J. F. Gonzalez

THE CORPORATION

“Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power.”

— Benito Mussolini (1883-1945)

PROLOGUE

FROM the New York Times

January 17, 1937

By Carl Jensen,

Times Business Staff Writer

It was announced today in a press conference that Hubert Marstein, the former President of Alexander Steel Corporation, is forming a private firm with businessmen Robert A. Mueller and Lance Erickson. The firm, Corporate Financial Consultancy Group, will be run out of an office on 202 Madison Avenue, and will primarily be a financial consultancy firm.

Mr. Marstein is credited with building Pittsburg head-quartered Alexander Steel to a level unprecedented in the industry. Their overall status in the industry rivals that of U.S. Steel. Alexander suffered only minimal losses in the stock market crash of 1929. Union officials say their stock has held steady for eight years due to strong-armed tactics that ex-employees of the company described as enforced slavery. Union official Jack Bryant was quoted as saying (continued page 43).

* * *

FROM FINANCIAL TIMES, April 1948

…in an unprecedented move, Rikon, the premier manufacturer of home radio equipment, announced today that they have retained Corporate Financial Consultancy Group of New York to manage the company’s finances and help move them to a more stable position after nearly declaring bankruptcy last June.

Corporate Financial Consultancy Group is one of the top Financial Services companies in New York and have assisted such firms as Sears Roebuck, Ford Motor Company, and Edison in various business dealings. Formed by the former president of Alexander Steel Corporation, Hubert Marstein, the firm’s top consultants will be on hand at Rikon’s Headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee to help oversee a revamped business plan that will attract (continued page 45).

* * *

EXCERPT FROM PRESIDENT’S message from the Employees Newsletter for the Automobile Club of Southern California

September, 1959

“…I’d like to extend a warm thank you to Arthur Adkins and Jerry Sprecher of Corporate Financial Consultancy Group, who were instrumental in assisting in the development of the Club’s long-term business plan. As we approach the close of this decade we are working at putting all we have planned into action to ensure the next ten years are more successful, which will ensure increased profits, better service to our members, and richer rewards for our loyal employees.”

* * *

LIST OF INDIVIDUALS and companies targeted by Weather Report, a radical anti-war group whose members were arrested at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago and had been under investigation for over a year. It was later proved by the FBI that the group was planning to plant explosives in their buildings or outright assassinate key figures.

NBC News

General Motors

Former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson

Senator Barry Goldwater, Republican (Arizona)

The John Birch Society

Chevron

Amoco

General Electric

Kraft Foods

Senator John Glenn, Democrat, Ohio

Congressman Alfred A. Wellman, Republican, Florida

Reverend Billy Graham

Elvis Presley

Aetna

Prudential Life Insurance

Firestone

United Airlines

John Wayne

Merle Haggard

Corporate Financial Consultancy Group

The Walt Disney Corporation

* * *

JUNE 5, 1974 — Mt. St. Helena, CA.

The naked man knelt before the altar.

The altar was comprised of heavy stone, imported from Wales. Hanging above the altar, fastened securely to the wall, was a gold crucifix, displayed upside down.

Directly behind the man, scrawled on the floor in blue chalk, was a large pentagram.

Black candles were placed strategically along the five points of the star and were lit.

The naked man was prostrate before the cross, eyes closed, arms raised in supplication. His lips moved, the Latin coming to him effortlessly, by memory.

In time, he rose to his feet and stepped back into the confines of the pentagram. Then, he sat down cross-legged and waited.

Outside, the sun slipped behind the peaks of the mountains, casting brilliant shafts of sunlight through the large plate glass windows that lined the west side of the house. The man had the house custom built six years ago and rarely had guests. Occasionally he brought a lover up to his lofty abode but he never let anybody set foot in this room. His ritual chamber.

The smoke from the candles rose, their scent intoxicating. The man remained sitting on the floor cross-legged, eyes closed, waiting.

And after a moment, it came.

* * *

NOVEMBER 4, 1989

Atlanta, GA

It was one of those days when Lori Masterton had to drag herself out of bed in order to hit the highway to be at work on time for her job at Corporate Financial in downtown Atlanta.

When she arrived at the office and was informed by her boss, Oliver Hyman, that her department was going to accompany him and his entire team of consultants to a meeting across town with their latest client, Automated Technical Corporation, Lori put on her best false face and gathered her things. Whatever. She had shit to do today and if her numbfuck of a boss wanted to waste it by having her sit in on a meeting she wasn’t going to get anything out of, that was his business. She was still getting paid.

Lori drove to the client company’s building with her co-worker Ken Miller. Their third cohort, Linda Alvarez, had called in sick. “Wonder what this is about?” Ken yawned over his cup of Starbucks.

“Who knows?” Lori said. All she cared about was running the graphics pit for the company; it was what she was hired to do, and she liked it. It kept her out of the bullshit Oliver’s consultants did, which was consult and advise their clients on how to run their businesses and save money.

When they arrived at the building and were ushered into the conference room, Lori grabbed some coffee. Oliver was already there with his staff—the best and brightest MBAs he could bribe fresh out of business school. They were all dressed impeccably and conferred with each other, occasionally talking and laughing. The people Lori didn’t recognize were obviously the financial echelons of Automated Technical who requested this session. Lori opened her spiral pad notebook, sat back, and waited to be bored out of her skull as Oliver rose to his feet and set the meeting to order.

She was bored quickly. She sipped coffee, doodled in her note-pad, and ignored the rest of her Corporate Financial co-workers who also feigned interest. Oliver went on his spiel about how they—Corporate Financial—were going to save Automated Technical a ton of money. He droned on in his Wall Street spiel about P&E this, earnings ratio that, and after awhile his voice became a low drone in Lori’s consciousness. She looked around the room. It looked like even some of Oliver’s MBA stars were glazing over, and then she was shaken to rude awakeness when she heard Oliver say, “…recommend you stop insuring the last year of life.”

The numbness was gone. The boredom was gone. Lori looked around the room, wondering if she’d heard that correctly. One of the things Automated Technical wanted advice on was their self-insured medical plan for their employees. She looked down at her notepad, which contained no notes. She caught the gaze of Naomi Walker, one of the newer MBA consultants, who was fresh out of the University of Chicago. She looked just as confused as Lori felt.

Oliver stopped mid-spiel. “Is there something I missed?”

Lori didn’t know what to say, and judging by the stunned looks on everybody’s faces, it appeared everybody was showing the same collective disbelief at what Oliver had said a moment ago.

“Let me clarify what I said,” Oliver said. He had been pacing in front of the white board and Lori saw he’d written recommendations in red marker. “Corporate Financial’s recommendation on saving money on your self-insured Health Care Insurance for your employees is that you stop insuring people during the last year of their life.”

There were several gasps in the room. Lori’s was one of them.

Wide eyes directed their stunned attention at Oliver.

“Well, as you know, most medical expenses are incurred during the last year of life,” Oliver explained. “They’re also the most expensive.” He said this as if it was the most normal and logical thing to say and that they were being obtuse for needing it explained further.

Lori could only think, I can’t believe I’m hearing this. The company that I and everyone else around me works for has just recommended to their client, who has a self-insured plan for their employees health insurance, to stop insuring people during the last year of their lives because that’s when they need the most care, and if they want to save some money well, they should just stop it right now!

Did I just hear that right?

Lori could tell she wasn’t the only Corporate Financial employee thinking this. The vibe she got from Ken, from Naomi, from Jack Snow and Herb Willis and Candace Baker appeared to mirror her own.

Oliver took a step or two back. He blinked; he looked totally confused by the reaction.

“What if the insured is an infant?” This from Naomi Miller, her voice puzzled. “A baby, under one year of age? I don’t understand.”

“That would be the last year of its life then,” Oliver said.

Luke Farris, the VP of Automated Technical, who invited Corporate Financial to help brainstorm methods on how the consultant group might be able to help save his company, appeared shaken. “That’s very interesting. What other methods would you recommend?”

And with that the subject was changed and Oliver continued his spiel, but by now Lori had had it with her boss. Judging by the climate among her co-workers—most of them, at least—they’d had it with him, too. She didn’t even attempt to take notes at the meeting, and when she and Ken drove back to the office she vented her fury. “What kind of fuckwad would recommend such shit? I can’t believe it!”

As for Naomi Miller, the consultant who’d questioned Oliver at the meeting, that was the last time Lori saw her. She later heard Oliver fired Naomi that afternoon.

Lori herself was fired two weeks later. Her dismissal came as a relief. She had been wanting to quit ever since that meeting with Automated Technical. Prior to that meeting, which she was sure she’d remember for the rest of her life, things had been okay at Corporate Financial. It had its good side and its bad side, and Oliver could be a real corporate pain in the ass, but for the most part it was okay.

Not anymore.

Things started changing after the meeting. In fact, it probably happened prior to the meeting, with Oliver, because shortly after the meeting one of the other consultants, Jack Snow, started behaving differently. Lori could never put her finger on what it was that made the vibe at work so different now, and she was glad to be rid of it when Oliver let her go.

Good riddance.

* * *

JUNE 2, 1995

Calistoga, California

Of all the companies Kyle Bauer visited on his daily UPS runs, the National Headquarters of Corporate Financial was the most impressive.

It also gave him the creeps.

It was a warm, sunny day when Kyle pulled his brown paneled van up to the front entrance. Ninety percent of his deliveries were made at the rear of the building, near the company warehouse. Kyle had never paid much attention to the building or the people until recently, when his boss told him that the executives of the firm made a recent request that certain packages addressed to them were to be delivered to security in the front lobby. The executives in question received packages every few days, and when Kyle walked through the thick double glass doors of the lobby to security he immediately got a whiff of the ambience of the place. It was corporate, sterile, very polished, just like all the other corporate lobbies of the other companies he made his UPS deliveries too. The people who worked in the offices looked similar, too; they looked dressed for the part in business suits and skirts, hair neatly groomed. Corporate American worker bees were indistinguishable everywhere.

But this place was different.

Kyle gathered three packages, one of them for Frank Marstein, CEO of Corporate Financial. Mr. Marstein had been getting a lot of these flat packages lately. Probably some kind of weekly financial reports. Kyle gathered the packages and his clipboard and walked to the lobby.

He ignored the feeling he got as he made his way across the lobby and headed to security. A guy in a blue three piece suit glanced at him briefly as he walked in, momentarily torn away from The Wall Street Journal, and then resumed his reading. Kyle set the packages on the security desk and waited for the guard to approach.

The security guard was a balding guy in his forties dressed in a navy blue suit. His ramrod posture suggested former military. He looked at Kyle, his features bland. “Can I help you?”

Kyle felt a trickle of unease. This security guard asked him the same thing every time he came in for a delivery. Either he was incredibly stupid or he had no short-term memory. Kyle said, “UPS delivery.”

The guard looked at each package, noted the addressee, nodded and looked at Kyle. “Very good,” he said. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Can you sign in, please?” The guard indicated a sign-in log at the desk for business visitors.

They went through this every time Kyle was here. Usually Kyle just signed the damn log book, but this time he hesitated. “Don’t you think it’s a waste? I mean, I’m here less than a minute. I sign my name, and the arrival and departure time I put in are the same. Besides, I’m leaving now. Why—”

“Company policy,” The guard said. His features remained bland. He looked at Kyle, no change in his expression. No sign of annoyance, or displeasure, or anger or even humor at the absurdity of the policy. Just blank indifference.

Kyle sighed and signed the log book quickly, scrawling the times, then set the pen down. “Have a good day,” he said as he walked away.

The security guard nodded and remained at his post, watching while Kyle Bauer walked through the lobby toward the exit.

And as he left he couldn’t help but think that everybody he passed—the businessman reading The Wall Street Journal, the businessmen talking in a little group at the exit, the smartly dressed businesswoman passing him as she entered the building, the groups of people gathered outside talking, were secretly watching him. This wasn’t the first time he’d felt this way. He got this feeling every time he set foot in the Corporate area of Corporate Financial. It was very slick, very… corporate. No, that was the wrong word. He’d made deliveries at corporate offices before, some just as high-level and polished and slick as this place. The atmosphere at this place was different. It was hard to describe, but it felt…

Well, creepy.

Kyle Bauer exited the lobby and made his way to his van, trying not to give the impression he was fleeing, but he couldn’t help it. It felt like the people he passed were watching him secretively, that the people working in the offices were watching him, that the people who had work stations by the windows that looked out over the parking lot were watching him, but he knew that was insane. He’d looked up at the building numerous times on his way in and out of the building and everything looked normal. People hadn’t been looking at him, peering at him as he left the building. Still, he got the feeling every time he left the lobby and he also felt something else, something that was of a greater magnitude.

He felt there was a greater presence somewhere in the building watching his every move.

Kyle slid behind the wheel of the van and started the engine. He pulled away from the curb, trying to stay calm as he headed out of the parking lot. The feeling that he was being watched persisted the entire time he was on Corporate Financial Consultancy property and it didn’t diminish until he was heading to his next stop. In fact, the minute he made a right turn onto the main road into town, the feeling stopped, as if a door had been suddenly slammed shut behind him. Kyle felt it instantly in his gut, knew that he was somehow safe, and as he headed to his next stop he told himself that when he got back to the distribution center he was going to put in a request for a route change.

CHAPTER ONE

MICHELLE DOWLING KNEW she’d aced the interview and that the job was hers the minute Sam Greenburg gave her a smile that suggested his recruitment efforts were over. “In my position it’s not every day I come across somebody with a resume quite like yours.”

“Really?” Michelle made no effort to draw him out. She sat in the chair in front of his desk, her posture perfect, right leg crossed over her left, dressed impeccably in a blue power suit. It was her second interview with Sam and she’d dressed just as professionally for the first. Had put on the same performance as well: she’d said all the right things, answered all his questions concisely, never pausing to elaborate or going off on an unrelated anecdote, asked all the right questions about the company and what the position would entail. She never used her sexuality to give her an edge, either. She dressed well, she was attractive, let her demeanor carry her through. That was her philosophy. It worked every time.

“Absolutely,” Sam said. He picked up her resume again, running through it. “It’s a nice solid mix of Business Intelligence, Information Technology, and computer graphics. It’s exactly what we’re looking for.”

Michelle tried to suppress the smile that threatened to burst across her face. “I’m glad to hear that.”

Sam Greenburg regarded her from across his large glass desktop. “Tell me something about your stint at Kaiser. You indicate you produced financial reports with Crystal. Did those include cubed reports?”

“Yes.”

Sam nodded, flipping through the resume. He was wearing a dark gray suit and his salt and pepper hair and goatee gave him more the appearance of a college professor than a corporate consultant. “And the sample you include here,” he said, pausing from looking at the resume to pluck a copy of a sample report Michelle had in her portfolio which she’d delivered to Sam two weeks ago during her first interview. The sample report consisted of fifty pages of text, bar graphs and flow charts. All professionally laid out and designed. “It’s very impressive. Something like this usually requires the work of two, sometimes three people. Not to mention a technical writer.”

“I do some technical writing, too,” Michelle said, stifling the urge to elaborate further. The excitement she was feeling as it became clear to her she was going to get the job eclipsed her common sense, but she quickly put an end to that.

“Again, I’m very impressed.” Sam put the report down on his desk and leaned forward, smiling. “There’s just a few minor details that need to be worked out and then I think we can go forward. How does that sound?”

“Great,” Michelle said.

“You indicated last time we spoke that you would be available to start immediately. Does that still stand?”

“Absolutely,” Michelle said. “I’m mostly doing 1099 contract work now and am on an assignment that ends this Friday. I don’t have anything lined up beyond that, so I can start anytime after that.”

Sam looked at his desk calendar. “Would Monday, April 3 be a problem?”

“Not at all.”

Sam looked satisfied. He stood up and Michelle rose from her seat. They shook hands over his cluttered desk. “I’ll be in touch with you by Thursday. Friday at the latest.”

“Okay,” Michelle said, so into the role of interviewee that it came natural to her. “Thank you again for the opportunity to speak with you. As I said earlier, I’m very impressed by Corporate Financial Services and I’m very eager to be a part of your team.”

“The feeling is mutual, Ms. Dowling,” Sam said, smiling. He motioned her to the door of his office and walked her out. As they walked down the hall past other offices and toward the bullpen of gray-walled cubicles, Sam said, “Corporate Financial Services is a great company to work for. I think you’ll find our corporate culture, benefits package, and career opportunities beneficial to your overall life plan. People who come on board Corporate Financial tend to make it their life work and stay for a long time. We have a very high level of employee satisfaction here, Ms. Dowling. The highest in Pennsylvania, in fact.” They reached the third floor lobby where the elevators were. Michelle pressed the down arrow button and Sam remained with her as she waited. “We have a good group of people here.”

“Yes, you do,” Michelle said, thinking about the technical team she’d met with during her first interview. The technical group was made up of men and women her age and older, and the team leader had been a jokester. She’d felt relaxed and at ease with them immediately.

“And the commute won’t be too long for you, either,” Sam said.

“No, it won’t. I can get here through back roads.”

The elevator dinged and Sam smiled as the doors opened and Michelle shook his hand a final time. “Thank you again for the interview Mr. Greenberg.”

“I’ll be in touch,” Sam said as she stepped into the elevator.

As she rode the elevator to the lobby, Michelle let out a sigh of relief. She felt tingly; giddy.

I’ve got it, she thought.

She’d hoped she would get the job the minute she finished the first interview. In a way it was a dream job because it would allow her to focus on her strengths—computer graphic design and technical writing. The financial reporting via Crystal Reports would be a minor hindrance, but only to the extent that she didn’t get a particular joy out of that type of work. She could do it, was very good at it in fact. But she held no overwhelming interest or passion for it. The other two portions of the job she could do in her sleep.

The official title for the job was Business Intelligence Design Architect. Whatever the hell that meant. The official job description, without all the corporate mega-speak, was that they wanted somebody who would be able to design and create financial reports using Crystal Reports (this, in itself, required knowledge of relational databases, most likely Oracle or SQL); compose technical documentation to go with the financial reports and gear it toward a wide variety of people; and create, design, and publish eye-catching manuals and web publications. Basically she’d be the back end support for the main Business Intelligence designers and sales people. The company itself was a financial and business consultant firm who assisted their clients—most of them large corporations like Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Prudential and other powerhouse firms—in maintaining their bottom line and running a cleaner, tighter ship. There would be some travel required, but she was used to that. They were looking for somebody with experience and skills in all of the main things the job required, as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Accounting, Finance, Computer Science, or five years of related experience. She lacked a degree, but had more experience and knowledge than most college graduates. Plus, she’d spent the better part of a decade at jobs that required Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees as a minimum requirement and had excelled in all of them.

And she knew from that first interview that Sam Greenberg was not only impressed by her credentials, he was impressed with her. Of course, she had pulled out all the stops in her performance; she’d asked the right questions, had put forth how interested she was in the position and the company, emphasized that she lived for her work, that it defined her, and she could tell he was sold. Reeling him in had been easy.

The elevator deposited her on the ground floor of the building and she exited, making her way to the security booth in the lobby. She stopped and found her name in the guestbook and signed out. The African-American guard behind the booth looked bored. Michelle set the pen down and smiled at him. “Have a nice day,” she said.

The guard nodded, still bored, and Michelle headed outside.

Downtown Lancaster was busy as always. As she made her way to the parking garage where she’d left her car, she tried to tell herself to not get her hopes up too much. Things could still back-fire. Sam, or somebody else above him, could change their mind about the position. There could be somebody else competing for the job that Sam might choose over her. There were a number of possibilities at play that might derail things.

But she truly hoped the job was hers.

For one, the firm itself was one she’d heard of and knew had been around for the better part of sixty years. A division of a firm with a similar sounding name, Corporate Financial Consultancy Group, the company had field offices in nearly every major city in the country and had satellite offices on every continent except Antarctica. There was a generous compensation package, along with matching 401k, a separate pension, and a health plan. During the interview Sam had mentioned casually that if she were in town in the winter during a snow storm, she could work from home remotely. That was a very attractive perk—most companies would rather have you come in and risk life and limb in an auto accident during a snow storm rather than let you work from home. And then there was the pay—

It was at least twice her present salary.

Michelle entered the garage on Prince Street and walked up the slight incline to her car, a 1999 Acura. She felt excited about this job. More excited about any job she’d ever interviewed for before. It still wasn’t her dream job—she’d probably never find her dream job since her tastes and skills were so narrow—but it seemed to be the next best thing.

Michelle Dowling drove home that afternoon feeling good for the first time about the future.

DONALD BECK, MD donned a rubber glove over his right hand as he asked his latest patient, a twenty-four year old male named Michael Brennan, who had come in complaining that he felt his right testicle had multiplied in size, to shuck his drawers.

The patient fumbled with his jeans nervously. Donald waited, rubber gloved hand held out and ready. The patient looked nervous, as if he were afraid of being labeled a fag because he was going to consent to having another man feel his balls. Donald could tell that thought was going through the young man’s mind as he slowly unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them down his skinny legs. He’d had similar patients matching this young man’s background come right out and express this fear, irrational that it was. Donald had pegged this patient the minute he walked into the examination room; uneducated with maybe a high school diploma, worked a blue-collar job (not that this was bad; he knew several men who worked as either mechanics or janitors who were smarter than people with college degrees), with a vocabulary that suggested he was a frequent watcher of The Man Show and Monday Night Football and that his idea of fine dining was going to Hooters. When Donald began his examination by asking the patient what the trouble was, the young man had been quick to emphasize that it was his girlfriend who told him his right nut had suddenly gotten bigger. “She kept telling me it was bigger,” the young man said. “She kept telling me it wasn’t normal and I should see a doctor.”

“Did you check it yourself?” Donald had asked casually.

“Um… ah… no,” Michael had responded, shuffling slightly. He looked embarrassed. “I mean… Suzie did the checking for me, you know what I mean?”

Donald knew what the young man meant. The patient didn’t want Donald to think he was queer for touching himself. What was the world coming to?

As they talked Donald felt the patient’s neck, checking his lymph nodes. He asked the patient to take off his shirt and then felt along his collarbone and under his armpits. Lymph nodes felt normal. He asked the patient to lie down and examined his abdomen; there was no tenderness, no abnormalities. Finally, he asked the patient to stand up and pull down his pants and underwear and that’s when the young man began displaying his nervousness.

Donald knelt down and, ignoring the young man’s obvious unease, examined both testicles. He took the patient’s scrotum in his hands gently and felt each testicle. The left was normal but the right was obviously larger. It was normal for one testicle to be slightly larger than the other, but this was abnormal. There was some definite hardness in the teste. “Does this hurt at all?” he asked the patient.

“No,” Michael said, grimacing slightly.

Donald gingerly examined the teste, rolling it around between thumb and forefinger, prodding as gently as possible. There was a hardness about the size of a small marble, and as his prodding fingers traveled along the organ he encountered the slightly spongier section of the teste. The patient hissed slightly. “Sorry,” Donald said. He released the man’s scrotum and stood up, pulling the rubber glove off. The young man had a slightly pale expression as he quickly pulled his pants up. “You didn’t notice this yourself?”

“No,” the young man said quickly. He buttoned his pants.

“When did your girlfriend notice it?”

A shrug. “A few weeks ago.”

“Any pain when you urinate?”

“No.”

“Have you been able to have normal sexual relations?”

“Oh yeah. I have no problem there.”

“Any painful ejaculations?”

A shake of the head.

“And you’re certain you haven’t felt this yourself?” Donald asked, watching his patient’s reaction. “Not even while dressing?”

“N…no,” the young man said. He sounded nervous. To Donald’s trained eye, the young man had noticed the sudden explosive growth of his right testicle and ignored it. Thank God his girlfriend pestered him into making this appointment. The young man would have likely continued ignoring the problem until it was worse. “Have you noticed any pain or discomfort anywhere else? Tingling at the base of your spine, perhaps? A numbness in any of your limbs?”

The patient shook his head. “No. Nothing like that.”

“Have trouble breathing?”

“No.”

Donald pulled a lab order out and began scribbling instructions on it. “I’d like to have a series of tests run. Blood work and a chest X-ray.” He paused as he finished completing the order and then tore the paper off and handed it to the patient, meeting his gaze. “And I’d like this done today.”

“Today?” The young man’s face fell. “I’ve got—”

Ignoring him, Donald continued. “It could very well be nothing, but I’d like to rule out testicular cancer. Blood work and a chest X-ray will help me with that diagnosis.”

“Cancer?” Now he had the young man’s attention. All the blood seemed to run out of his face. “You think I got cancer?”

“If it’s testicular cancer and your girlfriend is correct in saying she noticed the change in your testicle a few weeks ago, we caught it early,” Donald quickly said. “Even at a later stage, testicular cancer is highly curable.”

“But… it’s still cancer,” Michael said, his voice tinged with worry. “What will—”

Donald held up a hand to stop the patient. “Don’t worry about this yet. Get those tests done today and I’ll have the results back by tomorrow. If it is testicular cancer, I can put the order in to have you ready for surgery in three days at the latest.”

“Surgery?” The patient now looked terrified.

“It’s okay,” Donald said. He helped the young man off the examination table, putting his arm around his shoulders. “It might not even be testicular cancer. It might be something else. You’re sure you haven’t had any injury to that region recently?”

“No! But—”

“There could be a number of other factors,” Donald said. “It could be a cyst. That can be treated with medication. It can be a number of other things but we won’t know precisely until you get those tests done.”

“Testicular cancer?” The patient was clearly having a hard time dealing with this.

“Is highly curable.” Donald gave the young man a smile, hoping to put him at ease. “Trust me, Michael. If it is testicular cancer, it’s highly curable. In fact, out of every form of cancer out there, Testicular cancer is the most curable.”

“If it’s… if that’s what it is, how did I get it?” Michael asked. He appeared to be handling this better but his eyes still had a look that radiated pure fright.

“We still don’t know what causes testicular cancer, but it usually occurs due to a buildup of various proteins that are produced by the testes themselves. Of course other factors can be weighed in as well: smoking, excessive drinking, an exposure to radioactive material, a family history of cancer. Another cause is the overproduction of testosterone, which help produce sperm cells. Stimulate that production through fertility drugs and that can be a factor as well.”

Michael was listening now. Donald liked it when he had the undivided attention of his patients, especially those that were usually not prone to listening to their doctor’s advice. “So what do we do?”

“Get those tests done today. I’ll have the results tomorrow and I’ll call you and we’ll take it from there.”

“And if it is testicular cancer?”

“Then I’ll put in a request for you to undergo surgery at Lancaster General as soon as possible. Who’s your insurance carrier?”

“Red Rose Medical,” Michael said, his tone of voice suggesting his displeasure at his insurance company. “They’re not… well, they’re not very good, but it’s the only insurance I can get through my job. My deductible with them is pretty high.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Donald said, clapping Michael’s shoulder, trying not to let his own displeasure show through. Red Rose Medical was one of the worst insurance carriers he’d ever dealt with. Most claims sent their way were questioned, and a third of them were denied before they went through a Byzantine process before finally being paid grudgingly six months later. Donald had one patient who suffered from chronic asthma that had become so bad she was forced to breathe through a ventilator. Red Rose denied his claim for surgery to remove nodes from the lungs causing the asthma, claiming such surgery was not medically necessary. Donald had gone to bat for the patient, a thirty-eight year old single mother of three who lived in Marietta, and recruited a colleague of his, Dr. Edward Staley, a Pulmonologist, who refuted Red Rose’s absurd claim that the surgical procedure wasn’t medically necessary. Red Rose’s definition of medically necessary usually meant,’If the patient is on life-support and is going to die, then any medical procedure necessary to save the patient’s life is necessary. Anything else, forget it.’

Donald remembered that incident well. He and Dr. Staley had shown up at the lofty offices of Red Rose’s corporate office in King of Prussia ready to do battle. Present at the meeting had been the panel that listened to appeals, all of them corporate types with no background in medicine save for a quick trip through some Health Care Administration courses in college, and one physician, a substitute for Henry Wagner, MD, who was their only physician on the appeals board and usually sided with the corporate types despite the medical evidence; Donald was sure Wagner was paid handsomely for ignoring the Hippocratic oath. Wagner’s substitute turned out to be a last minute replacement and — surprise, surprise! —had once worked in Pulmonology as an Intern and now practiced Internal Medicine.

After Donald and Edward presented their case, along with their recommendations for immediate surgery for Mary Hess, they waited for the verdict. Several of the executives were conferring with each other in whispered tones and Donald had tried to pick up bits of the conversation. The executive sitting next to the substitute MD, Dr. Cantrell, was talking quietly with him and shaking his head. It was clear from the look on the executive’s faces that they didn’t like what Dr. Cantrell was telling them. Finally, the executive in charge turned to Donald and Edward. “What are the underlying causes of the patient’s asthma?”

“She was born with it,” Donald had said. “The diagnosis was originally made when she was nine months old and the patient has been on various antibiotics and medications since then. According to her medical records, her original pediatrician diagnosed acute asthma that would worsen when she entered her early teens. Mary went through her early teens fine, but the condition did worsen when she reached her twenties. Surgery was recommended at that time, but her insurance company instead opted for a high-level antibiotic therapy which she underwent with minimal success.” Donald had paused, taking a quick survey of the room, making sure his point was well made. “The nodes in her bronchial tubes have only gotten worse, forming bronchitis and heavy scarring in her lungs. Ms. Hess is highly susceptible to pneumonia. The slightest cold can lead to the condition and, left untreated, could kill her. She is now at the point where the condition will steadily worsen, filling her lungs with fluids and effectively drowning her. The antibiotics have had no effect on her now for the past three weeks and a ventilator is only prolonging the condition. Without surgery to excise the nodes and extract the fluid from her lungs, she will eventually require the assistance of a breathing machine, which will require permanent in-house care. This could lead to a number of conditions that could hasten her demise or prolong it; complete respiratory failure, being the chief one. That in turn will lead to a coma and my God, consider how much money that will cost if that were to happen?”

Eddie later told him that despite his obvious sarcasm at that last remark, his little speech had worked. It had helped that Bernie was filling in for the droid Red Rose had on their payroll who posed as a physician. Bernie had said a few words to the executive on his left and, judging by the man’s face, it was serious enough to merit his attention. The executive relayed Bernie’s message down to his colleagues and the verdict was rendered immediately. Mary Hess’s surgery would be paid in full, including all post-op care. Prolonging the life of their “member” wasn’t their primary focus; preserving their financial bottom line by paying the fifteen thousand dollars necessary for her surgery, as well as the five thousand dollars that would be required for the post-op work, was more attractive than millions of dollars paid out over the possibility of her lifespan, should she live that long after succumbing to complete failure of her respiratory system. That didn’t include the lawsuits that would no doubt be filed against Red Rose on her behalf by her family.

Donald remembered that incident quickly and smiled at Michael. He hoped his confidence would convey itself to the young man. “I’ve reduced the executives at Red Rose Insurance to cowering puppies, Michael. Don’t worry about them. You’re in my care and I’ll go to bat for you if we run into any trouble with them.”

“How much will the surgery cost?” Michael asked, his eyes wide, his features still bearing his nervousness.

“That’s not for you to worry about,” Donald said, putting his arm around Michael and leading him to the door of the examination room. “In fact, I don’t want you to worry about this. Doctor’s orders. You’re going to be fine.”

Michael paused at the door and turned to Donald. “This surgery… how… is it necessary even if it does turn out to be cancer? I mean… don’t they treat cancer with radiation or something?”

“If the blood work comes back showing the white and T cell activity that suggests cancer, then a surgical procedure called a radical inguinal orchiectomy is performed where an incision is made in the groin and the testicle is removed through it.”

“So you don’t, like, cut through the ball sac?”

“The scrotum? No, Michael.”

“You have to actually take it out?”

Donald continued with the condensed medical lesson. “It has to be removed to be examined in the lab to see what kind of cancer it is. If a tumor called seminoma is found and it is verified that we caught it early in the first stage, treatment will be the surgery itself and a mild dose of radiation therapy to the abdomen where the abdominal lymph nodes are. If the tumor is nonseminoma, then the lymph nodes in your abdomen will be removed following the radical inguinal orchiectomy, to be followed again by either radiation or chemotherapy. It’s difficult to tell you now what the treatment options are without knowing exactly what we’re dealing with, but it’s important that you get those tests done today.” Donald made his order clear with a direct look into Michael’s eyes. “Do you understand?”

Michael nodded, rubbing his face with a shaky hand. “Yeah. I understand.”

“Good.” Donald clapped his hand on Michael’s shoulder. “Get those tests done and I’ll call you tomorrow. And don’t worry… everything will be fine.”

“Will this… surgery… will it affect my sex life or my ability to have kids?” Michael’s voice was low, barely a whisper.

“Not at all,” Donald said. “You will be able to function normally within a few weeks after the surgery, and it won’t affect your fertility rate at all. In fact, I’ve had several patients who later became fathers after having undergone treatment for testicular cancer.” Donald smiled again. “You’ll be fine, Michael. I understand that the mere thought that you might have cancer is scary, but trust me when I say testicular cancer is highly curable. In fact, if you’d like, I can send a couple of pamphlets home with you that explain things further. Okay?”

Michael nodded. “Yeah.” He looked a little better. “That would be great.”

“I’ll get them and leave them with the front desk for you to pick up when you check out.” Donald checked the clock. He was three minutes late for his next appointment. “I’ll call you tomorrow with those test results,” he said.

“Okay. Thanks, doc.” Michael held out his hand and Donald shook it.

“No problem, Michael.”

As Donald headed back down the hall for his next appointment he made a mental note to confer with Dr. Schellenger at Lancaster Urological Medical Group regarding his probable diagnosis of testicular cancer for Michael Brennan. He would recommend Dr. Schellenger to perform the radical inguinal orchiectomy if his schedule permitted it, and he would let Dr. Schellenger’s Medical Assistant know that Red Rose was the insurance carrier just in case the two had to face the panel of men who thought they were doctors.

Just another day, Donald thought as he put on his best friendly physician’s face and entered Examination Room #4 to greet his next patient for the afternoon.

CHAPTER TWO

MICHELLE WAS SITTING in the cubicle that had been assigned to her for her latest gig—creating a data warehouse for a manufacturing firm—when her cell phone rang. She pulled it off her belt clip and answered. “Hello.”

“Michelle?” It sounded like Sam Greenberg.

“Speaking.”

“Sam Greenberg, Michelle.” She felt her hopes rise. “I’m calling to formally offer you the position. Is April 3 still a good start date for you?”

“Absolutely!” Michelle felt giddy with excitement. “I’ll be there bright and early.”

Sam laughed. “Wonderful. Let me be the first to welcome you to our team. I’m very glad to have you on board.”

“I’m glad to be a part of your team, Mr. Greenberg,” Michelle said. “Thank you.”

When she hung up she paused briefly, ignoring the flickering screen of the laptop in front of her. It was Friday, her last day on this assignment. She’d have a week off to relax and get things in order at home which she’d been wanting to do, then she’d start the new job bright and early the following Monday morning. It was the perfect transition. All that was left was to inform the consultant group she was working for now that she’d be unavailable for a while. Common par with contractors.

The rest of the afternoon flew by for Michelle Dowling.

SHE TOLD HER fiancé, Donald, the news when he arrived home from work.

“That’s great!” Donald said, sweeping her up in his arms. She hugged him, felt his sandpapery face rubbing against hers as he kissed her. “We’ll have to celebrate.” He headed toward the wine rack in the kitchen. He was still wearing his white lab coat, which he thought made him look more doctorly; she thought it made him look like a mad scientist. “Do we still have that bottle of Chablis?”

“Yep,” Michelle said. She’d arrived home from work an hour before and had already gotten dinner started—a casserole in the crock pot. “It’ll go with this casserole I have.”

“Good.” Donald found the bottle and was rummaging for the opener in the junk drawer. He found it and began fumbling with the cork, tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth in concentration. “So you really got it then. This is great news. And the pay is what they offered you in the first interview?”

“Yep,” Michelle began setting the table. “Seventy thousand to start, plus bonuses.”

“Wow!”

With this new salary she’d now be making as much as what Donald made at Crossroads Medical Group. They had talked about the possibility of her quitting her job and returning to her avocation—music and art—if Donald landed a position with a larger, private medical group. Such a position would push his earnings over the six figure mark and would be enough to sustain them for the life they wanted—a modest house in the country, enough money to not only pay the bills and mortgage but have fun with, and then, as they’d been discussing recently, getting married and having children.

The thought excited Michelle for reasons she couldn’t dwell on now. Things had to be taken one step at a time, and with this new job they were already halfway there. The house they were in was in a nice development in Lititz that had recently appreciated in value. Donald had bought it four years ago; it could easily be sold and, with the money from both their jobs, buy them that ranch house in the country they’d always dreamed of. Getting married would be a cinch—neither of them wanted to go through with a formal ceremony. There were few people in her family she’d want to throw a formal wedding party for anyway, and Donald’s parents were open-minded enough to accept whatever their son wanted. They could get married this summer, get the house shortly after and then maybe by fall—

“—it’s what you want?”

“Huh?” Donald’s voice shook her out of her thoughts. She realized she had already set the table. “I’m sorry, hon, I didn’t hear you.”

“I said, are you sure this is what you want?” Donald was leaning against the kitchen counter, his tie loosened around his collar, regarding her with those soft blue eyes. He had a neatly trimmed beard and his wavy hair was cut short and thinning a little along the top. He also kept himself in relatively good shape, too; they both did. Of course, Michelle thought she could lose thirty pounds, but Donald thought her weight was fine. Besides, as he jokingly told her whenever she complained about her figure to him, he liked her just the way she was, which just made her love him more even if she knew he probably silently agreed with her that she could lose weight.

“I do,” Michelle said. “It’s pretty much everything I’ve been looking for in a job.”

“Is it just computer graphics?”

“It’s that, along with some technical writing, designing and laying out technical documentation for both online and print publications, and creating financial reports.”

“So it’s pretty close then,” Donald said. Michelle knew what he was getting at now. Another reason she loved him fiercely. Donald was her biggest supporter when it came to encouraging her to leave the corporate world and strike out on her own with her computer graphics, at least on a part-time basis. She could then devote the rest of her time to her art. He brought the subject up every time they talked about their jobs. Correction: every time Michelle complained about hers. “You wouldn’t be bitching like this if you were doing what you really love to do for a living,” he’d told her one evening after a particularly bad day at one of her consulting jobs. “Granted, even I have bad days sometimes, but not to the extent that you do. If you were making your living with your art, the occasional headaches that arise would not be as big a deal.” She knew what he was talking about and wished she could be brave enough again to go out on a limb to try carving a niche for herself in her chosen vocation, but she did have to pay the bills.

“Pretty close,” she said, smiling. “Close enough that the Crystal Report stuff will be only a minor annoyance. I’m hoping to use the technical writing and design portions of the job to bolster my resume, maybe use them as a springboard to start my own business.”

Donald smiled back. “That’s what I like hearing!”

“I don’t know how it will help me in getting back into art again,” Michelle said.

“You could design CD covers, create advertising for magazines, write press-releases. The possibilities are endless.”

“Yeah, but — “

“Do enough work locally and let people know about your background, it might be enough to get you a couple of jobs,” Donald continued. “You know… some work for a cartoon or a commercial, maybe getting into teaching.”

Michelle laughed. “I need a degree for that!”

“Did you need a degree to produce commercial art for the Wynn Agency?”

“No, but—” Ten years ago, Michelle had become a client of the Wynn Agency, which represented commercial artists of all kinds—photographers, painters, graphic artists. One of their clients saw her portfolio and commissioned her for a series of portraits that now hung in all their corporate buildings around the world. It had been a good paying gig.

“There you go. Excuses, excuses. No buts, Michelle. You set up too many roadblocks for yourself without even trying things. If you put as much effort at directing your energy towards the things you really like to do, that you know you’re good at, instead of working at all these god-awful corporate financial firms, you’d be —”

Michelle felt herself growing a little angry with Donald and tried not to let it show. He was right of course, but he also knew she had no choice in the matter. She had to make a living, dammit! And making forty dollars an hour as a Business Intelligence Analyst paid the bills far better than an art teacher pulling in fifteen dollars an hour at some community center teaching retirees how to use watercolors. “I know, I know,” she said, heading to the refrigerator to finish getting the table set for dinner. “Swim with sharks long enough, you become one.”

Donald stepped up to her and put his arms around her mid-section. “Hey, I’m sorry, honey.” He kissed the back of her neck. “I didn’t mean to push you that hard. I know you hate working in the whole corporate environment thing, and I know you don’t need me to be constantly reminding you that your talents will be better used elsewhere.”

Michelle sighed. How many times have they—had she—gone through this? She knew he was right; knew that the corporate world was unsuited for her, but it was all she knew. Donald was smart enough to recognize it, and he cared enough to encourage and support her through his little pep talks. She also knew that if they were in the right financial situation she’d be able to leave the corporate world and pursue her avocation—art. She turned around and hugged him. “Thanks,” she said. She kissed his cheek. “I know you’re just looking out for me.”

“So stop it!” He finished for her. They laughed.

Donald helped her finish with the table setting, and when she began dishing out the casserole he joined her at the table. “I guess I wouldn’t have been so gung-ho about this if it hadn’t been what I went through today,” he said.

“Oh?” The change in direction of the conversation startled her. They’d started talking about what they were going to do this weekend and Michelle had completely forgotten Donald’s foray into pushing her to leave the corporate world. “Why’s that?”

“I met with Red Rose today,” Donald said. They were eating supper, the night outside was chilly and Michelle heard the heater kick on. “Remember that patient I told you about a few days ago who I diagnosed with testicular cancer?”

Michelle nodded.

“His blood tests came back showing that cancer was a possibility,” Donald said. “I started getting the ball rolling, contacted a Urologist I know at Lancaster Urological who specializes in this sort of thing, and started getting the paperwork going. Then this morning Red Rose informs us they want more tests because they want to rule out testicular cancer.”

“Rule it out?”

“Yeah.” Donald paused between forkfuls of food. “Bastards would rather pay smaller lab fees to run multiple tests rather than the surgical and biopsy fees that will not only make the diagnosis, but will determine the type of cancer. And in the meantime, letting Michael wait for surgery is just prolonging things.”

“It’ll spread, right?” Michelle asked. She’d listened to enough of Donald’s stories about Red Rose Medical Insurance to know they were run by the most incompetent morons in the universe.

“Sure. Let testicular cancer go long enough and even a seminoma type will spread through the lymph nodes and affect other parts of the body. Lymphoma could develop, certain lung and bone cancers. That’s what’ll eventually kill a patient.”

“And their rationale for wanting more tests is?” Michelle already knew the answer to this, but for some reason she had to hear it in order to grasp the absurdity of it.

“You and I both know that,” Donald said, continuing his supper. “They just don’t want to pay for the surgery. If we go ahead with the surgery anyway, they’ll deny the claim. But if they get Michael to jump through all their hoops in the name of their excuse for ‘determining the best level of care for their member’”, he emphasized the quotations with his fingers, “then they’ll eventually come around. In the meantime we’ll have wasted a few weeks, even a few months, and Michael’s condition could very well get worse.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“Play hardball.” Donald paused, took a sip of wine. “One of the execs I deal with no doubt knows I’m on the case, and he might be inclined to convince his colleagues to pay the claim. If he doesn’t, I have a backup plan—Dr. Schellenger, a friend of mine at Lancaster Urological Group. He went through a similar case with another insurance company in North Carolina when he was working at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Hospital. In his case, the insurance company wanted them to go through a bunch of bullshit and Peter strongly advised his patient to go ahead with the procedure and damn the insurance company. The patient was financially strapped and decided to stick it out. Four months later the cancer metastasized to his lower back and his lymph nodes. By the time the surgery was approved, his medical costs ran triple—probably even quadruple—what it would have been had the insurance company originally accepted the claim.”

