CHAPTER ONE
Clive Barstaple laced his fingers under his chin and stared out at his open-plan kingdom through the glass of his office window. The Big Brother overview had been installed on his instructions so the staff would know they were under his constant scrutiny. Most of them were now so cowed, so scared of losing their jobs, that one frowning glance through that shiny screen was enough to pale even the ruddy features of Hal Gallagher.
His Kingdom. It might only be a temporary kingdom, but he still thought of it that way. His services as interim manager hired from his own consultancy firm which specialised in rationalisation gave him that sense of potency, of power that he craved. He liked to watch all the little wage slaves, heads bowed, beavering away, knowing that his recommendati
