The Monday morning after the agency's DuPont meeting in Raleigh, Jack walked down the hall in the direction of his office on the 6th floor of the Systel Building in downtown Fayetteville expecting to find an email scheduling a conference call to discuss the meeting. The email never arrived.
As he approached his office, Christine Robertson came out of her office and stopped him.
Oddly, she started whispering to him.
"They took you off of DuPont."
Jack was stunned. He had never considered, nor had he ever heard of, anything like this happening in the agency. He had expected that the two bosses, Director Undercash in Raleigh and Steve Mazda in Fayetteville, would want to learn more from him about DuPont Fayetteville Works. The fact that they never spoke or asked questions during a lengthy presentation about the large DuPont industrial site with its multiple chemical manufacturing plants and complex chemistry, suggested to Jack they might be overwhelmed by all the information.
The two agency bosses had sat there in silence during the entire meeting. When the DuPont environmental manager failed to respond to Jack's comments, the bosses sat very still and never spoke a word. It was as if the bosses were "agency statues" placed in the room to give the meeting a certain holiness during the presentation by the DuPont representative, like the holy statues surrounding the students in church as they knelt in pews at Mass before the beginning of a Catholic school day. While driving back to Fayetteville after the meeting in Raleigh, Jack had reflected on how it felt like they were there simply to get their marching orders and talking points from DuPont. Why so much timidity? Why such a lack of professional curiosity?
"They gave DuPont to me," Christine added.
Jack went into his office and checked his email. Nothing at all. He stared at his computer screen swept up in a feeling of eeriness and foreboding.
Later that morning the Fayetteville boss, Steve Mazda, stepped into Jack's office and stood at the door. He stared at Jack with an angry look on his face, but never said a single word. After only a minute, he turned and left, still carrying an angry expression.
What is happening? Why is he angry? Was the DuPont meeting somehow a major setback to Steve Mazda's often stated goal of getting promoted to a supervisor position in Raleigh by Director Undercash. Why? Yes, DuPont is powerful. But Jack was the one most familiar with the DuPont chemical manufacturing plants at the Fayetteville Works site, and he was the one who spoke up at the DuPont meeting, not Steve. Jack thought about how it might take several days, but eventually Steve would tell him what was going on and why the Director wanted him removed from handling DuPont Fayetteville Works. It certainly seemed likely that Director Undercash was the driving force behind the decision to remove him as the engineer handling DuPont Fayetteville Works. Why such extreme fear? Why not just ask simple questions and listen?
Nearly everyone in the agency's division of air quality knew that Steve Mazda could be a bit hotheaded at times, but eventually after a few days he would always calm down and fully explain the situation. In Jack's view, Steve was a rising star in North Carolina's environmental agency. Harry knew all seven field office bosses and described Steve as head and shoulders above the others. He had a masters degree in science from NC State University, whereas most of the other bosses had degrees in engineering. Steve was bright, articulate, and not afraid of agency reform and modernization. He had a fundamentally curious nature, an essential quality in this type of work. He asked lots of questions, encouraged discussion, and wanted all available information put on the table for consideration. Steve's behavior with DuPont Fayetteville Works seemed completely out of character.
Jack thought again about how he might have to wait several days to gain an understanding of what was happening with Dupont Fayetteville Works and Director Undercash. Maybe Steve would explain the situation to him next week after some additional time to calm down. However, Jack was wrong about this. It was going to take much, much longer.
...
...
In the second part of Chapter 7, Jack and Harry meet at the Fayetteville Barnes & Noble on Friday evening one week after the DuPont meeting in Raleigh. Jack describes how Supervisor Mazda is too angry at him for them to have any type of conversation. Jack discusses his phone call to Anne Wordell of Human Resources asking for her help and advice. Soon after his call to Human Resources, Jack received a very short phone call from Director Overcash telling him that if he spoke to anyone about what was happening in the Fayetteville office it would be considered "insubordination." Director Undercash told Jack there would be a meeting in Raleigh in two weeks to discuss the situation in Fayetteville. Actually, it would take two months.
...
Harry and Jack are both puzzled by the Director's reference to "insubordination." What does that mean? Harry suggests that Jack make some phone calls to a few agency old-timers to make some sense of it.
- - -
cast of characters