“So his patient lived?”

“Oh yes,” Donald said. He was almost finished with the casserole, which he’d wolfed down. “It had quickly turned to stage four testicular cancer, nonseminoma, and had affected much of the lymph nodes and the nerves in the patient’s lower back. Peter’s patient went through three surgeries and two heavy trials of chemotherapy and was out of work for over a year. It was rough going, but he made it.”

“So you’re bringing Peter to your meeting with Red Rose?” Michelle didn’t know how Donald put up with the suits he had to deal with. She would have lost her mind.

“Yes. Peter took over the case and I think with him on board, Michael’s surgery will have a good chance of being approved. It just shouldn’t have to be this way, you know? If a doctor makes a quality diagnosis, he or she shouldn’t be second guessed by a guy in a three-piece suit who doesn’t know a thing about medicine or anatomy for that matter, a guy who, I might add, is more interested in preserving the corporate bottom line.”

Michelle took a sip of wine. “Yeah, well, welcome to Corporate America.”

Donald finished his wine, his gaze distant and far away. “Corporate America. What a scam.”

Michelle looked down at her plate. She felt a trifle embarrassed. She always did when talking about work with Donald. She admired him greatly—as a person, a lover, a physician. To be able to do something that improved and saved people’s lives… that was something to be proud of. It was something to be honored. She wished her work touched people’s lives. She’d read an essay by somebody, she thought it was Ray Bradbury, who said there were only two noble professions in the world: the physician, who heals the body; and the artist, who heals the soul. Might as well add the lawyer who could save the body and soul from a lawsuit, and the accountant who could save you from the IRS come tax time.

“Yeah, it is a scam,” she said, the words coming effortlessly. “And I apologize for having to stoop down to their level, but somebody’s got to do it.” She rose from the table and began collecting the dishes.

Donald looked up, the expression on his face indicating he’d said the wrong thing again. “Hey, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”

Michelle laughed. “You didn’t say the wrong thing. Really. You need to stop apologizing for ranting about corporate dolts. I do it enough myself.”

Donald chuckled and they embraced. “Well… I am sorry. Sometimes I feel bad that you have to conform to corporate standards to make a living.”

“I’m glad you realize I’m not like them,” she said, her eyes closed as they hugged. She felt his strong arms encircle her waist. “I could never be like them.”

“No,” he said, pulling away and looking into her eyes. “That’s why I love you.”

They kissed.

Just as the kiss was getting hot, she broke it. “Let me finish the table and then—”

“Forget the dishes,” he said, kissing her again, pulling her close.

She let him.

They left the dishes on the table, and on the kitchen counter, and went into the bedroom.

CHAPTER THREE

THE MUSIC AT the Lone Star Saloon near the El Paso Airport was loud and Michelle wasn’t paying attention to the conversation going on at her table. She looked around for the waitress, hoping to catch her attention. She was two tables over, flirting with a pair of guys who looked like they were in college. Michelle sighed and turned back to the table, trying to feign some semblance of interest in the conversation but finding it hard to do. Here it was, nine-thirty p.m. and her co-workers were still talking about work.

“If Goodman wasn’t such a goddamn bastard we could get moving on this credit issue and—”

“—I told her the price increase will reflect that in the table. What you have to do is run the Stock Transaction file and—”

“—four hundred thousand dollars in missing inventory? I mean, how can you have that much missing at your main plant?”

Michelle took a sip of her drink, listening to the Trace Adkins song playing over the sound system. It was April 30, almost four weeks since she’d started her job at Corporate Financial Consultants and those four weeks had been good. They had gone by in a whirlwind. The first week had been nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time; meeting her co-workers, settling into her cubicle, attending company orientation, sitting in on strategy meetings on the latest projects, learning the layout of the building, getting used to the daily commute. It was exciting and thrilling and she loved every minute of it.

Within three days she was knee-deep in her first project; assisting a Data Base Administrator in rewriting some SQL code for a data warehouse. She did most of the work at the office, only stopping in at the client’s office in Adamstown twice to do some manual tweaks on their server. She spent another two weeks working on the layout and design of a technical manual, and she sat in on some meetings for this latest project, which she learned would take her to El Paso, Texas, where she’d be the main architect for the project—design, plan, write, and develop an online and printed technical document for a powerful Human Resources software system. Sam Greenberg presented the project to her a little over a week ago late one afternoon, visiting her in her cubical. “You think you’re up for your first jaunt outside the state?”

“Absolutely!” she’d said.

The work thus far had been pleasing; the paychecks even better. She was getting acclimated quite well, was getting home by five-thirty, five forty-five at the latest, and that was enough time to prepare a light meal. Sometimes Donald beat her home and he prepared dinner. She’d splurged on her first pay check and treated them to a nice restaurant in town and a play at the Fulton Opera House. She’d gone out the following day—Saturday—and gone shopping at the Park City Mall, buying a few new outfits and some new shoes. Then she’d had her car washed and detailed. It felt good to have some money left over after the bills were paid. She was going to look forward to this new job. The SQL stuff she could do without, but she was learning a good overview of Corporate Financial Consultants and the clients they dealt with. And the clients they had on their roster were impressive indeed.

One afternoon Sam Greenberg took her on a tour of the data center in the building. “We keep all our client information on a rack of servers located at our Corporate Headquarters in California,” he said. “These servers,” he indicated a row of racks where IBM Servers resided, “hold local data and run local jobs. Our IT guys work closely with the Corporate IT Team in California. This is not only a climate controlled room, but this section of the building is built to withstand severe weather and earthquakes. There’s a backup generator that is switched on the minute power on the main switch is lost. Last summer, this particular grid lost power due to a lightning strike but we didn’t miss a beat. The generator did its thing and we kept right on ticking.”

That afternoon Michelle learned that nearly every major corporation in the U.S. had, at one time or another, done business with Corporate Financial Consultants. “Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Universal, Time-Warner, Bertelsmann, Citibank, Kroger’s, Home Depot, Sears… all of them had been clients at one time or another and some are still clients.” Sam nodded at one of the Systems Admin Techs monitoring the servers as they walked by. “Anything new for those clients gets handled out of our Manhattan office now. California handles Administration and they keep all the master records. We’re strictly second tier businesses—manufacturers, mid-sized retail chains, software companies, healthcare companies.”

“Healthcare?” Michelle had asked, thinking about Red Rose and all the trouble Donald had been having with them. The night before, Donald told her that even Dr. Schellenger’s expertise had been unable to sway the suits at Red Rose to approve payment for the surgery for Donald’s testicular cancer patient. Donald was advising the young man to go ahead with the surgery anyway; the patient was stuck between a rock and a hard place financially, and was currently thinking about it.

“Blue Cross, Kaiser, Aetna, Red Rose,” Sam rattled off as they exited the Data Center. “Pretty much all the major HMOs and PPOs in the area. Well, Kaiser isn’t here; they’re in Baltimore, but they’re close enough. Their California division deals with our Los Angeles office, so it’s only natural for them to work with us out here.”

“Of course,” Michelle had said.

There was so much to learn, both as far as the company history and what they did as a firm—as well as her duties—that the days flashed by so quickly that before she knew it, the trip to El Paso was upon her and she found herself kissing Donald one Sunday afternoon after having packed her luggage and her laptop. “I’ll be back Friday afternoon,” she told him. “Be good.”

“Knock ’em dead, kid!” Donald said, returning her kiss.

She’d flown to the El Paso Airport, rented a car, and drove to the Hampton Inn near the airport where Sam had made reservations for her. The next morning she’d driven to the client, a manufacturer of metal roofing and accessories on Mesa Street. She’d come prepared for the trip and sat in the company boardroom listening to input from the corporate bigwigs on what they wanted their documentation to convey. She’d spent the rest of the afternoon talking with the IT techs and accepted an early evening dinner and drinks with some of the other members of the team.

And now she was bored.

The table she was seated at numbered half a dozen. Sitting at her left was a web developer who worked for Building Products, a rail thin dark-haired guy named Jay O’Rourke, who seemed to have cigarettes growing out of his fingers and between his lips; every time he finished smoking one, another magically took its place. He was leaning back in his seat, a cup of black coffee in front of him, looking as bored as she felt. Michelle caught his eyes and offered a smile. “You look bored.”

“No shit? Ya think?”

Michelle’s grin widened. Jay had sat in on the latter part of their meeting today and she found him extremely likable; he was witty, brutally honest, and had a biting sense of humor. She also got the impression he was one of the few people at that meeting—and here at the Lone Star—who knew what the hell he was doing with his job. “I’ve been bored the past twenty minutes. You’d think they’d talk about something else besides work.”

“These guys? Hell no. It’s all they talk about because it’s all they do.” Jay’s voice rose a tad and the inflection indicated he was deliberately trying to provoke some kind of response from the others at their table. “If these losers had any kind of a life, they wouldn’t need to talk about the same boring shit all the time. Sometimes I wonder why I even agreed to tag along with these morons.”

Michelle laughed and the guy sitting to Jay’s left, Alan Perkins, another Corporate Financial Consultant from the Manhattan office, heard him and grinned. He nudged Jay playfully. “What’s up, Jay? Are we boring you already?”

“Hell yes, you’re boring the shit out of me! Can’t you talk about anything else besides Building Products and this clusterfuck project? Jesus Christ in a chicken basket!”

One of the employees from Building Products heard Jay’s comment and turned toward them. Michelle thought she caught the faint sense of disapproval on her face. “Must you go through another one of your worthless rants again, Jay? I mean… really!”

“I suppose I don’t really have to,” Jay began, “but the more I sit here listening to the conversation, the more it’s pissing me off. You’d think that when a group of co-workers gets together to hang out after work and shoot the shit, they’d find other topics of discussion besides their jobs. You know, the weather, the latest movies and cultural events, what’s going on in the world outside of work, maybe even idle chatter about families and kids. Not you guys. You guys are abnormal.”

Another Building Products employee, the team leader, said, “Guess that just means we’re more dedicated than you, Jay.”

“More dedicated my ass! You guys need me more than I need you! I wrote that ASP code for the website in my sleep. I also know when to walk away from this shit and live life. Something you guys have a problem doing.”

“You didn’t have to come, Jay,” the first Building Products employee said. Michelle thought her name was Barb. Barb was dressed tastefully in a blue business suit and had impeccable fingernails. She was nursing a glass of whiskey. To Michelle, she looked like a disapproving teacher or parent. “Sometimes I don’t know why you come to these things.”

“Well, let’s see, I wanted to talk to Paul about the project he was working on and I wanted to hear about his daughter Amy,” Jay said. “You remember what happened to Amy, don’t you Barb?”

Barb’s forehead grew creases. “Wasn’t she in an accident?”

“Yeah. She was hit by a car two weeks ago. Paul’s been out of his mind every day since and has missed over a week of work, and all he gets is a bunch of shit from those numb-brained managers about missing work because of it. What kind of shit is that?”

“Isn’t Paul in Sales?” Barb asked.

“That’s him,” Jay said.

“Well, I’m sure Jim has very good reasons for leaning on him about missing work,” Barb said. Whatever everybody else was talking about at their table was forgotten and became focused on Jay and Barb. “I mean, I sympathize with what he’s going through, but he should be thankful his daughter’s alive.”

Jay was looking at Barb as if she were from another planet and Michelle felt her admiration for him leap into the stratosphere. It was rare to meet a man who worked a white-collar job who held such unapologetic views about taking time away from the duties of work to tend to the needs of his family. Of course, Donald was very much like Jay in this respect, but then Donald was a doctor. Different ballgame, different mindset. “Man, you don’t get it, do you?”

“What’s there to get? His daughter was hit by a car, it was a terrible thing, she lived, that’s that! He should be thankful things weren’t worse. That’s all I’m saying.”

Jay took a deep drag on his cigarette and leaned forward, his lanky frame hunched over the table. He was dressed in a pair of black khaki’s, a blue long-sleeved shirt, the sleeves pushed up to his elbows exposing his tattooed forearms. “So if it was your son you’re telling me you wouldn’t be home with him right now; you’d rather be here wasting time with us idiots?”

Scattered laughter around the table. Barb managed a slight smile at the jab. “I suppose I would. Does that bother you?”

“Does it bother you?”

“No.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Why should it?”

“Is your job more important than your son?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“What do you mean, what kind of question is that? It’s a very simple question. Is your job more important than your son?”

“That’s asinine.”

“Asinine,” Jay said, his voice a mocking snort of dismay. He dragged on the butt of his cigarette and stubbed it out in the ashtray. “That’s right. It’s asinine to be more concerned for your kid than your day-job, but what the fuck do I know, right? I’m just the grunt that maintains the website and fixes the shit whenever some hacker releases a new Trojan on the internet.”

“Jay, I think you’re making a big deal out of this.” This comment came from Harold Tyler, one of the men who was in the meeting and who’d tagged along to Lone Star. He was at the far end of the table. Michelle didn’t know what his working relationship on the chain of command at Building Products was, but Michelle got the impression he had some kind of seniority over Jay. “Besides, Paul isn’t here anymore.”

Michelle was thinking this, too; she’d met Paul briefly when they first entered the Lone Star and hadn’t paid much attention to him as she tried to get involved with the conversation of her Corporate Financial Consultant colleague Alan, and the rest of the Building Products team. Jay and Paul had sat on their end of the table and talked and Michelle hadn’t really paid much attention to them until she happened to notice Jay was now alone. Paul had left, and Jay was nursing a cup of coffee and smoking a cigarette. Everybody else was nursing beers, except for Barb, who had been drinking bourbon on the rocks since their arrival. A few of them were getting tipsy, and Jay was watching them with what appeared to be a faint sense of scorn. It was then that she’d taken a step back and began listening to the conversations around her; they were talking about work and the project, and it had been their sole source of conversation for the past hour and a half.

“Yeah,” Jay said. “I guess I should have left when he took off.”

Barb gave Jay a look again, one that seemed to say I got the best of you, then turned to the rest of the party. Alan and Harold and the others slipped back into their conversation and once again the topic was work. They slipped into it so seamlessly that it was as if they hadn’t stopped the conversation—they just picked right up where they left off. Michelle was a little taken aback. I guess they were really itching to get back into whatever it was they were talking about. She picked up her glass, which was a quarter filled with beer, and took a sip.

She met Jay’s gaze over her glass and shrugged. “Well, just for the record, I’m still bored,” she said. Jay laughed.

“So is Paul’s daughter okay?” Michelle asked. She scooted her position so she was a little closer to him. Jay appeared momentarily surprised by her question but recovered. He began filling Michelle in. Yes, Paul’s daughter was fine, although she suffered a mild concussion, a broken arm, and a compound fracture in her left lower leg. She was still in the hospital but was going to be fine. Michelle said, “Well, I’d be out of my mind if it were my kid.”

“So is your job more important than your kid? Or should that be plural?” Jay asked. He lit another cigarette.

“It isn’t plural, and I don’t have children.” The little painful memory flashed briefly as it always did whenever anybody asked if she had children, and was quickly gone. “But if I did, my child would be more important than my job. What about you? You have kids”

“I have a son. He’s a year old. And it’s really nice to hear you’re not like the rest of these dolts.” Jay leaned back, fresh cigarette in hand. “You’re a breath of fresh air. And from Corporate Financial—you must be new.”

Michelle blinked, not sure what Jay meant by that remark. “Well, I am new. I just started with Corporate Financial a few weeks ago.”

“Really? Do you like them?”

“So far so good.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.” Michelle took a sip of her beer. “Why do you ask?”

Jay shrugged, took a drag on his cigarette. “I always wondered what it was like to work for them. I hear the perks are pretty good.”

“They’re the best I’ve had so far.”

Jay appeared to think about this for a moment as he smoked. Everybody else at their table was still talking about the project, which Michelle had no interest in now. She shared Jay’s opinion regarding after-work discussion with co-workers. She’d worked jobs in the past where she went out with co-workers to a bar or restaurant after work to unwind and hang out and their jobs rarely came up in discussion. When it did, it was to complain about them. There were a few times members of management came to these after work drink-fests, and occasionally they would talk shop, but even they, too, eventually found other topics of discussion more varied than the office. Michelle commented on this to Jay, leaning toward him so she wouldn’t be overheard by the rest of their group and Jay leaned over the table so he could hear her, nodding in agreement. “Exactly!” he said. “I dig ya. That’s normal. These guys,” he indicated the group with an impatient gesture of his cigarette, “aren’t normal. They behave like mindless zombies.”

“Are they always like that?”

“Pretty much.” Jay took a drag on his cigarette. “It got worse after Corporate Financial started doing some work for Building Products.”

“Oh?” Michelle prepared herself for the slam against the company she worked for. Not that it would bother her; she’d learned long ago to separate her working time from her personal time and, as a result, things like what happened to her at work rarely bothered her. Even criticism against the company she worked for didn’t bother her. She wasn’t her company; that’s how she was able to take the criticisms levied against her employers. She didn’t make corporate decisions. Some faceless drone in a suit did. “How so?”

Jay regarded her a minute and his eyes flicked briefly to the group at their table. They were still deeply involved in their discussion of the project. Jay’s dark eyes went back to her again. “Well, I can tell you’re cool because of what you said earlier about choosing your personal life over your job. Don’t construe this as a slam against you or anything, or a slam against your employer, because it isn’t.”

“None will be taken,” Michelle said. Despite having quit smoking seven years ago, the urge to take it up again was strong now, mostly having to do with breathing Jay’s second hand smoke.

“I’ve been at Building Products for five years,” Jay began, his voice lowered slightly. “And it was cool when I first started, but like all jobs it has its ups and downs. You know? Office politics, management bullshit, that kind of thing. I don’t give a shit about any of that anyway. Never have. They pay me to come in and do their website and maintain their servers and do anything internet and web-related and that’s what I do. I don’t give a flying fuck if my boss is fucking his secretary, or if Barb over there is a closet alcoholic who neglects her kids—which she does, by the way—or if some know-nothing executive wants to initiate some stupid bullshit policy that will end up costing the company thousands of dollars in productivity because it’ll make his bottom-line look good to the stockholders and it completely wastes my time when I can be doing stuff that’ll keep the company running. I don’t really give a shit, long as I get paid on time and have my medical insurance and 401k. I just come in and do what they ask me to do and I try to do as good a job as I can, to the best of my abilities, and in my humble opinion I think I’m pretty goddamned good at what I do. There are times if I see something that will be a waste of time, I let my boss know and many times he agrees. If he doesn’t, that’s cool. Whatever. Like I said, I don’t give a shit. They want me to put porn on their website, I’ll do it even though I think it’s wrong, know what I mean?”

“What about bestiality photos?” Michelle quipped.

“Then I tell them to go fuck themselves and I walk. I can always find this kind of grunt work anywhere. Although now that I think about it, a lot of this shit they’re sending overseas to India where pretty soon they’ll be replacing human beings with trained monkeys since a monkey will work for less than five dollars a day.”

“And if that happens you just find another way to make a living,” Michelle said. “Right?”

“Hell yeah. I mean, I’ll work as an auto mechanic again if I have to. I’ve done that before too. I can do it again. Sometimes I find that line of work more preferable than what I’m doing now. Less bullshit to deal with.”

“So how have things been bad at Building Products since Corporate Financial came into the picture?” Michelle asked in a lowered voice. She didn’t want Alan Perkins to hear her; God forbid word traveled back to Sam that she was gossiping.

“Building Products wanted them to develop this Human Resources software,” Jay began. “They had a shitload of meetings for, like, six months, talked to everybody in the company from the receptionists to the CEO to get their input. Like input from the receptionist matters, know what I mean?” Another drag of the cigarette. “Once they got that together, they started working on the software and I uploaded a couple of Beta-versions of it to the Intranet server for some in-house testing. And ever since then, everybody who works in this place has walked around with a severe stick up their ass. It’s like working at Building Products has become the most important thing on the planet. There’s guys working long hours and on weekends for nothing in return—they’re not getting overtime, they’re not taking comp days or anything. One time I joked with one of the office managers about it and he was all serious. ‘The work has to get done Jay. There’s no other way around it.’ I’ve been suggesting real subtly to my boss and other people that we could really use another IT tech at this place and nobody will listen. They’d rather pay two guys to do the work of four and five people and when shit happens and work piles up, they want you to sacrifice everything to make shit happen. Fuck that.” Jay took another drag of his cigarette. “I don’t play that shit. You get what you pay for is my opinion.”

“I don’t either,” Michelle said. Talking to Jay was like a breath of fresh air, cigarette smoke notwithstanding. “My life is too important to miss out on the good things in life.”

“Exactly. There’s guys here that miss activities their kids are in. Barb… she’s a complete whackfuck if I’ve ever met one.” Jay’s dark eyes centered on Barb briefly. “She’s in the office by six-thirty in the morning and leaves at seven-thirty, eight o’clock at night. Sometimes later. And she’s here on Saturdays, too. Sometimes Sundays. She has two kids, and she’s married, and one of her kids is out of control at school, getting in trouble and shit. Her husband works too, so he ain’t around. She makes more than enough money to enable him to stay home, or at least take a part time job and make sure one of them is around for their kids, but they don’t.”

“Maybe they have a lot of bills,” Michelle suggested.

“With her salary? She’d have to be spending money like the Federal Government to be that deep in debt.”

Michelle shrugged and took a sip of her dwindling glass of beer. “Well, they say the more money you make, the more you spend.”

“Barb really gets off on this shit,” Jay said, his voice still lowered. “She was always like that, but she’s been worse since Corporate Financial stepped in, and a lot of people, especially those at the managerial level, have become like her. It’s kinda creepy in a way.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It’s like that Jack Finney story, Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”

Michelle grinned; she liked Jay even more now. It was rare to meet somebody who worked in the corporate world who was well-read. “I gotta admit it does sound like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Managers will get like that when the suits above them initiate some bullshit policy or something. They all lose their perspective and fall into line. They stop thinking for themselves or what’s best for their departments or the company in some cases.”

“Well, it ain’t just the managers at this place. It’s most of the other employees, too. They’re not as bad, but I can definitely tell something’s up. But then I might just be overreacting to this shit. I mean, I’m one of the only people here at Building Products who would rather be doing something else, know what I mean? A lot of the people who work here actually went to school to learn their jobs. You know… they all majored in Accounting or got MBAs because it’s what they wanted in the first place. Me, I just fell into this shit because I saw it was a way to make some good money. I could easily do something else.”

“What would you rather be doing?”

Jay looked at her, as if he were deciding whether he could trust her. “Let’s just say I have my own aspirations for a vocation that has nothing to do with Building Product’s corporate goals and visions and leave it at that.”

Michelle could dig it. She was wearing a similar shoe.

“Besides,” Jay said, dragging on his cigarette. “Even people who really like what they’re doing here have changed. They’re more into the company than they ever were. The shit they’re doing, the work they really like doing, has taken a back seat. At least that’s how it seems. It’s like they’ve lost all focus of what makes them happy and wakes them up in the morning. They don’t realize that what it all boils down to is, what we’re doing here at Building Products are just jobs. They’re not saving the world or anything, but some of them are acting like what they’re doing is the most important thing in the world.”

“If that’s the case, what are you working at Building Products for, Jay?”

Michelle started at the sound of Barb’s voice and turned toward her, feeling slightly embarrassed. Barb was regarding them coolly, a fresh glass of whiskey in front of her. For a closet alcoholic she didn’t appear inebriated yet.

Jay didn’t look surprised or embarrassed that his comment had caught Barb’s attention. He fixed her with his patented stare and said, “What do you think? I’m there for the paycheck. Isn’t that what most people work for? The money?”

The conversation had caught the attention of the rest of the group and Alan was leaning back in his seat, looking interested. A couple of the Building Products people were silent, some grinning as if waiting for the fireworks to start between Barb and Jay. Barb took a sip of her drink. “It’s not why I work at Building Products. What about you Gregg? Bob? Mark?”

The other guys shook their heads. Barb nodded at Alan. “What about you Alan? What motivates you to work for Corporate Financial?”

“I enjoy interacting with my clients and helping to improve their business,” Alan said. He leaned forward, catching Michelle’s eye quickly. “What about you, Michelle?”

For a brief moment Michelle was at a crossroads. She was still new to Corporate Financial Consultants, and didn’t know Alan well enough to let loose around him. She was quick enough to respond with a neutral answer. “I enjoy the work, I’m good at what I do, and I like the compensation.”

“Of course you do,” Jay said, and Michelle could tell from the vibe she was getting off of him that he understood where she was coming from, that she was trying to avoid getting into trouble with her co-worker at Corporate Financial. “That’s the sane answer. It’s always good to like what you’re doing as well as the money. But if you were a millionaire would you be doing this?” This last question was directed at Barb.

“Of course,” Barb said. “What else would I do?”

“You wouldn’t want to spend more time with your kids? Do the things you’ve always wanted to do?”

“I’m already doing what I’ve always wanted to do.” Barb answered.

“So if you had all the money in the world, you’d still be working twelve and fourteen hour days, six and sometimes seven days a week for Building Products?”

Barb smiled. For a brief moment Michelle was chilled by that smile. It was utterly devoid of emotion. “This is what I do, Jay. What you do for Building Products is what you do. That’s how it works.”

“No shit? And it’s like this for everybody?”

“Of course it is.” Barb had her attention wholly centered on Jay. “You heard the consensus from the group here at the table. This is what they do, too.”

“So you’re telling me that despite overwhelming opinion polls that indicate the majority of workers would rather be doing something else for a living, what they’re really doing is what they’re meant to do and they would continue working the same mindless jobs that provide them with no emotional or personal satisfaction even if they were financially able to quit?”

One of the men at the table—Michelle wasn’t sure what his name was—frowned. He was fat, wore glasses, and was wearing a suit with a white shirt and a tie that was still knotted. “You’re suggesting you wouldn’t be working at Building Products if you were financially able to quit?”

“Fuck yeah! Wouldn’t you?”

“No.” The man said. He managed a small grin that reminded Michelle of Barb’s smile; it was cold, emotionless. “Like Barb said, this is what I do.”

“Fine. Maybe it’s what you do, but what about seventy-five percent of the population?” Jay was on a roll and Michelle was now silently hoping he would shut up. She agreed with him one hundred percent, but she was afraid he was putting his job in jeopardy by letting his mouth run.

“You’re suggesting that most people don’t want to work? Is that what you’re saying?” This question came from one of the other guys at the table. Unlike Mark and Barb, he actually appeared to be mulling this question over.

“Shit yes!” Jay said. He stubbed the butt of his cigarette in his ashtray. “You talk to most people, they don’t want to work. They’d rather be on a permanent vacation in California or Hawaii or some shit, going skiing or traveling or partying twenty-four seven. Maybe some of them would be doing shit they really like doing like painting portraits or writing poetry or watching old movies all day or going bird watching. They wouldn’t be pushing paper for some faceless corporation or standing behind a check-out stand all day.”

“Then why do they do it?” Barb asked.

“Because they need the money! Why else?”

“You really think the reason most people go through all the trouble they go through to get a job is for the money?”

Jay was looking at Barb as if she were the stupidest person on the planet. “You can’t be serious?”

“I am,” Barb said, still fixing Jay with that patented glare.

“You’re telling us that people manipulate their way—sometimes even outright lie—to get jobs they feel no overwhelming desire to do otherwise?”

“Yeah, they do.” Despite Barb’s smoldering gaze, Jay didn’t back down. He matched it with his own. “I’m sure not everybody does it. I know there’re people that genuinely like what they do for their chosen career. People who know what they wanted to do when they were ten and then went out and did it when they got out of high school or college or whatever are excluded. I’m talking about everybody else, the poor saps who either had no fucking clue what they were going to do when they got out of school or those unlucky enough to fall into the jobs they currently have. Those are the ones who would rather be doing something other than what they’re doing. They exaggerate on resumes, they mislead, they manipulate their way into job interviews. Then they do this thing called performance art when they finally get the interview. They do every-fucking-thing they can do to convince the person who is interviewing them that they are the best and most qualified person for the job. They do this because they need the job to make money to pay their bills, put food on the table, and keep a roof over their head. If they didn’t have to do the dog-and-pony show to get the job that would give them the paycheck which enables them to provide for themselves and their family, they wouldn’t do it.”

“So you’re saying most people lie on resumes and in job interviews to get a job because they only want the job for the money,” Barb asked.

“Yes.”

“They actually lie?”

“For the most part, yes.” Jay lit another cigarette. Somehow his coffee cup had become empty since Michelle started talking to him. She was already pegging him as an ex-drinker by the way he instantly pegged Barb, as well as by the quantity of coffee he was drinking. Stick an ex-drunk in a bar with drinkers and coffee is usually their drink of choice. “They might be telling the truth mostly in their interview regarding their skills and shit, but get them in an interview and ask them stupid questions like ‘what would be your prime motivation for working for our company,’ and they’ll bullshit you. They don’t give a damn about being a part of some bullshit company mission statement and all that teamwork crap. They say they do because they know HR managers get their rocks off when they hear the shit.”

Michelle wanted to cringe but refrained. She liked Jay, could tell he was a nice guy, and she liked his honesty. She didn’t want him to jeopardize his job by shooting off his mouth, but it appeared that’s what he was doing.

The fat guy sitting at their table frowned. “It might be wise, Jay, if you refrained from… saying this kind of stuff.”

“Why? I’m not at work. I’m at a public place, I’m not on the clock, so technically I can say whatever the hell I want, when I want.”

“Mark’s right, Jay,” Barb said, regarding Jay calmly. “Perhaps you’d better tone it down. You are with business colleagues.”

“Maybe the same rules should apply to you,” Jay told her. “Maybe you shouldn’t be drinking like a fish and getting fucked up. You do have to drive home, you know and after all… you are with business colleagues.”

Barb’s eyes flared briefly in anger and Michelle quickly stepped in. “It is an interesting discussion,” she said quickly. “I mean, the whole topic of an employee’s personal privacy is a big topic today. It’s a topic Jay and I found interesting.”

“Regardless, Mr. O’Rourke needs to learn to tone it down at times,” Barb said. Her voice was icy. “Even when he is at these so-called public places.”

Jay snorted. “You’re delusional.”

“And you’re immature!”

“And you’re a—”

Alan quickly cut in. “Your point has been made, Jay.” He glanced at Barb. “You too, Barb.”

“I suggest if you don’t wish to talk business at these little gatherings you refrain from attending, Mr. O’Rourke.” Barb’s tone was complete business. “When you gather with colleagues from the office, you should expect that the course of discussion will be the business of Building Products.”

“Maybe in your world, but not mine.” Jay lit another cigarette. “I like to shoot the shit with the people I work with, especially the ones I like. But if you want to have those stupid bullshit rules, fine with me. I’ll stop coming. Next time I want to hang with Paul or George, we’ll go elsewhere.”

“Be thankful nobody from HR was here,” Alan said. He drained the rest of his beer. “I know we’re all here on our own time and that, technically, this isn’t a business meeting but more of a social gathering, but you still have to be careful about what you say around those you work with.”

“Like I give a shit? Barb and Mark aren’t part of management. They can say whatever the hell they want to HR if they want to. It’s their word against mine, and what I say in public outside of work, on my own time, is my own business. When I’m at work, that’s a different story. But here? Outside of work on my time? Fuck that!”

Michelle retained her steady, solid front. She drained the rest of her beer. “You know, it’s getting late. I should get back to my room.”

“Yeah, I gotta go too,” Jay said. He rose from his chair. “Hey, this lively discussion was fun while it lasted but as they say, all good things must come to an end. Let’s shoot the shit like this again tomorrow.”

Michelle got up and was relieved when Alan Perkins, her Corporate Financial co-worker, got up, too. “I want to get back to my hotel and put the finishing touches on that spreadsheet,” he said. He pulled on his coat.

The other people at their table rose to their feet as well, and

Michelle quickly gathered her purse and followed Jay out of the restaurant.

Once outside she paused for a moment, waiting for the rest of their party to join them. Alan nodded at her. “See you tomorrow, Michelle.”

“Have a good night,” she said, drawing her coat tight around her.

“See you tomorrow,” Jay said, cigarette jutting out of his mouth. “Nice talking to you.”

“Nice talking to you, too.” They shook hands quickly and Michelle said, “I hope you won’t get into any trouble for what you said in there.”

Jay’s expression was immediate and easy to read: what, me get in trouble? “Nothing’s gonna happen. Most of the people that were here tonight have heard me say much worse. Besides, we’re not at work or on company time. You can’t be fired for talking about basic human psychology and behavior during your off hours, which is what this all boiled down to. Besides, I’ve got a solid work record to back me up and I’ve never had a negative mark in my review.”

“Yeah, well, Barb didn’t look too happy.”

“She never looks happy,” Jay said, casting a casual glance behind them at the restaurant entrance. The front door opened and a couple of patrons exited. Some of their party was among them. “Besides, despite all that bullshit she said in there, she can’t do shit. She’s not a manager, much less a supervisor. She’s just a lowly corporate ant like the rest of us. She just likes to kiss the butts of everybody higher up than her.”

“Is she the type to go squealing to the higher-ups?” Michelle asked.

“Probably.” Jay glanced at the loosely-knit throng of their Building Products colleagues and turned back to her. “Listen, I don’t want you to get in trouble so I’m gonna split. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Jay took off into the parking lot and Michelle headed toward her rental car in the opposite end of the lot. The early Spring night was cool and the wind ruffled her skirt about her legs and she shivered. Right now all she wanted to do was get back to her room, turn the heat up, give Donald a quick call, and crawl into her pajamas and into bed. Maybe watch a little TV. Then she wanted to get through the rest of the week quickly and get the hell home.

The evening’s discussion, especially Jay’s rant, flitted through her mind quickly and out of left field came a thought that hadn’t entered her mind in a long time. That little painful memory that emerged when Jay asked if she had kids. It settled in her as she let the car warm up, and as she drove away she found herself wishing she was home with Donald, where she was safe and secure and comfortable with the feeling that everything was going to be all right.

SHE WOKE UP at three a.m. not even aware she was crying, and when she realized it she could only sob harder. She buried her face in her hands, still lying on her tummy from the position she’d been in when she woke up and, with the painful emotions from that old memory still fresh in her mind, and the aftermath from the dream it had left still tender in her consciousness, she curled up on her left side, drawing herself into a fetal position, and cried herself back to sleep.

CHAPTER FOUR

MICHELLE JUMPED RIGHT into her work the following morning at Building Products and was so busy with meetings and strategy sessions with various personnel that she didn’t even think about Jay O’Rourke until that afternoon when Alan took her to the IT department and she saw his empty cubicle.

She was sitting at the cube of an IT tech named Shane Newstead, who was explaining the Network Administration stuff. Michelle had been taking notes in the various meetings all day. Her plan was to begin preliminary work on developing her documentation tomorrow and meet with a few other key people. Jay was one of those people she wanted to meet with, and when the tech she and Alan were talking to finished, she asked, “Is Jay around?”

“He’s not here today,” Shane said.

“He was so tanked up on caffeine last night, he probably didn’t get to sleep till five a.m.,” Alan said and laughed.

Shane nodded. “Yeah, he drinks coffee like a demon, but he can get by with little or no sleep. All I heard was that he wouldn’t be in today. I don’t know what’s up.”

The thought that Jay had become a victim of some HR espionage as a result of last night troubled Michelle, but she quickly put that out of her mind and continued with the rest of her day. That evening she, Alan, and another Financial Consultant employee named Henry Wagner worked out of the conference room with the high level executives of the company as well as the Human Resources Director. They called out for pizza, and dinner was eaten amid the meeting. Michelle didn’t mind, but she was anxious to call it a day and get back to her hotel room.

She got back to her room at nine p.m., showered quickly and called Donald. “How’d your day go?” she asked.

“Okay. Still dicking around with Red Rose on this testicular cancer thing. How’s El Paso, Texas?”

Talking to Donald long distance like this was tough. She wanted to be home; wanted to be safe and snug in the evening chill of Spring. This was the first consulting job she’d ever had that required out of state travel and, while it was fun, she did not like being away from home. They talked for fifteen minutes then parted with goodnights. Michelle spent the rest of the evening watching a movie—Training Day with Denzel Washington—then fell asleep.

Despite lying in bed, waiting for sleep to overcome her, thinking about that painful memory of the past as she drifted to sleep, she did not have the dream, nor did she wake up crying.

Jay O’Rourke wasn’t in the office the following day, and after meeting with the last few staff members she needed to talk to before beginning her preliminary sketches of the product, she asked one of the IT techs she met yesterday, Rob Fegley, where he was.

“My boss told me that Jay left Building Products.”

“Huh?” The news was sudden and surprising. Michelle looked at Rob with a stunned expression. “You’ve got to be kidding! He quit?”

“I don’t know if he quit officially or what,” Rob said, typing at his computer terminal. “But an HR person spoke to Joe this morning, and Joe told me and a few of the other guys that Jay is no longer with the company.”

“That’s too bad,” Michelle said, trying to keep a neutral tone.

As she continued with the rest of her day she found herself pondering the real reason for Jay’s departure. It would suck if he had actually been dismissed for shooting his mouth off the other night at the Lone Star. Could a company really fire you for that? For expressing your personal opinion about work in general in a public place, on your own time? Michelle was fairly confident that various issues like the First Amendment would protect Jay in a case like this if that was what really happened. At one point during the day she stumbled across his business card and made a note of it; in addition to his office and fax number, his cell phone number was listed. She wondered if his cell phone was a private one or if it was company owned. Maybe when she had time she would call him and find out. She could do so from her hotel room; what could it hurt?

She mentioned this to Donald that evening. She’d left the office at five-thirty and stopped for take-out at a Barbecue place on the way back to her room and was just finishing her supper of a roast beef sandwich and soup when her cell phone rang. “So you haven’t seen this guy since Monday night?” Donald asked.

“No,” Michelle said. She’d gathered the trash up in a plastic tie-off bag to take downstairs to the lounge where she’d deposit it in a trash bin there. She didn’t want the smell of leftovers in her room tonight. “Like I said, he kind of got in a tiff with some of his co-workers about employment in general. Technically, he was in the right. We were talking about social issues and some of his co-workers took exception to it. I’d hardly think you could be fired for discussing social issues outside of the work place on your own time.”

“You would think, but the world has gotten nuttier lately regarding employment and business practices,” Donald said. She heard him sigh. “There’s some employers now who not only refuse to hire smokers, they’re firing people who don’t quit. They claim it costs more money to insure them. I read about one company that banned their employees from smoking anywhere! Even their own homes. They’ve actually fired people for it.”

“Really?” Michelle asked.

“I kid you not,” Donald answered. “As a doctor, if I encounter a patient who smokes I try to convince them to quit for health reasons. I cannot force them to quit. The decision is up to them, and it’s theirs to make. Plus, last time I checked, tobacco is still sold legally. Same with alcohol. I heard a similar case in which a company that had a policy against its employees drinking alcoholic beverages off company hours fired an employee because he was seen drinking a beer one night in a bar. Alcohol and tobacco both pose health risks, but they’re not illegal by any means. You can take that same kind of reasoning and apply it to people who are overweight—not just obese, because there’s actually discrimination laws that can protect obese people—but honest to goodness overweight people. Somebody who is twenty, maybe fifty pounds overweight but isn’t considered obese. Companies can use this same argument and fire those people for not losing weight or eating right. And if you break it down further, what’s to stop them from forbidding you to participate in certain sports during your off time? It all boils down to health coverage. They want to save money on it. Once you head down that path, it can get worse.”

“I hardly think Jay got fired for what he said,” Michelle said. “But still—”

“Corporations do a lot of weird things, honey,” Donald said. “I’m dealing with one now that doesn’t want to pay for a surgery that will not only save a man’s life, but will ultimately save them hundreds of thousands of dollars in long term care which they’ll end up paying anyway if they don’t approve the twenty thousand dollars upfront it will cost to cover the surgery. They just want to save as much money as they can for this quarter to meet their executive’s financial goals. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Michelle didn’t want Donald to go off on another tangent again so she changed the subject. “I might give him a call Friday,” she said. “I was supposed to meet with him today on this project anyway.”

“Will you not meeting with him change the scope of your project?”

“I met with a couple of the guys he worked with and they filled me in. I have enough to get started.”

They talked for a little while longer and when Michelle hung up she found herself in a deep, melancholic funk. Talking about Jay brought the memories of their conversation Monday night to the surface; how he’d asked her if she had children and her response to that question, followed by that painful memory. That painful memory now burned in the surface of her mind, and she sat on her bed and pulled her purse to her lap. She rummaged through it, found her wallet and opened it up, flipping through the pictures.

When she extracted the photos she let the tears come. Unbidden.

Her daughter had been beautiful even though she’d been born two months premature. Eyes forever closed, skin dark pink, little hands splayed open, a white blanket covering her to her chest, Alanis Michelle Dowling looked just like her mother and nothing at all like the sonofabitch who’d fathered her. Thank God for that, but even if she did possess traces of Kirk’s features she would have loved her fiercely just the same. For now there were the photos, over five prints taken the day she was delivered prematurely and lost forever. Her only link to the best thing that had ever happened in her life.

She was twenty-four years old when she became pregnant with Alanis. She’d been working at All Nation Insurance in Manhattan and hated every minute of it. Her parents had gotten her a job there—had insisted on it, actually. Michelle had wanted to go to college after graduation and major in art but her folks shot that idea down. Her mother told her it would be a waste of time going to school. Her folks could get her a job at All Nation, get her into a good position, and she could work her way up the ladder.

There would be no need to waste four years of her life on a worthless degree when she could cut right through the line and have a secure job by the time she would have graduated. Against her better judgment she’d gotten a job at All Nation right away, mainly to make her parents happy, but she’d been unhappy. She’d spent the first four years working a variety of entry-level jobs by day and partying and getting into the underground rock scene at night. By the time she was twenty-two she’d worked herself into a fairly well-paying administrative position. It was there that she met Kirk Hummel, five years her senior and a budding middle-manager.

By then her extra-curricular activities in music and art had taken a back seat. Her life revolved around work because it was expected of her. Michelle was an only child and both her parents had been staunch workaholics, completely dedicated to the corporate cause of their employer. Michelle had spent most of her childhood at daycares or in the care of her grandmother. Her mother pushed her into majoring in Business in high school and disapproved of any other career choice Michelle had—journalism, graphic arts, even architecture. “A good solid business education is what you need to better prepare yourself for our growing economy,” Mom had said. This mantra was repeated so often that Michelle finally gave in to shut her parents up. She chose business as a major in high school and her grades promptly fell. By the time she was twenty-two she was asleep at the wheel; a passenger in an automaton that looked like her and answered to her name. She woke up, showered and dressed, took the subway into Manhattan every morning, worked ten to twelve hours a day and came home. She had no time for her friends, her art, or any kind of social life. Until Kirk Hummel stepped in.

Her relationship with Kirk was an affair, plain and simple. Secretly she’d hoped something more would come from it but it never did. Kirk showed his true colors when Michelle told him she was pregnant; the pregnancy was unintentional; she’d been on the pill but sometimes, as they say, shit happens. Kirk didn’t want to get married and, worse still, didn’t want to have anything to do with her or the child and promptly fled the state. Michelle had been too crushed to pursue any legal remedy that would help her financially.

