Excerpt: Everest

"You weren't here on Friday," Guy started.
"I took a personal day."
Marcus put his cup down on the top of his monitor and sat down, turning his back on Guy. Not that it would make a difference.
"Went fishing? You know it's not very repsonsible if you take a personal day for things like that. No wonder you'll never get promotion."
Marcus couldn't stand the sound of Guy Trevor's voice. He had a surfer accent, which was annoying even without such a high pitched voice. It wasn't strange that dogs hated Guy if you considered his voice was probably right on pitch with one of those sounds only dogs could hear.
"I went to the beach, if you must know."
Marcus started up his e-mail client and waited. The machine was so old, he had to take a break for almost a full minute now. He turned his chair around just in time to see Guy puff up.
"To the beach! Big old mister Everest thinks he can just take a sick day to take his kids to the beach. Mister Cardigan will hear of this."
Marcus had had it. Maybe it was the conversation he'd had with Uriel, maybe it was just about time, but he'd had it. "I don't have kids, or a wife, Guy. I was on the beach in Monaco, if you must know. Well, only the second and third day. On the first day I killed a man that called himself Johnny Marakesh. I stowed away on his yacht, then I shot him in the kneecaps and threw him overboard for the sharks. Then I sailed the yacht back to the port and got so stammering drunk in the hotel bar that I don't even remember how I woke up with three women in bed with me. Does that sound like something I can take a personal day for, Guy?"
Guy had gone quiet. Marcus crossed his arms in front of him and waited. Guy finally made up his mind.
"That's sick. You have a twisted imagination, Everest. Cardigan will hear about this. You're gona lose your job this time."
Marcus sighed in frustration, rubbed the bridge of his nose and looked at Guy through narrowed eyes. "Di you really have nothing better to do with your time, man? Seriously, can you tink of nothing you would rather do than bother me?"
"Not really. Did you pick up any miniature airplanes in _Monaco_?"
"Yeah. Have a nice day now."