’s hands.

CHAPTER FOUR
“I don’t trust that woman,” Jennifer said to her father as they walked together down the hospital hallway.
“She’s just trying to do what he thinks is right for the hospital, I’m sure.”
“She thinks firing me is best for the hospital? She told me when she hired me that she didn’t like me, that she considered it nepotism.”
Burton shrugged. “But … you’re perfectly qualified.”
“That she considered it nepotism. And the chief of surgery … you … just happens to be my father; so she might have a point. But I’m not going to let her manipulate me into a suicide position.”
Burton offered up a little chuckle. “I’m sure it’s not as bad as all that, hon — Jennifer. She’s stern, she’s probably just putting you to the test to see what you can do, to get the very best out of you.”
Jennifer had a hard time believing it, but she wanted to give her father the benefit of the doubt, as always.
“I guess you’re right. But … mark my words, she’s setting me up for a fall.”
“Well, if that happens,” Burton said, “I’ll be there for you, every step of the way.”
Jennifer couldn’t avoid saying, “To pick up the pieces?”
Burton smiled and walked away without the little kiss he normally would have given her. Jennifer knew she had to ask him to refrain from the paternal practice, that he treat her as an equal and a professional; that was what he’d wanted before the move. But at the same time, Jennifer had to admit that she enjoyed the little kisses, and going without them resonated in her heart and soul. Things had changed, she had changed, in the ways he’d wanted; she couldn’t explain the emptiness and loneliness she