When Michelle found out she was pregnant she was thrilled. Her outlook began to change when her parents weren’t as enthused about the pregnancy. “You aren’t going to have it, are you?” her mother asked . By then, Michelle had moved out of her parents’ house and was living in an apartment in Jersey City. Michelle was stunned by her mother’s use of the word it in reference to what would be her first grandchild. It was then that Michelle saw her parents for what they were and she realized something for the first time: her parents never really wanted her. She realized she’d been a burden on them, that her own arrival had been unexpected, but back in those dim days before abortion was legal there wasn’t much they could have done about it. They’d put up a good front, had provided food and shelter for her and that was the extent of it. Emotionally they had been distant and unavailable.

No wonder Michelle had sought solace in all things artistic. It was in the arts that she found love and acceptance and nurturing. Something that was absent at home.

That phone conversation had been the second to the last one she’d ever had with her mother. It had ended in harsh words and tears and Michelle called back a few days later in a desperate attempt to prove to herself that her mother really wasn’t the cold, callous person she was, that she really didn’t mean the things she’d said. (“A baby is going to destroy your future, Michelle. You need to focus on your career when you’re in your twenties, and a baby is just going to take all of your focus away from that and then where will you be? A common housewife with no use and no skills except for breeding.”)

But her mother had meant what she’d said.

Everything changed after that turning point. As her pregnancy moved along, Michelle’s entire outlook on life changed. She saw life as a precious thing that you only get one chance to make the best of making yourself and your loved ones happy. She hadn’t really been happy growing up, she hadn’t been happy that she made the decision to forsake pursuing a career in art, and she wasn’t happy working as a Junior Executive for All Nation. When Michelle found out she was going to have a girl, her heart swelled. Her daughter was not going to undergo what she’d went through. Her little girl was going to be loved, nurtured and taken care of. She was going to grow up loving life, and she wanted to share her daughter’s joy when she discovered new things for the first time. Knowing that she was going to bring forth new life in the form of her daughter, whom she named the day she found out she was going to have her, changed Michelle’s entire outlook on life forever.

She continued going to work and she cut back on her hours. Her supervisor was very understanding and gracious, telling her she could have three months of maternity time after the baby was born. As the months passed she felt joyous as her belly swelled. She began shopping for maternity clothes with her girlfriends from the office and buying things for the baby that she would set up in her one bedroom apartment. When she first saw Alanis’s heartbeat through the ultrasound she remembered the sense of awe that came over her. She remembered learning from the technician during her eight-week visit that he believed she was having a girl. One of her close friends at the time, Catherine Berman, was concerned about Michelle’s ability to support herself as a single mother but Michelle already had it planned out. “I’ll be fine,” she’d said. And she would have been. Everything would have been fine. After Alanis was born she would have plenty of money saved, would have paid maternity leave, and that would give her enough time to seek residence outside the city and set up roots somewhere else, out in the country, away from the urban jungle. She wanted to raise her daughter in more tranquil, peaceful settings, somewhere where she could still make a decent living and still raise Alanis without having to worry about the two of them becoming a victim of a violent crime or being too far from her daughter’s daycare provider.

She lost Alanis in her seventh month.

Even now she still remembered that awful day, and reliving it brought back the tears every time. The abdominal cramping that woke her out of a sound sleep at three a.m.; the heavy vaginal bleeding that soaked through the first tampon she applied within an hour. Even then she didn’t want to believe it was happening, kept telling herself that this just wasn’t happening even as her rational side kept telling her it was. She remembered dialing 911 with shaky hands, remembered being strapped to the gurney when the ambulance arrived. She remembered taking her purse with her before they left, not knowing when she’d be back, hoping against all odds that the doctors would fix it. She remembered being hooked up to IVs and strapped to monitors. She remembered the dread that filled her as the contractions started, as the doctors worked feverishly to save her baby as the night wore on. She kept hoping the nightmare would go away, kept telling herself she would do anything to save her child. She remembered the doctors telling her the next morning that despite all their efforts the condition was advancing, that they were going to induce labor; she remembered thinking no, this isn’t right! This isn’t happening!; she remembered the intense pain, the gut wrenching cramps in her lower belly; she remembered the warmth that spread through her lower body as Alanis was expelled from between her legs, remembered the flow of blood and amniotic fluid and her loud sobs as she saw her child, forever a seventh-month old fetus, so tiny, so little, a beautiful little face, eyes closed forever, adorable feet and hands, skin pale and gray; a tiny baby who never took a breath or opened her eyes or felt her mother’s loving touch.

She remembered being allowed to cradle Alanis to her breast. She remembered the medical personnel leaving the delivery room to give her some time alone with her baby. And what she saw when she looked down at that stillborn baby broke her heart so badly that it never completely healed. She still felt the pain, even now after all this time had passed. She remembered crying, holding Alanis to her tightly, unmindful now of her nakedness and the blood caking her inner thighs. All she wanted to experience was the feel of Alanis’s tiny body against hers, the feel of her skin against hers. She remembered caressing the oh-so-tiny fingers, kissing them, sobbing uncontrollably, not believing that this nightmare could happen to her and not knowing how she was ever going to get through her life now that the only thing she had ever really loved—for she had loved Alanis even before the moment when she first learned she was pregnant—was now gone from her. Forever.

At some point the medical personnel had come back to the room and gently taken Alanis from her and Michelle didn’t remember much after that.

The next few days were a blur. She was in the hospital for two nights. She remembered being monitored by the nurses. She remembered speaking with a grief counselor. And she remembered empathetically nodding her head when she was asked if she would like memorial photographs of Alanis before she was cremated. In fact, she was overwhelmed at the thought. She remembered going home in a cab, bundled up in a set of spare clothes her friend Catherine had brought for her, clutching the envelope of photos in her hand as the cab made its way over the Hudson River to her apartment in Jersey City. And then she remembered the arrival of her daughter’s ashes and picking out the nice little urn where they continued to rest on a bookshelf along with one of the photos from the batch of memorial photos. They still sat on the top shelf in the living room of the house she shared with Donald and not a day passed when she didn’t think about Alanis, and how much her daughter meant to her and how much she still loved her.

She didn’t leave All Nation. She returned to work two weeks later a broken shell, no longer caring much about her work the way she thought she had. Her demeanor was immediately noticed by her superiors and friends. She confided in her friends that she was crushed by losing Alanis, that it was a hurt she had never felt before. She tried explaining that losing a baby through miscarriage was like losing that same child through something else—crib death, a car accident, some dreadful disease. Just because Alanis never breathed or lived outside the womb didn’t mean her death was less worthy. Her friends said the same meaningless words in an attempt to make her feel better: “You’ll get better in time,” and “You need to get past this,” and that old chestnut: “Someday you’ll have another baby.”

She wanted Alanis!

And because she’d wanted Alanis so desperately, because her passing had wounded her so deeply, because she grieved over the death of her baby the way one would mourn the death of any child, her friends and co-workers shook their collective heads and clucked disapprovingly, not understanding the level of her grief. She knew what they thought: Alanis had been stillborn, premature; she’d miscarried her baby so her child was never, really, technically born. She had never really been alive, so there was no sense in mourning over the death. This mindset infuriated Michelle more than it saddened her, and she’d tried explaining her feelings to those who she felt were her friends but they merely humoring her and said the same meaningless words of comfort. They didn’t get it, they didn’t understand Michelle’s pain and grief and they didn’t want to understand it. By then the corporate wall that had been built around Michelle’s life by her parents had been all but shattered and Michelle saw the people she thought of as her friends for who they really were: blind, soulless parasites who’s only interest was for their own self-image and worth.

She tendered her resignation three months later, packed up her belongings and moved as far away from New Jersey as she could get and still be within shouting distance of a major city. Central Pennsylvania seemed far enough to get away from the hurt and pain, and it was close enough to at least two major cities—Harrisburg and Philadelphia. She found a small apartment in a town called Rothsville and set up a computer graphics business, peddling her wares to local businesses, and within a few months she was designing flyers, brochures, booklets, restaurant menus and other items. It was grunt work for the most part, but it paid the bills. Her rent was cheap, and the extra money she was saving enabled her to get back into real art—portraits mostly. Within a year she was leasing an old farmhouse in the country where she set up a small art studio and soon had plenty of clients, most of them drawn from an agency in New York she’d hooked up with.

In time she gained a passion for life she never thought she had. And she realized that even in death, Alanis was responsible for her reawakening. For if she hadn’t been pregnant with Alanis, she never would have woken up from the slumber she was in while she was so blindly devoted to All Nation. And even though she lost Alanis, she now had this tremendous gift her little girl had given her and she swore that she would never go down the path that had been prepared for her by her parents. She was going to live for herself, devote her attention to her art and her instincts and find a way to make a living with them. For a while it worked. She was able to make a living with her art for three years or so, mostly doing commercial art for advertising agencies and portraits for corporate clients that would hang in their lobbies and hallways, and even though she never rose above that, had never attracted the attention of one of the more prestigious art museums or collectors, it was more satisfying than crunching numbers on some spreadsheet in some faceless cubicle.

And now things seemed to have returned full circle for she was once again working for another faceless corporation. She’d kept up with her computer skills as an artist and, as a result of designing her own website, became a webmaster for several consulting firms. The computer graphics work usually came hand in hand with web design and she was always able to make a better-than-average living with it. In time, her skills attracted the attention of some of the bigger consulting firms who liked her computer graphics work and she somehow wound up doing work for them. And the more the work morphed, the more she realized she was being sucked back into working for large corporations. The difference this time was that she was doing it on her own terms.

And now she was sitting on a king-sized bed in some drab hotel room in El Paso, Texas, looking at a photo of her still-born daughter, tears streaming down her face, remembering those years with a sad sense of nostalgia and yearning. She had come so far, she thought, tracing a finger over the photo’s edges. Her vision blurred through tears. In the photo, Alanis’s sweet little face had been washed from the blood and membrane that had covered her in birth, revealing pink skin that seemed strangely life-like. She’d been dressed in a little white nightgown and placed in a bassinet with a white mattress, a white and pink blanket pulled up to her chin. She didn’t look dead; she looked asleep, as any preemie would look in the neonatal care unit at any hospital. But Michelle knew better; her daughter’s body had never breathed life, but her spirit had been alive within her these past twelve years and had never died.

Michelle cried softly, the memories washing through her. She brought the photo to her lips and kissed it. “They said the hurt would go away some day,” she said softly through her tears. “It never goes away and I don’t want it to. Because if it does it means… it means that you’ll go away and I don’t want you to ever go away. I want you to be with me right here always… always in my heart.” She cried, kissing the photo of her daughter, one of five snapshots the hospital staff had arranged to have taken which she had since made negatives out of and duplicated numerous times in print and electronically—digital images existed on a zip disk in her bank’s safe deposit box in the event of a fire at her house. If Michelle or her place of residence were to cease to exist through a hurricane or a fire, Alanis would always exist. Forever.

“I’ll never let you go away, baby,” Michelle said, lying down on the bed on her left side, holding the photograph close to her. “I’ll never let you go. Never let you go.”

Her painful little memory was eased of its pain in slow degrees as Michelle sank into sleep.

CHAPTER FIVE

WHEN VICTOR ADAMS entered the headquarters of Free State Insurance Company in Irvine, California he was wearing a three-piece tan business suit and carrying a large dark gray briefcase.

It had been three months since he’d stepped into the confines of the building. He recognized the security guard as he walked through. He nodded at her as he approached the booth to sign in. The guard, an attractive Hispanic woman named Elsa Valdez, didn’t recognize him. Victor was wearing dark sunglasses, was clean-shaven, and his hair was cut fashionably short. The last time he saw Elsa when he worked in the IT department of the company, he had been eighty pounds overweight, sported a beard, and had shoulder-length hair that was normally pulled back in a pony tail. He also dressed more casually; when he worked there, Free State had a very liberal business casual dress code which was nice. There was no sense in dressing up to the nines when you had to scrounge around on dirty floors under desks tracing CAT5 cables or risk getting strangled by your tie while leaning over a laser printer to diagnose its breakdown. Today Victor Adams looked like a corporate lawyer. “Good morning,” he said to Elsa.

“Hello.” Elsa gave him a cursory glance and turned her attention back to the security monitors.

Victor signed the false name he’d picked earlier—Randy Dubrow—jotted down who he was going to meet and put the pen down. “Thank you,” he said, picking up his briefcase.

“Don’t forget to fill out a visitor’s badge,” Elsa said.

“Of course.” Victor filled out the name of his pseudonym on a blue-bordered badge, peeled it off the adhesive backing, and affixed it to his breast pocket. “Thank you.” He turned and headed to the elevators near the building’s atrium.

He recognized all of the people who rode in the elevator with him but none of them recognized him. He’d put himself through a lot to change so drastically in so short a time.

When the elevator dropped him off at the fifth floor—the top level of the sprawling corporate structure—he walked purposefully and confidently toward the thick double glass doors of the executive suite. He had an eight o’clock appointment. The CEO, James Whitmore, had agreed to hear his presentation on how he, Randy Dubrow, a representative from the firm ValueTech, would be able to save Free State millions of dollars in helping them streamline their outsourcing initiative. Whitmore had not only been receptive to the meeting, he’d told Victor he’d been looking forward to speaking with him ever since his secretary, Gayle, told him about his phone call three weeks ago. Gayle had researched the company via the web link Victor had forwarded to her in his introductory email. The website, which Victor had created over the span of a week, detailed all the ways ValueTech helped save millions of dollars for various Fortune 500 companies, private firms, and small businesses by creating plans to outsource costly white-collar positions that could be performed elsewhere for much cheaper rates—largely third world countries like Thailand, India, the Philippines, and Mexico. Moderately educated people in those countries could perform light desk clerk duties for pennies on the dollar in jobs that normally paid ten dollars an hour and up at US firms. It was the wave of the future. Outsourcing Information Technology jobs had already proven to be a godsend in high stockholder returns and big bonuses for management and executive staffs, not to mention resulting in larger corporate profits. Whitmore had been particularly interested in hearing about the financial planning software the company had developed. ValueTech claimed that MoneySoft, their key product, was revolutionary in its calculations that offered the business user everything they needed to see when it came to corporate outsourcing, downsizing, and company profit. The software calculated all income levels, taxes, profits, and executive bonuses. Whitmore was especially interested in hearing about the bonuses, and he explained to Victor over the phone last week that he was sure his colleagues—the Vice President, the Treasurer, a few of the company executives—would want to hear how ValueTech could best benefit them and their year-end profit sharing. Victor was only too happy to oblige.

Inside Victor’s dark gray briefcase were two Glock semi-automatic nine millimeter pistols with ten round magazines filled with hollow point bullets, along with extra magazines. These handguns were strapped to the underside of the briefcase lid. Nestled within the body of the briefcase was a fully assembled Tec 9 Semi-automatic rifle and ten thirty round magazines; the rifle was an imitation of the standard military-issued Tec 9 full automatic rifle. He had a Kimber .45 with a full clip of hollow points in a shoulder holster beneath his suitcoat, a Smith and Wesson .38 caliber handgun tucked in a holster that hung off the small of his back, and he had spare magazines for all the handguns stashed in both pockets and his suit pockets. Strapped to a holster on his ankle, tucked beneath the cuffs of his slacks, was a .45 semi-automatic Kimber. This was all Victor needed to make his point that ValueTech was a bullshit company, created from the fertile depths of his imagination for the sole purpose of appealing to the underlying greed of the corporate suits that comprised Free State Insurance.

It was the corporate executives who were directly responsible for the loss of his job and his medical insurance, which had directly impacted the chemotherapy treatments his nine-year-old son, Brent, received for bone cancer.

When Victor showed up for work one morning six months ago and was told his job, along with the jobs of one hundred other IT techs at Free State, was being outsourced to Thailand, his medical insurance was cut off midway through the aggressive chemotherapy treatments his son was undergoing. Victor had tried to persuade Human Resources to at least let him keep his insurance, but they refused. Sorry, the doe-eyed HR girl told him that day. I really have no control in the matter, she said. I’m really very sorry, but there’s nothing I can do. So sorry. Fuck you, have a good life, don’t come crying to us if your kid dies, we really don’t give a shit. We need to fatten the corporate purses of the assholes on the fifth floor.

With no medical insurance the hospital refused to continue treatments without adequate payment. Victor spent weeks feverishly trying to continue Brent’s treatment, but the hospital administrators were adamant that they needed some kind of advance payment, which Victor and his wife Sarah didn’t have. They took out a second mortgage on their house but that wasn’t enough. Brent had a few more sporadic chemotherapy treatments, his doctors tried different cheaper drug therapies, all to no avail.

Brent Adams died three months ago at home, surrounded by his parents and two siblings, Matt and Jessica. After a quick prayer over his body and some tears, Victor called the hospital and told them they could pick up his dead son, their dead patient, thank you very much for killing him you sorry fucks. Then he slammed the phone down and lost his mind.

The wounds were still so fresh that thinking about them hurt. Victor took a deep breath, pulled open one of the double doors to the executive suite, and stepped inside.

Gayle Henderson, the executive secretary looked up from behind a large oak desk as he approached. She was in her early forties, dressed in a conservative business suit, her blonde hair pulled up. “Can I help you?”

“I have an eight o’clock appointment with Mr. Whitmore and several of the executives,” Victor answered crisply. He handed her one of the business cards he’d had made up: Randall Dubrow, Senior VP of Sales, ValueTech Corp.

“Very good, Mr. Dubrow. You can go right in to the conference room on your left. They’re waiting.”

Victor nodded at her. “Thank you.” He headed down a short hallway toward the conference room. He’d recognized Gayle Henderson but she hadn’t recognized him.

In the three months since his son died, Victor had the website built, the business cards made, the pitch crafted and perfected and, most important, he’d assembled his armament. He’d had to travel to Arizona to purchase the hollow-points since they were illegal to sell in California; the Tec 9 he’d purchased at a gun show in Las Vegas. The rest of the handguns were purchased legally. Victor had owned one of the Kimbers for a few years and sometimes took it to the local firing range, and he’d fired the standard military-issued Tec 9’s when he served in the U.S. Army fifteen years ago. When he bought the imitation, he’d taken it out to Riverside County at a firing range and broken it in, along with the other weapons. Sarah didn’t know what he was doing; she barely knew what was going on now since Brent’s passing. She spent most of her time in front of the television, slack-eyed from medication to calm her nerves. Victor did what he could to take care of Matt and Jessica and keep the house running; he kept the bill collectors at bay, diverted funds from Brent’s medical bills to paying the mortgage and other bills (ignoring the bill collectors from the hospital was easy and they could fuck off and die; he was never paying them). In general, he kept up a good front. And he planned.

And now it was time to carry out that plan.

He’d left Sarah a note on the family computer early that morning, detailing everything he was going to do and why. And he told her he was sorry, but he just had to do this. He just had to kill as many of the sons of bitches who killed their son as he could. Had to destroy as many of the callous corporate fucks who didn’t care they were affecting the lives of hundreds of people so they could buy another yacht or vacation home in the Florida Keys.

He grasped the polished gold doorknob of the boardroom and stepped inside.

Seated around the large, black cherry wood conference table were a dozen men in power suits. Most were over fifty, distinguished looking, bearing an air of wealth and power and prestige. A few were close to his age, mid-thirties, and there were a few guys that looked to be in their forties as well. He recognized all of them from when he used to work in the IT department. In fact, he used to venture up to the executive suite to hook up new PCs or troubleshoot system performances. He knew the layout of the area well, like the back of his hand. A coffee pot burbled on a counter off to his left and James Whitmore, CEO of Free State, was standing up, offering a smile. “Mr. Dubrow! So pleased to meet you. Why don’t you get yourself a cup of coffee and we’ll begin. We’re very eager to hear how ValueTech might be able to assist in Free State’s financial goals.”

“I think I’d rather start now,” Victor said. He stopped at the head of the table, the clasps of the briefcase facing him as he flipped them back, opening the lid. He pulled out both Glocks, one in each hand, aimed them at the men closest to him and pulled the triggers, striking them dead and center. Blood sprayed; one well-placed shot blew out a hole in the back of one man’s skull the size of a softball. Victor’s moves were so sudden, so ferocious in its violence, that the rest of the men were too stunned to react which was perfect for Victor as he began randomly picking them off.

It only took less than a minute. When he was finished all twelve of the power-suited men that had assembled in the conference room to hear how the fictional ValueTech company could further improve their bottom line and their stock options and year-end bonuses at the expense of the livelihood of their employees were dead or very close to dying. Both magazines ran out quickly and he reached for the Smith and Wesson in the holster near his back and the Kimber in his shoulder holster and finished the job.

He didn’t pause to savor the moment. He put the Kimber and the Smith and Wesson back in their holsters, slapped fresh magazines into the spent Glocks and stuffed them down the front of his pants, picked up the Tec 9 and slapped the first of the ten magazines into the action. He turned his attention to the entrance of the executive suite where he could hear Gayle making a frantic phone call to the police. The smell of gunpowder overpowered the smell of blood and excrement in the conference room. “It only took me less than thirty seconds to mow down thirty six million dollars worth of brains. But what the hell? One tenth of one of these motherfucker’s salaries could have saved my son, so fuck them. Time to die, motherfuckers.”

Then, leaving the open and now empty briefcase on the conference room table, he headed down the hallway for more payback.

MICHAEL BRENNAN TOOK the call from his doctor in his supervisor’s office at ten minutes past eleven on Friday morning.

He’d been dreading the call all week and had been quietly performing his duties in the plant mindlessly. He hadn’t said anything to his team leader or any of his co-workers about the testicular cancer thing, not because he was embarrassed, but because voicing it aloud would make it more real to him. He was still drifting through a mindless fog of denial, made worse by his medical insurance’s refusal to cover treatment. He had gone in to his HR department Wednesday to ask them about his medical coverage. The HR Director, a nice lady named Carrie Horn who always had a smile for everybody at the company, explained to him that all matters concerning medical care made by Red Rose were final, and that the patient would be responsible for all out-of-pocket visits. Michael asked her to explain that, and she told him that if there was something Red Rose would not cover, such as plastic surgery for vanity sake, or orthodontic care, or Lasik surgery, those fees were to be paid by the patient. “Red Rose will only pay for medical procedures that they deem are medically necessary,” she explained, repeating what Dr. Beck told him last week.

He asked her about fighting Red Rose’s decision and she informed him that he was free to do that; Red Rose did have an appeals process. She gave him the information on that, and he asked her about the possibility of switching his health insurance. Carrie explained that the company chose Red Rose for their competitive prices and was the only health insurance option available at the moment. Of course, he was free to opt out of coverage and seek medical insurance on his own, but the costs would be prohibitive. Michael shook his head, saying no, that was fine, he just wanted to know what his options were.

Carrie must have read the troubled look on his face because she asked him if he was okay. He lied, told her everything was fine, even smiled at her and she smiled back. He went back into the plant. Thirty minutes later he was called in to his supervisor’s office to take the call from his Doctor’s office.

“We’re going to go ahead with the surgery,” Dr. Beck said. “Can you be at Lancaster General by three p.m.?”

“Red Rose approved it?” Michael asked, his hopes rising.

“Not exactly,” Dr. Beck said. Michael thought his doctor still sounded upset with the hoops his medical insurance company was making him jump through. “But we want to get treatment started regardless of your insurance company’s decision. I’ve spoken with the people at the Lancaster Urological Group and the hospital, and they’re willing to work out financial arrangements with you that will give you very low monthly payments. Basically I’ve already set up financing for you. They’re willing to do it. Then when Red Rose approves the surgery, we’ll get them to cut a check to the parties involved and anything you’ve paid in will be reimbursed to you.”

“You think that’ll work?” Michael said. For the first time since this mess started, he felt comfortable working with a medical professional. He felt he could trust Dr. Beck.

“Yes,” Dr. Beck answered. “It’s all taken care of. I’ve filled out all the forms for you; I’ll just need you to sign your name to several documents, maybe fill a few things out I was unable to, and we’re set.”

“Okay,” Michael said, feeling all the tension that had been building up over the last few days ease off his back. “I’ll be there.”

“Good! And Michael?”

“Yeah?”

“Everything will be fine. You’re in good hands with Dr. Schellenger.”

Michael smiled. “Thanks doc.”

“Three o’clock,” Dr. Beck reminded him.

“I’ll be there.”

When he hung up he turned to Lenny Carr, his supervisor, who had his back to him working on his laptop. “That was my doctor,” he said. “I have a three o’clock appointment.” And he then proceeded to tell his supervisor, in bated breath, about his recently diagnosed cancer.

“HEY, THIS IS Jay. I can’t answer the phone now. Leave a message, I’ll call you back.”

At the sound of the tone, Michelle left a message: “Hey Jay, it’s Michelle Dowling, from Financial Consultants. We met Monday night and talked at the Lone Star. Anyway, I’m just calling to see how things are going. I was told by Rob that you aren’t working at Building Products anymore and it came as a shock. I was looking forward to working with you on this HR Project. Anyway, if you want to call I can be reached at my cell at 717-555-1515. Talk to you later and again, I really enjoyed meeting you and talking to you Monday night.” She pressed the pound button on her cell phone’s keypad to send the message, then sighed and placed the phone in her purse. Then she leaned back in the narrow plastic seat at Terminal B5 at the El Paso International Airport and waited for her flight to be called.

It was Friday morning, ten-thirty a.m., and her flight was scheduled to leave at 11:15. It was the best flight Sam was able to get at such short notice. She had dressed casually—a pair of faded blue jeans, a white blouse and blue tennis shoes, and she was carrying her laptop and purse as carry-ons. Her bag had already been checked in at the gate. Alan Perkins had already left on an earlier flight to New York with a stop-over in Philadelphia at eight-thirty, and he’d jokingly told her that if she showed up with him at his gate she could probably make it back home via a standby on his flight. That would have been nice, but then she didn’t want to head back to the office today, either. Her plane was scheduled to touch down in Harrisburg at four-fifteen, which would give her enough legroom to disembark, collect her luggage and her car, and by a quarter till five she’d be on the turnpike heading home.

The past few days worth of work had gone well—as well as work goes, that is. She had enough information and preliminary notes from her meetings to get started on the project once she arrived at the office Monday morning. Sam would want a briefing of course, but that was to be expected. Alan mentioned something about driving into Lancaster for a few days sometime next week as well to work with her on the project. She liked Alan, thought he was smart and agreeable and pleasant. He was very business-minded and serious, but he also had a nice sense of humor and a good personality. He was nice-looking with wavy brown hair, hazel eyes, and sensitive features. He always dressed impeccably and he reminded her of the hurried and dedicated Junior execs she used to work with at All Nation, but she was under the impression Alan was a little bit older than her by at least a few years. If he was married, he didn’t mention it; the lack of a ring told her he was probably single. It had been a little hard to warm up to him at first—in fact, she was still trying to feel him out, trying to see what kind of guy he really was—and she was going to step carefully until she could fully trust him, but for now her instincts were telling her that he was okay. He wasn’t a complete corporate dolt at least as far as she could tell.

She sighed, pulled the battered Neil Gaiman paperback she was reading out of her purse and tried to get into the story. Airport passerby’s distracted her and she found herself people-watching every other page. She glanced at the overhead clock on the wall in the terminal, counting down the time. Ten more minutes and they should be boarding. When she got home she was going to—

The sound of a Green Day ring tone chimed in her purse and she reached for it, scooping out her cell phone. “Hello?” She was hoping it was Jay calling her back.

“Michelle, it’s Sam.”

It took her a fraction of a second to place his voice with his name. “Sam! What’s up?”

“I’m sorry to have to spring this on you on such short notice, Michelle, but something came up. I need you to be in Chicago this evening for another project. I know its short notice, but—”

“Chicago? Tonight?” The good feeling she was having regarding coming home and looking forward to a weekend of rest and recuperation quickly dwindled. “You’ve got to be kidding!”

“No, I’m not, Michelle.” Sam’s tone of voice was sharp. It was authoritative, suggesting he did not approve of her last sentence. “This is rather important. I wouldn’t be calling you if we didn’t need you on this project.”

Michelle didn’t know what to say; her mind was whirling in a thousand directions. She was upset that her weekend was now ruined. “My flight back to Harrisburg will be boarding in ten minutes,” she said, sitting straight up in her chair now. “What am I… how am…”

“I’ve got that taken care of,” Sam murmured. “Board the flight. I’ll meet you at Harrisburg with your itinerary and a packet of information regarding this new project. I’ve got Sylvia working on getting you a flight out of Harrisburg to Chicago tonight.”

“But my clothes,” Michelle protested. “I don’t have anything clean and—”

“You’ll be staying at the Embassy Suites near O’Hare,” Sam said, overriding her. “Sylvia already has a suite for you, with a kitchenette. The facility has a laundry room in it and they offer dry cleaning services.”

Michelle was at a loss for words. She was so angry she could barely speak. She wanted to think of a lie—any lie—to get out of this. She felt powerless to protest; if she refused, Sam would fire her. Well, okay, maybe he wouldn’t fire her on the spot, but he would be extremely disappointed, and she was still new to the company. She wanted to make a good impression. She hadn’t been at the company long enough yet to learn Sam’s limits, learn when she could say no to him. She had the feeling that if she said no to him now, things would not be pleasant for her when she returned to work Monday morning. They very well could fire her by next week if she refused this project. Pennsylvania Labor Law was heavily tilted toward the employer; as an ‘at-will’ employee, an employer could dismiss an employee at any time, for any reason, except for those that clearly violate Federal and State law such as discrimination based on gender, age, or race. In short, she was screwed.

A female voice broke in on the loudspeaker. “Flight 189 to Harrisburg will be boarding in five minutes.”

“That’s my flight,” Michelle said to Sam. “It’s boarding.”

“Everything is taken care of,” Sam said in a soothing voice. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll have everything ready for you when you land.”

“Okay.” When Michelle hung up she was still seething with anger. She collected her laptop and purse, growing angrier by the minute at the destruction of her weekend, and began to get ready for her flight.

BY THE TIME she got off the plane three hours later in Harrisburg she was a little bit calmed down, but still angry. She forced herself to look neutral as she exited the plane and headed toward the baggage claim area. She’d thought about everything on the flight to Harrisburg; she’d even tried calling Donald but had only gotten his voice mail so she left a message. And what she thought boiled down to this: Sam Greenberg must really value her skills and talents, otherwise he wouldn’t trust her to send her out of town again on such short notice. She also realized that at least she was working—so many people with college degrees and skills were either unemployed or underemployed. And finally, she still did not know the extent of the project. It could be something really challenging, something she would like, and it could be good for her career.

So when she saw Sam Greenberg waiting for her in the baggage claim area with another man she didn’t recognize, she tried not to let her fatigue and irritation show. Sam was dressed in a blue conservative business suit. The other man was older and rugged, with a face that seemed chipped out of granite. He was wearing a black suit and had steel gray hair. “This is Mr. Lawrence,” Sam said. “From corporate headquarters.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Michelle said, shaking his hand quickly.

“Nice to meet you,” Mr. Lawrence said, nodding. “Sam has told me all about you. Welcome to Corporate Financial.”

Sam got right down to business. He handed Michelle two thick padded envelopes and a thick business-sized envelope. “Sylvia was able to get you a flight that leaves in an hour,” he said. “Your tickets and itinerary are in the envelope, along with information on your car and accommodations. The material in the padded envelopes pertains to the project. There are several CD ROMS inside as well. You’ll be meeting with the client, representatives from Red Rose Medical Insurance, at their corporate headquarters tomorrow morning at nine a.m.”

“Red Rose?” This piqued Michelle’s curiosity. “What’s it about?”

“The documents will explain better than I can.” Sam put his arm on her shoulder as they walked slowly to collect her suitcase. “Basically it’s the last stage of a long-term project with them in which we’ve completely overhauled their Human Resources Policies, their management, their Business Administration departments, Accounting, IT, and their Insurance Services. They’ve been working with our system now for five years and they report that their business has improved drastically since they’ve undertaken our services. What this last phase of the project is will merely be the closing formalities: finalizing the code for the intranet site across all sectors of the company, primarily. There will also be some revisions to their documentation.”

“How long will I be there?” Michelle asked.

“I anticipate you’ll be finished by Thursday,” Sam said. They were now standing by the luggage conveyor belt as the system began cycling baggage around. Other passengers from Michelle’s flight were already watching for their bags. “In between that time, Alan Perkins from New York and Mr. Lawrence along with your colleagues from Corporate you met in El Paso—Alma Smith and Dennis Harrington—will be orienting you in some Corporate

Financial Consultancy business.” Michelle barely remembered Alma Smith and Dennis Harrington. They were working on another phase of the Building Products project. “These sessions will be held at the Embassy Suites. Alma and Dennis will arrive Sunday evening and you’ll have your first meeting with them Monday morning.”

Michelle grasped the thick envelopes, already resolved to having a not-so-good weekend. “And my return flight is Friday?”

“Friday at eight a.m.” Sam smiled at her. “You arrive back in Harrisburg shortly after noon in time for a three day weekend.” The subtle suggestion that she could have that Friday off didn’t lessen the bad news that this weekend was being spoiled, or that his so-called generous hint that she didn’t have to report in to the office on the day she returned was in some way a make-up for her. Either way you looked at it, she was losing three days of her life. “There’s a corporate credit card in one of these packages with your name on it for expenses, including clothing purchases if needed, and laundry. And, of course, entertainment.”

“Great.” Not that the notion of charging entertainment like movies and dining at fine restaurants constituted a replacement for the loss of her weekend, but what else was she going to say?

“If you need to make any kind of arrangements for personal business at home, let me know,” Sam said.

“I’m okay,” Michelle said. Technically, her personal affairs were fine. She still had to contact Donald, and all of her bills were paid online, so she was covered financially. “Right now I’m just hungry. I want to get my bags, grab a quick bite to eat in the lounge, and then I want to catch this flight.”

“That’s what I like to hear!” Sam looked pleased. Mr. Lawrence smiled.

They waited while she collected her luggage and accompanied her to the tiny lounge located in the airport. As Michelle wolfed down a quick sandwich, she filled them in on the Building Products project, covering the basics. “I can email you more specific stuff over the week,” she said, wiping her mouth with a napkin.

“That would be great,” Sam said. He glanced at his watch. “Mr. Lawrence and I should be going, though. We have a six o’clock appointment with the board in Lancaster regarding this Red Rose thing. Mr. Lawrence leaves Sunday evening for Chicago to join you. I’ll call you tomorrow night and fill you in on the details, and you can give me news of your meeting with them.”

“Sounds good.”

By the time Sam paid her bill and she shook their hands, her restlessness and depression over this sudden turn of events was back. When she finished checking her bag in, she went back through airport security and waited at gate B2 and tried Donald again, feeling nervous now as she got his voice mail. She quickly left him another message, told him she’d been called out of town to Chicago for another project on short notice—sorry, she really couldn’t help it but her boss basically intercepted her at the airport and what was she going to do? Tell him no? “I’m sorry,” she ended, and now she could hear herself; she sounded tired, fatigued, and upset. “I don’t want to go, I just want to be home. I’ll call you the minute I get into Chicago, okay?” Beat. “I love you. Bye.”

Then she picked up her carry-on bag and the bag containing her laptop and headed to the departing gates to board her flight.

CHAPTER SIX

WHEN DONALD BECK got home that evening at eight-thirty he felt a flare of concern and a hint of fear rise in his belly. Michelle’s car was not in the garage. No telling where she was; her flight could have been delayed. Donald pulled the car into his spot in the garage and left the door open, then pulled his briefcase and coat out of the backseat and entered the house through the kitchen.

The house was dark. No sign of Michelle anywhere. He turned on the light in the kitchen and headed toward the phone on the wall to check messages when he saw movement in the darkened living room.

His heart leaped in his throat and for a moment he was paralyzed as the shadow materialized into a man rising from the sofa. The man was holding a handgun and he was pointing the weapon at him. “Who the hell are you?” the man said.

“Oh my God!” Donald said, automatically backing up. He dropped his briefcase and took an involuntary step backward. “Don’t shoot! Please don’t shoot!”

“Who are you?” The man said again. Donald could tell the man was nervous; wired. Speed freak, he thought. It was some pissant speed freak who’d broken in the house, to steal their belongings to sell for meth or something. “Where’s Michelle?”

At the mention of Michelle’s name, Donald felt his fear grow. “What have you done with her? Where is she?”

“What the hell do you mean what have I done with her? I haven’t done shit to her! Who the hell are you?” The man’s voice cracked with intensity. Donald saw him more clearly now as his vision adjusted to the shadows. The man was five foot nine, thin and wiry, dressed in black jeans and a dark long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His features were handsome, eyes dark and penetrating, hair dark, almost black. He was clutching what looked like a black semi-automatic pistol.

“I… I live here,” Donald stammered. His hands were raised in the classic Don’t shoot me! stance.

“You Michelle’s husband or something?”

“Boyfriend,” Donald said, trying to keep the shakiness out of his voice. “Please… you don’t want to do this.”

The man seemed to relax and lowered his weapon. “Shit,” he said. Then he gestured for Donald to step into the living room, waving him in with the gun. “Get the hell in here, but turn on the light first.”

At the sight of the man relaxing and lowering his weapon, Donald did as he was told, still deadly afraid. He stepped forward cautiously and flipped on the light to the living room. With the living room now bathed in light, he caught a better look at the intruder and his fear started turning to curiosity as the man replaced the handgun somewhere at the small of his back beneath his shirt. The man turned to the sofa and sat down.

“What’s going on?” Donald asked, standing near the entrance to the kitchen and the living room. Behind him the dining room was still dark, as was the rest of the house. “Why… are you looking for Michelle? What’s going on?”

“When’s the last time you spoke to her?” the man asked. He was sitting on the sofa, leaning forward, elbows on his knees. Donald saw that the man’s forearms were tattooed.

“Last night,” Donald said automatically. What he wanted to say was, who the hell are you and what are you doing in my house? But he didn’t; the instinctual urge to do something to protect himself and his property was momentarily paralyzed.

“She didn’t call today?”

“I don’t know. I was seeing patients all morning and was in surgery this afternoon. I haven’t had a chance to check my messages.”

“Check ’em now.”

“Who are you?” Donald was feeling a little more bold now that there wasn’t a gun pointed at him.

“My name’s Jay,” the man said. “I met Michelle Monday evening in El Paso.”

Donald knew who the man was now. He remembered Michelle mentioning him on the phone a few nights ago. Something about Jay suddenly no longer being with the company she was consulting for; she’d feared he was let go due to something he’d said at a bar the night she met him. “Michelle mentioned you to me,” he said. “Something about she met you Monday, went out with a group of your co-workers and that you didn’t show up to the office the next morning and she later learned you were let go.”

“Yeah, that’s me.” Jay O’Rourke glanced out the window quickly, as if checking to see if the house was being watched. “And I don’t have much time to explain shit, so you’ll have to trust me. Okay?”

“Where’s Michelle?” Donald asked.

“Check your messages. Let’s see.”

Donald pulled his cellular phone off the clip on his belt and flipped it open. “There’s a message,” he said. He pushed a button, brought the phone up to his ear and listened. His eyes met Jay’s briefly and he nodded. When he was finished listening to the message he punched another button and folded the cellular phone up. “That was her. She must’ve called when I was in surgery. I didn’t have the phone with me then and I didn’t get a chance to check my messages. I was so wrapped up with what was happening.”

“What did she say?”

Donald didn’t know if he could trust Jay, but something told him Michelle had trusted him. She’d certainly spoken favorably of him the other night, and she rarely had nice things to say about the people she worked with. She either spoke neutrally of them or negatively. If she’d spoken well of somebody that meant she really liked them. That convinced Donald. “She said her boss called her when she was at the airport in El Paso and told her she had to go to Chicago this weekend on another project. She sounded upset. She said her boss met her at the airport in Harris-burg with her flight arrangements, a corporate credit card, and materials for the project. She was just about to board the flight when she called.”

“Shit!” Jay muttered.

“What’s this about? Why are you here? And how the hell did you break into my house?” For the first time since meeting Jay, Donald felt himself growing angry.

Jay groped for his breast pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes. “I need a smoke. Mind if we step outside? I’ll tell you all I know there.”

“Yeah, sure.” Donald’s curiosity grew, as did his fear. “Is… she’s not in danger, is she?”

“I don’t know,” Jay said. “I don’t think so. I dug Michelle the minute I met her, and it’s rare I meet somebody in her position and like them automatically. I think she’s fine, but she’s not going to know what the hell’s going on and that concerns me.”

“She’s in some kind of danger, isn’t she? Does it have something to do with her job? Is she involved in some kind of corporate scandal?”

Jay looked up at Donald and put his finger to his lips. When he answered, his voice was low. “Outside,” he said. He rose to his feet, placed a cigarette in his mouth, and headed through the darkened dining room as if he already knew the layout of the house, and opened the sliding glass doors to the backyard. And Donald, still stunned from finding Jay in his home and having a gun pointed at him, could only follow him outside.

Donald slid the back door shut softly as he joined Jay on the patio. Jay lit a cigarette and took a drag. “I needed that. I haven’t had a smoke in three hours. That’s how long I’ve been in your house waiting for her to come home.”

“How’d you get in?” Donald asked. It sounded like a stupid question; he should’ve been pressing Jay to tell him what the hell was going on.

“Side door of the garage,” Jay said. “Sorry. The deadbolt’s shot to shit now. I had to snap the lock to get in.”

“Couldn’t you have just walked up to the house and knocked on the door when you saw me pull up?”

“I didn’t want to chance that,” Jay said. He took a deep drag and exhaled second hand smoke. “I didn’t know if the place was bugged or not—it isn’t, by the way. I made a sweep of the house when I got in and it’s clean.”

“Why would you think my house is bugged?”

“Because I found out my place was bugged Monday night when I came home from the Lone Star.”

“How…” Donald’s mind was spinning, trying to connect the dots. “I don’t understand.”

“I know, and I’m sorry.” Jay O’Rourke’s voice was low and he seemed to be an entirely different person now as he leaned close to Donald. “And I wouldn’t have noticed if Julie, my wife, hadn’t mentioned that our phone line was acting up. She was up when I came home Monday night and mentioned it to me, and I had to call a buddy anyway, so I tried the phone. And there was this echo, kinda faint, but I could hear it. I hung up the phone and slipped out the back door to where the dmarc is on the side of the house. I checked the line and there it was. A bug.” He took a drag on his cigarette. “I took it off, went back into the house and picked up the phone again and called somebody else, another friend. No echo. I knew something was up, but I didn’t want to scare Julie. She went to bed and I spent the rest of the night tearing the place apart and found more of ’em stashed under furniture and pictures in every room of the house, even the bathroom. Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep that night.”

Donald said nothing. He took it all in, wondering what this was leading to.

“The next day I faked being sick so Julie wouldn’t worry. She took Danny to day care and went to work, and I called in sick and finished tearing the place apart, looking for more bugs. I checked my computers, ran spyware programs, and did some debugging and found stuff planted on my computer. I blasted those out. I started getting paranoid, tried calling Michelle but got her voice mail. I didn’t want to leave a message, didn’t know if I could trust the cell phone. So I drove over to the hotel she was staying at, since I’d heard from Brian that she was staying at the Hampton near the airport. I knew one of the other Corporate Financial guys was staying there and—”

“Alan Perkins,” Donald said.

“Him and a couple others,” Jay said. “Alma Smith and Dennis Harrington.”

Donald nodded. “Michelle didn’t mention them to me, but she did say there were some other people from Corporate Financial at Building Products.”

“Yeah. Anyway, I found out where they were staying, what rooms they were in, and I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. I knew I didn’t trust Harrington and Smith for shit. I didn’t like them the minute they started this bullshit project with Building Products. They’re the biggest corporate zombies I’ve ever seen.” Another drag of the cigarette. “Anyway,” Jay continued, his voice lowered. “I found out where Dennis was staying. The maids were doing some house cleaning, and one of their carts was in the middle of the hallway. I saw a passkey lying on top of a pile of laundry and snagged it. I went to Dennis’s room and slipped the passkey in the slot and opened the door slowly and stepped inside.” He took another drag of his cigarette and Donald could see that Jay’s features looked troubled. “And… this is no shit man. I swear to God I saw this… I stepped into the room and the smell was the first thing that hit me. It smelled like something dead. You dig?”

Donald nodded. “Yeah.” Donald had smelled plenty of decomposing bodies in medical school when he’d worked in dissection.

“I’m thinking Dennis is a sloppy fuck who doesn’t throw his food away, you know what I mean? So I step inside and there’s a body on the bed. I was a little startled at first, but then I recognized the face in the darkened room. It was Dennis, and he looked like he was asleep at first, but the closer I got into the room, the stronger that dead smell was. I leaned over him, not even knowing or caring what kind of excuse I was going to have if he woke up and saw me. And…” Jay took another drag of the cigarette. “I leaned over him and that dead smell was coming from him. I’m not shitting you, man. Fucker smelled like a decaying body.”

“That’s impossible,” Donald murmured quietly. “Maybe there was a dead animal or something in the room.”

Jay shook his head. “No, man. It was him! I touched him and he was stiff. I almost freaked out then. I thought maybe he’d died during the night, so I slapped his face and there was nothing. And then… then I felt this… I don’t know how else to describe it, but it was this… presence… as if there was something else in the room that was aware of me and that… it was trying to wake Dennis up.”

Jay took a drag on his cigarette. His fingers shook slightly. “So I got the hell out of there. I didn’t even close the door, I just ran out of the hotel and went home. When I got home I logged into Building Product’s corporate portal on my Macintosh and spent the rest of the afternoon poking around the secured network we’d made for Corporate Financial. At one point I called the office and Mark answered. I told him I was feeling a little better and was doing a little bit of work and asked to speak to Michelle. He told me Michelle was in a meeting with Accounting and the rest of the Corporate Financial people, and I asked him if Dennis was there too and he said yes.” Jay dragged on the butt of his cigarette and dropped it on the ground, stubbing it out with his booted foot. “That’s when I knew shit wasn’t right.”

Donald was trying to make sense of what Jay was telling him. While he didn’t doubt Jay’s insistence that he smelled decaying flesh in Dennis Harrington’s room, he believed Jay’s imagination had formulated the rest of it. Dennis Harrington had been in a deep sleep; that was all. Jay had freaked out, thought the guy was dead and come back from the grave. As for what he’d smelled… well, maybe Dennis was bad at maintaining his personal hygiene. He wouldn’t be the first. Donald didn’t voice any of this—he wanted to hear the rest of Jay’s story before he had all the evidence—so he let Jay finish.

“I came across a folder in the Corporate Financial tree that wouldn’t let me in,” Jay continued. “This freaked me out. I’m the System Admin of the entire network and I have complete access. I checked the security settings on the server and everything looked fine, but I couldn’t get into that one folder. So I moved to my Mac at home and transferred a code-breaker program to the Building Products Server. I ran it and it spit back the password. I modified the settings, got in, and spent the better part of an hour transferring all the files over the network to my PC at home. When I was done, I reset the NT settings and got out and read the files on my laptop.” He extracted another cigarette from his pack and lit it. “That’s when I knew I was in deep shit.”

“It’s some kind of corporate scandal, isn’t it?” Donald said softly. “Corporate Financial is helping the executives at Building Products cook the books or something and Michelle doesn’t know what she’s doing. She’s being led to commit crimes she isn’t aware of, isn’t she?”

“No, it isn’t that,” Jay said. He took a drag on the cigarette. “Let me finish. When I saw this shit on our network I was freaked out. I didn’t understand all of it, but I knew it wasn’t right. I made backup copies on CD ROM and packed up my shit. When Julie and Danny came home I already had their shit packed, and I told them they were going to Wyoming where Julie’s parents live. Julie was freaked out, she was wondering what the hell was going on and I couldn’t tell her everything. I still didn’t know how much I was being watched, even though I’d destroyed as many of the bugs in the house as possible. I just told her that I thought Corporate Financial and Building Products were conspiring to commit some serious white-collar crimes and that I’d just found out about it and wanted to get them somewhere safe. She understood what I was talking about, and I helped her pack up the car and followed her to the airport. I had all my shit in my car, including the laptop and all my files, and I grabbed my nine and as much ammo and clips as I could carry. I saw them off at the airport and then took off myself. For awhile I didn’t know where I was going to go, but then I remembered Michelle told me she lived out here and I felt I could trust her.” He took another drag of his cigarette. “So here I am.”

“How did you find out where I lived?”

“You can find out all kinds of shit on the internet,” Jay said, taking another casual drag on his cigarette. “Especially if you’re a computer hacker like me.”

“Why do you feel you could trust Michelle?” Donald asked.

“Because she’s new,” Jay said. “I could tell. She had this… I don’t want to say deer-caught-in-the-headlights trip, but there was just something about her that was genuine and real. No sense of falsehood about her. Not like the other Financial Consultant people. Or like a lot of the people at Building Products.”

“And it took you three days to drive out here?” Donald asked.

Jay took a drag on his cigarette. “I drove to St. Louis and I was halfway there, near Oklahoma City, when I could tell I was being tailed. I did some maneuvering, got off some exits and got back on the Interstate again just to prove to myself I wasn’t being tailed, but I could tell somebody was following me. I was casual about getting off, though; I always stopped for gas or food or something. The tail hung back and I pretended not to notice. When I got back on the Interstate again, I watched him in my rearview. He stayed a good ten cars behind me. Finally I got off at a rest stop that was deserted. It was three in the morning and I was somewhere in Oklahoma. I pulled the car around the back and entered the men’s room and waited.” He took a drag on his cigarette. “A minute later I heard a car pull up. The bathroom had a window that was frosted and hard to see out of, but a chunk had been broken out of it, so I could tell that it was the car following me. I waited until the guy came in the bathroom and I plugged him.”

“You shot him?” Donald felt aghast; was he talking to a murderer?

“Yeah.” Jay took another drag of his cigarette. “Not like I wanted to. I didn’t have a choice. It was him, the guy that was following me, and I knew he was coming in to the bathroom to kill me, so I didn’t hesitate. I plugged that motherfucker, two in the chest and one in the head. He didn’t even see it coming.” Jay took another drag of his cigarette. Donald could tell that reliving this episode had affected him; his hands were shaking and his voice trembled. Donald felt his fear flare up again briefly and then it subsided. “For just a split second I thought I’d really fucked up. I was thinking, ‘fuck, dude, you just plugged a guy who wanted to take a leak; you just plugged a guy who was just taking the same route you’re taking, that’s all’. But I didn’t have to think those thoughts for very long because I saw it. He had a pistol clutched in his right hand.” Another drag of the cigarette. “Dude was holding a nine-millimeter Bulldog with a twelve round magazine. There’s only one thing you use those for, dig?”

Donald nodded.

“Once I realized the shit was real, that my mind wasn’t just fucking with me, I took his gun and got the hell out of there. I took off in my car and had to force myself to drive the speed limit, I was so nervous. But I made it. I drove the rest of the night and made it to a little town in Missouri, I don’t remember the name now, and pulled over at a truck stop and got something to eat. I bought a newspaper and tried to chill out. There was a TV on in the diner and the news was on, but there wasn’t anything about the guy I’d shot in Oklahoma.

“So when I was done, I felt better. I picked up a Rand McNally map and got back on the road. I got to St. Louis that afternoon and headed straight to the east side and left the car unlocked in a parking lot, got my shit, and checked into the cheapest motel I could find. Before I split El Paso I took out as much cash as I could out of my checking account and I made sure I had it all in one place, then I checked all my other shit. I needed another set of wheels but I didn’t want to spend the money on ’em, dig? So I hung out a little bit at the motel and waited until dark, got a little sleep, then about midnight I set out and found a new set of wheels real easy. Then I packed up all my shit, threw my nine in a trashbin and tried to bury it beneath the junk, and got the hell out of the city. I crossed the river and got to Springfield the next morning, checked into another motel under a false name and paid cash, crashed and slept till about four. Then I got up, found a gun store in town and bought some rounds for the Bulldog. I came back to the motel and there was still nothing on the news about the guy I’d plugged in Oklahoma. And the motel was one of those low rent things, no broadband internet connection, so I had to use dialup and that was slower than snail shit. I checked the Oklahoma news and saw a little story about some guy whose identity the cops were withholding who’d been killed in a rest stop bathroom off Interstate Forty. No witnesses.” Jay took a drag of his cigarette. “I was pretty confident there were no witnesses either, but I still didn’t want to chance it. Ballistics will still point to me, and I figure the law is on to me now.”

Jay took another drag of his cigarette. “I threw my cell phone away for obvious reasons. Then I called my in-laws in Wyoming from a phone booth. Julie was frantic, but she was safe. As far as I could tell, the cops hadn’t come poking around up there yet. She said she’d called our voice mail and there were messages from the police, that they were looking for me. I told her that if the cops showed up to not believe anything they told her, that I didn’t do anything wrong. I couldn’t tell her where I was, just that I was safe. Then I hung up before any kind of trace could be established. I felt good she and Danny were safe. Her parents live in a rather rugged area and her dad has an arsenal like you wouldn’t believe. The minute you get on their property you trigger their security system.”

“Nice,” Donald said. Now he wished for a cigarette. He used to smoke when he was in college and gave it up during his first year of practice.

“So anyway, here I am.” Jay took another drag on his cigarette. “We need to make sure Michelle’s safe. First thing we should do is if she doesn’t call by nine or so, call her cell.”

“Then what?” Donald asked, his voice low. “If what you said is true and you think they—whoever they are—are on to her, they could be listening in to our communications.”

“True. We just need to find out where she’s staying. We can take it from there.”

Donald didn’t know what to think. If Michelle hadn’t spoken so highly of Jay the other night he would still be fearing for his safety; Jay exhibited all the signs of paranoia. He had severe doubts on the validity of his story about Dennis Harrington. Most likely Jay had spooked himself when he broke into the hotel room and his imagination got the best of him. He found it highly unlikely that Michelle would have been suckered in by any form of delusions Jay may harbor. Jay was right about their next step in this sense; he had to talk to Michelle, had to make sure she was okay, then he had to somehow get her to convey to him that Jay O’Rourke wasn’t entirely insane. This was going to be a tall order, but one he’d have to undertake if he was to completely trust Jay because right now he didn’t completely trust him. Not by a long shot.

“Well, let’s see if we can reach her,” Donald said, glancing at his watch. “It’s quarter past nine now.”

Jay nodded, took a final drag on the cigarette and crushed it beneath the toe of his boot. Then he followed Donald back into the house.

CHAPTER SEVEN

IT WAS SIX p.m. on Friday and Jennifer Faus was still chained to her desk on the tenth floor of 156 Broadway in San Francisco, California where the offices of PeopleReady, Incorporated were located.

Jennifer had been coasting along in a mindless haze since two p.m., fruitlessly faking her job duties. She was ragged emotionally and physically. As one of twenty staff accountants for a mid-sized company that provided desktop IT and telecom support to various small and mid-size companies throughout the country, Jennifer’s job was rather mundane and run-of-the-mill. She was in Accounts Receivable, which meant she processed daily incoming EDI transactions, matched them with scanned paper invoices, updated the aging files, and ran various reports for a wide range of company personnel. She liked numbers and she liked her job. She was cheerful, always looked forward to starting the day with a smile and a positive attitude, and it showed in how her co-workers reacted to her; she felt she was very well liked in the company. It also helped that she was knowledgeable, competent at her job, and had a good attitude. Like every job, she had to deal with her share of difficult people, but those were skills one learned from life experience and a little bit of Psych 101 in college. Office Behavior workshops helped, too. As a result, out of most of the people she worked with, she had a good life/work balance. She took her job seriously and worked hard when she was at her desk from eight to five—after that she was her own person and the trivial matters of the day were forgotten.

But today… this week… had been hell.

On Monday morning Jennifer and the rest of the accounting staff were informed by the Controller and Vice President that a new corporate policy had been levied—all projects must be completed as quickly as possible on the day they were started. This brought protests from half of the accounting staff. The Vice President, a sullen, mousy-looking woman named Shannon Albright, informed them the decision was final and that they were free to tender their resignations if they no longer wanted to be part of this new team effort. She further explained that management was initiating this new policy due to increased competition from rival firms. “We need all daily accounts closed by five p.m. and we need preliminary work on the next day’s business in place before the start of business.” That meant two to three hours of prep work in some cases. Jennifer asked the inevitable question that was on everybody’s mind: what if they were physically unable to finish with closing due to circumstances beyond their control? Network or hardware failures, scheduling conflicts, that sort of thing. When Shannon asked, “What kind of scheduling conflicts?” Peggy Brenner, one of the accountants who had been at the company for thirty years answered. “I baby-sit my grandson from five-thirty to eight every night for my daughter while she attends UCSF. There’s no way I can work beyond five.”

“Then you’re dismissed,” Shannon had said curtly, without batting an eye.

A shocked hush rose up and there had been dead silence. Peggy had looked at Shannon as if she were waiting for the younger woman to grin and laugh, saying it was all a joke. Shannon’s features were sullen and stoical. She wasn’t joking; she was dead serious. This hit home to Jennifer when Shannon said, “Get your things and leave. I’ll have payroll process your final check.”

“But—” Peggy had said, her features suddenly growing white with the shock and confusion over what was happening.

“Does anybody want to join Peggy?” Shannon had asked the group. Jennifer couldn’t believe this was happening. She and the Controller were like different people; they were sullen, unemotional, their features not registering the sounds of Peggy’s cries as the older woman left the conference room in tears. “If not, I suggest you remain team players. This is all for the good of the company. Without the company, we are nobody. You are accountants because it is what you do. Right now the company needs you and your skills to help for the betterment of the company, and all of us. If the company succeeds, you succeed. That’s it in a nutshell, gang. If you want to remain a team player, you must trust each other and work together. The harder you work, the more you cooperate with each other to meet the company goals, the sooner you will be able to finish. That’s all we’re asking.”

So that was how Jennifer Faus came to work the first seventy-hour week in almost ten years. The first few days weren’t so bad. She assisted in the daily transactions and data entry and journal ledger entries; she ran reports for Shannon; she worked on preparing to close out the week’s business. But as the week wore on, Jennifer’s fatigue grew, and when Shannon gave her an icy glare Thursday afternoon after telling her she had to leave at five-thirty to make a six o’clock hair appointment, Jennifer realized there was something wrong. Something was just not right. She’d told Shannon she was going to be back—it was just a forty-minute appointment, if that, then she’d be right back to finish. In fact, she was getting into a routine, a certain rhythm to the new schedule, and she felt that by next week she’d have it down to where she’d be able to finish all the extra stuff before five p.m. just in time to go home at a normal hour. The look Shannon gave her told Jennifer that if she left the team to conduct personal business while the team was working towards its goals, she must not be serious about being a team player and, therefore, not a good worker. And if she wasn’t a good worker, she could find employment elsewhere.

So she stayed.

And now she was miserable and dog-tired.

Jennifer glanced at the time on the bottom right hand portion of her computer screen. On any normal Friday evening she’d be out having dinner with her husband, Jack. Then they’d stop by a bookstore and browse, maybe take in a movie and drinks at a pub in town, then come home. Not tonight. Even if she were to leave the office in the next fifteen minutes, she was too tired to do anything except plop her butt on the sofa and veg out in front of the TV. Jack had called an hour ago and Jennifer caught Shannon glance her way, disapproval in her eyes. Jennifer had told Jack that she was still at the office but she should be finished soon—sorry. When she got off the phone, Shannon had strolled by. “What are you doing?”

“Working on the spreadsheet,” Jennifer had said.

“It didn’t sound like you were,” Shannon said and left it at that. The subliminal message was obvious: take a personal phone call while you’re working again and you can find another job.

Jennifer inserted data into the spreadsheet she was working on, her mind elsewhere. Her co-workers continued their duties normally. Jennifer paused for a moment, listening to the sounds in the office. It was quiet except for the sounds of computer keyboards clacking and people on the phone. It was as if things had settled back to normal, as if her co-workers had resigned themselves to the fact that these long hours were now a normal part of the workday. There were no mutters of complaint, no idle chatter or slouching on the job. Jennifer’s mind had been wandering for the past two days while she went about her tasks like an automaton; many times she just pretended to work, since there really wasn’t much to her duties anyway. There was no justification in staying late, really. Yet she stayed at the office with the rest of her co-workers not out of a sense of loyalty to them, but because she needed this job or she would be unable to pay her rent and bills. It was as simple as that. And if things were going to continue this way at PeopleReady, then she supposed it was time to start looking for a new job.

Jennifer yawned as she continued working. She noticed Shannon glance at her and saw a faint smile of approval on the woman’s face. At least she was putting up a good front; as long as it kept Shannon happy, so be it.

She yawned again as she finished the current worksheet and clicked to another one. She felt tired, ready to drop off at any minute. Good thing her apartment was just a four block walk.

Jennifer picked up the pace in her duties, hoping to finish quickly, and as she did she grew more tired and a strange tune circled inside her head, one she couldn’t place immediately but that seemed oddly familiar. And as she tried to identify it and place where it was coming from—because she couldn’t really hear it, it just seemed to be something her subconscious started playing, probably a tune she’d heard once and then forgotten—she coasted along in her job as if everything was going to turn out okay.

THE ONLY THING Michelle Dowling was looking forward to when she exited her flight and made her way down to baggage claim at O’Hare International Airport was talking to Donald.

She tried calling the house the minute she exited the plane. It was picked up on the second ring. “Michelle!” Donald sounded excited and scared.

“Donald, you’re home!” Michelle said, hurrying down O’Hare to get to baggage claim. Her flight had been uncomfortable; she’d been stuck next to a fat businessman in coach who’d breathed through his mouth and, when he found out she was a consultant for Corporate Financial, kept wanting to talk to her about the latest business news as reported by The Wall Street Journal . “Did you get my message?”

“Yes, I did,” Donald said. She thought she heard another voice in the background, one she didn’t recognize, and there was a short pause on the line and then Donald came back. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine! Why? Who’s over there?”

“Tell me the truth, honey.” Donald sounded serious; even grim. The sudden seriousness of it made her pause in her journey through the massive airport and she stopped near a McDonald’s restaurant, ignoring other people as they passed by. “When you met Jay O’Rourke in El Paso did you feel you could trust him?”

“What kind of question is that?” Something about Donald’s behavior caused a spike of fear in Michelle. “Donald, is everything okay?”

“I’m fine,” Donald said; his voice cracked just slightly. He’s nervous about something, she thought. He’s not telling me the truth. “It’s just—”

In the background she heard the other voice again. “Aw fuck, just tell her I’m here!”

“Who is that?” Michelle asked. She was trying to remember if she knew who the owner of that voice was.

“It’s Jay O’Rourke,” Donald said. “The IT tech you met in El Paso on Monday.”

“Jay? What’s he doing there?”

“It’s a long story, honey—”

“Mark told me he was fired on Wednesday,” Michelle went on. She was in her own little world now, completely oblivious to the coming and goings of the rest of the airport traffic. “What’s he doing at our house?”

“Do you trust him?”

Before she could answer, she heard a click on the line and then Jay’s voice came through. “Hey, Michelle. Sorry to barge in like this, but—”

“What the hell are you doing in my house?” Michelle’s voice rose in anger and she didn’t care. A woman pulling a luggage cart glanced at her and kept walking.

“I’m still trying to figure this out myself,” Jay said. She could tell he had picked up one of the extensions in the house—probably the one in the bedroom—and it was obvious now from Donald’s tone of voice that Jay had been an unexpected visitor today. How he’d managed to find out where they lived was another matter, one that scared her and immediately raised her defensive hackles.

“I don’t care how you got to my house or how you found out where I live, but I want you out!” Michelle said. The anger was now coming strong and hard.

“No you don’t,” Jay said. “Listen—”

“I don’t even really know you! What the hell are you doing at my house and why—”

Donald cut in. “Honey, he has a gun.”

“You have a gun? What, did you break into my house and pull a gun on my boyfriend?” Now Michelle could feel herself losing it. More people were glancing her way as they walked around her.

“It was a misunderstanding,” Jay said. “Look, Michelle, if you’ll let me explain—”

“You don’t have to explain anything,” Michelle heard herself saying. “You don’t belong in my house, I didn’t invite you, and I don’t think my boyfriend invited you either. I want you out of my house now, or I’ll—”

“I’m here because I think you’re in danger,” Jay said, and the tone of his voice was now sharp and to the point. Michelle froze at the sound of it. “So if you’ll shut your fucking trap maybe I can talk some sense into you.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Michelle said. She could feel herself getting scared now, and she looked around at the flowing airport pedestrians heading to and from various airline terminals.

“Look, I can’t stay on the phone long,” Jay said. “I can’t take the chance that your line is bugged. Let me ask you a quick question first. What do you think of Dennis Harrington?”

The question seemed to come to Michelle out of left field. “What? Why should you care what I think about Dennis?”

Donald’s voice cut in. “It’s an important question, Michelle.”

Michelle’s instinct was to protest again; how could her personal opinion of Dennis Harrington, a guy she barely knew, be important? But there was something in Donald’s tone of voice that told her the question was very important, so Michelle decided to play along. “Okay, I’ll give you my honest opinion,” she said. “My first impression after spending almost a week with him is that he appears to be a vapid, emotionless corporate drone. I know that’s probably unfair to the guy, but—”

“That’s not unfair at all,” Jay said.

Michelle wanted to ask Jay why he was asking her this, but went on. “Like I said, he just seems like a corporate drone to me. I don’t think he has a sense of humor at all and the only thing he seems to be concerned about is work. Big deal. You can say the same thing about Alma Smith and Mark Richards and whats-her-name, that woman you got into a pissing match with Monday night.”

“Barb,” Jay said.

“Yeah, her. They’re all peas from the same pod.”

“Anything else?”

Michelle was still trying to see where this was leading. She thought briefly of what Jay said the other night at the Lone Star. They’re like something out of that Jack Finney novel Invasion of the Body Snatchers. And on the heels of that she thought, Jesus, is that what he thinks? Because if he really believes that he’s even more fucked up than I thought he was.

But she didn’t voice her feelings. Something told her to tread softly, to take Jay and Donald at their words. She still thought Donald sounded funny, as if he wasn’t being entirely truthful, but she was also afraid to set Jay off. If Jay was armed, he might hurt

Donald. She had to play along with whatever sick game this was, placate whatever delusions Jay had for now until she could get help over to the house. “No, I don’t think there’s anything else,” she said.

“Are you sure?”

Michelle thought back on her encounters with Dennis Harrington. Corporate drone was the perfect description for him. The guy literally had no personality, no sense of humor or life about him. In fact—

“Wait, there is one thing,” Michelle said.

“What’s that?” Jay asked.

“He seemed…” Michelle searched for the right word to explain the sudden new sense that something really was wrong with Dennis Harrington. The feeling had come to her in a sudden wave, as if a switch had been flipped on in her mind to illuminate the dark corners. “He seemed… empty. That’s it, he seemed empty, like he has no soul.”

There was a pause on the phone. She could sense Jay and Donald on the other end and then Jay suddenly said, “I gotta hang up. I’ll call you back in five.” The phone at her house was hung up.

Michelle pressed the disconnect button and glanced around; nobody was watching her. Her little outburst at Jay had only caused a slight ripple in the general everyday activities at the airport; those passing by had glanced briefly as she’d yelled at him over the phone and continued on with their business, probably figuring she was having a fight with her boyfriend or husband. She put her cell phone in her purse and went to the McDonald’s, not knowing what to do. She was hungry, but she wanted to be available for when Jay or Donald called back. She decided to wait five minutes near the McDonald’s and then call the house if they didn’t call.

She didn’t have to wait long. While she waited, her mind tracked over the past week, going over everything that had happened to her. Jay seemed very genuine to her when she’d met him; very honest, very down-to-earth, very no bullshit. She’d liked him immediately. She hated to think that she’d been taken in by his charm, that he was a clever sociopath or something. She didn’t really think that was the case, though; Jay hadn’t exhibited the signs of sociopathic behavior. He was charming because he was so himself. It was clear that he wouldn’t have cared one bit if Michelle had been turned off by his behavior. His response would have been a curt fuck you; a genuine sociopath would have done anything he could to win her friendship, would have played up to her sensibilities. Not Jay. He was who he was, take him or leave him.

As she waited by the McDonald’s, her carry-on bag and laptop at her feet, watching as people went to and fro in their journeys to wherever they were going, her mind traced back on work; all indications told her things were normal. The job was going normally, what was expected of her was normal, and the project itself was normal. Consultants were paid to advise, assist, plan, and in some cases overhaul their clients business. Large firms who needed assistance usually went to a firm that specialized in certain things; Deloitte and Touche specialized in Accounting; Farrar and Sons specialized in Business Administration; Pomeroy specialized in IT Solutions and Business Intelligence. Corporate Financial was a major player in all of these things and how it tied to Human Resources. Their clients hired them to tie all these business units together to make their enterprise work smarter, tighter, cheaper and—hopefully—more efficiently. There was no crime in it that she could see. If a firm like Building Products wanted to pay Corporate Financial two million bucks to develop Human Resources Software and documentation for their company, so be it. She didn’t think anything illegal was going on, at least nothing that she could see. But then she was still new; there could be things happening under the radar she didn’t know about.

When her cell phone rang she pounced on it. “Yeah,” she said, breathlessly.

“Jay here,” Jay said. “Now listen carefully. Donald, you on yet?”

Donald’s voice came on the line. “Are you still at the airport?”

“Yes,” Michelle said. “Now tell me what the hell is going on!”

Jay told her a quick, condensed version of what he told Donald an hour before. Michelle felt her belly grow heavy with dread. When he got to the part about seeing Dennis Harrington in his hotel room, and that he was unresponsive and smelled like a corpse, the warning bells went off. Jay was paranoid; he was crazy and she’d been fooled. She had to get Donald away from him.

When Jay was finished, she cut in. “Donald, do you believe him?”

Donald hesitated. She could detect that Donald still didn’t know what to think. “I don’t know what to believe.”

“Jesus,” Jay said. “I know it sounds crazy, but goddammit I’m not making this shit up! Michelle!” He was directing his attention to her now. “How much money is Corporate Financial paying you?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Just answer the fucking question! How much are they paying you?”

“Like it’s going to matter,” she said, sighing. “They’re starting me off at eighty thousand a year.”

“Plus benefits?”

“Uh huh.”

“What kind of benefits?”

“Retirement, 401k, Health and Life Insurance, Vacation, the usual.”

“The usual? Don’t you think that’s a little unusual? I mean… especially a separate retirement package?”

Michelle thought he had a point there. She was surprised herself when she heard Corporate Financial offered a separate pension plan. Most companies were doing away with retirement packages, instead offering their employees a chance to invest part of their pretaxed dollars into their own individual 401k accounts. Many companies that did that didn’t even contribute to them.

“Talk to me about your health coverage,” Jay continued. “How much are you putting in to it?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? You don’t help subsidize it?”

“No.” Michelle picked up her carry-on and laptop with one hand and walked over to a bench near the McDonald’s that had recently become free and sat down. “They pay for everything. I just have a five dollar deductible.”

“Donald, you’re a doctor, right?”

Donald answered him. “Yes.”

“Don’t you think that’s pretty weird? Especially in these times?”

“It is,” Donald admitted. “It’s actually… you used to see that kind of coverage with every company. Health care costs have risen so drastically that it’s forcing employers to shift an ever growing part of the costs to their employees. When Michelle told me about the bennies, I have to admit I was envious.”

“But you didn’t think it was weird?”

“No. I just thought she was pretty damn lucky.”

“How often do you come across a patient with her kind of medical benefits?”

“Hardly ever,” Donald answered.

“Some of the stuff I found out in that secured folder for Corporate Financial on Building Product’s server,” Jay said, “it relates directly to this. They’re able to fully fund your medical benefits because of the money they’re siphoning off from their clients and the medical insurance industry itself.”

“What?” Michelle said. This was getting loonier the more she listened to it.

“Here it is in a nutshell,” Jay said. “Listen carefully, because I don’t want to keep this line open any longer. The contracts Corporate Financial enter into with their clients is binding until the dissolution of the client company. Once the client begins operating leaner and cheaper, forty percent of their savings is directed to Corporate Financial’s coffers. That’s forty percent that could have gone to strengthening the shit that was fucked during the reorganization Corporate Financial does. It’s also more than enough money that is saved when payroll is trimmed from the layoffs that result.”

What Jay was describing was something she didn’t care about. Michelle knew all large companies operated, to a certain extent, crookedly. The books were cooked, money was swept under the table, earnings were under-reported. She knew it happened everywhere. “So you’re saying Corporate Financial is partially responsible for the sudden growth of white-collar outsourcing and downsizing?”

“To a certain extent yes, but that isn’t the whole picture.” Jay’s voice sounded grim. “Tell me something else… when you first started working did you know other people like Dennis Harrington?”

Michelle blinked. “I… I don’t know… I mean… I guess so.”

“This is serious,” Jay reiterated. “Come on, think! You have to remember at least one corporate drone when you first started working.”

“There was a woman named Myra who was a supervisor at All Nation, my first job,” Michelle said. It was funny how she remembered her stint at All Nation, which was both a horrible time for her and a glorious one; Alanis had done a lot in opening her eyes, to see things for what they were. “She was all companied out. I remember that, but she wasn’t nearly as bad as Dennis.”

“What about your mother,” Donald murmured.

At first Michelle didn’t know who Donald was talking about, but then she felt the world crash down on her. “God, my mother,” she said. “And my dad.”

“What about them?” Jay said.

“They were workaholics,” Donald said. “Both of them were corporate executives. Michelle didn’t see much of them while growing up.”

“My mother pestered me to get a job at All Nation,” Michelle said, the long buried memories springing to the surface. “She pushed me on the fast track to a Jr. Executive position. I hated it. I didn’t want to have anything to do with the business world!”

“Let’s skip the history lesson for now,” Jay said. There was a pause in the background; it sounded like Jay was taking a drag off a cigarette. “Were your parents as bad as Dennis?”

“Absolutely,” Michelle said.

“And this Myra person?”

“She wasn’t at all like Dennis,” Michelle said. “She was actually quite nice in social settings.”

“So she wasn’t like Barb Queenbitch,” Jay said. Michelle stifled a grin.

“No,” Michelle said, relaxing a little. “Not at all like Barb. Myra just took her job pretty seriously, but she knew when to have fun and let her hair down.”

“So there was nobody at All Nation like Dennis or Alma except for your parents?”

“None. At least none that I remembered.”

“What about other places you worked at?”

Michelle took the question seriously. She thought about it, rattling off those that came to her quickly. “There was a woman I used to work with at an insurance company, one of my consulting gigs. I don’t remember her name. She practically lived at the office. Had no boyfriend, no husband, had never been married. All she talked about was work, even the few times she tagged along with us after work for drinks.”

“Any more?”

Michelle thought about it and related more; a middle-manager she knew at a client’s office who once reported Michelle to her supervisor when he heard a rumor that she dabbled in art outside of work. “Asshole actually believed extra-curricular activities that deviated from the company’s stated goals were in direct violation of the company’s interests. Can you believe that?”

“Bingo!” She heard Jay take a drag on his cigarette. “I was actually dreading those terms, but at the same time I’m glad you said it.”

“Why? Can we stop with the bullshit and just tell me flat out what the hell is going on?”

“I still don’t have all the answers yet,” Jay said. “But I’m working on them. And I don’t want to keep this line open anymore. Go get your stuff and call us when you get back to your room. But before you do that, do you have a copy of Corporate Financial’s Employee Handbook somewhere?”

“I have a pdf copy on my laptop. Why?”

“Read it before you call back. I think you’ll find most of it—especially the section under the heading ‘Conflict of Interest’—to be very interesting.”

“Okay, but—”

“We gotta go,” Jay said. “I think you’re safe for tonight, just call us back when you get to your room.”

“Donald!” Michelle called out.

“It’s okay,” Donald said, and now she could hear that his voice had changed; he didn’t sound nearly as nervous as before. “Call us when you get to your room.”

“I will,” Michelle said, and then the line went dead.

She sat on the bench for a moment, her thoughts running a mile a minute. She was more curious now than ever before; she was no longer frightened, no longer angry at Jay (okay, maybe a little… he’d scared the living shit out of her when she found out he’d showed up at the house unannounced and armed), and despite all that had happened, she was now getting the feeling that something was not right. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but talking to Jay made her think about things she hadn’t thought about in a long time.

Namely her parents.

Were your parents like Dennis Harrington?

Absolutely.

She shuddered at the thought because she knew now, for the first time ever, that something had been wrong with her parents. They hadn’t just been unemotional, uncaring people. They hadn’t just been too self-absorbed with their own careers and goals that they continually ignored their only child or cast her aside. It wasn’t that at all.

Her parents hadn’t been entirely… right.

She thought about this on the walk over to baggage claim, turning it over in her mind. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that the walk was over before she knew it, and then she was scanning the monitors for her flight, trying to find which baggage claim area to report to, and she was still thinking about what Jay said when she found her flight, and that’s when two men she’d never seen before suddenly materialized in front of her. “Michelle Dowling,” one of them said; he was about her age, blonde, well-groomed in a sport shirt, blue tie, and a coat. “I’m Bill Mayer, from Corporate Financial. This is Tom Elliot. We’re here to escort you to your hotel.”

And before she could shift gears they swooped down on her.

CHAPTER EIGHT

TOM ELLIOT AND Bill Mayer found her luggage quickly. “We have a car,” Bill said. He motioned for Michelle to begin following him. “Corporate has convened a meeting at the hotel, and we need to get there on time.”

Michelle was still stunned by their sudden appearance. “A meeting? Tonight? For what?”

“Strategy,” Bill said.

Michelle looked at Tom Elliot; he had a blank expression on his face. When he smiled it looked false, as if something unseen was pulling the tips of his mouth up. “I understand you’re probably tired, but this shouldn’t take long. Bill will help you check in and escort you to the meeting, and I’ll get your luggage to your room so you won’t be late.”

“But—” Michelle protested.

“Come on, we don’t want to be late,” Bill said. He took Michelle’s elbow lightly and attempted to steer her toward the exit.

Michelle jerked her arm away from Bill. “Get your fucking hands off me!”

Bill frowned. They were standing near the exit, oblivious to the bustling of activity around them as throngs of airport passengers walked around them, carting luggage and children. Michelle could feel the cold Chicago air as the doors wheezed open and shut. “Excuse me?” Bill said.

“Are you deaf? I said, get your fucking hands off me!”

Tom frowned. “I hardly think this is the type of language to use on—”

“Tom,” Bill said, looking at his co-worker.

“—fellow team members,” Tom said. He stopped, that strange smile crawling across his features again.

“I hardly think you want to be brought up on a sexual harassment charge against a fellow team member either,” Michelle snarled.

The flinch was barely visible but Michelle caught it; Tom blinked and looked at Bill.

Bill’s tone was soothing. “I’m sorry. I just got a little carried away. I’m just very eager to get you to the meeting. I don’t want us to be late.”

Everything had happened so fast that Michelle’s mind was still trying to process it. She felt a huge sense of distrust in Bill and Tom; who the hell were they? Why would Corporate Financial send them to the airport to intercept her like this? Suppose they weren’t who they claimed they were? Her distrust rose and she reached into her purse for her cell phone. “Put my suitcase down,” she told Bill. “And step away from it.”

“I hardly think this is an appropriate—” Bill began.

“Put the suitcase down now or I’m yelling for a cop!” Michelle said, her voice loud.

Bill set her suitcase down. Tom still looked stoical, like he was struggling to react in some way but didn’t know how. Michelle turned her cell phone on and, keeping a careful watch on Tom and Bill, she scanned down to her pre-programmed numbers and found Sam Greenberg’s number. She pressed the Send button and brought the phone to her ear as it began to ring on the other end.

Sam picked up on the fourth ring. “Michelle? What’s up?”

“Did you send somebody to O’Hare to meet me?” she asked, keeping her fiery gaze on Tom and Bill.

“Yes, I did. Tom Elliot and Bill Mayer. Have they found you?”

Michelle felt herself relax a little bit. “Yes,” she said. “What’s this about a meeting tonight?”

“It’s last minute and I apologize,” Sam said. His voice was soothing. At least Sam was genuine; he wouldn’t lie to her. “It’s part strategy, part orientation. You need to be brought up on some last minute updates before your meeting tomorrow.”

Tom Elliot and Bill Mayer were watching her. She held their gaze, not allowing her anger to subside. “Okay. Just wanted to check.”

“Call me tomorrow,” he said. “I’m rushing to a meeting with Mr. Lawrence and some of the other board members.”

“I will.” Michelle pressed disconnect and replaced the phone in her purse. Despite Sam confirming that Bill and Tom were legit, she was still angry at the situation. She was also angry at them and didn’t give a shit if her behavior filtered back to Sam. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s go.”

This time Bill didn’t need to steer her toward their car, and he didn’t offer to carry her luggage. Her suitcase had wheels and she tugged it along behind her as she followed Tom and Bill into the parking garage.

BILL MAYER AND Tom Elliot were thorough and efficient. The minute they arrived at the Embassy Suites Hotel, Bill escorted her to the check-in desk. When the check-in clerk (Guest Facilitator, the clerk’s name badge read; not Check-In Clerk but a Guest Facilitator; Jesus what a bullshit job title) handed her passkey over, Tom said, “If you hand that to me, I can get your bags to your room.”

“I think I’d rather have a hotel employee do that,” Michelle said, turning to the Guest Facilitator. “Does the Embassy Suites provide that kind of service?”

“Yes, Ms. Dowling,” The Guest Facilitator said. The Guest Facilitator was a young African-American woman, attractive, shoulder length curly hair, dressed impeccably in a navy blue suit coat, a white shirt and dark slacks. She typed on the computer keyboard in front of her. “If you leave your bags here I can have the concierge deposit them in your room for you.”

“Thank you,” Michelle said.

When the concierge arrived a moment later, Michelle nodded at Bill and Tom. She still had her carry-on bag—which contained her business documents and personal effects—and her laptop. “Let’s get this over with,” she said.

Bill and Tom led her through the hotel’s convention area. The hotel was large, with the first level consisting of the check-in area, the lobby, a lounge and restaurant, an indoor swimming pool and gym, and an area for business meetings. There was a lower level that consisted of a banquet and convention area that was probably used for conferences. Michelle had attended dozens of conferences in the past half-dozen years, and most hotels of this size were similarly laid out. The meeting room they were heading to was on the first level, away from the convention area, which told Michelle that Corporate Financial had only reserved a few small conference rooms for the weekend.

They walked down a short, wide hallway past several empty conference rooms. When they got to the end, Bill opened the door and beckoned Michelle inside, holding the door open for her. Michelle entered the room and the people grouped around the conference table all looked up. Michelle paused for a moment, taking everything in—the overhead screen pulled down, the projector directing a beam toward the white screen, laptop computers on the table, papers out, a pot of coffee resting on a small cupboard on the right. The dozen or so people grouped around the table were unfamiliar to her and they were all dressed in business attire. She was just about to dismiss them from her mind and find a seat and get this over with, when one of the people caught her attention. She glanced at the person in question and tried to suppress her surprise which was coming as rapidly as her shock and growing fear.

Dennis Harrington. Sitting immobile and rigid in a chair at the far end of the table. Alma Smith was sitting beside him. She remembered meeting them in El Paso, and they hadn’t made much of an impression first time around. They’d seemed typical of the young urban professionals who were in their late twenties she saw every day, driven by the singular goal to climb up the corporate ladder. Both of them were reasonably pleasant looking, dressed professionally, and appeared well mannered and spoken, but now they both looked like…

Michelle banished the thought from her mind as she quickly crossed the room and sat down at the opposite end of them. She reacted accordingly when Bill introduced her to the group. “Everybody, this is Michelle Dowling. She’s new to the group; just started out of the Lancaster, PA branch.” She heard the group murmur hellos and then she was forced to pay attention as the chair of the meeting, a guy in his mid-thirties with thinning black hair and dark glasses, quickly brought her up to speed. She feigned interest in the stuff that didn’t interest her—what the hell did she care about the behavior patterns of the workforce population? Bill Mayer was sitting next to her, notepad out, and he was jotting down notes. Michelle followed his lead and took her own notepad out and wrote, meeting, April 14, 2008 and nothing else as she listened to the chair drone on, and she tried to keep the questions her conversation with Jay had elicited from overwhelming her and tried to avoid looking at Dennis Harrington, who was sitting at the other end of the room like a goddamned zombie, like he was fucking dead, and then she was trying to fight a sudden wave of vertigo and fatigue and she yawned, trying to fake her interest in the meeting, at least keep the illusion that she was interested in what was being said, and then she was trying to figure out where that strange tune was coming from, it kept circling in her mind, unceasing, and as the chair of the meeting started the Power Point presentation she suppressed a sigh and dreaded the long night that was no doubt looming in front of her.

THEY DIDN’T GET much sleep. Donald Beck finally dropped off in the easy chair sometime after two a.m. and as far as he knew, Jay O’Rourke never fell asleep. They’d sat in front of the television in the darkened living room talking with the TV set turned on at a low volume. Jay brought him up to speed on a lot of what happened at Building Products, told him about how he’d just sort of fell into doing the kind of work he ended up being hired for (“I sure never went to school for this kind of shit; there’s dolts out there who actually spend fifteen grand or more and get college degrees and certifications to learn this shit!”) and at one point they’d stopped talking and Jay had turned the volume of the TV up. CNN was on and a news story about a massacre at an insurance company in Irvine, California was unfolding. Donald had watched silently; the reporters were calling it the deadliest office shooting to ever happen, with twenty-four people confirmed dead and another dozen in critical condition. A thirty-four year old former employee of Free State Insurance in Irvine had walked into the executive suite of the building and killed twelve high-ranking executives including the CEO and CFO of the company, with two Glock semi-automatic pistols. Then he’d roamed the hallways with a Tec 9 semi-automatic assault rifle and gunned people down. “Shit,” Jay said. He groped in his shirt pocket for a cigarette. Donald had set an ashtray out for him earlier—no sense in having him dash outside every five minutes for a smoke. Jay lit the cigarette with shaky fingers and watched the coverage and Donald wondered if the massacre had anything to do with what was going on with Corporate Financial. He’d voiced this to Jay during a commercial break. “I don’t know,” Jay said. He took a sip of coffee. “I hate to think that it does, but…”

They’d watched the news coverage for the next forty-minutes, since it was a big story on all the major news outlets—it was being endlessly recycled on CNN, FOX, and MSNBC. In that forty-five minutes they learned that the killer, Victor Adams, had been despondent over the death of his nine-year old son due to cancer, and reports were coming in that he blamed Free State for his son’s death. Adams had been laid off in an outsourcing initiative that sent his job overseas, and when he was laid off his medical insurance was severed. “He couldn’t afford to cover himself and his family,” a male, middle-aged former co-worker said, fighting back tears. “And nobody would help him and Brent. The people at Free State didn’t care, either.”

Not true, said a youthful-looking male Free State spokesman, who made a brief statement to the press. “While Free State was sorry to let Mr. Adams go, along with hundreds of other emploees, the company is even more sorry that his personal troubles led to the continuing health problems of his son. We extend our condolences to the Adams family for their tragic loss. What the company maintains is that we are not responsible for Brent Adams’s death, and we regret the fact that Mr. Adams decided to take it out on twenty-four innocent people who not only did not know him personally, but were not directly involved in Brent’s death. To assign blame on the death of a loved one who has passed away from something such as cancer is irresponsible. It suggests that the split life or death decisions made by doctors in their everyday work to save and improve the lives of their patients now hang in the balance, that if they don’t do the right thing they will be the target of somebody who feels they weren’t doing their job right. To assign blame on a company for making a business decision is equally wrong and troubling in this economy.”

“What fucking horseshit!” Jay shouted at the TV. Donald felt his anger flare; once again, those with no medical training were laying the blame on doctors. The media was reporting it, further enforcing this in the mind of millions of gullible people who were already losing their faith in the medical system.

The more they watched the coverage the more angry Donald got, and he turned the TV off. “It figures that the management of the company who let this person go would then blame him for his downfall. It’s sad that this had to happen, but—”

“You’d think these dolts would learn by now that you don’t fuck with people,” Jay said. He took a sip of coffee. “Granted, a lot of people that go bugfuck in the office are mentally unstable anyway, but I’ve been hearing a lot of recent stories about guys just like this one. They get laid off suddenly, can’t get a job that paid them what they made at their old job, debts pile up, they lose their minds.”

Donald shook his head, thinking of the man’s son. “I don’t even want to imagine what he went through in losing his son like that. I guess if I were in his shoes, I would have blamed his former employer, too.”

They’d talked about it for awhile. Donald told Jay about Michael Brennan, the patient he was treating for testicular cancer and how his employer’s HMO refused to cover his surgery. Jay shook his head. “That’s fucked, man.”

Donald tried calling Michelle several times and always got her voice mail. He had grown concerned as the night wore on, and was just about to call her again when she called at midnight. “I can’t talk much,” she said, sounding tired. “We’re having a break now.”

Donald felt his unease grow. “Maybe you should come home,” he’d said. “Maybe—”

Michelle interrupted him. “I’m fine. Let me get through this weekend. I’m here now, and if I feel the same way come Monday, I’m resigning. I can’t deal with it.”

When Donald told Jay about their conversation, he frowned.

“Something’s up. I don’t know what, but…”

Donald was now dog-tired. He’d told Jay he was going to bed. “There’s linens and extra pillows in the hallway closet,” he’d said. “I’ll get some for you.”

“Thanks,” Jay said. He leaned back on the sofa. “I might just watch TV for awhile. You okay with that?”

Donald was okay with that, and when he turned in he kept his bedroom door open. The faint light from the TV seeped in from the hallway and he heard Jay get up once to venture into the kitchen for something. The next thing he was aware of was sunlight streaming through the Venetian blinds of his and Michelle’s bedroom window.

Now with a fresh pot of coffee brewing, Donald headed into the living room. Jay was on the sofa, still staring at the TV. As far as Donald knew he could have been up all night. Jay yawned. “What time is it?”

“Eight-thirty,” Donald answered.

“Think we should call Michelle?”

“Yeah.” Donald reached for the phone in the kitchen and dialed Michelle’s cell phone number.

Jay watched while the call went through. When it was picked up Donald barely recognized Michelle’s voice. “’lo.”

“Michelle?” She sounded dog-tired.

“Donald!” Her voice perked up, but it was still heavily tinged with fatigue. “What’s up?”

“How’d it go? You in your room?”

“Yeah.” There was a pause. It sounded like his call woke her up. Donald glanced at Jay and nodded. Jay held an imaginary phone to his ear, a questioning look in his eyes. Donald nodded and Jay darted into the master bedroom to pick up the extension there.

“You okay, honey?” Donald asked.

“Just… real tired.”

There was a clicking on the line and then Jay’s voice came through sharp and clear. “Hey, Michelle.”

“Jay.” Donald heard her yawn. “Damn, I’m beat.”

“No wonder,” Donald said. “You’ve been at it non stop now for over a week.”

“Yeah, and I’ve got more today.” There was another pause. “Shit,” she said, more of the fatigue trailing away from her voice as she began to slowly wake up. “I’ve got thirty minutes to shower and get ready.”

“The meeting’s at eight?” Donald asked.

“Yeah.”

Jay asked, “How’d it go last night?”

“I don’t know. Okay I guess. I was so tired I zoned out through most of it.”

“Who was there?”

“Oh… damn, you’re not gonna believe this.” Her voice grew sharper, more defined. “Dennis Harrington was there.”

“No shit?”

“Yeah. I couldn’t help thinking what you said yesterday,” Michelle said. There was another sound in the background, and then he heard running water. “He and Alma were there.”

“What was he like?” Jay asked.

“The same.” Donald could hear the rushing water more clearly now; it sounded like she was in the bathroom. “Listen, I gotta get ready for this meeting. I was up last night till two-thirty.”

“The meeting went on till two-thirty?” Donald blurted. He couldn’t believe it.

“Yeah. I tried to get out of it… tried to excuse myself, but Bill and Tom… they’re the guys from Corporate Financial who met me at the airport… they… they wouldn’t let me leave… and—”

Jay and Donald blurted simultaneously: “What the fuck do you mean they wouldn’t let you leave?” “They met you at the airport?”

“Whoa, one at a time here,” Michelle said. Donald detected a grin behind her voice. She was definitely waking up, slowly but surely.

“What’s this bullshit that they wouldn’t let you leave?” Jay demanded.

“They kept telling me it was important for me to be there,” Michelle said. “Look, I’ll tell you more tonight. I’ve really got to get ready for this meeting and—”

“They didn’t hurt you, did they?” Donald asked.

“No!” The denial came so quick that Donald knew she was telling the truth. “No, it’s nothing like that. It was more like… I didn’t want to get in trouble with my boss.”

“So they intimidated you,” Jay said.

“I guess you could say that.”

“Fuckers,” Jay muttered.

“And this meeting went on till two-thirty,” Donald reiterated.

“Yeah. But like I said, I zoned out. I stopped caring about being there and I think I actually fell asleep at one point.”

Donald felt a grin crack his features. “Good for you!”

“Yeah, well, I don’t want that to get back to Sam,” Michelle said. “I couldn’t help myself, so if I did fall asleep I’m going to be in deep shit.”

“Fuck ’em,” Jay said. “You don’t need them anyway.”

“I need this job, Jay.” The running water was turned off on the other end. Michelle sounded fully awake now. “I’ve got a shit load of debt, a mortgage, car payments, I can’t afford to have this job taken away from me now.”

“So get another one,” Jay said. “If they treat you that way, they don’t deserve you.”

“Easy for you to say,” Michelle said. “But my career is depending on this gig. If I can pull this consulting gig off, I’ll be fine. They need me here.”

“They don’t need you!” Jay protested.

“Look, I gotta go,” Michelle said. “I’ll call later today when the meeting is over. Okay?”

“Be careful, Michelle,” Donald said.

“I will, and I love you.” Michelle hung up.

Donald replaced the phone on the cradle, a tinge of worry running through his system. There was something Michelle said that bothered him. He was thinking about the conversation, replaying it in his mind, when Jay returned from the master bedroom. He looked shocked; his dark eyes were wide, his features suggesting he’d just seen or heard the impossible. “What was that all about? The chick I met Monday night would not have put up with that kind of corporate bullshit!”

“You’re right,” Donald said. The woman he’d met three years ago and fell in love with would not have put up with that kind of intimidation. Three months after they began dating, Michelle was fired from a consulting gig for refusing to be intimidated by an executive who stormed into her cubicle at the job she was working at and began loudly verbally abusing her. The executive had demanded she fix something, make something work that she had no power over, and when she tried explaining to him that this part of the project wasn’t within her scope but that she’d get to the folks who handled it to correct the problem, he wouldn’t take that as an answer. “Fix it now!” He’d thundered, standing over her.

“Would you please lower your voice?” Michelle had asked politely.

“What? Are you telling me to lower my voice? Do you know who I am?”

“I’m telling you to lower your voice because you’re harassing me. Please calm down and—”

“You will do what I say, when I say it. You will fix this problem and—”

“If you’ll just explain to me what you need fixed, I can help you!” Michelle had no idea what the man needed fixed. She’d heard through the grapevine that he was a prima donna, that the decisions he made were based on half-truths, greed, ego, and were not for the betterment of the company as a whole. She also knew he was completely unsuited for his position after he sat in on several meetings at which she was present. He had no grasp of the concepts they were addressing, no firm grounding in the industry he was working in (multimedia), and continually got things mixed up when it came to Michelle’s role and that of her fellow consultants; if she was part of Pomeroy consulting, she must know what Delloite and Touche were doing, who were also part of this project. They were all consultants, right? Not so.

“How goddamned stupid are you?” The exec snarled. By then, everybody in the surrounding cubicles had grown silent as they listened. “How the hell did you get this job? You are the stupidest bitch I’ve ever—”

“Don’t talk to me like that!”

“I can talk to you anyway I damned well feel like!” The man leaned over her menacingly. Michelle told Donald later that when he leaned close to her she’d actually felt a rise of fear. “I run this show, and I will do whatever the hell I want!”

“You’re harassing me! Stop it!”

“You want to see harassment? I’ll show you harassment! Come to my office, and I’ll give you a—”

“Get out of my cubicle!” Michelle yelled.

“You don’t talk to me like that, bitch!” The exec had spat. “You’ve just fucked with the wrong person and I’m going to see to it that you’re out of here!”

And when the corporate suit said that, Michelle related later that she felt this irresistible urge she couldn’t suppress. “As long as you’re going to fire me, I have a message for you.” The exec stopped, glared at her, and Michelle raised her right hand, middle finger extended. “Fuck you!”

She was dismissed from Pomeroy the next day—with a generous severance package that was their way of saying, we know that should you wish to pursue legal action against us and/or our client for workplace harassment you’d have a strong case; we want to avoid a costly trial so please… accept this gift and we’ll consider the matter closed.

Michelle had taken the offer. It was close to a year’s salary with her benefits. Had she refused, she would have received nothing and would have had to pay out of pocket for a lawsuit as well as find another job.

The feisty, no-nonsense, smart woman who held her ground, who didn’t take shit from the corporate bully was the woman Donald Beck knew and loved.

Not this tired, almost apologetic woman who claimed that her company needed her all of a sudden.

That bothered Donald. He turned to Jay. “I think you have something there. I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but—”

Jay didn’t say anything. Donald read the thought in his eyes. They’re getting to her.

CHAPTER NINE

MEL HOWARD WAS sitting in the comfortable book-lined study of his home in Highland Ranch, Colorado that he shared with his wife, going through his accounting records for his new online book-selling business, when the doorbell rang.

Mel saved the excel file he was working on and rose to his feet. He stretched. He’d gotten up at eight a.m. this morning, made a pot of coffee, than gone right to work. He operated an online bookstore called Mel’s Books, and he specialized in used and new books, mostly genre fiction, but some non-fiction titles too, mostly true-crime related. He’d been dabbling in it off and on since he discovered eBay seven years ago, and last October Sue said, “You’re doing well enough on eBay and you find enough good stuff at all the flea markets we go to; why not open up an internet storefront?”

So he did.

It was tough starting out, and the business was beginning not only to pay for itself, it was showing a small profit. Sue was able to quit her job so she could take care of their son and daughter when they came home from school, and she used the time the kids were away to pack and ship orders. When Mel came home from his job as a Salesman for Wiedenhammer Products in Littleton, he devoted a few hours a night to the business. He also devoted weekends to it. Business was doing well; he offered free shipping on all orders, discounted new books, and supplied brodart bindings with all hardcovers. He was becoming one of the major independent internet booksellers without a brick and mortar presence.

Mel walked on stocking feet through the hallway to the living room. The kids were at soccer games this morning, which Sue had taken them to. Mel was going to take care of some business this morning—update the online databases, pack and ship some orders, pay some bills—and then he was done for the weekend. They had plans to spend the afternoon with Sue’s parents and go out to dinner that night at a local steakhouse.

In short, he was looking forward to this weekend.

When he opened the door he was surprised to see Mary Barnhill and Jim Fern, Human Resource Representatives from his employer, Wiedenhammer Products. They were flanked by two big burly guys he’d never seen before, dressed in suits. “Hey!” Mel said. “What brings you here?”

Without a word, they shouldered their way through the door and past Mel, who was taken aback by the sudden, bold intrusion into his home. “Uh… excuse me, but what the hell are you doing just barging into my house like this?”

They stopped and Mel saw that Mary and Jim were dressed in business attire—a dark suit and white shirt for Jim, navy blue suit for Mary. Jim carried a large canvas bag while Mary carried a briefcase. “We need to speak to you in your study,” Mary said. Without another word, she turned and headed down the hallway to the study. Jim followed her.

The two burly guys stepped up to Mel. “Please, Mr. Howard,” one of them said. He looked like he’d be a Navy grunt or a linebacker.

“Who the hell are you?” Mel asked.

Both men were wearing dark sunglasses; their features were stony.

“Mr. Howard?” Mary Barnhill called from his study.

Mel strode down the hall to his office, his sense of privacy violated now. He didn’t give a good goddamn that he knew Mary and Jim, that they worked for his employer—he wanted them the hell out of his house!

When he reached his office he saw Mary and Jim were waiting for him. Mary had opened her briefcase and taken out a sheaf of papers. “You signed a loyalty oath with us, Mr. Howard. You have violated this loyalty oath by operating a part-time business on the side that is in direct violation of Wiedenhammer’s stated goals.”

Mel started; he had no idea what the hell they were talking about. “What?”

“A loyalty oath to Wiedenhammer,” Mary explained. Mel saw that the papers she was holding up appeared to be Human Resource documents. “All employees signed them about six months ago, yourself included. Remember?”

Mel searched through his memory banks. He supposed at some point he signed some kind of paper—employers always required you to sign stuff; Policies and Procedures documents, Health Care information, Insurance papers, Non-Disclosure Agreements. It was all part and parcel for getting a job. But a loyalty oath? Mel shook his head. “Let me see that,” he said, reaching for the paper.

Mary handed it to him and Mel scanned it quickly. He remembered this now, but vaguely. His supervisor had placed it in his mailbox with a note: Something else we have to sign if we want to keep our jobs. Mel had scanned it quickly at the time, and he read it more carefully now. The heading of the document was Non-Competitive and Conflict of Interest Agreement, which had not raised any red flags for Mel. Non-Competitive and Conflict of Interest Agreements were standard operating procedure for most companies. They stated that as long as you were employed with whatever company you held a job with, you were prohibited from disclosing trade secrets or other secret information to competitors. You were also prohibited from engaging in business practices for your own financial gain within the same industry, which would put you in direct competition with your employer and which could, potentially, create a conflict of interest between employee and employer. It was a way for the company to keep their business practices and development secrets closed, which was understandable. Mel had quickly signed it and put it back in his boss’s In basket. He fostered no desires to work in the Plastics industry, which was Wiedenhammer’s market; they made plastic bottles for the pharmaceutical industry. He could not care less about plastic, screw-top lids, child safety proof lids, and everything that went with it. He had no interest in the product or the industry. He was a salesman for Wiedenhammer because he needed a job to pay his bills, mortgage, and to obtain medical insurance and retirement benefits. Aside from that, he had no interest in the industry his employer was involved in. He was working on Mel’s Books as a side business with the hopes of supplementing his retirement income when that time came. He loved books; loved the smell and feel of them, and as a salesperson he was good at selling them. It made sense to direct his interests and talents together.

Now he scanned the document again, trying to process the legalese. “What’s a loyalty oath? This is a standard non-competitive—”

“Paragraph eight, section two,” Jim said, quietly.

Mel flipped a page and found it. The sub-heading was entitled LOYALTY OATH.

Why didn’t I see this before?

He had gone through this document before; such a boldly stated sub-heading would have jumped out at him then as it did now, but he was certain—positive—it hadn’t been there before. He saw the scrawl of his signature at the bottom of the page indicating he had, indeed, signed the document. He read the paragraph in question.

Section II: LOYALTY OATH

Under no circumstances shall an employee of Wiedenhammer Products, Inc engage in any extra-curricular business activity that falls outside the scope of Wiedenhammer’s goals and objectives. As referenced in Section I, Paragraph 2, a conflict of interest occurs when an individual’s private interest interferes—or even appears to interfere—with the interests of Wiedenhammer. A conflict situation can arise when an employee or officer takes actions or has interests that may make it difficult to perform his or her work for Wiedenhammer. Therefore, by signing the overall Conflict of Interest Agreement, the undersigned hereby agrees to this loyalty oath to the company, that they shall be prohibited from engaging in any extra-curricular business and private activity that falls outside the scope of Wiedenhammer’s goals and objectives.

What kind of bullshit is this? The way this is worded could mean…

Mel looked up at Jim and Mary. “What the hell is this?”

“You are a salesman for Wiedenhammer Products, Inc,” Mary said. “It is what you do. By engaging in your part-time bookselling business on eBay and the rest of the Internet, you are violating our Conflict-of-Interest policy.”

Mel felt his anger flare. How dare these… these morons barge into his house, on the fucking weekend and demand that he cease his business! What he did on his own time was nobody’s business—especially Wiedenhammer’s. “It’s Saturday,” he heard himself say. “And I’m in my own house. You’re trespassing. Get the hell out of here or I call the police.”

Strong arms grabbed Mel by each shoulder and he struggled as the two large men held him. “Get your fucking hands off me!” he yelled.

Jim opened his canvas bag and pulled out a gas can. He unscrewed the cap and began dousing the bookshelves and office furniture.

“Help!” Mel yelled. He struggled against his captors. Jim continued dousing the room with gasoline.

Mary stepped toward the hallway. “You leave us with no choice,” Mary said. “Quitting your position is not enough; terminating your position is out of the question. You are a part of the Wiedenhammer team now. We’re doing this for your own good.”

“I’m going to sue your company so bad, you’ll be homeless!” Mel shouted.

“You’re part of Wiedenhammer, Mr. Howard,” Jim said. He placed the empty gas can on the floor and extracted a book of matches from his coat pocket. “You can’t sue us.”

“Bullshit!” Mel yelled. He strained against his captors and received a sharp blow to his kidneys for his efforts. He doubled over in pain.

“You have violated the company loyalty oath,” Jim said, opening the book of matches. Mary exited the room and went down the hall to the living room. “For that, we must destroy your little side business, which is in direct opposition to Wiedenhammer’s goals and objectives.”

“Fuck your goals and objectives!” Mel shouted. “You’re destroying my property!”

Jim lit a match. He held it before his face, looked at Mel. “Get him out of here,” he said to the two goons. The men holding Mel moved him out of the room and Mel yelled and screamed, twisting in their grasp. Mel watched, horrified, as Jim tossed the lit match on his gasoline-soaked desk and it burst into flames.

“You will pay for this!” Mel yelled. He was yelling so loud it was hurting his throat, but he didn’t care. He continued to fight the two big men who dragged him down the hall into the living room.

Mary was standing near the front door, talking on a cell phone. She finished speaking, hung up, and looked at Mel. “A memo of today’s incident will be forwarded to Herb Enders, your supervisor—”

“I don’t care!” Mel shouted. “I quit! Do you hear me, I quit, and I not only quit, I’m going to sue your ass so bad you won’t be able to sell it in downtown Denver on a fucking street corner!”

Mary frowned as Jim entered the living room. The sharp smell of smoke filtered through to the living room and Mel felt his chest heave. The two goons maintained their solid grips on his arms. His right side burned from where he’d been hit. “Regardless, the appropriate disciplinary action will be followed up Monday morning—”

With a sudden burst of inspirational energy and fury, Mel lashed out with his right foot. It connected solidly with Mary’s stomach. She doubled over violently and gagged; Mel felt a momentary rush of glee at the sight of the Human Resources Manager doubled over in pain, and then he felt a crashing blow to the back of his skull that brought him to his knees. Another blow blasted into his back, between his shoulder blades, and he fell to the ground on his stomach, and then his body became a solid mass of pain as blows and kicks were rained down upon him.

“Enough!” The voice was sharp, commanding, and the blows ceased immediately. “Get him out of here!” Strong hands gripped Mel’s arms and pulled him toward the front door. Mel couldn’t see straight; he was nauseous, dizzy, a wave of terror and anger pouring through him simultaneously. He couldn’t tell what part of his body hurt most and he didn’t care. All he was aware of was being dragged out of his house, seeing the flames devour his office and destroy his property, his records, his business, his fucking house, and then he was dumped on his front lawn and the shock came, and like the waves of a giant tsunami it crashed into him harder and harder until he got hold of his senses five hours later at the hospital.

SATURDAY MORNING INTO the early afternoon was busy, to say the least.

After a breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage, which Donald prepared at the stove, he took a quick shower in the master bathroom. He directed Jay to a bathroom down the hall and told him he could help himself. Before Jay showered, he told Donald he wanted to hide his car. Donald opened the garage door and Jay pulled the car he’d stolen in St. Louis inside, shielding it from public view.

Donald no longer felt nervous around Jay the way he did during his initial encounter with him last night. If anything, he felt nervous about what he was learning. He thought about this briefly as he showered, his mind tracing back not only on the events of the past few weeks since Michelle landed her job at Corporate Financial, but in the general climate of the business world in the United States and the world in general. It was true that business practices were less friendly to entrepreneurship and, in his opinion, were even in direct opposition to classic capitalism. What was happening now was corporatism pure and simple, where the corporate bottom-line dictated public and political policy, invaded personal lives, and influenced what one saw on TV or the radio, bought in the store, or dictated how health care was disbursed.

Jay’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “I’m done with my shower; mind if I hook my laptop to your phone line and check some things?”

“Go ahead!” Donald shouted. He finished his shower, rinsed himself off, and turned off the spray. He thought about the business world more as he dried off. He remembered his parents working at the same employer for well over thirty years. Both of them were recently retired and were treated well by their employer, a mid-sized financial planning firm that did business with banks. Donald remembered his mother telling him a few years ago during a family picnic that she felt sorry for some of the younger workers entering into the first stages of their employment at the company. “They’re doing away with so many benefits like retirement and health care for their retirees, I don’t know how these people are going to manage when they reach my age.” Donald wondered about that now as he dried off and headed into the bedroom to get dressed. Michelle had shared her past employment stories with him, telling him pretty much the same thing. And he’d heard similar anecdotes from friends and colleagues who suggested it was no longer really the company’s goal to simply do well in their business and industry. Businesses always had to worry about the bottom-line—that was common sense—but it was no longer simply acceptable to have a good year. You had to increase—in some cases double—your profits every year, year after year, which was a statistically impossible thing to do. And when these same companies did outperform, the profits were rarely reinvested back into the business for improved equipment, strengthening employee benefits and training, or distributing bonuses among employees. Instead, the majority of the profits were eaten away by excessive CEO pay and bonuses, as well as bonuses for other higher-level executives. Everybody else got a piddly two percent bonus, if that. And meanwhile cuts were made to benefits such as health care and retirement packages, and management was demanding not only higher performance, but longer hours from their employees. No wonder people snapped like that Victor Adams guy in California.

Donald got dressed in a fresh pair of blue jeans, a gray T-shirt he’d bought in Acapulco, Mexico, and white tennis shoes, and went into the living room. Jay was sitting at the kitchen counter dressed in black jeans and a black T-shirt. His hair was slightly damp from his shower. He had his laptop out, a telephone cord connected to the kitchen extension. “Everything okay?” Donald asked.

“So far so good,” Jay said. He tapped a few keys, looking at the screen. “I’ve got my email forwarded to an offshore Internet account so they can’t trace my activity with my ISP. And I called Julie real quick, made sure she was okay. The feds have already tried questioning her, but she told them she has no idea where I am and that’s how it’s going to stay for now.”

Donald felt nervous. He didn’t like the idea that the FBI was looking for Jay. “So the feds are on to you?”

“Yeah, but I’m not sweating it.” Jay closed his Internet connection. “I’ve got shit bouncing off three different satellites. It’s going to take some crafty cyber-sleuth to track me down. Besides, I’m not on long enough to establish any kind of trace. Way I figure, I’ve probably been tracked as far east as St. Louis. The car I stole is one of hundreds that were stolen the day I landed in town, and it’ll take them awhile to even trace that. I want to ditch this car somewhere in the city, maybe even switch plates on it if I can. Can you give me a lift?”

“What do you have in mind?” Donald asked.

Jay gave him a rundown. Donald listened, trying to ignore the unease he felt. When Jay was finished, Donald said “I suppose I can take you into Harrisburg. There’s some rough areas there. If you can grab a plate there we can head back here, switch that plate with the one on your car, and then I can follow you to Philly.”

“Cool.” Jay nodded as he unplugged the phone line from his laptop.

“But we have to think beyond today and making sure you haven’t been tracked here,” Donald said. “We still have to find out exactly what is going on, and make sure Michelle isn’t… isn’t going to get hurt.”

“The drive to Philly will help me think about that,” Jay said. He put his laptop in its carrying case. “We can talk about that on the way back here. Okay?”

Donald nodded. “Sounds fine with me.” It was the best plan they had for now.

MICHELLE HAD NEVER sat through such mindless bullshit in her life.

It was almost five p.m. and she’d been sitting in this meeting off and on now since eight o’clock.

When the hell is this shit going to end? she thought.

She was doing her best to look interested in what was going on. Sam was sitting next to her and Mr. Lawrence was directly across from him. Other members of corporate headquarters were there, and each officer gave a presentation to the executive staff of Red Rose Medical Insurance, the company they were in town to consult with. Michelle had been introduced to each Red Rose associate at a mixer during the lunch hour, and learned about the role she’d be playing in assisting them. It was normal everyday stuff as far as she was concerned. Dennis Harrington and Alma Smith were in attendance and they looked the same—vacant and glazed, like zombies. In fact…

When Michelle saw them this morning she paid attention to their mannerisms. She feigned listening to whatever presenter was droning on about corporate profits or whatever, and stole occasional glances at Alma and Dennis. They sat in rapt attention, as if soaking it all in. Her mind wandered, wishing she was back home where she’d be no doubt hanging out at her house over a leisurely morning pot of coffee and a book or magazine, maybe even a television show with Donald. Instead she was here, her entire weekend now ruined all because some suit she’d never met before had a bug up his ass about—

Her thoughts had been interrupted by Sam, who leaned close to her and whispered, “After the mixer today we’re having a private meeting with the people from corporate that I’d like you to be present at. I think you’ll find it quite interesting.”

“Great!” Michelle said, keeping the cheerful spirit in her voice.

Inside she was thinking, why the hell do we have to do this on a Saturday for God’s sake? Don’t you people have lives?

And now it was four hours after the mixer and the representatives from Red Rose had departed for the day. They’d reconvened in a smaller conference room and Michelle was introduced to several people from corporate. She smiled and nodded politely, repeating each name as they were introduced to her: Kevin Smith, Elliot Brand, Nick Dowd, Jim Andreas, Joe Carr, Gary Lawrence. When Michelle shook Gary’s hand she smiled. “Fancy meeting you again, Mr. Lawrence!”

Mr. Lawrence laughed. Sam was standing nearby. “I think we’ve got ourselves a winner here, Sam!”

Sam beamed. “I agree, Mr. Lawrence.”

Alan Perkins was in Chicago as well; Michelle saw him at the meeting and they’d acknowledged each other with polite nods from across the large conference table. After Michelle met the bigwigs of Corporate Financial, Alan approached and leaned close to her. “I see you got dragged out here, too,” he whispered.

Michelle laughed. “You can say that again!”

Alan grinned and made his way to the coffee pot as Sam returned from a brief conversation with Dennis Harrington and Mr. Lawrence, and began asking her about last night’s meeting.

And now it was closing in on five o’clock and Michelle was bored out of her mind.

The meeting had started with Sam welcoming Michelle to the group. “After careful consideration, I’ve chosen Michelle Dowling to head up the Building Products job. As you saw in the documents I sent to you all last month, Michelle possesses an impressive background and list of accomplishments from former stints at competing consulting firms. She did well in all her interviews, has exceeded my expectations at orientation and her first few weeks on the job, and I’m told she performed admirably this past week in El Paso. Results from last night’s meeting were very satisfactory to me. In fact, I’m so pleased with them that I’ve asked her to join us this afternoon to immerse her in our business, and I figured the best way to do that was to have one of these sessions with you, our corporate elite and our top performers.” Sam reminded Michelle of how a proud father would look giving away his daughter in marriage. “So… let’s begin!”

Despite that introduction, which originally made Michelle nervous, what followed was more of the mundane. Each executive stepped in front of the conference room and outlined specific guidelines and goals of each specific section of the business. While the meeting appeared to be directed to her, each presenter addressed the entire room. Everybody sat in rapt attention, including Sam Greenberg and the rest of the people from headquarters. Michelle tried paying attention, figuring there would be something she would need to know to perform her duties well, but as the hours wore on she realized that what was being presented was basically what she’d skimmed through in the employee manual. She struggled to stay interested, and during those moments her concentration from the presentation lagged, she at least tried to look interested.

And as the afternoon wore on and she grew more bored and fought harder to look interested in what was being said, she noticed that everybody in the room was sitting in rapt attention, listening to every word the presenter at the moment was saying.

At one point Michelle shook her head slightly to clear her mind. She’d caught herself slipping into a light trance. That weird tune that’d been floating in her head the night before resurfaced. It was soothing, intoxicating, and as she cleared the cobwebs from her mind she realized it was closing in on five in the afternoon and the presentation was nowhere close to finishing. She glanced covertly at the other people in the room. Nobody appeared to be uncomfortable or bothered that this meeting was taking so long. Nobody had excused themselves to go to the bathroom or attend to some other personal matter. At that thought, Michelle suddenly realized she hadn’t peed in hours. Her bladder felt heavy and full. She squirmed slightly in her seat and brought her legs close together. Nick Dowd was standing at the podium, going through a Power Point presentation. Michelle blinked. She didn’t remember when the overhead projector had been introduced to the meeting. For the first time, she realized the room was dark and everybody was still sitting upright like… like…

Like dummies.

A sharp pain in her bladder. She suppressed the urge to pee, glanced around quickly. Surely somebody should have gotten up before, she thought. Somebody getting out of their chair would have snapped me out of it, and I would have followed them but I didn’t because nobody’s gotten up yet to take a piss!

How is that possible?

There was a clock on the wall of the conference room, opposite the side Michelle was sitting at. She glanced at it quickly. Five o’clock on the dot. She’d been here for nine hours already, stuck in this place. What bullshit. She had to pee, and she didn’t care if Sam looked at her with disapproval.

She rose from her seat.

“—when funds are disbursed to these accounts they are held in suspension for two days, and then—” Nick said, then stopped as Michelle got up.

“Excuse me,” Michelle murmured politely. She attempted to squeeze past Sam’s chair.

A hand touched her arm lightly. Sam. “Where are you going?” He whispered. There was disapproval in his tone.

“Bathroom,” she whispered back.

Nick had continued on with his presentation. “…it triggers the system to apply a calculation that adds an aggregation to the formula, which in turn—”

“Can it wait?” Michelle understood the implications behind the question. Leaving the meeting to attend to personal matters? Don’t you realize how unacceptable to the company this is?

“No it can’t,” Michelle said, her voice lowered. “I don’t feel good. I’m feeling a little sick. I’ll be right back.” Without pausing to hear Sam’s answer, she squeezed around his chair and made her way quietly out of the room.

She closed the door softly behind her and the pain in her bladder hit her like a fireball. She walked fast down the hall toward the rest rooms she’d seen earlier that morning, not caring if she was reprimanded by Sam later that day or next week. What’s he going to do? Fire me for having to take a leak? If they don’t like it they can stuff it up their collective corporate asses and—

She burst into the ladies room and made it into a stall quickly, shut and bolted the stall door and shucked her slacks and panties down and sat down on the toilet and sighed as she released her bladder’s contents.

And she remained seated on the toilet, letting herself relax as she did her business, not caring if Sam or her colleagues got angry with her. For the first time, the past week’s tiredness and fatigue came upon her, settling in her shoulders, creating tension along the back of her neck. She leaned forward, eyes closed, and tried to relax. She would chill out just for a few minutes, give her body time to reorient itself, maybe call home real quick, then she’d go back. Doing all that would give her another two or three hours of energy, she was sure of it. Then—

The door to the bathroom opened.

Footsteps on the tiled bathroom floor.

Michelle looked up, panic flaring in her belly. The tread was not that of a woman. It sounded like the footfalls of a man wearing dress shoes.

The footsteps stopped in front of her stall and Michelle drew in a breath. She was confused, scared, not sure what she should do, when suddenly the door was bashed in, snapping the lock, and Alan Perkins was standing before her with a wicked grin on his face.

CHAPTER TEN

“GET THE HELL out of here!” Michelle yelled. With one fluid motion she slammed the bathroom stall door shut and rose to her feet. She clutched her slacks in her left hand and attempted to pull them up over her thighs. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I was sent here by Sam to see if you were okay,” Alan said.

Leaning her shoulder into the stall door to keep it closed, Michelle managed to get her slacks and panties back up and buttoned. When she opened the stall door Alan was waiting for her. “So you had to follow me into the ladies room?” Michelle tried to interject some anger into her voice, but inside she was scared.

“I have to make sure our latest company asset is well taken care of,” Alan said. He had that same, strange smile on his face.

This was too much. All the strange behavior, the unacceptable mannerisms from her co-workers and now this! When this was over, Human Resources was going to hear about it. Maybe even Alan’s boss. Michelle shouldered her way past Alan and headed to the sink. “I’m fine,” she said. “Now why don’t you get the hell out of here and leave me alone!”

“Do you realize you’re breaking company policy?” Alan said. That strange smile was gone from his face now. Michelle caught him looking at her from the bathroom mirror as she quickly washed her hands.

“Having to pee is breaking company policy?”

“Excusing yourself to attend to personal business while company business is at hand is a violation of company policy,” Alan said. He sounded like a robot. Michelle felt a shiver run down her back. Jesus, he sounds like Dennis Harrington. She turned around and regarded him. As much as he sounded like Dennis he surely didn’t look like him. Alan wasn’t vacant-eyed or devoid of emotion. Alan appeared to be trying to hold his emotions—mirth? happiness? relief?—inside him while trying to appear business-like.

Michelle turned off the faucet and dried her hands on a paper towel from the dispenser. “I don’t give a shit. Report me.”

“I can make it all go away as if it never happened,” Alan said. He stood before her as she attempted to exit the ladies room.

“Get the hell out of my way!”

“Did you hear what I said? I said that I can keep this a secret between us… tell Sam that you’re fine and that you’re right on schedule. He trusts me.”

“Why would he trust you?”

“He just does.”

“Why should I care?”

“Don’t you want to be a part of Corporate Financial?”

“What do you care?”

“I care a lot.”

“The fuck you do!”

“Talking to me in that tone and language is a violation of corporate policy, too.”

“Fuck corporate policy!”

Michelle made another attempt to storm past him again and this time Alan grabbed her shoulders. “You leave now, I’ll make sure you’re fired. If you want to stay, you’re gonna have to blow me!”

Michelle stomped down on the top of Alan’s right foot with as much force as she could muster. Alan yelled and almost released her from his grasp. Michelle drove her left elbow into Alan’s stomach but Alan turned and brought his left arm up in a headlock around her throat. She felt his breath at her right ear as he applied a vice-like grip around her neck. She began to scream. “Get your fucking hands—” and then she was silenced by the meaty weight of his palm, suffocating her nose and mouth.

Michelle struggled wildly in his grip, stomping her feet, trying to elbow him again; she felt her elbow strike his torso, heard a mutter of pain. She tried to bite through his palm and then she felt a sharp pain on her right shoulder blade that paralyzed her. Alan’s voice muttered in her ear. “Calm down. I had to make sure you were real. Just calm down.”

The pain was so paralyzing that Michelle couldn’t fight back. Her vision went blurry; tears sprang to her eyes. She felt her breathing quicken as she thought, he’s going to kill me, he’s going to kill me, dear God he’s going to—

“I had to make sure you haven’t been influenced yet,” Alan whispered in her ear. “That was just a test. I’m not going to say anything to Sam, and I’m not going to report you to anybody. I’m here to help.”

The pressure on her shoulder blade subsided and the pain began to diminish. “I know about Dennis and Alma, and I know about Sam and the rest of them,” Alan continued. “I also know about Jay O’Rourke and some of his co-workers at Building Products. Corporate Financial has got a lot of those people now. Jay’s not one of them, but some of his co-workers are now. They’ll probably have them all by the end of the week.”

At the mention of Jay’s name Michelle stiffened. She drew in a breath and felt Alan’s grip around her neck loosen. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said. “I’m going to take my hand away from your mouth. Don’t scream. Please… I don’t want this to be ugly. You’re not one of them so I can trust you. Right?”

Michelle tried to say yes and nodded. She felt Alan’s grip on her loosen and his hand came away from her mouth. She breathed and looked at him through hazy eyes as he stood before her. “What’s going on?” she whispered.

Alan raised a finger to her and winced. He raised his right foot up and gingerly rubbed the top of it with his fingers. “Damn, you got me good.”

Michelle felt her heart race. She was nervous and scared. This was all happening so fast she didn’t know who to believe or trust. “Tell me what’s going on now or I call the police.”

“No police,” Alan said, setting his foot down. “The minute the police get involved, we’re both doomed. They’ll blow my cover and then I’ll be in danger with you.”

“Why will we be in danger?” Michelle’s voice was low, raspy. Her throat felt dry.

Alan rubbed the top of his foot gingerly, still wincing. “I’ll explain everything to you after the meeting… tonight. I promise.”

“Who are you?”

“A friend,” Alan said. “I’m here undercover.”

“Are you a cop?”

“No.” Alan stopped massaging his foot. His features were slightly strained. He pulled a paper towel out of the dispenser and wiped his brow. “And you’re not in trouble. I’m not going to say anything about what happened here. I’m not going to tell Sam anything about reporting you.”

“Why would he believe you anyway?”

“He trusts me. He thinks I’m one of them, but I’m not.” Alan inspected himself in the mirror briefly. “Neither are you. You proved that to me just a few minutes ago when your instincts kicked in. If you were one of them, you would have been quick to do what I asked.”

If you want to stay you’re gonna have to blow me. Michelle regarded him warily, her emotions conflicted. A moment ago she’d been scared out of her mind. Alan had done such a sudden about-face that it stunned her. His behavior now was different; his demeanor was so cool, so casual, that part of her felt she should relax her guard, but she’d been so surprised by his behavior earlier that she didn’t know what to do. His character had been so offensive, so unprofessional, that she felt she needed to be on her guard around him. She had to tread lightly, see what was really going on. “What do you mean that you’re not one of them?”

“You’ll understand when we meet later,” Alan said. He smoothed his hair back and turned to her. His features were calm, sensitive. He also looked sorry he’d scared her. “Look, I’m sorry for what happened. I’m sorry if I hurt you. Are you okay?”

“No. I mean… yes.” Michelle’s heart was still racing and she felt nervous. She thought about what Donald told her last night regarding Jay’s experience with Dennis Harrington (he was just lying there in his bed… he seemed… empty… dead) and she shuddered. “You scared me but… I’m okay.”

“I’ll explain everything after the meeting,” Alan said. “But right now we need to get back and be attentive to business. I’ll tell Sam that you’re on track with the program.”

On track with what program? She nodded. “Okay.”

“Just act like nothing happened. Behave the way you have been behaving. Pretend you’re interested in what’s being presented. That’s what you’ve been doing anyway, right?”

Alan hit the nail on the head. It was true; she had been acting like she was interested in the meeting when she really wasn’t. She nodded. “Yeah,” she said.

“You’ve fooled the best so far,” Alan said. “That’s part of how you got in. And you have to keep that act up until tonight when we meet. I’ll tell you everything then.”

“You said something about Jay not being one of them,” Michelle asked quickly. “What did you mean by that?”

“He’s for real, like you. He revealed himself to me Monday evening at the Lone Star when he went on that tangent in front of Barb.”

Michelle was still trying to grasp what Alan was saying. “I still don’t understand,” she said. “So Jay spoke his mind. Big deal. A lot of people speak their minds, especially in places and circumstances they shouldn’t.”

Alan’s features were direct and to the point. “He’s human, Michelle. That’s it in a nutshell, plain and simple. He’s human and so are you. And that’s all I care about now.”

“And Sam and Dennis Harrington and everybody else?”

“The board members of Corporate Financial… in fact, all of Corporate Financial except for you and I? And most of their clients, especially those in middle and upper management and the executive level? All the firms they’re influencing? They’re not. They’ve been turned into something else.”

He’s crazy, a part of her whispered. He’s got to be. Dennis Harrington may be weird, but he’s not some… some… thing!

What about the story Jay told Donald? This is dovetailing perfectly! How can you deny that?

What the hell is going on here?

“You still don’t believe me,” Alan said. He was watching her calmly.

“I didn’t say that.”

“I can tell. It’s written all over your face. That’s a good sign.”

“What’s a good sign?”

“That I can read emotion in you. Doubt, fear, anger. It further convinces me that you’re for real.”

“So what if you don’t believe me?” Michelle asked. “I admit I am having a hard time believing this.”

“Here’s something that may convince you,” Alan said. He took a step closer to her, his voice low. “Your parents are Michael and Connie Dowling from Jersey City, New Jersey. They’re long time employees of All Nation Insurance. You were born on June 2, 1968. You weren’t wanted, your parents were young and struggling to climb the corporate ladder at the time and abortion was not an option at that period. You spent most of your childhood at daycare centers during the day while your parents worked long hours for All Nation’s corporate goals. You were essentially a latch key kid and you never understood why your parents had to work so much.”

“Stop it,” Michelle said, her voice lowered and trembling as a door opened in her mind, releasing a flood of memories.

Alan ignored her and continued. “That’s why you buried yourself in art, because you never had the attention of your parents. Even your relatives were blinded by the fact that there was something wrong with your parents. They made all the right moves, said all the right things to convince their families that everything was normal—they looked normal, dressed normal, behaved normal, had a normal suburban house, had a nice, well-mannered child and held good solid positions with their employer. Typical middle-class caricature, right? So it seemed to everybody but you knew it wasn’t.”

“That’s not true,” Michelle said. She felt a pain in her chest as she remembered nights spent begging her mother to look at her drawings, to play with her. Mother had been too self-absorbed in work, going over documents that were work-related even when she was at home. She remembered her father taking her to the office on Saturday mornings when she was very young… five, six years old, and placing her in front of a keypunch terminal and giving her punch cards to play with while he toddled off to his cubicle nearby to work. Even then Michelle had been only interested in pleasing him, in playing with the machine to make him happy, and it had. Her father had beamed that day, telling his co-workers, “Look at her! We got ourselves a future All Nation employee!”, and his co-workers had smiled and told her what a good girl she was, and that had made her feel proud.

“You were talked into becoming a business major by your parents in high school when you secretly hated it,” Alan continued. “You didn’t know it at the time, but subconsciously you didn’t want to have anything to do with what your parents did for a living because you already associated it with negative feelings. You majored in business anyway to make them happy because you still wanted their approval.”

“Stop,” Michelle said, the memories flooding her.

“You wanted to go to college and pursue a liberal arts degree,” Alan continued. “You wanted a career in the creative arts. Your parents disapproved, and they talked you into getting a job at All Nation right after high school because they convinced you that starting your career early would get you in the door, and you could work your way up the ladder and have a long career with them. You worked at All Nation. Your parents were in high positions by then, and they helped you get in the door. Then when you got pregnant, your mother tried to talk you into having an abortion.”

“Shut up!” Michelle yelled. She clasped her hands over her ears. Her vision blurred with tears as she remembered those conversations, remembered those emotions of turmoil.

Alan paused. His kind, sensitive features were troubled. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Really, I am. I’m sorry for bringing that up and for… what happened.”

Michelle tried to staunch the flow of tears. She’d never told anybody about the conversations she had with her mother about Alanis, and how her mother suggested to her that she abort her child. The only person she’d ever told was Donald. “How…” she began, sniffing back tears. “Why…?”

Alan put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I’m on your side, Michelle. The organization I’m really with… we’re on your side.”

Michelle took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her eyes. Everything Alan just told her confirmed everything she’d always felt—that her parents never wanted her because her arrival got in the way of their career plans. “My parents… I haven’t seen them… even thought about them… in so long.”

“Was there ever a time when you thought there was something wrong with your parents?” Alan asked softly.

A wave of memories rushed by and Michelle sorted through them, searching her memory banks. She grabbed a paper towel from the dispenser and dried her face. “When I was a teenager. But then all teenagers think their parents are from another planet when they’re that age.”

“What about later?”

Michelle looked down at the floor, twiddling the paper towel in her fingers. She remembered the conversations she’d had with her mother when she first learned she was pregnant. Her mother’s voice, cold, emotionless, came back to her unbidden. A child will only spoil your career… it’s a mistake… get rid of it now before you ruin your future with the company.

Get rid of it now before you ruin your future with the company.

…your future with the company…

…with the company…

Michelle blinked back the tears and took a deep breath. “When my mother told me that my career with All Nation was more important than the life of her unborn grandchild, I knew there was something wrong with her. I knew she wasn’t… wasn’t the woman I thought she was. I… for so long I tried to pretend that the reason my parents were never around for me, that the reason they were more interested in work than me, was because they were… they needed to work to keep… a roof over our heads. I mean, they provided for me, we had a home, food, clothes. We weren’t on the streets, we had a good home. But…”

“They were never there for you,” Alan said. “They put their jobs with All Nation above you; made it a priority even though they really didn’t need to do that. They could have skated by if only one of them worked; your mother could have been a stay-at-home mom. They could have taken less strenuous and lower paying positions and they still would have been able to take care of you adequately, but they didn’t. Right?”

Michelle nodded. The emotional pain was great but she didn’t cry. She held back the flow of tears, took a deep breath and composed herself. She dabbed at her eyes again with the paper towel. “I realized that when I was pregnant,” she said, her voice shaky. “That… that they placed an emphasis on work… on giving yourself over to your employer’s cause above everything else. Work was more important than everything to them including family… friends… life itself. And… that’s why I haven’t so much as spoken to them in almost ten years.”

Alan nodded. “Your parents were early clients of Corporate Financial. They entered a training program Corporate Financial conducted in the mid-sixties. That’s one of the reasons why Sam tapped you for your position. Your entire employment background was exhaustively researched. When they saw that you worked for All Nation in the late eighties and early nineties, they dug up your old Personnel files. Your corporate rating was A1—the highest mark an employee can receive. It was noted in your personnel file that your reason for leaving All Nation was to pursue other business interests. That careful wording was acceptable to them. Had you indicated the real reason, it would have raised red flags.”

The more Michelle was hearing, the more confused and nervous she was getting. She was no longer emotionally battered from the sudden rush of memories of her upbringing; they were being eclipsed by what Alan was now telling her. “But I left All Nation to pursue my art career,” she said. “I don’t remember putting that in… that form or whatever it was they had me fill out when I quit, but—”

“I saw a photocopy of the form,” Alan said. “Trust me, that’s what you put down. Smart move. Had you put down you were pursuing an art career you would have been black-listed and you never would have been hired at Corporate Financial.”

Michelle looked at Alan, suddenly wanting to know everything. She was just about to ask him another question when he quickly beat her to it. “Later,” he said, gently turning her toward the mirror. “Straighten yourself up and let’s get back to that meeting. Sam will begin to wonder what’s going on and we don’t want them suspicious.”

Michelle started doing what Alan suggested, inspecting herself in the mirror, straightening her hair, her composure. She looked okay; eyes a little too red from crying, but at least her mascara hadn’t run and her face wasn’t red. Alan quickly inspected him-self in the mirror and then, once satisfied he looked presentable, turned to her. “You look fine. When we get back to the meeting, pretend things are okay and that nothing happened. If Sam asks me what happened, I’ll take care of it. Should he pull you aside later and ask you, tell him you were feeling sick and you waited for it to pass, and that once you were over it you got your mind back into work and came back. I’m going to tell him I checked on you, saw you were feeling sick, went into the men’s room real quick, and then waited for you to come out and made sure you were okay before we returned. He’ll believe me.”

Michelle inspected herself one last time before she grasped her purse. “Okay.” She took a deep breath, preparing herself to go back into the meeting. Pretend to be interested, she thought. Look and behave the way you always behave when you’re bored at work—pretend you’re really into the drudgery you were hired to do. Say the right buzz words, step into the role.

Jesus, I should have been an actress, she thought. She turned to Alan. “Okay,” she said. “I’m ready.”

“Good. This meeting might last until eight. When it adjourns, head straight to your room, order room service if you’re hungry, then get some sleep. Set your alarm for three a.m. and meet me in the lobby at three-fifteen. I have a car—we’ll talk in there.”

Michelle nodded. “Fine,” she said.

Then they headed back to the meeting, looking every bit as presentable and business-like as they had when they first entered the conference room earlier that day.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

THEY HAD JUST dumped the car Jay O’Rourke had stolen in St. Louis and were on the turnpike heading to the house when Donald’s cell phone rang.

He answered it, keeping his attention on the road. “Hello.”

“Donald. It’s Eric.”

Donald recognized Eric Brown’s voice immediately. Eric was the medical director of the group he worked at, Crossroads Family Practice. Dr. Brown occasionally called Donald on the weekends to catch up with his patient load and shoot the breeze. He was a good physician and a great manager—Donald liked him immensely. For some reason, though, Donald detected an inflection in Eric’s voice that raised warning signs with him. Something was wrong. “Eric! What’s up?”

“I have some bad news for you, Donald.” Eric’s voice sounded strained, like he was under stress. “I hate to do this… God knows this isn’t coming from me, okay? It’s Pete’s decision more than it is mine, and Pete is certain the medical board will back him up on this.”

“What’s wrong?” His stomach felt queasy.

“I have to relieve you of your duties with the medical group,” Eric said. Despite the sense of hesitancy in Dr. Brown’s voice, Donald was shocked. He felt his body tighten and he had to force himself to pay attention to his driving as he took the news in. “It isn’t my decision. I went to bat for you before the Medical Board and the Business Administrators of the medical group, but they were adamant.”

“Why? What for? I don’t understand?” Donald did a quick lane change and merged into the slow lane, looking for an exit. He couldn’t have this conversation without it affecting his driving.

“Red Rose got into a tizzy over the Brennan case,” Dr. Brown said, and at the mention of Michael Brennan’s name Donald felt his stomach flutter with worry. “I’m happy his diagnosis was made early and that Dr. Schellenger performed the procedure. But Red Rose is furious that the decision was made to perform the procedure without their approval and they’re demanding we let you go or they’ll completely sever all business ties with us.”

“What?” Donald couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He was furious. “That’s… that’s,” he stammered.

“Outrageous? Yeah, I agree with that, buddy. That’s really outrageous.”

The exit to Elizabethtown was coming up and Donald gestured toward the change compartment on the middle island of the front seat of the vehicle. Jay grabbed a handful of quarters and the toll-booth ticket and waited while Donald got in line at the exit to the turnpike. “You read my report on Brennan. Dr. Schellenger and I both believe he had first stage testicular cancer and the lab results from the biopsy clearly indicated nonseminoma testicular cancer. Where the hell do they get off on making diagnostic decisions on my patients?”

“I’m completely on your side in this, Donald,” Dr. Brown said, his voice apologetic. “The medical board is as well, and so is Isabel Frank and Pete Barker.” Isabel and Pete were the Business Administrators of Crossroads Medical Group. “But Pete says he has no choice—if we don’t let you go, Red Rose will cease doing business with Crossroads, and with their market share as a health insurance provider in Central Pennsylvania, we’ll be out of business very quickly.”

“Jesus Christ.” Donald approached the toll-booth and Jay reached over and handed the ticket and change to him. Donald passed it over to the attendant, who nodded and waved them through. Donald piloted the car down the exit ramp and headed toward a Chevron station. “I can’t believe this.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I’m told Drs. Schellenger and Royer were dismissed from Lancaster Urological Group this morning, too.” Eric paused. “This hasn’t been easy on myself or Dr. Westerman.” Dr. Jerry Westerman was the Medical Director at Lancaster Urological Group.

“Red Rose made the same threat to them?”

“Yes, they did.”

Donald opened his mouth to talk but he was speechless. Somehow he steered the car into the Chevron station and parked next to a Cadillac on the side of the building. Jay O’Rourke was sitting in the front passenger seat, looking concerned. Donald put the car in Park. “Can they really do this?” he asked.

Eric sighed. “I’m afraid they can, Donald. They’re our biggest insurance group, they provide the largest patient pool in the area. If we lose them, our patients will defect to other medical groups. You know that.”

“I had Brennan’s report and our request for approval to cover his treatment already written out,” Donald said, still shocked by this sudden news. “I explained to Michael what we were doing, that we were going to word the request in a manner that the claim would be impossible to deny.”

“You made the mistake in authorizing the procedure to take place prior to Red Rose’s final approval,” Eric said.

“They were denying it on the grounds that they didn’t feel it was medically necessary! They would have kept denying it until Michael’s cancer advanced to third or fourth stage and metastasized!”

“I know. I saw your reports.”

“They wanted Michael to wait until it got worse, until blood work positively ruled in their favor that it was testicular cancer. You know that by the time the T-Cell counts show those kind of numbers it’s usually in the fourth stage by then! Those bastards simply didn’t want to shell out money for the procedure at this early a stage! Had we waited it would have not only jeopardized Michael’s health, Red Rose would have wound up paying a hell of a lot more to cover his treatment.”

“You’re preaching to the choir, Donald,” Eric said, his voice still troubled but trying to be soothing. “Trust me, I’ve been saying the same thing to Pete and he’s been saying the same thing to Red Rose, but they’re adamant. They’re furious that you over-stepped their authority on the manner. Their decision to deny coverage for this procedure, at this particular time, was final.”

“Those bastards.” Donald was furious.

“I’m sorry,” Eric said. “I didn’t want to do this, but I had to.”

The thought of being suddenly unemployed didn’t bother Donald; it was the extreme stupidity of the reason for his dismissal. He had taken the Hippocratic Oath to heal people, to provide the best health care and medical services he was capable of. To have his work overruled by faceless corporate suits who didn’t have medical training and who were motivated more by preserving the corporate bottom-line infuriated him. “My patients,” he said. “I can think of several off the top of my head who will be upset. Some of them might want to go with me to whatever medical group I wind up at.”

“Perfectly understandable,” Eric said. “Come in Monday morning and we’ll talk. I’ll help clear your files out and we’ll have a letter of recommendation ready for you as well.”

After agreeing to be in the office at nine a.m. on Monday to collect his things, sign some paperwork and pick up his final check, Donald pressed disconnect on the cell phone. He was still stunned by the suddenness of the events, so overwhelmed by what happened, that he didn’t notice Jay O’Rourke in the seat beside him.

Jay leaned forward, his features concerned. “What’s going on? You got fired?”

“Yeah,” Donald said, snapping out of his reverie briefly. He quickly recapped his conversation with Dr. Brown. “Those bastards at Red Rose insisted that Crossroads and Lancaster Urological fire me, Pete, and Bill or they’d sever ties with them.”

“Tell me about this guy Michael,” Jay said. “He the guy you told me about last night? The one who had testicular cancer?”

“Yes.” Donald gave Jay a brief synopsis of Michael Brennan’s diagnosis and his struggle to get Red Rose to approve the procedure necessary to properly diagnose and treat Michael’s cancer. “I’ve never run across an HMO who denied this procedure. I’ve had a few approve it and then later question me on it, asking if it was really medically necessary, but the claims adjusters who do that are usually the new guys in the office, the ones eager to look good to their superiors. Even then, the treatment is always approved at some point.”

“But these guys never approved it,” Jay said. “Are they like this with all your cases?”

“Pretty much,” Donald said. He placed the cell phone back in his breast pocket. “And especially lately. They’ve been denying a lot of things they used to pay for without any question.”

“They have a new CEO or something? New management?”

At this question, Donald’s mind flashed back on something Michelle had told him a few weeks ago… that Red Rose was one of Corporate Financial Consultancy’s clients. “No, but get this.” He quickly told Jay what Michelle mentioned to him. Jay looked grim. “This is just too weird to be a coincidence. I mean… Corporate Financial Consultants begins working with Red Rose and suddenly their whole business structure changes, becomes more bottom-line oriented. More ruthless.”

“Same as what’s been happening with Building Products,” Jay said. “This patient, Michael Brennan. What’s going to happen to him now?”

Donald sighed. “Red Rose will deny payment to his providers and the hospital and Michael will be stuck with the bill.”

“How much?”

Donald shrugged. “Hard to tell. Twenty grand maybe.”

“Shit. No wonder the medical profession is getting a bad rap.”

“I share your concern about the runaway cost of healthcare in this country, but now’s not the time to vent your opinion on what you may feel are the overrated prices of healthcare,” Donald said, struggling to keep the anger out of his voice. “The basic cost for such a procedure is around fifteen thousand dollars, which is a relatively low figure when you compare it with the fees of other surgeries. And if you think Dr. Schellenger received that entire amount for his fee, you’re mistaken. That fee covers those assisting him including the assistant physician, surgical nurses, and the equipment used. There’s also risk involved—there’s always risk involved when you put somebody under general anesthesia and operate on them. Anything can go wrong. Operating on a human being isn’t like fixing the transmission of your car or tinkering with the motherboard of a computer. You screw up, the patient dies. You can replace a car or a computer, you can’t replace a human being.”

“I hear you,” Jay said. He was fidgety. “I didn’t mean to criticize.”

Donald buried his face in his hands. “I’m sorry if I snapped. It’s just… I can’t believe this is happening!”

“Do you know where Michael lives?”

Donald turned to Jay, who looked concerned. “Why?”

Jay’s dark eyes reflected more than a concern for Michael Brennan’s financial ruin. “I think… I can’t really describe it, but… I just have this feeling he might be in danger.”

And when Jay revealed this to him Donald felt a shiver pass through him. First Red Rose’s repeated denials to cover treatment for a potentially life-threatening disease, then their hardball tactics to have Michael’s providers dismissed from their respective medical groups due to their willingness to save his life… and Red Rose’s continued refusal to cover treatment in similar cases the past six months while green-lighting other cases. It didn’t make sense. Donald remembered a case a month ago when Red Rose green-lighted plastic surgery for the patient of a colleague, which was definitely not medically necessary. The patient in question simply didn’t like the way her nose looked. Red Rose paid seven thousand dollars, the total fee, for a relatively minor procedure that shaved tissue off the tip of her nose. Last he heard, the Plastic Surgeon in question was planning further surgeries for the woman—liposuction to remove fatty deposits along the face, belly and thighs, some nips and tucks to smooth the brow. He’d never heard of any HMO approving Plastic Surgery for vanity’s sake. It had been the hot topic of conversation at work when Donald mentioned it in passing to one of the other doctors on staff, Jon Sneller.

Yet other procedures… denying coverage for the sixteen-year-old girl with a clear case of appendicitis and having the appendix burst—the medical group was still fighting with Red Rose for the emergency surgery necessary to save the girl’s life; the forty-four year old woman with pneumonia who was admitted to Lancaster General and was now on life-support after Red Rose initially denied the antibiotics that were recommended in the early stage of the illness that would have staved off the condition; the traffic accident victim who almost lost his leg when a drunk driver crossed the center divider and smashed head on into his car—Red Rose’s claim was that the surgery performed on the patient’s leg in order to save it was denied due to a pre-existing condition, one that existed in the driver that caused the crash. The driver in question was an alcoholic, a medical condition that had been documented in his history before. Never mind that the victim wasn’t an alcoholic and was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, it didn’t matter to the Red Rose governing board.

Their verdict, when rendered, had caused a ripple of concern among Crossroads and Lancaster General, who had performed three procedures to save the victim’s leg, procedures which had so far amounted to seventy-five thousand dollars in medical expenses. Had they simply amputated the leg, Donald had no doubt Red Rose would have paid for that procedure and the follow-up care since they would have wracked up around twenty-five grand in fees all totaled. But now? With three surgeries already under their belt and with more to follow? The fees would be astronomical. The patient in question was fully covered through his employer, and most HMOs would have been bound to cover the cost of the treatment minus deductibles and co-pays. What Red Rose was doing was not only unprecedented in Health Care but unethical and, in Donald’s opinion, highly illegal.

This all flashed in Donald’s mind quickly as he considered Jay’s concerns. He felt afraid too, and he didn’t know why. Everything was spinning out of control; he didn’t know what to think about the situation. “I know Michael lives somewhere in the Denver area. I don’t remember his address or anything.”

“We need to find him,” Jay said. “I don’t know why, but we have to. I just have this feeling.”

Donald nodded and put the car into reverse and backed up. “So do I,” he said, and they pulled out of the Chevron station and headed out.

VICODIN WAS THE best drug in the world next to morphine. Michael Brennan was sure of this as he lay in the bed he shared with his girlfriend Jenny. It not only completely erased the pain in his lower groin, it produced the same numbness he felt the few seconds before he went under completely yesterday during surgery. He had been lying on the operating table surrounded by doctors and nurses at Lancaster Hospital, feeling very calm and confident that he was going to be well taken care of. There was an IV inserted in the vein of his left hand and the anesthesiologist was at his side, telling him he was going to start administering a drug that would put him to sleep very shortly. “You’re going to feel very calm, very relaxed, and then you won’t feel anything,” the Anesthesiologist said through his surgical mask. Sure enough, Michael felt very relaxed and calm, and then for approximately five seconds he experienced the best high he ever had in his life. It was wonderful, like floating on a cloud and having your body feel… well, so relaxed, so calm, so good. His friend Bobby told him the night before that Anesthesiologists used something morphine-based to put you under. Now Michael knew why people did heroin, which was derived from opiates, same as morphine. He didn’t know if Vicodin was an opiate but it sure felt like it. It wasn’t as strong as the morphine high he’d felt for five seconds before he dropped off like a rock and woke up suddenly in the recovery room, coming awake in a rush, crying in relief that it was over finally, but it was pretty damn close. Vicodin was great. It was so great he was thinking about replacing it with salt and pepper in his meals, maybe replacing it with sugar and cream in his coffee.

Aside from a brief bout of nausea when he came home from the hospital last night, he felt fine. He’d slept like a log all night, Jenny being careful not to bump into him as she slept on her side of the bed, her back to him. She’d gotten up this morning to go to work—she worked as a cashier at Wal-Mart in Ephrata—and his mother was supposed to come over later this afternoon to help out around the house. Jenny had made him a ham and cheese sandwich and placed it, along with a banana and a pear, in his lunch box and placed it by the bed. He had a bottle of water with him, which he drank from constantly. He could hobble out of bed to the bathroom easy enough, although he had to take it slow. He was still rather stiff. He’d inspected himself briefly this morning; the doctors had dressed the wound with gauze and bandages and then bundled his private parts in a jock-strap and a cloth-like diaper. They wanted him to keep the jock strap and diaper on as much as possible for the next five days, then Dr. Schellenger would take a look at him Wednesday during his follow-up appointment. Michael was relieved the first time he felt his dick at the hospital when he took his first piss. He hadn’t dared touch his scrotum yet to see what it felt like after the surgery, but at least his dick was still there. Dr. Beck told him the day before that he would be able to function just fine sexually, but of course there could be side effects to the surgery. Michael didn’t care; he just wanted the cancer out of his body. Still, in a few days when he felt better, he wanted to make sure everything worked, see if he could get an erection (and if he was able to pop a woody he was going to jack off to see if the pump still worked). But he was going to take these things one step at a time.

He was lying in bed now, watching TV, his mind wandering, when there was a knock on the front door. His mother. “Hey ma!” He called out. “Key’s under the doormat! Come on in!”

A moment later he heard the key slip into the lock and the front door opened. He heard footsteps and he frowned. There was more than just his mother showing up to help out around the house. If she brought his grandmother and his Aunt Becky over he was gonna be pissed. “Ma, who else did you bring?”

The footsteps headed down the short hallway of the trailer, and when the well-dressed men stopped in front of the doorway to his bedroom Michael’s heart leaped into his throat. He sat bolt upright in his bed, unmindful of the surgical wound in his groin. “Who are you?” His voice squeaked in surprise and sudden fear.

“I’m Matthew Hall, from Red Rose Medical Insurance,” one of the men said. He gestured to another man next to him. “This is Bill Moreau. The rest of the men here are Red Rose Insurance Adjusters. We’re here about your case.”

Michael relaxed a little bit. “Damn, you scared the shit out of me. I thought you were my mother.”

The men entered the room and surrounded him. Bill Moreau was a young man, perhaps a few years older than Michael, and he was carrying what appeared to be a black medical bag. He opened it and began rummaging around for something as Matthew Hall addressed Michael. “We have some papers to give you.” Matthew nodded at one of the other men, who thrust a sheaf of papers at him.

Bill Moreau found what he was looking for and grabbed Michael’s left arm. Michael started. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Relax,” Bill Moreau said as he quickly applied an alcohol swab to Michael’s left arm and deftly gave him a shot from a syringe he was concealing.

“What are you doing!” Michael yelled. He was suddenly being restrained by the other two men in the room as the injection was administered.

When Bill was finished administering the injection, he replaced the syringe in his bag and the men released their grip from them. Michael felt a flare of fear rise inside him. Something’s not right here… something’s not right…

“We’re enclosing bills for your surgery, hospital stay, your consultations with Crossroads Medical Group and Lancaster Urological Group, and Bill Moreau’s house call,” Matthew Hale said, tapping the papers that had been dropped on his chest. “Please remit payment within thirty days as directed.”

“What?” Michael was confused. Bills for surgery? Hospital stay? That was supposed to have been covered! Dr. Beck was supposed to have taken care of all that. And Bill Moreau’s house call? “What did you inject me with?” he asked, rubbing his arm.

“The injection will show up as a separate line item in one of those bills,” Matthew Hale said, his voice crisp and business-like. “Don’t worry, you weren’t injected with any drug. It’s just the cancer cells which were found in the biopsy of your right testicle yesterday in the lab.”

The implication of what Matthew just said hit him like a ton of bricks. Michael felt his face go slack with shock. “You’re kidding.”

“I’m not.” Matthew Hale’s features were stony, completely devoid of emotion. “Red Rose denied your original claim. That was our original business decision. Therefore, the bills for your surgery and hospital stay, as well as pre and post care, not to mention Bill Moreau’s services here today to deliver what was yours in the first place.”

The absurdity of it all was so overwhelming, so wrong, that Michael was stunned. He wasn’t a highly-educated man but he knew that it was unethical for a business, especially a health care business, to jeopardize the health of their members. “This is insane!” It was the only thing he could think of to say.

“No, it isn’t,” Matthew Hale said. “It’s just business.”

“But I’ve got fucking cancer!” Michael screamed.

“And Red Rose denied your original claim,” Matthew Hale said. “Had you and your health care provider operated within the parameters of our contract, this wouldn’t be happening.”

“But I’ve got cancer you nitwit!” Michael was growing frantic; he could feel his face growing hot, his breathing growing heavy.

“Original claim denied.” Matthew looked and sounded more like a robot than he did a human being.

“I—” Michael was at a loss for what to say. Except for the sharp pinprick in his left arm from the shot, he felt fine. He didn’t think Bill Moreau had injected him with any kind of drug, and if he did there was going to be hell to pay.

The well-suited men from Red Rose stepped out of the bedroom. Matthew Hale was the last to leave. “Oh, another thing. Due to the fact that you violated our contract, Red Rose is dropping you as a member. Please pay all claims promptly.”

“Fuck you!” Michael shouted. He threw the mass of bills at Matthew Hale.

Matthew’s features didn’t change. “Regardless, you’re still liable financially for this due to the fact that Red Rose denied this claim. Please pay all bills—”

“Get the hell out of here!” Michael made an attempt to get out of bed and a stab of pain rocked through his groin and lower abdomen.

“—promptly. Thank you.” Matthew Hale stepped out of the bedroom, and as Michael gritted his teeth against the pain in his groin he heard their footsteps receding down the hall and out the door.

CHAPTER TWELVE

DESPITE THE FACT that it was three a.m. and Michelle Dowling had dropped off to sleep immediately after laying down in bed at eight-fifteen p.m., she was wide awake when the alarm went off.

She went into the bathroom and quickly brushed her teeth and gargled with Listerine. She applied deodorant and dressed quickly in a pair of blue jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. She ran a brush through her hair, inspected herself in the mirror briefly, then went back into the room and pulled on a pair of white gym socks and put her tennis shoes on. As she dressed, she thought about what happened and what she’d learned from Donald and Jay shortly after she returned to her room after the meeting.

Things had worked out at the meeting as Alan said they would. When they returned from the Ladies Room, Michelle quickly found her seat and sat down, her attention riveted on the presentation which Nick Dowd was still conducting. She barely noticed Alan leaning forward and whispering something in Sam Greenberg’s ear, but she caught a glimpse of her boss’s face as he nodded at what Alan was telling him. A moment later he was giving his undivided attention to Nick’s presentation. That told Michelle he’d bought whatever bullshit story Alan told him. That was good enough for her.

She talked to Donald the moment she got to her room and learned the latest: Crossroads Medical Group had fired him and two other doctors over the Michael Brennan case; he and Jay had gone searching for Michael and later came upon his trailer park and saw two police cars and an ambulance. Donald had gone out and talked to a neighbor woman who said Michael had called 911 and reported a break-in and an assault. Donald and Jay had followed the ambulance to Ephrata General Hospital and Donald was able to speak to Michael briefly. “He was hysterical,” he related to Michelle. “He claimed four guys from Red Rose broke into his house and held him down while one of them gave him an injection of what he claimed was his cancer cells. Lancaster General is running tests on him now and I called Red Rose to find out what the hell was going on. They wouldn’t talk to me, said Michael was no longer covered, either. I spoke to the attending physician and gave him a brief outline of what’s been happening, and he’s promised to monitor Michael’s prognosis.”

“Is he going to die?” Michelle had asked. When she heard Michael was injected with his own cancer cells she’d gasped.

“No,” Donald had said. He’d sounded tired and worried. “At least I don’t think so. We won’t know until the lab tests come back and give us a definite answer on his cancer.”

She was concerned about Michael, whom she’d never met, and even more concerned about how the powers that be—the American Medical Association or whoever it was that governed the Health Care Industry—was going to respond. Donald didn’t know either. While he was at the hospital, Jay had taken the car to retreat away from the limelight and the police. After conferring with various hospital administrators and other physicians, Donald had left the hospital, called Jay on his cell phone, and they’d hightailed it back to the house to come up with a strategy… and that strategy alarmed Michelle.

“Jay insists on us driving out there,” Donald said. “I feel very strongly for it, myself. I left a message with Dr. Brown and told him not to expect me in Monday, that I would call him when I return. Maybe he’ll think I’m out of town to apply for a new position somewhere.”

The conversation ended with Michelle telling Donald and Jay to be careful. “We’ll call when we get there,” Donald said before telling her he loved her and hanging up.

Michelle inspected herself in the mirror one last time, then grabbed her ID, keys, room passkey, and exited her room.

When she reached the lobby, Alan Perkins was waiting for her dressed casually in jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt near the double glass doors of the hotel. “This way,” he said.

They stepped into the chilly, Illinois night. “You okay?” Alan asked.

“Fine,” Michelle said. “Anybody else up?”

“They’re out like a light,” Alan said, leading her between parked cars toward the end of the lot. “We still have to be careful, though. No telling how much of a hold they have on this place.”

Michelle glanced around at the parking lot and noticed a security camera directed toward the north end of the lot. Alan was leading her away from that area, but she was certain they’d been caught on another camera somewhere else. She wondered if this was something she had to worry about, and then Alan opened the passenger side door of a white Toyota Camry.

Michelle slid into the passenger seat wordlessly and shut the door. A voice from the back seat spoke and the suddenness of it scared her so bad, she jumped.

“Sorry.” The voice was young, female, and when Michelle turned around and looked in the backseat she caught the curious gaze of a young woman. The young woman was slim, wearing a dark baggy jacket and dark jeans—Michelle couldn’t tell what was on beneath the jacket; the woman had it bundled shut. Her hair was dark, almost shoulder length, and her features were delicate, pretty, yet possessed of an intelligence and cunning that set her apart from most pretty girls Michelle had run across. This woman gave her the impression she was not only street-smart, but book smart, too.

“It’s okay,” Michelle said, feeling her heart race. “You just… I wasn’t expecting you to be there.”

“Michelle,” Alan said, turning around in his seat so he was facing her. He gestured toward the back seat. “This is Rachel Drummond. She’s a member of the Coalition.”

“The what?” Michelle shook Rachel’s hand, still confused and curious and nervous about everything that was happening.

“Slow down, Alan,” Rachel said. “Give her brain some time to process.” Rachel rummaged around in the back seat, pulled out a pack of cigarettes. She held the pack out to Michelle. “Smoke?”

Michelle shook her head. “No.”

Rachel held the pack out to Alan, who took one. Rachel lit his cigarette with a silver butane lighter. She lit her own cigarette from it and they took their first drags. Michelle was restless, not knowing which of them she should be talking to or listening to for that matter. She decided to get the ball rolling by addressing Alan. “Okay, I’ve followed things according to plan. You got me out here. Now tell me what’s going on.”

“Here it is in a nutshell,” Alan said. “Rachel and I are members of an organization called the Coalition. We’re an anti-corporatist organization, and one of our goals is to influence public opinion and distribute information to the public on the growing threat of corporatism.”

“Corpora-what?”

“Corporatism, the new economic system,” Rachel said from the back seat. She leaned forward, elbows on her knees. “It’s been around for the past hundred years or so but it’s become stronger in the last thirty… especially the last ten. You want a lesson on it, I’ll be glad to tell you at another time. Right now, Alan needs to give you a brief history lesson on the Coalition and what’s happening so you have a better understanding of why you’re here.”

Alan cut in immediately. “The Coalition’s other goal is to infiltrate companies and government organizations who are embracing corporatism over classic capitalism and determine if they’ve been influenced by Corporate Financial Consultants. If they have, the ultimate goal is to destroy them.”

Michelle looked at Alan. “Destroy them? You mean… what? Blow them up or something?”

“That’s not a bad idea, really,” Rachel said. She took a drag on her cigarette. “Would be hard to do, but it’s certainly crossed our minds.”

Visions of the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, Washington from 1999 came to Michelle. She remembered watching news coverage of the protests, which turned to riots as various anti-World Trade Organization groups clashed with police, counter-demonstrators, and each other. She remembered watching the coverage one night when a bomb scare was called in at one of the main buildings hosting the conference, and a group called the Socialists Union for Workers claimed responsibility. “So you guys are terrorists?”

“No,” Alan said quickly. “We certainly don’t classify ourselves as terrorists. Companies adhering to corporatism may call us that, but we prefer to think of ourselves as good old fashioned freedom fighters.”

“But you encourage violence,” Michelle said, running on her train of thought. “Rachel just said she approved of the bombing of companies who are clients of my employer,” she said this with a sharp tinge of contempt, “and those who practice this corporatism thing… whatever that is.”

“Let me break it down for you,” Alan said. He took a drag on his cigarette. “You’ve been working for large companies either as a consultant or an employee for the better part of fifteen years now, correct?”

“Yeah, I suppose.” Give or take four years when she dropped out of the corporate world briefly to try to make a career out of her art. “Lots of people work for big companies. I also know they’ve become more bottom-line oriented, that workplace atmosphere sucks, that most companies operate from the same bullshit mentality, and that corporate greed is widespread and encouraged by those in upper management. Tell me something I already don’t know.”

“How many hours did you work in a typical week when you first started working right after high school?”

Michelle shrugged. “Forty hours at first, then when I got more into it I worked fifty, sometimes sixty hour weeks on the average, I suppose. Why?”

“What’s your average work day like now?”

“About forty. Sometimes more if I have a deadline.”

“Do you always try to stick to a forty hour work week?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Why?”

“Because I have a life.” Michelle glared at Alan and cast her gaze at Rachel, who was listening avidly. “Isn’t that why you decided to rope me into this discussion?”

“Have you noticed any differences between the corporate work-ethic and attitude from when you first started working to now?” Alan asked.

Michelle thought about this before she answered. “I suppose in a way there’s more of that bullshit workaholic mentality. The attitude that you have to stay at the office for twelve hours a day and work weekends. There was some of that when I first started working, but it seems more prevalent now.”

Alan nodded. “Anything else?”

Michelle frowned and thought about it some more, quickly traveling down memory lane. “I’ve noticed less company loyalty toward their employees and vice versa. Benefits packages being cut, CEO salaries going higher, wages remaining stagnant while inflation rises. But that’s happening everywhere.”

“Anything else you can think of?” Rachel asked from the back-seat. “Anything in the range of personal development issues or Human Resources stuff?”

“No,” Michelle said, suddenly stopping herself in mid-sentence as a thought came to her. “Well, actually I have noticed disapproval of taking time off. You know… vacations and stuff. Calling in sick. That kind of thing.”

Rachel and Alan nodded. “Go on,” Alan prodded.

“What does this have to do with—”

“It has a lot to do with what we’re up against,” Alan said, his features grim.

Michelle regarded them both, hoping to see if there was just the slightest chance—just the slightest—that they were mad. There wasn’t. She could read it in their faces, in their eyes. They were dead serious and that made her nervous. “I don’t know,” she said, her breath coming out in a whoosh. “There’s so much emphasis now on… devoting yourself to the company you work for, being loyal to them and identifying yourself with them, and you don’t get much in return. It used to be that you could get a good position with a good company and stay there forever. Your job might not always be secure, but your position with the company always was if you were a good employee. If there were cutbacks, they tried to find a way to keep you employed somehow. Those days seem to be gone.”

Alan nodded, and when she was finished he leveled his gaze at her. “You don’t know much about my background, or Rachel’s for that matter. Rachel’s history is similar to yours.” He turned to Rachel. “Care to indulge her?”

“I barely knew my parents,” Rachel said, addressing Michelle directly. “I’m only twenty-five; my mom was twenty-three when she got pregnant with me. She was working for a huge financial planning firm in Chicago and met my father there. He took off when he learned my mom was pregnant, so I never met my natural father. According to my research, my mom was normal during the first three or four years of my life. I barely remember her; all I get are images, brief snapshots or five minute movie reels in my head of when she was my mother. My real mother.” There was a sense of loss in her voice, a heart-breaking sense of sadness that reminded Michelle of her own losses—the lack of her parents love and attention, the loss of Alanis. “When I was four she went through a management training program in an attempt to rise through the ranks at work so she could better provide for me. That’s when she stopped being my mom—she became more absorbed in work. She stopped paying attention to me, was hardly around when I was growing up. She met a guy at work and he moved in with us. He was just like her; very driven, very into his work. They always brought their work home, and I was mostly raised by my grandparents and my uncle Stephen and his wife Shelly. My mom and her boyfriend, whom she later married, provided food and a roof over my head, but that was it. She… acted like a mother whenever she had to show up for a parent-teacher conference or something, but she wasn’t my mother. She started changing drastically when I was five, and by the time I was ten she wasn’t the same woman. The more I tried to remember her from before she changed, the more that image started slipping away. It got to the point that by the time I was in Junior High, I didn’t realize my mother had once been a vibrant person.”

Rachel dragged on her cigarette. “To make a long story short, I was extremely rebellious as a teenager. I got sent to Juvie and later graduated from high school through a GED program. I went to tech school to become an html programmer and got a job working at the same company my mother worked at. Weird coincidence, huh? I tried establishing a relationship with her and for a while I thought it might work. We had something in common now—we worked for the same employer—but whenever I tried to arrange mother-daughter things, my mom always had an excuse, and it always involved work. She just wouldn’t take the time to relax and enjoy the finer things in life. I asked her once why she worked so much, why didn’t she take a vacation or something, and she said, ‘Why would I want to take a vacation? This is what I do.’

“Anyway, that’s when I noticed differences at work. That some people were exactly like my mother and others were more normal, more… you know… they did their jobs, then they went home and had a life. I started noticing this more and more at other companies—I went through five jobs from the time I got my technical school training done till I finally dropped out of the corporate rat race—and I got interested in learning about these people’s lives. I’d always had a diary, so I started jotting down my observations, people’s names, where they worked, what their personalities were like. One day I compared everything.” Rachel fixed Michelle with an intent stare. “And what I found was that twenty percent of all the people at the companies I worked at were exactly like my parents. And that Corporate Financial Consulting was always in some way involved with my employer.”

This is the worst conspiracy theory I’ve ever heard, Michelle thought. “What about other consulting firms? Deloitte and Touche? Ingram Micro? Surely they were doing business with your employers as well?”

“Not all of them, and not all at the same time,” Rachel said. “Deloitte and Touche was only brought in by two of my employers for some short-term project. Ingram Micro I never worked with. There was one firm—I can’t remember their name—but they were involved on a long-term project with one company I was at. Corporate Financial was working with all five of my employers during my stints with them. I even got to see it first hand.”

“See what first hand?”

“How they get you.” Rachel smoked her cigarette down to the filter and stubbed the butt out in an ashtray set along the back panel of the island between the front bucket seats. “They were brought in at Graham Electronics, the last company I was at, for five months after I started. Graham was a great place to work when I started. Of all the companies I was at, there was less bullshit at that one, even among the executives. They were all very cool, very down to earth, very great to work with. Sure, there were some people there who were all gung-ho for the company and who brown-nosed certain higher-ups, but you’ll get that anywhere, in any social situation. Two months after Corporate Financial started doing some work for them, it got worse. A glass ceiling seemed to appear beneath the upper management level seemingly overnight. Certain middle-managers became more company oriented, less friendly, more… dedicated I guess you might say. I noticed the change immediately; I didn’t just roll off the tomato cart yesterday. I sort of hunkered down in my cubicle, did my work as I was told, and observed. And what I saw was pretty scary.”

“And what was so scary?” Michelle asked.

“By my count, ten percent of the people I knew at Graham turned into corporate zombies. Literally. The change was gradual—so gradual that the casual observer wouldn’t recognize it. I’d been seeing the signs the last five years, though, and I paid attention. People I used to talk to at breaks and lunches about anything in the world now only wanted to talk about work. One of my friends, a woman named Carol Williams, used to tell me about her husband and her child all the time. We talked about movies, books, music, stuff on the news. She was very cool. We did our work, talked about office politics and our work in general, but it was never obsessive. Carol got obsessive, though. I asked about her daughter once and Carol looked at me as if she didn’t know what I was talking about. When I pressed her there was this light in her eyes that seemed to suddenly turn on, as if a switch was being thrown. She gave me a very basic answer and that was it; that was not like her. She could gab for hours about her daughter, but on this day she just answered the question and then asked me about the project I was working on.”

“Maybe she was under some kind of stress related to her job,” Michelle suggested. “Maybe she had problems at home.”

“That’s what I thought at first,” Rachel said. She leaned forward. “But I asked her point blank—‘Carol, what the hell’s wrong? You okay?’ And she… she reacted real slowly, as if she didn’t know how to respond to such a personal question. It was creepy… like watching a puppet being pulled by a marionette’s strings. Or a very slow robot with a slow processor.”

Michelle thought about Jay’s description of Dennis Harrington when he stumbled upon him in his motel room and shuddered.

“Basically topics we used to talk about were now off limits,” Rachel continued. “The people I used to like, that I used to think of fondly, started neglecting their families, their interests outside of work. They were still at work when I left at the end of the day and they were in the office when I came in at 7:30. I went through my notes, observed patterns, and called some of my old co-workers at previous jobs, ones I knew I could trust. Some of them had left their jobs and were working elsewhere. I asked them certain things and they verified stuff I needed to know. Namely, how the climate and certain people around them had changed drastically. That’s when I knew.”

“Knew what?” Michelle said, some of her bravado creeping in. “That your mind was playing tricks on you? That you were getting a little too paranoid?”

Rachel ignored the barb and fixed Michelle with a stare that was direct and uncompromising. “My boss changed overnight from a woman full of laughter and humor and a love for life into this chainsaw Nazi bitch who would not engage you in conversation about anything other than work. She was a good manager, was serious about her work, knew her job and the industry inside and out and could talk about it when it was time to do business, but you could talk to her about anything else too: family, baseball, what it’s like to go body surfing in Hawaii… anything.” Rachel paused. “When she changed, she wouldn’t even consider topics outside of work during conversation. She changed so drastically, did a complete one-eighty turn, that it stunned me. I hunkered in my cube for the next day and just observed what was going on. The girl a few cubes down from me got hit next, and I started noticing a change in Bernie, our department Analyst, the next morning. I wrote up my resignation letter that day at noon, got my stuff and left. I haven’t worked at a large corporation since then.”

Michelle was just about to ask, so what do you do to make money to survive?, when headlights from a car stabbed into the murky blackness of the parking lot. Alan reached out and pushed Michelle down into the seat. “Down!” Michelle ducked. Rachel flattened herself into the backseat and Michelle tried to stay below the dashboard. Her heart was hammering. For a moment she couldn’t hear anything, but then the sound of a car slowly cruising the lot came to her ears. She couldn’t see the headlights, but she could see the shift and change of the shadows they created from her position while hunkered in the front seat to know somebody was driving around out there. “What’s going on?” she whispered.

Alan didn’t say anything at first. He was sprawled out, legs beneath the dash, his upper body contorted over the driver’s seat of the car. He was peeking out cautiously over the rim of the bottom of the driver’s side window. “Hold on,” he said. “We just need to see if this is a legitimate guest at the hotel, that’s all.”

Michelle almost said, why wouldn’t it be? Now was not the time to start questioning what was going on and cause a rift. There was something wrong; she knew it, had known it since early this week when she’d started feeling uneasy around Dennis Harrington and Alma Smith, and learned Jay O’Rourke had been fired from Building Products. The feeling had intensified over the past twenty-four hours. Now was definitely not the time to start acting like one of those stubborn characters you see in horror movies, the ones who refuse to believe something is happening when all evidence points to the fact that, yes indeed, some weird shit is going down.

“What are they doing?” Rachel asked from the backseat.

“Hold on,” Alan said. Pause. “The car just parked and turned off the lights. Hold it…”

Michelle felt a cramp hit her leg and she tried shifting her weight around. No good.

“He’s getting out and heading to the hotel,” Alan said. He straightened up and eased back into his seat. Rachel sat up and Michelle crawled out from her space in the front bucket seat. Her leg tingled from the cramp. “Sorry about that,” he said. “But we’ve got to be careful.”

“Who do you think it could have been?” Michelle asked.

“Somebody from Corporate Financial doing a sweep of the lot,” Alan said. He watched the figure retreat into the lobby dragging a suitcase behind him. “They’ve been known to do that.”

“Snoop around parking lots?”

Alan turned to her. “Yes. Especially when Corporate Financial is doing business at a conference or something. They like to monitor everything around them as much as possible.”

“Do you think they’re on to us?” Michelle asked, suddenly thinking about Sam Greenberg and wondering if he was starting to suspect she wasn’t the cut-to-the-mold corporate drone she’d built herself up to be during her interview.

“I don’t think so but you never can tell,” Alan said. “They are aware of the Coalition, though. I wouldn’t put it past them to be suspicious.”

“If they’re aware of the Coalition, how can you be sure they’re not aware of you?” Michelle asked.

“I’m not,” Alan said. He checked the parking lot out in the rear and side view mirrors as he talked. “But like I said, they know something’s up, and they know about the group. One of our members was found murdered two months ago in his home in Seattle. The member in question had penetrated one of Corporate Financial’s biggest clients. He was feeding us good information, so good that we got a very good map of their corporate structure and the names of their higher personnel. Believe it or not, that information is pretty top secret. Not even Corporate Financial underlings know who really runs the company.”

“A guy named Gary Lawrence is one of their VPs,” Michelle said. “He’s very high up in the company. The president is a guy named Frank Marstein. One of the other VPs is a Linda Harris. I’ve never met any of them except for Gary Lawrence, and he seemed very normal. Very… well, unlike the others.”

Alan nodded. “Lawrence is quite frightening. He can put on a good front. He certainly had me thinking he wasn’t like the others, but he is. The guy I just told you about that was found murdered… that was his mission, to determine Lawrence’s true nature. That’s what killed him.”

Michelle felt the chill settle over her. “So… what did he find out? And how—”

“How’d he die?” Alan finished for her. “Police are attributing it to a break-in, that he’d surprised a burglar. Official cause of death was strangulation. It was closed quickly. Want to know why?”

Michelle was afraid to ask but she did anyway. “Sure. What else have I got to lose?”

“There was really no sign of a break-in—no picked locks, no smashed windows, no sign of a struggle. No suspicious fingerprints were found. But he was definitely strangled; the physical signs showed it. And there was another thing.” Alan regarded Michelle seriously. “His neck and face were coated in substance the coroner and medical examiners couldn’t identify. One of our members talked to somebody at the morgue and they said the stuff was almost like slime. Or grease.”

Michelle didn’t know what to say. What did this mean? Before she could ask this question Alan answered it for her. “I don’t know what this means specifically but I have my speculations.”

“And that is?”

“First, you need to know more about Corporate Financial Consultants,” Alan said. “You know what they told you during orientation, right?”

Michelle nodded. Company literature revealed the company was founded in 1938 in Westchester County, New York by two businessmen, Zachary Tyler and Hubert Marnstein. They operated out of a small office, then moved to more prominent real-estate in Manhattan in 1943. By 1950 they had offices in Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, and Los Angeles. Their original goal was to help businesses of all kinds find ways to run their operations more smoothly and efficiently. Originally specializing in Accounting Services, the firm began adding various other consulting tasks to their enterprise—Business Administration, Customer Service, Marketing and Advertising, Data Entry and Computer Technology, and Human Resources. They were now the largest privately held corporate consulting firm in the country and in the process of establishing operations in Europe, Japan, and South America.

“They didn’t tell you Tyler and Marstein were strict anti-communists,” Alan said. “That they left the John Birch Society in 1936 because they felt that group was too liberal and formed their own organization.”

“No!” Michelle said.

“Both of them were alarmed at what they felt was the rising tide of socialism in this country,” Alan continued. “They felt Roosevelt’s New Deal, the rising tide of labor unions and the like, was going to carry this country toward full-fledged communism. A lot of people felt that way then; lots of conservatives feel that way now, that things like Social Security and the like are a form of Marxism. We can argue about the merits or validity of those views, but the point of this history lesson is this: Tyler and Marstein were greedy businessmen who would do anything to earn money, even if it meant taking advantage of natural resources and people if they had to do it. Tyler’s grandfather was a plantation owner who’d owned over fifty slaves before the Civil War. Marstein’s family had owned shares in a Railroad company that enslaved Chinese immigrants and Native Americans; they also employed child laborers.”

Rachel cut in. “To make a long story short, their business policy then and now was to retain a two percent stake in every company they took on as clients. Add that up over the years; over a thousand Fortune 500 corporations have retained the services of Corporate Financial over the decades. Two percent of that kind of money adds up to a shit load.”

Michelle nodded, running the figures in her head. “Jesus!”

“Over time they began buying major shares in their client’s companies,” Alan said. “They formed a dummy corporation; this same dummy corporation owns major shares in a very large portion of today’s biggest companies.”

“But that’s…” Michelle sputtered.

“Deception? Yeah, it’s that and a lot more,” Alan said.

“Their ultimate goal is to be not only the dominant corporate power in the country, but the world,” Rachel said. She drew another cigarette from the pockets of her coat and lit it. “By applying their methods of operation to their client companies, the more the client produces, the quicker profits are funneled up to Corporate Financial and its dummy company. Think of Corporate Financial as being a giant leech. It establishes links—tentacles, if you will—all over the corporate sector. It inserts their employees in this company, establishes their… methods so to speak, and the client begins employing these methods by fair means and foul. Upper management is quick to go along with this because it means larger profits, which translate to bigger salary increases and bonuses for them.”

“This is…” Insane was the word that popped into Michelle’s mind. Paranoid was another. But part of her whispered, what if this is true?

“You saw the behavior today at the meeting,” Alan said, directly addressing Michelle. “How attentive everybody was, how obsessive, how wholly focused they were on the meeting and nothing else. That’s one of Corporate Financial’s methods. They work into you, insinuating themselves into you so that you begin to think and behave like them. It’s like they take control of your thoughts and your life. You become a literal corporate zombie, your only purpose to live is to work for the company’s goals. Your own goals and interests and life become forgotten.”

“But I don’t understand!” Michelle said, trying to puzzle this out, confused and scared about what she was thinking. “You’re suggesting something… impossible!” Jay O’Rourke’s statement to her last week at the Lone Star kept circling her mind. They’re like something out of that Jack Finney novel Invasion of the Body Snatchers. She refused to believe that.

Alan must have read what was on Michelle’s mind. “Remember Jay’s little verbal spat with Barb at the Lone Star last week?”

Michelle nodded.

“Barb Shull wasn’t the emotionless drone she seemed that night when I first met her a year ago,” Alan continued. “Jay even admitted that to me a few weeks ago. She was always a very career-driven person; one could certainly characterize her as a workaholic. But she totally changed a year ago. Trust me, I saw the change. If you thought she was a corporate drone last week, you would have thought she was a sweetheart a year ago. And back then her employees didn’t think much of her. Now they absolutely loathe her.”

“So you’re saying she became possessed somehow?”

“Possessed is a weak word. I prefer the term hijacked. Taken over.”

“Don’t they mean the same thing?”

“She’s got it right,” Rachel said. She drew on her cigarette. “Especially in light of what we’ve found out in the past two years or so.”

“Hmm, yes, I think you’re right.” Alan motioned to Rachel for a cigarette, which she passed to him. She lit it for him with her lighter.

“What are you talking about?” Michelle asked. She wished they would stop beating around the goddamn bush and just lay it all out.

Rachel Drummond and Alan Perkins traded a glance. Alan looked a little uncomfortable. Rachel drew on her cigarette, her attention focused completely on Michelle. “Take this for what you will… but Tyler and Marstein’s family were involved in the original incarnation of Corporate Financial. Marstein’s family has an interesting history. They’re from Germany; one of his cousins was a member of the SS. Hubert himself wasn’t a Nazi sympathizer, but he took a keen interest in some of the artifacts his cousin Joseph Marstein amassed during the mid-thirties. You see, Joseph was a devil-worshipper. That’s the only term I can use to describe him. Not an occultist, not a witch, a devil-worshipper. And the material he collected while he was a member of the SS was a cache of rare occult volumes, books on black magic and the like. Joseph was killed in 1942, and Herb sought to have his cousin’s belongings brought to the United States. They finally were, in 1945 by a family member who served in the US Army. Hubert stashed the material away and delved into it more fully. I guess you could say Hubert shared his cousin’s faith.”

Michelle didn’t know what to say. She could only listen, spell-bound.

Rachel drew on her cigarette and tapped ashes in the ashtray. “Marstein’s son began to take on a larger role in the family business as the years went by, and when old man Hubert died in 1968, Frank took over as President and Chairman of the Board. By this time he was living in northern California, in the high Sierras, and he maintained offices in San Francisco. He was also well-known in occult circles in the Bay Area to be a very powerful member of a secret satanic organization, one with ties to some pretty sinister groups—the Children of the Night, the Order of the Golden Dawn, groups like that. When he took control of Corporate Financial, the company’s growth began to accelerate drastically. By 1980 they were the largest private consulting firm in the country. Their methods began to slowly creep into the standard everyday practices of corporations across the country, and by the mid-eighties their Human Resources division was beginning to be embraced by their core clients. Ten years later, these methods were widespread, and today they’re spreading faster than you would like to believe.”

“What are these methods?” Michelle asked.

“Complete subservience to the corporate cause of your employer in order to feed it and Corporate Financial.”

“But how does that happen!” Michelle was trying to understand what Rachel and Alan were telling her but she was having a hard time with it. In a way, she did understand some of what they were saying. So many people did what their employers told them to do, no questions asked. Other people (a lot of people, really) had no sense of self-worth or identity and became subservient to their employer as a way of feeling good about themselves. Michelle had never been like this, even when she was working for All Nation. “I understand a lot of people don’t have a mind of their own and—”

“That’s how they do it,” Alan said quickly. “The first converts are those who can’t think outside the box. They target the emotionally weak and vulnerable, those with no sense of self-worth or identity. They also use methods of psychological warfare to get those that are more strong-willed—they’ll spy on employees, keep track of their personal life, find a way to blackmail them.”

“How can they do that? They can’t spy on people!”

“Yes they can.” Alan took a drag on his cigarette. “The Fourth Amendment protects individuals against the government. It doesn’t protect them against other individuals, especially individuals who form a corporate governing body. In the late 1800’s, Congress made various rulings that, in essence, defined corporations. Corporations were given the same rights and status as people, with all the same legal rights as you or I. To make a long story short, after the Civil War, the thirteenth through the fifteenth amendments were ratified to provide full constitutional protections and due process of law to the newly freed slaves in the United States. At the same time, there was a movement against Paine and Jefferson’s rulings almost a hundred years earlier that severely regulated corporations. States had made it illegal for corporations to participate in the political process, made it illegal to lie about their products, and required their books and processes always be open and available to government regulators. They also made laws that gave State and Federal government officials rights to inspect companies and investigate them when they caused pollution, harmed workers, or created hazards for communities. Needless to say, those laws were a constant thorn in the side of many corporations, and with the passage of the 14th amendment, the owners of what were then America’s largest and most powerful corporations—the railroads—figured they’d finally found a way to reverse Paine’s logic and no longer have to answer to ‘we, the people’.”

Alan paused, his eyes seeming to seek a reaction from Michelle, then he went on. “They would claim a corporation is a person. They would claim that for legal purposes, the certificate of incorporation declares the legal birth of a new person, who should have the full protections the voters have under the bill of rights. Attorneys for railroads filed suits against local and state governments on the issue. This went on for over twenty years, and they hammered the same issue. Finally, four different cases reached the Supreme Court in 1886 when a Recorder of the court wrote into his personal commentary of the case that the Chief Justice said that all the Justices agreed that corporations are persons. This was clearly a clerical error on the Recorder’s part. This headnote had no legal standing, yet it was taken by generations of jurists, including the Supreme Court, who followed and read the headnote but not the decision. The ironic thing about this is the Recorder in this case knew the Court had not ruled on this issue. Since then, Corporations have used this case—Santa Clara County vs. The Union Pacific Railroad—to press their cause further and as a result, these non-living, non-breathing persons are now fully entitled to the full protections that shield people against abuse from government.”

Michelle sputtered. “That’s—” Insane was the first word that popped into her mind.

“A few of the largest corporations referenced Santa Clara and successfully claimed the protection of the First Amendment, then lobbied Congress and the FCC so they could take control of our media. Once that was done, they claimed their First Amendment free speech rights to tell us whatever serves their interest and call it news without consideration of its truthfulness or having to worry about giving fair and equal time to other viewpoints. They claim the protection of the Fourth Amendment so they can prevent the EPA and OSHA from inspecting factories or environmental or labor violations without first obtaining the corporation’s permission. They also now have the protection of the Fifth Amendment, and the Fourteenth Amendment. Companies can delve into your personal records, monitor your private email—even from ISPs you maintain outside of work—dig up a lot of information about you that does not relate to your job and they can do it legally.”

“Furthermore, they’ll play hardball with you,” Rachel said. “They’ll threaten your loved ones, mess up your financial records, do anything to get you to toe the line.”

“But that’s harassment!” Michelle protested.

“And they’re very good at it,” Alan said. He regarded her calmly. “Look at it this way. You’re strong-willed, very independent, can think for yourself. Suppose you were a single mother and left your child at a combined school/day care center during the day while you worked. The daycare in question closes at six and you’re always able to get your child by five-thirty. Ninety percent of all employers realize their employees have children and must make arrangements for child care, plus most employers operate from eight to five anyway. Now suppose you’re suddenly told that your workload or your projects are so important that you have to stay at the office until your tasks are done for the day, even if it means missing the deadline for picking your child up. You know you can’t do that: the daycare center will dock you five dollars for every minute you’re late. And you don’t want to do that anyway; your child will grow worried that you haven’t picked him or her up, they’ll get very upset. So you do what any parent will do who puts their child first, and you leave when you usually leave. Maybe you leave a little late, but you still make sure you have enough time to get your child. Only your employer doesn’t like this. They start guilt-tripping you, questioning your loyalty to your job and your profession. You stand your ground. Later that day, they tell you some very personal things about your child, things only you can know. This is delivered as a veiled threat, that if you don’t toe the line at work, your child will be hurt or killed.”

“That’s when it would stop,” Michelle said, the thought of this scenario chilling her blood. “I’d tell them to fuck off and walk out of there.”

“That’s what you would do,” Alan said. “But there are people in different situations that wouldn’t do that at first. Maybe they’d be under financial pressure, scared to do anything. Some might try to fight back, but they’d be dealt with severely.”

“You make these people sound like the mob,” Michelle said.

“That’s because they behave that way,” Alan said. “I’m not saying they are the mob, but they employ those same methods.”

“But why would they do this? Companies that would treat their employees that way are only going to lose them and—”

“They treat their employees that way because they can,” Rachel said. She took a drag on her cigarette, her features stern. “That’s what we’re trying to get through to you. They can do this because they’ve been doing it time and time again. They don’t give a shit about the people who work for them. Their entire goal, their mission, is to make as much money as possible. When they first started such strong-arm tactics, there were people just like you that filed grievances, got lawyers and sued them, the whole nine yards. The courts always sided with the company, especially if it was a company with Corporate Financial on their side.”

“You mentioned earlier that you admit that working conditions in this country are growing worse,” Alan said. He glanced casually out at the parking lot as he spoke. “Longer hours, companies having less loyalty to their employees, drastic reduction of benefits. It’s been happening very gradually since 1980. And it’s been happening gradually to slowly acclimate the American Worker to this state. Prior to 1980, most employees in office jobs worked seven and a half hours and enjoyed a forty-five minute lunch break—a lunch break that was paid for, I might add. Now what’s the norm? Eight hour workdays minimum, an hour for lunch unpaid. Most people are putting in nine, ten, and twelve hour workdays, if not more. These longer workdays have become more common, and it’s been happening gradually. People in Germany and France work fewer hours than us and they’re more efficient.”

“And companies there have long promoted shorter working hours and more vacation days,” Rachel said. “They realize that a healthy, happy employee is a more productive employee.”

“They’re less apt to call in sick, there’s less turn-over, the burnout rate is much lower, and people do tend to be more productive when they’re not so stressed out,” Alan stated.

“That’s all changing over there, too,” Rachel said. She took a final drag on her cigarette and stubbed it out in the ashtray. “Corporate Financial has become global during the last ten years. They’re starting to change the way business is being run all over the world.”

“And they’re doing this simply because they want to be the dominant Corporate force in the world,” Michelle said, musing over everything Alan and Rachel had been telling her.

“You see how this is all taking place now, don’t you?” Alan asked. “How they’ve influenced our work structure, our government?”

“I guess,” Michelle said; she was still having a hard time believing it but, crazy as it sounded, it was all adding up.

“If it keeps up, pretty soon independent business will cease to exist,” Alan said. “Corporate Financial will keep swallowing company after company. Their influence will work its way into everybody who works for the companies they do business with. People who work for them will become slaves in the literal sense—they will only exist for the company they work for.”

“And the bigger they get, the stronger they’ll get,” Michelle said, running the figures and scenarios in her head and suddenly not liking it. She was connecting the dots now—the FCCs gradual relaxation of the rules in regulating competition among competitors, allowing rival companies to swallow the competition in buyouts, the drive to eliminate benefits in order to drive down costs, sending jobs overseas to drive down costs; and the result was those who pulled the strings getting richer and richer at the expense of the workers who poured their livelihood into their chosen trade.

“You see now,” Rachel said. She was looking at Michelle in a new light and Michelle realized the younger woman could tell she and Alan had gotten through to her.

“Yes, I do,” Michelle said, the implications so clear and terrifying now. “The bigger they get, the more power they’ll yield over everybody, especially thanks to all the deregulation. In fact, they probably already have control of the government.”

“Not completely, but it’s getting there,” Alan murmured.

“What happens if they succeed?” Michelle asked.

“At the rate things are going,” Alan said seriously, his features grave, tired. “We could see the global enslavement of the human race.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

SUNDAY WAS A whirlwind.

She went to sleep finally at 4:30 a.m., physically exhausted but mentally wired, still fretting over everything she’d learned. She tossed and turned for an hour and finally arose at 5:30 to take a sedative—she always traveled with them because she always slept badly when she was away from home on a business trip, and she dropped off like a stone fifteen minutes later. She finally arose at twelve-thirty p.m. to the ring-tone of her cellular.

She groped for it. “Hello?”

It was Donald. “Michelle, we’re here.”

“Where are you?” She forced herself to wake up. She sat up in bed.

“On the outskirts of the city. Jay’s driving. We’re going to find a cheap motel and check in. I’ll call you later.”

“Great!”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah.” She rubbed her eyes. “Just… sleepy.”

“We’ll talk later, okay?”

“Yeah. I need to take a shower and wake up.”

The shower made her feel better, and as she was toweling her hair dry, Alan called. “Sam hasn’t called yet?”

“No.” She had slipped on a pair of panties and was wearing nothing else. “Will he?”

“He might try to get you to do some work. This is supposed to be a day off. If he does call, make an excuse.”

“I can tell him I have a migraine.”

“Better yet, tell him you’re gearing up for Monday. He’ll like that.”

Michelle nodded, inspecting herself in the mirror. Her hair was wet and lay limply against her shoulder blades. “In light of what I learned last night, I suppose he will.”

“How’d you sleep?”

“Terrible. I finally took a sleeping pill.”

“Feel rested enough?”

“I suppose.” She quickly debated on whether to tell him her boyfriend and Jay O’Rourke were in town, then decided to take the plunge. “Jay found out where I live and drove out while I was in El Paso. He felt I was the only person he could trust, that since I was new to Corporate Financial I must not be like the rest of them. And… with what you told me last night I can see now how perceptive he was.”

“I can see why you didn’t mention anything to us last night,” Alan said. “When I first became aware of what was going on, of what Corporate Financial was doing, I couldn’t believe it myself. I didn’t want to believe it; couldn’t believe what I was seeing and experiencing, but finally I had to see it for what it is. Plus, enough of my close friends and co-workers were experiencing the same things, although not to such a degree. And other friends… they started changing drastically, just like the people Rachel knew at Graham Electronics. Once I started looking into stuff on my own and connecting the dots, the evidence was there and I became a believer. I’ve become more of a believer once I got in with the Coalition.”

“And what’s your story?” Michelle asked.

“Similar to Rachel’s,” Alan said. She heard him sigh over the phone. “Only difference is I was a real yuppie. Got my BA and MBA from the University of Missouri in Kansas City, moved to Los Angeles and got a job at a brokerage firm. Met a woman there who I fell madly in love with. Her name was Susan Vickers. We were very much committed to each other. Susan and I moved in together and I thought everything was going great. It wasn’t until we were together for something like ten years that I realized she was not the person I thought she was. At the time I was very career-oriented, very much into what I did for a living, but I always made time for vacations and leisure. I couldn’t get Susan to do anything outside of work; had to practically pry her away from her desk at the office to get her to go on vacation with me. That’s when I started noticing the differences, both in my relationship with her and in the general business climate around me.”

“Was Corporate Financial Consultants working with your employer?” Michelle asked.

“Yes, they were. I didn’t make that connection right away at first. That came later. What happened first was I broke up with Susan. It was hard on me, harder than I thought it would be. She didn’t…” Alan sounded like he was trying to find the right words to say. “…take the breakup like I thought she would. It was like it didn’t faze her, like she didn’t care. That’s what hurt me the most, the fact that she didn’t seem to see that I was hurting inside and she didn’t really care about our relationship at all.”

“Was she… one of them?”

There was a pause on the line. Then, softly, Alan said, “Yes. I found that out later. Five years into our relationship Susan started working with Corporate Financial on a huge project and was gone for months at a time with them. Once I started piecing things together on my own, I put two and two together. And… I realized it was mid-way through our time together that she began to… to turn… into one of them. And I… I didn’t even notice!”

Michelle felt the hairs along the back of her arm bristle. “You think she was trying to turn you at the time?”

“I don’t know,” Alan said quickly. “I really don’t think so… I met enough of those consultants at the time that I’m sure they tried to get to me but… I just don’t know.”

“So how long’s it been since you haven’t been with Susan?” Michelle asked.

“Six years,” Alan said, quietly.

“I’m sorry.”

“Thank you.” There was another short pause and then Alan said, “When I started finding out what’s going on, it just made me more determined to fight them. They took the love of my life, totally destroyed her, and they’ve done it to so many other people who don’t have a clue to what’s going on or what’s really happened to their loved ones. I’m going to stop them.”

Michelle understood where Alan was coming from. If she were in his shoes she’d feel the same way, but part of her was a little afraid of what was happening. Every time she stopped to think about the scope of this thing, it terrified her.

“So what are we doing today?” Michelle asked.

“Lay low and rest,” Alan said. “Try not to go out today if you can. Order room service. Punch up some movies on the TV. You can put it on your expense account.”

Michelle laughed.

“Aside from that, if Gary Lawrence or anybody at Corporate Financial tries to contact you today and get you to work, politely beg off. And tomorrow come prepared to step back into the role.”

“Do you know what’s planned for tomorrow?”

“No.” Alan sounded a little concerned about this. “I have my suspicions, though. I plan to be at this first meeting. In fact, I requested to Sam that I want to be on this project with you. There’s a good chance that tomorrow will simply be a preliminary meeting and they’ll send you home after that.”

“You think so?” Michelle didn’t want to get her hopes up.

“It’s possible. I can’t promise it, but…” There was that hesitation again. “I don’t know how to describe it. It’s just… I didn’t really see the need for them to call you out here so quickly for this particular client unless Sam and Gary had something specific in mind.”

“Like what?”

Alan sighed. “I don’t know. And I don’t want to speculate more without doing some more digging.”

Michelle couldn’t help but feel a twinge of unease at the sound of Alan’s voice. After promising to stay in her room and get as much rest as possible and limit her phone calls from the LAN line inside the room, they ended the conversation and Michelle finished dressing. By the time she finished it was well after one o’clock and she was ravenous. After a quick consultation with the room service menu, she ordered a roast beef sandwich, a chef salad with ranch dressing, and a bottle of Evian water, and relaxed on the bed with the news.

The lead news story grabbed her attention. In what was being described as the worst incident of workplace violence in the United States, Victor Adams, a distraught thirty-seven year old former employee of Free State Insurance Company, went on a rampage Friday morning at the corporate headquarters of his former employer, killing the entire executive staff and over a dozen other people, most of them described as upper-manager types. He’d arrived at the building armed with various semi-assault rifles, semi-automatic pistols, and several hundred rounds of ammunition. The rampage had caused pure pandemonium at the sprawling corporate headquarters of the insurance giant, which was located in Orange County, California. “I just hid under the desk of my cubicle,” a frightened-looking dark-haired woman told the news anchor during one of the news broadcasts. “He passed right by me. He actually walked down every aisle of my department like he was looking for specific people. He wasn’t just shooting everybody, he was targeting upper management.”

Michelle picked up her cellular phone and dialed Donald’s cell number, unable to completely turn her attention away from the coverage. When he answered she blurted out, “Did you hear about that guy who killed all those people in California?”

“Yes, I did,” Donald said. “Jay and I have been following it.”

“Free State is one of Corporate Financial Consultant’s clients,” Michelle said. Everything she had not wanted to believe was now crashing down heavily on her, weighing in with its stark reality.

“That’s what we figured,” Donald said. She heard Jay in the background and then Donald came back on the line. “Listen, Jay is going out to an electronics store for some stuff. Think you can sneak away for an hour or two later this evening?”

“If I can, I’d like to.” She’d do anything now to see Donald and hold him in her arms.

“Can you give me Alan’s cell number? I’d like to talk to him.”

“Sure.” Michelle retrieved the number from her daytimer and rattled it off to him. “He knows you’re here by the way. I told him this morning.”

“Good. Jay wants to talk to him, too.”

“I’m scared.” Michelle felt the first crumbles of fear start to tear into her.

“I know, honey. We’re going to do everything we can to find out what the hell’s going wrong.”

“I can just quit,” she said quickly. “I don’t need this job, I can get another job somewhere else. I won’t make as much money, but—”

“But it isn’t about the job anymore,” Donald said. “It goes a lot deeper than that now.”

The wall crumbled faster. Michelle drew in a breath and nodded, realizing he was right. “I’m just so scared. I never wanted any of this… never wanted to play a part in this… this… whatever this is! I never even wanted a career in the corporate world! You know that! I just want to live quietly and not have any trouble and be happy and be with you and… and that’s it! I just don’t want to deal with this!”

“I don’t want to deal with it either, but we have to,” Donald said, his voice soothing and calming. “They’re getting stronger. You feel that, don’t you?”

Michelle nodded. “Yes.”

“The things I’ve seen in Health Care, what you’ve seen throughout the business world, what we’re seeing happening throughout the country… this is big stuff, hon. It’s just the tip of the iceberg. Jay and I did a lot of talking last night and we did some research on the Internet this morning. Corporate Financial has worked in some capacity with almost every major corporation in the country. I looked into the corporate profits and CEO bonuses for all these companies and found out that all of the top executives nearly quadrupled their pay within the past decade while company profits remained stagnant. That’s pretty significant, don’t you think?”

“It is,” Michelle said. “Alan and Rachel told me some stuff last night that is just… mind boggling.”

“Who’s Rachel?”

“A woman who’s on our side.” Michelle gave Donald a quick recap of her conversation with Alan and Rachel late last night. Donald was silent as she spun the tale out, and when she got to the part about Hubert Marstein’s occult interests she thought he would scoff; he didn’t. “I know it sounds silly,” she said. “But… well, shit, Jay will admit it! Some of these people we were working with weren’t… alive! I mean, they acted like they were alive but they were like… animated or something. Like they were being controlled. And I felt that way about Dennis Harrington and Alma Smith.”

“The Red Rose execs come across that way to me, too,” Donald said. His voice sounded grave. “And I think we all need to be on the same page. Let me talk to Alan. I’ll call you a little later.”

“Okay. I love you, Don!”

“I love you, too.”

When she hung up she turned her attention back to the news coverage of Victor Adams’s rampage. A moment later there was a knock on her door. Room Service. A hotel employee wheeled a metal cart bearing her lunch into the room and left. Michelle ate her lunch quietly, her attention riveted to what was now being trumpeted as the Free State Insurance Massacre. Halfway through her salad a more detailed account of who the victims were flashed on the screen—the entire executive branch of Free State Insurance and some of the board of directors, and twelve other people, men and women, who were described by company personnel as upper managers. Human interest stories focusing on specific victims began to play; the dedicated company man who left behind a wife and young son; the doting grandfather who’d been with the company for thirty years; the hardworking woman who left behind a tearful husband and two young children. These were normal people, normal American citizens, the news anchor said, and their only crime was they’d shown up to work that day.

There’s got to be more to it than that, Michelle thought. She focused on the name of one of the victims, Ken Atkins, who was shot in his office as Victor Adams barreled into the IT division. She wrote the words Free State Insurance IT department and Orange County, California on a notepad and circled them. Then, when she was finished with her lunch, she went to the desk where she’d placed her laptop and booted the unit up.

Once she accessed the hotel’s WiFi network she spent the next three hours researching Ken Atkins’s name on the Internet as the news feed broadcast in the background. It took awhile—Google searches, trolling information technology message boards and blogs, but she found what she needed to know. The references were vague and infrequent, but they were enough for her to form an opinion. Ken Atkins had been regarded by his employees as an aloof asshole, an insensitive bastard of a manager who was a complete workaholic and expected not only his employees, but his fellow co-workers, to keep sixty and seventy hour work-weeks. Those that failed or refused were disciplined harshly, eventually being terminated. Others quit before termination could occur. Michelle jotted down notes, copied message board texts into word files and saved them in a special folder she created on her desktop and continued her research. It was obvious from even the scant information she was able to dig up—three or four anecdotes on various message boards frequented by IT professionals who talked shop and vented on the daily frustrations of their jobs, that this was more than enough to convince her. Ken Atkins hadn’t been just a family man—he’d been a corporate zombie masquerading as a normal, average American citizen. The media was extolling his family life, reporting that he’d simply been an average man who went to work that morning to provide for his family and was gunned down. They weren’t reporting that he was a corporate monster who terrorized his employees, threatened to fire them if they didn’t submit to his will or demand that they cease to have a life outside of the office. None of that was being taken into account.

Michelle would have bet a year’s salary that if she did similar research on the names of the other murder victims she would have learned similar stories.

Alan Crawford called a little after five p.m. “I talked to Jay and Donald,” he said. “We want to get together tonight. All of us. Get you up to speed with what’s happening.”

“Okay. Where?”

“It’s going to have to be after midnight again,” Alan said. “More like three a.m., when they’re more sedate. They tend to recharge in the hours between midnight and six a.m. They may behave like vampires in a way—sucking the life force out of companies and the people who work for them—but they pretty much live and operate by daylight. So let’s say three a.m., my white Datsun again in the parking lot of the hotel.”

“I’ll be there,” Michelle said.

“How are you doing?”

“Okay.” Michelle told him what she’d learned about Ken Atkins. “The media isn’t reporting any of this. I’ve kept the news on all afternoon and there’s been nothing, not even anything about the personal lives of the executives Victor Adams killed.”

“All of the major media outlets have become Corporate Financial Consultant clients,” Alan said. “They’re going to keep all coverage of the people who were killed in this incident as heart-warming as possible. It would be seen as bad press to report disparagingly on the deceased, especially in light of this incident. Would make for bad ratings.”

“So what are we going to talk about tonight?”

“Not on the phone. Has anybody from Corporate Financial contacted you today?”

“No.”

“They still might. If they do, remember to beg off. We’ll get you up to speed tonight at three.”

“Donald and Jay… are they up to speed on everything?”

Michelle detected the briefest pause on Alan’s side of the connection before he responded. “Yes, they are. And they’re prepared. Which is why I want you to rest. You’re going to need to be prepared, too.”

“Prepared for what?” Michelle was getting tired of being given the runaround. “I need to know what the hell’s going on!”

“I didn’t want to mention it earlier, but I’ve since learned some things. And… well… I have every reason to believe that you’re going to be taken to company headquarters tomorrow,” Alan said. “If so, I need you to be alert and ready. You need to learn what Rachel and I found out today, what Jay and Donald know now. Jay has already done the preliminary work and has secured an electronic tracking device, as well as some electronic surveillance equipment.”

“Company headquarters in California?” Michelle knew the corporate headquarters for Corporate Financial was located in the rich, fertile region of the San Joaquin Valley. She’d seen photos of it in company brochures which depicted a sprawling, modern four story structure situated far on the outskirts of a town nestled at the foothills of the Sierra-Nevada’s. “They’re going to fly me out there tomorrow? How do you know this?”

“Intuition.” Alan paused for a moment. “Look, I have pretty strong suspicions they’re going to send you out there. Gary and Sam are extremely interested in you. You’ve played the corporate part so well that you have them totally convinced you’re not only prime material, they want to turn you immediately. They’re going to want to send you to Corporate Headquarters ASAP for some immersion training. They do this with all the consultants they feel are prime material. You definitely fit that bill.”

“Did you get sent to California for this immersion training?”

“No.” There was a sense of tension in the air that Michelle detected immediately. If they were in any other social setting, Michelle would have interpreted it as jealousy from Alan. But it wasn’t. Not by a long shot. “Believe it or not, not every employee of Corporate Financial becomes immersed. Likewise, not all of the employees of their client companies become immersed. They tend to focus on the emotionally vulnerable, people with low self-esteem, who embrace their work because it’s really all they have.”

“I’m not like that and you know it!”

“I know that,” Alan said. “And you know that. But they don’t know that, even after all the background checks and psychological profiles they’ve done on you.”

“Background checks? Psychological profiles?”

“It’s done on every candidate who applies for a position with Corporate Financial. You aren’t even aware of it. They probe into your financial records, do criminal record checks, perform light surveillance. What they witnessed was a more or less single woman in a committed relationship who is dedicated to her work. You fooled them well.”

Michelle didn’t know what to say. She usually pulled out all the stops whenever she interviewed for a position, and she always kept her private life very well hidden. Her personal life wasn’t her employer’s business. Personal references were always limited to former co-workers, never personal friends or family members. “So they snooped on me. What did they find out?”

“The same thing I told you when I revealed my undercover nature to you yesterday,” Alan said. “I got a look at the file they compiled on you.”

Michelle didn’t know whether to be furious or afraid; she let the matter drop and plunged ahead. “Fine. So now you and they know every detail of my personal life. What else do you want to know? How many times I’ve smoked pot or how many extra-marital affairs I’ve had?”

Alan ignored the question and remained focused. “The important part to remember is they think you fit their bill. You have an immense talent at playing the role of the obsessed corporate worker. You make other white-collar professionals who are obsessed with their work and nothing else feel vindicated in their obsessiveness, that they can trust you, you’re like them. They take you into their confidence. When you perform your duties to their expectations, they’re happy. When you perform your duties and behave like them you earn their respect. This has happened with the higher echelon of Corporate Financial, who have come to regard you as one of them. They want you to become one of them, and for that you must go to California to undergo immersion.”

“But that’s what I don’t understand,” Michelle said. She moved away from the desk, away from the laptop and began pacing the room. “You obviously fooled them! Why do they want me?”

Alan’s voice was low, serious. “How long has it been since you’ve seen or heard from your parents, Michelle?”

Michelle froze; she felt her skin bristle. “Does this have anything to do with my parents?”

“In a way, yes,” Alan said. Michelle detected hesitancy in his voice.

“They want me because my parents…” The words were hard to come by; Michelle tried to formulate her thoughts but her emotions were overriding. She took a deep breath to compose her thoughts. “It’s my parent’s, isn’t it? My parents are… immersed… is that what you call it?”

“That’s right,” Alan said.

“What does… this mean? Immersion?”

“It means you become one with the company,” Alan said. It sounded like he was choosing his words carefully. “You become part of it, they become part of you. It’s like… you become an extension of the company, a perfect worker bee who exists solely to live and work for the company and sustain its life force. Like I said, not every consultant becomes immersed, and not every employee of Corporate Financial’s client companies become immersed. Those that don’t become… well, they become slaves.”

“Slaves,” Michelle whispered.

“Yes, Michelle. Slaves.”

“But surely there’s some people who don’t put up with that kind of bullshit. People quit their jobs all the time due to over-demanding bosses and exploitive labor practices.”

“Yes they do. But that’s all going to come to an end soon.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s pending legislation in the House and Senate that will tip the scales very heavily in the favor large corporations over their employees. Much of this legislation has been passed little by little over the last ten years—repealing overtime pay for non-clerical and non white-collar office workers a few years ago was one of them. There’ve been others over the years that appear less obvious, but one of the bills currently before Congress will be even more sweeping. It will guarantee that if an employee voluntarily leaves his place of employment or is fired for any kind of disciplinary action including failure to perform his or her duties to the satisfaction of the company, other companies can bar them from employment. Of course this would be at the other employer’s discretion.”

Michelle was adding this all up in her head and found the implications horrifying. “But that would be…”

“Illegal? Not really. Our government is being influenced by them, so they’re changing the laws to benefit them. Horrifying? A form of blacklisting? Sure. It would also essentially force people to remain in their positions, otherwise they’d have no source of income. Of course, lots of people are self-employed or work at small companies away from Corporate Financial’s influence. They won’t be affected… at least not yet. But the people who work at companies that will be affected? Should they leave or be fired they would be unable to find a job at another firm because by the time this legislation goes into effect, every company in the United States, large and small, will be controlled by Corporate Financial Consultants and will be not only using their methods, but will themselves be immersed.”

The dread Michelle was feeling now had never felt so heavy. It felt like the weight of the world was crashing down on her, smothering her. Part of her wanted to just end it all now, pack up her stuff, call Donald, tell him she was leaving Chicago, driving back to Pennsylvania and getting her stuff and fleeing somewhere, anywhere, away from the madness of the twenty-first century with all its global-speak and emphasis on twenty-four seven. But another part of her insisted that this was her fight, that it had been her fight since she was a child and was forced to grow up in a loveless home while her parents worked and slaved away at jobs that brought stability and a roof over their heads but nothing else—no love, no emotional security, no sense of warmth or human kindness. It was her fight now because she had been thrust into this environment at an early age, right after high school, and had been forced to endure the icy tone of her mother’s voice when she learned she was pregnant with Alanis, had lived through hearing her mother tell her to get rid of her unborn daughter lest it ruin her career with the company. It was her fight because she had seen the light shortly after losing Alanis that the great monolithic machines of corporations, those entities that were human-powered, had lost something. It was no longer a goal to make money and turn a profit. It was no longer enough to simply do well in business and serve your customers and community. It was no longer enough to strive to be the best you can be in your chosen industry. Now companies had to encompass all, had to control all, including the very people that had created them and worked at making them what they were.

She thought about what Alan and Rachel told her last night, about Hubert Marstein’s supposed occult interests and she shuddered. She imagined Frank Marstein carrying out his father’s will somewhere in some isolated mansion, praying to some dark god in order to gain even more riches, more control. As a strict Agnostic, Michelle didn’t believe in a literal devil or even in God for that matter. But she always had a firm belief in the spiritual life and had always felt that it was neither benign or malignant. It could either do harm or good, depending on the will of the person who believed. Certain people had negative vibes and positive ones; she’d met enough people over the years from all walks of life who exhibited both. If Frank Marstein had poured enough of his negative energy into some kind of force that was strong enough, and had surrounded himself with people with similar dark agendas, wouldn’t that feed off one another and grow in time? And by utilizing whatever training methods—immersion or whatever it was Alan Perkins called it—couldn’t that be like some form of mind control? Brain-washing even?

“Michelle?” It was Alan. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Michelle said, the answer becoming clear to her now. She gripped the cell phone tightly in her hand and sat down on the unmade bed. “It’s just… thinking about it, everything you told me is so… overwhelming.”

“But you understand,” Alan said. “Right?”

“Yes. I do.”

“Then you know what must be done? Why Corporate Financial wants you?”

“Yes.”

“Then you know why the Coalition sees you as so important,” Alan continued, his voice measured and even. “None of us have been granted this opportunity. None of us have been able to penetrate Corporate Financial Headquarters. You see why time is of the essence?”

The implications were too obvious. There was no other way. Michelle saw that now. “If they do take me to company headquarters tomorrow, I’ll be prepared.”

“You know what it is we’re going to want you to do?”

“I have an idea.”

“And what’s your idea?”

“You want me to destroy them somehow.”

“Not just them,” Alan said. “But a specific area in the building. Specific people.”

“How will—”

“Not over the phone. Tonight, at three. We have a hastily assembled plan. We’ll talk about it then.”

“Okay.” Despite all she’d learned and the task that had been laid out for her, Michelle Dowling felt a strange sense of calm wash over her. It felt like everything she had been through in life with its many triumphs and failures had led her to this place, for this particular purpose. She was awakening to the fact that she had been semi-conscious for the past decade to what was really going on in the business world, that Corporate Financial was secretly taking over the lives and souls of the human race, turning them into a relentless hive of worker drones to sustain its own malevolent life force, a life force that had been born from the dark biddings of a ruthless, overzealous businessman over eighty years ago who believed that if he tapped into the demonic forces of his faith, they would grant him incredible power.

Had that power gone out of control? Or was this what Hubert and Frank Marstein had in mind all along? The enslavement of the human race to do their bidding.

“Three o’clock?” Alan asked. For the first time, Michelle detected a sense of hope in his voice.

“I’ll be there,” Michelle said.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

MATT WAGNER HAD just arrived at his desk one minute prior to eight a.m. to start the day as an administrative assistant for McSweeny’s Advertising in mid-town Manhattan when his supervisor descended on him. “You’re late.”

Matt checked his watch. “I am?”

Doug Bradley frowned at Matt. As usual, he was dressed in a drab gray suit. His bald pate gleamed beneath the fluorescents. “What time did you wake up, Mr. Wagner?”

Matt looked at Doug, confused, wondering what this was all about. He always arrived five to ten minutes early to work. He wasn’t due to start until eight a.m., and the only reason he was one minute shy of being on time today was because he’d had to drop his daughter off at school—Deena normally did that on her morning commute. “Six-thirty as usual. Why?”

“Then you should’ve been here at six-thirty sharp.”

Matt searched Doug Bradley’s face for the tell-tale sign of mirth but saw none. Doug had been acting weird lately anyway. He’d always been somewhat of a hard-ass, but Matt had always gotten along with him. Whatever administrative task Doug asked him to do Matt did it; that was in his job description. After all, he was an Administrative Assistant. And while Doug was normally an all-business-all-the time type of guy, he had been known to drop his guard and joke around with the rest of the office staff from time to time. He hadn’t done that lately in… well, in months. Matt decided to parry back. “Yeah, and maybe I should just move in here,” he said, grinning. “I’ll just sleep under my desk every night.”

Doug smiled in approval. “That’s what I want to hear! Make sure you gather whatever toiletries you need on your lunch break, though.”

“Sure. I’ll just charge it to my expense account.”

Doug frowned again. “This is no joking matter, Matthew.”

Matthew. Whenever Doug called him by his full name, Matt knew he was serious. Doug still had that serious, bland look on his face. There was no sign his boss was joking. He was deadly serious. “You’re kidding, right? You want me to start sleeping here?”

“Everybody else did.” Doug indicated the rest of the department with a wave of his hand and Matt looked over at Monica’s cubical next to his. She was sitting at her desk, staring raptly at her computer screen. Matt caught the faintest hint of a rolled up sleeping bag and a pillow tucked beneath her desk against a filing cabinet.

Matt turned back to Doug. “April Fool’s Day was three weeks ago, Doug.”

“This isn’t a joke,” Doug said in that same tone. “In order for McSweeny’s to be competitive we need our employees to remain at the office ready to work when they’re needed. That includes during the time that used to be referred to as ‘off the clock’.”

Matt stared at Doug, trying to read the man’s face. This had to be a joke. Doug could be a real pain in the ass, but this was going too far.

“Had you not departed forty minutes early on Friday, you would have gotten the same message the rest of the staff received,” Doug Bradley said. “You would have known that starting today, McSweeny’s new initiative was rolling forth and that all employees were required to assemble at their stations Sunday afternoon in order to prepare for it. We are a twenty-four seven shop, Mr. Wagner. That means we need all available resources all the time. That means you.”

“I worked through my lunch last Friday and had a meeting in the second floor conference room at three,” Matt said, his mind tracing back to last Friday. “I told you I was leaving for home right after the meeting.”

“Needless to say,” Doug Bradley continued, ignoring Matt. “I trust this won’t happen again. Procure what toiletries you need for the evening, perhaps secure a bedroll and pillow if you need to, and remain at your desk come five o’clock.” After delivering this order, Doug Bradley turned and walked back to his office. Matt watched his retreating back with a sense of dumbfoundment.

He turned to Monica’s cube. The computer graphic designer was working on something, her attention riveted on her work. He confirmed that, yes, she did have a sleeping bag and pillow under her desk, then he strode down a row of cubicles and began checking to see what the hell was going on.

One of the marketing administrators, Clara Reed, was preening herself in a little compact mirror at her desk. She caught his gaze in the mirror. Matt saw a small cot folded up beneath her desk. “What’s that cot doing under your desk?” he asked.

Clara frowned and turned to him. “Personal things unrelated to work belong under our desks. Don’t you know that?”

“Yes, I know that, but what the hell is a goddamn cot doing at the office!” Matt couldn’t help it. He was growing angrier the more this bullshit was played out.

“It’s more comfortable sleeping on a cot than on the floor,” Clara said. For the first time it hit Matt; she sounded just like Doug Bradley—flat, emotionless, drab. It was like she was rehearsing lines from a script and she didn’t care about the emotional impact of her delivery.

“You slept here last night?”

“Yes.” She cocked her head at him. “Why weren’t you here?”

And with that Matt Wagner tore down the aisle of cubicles, trying desperately to find one co-worker who hadn’t succumbed to whatever bullshit joke this was, but as he threaded his way through his department and the Art Department and finally to Accounting, he saw that everybody had a cot or a rollaway bed or a sleeping bag tucked beneath their desk. Some people were still preening in mirrors; one Account Executive was still getting dressed in his cubicle. Heart racing madly, Matt Wagner tore back down toward his work station past co-workers who were busy working, some with their cots still laid out and nightgowns lying on the floor, a few even still asleep. And as Matt dove into his chair and scooped out his cell phone to call Deena, the phone on his desk rang and Doug Bradley approached him from behind and asked him to type up some important documents in a tone of voice that suggested everything was normal, everything was right, and Matt Wagner began to go crazy.

FROM THE Wall Street Journal, Monday, April 25, 2008

…Corporate Financial’s CEO Frank Marstein outlined the new project “Reign” as an exciting initiative that will benefit all of their clients and secure the future for business leaders worldwide. The first step, which is being undertaken today throughout the company and all their client companies, is only the first of several initiatives designed to make companies work more cohesively in the years to come. “Employee turnout and participation is expected to be high,” Marstein said in a prepared statement Saturday from Corporate Financial Headquarters in Calistoga, CA. “Management will be available for support and I anticipate Phase Two beginning at the end of the week.”

Phase Two, according to Marstein, will be a new marketing campaign designed to obtain business from companies that aren’t already Corporate Financial clients. “By Phase Four we expect the low prices we are offering in this marketing campaign to attract new business, most of it small businesses and independent proprietors, which will be beneficial to us and to them. Companies can save forty percent of their operating costs by working with Corporate Financial Consultants, and this translates to higher earnings and profits for all of us.”

Free State Insurance, one of Corporate Financial Consultant’s largest clients, is one of the companies expected to participate in the initiative despite losing most of its executive and management staff in a tragic incident last Friday when Victor Adams— (continued page 12).

LYNN MCMURPHY WAS sitting in her favorite chair at home reading a romance novel when there was a knock on her front door.

She put the volume down on the end table by her chair and glanced at the clock. It was ten minutes after ten. Today was the first day of a weeklong vacation she was taking from work; she worked as a storekeeper for Acme Warehouse, a large distribution center outside Sedalia, Missouri. She’d been with the company for well over twenty years and had five weeks of vacation built up. She’d put in for this time back in January, filling out the vacation spots she planned to take on her boss’s calendar with a red sharpie pen. All the people in her department did that. Her boss would then plug those vacation days into the computer and note them on his calendar so he could plan ahead to provide for coverage. This had been the standard operating procedure since her employment with Acme began.

She stood up, stretched, and headed toward the front door. It was rare that she received visitors during the week. Her home was situated off a dirt road about two miles from Route 10 which fed to Route 118, which in turn took you to the Interstate and to Sedalia, the closest town in her vicinity. Lynn’s home was on forty acres of land she’d bought in the early eighties when she and Jerry were still married. They were now divorced, her daughter was grown up, married, and was living in Kansas with her husband and two children and Lynn rarely saw her now. Her son, Eric, had been killed in a motorcycle accident shortly after he’d turned twenty-one, over fifteen years ago.

Figuring the visitor was probably a neighbor, Lynn didn’t bother taking a glance out the window before she opened the front door. Therefore, she was surprised when she saw Kate Thomas and Bob Danielski, two co-workers from Acme, standing on her front porch.

“Well, hello! What brings you two out here?”

“We’ve come to collect you and bring you to work,” Bob said.

Lynn blinked. “What?”

“You weren’t at your station this morning,” Kate said. Lynn noticed that her friends seemed different. They were rigid, wooden, devoid of emotion. “Carl sent us here to collect you.” Carl Boyer was their shop supervisor.

“I’m on vacation,” Lynn said, trying to explain her absence. “Carl knows about it; it’s on his calendar.”

“We’ve come to collect you and bring you to work,” Bob said.

Lynn’s eyes darted between the two. There was no sign either of them were joking with her. They both looked deadly serious.

“Well, I’m on vacation,” Lynn said, trying to inject more firmness in her voice. “If he has a problem he can call me.”

Bob and Kate stepped forward and grasped the screen door, pulling it open. Lynn stepped back, momentarily stunned. When they grabbed her arms and pulled her out onto the porch she panicked. “Hey! What the hell are you doing?”

“We’ve come to collect you and bring you to work,” Bob said. He had a firm grip on Lynn’s upper arm. He looked like Bob but he wasn’t Bob; this was not the man she knew and had worked with for twelve years.

Lynn tried to jerk away from their grip but Kate brought her arm around and locked it around her throat. Lynn struggled, trying to fight them off, on full panic mode now. “Get off me! Get off me! Help!”

“We’ve come to collect you and bring you back to work,” Bob said as he and Kate dragged Lynn McMurphy kicking and screaming to a black SUV parked behind her Jeep Cherokee in the gravel driveway.

MEL HOWARD WAS still fuming. He’d been on the phone almost non-stop throughout the weekend talking to lawyers, insurance agents, and cops. His Homeowner’s Insurance was due to send a Claims adjuster to his house today, and so far the cops hadn’t done shit, even after Mel had given them the names of the people that assaulted him and destroyed his property. Sue had decided to stay home today to help him deal with the mess. She was in the charred office now doing her best to clean out the burned out bits of furniture. The police had already taken crime scene photos, the insurance company had sent somebody out to take photos, and all that was left now was to clean up and prepare for rebuilding.

Mel was at the kitchen table nursing a cup of coffee. His head still hurt from the blow he’d received when that HR buttwad whacked him on Saturday. Mel had left a rambling message on the voice mail of his supervisor telling him what happened and that, in no uncertain terms, he was quitting and suing the shit out of all of them. That had been his way of taking the bull by the horns; once he’d done that he felt better. He was going to take care of this problem. He was now in control of his destiny. He would not let them fuck with him any more.

The phone rang.

“I’ll get it,” Mel said. He got up and scooped the phone up. “Hello.”

“Mr. Howard?”

“Speaking.”

“This is Jim Murphy from Farm and Home Insurance,” Jim said. Mel could hear the shuffling of papers in the background.

“Jim! How are you doing? What’s going on?” Mel felt cheerful and happy and he hoped that came across in his voice. It felt good to get the wheels in motion and start taking care of things.

“Farm and Home will be issuing a letter of denial for your claim,” Jim said.

Mel felt like he’d been punched in the gut. His limbs felt suddenly slack and heavy. He leaned against the wall, cradling the phone to his ear, trying to come to terms with what he’d just heard as Jim continued. “Pursuant to Section Eight, paragraph sixteen, sub-paragraph b, Farm and Home Insurance is not required to pay for damages caused by willful flaunting and disobedience toward your employer and, therefore, is not liable for damages caused by disciplinary measures your employer may undertake to—”

“What?” Mel roared. “What are you talking about? Are you out of your mind!”

Jim continued. “—to correct you and get you into some form of probationary period. So, with that in mind, Farm and Home will be issuing a denial of your claim.”

“There’s nothing like that in this fucking policy!” Mel yelled. “That’s insane! What kind of an insurance company would put such bullshit in their policy? You can’t just go around putting that kind of shit in there!”

“Section 12, paragraph 2 states that your policy can be amended or changed at any time without prior written notification, and at the discretion of the underwriter,” Jim said. There was no sense of glee in that voice; no sense of petty authority. It was as if Jim Murphy was reading from a script and that he didn’t care what he was reading, he was just doing what he was told. He was just doing his job.

“What kind of bullshit is that?”

“The letter of denial will be in today’s mail,” Jim Murphy said. “Have a good day.” The insurance agent hung up.

“Goddamn it!” Mel yelled, slamming the phone down. He headed toward the hallway where the burned-out office was, just as Sue emerged from the ruins. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“Farm and Home says they aren’t paying anything,” Mel said, striding past her. “I need to get a copy of our policy.”

“Mel, the fire destroyed everything in the office,” Sue said.

“Shit!” He looked into the charred remains of what was his office, noting that the oak desk that held his most important paperwork was reduced to rubble. He turned to Sue. “Now what the hell are we going to do?”

There was a knock on the door.

“Maybe it’s one of the detectives,” Sue said as Mel threaded his way past her to answer the door. Mel hoped so; he had to vent his anger at somebody.

He threw open the door and almost yelled in surprise when he saw Mary Barnhill and Jim Fern, the Human Resources representatives who’d beat him up and burned his office down. They were standing on his front porch flanked by the two same goons that had beat him. At the sight of them Mel fumed. “Get off my property!” he yelled.

One of the goons opened the screen door and the other leaned in and grabbed Mel by the arm, pulling him outside. Mary and Jim stood silent near the steps that led down the walkway. “You didn’t show up at work today,” Mary said. She and Jim acted like they weren’t even here Saturday.

“Get your hands off me!” Mel screamed at the goon who was forcing him out of his house.

“We’re here to collect you to return you to work,” Jim said.

“Fuck you,” Mel muttered at them as he was led past the HR representatives. “I fucking quit!”

“You didn’t show up to work today,” Mary said again, and the tone of her voice, the way she was behaving—the way all four of them were behaving—zapped all the fight out of him as he was forcefully led down the walkway to the same company car they’d shown up in Saturday. Surely, part of him thought to himself as he was marched to the car, this can’t be happening. This is insane, this is wrong, this is just… this just can’t be happening!

But it was. There was no denying it. The two large goons that had kicked him around Saturday had him by each arm as the back door to the Mercedes was opened and he was shoved inside. “What are you doing?” Mel tried one more attempt at getting a sane answer from them.

“You didn’t report in to work today,” Mary said. “We’re collecting you to return you to the office.”

“Mel!” Sue was standing at the front door watching as the HR personnel from Wiedenhammer, Mel’s employer, led him to the silver Mercedes and took him back to work.

WHEN JEREMY TYSON got the call from Timmy’s school he was between tasks at his job as an underwriter for Macro Industries, which maintained office space in a large building in Phoenix, Arizona. Timmy had gone to school this morning complaining that his stomach felt funny. Jeremy had checked his temperature but it was normal. Aside from the complaint, Timmy was behaving like a normal seven-year-old.

Jeremy hung up the phone and reached for his jacket, which was hanging on a coat hanger on the wall of his cubicle. He turned to his co-worker as he put his jacket on and stood up. “I gotta go,” he said. “The school called, said Timmy just threw up. I’m gonna go take him home.”

His co-worker, a guy named Ed Donaldson, said nothing. He was staring at his computer screen intently.

Jeremy waited for Ed to say something. “Did you hear me? I said I gotta go pick up my son from school and take him home.”

There was movement from the offices lining the northwest corner of the building. His boss, James Burton, stood in the doorway of his cubicle. “Trouble?”

“My son’s school just called,” Jeremy said, picking up his briefcase as he prepared to leave. “He just threw up and they’re sending him home. I’m going to take him home and get him comfortable. I’ve got the papers for the McTilly Account with me and—”

“You can leave the papers here,” James said.

Jeremy was puzzled but didn’t think much of it. “Okay. I just thought I’d take them home and work on it there.”

“You can’t go home,” James said.

Jeremy blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Sit down,” James said. He took a step into Jeremy’s cubicle. James took an involuntary step backward.

“You okay?” Jeremy asked. The look on James’s face gave him the creeps; he looked… well… like he wasn’t really there.

“You will stay here and work,” James said, his blue eyes riveted on Jeremy. “You will not leave.”

James didn’t know what to say; he was speechless. Great, James picks the perfect day to turn into more of an asshole than he already is. For a supervisor, James Burton was a hardass; all he thought about was work, but Jeremy tried not to let that interfere with his working relationship with the man. He kept his personal life away from the office as much as possible, and didn’t really divulge much to his co-workers. The only sign that he had a personal life was the framed photo of Timmy on his desk and some of his son’s artwork that he’d tacked onto the cubicle walls. There were no pictures of Timmy’s mother; he’d divorced Evelyn when Timmy was a year old and had full custody of him. Evelyn was like James, more into her job as a corporate drone at some bank than she was a mother to her only child.

Jeremy gripped his briefcase. “Sorry,” he said. He made to walk past James. “But my kid is sick. I’ll take a sick day.”

James blocked his path and Jeremy almost bumped into him. “You will stay here and work,” his boss said, his voice flat, machinelike.

“Stop messing around,” Jeremy said. He could detect a hint of pleading in his voice.

“You will stay here and work,” James said, and then suddenly Ed Donaldson was joining James, and the other people in the office were crowding outside the cubical, blocking Jeremy’s path. They were all watching him silently. Jeremy felt a chill race down his back as he regarded them all. They all looked like James; their expressions were flat, stoical, wooden. What the hell is going on?

“You will stay here and work,” Ed said, stepping up to Jeremy.

“You will stay here and work,” Sarah Ahn, the department secretary said as she stepped into the cubicle.

“You will stay here and work,” Sally Maneketti, one of the Senior Analysts said as his department began to crowd into his cubicle.

Jeremy yelled and tried to shoulder his way past them but they grabbed him. Rough hands gripped his arms, his hands, an arm locked around his throat and the only thing Jeremy Tyson could think about as he was pulled back into his cube and shoved into his seat was his son, Timmy, and hope that his little boy would be okay.

WHEN JOSÉ GONZALEZ peered through the peephole of the front door at the sound of the doorbell, he didn’t recognize the two well-dressed individuals standing on the front walkway of his modest ranch-style home in Fountain Valley, California. Assuming it was a pair of Jehovah Witnesses, he answered the door, preparing to tell them he wasn’t interested.

“Yes?” he asked, his voice pleasant.

“We’re from the Automobile Club of Southern California,” one of them said; she was young, female, attractive, dressed professionally in a blue suit. “I’m Karen Haller, this is my associate Barry Haskins.”

“Oh, what do you know!” José brightened at the mention they were from the Club. He and his wife, Glenda, had been retired from the club for eight years. “I used to work for the Club.”

“We’re from Human Resources,” Karen said, and at first José didn’t think anything was wrong with her mannerisms or tone of voice—that would come later when he was separated from Glenda later that day and imprisoned in the Data Center of the insurance giant’s basement. “We’ve come to collect you and return you to work.”

“Excuse me?”

Barry opened the screen door and, before José was aware of what was happening, they were grabbing him, pulling him outside. “Come with us,” Barry said.

“Hey! What’s going on?” José was beginning to be frightened.

“José, who is it?” Glenda came to the door; she’d been in the back bedroom that used to belong to their adult son. José, Jr. was now married and lived out of state. When she saw what was happening, she panicked. “What are you doing? Let go of him!”

Another pair of well-dressed HR Representatives approached the house. They walked past the struggling José and walked up to the screen door. When Glenda saw them approach, she slammed the front door and screamed at the top of her lungs. José was only dimly aware as he struggled in the grips of the young woman and the man who were dragging him away from his house that the two other people were battering their way into his house. “Help!” he yelled, hoping somebody was home in the neighborhood this morning. He opened his mouth to yell again and a fist crashed into his face. The blow brought him to his knees; his vision went blurry. God help me, he thought as strong arms grabbed him and half-dragged, half-carried him to a waiting car where he was thrown into the back seat. His last coherent thought before he began to really panic was he hoped Glenda could hold them off long enough to call the police.

AND SO IT happened around the country as thousands of people who had the day off, were retired, or had recently quit their place of employment were forced back into the labor pool.

Four hours later a report went out to Wall Street that productivity had risen sixty percent. Analysts were excited. The economy was picking up. Companies announced that they were planning to add more people to the work force. The value of the dollar rose twenty percent. Stock and bonds rose sharply. Board members and executives were happy at this news.

Buried among the ongoing news reports that day were the scattered reports of a rash of kidnappings and assaults. Those that were reported received scant notice, a few paragraphs in daily newspapers and on news websites at best. And because these crimes were only reported on local news outlets they didn’t receive national attention. To those who were unaffected by the Reign initiative it was business as usual. After all, crime was pretty much common in places like Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Kansas City, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles—basically any big city.

For law enforcement agencies, day care workers, and health care providers it meant something more. It couldn’t be explained, but as police officers responded to calls of kidnappings and assaults, and talked to witnesses who described friends and neighbors being carried off by people in suits, or as day care workers and teachers tried to reach parents frantically, or as doctors butted heads with administrative personnel regarding emergency treatment for patients who were brought in for a wide array of problems, one common thought was on all their minds: something is going horribly wrong.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

MICHELLE DOWLING KNEW that things were happening, that Corporate Financial was really getting things in motion as she sat in the back seat of the Lexus Sam Greenberg was driving through the suburbs of Berkeley heading to the mountains.

Michelle was dressed in a tan business suit and a white blouse. Her carry-on bag was in the seat next to her; her overnight bag stashed in the trunk. She glanced at her watch: it was four-thirty p.m. Pacific Time, Monday afternoon. Normally after spending a day traveling she’d be dog-tired, but not today. She was too wired.

Everything today had turned out just as Alan predicted it would. When she met up with Alan, Donald, Jay, and Rachel early this morning in the parking lot of the Comfort Inn near Chicago O’Hare’s airport she was happy to see Donald; she’d hugged him fiercely. Donald had held her and whispered that whatever happened he was going to be there for her. She’d nodded, then turned to Alan to get down to business.

They’d quickly filled her in. Sam Greenberg and Gary Lawrence were going to whisk her away to Calistoga, California tomorrow for immersion training, Alan said. But first they were going to meet with Red Rose Medical Insurance. “That’s just a ruse to get you out of your hotel,” Alan had explained. “What’s going to happen is about thirty minutes into the meeting, Gary will ask to see you and you’ll walk out of the conference room. He’ll tell you that he wants you to fly to California immediately, that he has a flight booked for you. Sam has most likely already left and you won’t see him at the meeting, but Gary isn’t going to tell you that. He’ll escort you to your room where you’ll get your things and he’ll take you to the airport. He’ll probably board the same flight as you. Sam will meet you at the airport with a car and take you to Corporate Financial Headquarters.”

“And then?” Michelle had asked. She’d shivered in the cold. They were hunkered between two parked cars, sitting in the front and back seats with the doors open facing each other.

Jay had shown her what was next, passing surveillance equipment to her and explaining how they worked. The microphone was to be pinned to the outside of her blouse and was hidden inside an attractive pin. The earpiece was to be worn in her right ear and her hair was to be down, covering both ears. Another device, which Jay explained was a GPS tracking system, was to be worn on the inside of her blouse. “Both the audio and GPS are bouncing off a satellite,” Jay explained. “The audio has a great range, and I should be able to hear you even if you whisper.”

She was to wear the surveillance and audio equipment with her business attire tomorrow, with the exception of when it was time to go through airport security during travel (“Go into the ladies room at the airport and stash them in your carry-on bag,” Jay had instructed. “Keep them in this packaging.”). She was also instructed to carry her laptop into the Corporate Financial Headquarters building when she arrived and, at the first available moment, connect to their network. “They’ll probably be on DHCP so you should be able to connect right away. If they give you a network ID or password, it probably won’t give you much access—don’t worry about that. First thing you should do is try to connect to their intranet and look for a map or diagram of the facility or anything that gives us an idea on their physical structure. Download that into a word file and email it to me.” Jay gave her a yahoo email account, which she committed to memory. “Anything else you find out like passwords, security, that kind of thing, send on to me as well.”

Alan told her that she should familiarize herself with the building when she arrived, and that they’d most likely start her on immersion training the following morning. They’ll have a hotel room reserved for her and they’d probably want to take her out to dinner on the night of her arrival. They’ll want to be in her presence as much as possible that day. “That’s all part of the immersion training,” Alan said. “It will begin tomorrow when you board that plane with Gary Lawrence.”

While the thought was scary in its own right, Michelle felt better knowing she wasn’t going into this alone. Alan was planning on flying out tomorrow as well—he’d already booked a flight. “Sam hasn’t asked me to fly back with you and he probably won’t,” Alan said. “But he’ll believe me when I tell him I’m flying to San Francisco to meet with a client.”

In the meantime, Michelle was to play her role to the best of her ability while maintaining her new role as a double agent for the Coalition. Alan would make an attempt to contact her tomorrow late afternoon for a status update. Jay and Donald would be driving to California—they left shortly after their meeting early this morning at the Comfort Inn parking lot—and hoped to arrive in two days. “Jay’s wanted by the police in Texas,” Alan told them last night. “The further away we can stay from the authorities at this point, the better.”

“Plus if we drive straight through without stopping, we should get there quicker,” Jay added. “We’ll take turns driving.”

Alan planned to meet up with Michelle late tomorrow evening in her hotel room and give her what she needed. “We have Coalition members right now assembling explosive devices,” he said. “I plan to pick them up when I arrive in San Francisco and I’ll turn them over to you. I hope to have as many as four, and they’ll be small radio controlled devices with enough C4 in them to cause significant damage.”

At the mention of the explosive devices Michelle grew alarmed. They wanted her to plant bombs in a building and help kill hundreds of innocent people? She said nothing about her concerns as Alan continued. “They’ll take you deep within the bowels of the building the next morning and at some point will leave you alone. They’ll most likely take you to areas I’ve never even been in. You’ll carry the devices with you in your briefcase. You won’t carry anything else in the briefcase, just the devices. You’ll be instructed to lie down on a cot and you’ll be told that all management associates, which they’ll tell you you’re being promoted to, undergo a specialized training in which they relax you before it begins. They’ll make it sound very New Age, very hip, very relaxing. In reality it’s a form of mind control. Anyway, when you’re alone, you’ll lie down because most likely somebody from Corporate Financial will be there to ensure you go under. You’ll have the earpiece in and Rachel will be listening to everything that happens. Anything weird happens, she’ll let you know. She’ll also jam their signals an hour or so into you being alone or sooner; it’ll be at her judgment if she thinks things are going too far. Try to fight whatever subliminal messages are being fed into you if you can. If you can’t, Rachel is your backup.”

“How do you know all this?” Michelle had asked.

Rachel had answered that question for her. “You haven’t met him yet, but one of our members got as far as you did. This happened before he became a member of the Coalition. It’s what caused him to seek us out. What Alan is describing to you almost happened to him.”

“He ran,” Alan said. “He knew things weren’t right, and he ran. They chased after him and he was lucky enough—smart enough, I should say—to have rented his own vehicle. He drove away before he could be subdued, and he quit his job that day and went underground. Corporate Financial’s been looking for him for over five years now.”

That was a suitable explanation, but the thought of allowing herself to be hypnotized scared her even more. Donald assured her that wasn’t going to happen. “You have to allow whoever is attempting to put you under to actually do it,” he said, rubbing her shoulders. “Or at least fool them into thinking you’re going under. Most people will do everything they’re told when a therapist is putting them under a light trance. All you have to do is pretend, fake them out.”

“You’ve done a great job at that so far,” Alan had said.

Hearing that made her feel better, but it still bothered her that they wanted her to plant explosive devices at the building. She voiced her concern. Donald frowned. “It bothers me too, honey, but it’s the only way. I know it sounds heartless but—”

“I find it hard to believe that everybody at this building is going to be like Dennis Harrington and Alma Smith!” Michelle had said.

“I don’t know if they are,” Alan said. “And I won’t lie to you. Innocent people probably will get hurt or killed. But tomorrow Project Reign will start and the number of people who will be enslaved, the number of people whose lives will be destroyed, the number of children who will become orphans, will outnumber that.”

This had been the first time Michelle heard about Project Reign, and Rachel Drummond brought her up to speed. “They plan on forcing people to work as slaves,” she said. “And they’ll be able to do it thanks to the laws that are currently being pushed through Congress that eliminate safety nets for employees working for large corporations. Law enforcement agencies will be powerless to stop it. There’s going to be chaos for much of next week.”

“And blowing up the building will stop it?” Michelle asked.

“If the data center and executive offices are destroyed, yes,” Alan said, fixing Michelle with a hopeful gaze. “Then we have a chance.”

Michelle thought about this now as Sam Greenberg piloted the Lexus toward the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. So far everything had gone exactly as Alan said it would. She’d gone to the meeting this morning at the hotel and was only there for thirty-five minutes when Gary Lawrence came in and asked her to step outside. He’d told her that the board of directors had decided to promote Michelle to the position of Senior Account Executive. Michelle had responded enthusiastically. Gary smiled at her response and said that a replacement for her spot as a consultant was already in town and would take her place for the Red Rose project. In the meantime, Corporate Financial wanted to fly her out to California immediately to meet with the top brass and executives. Could she fly out today? Of course, she’d said. And with that Gary had called Sam on his cell phone, spoke a few words, than hung up. “We have a flight that should have us there by noon.”

She’d followed Alan’s instructions to the letter. She’d made sure the devices Jay gave her were stowed carefully away in her baggage and, as she waited with Gary Lawrence at her departure gate, she paid attention to the news reports; on the surface things seemed normal. There was a report of a disturbance downtown at one of the large buildings that housed several brokerage firms, but otherwise everything seemed fine. Michelle kept a stoical face and boarded the plane with Gary when her flight was called.

And now she was in the back of the Lexus, Sam Greenberg driving, Gary sitting in the backseat next to her, as they headed to Corporate Financial Headquarters.

They had made small talk on the drive out of Berkley, and now as they passed the outskirts of the city a cell phone rang. Sam answered it, listened, smiled. When he hung up he looked at Michelle in the rearview mirror. “That was Bill Rutherford, our CFO. Bill reports that today’s productivity report is the largest he’s ever seen. We’re up sixty percent.”

“That’s good news,” Gary said.

“That’s amazing,” Michelle said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of the week goes now that Project Reign is in place.”

“Did Mr. Lawrence tell you a little about that or did you read it in today’s Journal?”

“Both.” Gary had summarized it for her on the flight and Michelle had responded favorably, saying she was interested in being a part of the project. Another score for her.

“How do you feel about being part of Phase Two?” Sam asked.

“Very good,” Michelle said, slipping into the role of business so naturally. “It’s been my goal since coming on board to help Corporate Financial achieve its financial and business goals. Playing a part in this, helping lead the effort, is something I very much want to be a part of. I want to help move the company forward, and when Gary told me more about Project Reign I realized I wanted to be a part of this initiative.”

“You demonstrated your skills and dedication last week during the Building Products Project,” Sam said, pausing every once in a while to glance at her. “You led that effort well, and that initiative is an important part of Project Reign. You did that much to my satisfaction. Being able to fly out to Chicago was another demonstration of your willingness to serve the company. I was confident that once you learned about Project Reign, you would be interested in being a part of it. I saw that when I first interviewed you.”

“I’m glad you did,” Michelle said, looking ahead of her at the highway.

“I think you’ll enjoy headquarters,” Sam said. “It’s very beautiful out here. The building is very modern, very state-of-the-art. We can get you a nice condo, set you up real nice.”

“I would like that.”

“Relocation would be okay with you?”

“I’m willing to live wherever the company needs me,” Michelle said.

“We can talk about that tonight over dinner,” Sam said. He met her eyes in the rearview mirror. “How does that sound? Gary? Dinner at Brannigan’s tonight?”

“Sounds fine to me,” Gary said.

“I’ve let a couple of the executives know that we’re probably going out to dinner tonight,” Sam said. They were in open country now, traveling up a winding road into the mountains. “Bruce Wellhorn and Robert Sack, Gladys Sterling, a few others.” His eyes met Michelle’s again. “They all want to meet you.”

“I want to meet them,” Michelle said, meeting Sam’s eyes. “I’m looking forward to talking business with them and learning as much as I can about my new role.”

“Wonderful!”

When they reached a T Intersection, Sam turned left. Michelle watched the landscape go by; it was flatter in this area, with the hills continuing to her right. There was a glimmer of metal and concrete off in the distance and Sam said, “We’re almost there.”

Michelle watched as they grew closer to the building. There was nothing spectacular about it; there were dozens of similar-looking structures on the outskirts of large cities across the country. This building was large, sprawling, appeared to be four stories in height and commanded approximately forty acres of land including the parking lot, which was filled to capacity. Sam pulled into the lot and headed toward the back of the building. Michelle’s heartbeat quickened. Despite her knowledge of what Corporate Financial was, she couldn’t help but feel a tinge of excitement at the thought of getting inside the building and scoping out its layout.

Sam pulled into a private parking slot and stopped the engine. Michelle grabbed her laptop and briefcase and joined Gary and Sam in the parking lot. She smoothed her skirt down briefly, regarding the building before her. Sam grinned. “Come. Let me take you inside.”

Michelle followed Sam and Gary down the walkway and into the building. They entered a well-furnished lobby. She followed Sam and Gary to the security booth, which was staffed by a young African-American woman. “We need a temporary ID with full security clearance for Miss Michelle Dowling,” Sam told the guard. “I called this in yesterday.”

The guard scanned a list and made a mark with a ball-point pen. She looked at Michelle, who tried not to look surprised when she looked back at the young woman.

My God she’s just like them!

The guard was young, maybe twenty-five, with high cheekbones, full lips, and large brown eyes. Her makeup was applied sparingly, yet it brought out her best features, which was her eyes and lips. Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun. She was dressed in a blue security uniform and dark slacks. In short, she could have passed for a security guard at any large corporation or corporate building.

Yet her features were completely lacking in emotion. She had a flat, blank look.

This all came to Michelle the instant she saw the guard for the first time, and she ignored it and continued playing her part. She nodded at the guard. The guard said, “I can take her photo now or we can do it tomorrow morning.”

“Now would be fine,” Michelle said.

The guard nodded. “This way please.”

Gary gestured to a door near the security booth window and Michelle entered. “We’ll wait out here,” Sam said.

Michelle entered the security area, still carrying her briefcase and laptop. The guard led her into a small room with a chair and a large camera on a tripod. A large fluorescent light burned directly behind the camera. The guard stepped behind the camera. “Have a seat.”

Michelle sat down and once the picture was taken, the guard escorted her out. “I’ll have your permanent badge ready for you when you leave this afternoon,” she said. “In the meantime, I’ve already created a temporary badge for you.”

Michelle stepped back into the lobby and waited at the security booth for the guard to rummage through a file. A moment later, temporary badge pinned to her lapel, Michelle accompanied Sam and Gary through the thick double glass doors and into the central atrium of the building.

A large brick fountain was the centerpiece of the atrium. Extending four stories to a large skylight and decorated with lush vegetation, the atrium was attractive. Several people were either threading their way to and from various destinations or were talking in small groups. Michelle made a quick note of the atrium and then followed Sam and Gary to a bank of elevators.

Sam and Gary were talking and Michelle listened as they entered the elevator with two men dressed in suits. She noticed the men bore the same flat expression as the security guard. The people she’d seen in the lobby and the atrium had borne similar looks but it was hard to tell. Overall, the place was giving her the creeps, but she had to keep a stony face about it.

“I think once the final report for the day comes in we’ll have a better understanding of where our leverage will be tomorrow,” Sam said to Gary as the elevator went to the top floor. “Connie should have a final report from New York by now. And when the West Coast Stock Exchange closes this afternoon, Connie should have the final numbers within an hour of closing.”

“She can get those numbers to us via Blackberry, right?” Gary asked.

“Certainly,” Sam said. “That’s what the technology’s for.”

Michelle grinned as they chuckled and then she followed them down the fourth floor hallway to the executive suite, which was clearly evident by the large, polished walnut doors at the end of the hallway.

Michelle marveled at the sight of the executive suite lobby. Plush carpeting, oak paneled walls, ebony and marbled workspaces, large desks for the executive secretaries. Michelle took as much of it in as she could, noting several closed doors that could only lead to washrooms, executive dining rooms, or meeting rooms. Other doors clearly indicated that they led to offices—a few were open, and Michelle caught brief glimpses of men and women seated behind desks, some talking on the phone. Sam and Gary led her to an office at the southwest corner of the executive suite and Sam peeked in. “Bruce? We’re here.” He turned to Michelle. “Come on inside.” He gestured for Michelle to go in.

Michelle stepped inside and a rugged, handsome man was rising from a large walnut desk. He buttoned his suit coat, his features beaming. “Ms. Dowling,” he said as he stepped away from the desk and approached her, hand held out to be shaken. “So nice to meet you. Mr. Greenberg has told me so many wonderful things about you! Welcome to Corporate Financial!”

Michelle smiled and shook Bruce’s hand. “Thank you. I’m happy to be here.”

Sam and Gary were behind Michelle like proud parents. “Michelle can’t wait to get started,” Sam said. “We think it would be very beneficial for her to meet the rest of the executive staff this afternoon, and perhaps get acquainted with everybody at dinner tonight.”

“I agree.” Bruce had that same blank glaze in his eyes but his was more like Gary’s and Sam’s; he was more animated, more life-like, but Michelle could still tell there was something different about him. Maybe the executives had more power over their facial features and expressions; maybe they could fake being human. “Let me call Connie, Bill, and Tracy in,” Bruce said as he went to his desk. He pressed a button on an intercom system on his desk. “Tina, can you have Connie, Bill, Tracy, and Reginald come into my office please?”  “Yes, Mr. Sullivan.”

Bruce leaned back in his chair. “How were your flights?” he asked Sam and Michelle.

“Fine,” Sam said. Michelle was attentive as Sam and Bruce made small talk about the flight. A moment later the door to Bruce’s expansive office opened and two men and two women entered the room. Michelle stood up as they entered and suppressed a gasp of shock as she came face to face with her mother, Connie Dowling, for the first time in twelve years.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

AT SOME POINT during dinner Michelle thought she was going to scream when Bruce casually mentioned that it was a funny coincidence that she and Connie shared the same last name.

Michelle took a sip of wine and wiped her mouth with the heavy white cloth napkin she’d placed in her lap. It was seven-thirty p.m. and they had a private booth at Brannigan’s, which was a very upper-class steak house. There were nine in their party, including Reginald Dwight, Vice-President of Operations, and Tina Young, Frank Marstein’s executive assistant. Frank Marstein was currently holed up in his executive suite at headquarters strategizing tomorrow’s plans.

“It’s a coincidence all right,” Michelle said, not looking at Connie, who was seated three people away on her left. “But then I run into people often who have the same last name and aren’t related.”

“Go to Los Angeles and you’ll see a Garcia or a Hernandez on every corner,” Tina Young said. She was in her twenties and would have been pretty if she’d not been so severe-looking.

Michelle had stayed close to Gary and Sam’s side while they talked in Bruce’s office. When introduced around she’d shaken hands with everybody and nodded politely, noting the same empty expressions, a common trait with everybody she saw at Corporate Financial. When she was introduced to Connie she kept up her front. “Nice to meet you,” she’d said. Connie nodded back politely with the same false look as the others. She noticed in the few seconds she was able to see her mother that mom hadn’t aged much; she still had the same conservative hairstyle, cut short and close to her face, still favored the same bland suits. Michelle couldn’t tell if her mother recognized her. If she did, she gave no indication.

Staying by Sam and Gary’s side was the only way she knew how to stay sane.

She kept up her business-like front as they talked about Project Reign, how everything went today, and Michelle paid attention and tried not to look at her mother. The few times she did, she stole quick glances, always making sure her eyes scanned the room and didn’t settle on any one individual. Every glimpse she caught of her mother, she was more absorbed in the discussion.

Things surely haven’t changed that much, Michelle thought. She even looks the same as she did the last time I saw her. And on the heels of that: I wonder where dad is?

Before she knew it she was in the backseat of the Lexus again as they headed to Brannigan’s for dinner. At some point before they left for the restaurant, she mentioned to Sam that she wanted to check her email and Bruce directed her to a spare desk in his suite with a network connection nearby. She set up her laptop and, while pretending to check her mail, made a visible effort to appear still interested in the discussion. She quickly opened all of her new email in her account, then opened a web browser. Her home page settings were automatically configured to hit the Corporate Financial Intranet site and, once there, she quickly scanned the links. She quickly found a section on Headquarters and kept browsing until she found what she wanted: a file that detailed the diagram of the building for potential visitors. Michelle saved the file onto her hard drive and quickly looked for other information that might be useful. She didn’t see anything, so she disconnected from the network, shut down her laptop, and rejoined the group.

Her cell phone vibrated twice; once while she was in the meeting, a second time while appetizers were being served at Brannigan’s. She hoped it wasn’t Donald; she didn’t want to worry him. She couldn’t think about Donald now. If she did she’d go crazy, so she pushed him out of her mind and concentrated on the group and bullshitting them as best as she could.

She tried not to think of her mother as well.

Does she know who I am? Michelle thought as she faked interest in the topic of discussion—Project Reign and the sales projections for today, which Connie was rattling off in a flat, toneless voice. I don’t think she does but then she used to look like that all the time… maybe she did recognize me, maybe she’ll tell Sam and Gary, I wonder if she and dad live out here now, maybe…

“…productivity rose sharply by forty percent,” Connie said, reading the numbers off her Blackberry. “Our sales were up sixty percent and we expect that to go higher tomorrow.”

“And the buyouts?” Bruce asked. He hadn’t touched his appetizers.

“All going as planned,” Connie reported. She regarded everybody with that flat look. “Wall Street noticed and the Dow rose through the roof. A story will be running in tomorrow’s Journal. The financial news outlets are already reporting the activity. Most of it’s positive, especially Fox’s coverage. MSNBC has been overwhelming negative.”

“They aren’t clients, are they?” Bruce asked.

“No, they’re not,” Sam answered. “We’re hoping they respond favorably to our marketing efforts this week. Dennis Harrington is paying them a visit tomorrow with an offer.”

“Have him extend a seventy percent discount for two weeks,” Reginald said. “If they bite, Dennis can bring in Alma and Joyce Caruthers Wednesday. Joyce can get to work immediately and we can start seeing a change by Friday if we act quickly.”

Michelle wondered how they could influence news coverage, but she didn’t want to ask. The thought that they had control over the news networks terrified her. It made sense; if the big guns—CNN, Fox—were owned by large conglomerates, Corporate Financial did business with them and had sunk their tentacles deep into their other operations. Bad news about Project Reign would not go well with viewers. Remaining silent on it or skewing the news heavily in favor of it, would make people think it was a good thing. Of course not everybody believed what they read or saw on the news, and Michelle was one of them.

When the main courses came, Michelle dug in. She was ravenous and she didn’t know when she’d get a chance to eat again. She’d ordered the seafood platter with rice pilaf, and as she ate she paid attention to the conversation and joined in where appropriate. She wasn’t faking it anymore—she wanted to know as much as possible about what was going on, what their business agenda was, so she’d have sufficient ammunition to go to Alan with. Her seeming enthusiasm must have been evident because at one point during the meal Sam nudged her and whispered. “I think you’re casting a nice impression on the group. You ready for tomorrow?”

Michelle nodded. “Yes,” she said.

The dinner lasted till nine-thirty. After the main meal was finished, drinks were served. Discussion continued to flourish and Michelle took part in it with great success. She took it easy with the drinks, limiting herself to two glasses of wine. Dessert was offered and Michelle passed. When the party broke up and ventured outside, Michelle was grateful for the diversion. She stood by as Sam parted with Bruce and Connie. “We’ll be in at eight o’clock sharp,” he said.

“Wonderful.” Bruce turned to Michelle. “I’m looking forward to working with you, Ms. Dowling.”

“I’m looking forward to being part of the team,” Michelle said.

Sam and Gary drove her back to her hotel, which was two miles up the road and was part of the Marriot chain. “We’ll meet you in the lobby at seven-thirty sharp,” Sam told her as they helped her with her bags.

“Sounds fine,” Michelle said.

“We’ll probably have breakfast tomorrow in the executive dining room,” Gary said as they ventured into the lobby. Michelle was trailing her suitcase, briefcase, and laptop. “So bring your appetite.”

Once Michelle was in her room—Gary and Sam were staying in separate rooms two floors above her—Michelle collapsed on the king-sized bed and tried to control her emotions. Seeing her mother this afternoon had pushed her over the edge. She hadn’t expected that and she was certain mother hadn’t recognized her. Seeing mom had picked at the scab holding the unpleasant memories of her past that had built up over the years, and she’d done a good job at staunching the flow of emotion that wanted to pour out of those old wounds. Now they seeped out and Michelle allowed herself to let them out: the abandonment she’d felt as a child, the feeling that her parents never cared for her as they worked long hours and finally, her mother’s callous attitude toward Michelle’s pregnancy. She refused to allow the loss of Alanis to get the best of her. She sat up, took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. She had to get through this, had to do what she was brought here to do. She knew that everything Alan and Rachel told her now was the truth. She’d seen the vapid expressions displayed en masse at Corporate Financial headquarters, felt the overpowering miasma of the unholy vibe, of some noxious evil that permeated the building she could see how it could infiltrate into the body and persona of somebody who was vulnerable for acceptance. The vibe in the entire executive suite had been even stronger—Michelle could tell the minute she’d stepped off the elevator to the fourth floor, but she’d blocked its influence and how she really felt about it out of her stance. Had she allowed herself to react naturally to it she would have screamed and run like hell out of the building. Instead, she reacted as an undercover narcotic agent would have reacted at the scene of criminal activity and it wasn’t yet time to make an arrest: she’d pretended like she was one of them and they had bought it completely.

She slipped out of her shoes and shrugged her jacket off. Then she scooped her cellular phone out of her purse and, knowing already Donald had tried calling her from the message light blinking on her phone, called him. “Hey, honey.”

“Michelle! You okay?”

“I’m fine.” Hearing Donald’s voice sounded so good. “I saw my mother today.”

Pause. “At Corporate Financial Headquarters?”

“Yes.” The memories resurfaced again along with all the bad vibes. “She’s one of the top executives for the company. And she didn’t even recognize me!”

“Oh my God,” Donald said.

“She was just… just like she was when I last saw her, only worse.” Michelle closed her eyes, willing the bad feelings back. “I don’t think anybody noticed a physical resemblance but… it wouldn’t surprise me if they did. Sam mentioned something about us having the same last name.”

“Did you talk to her at all?”

“As little as possible,” Michelle said, feeling better the more she talked about this to Donald. “I didn’t go out of my way to avoid her, and I didn’t let on that I recognized her or that she was my mother. She reacted the same way.”

“Could you tell if she recognized you? Was there anything in her posture, her attitude or demeanor?”

“Nothing.”

“Jesus.”

Michelle sighed. “Things are going very well for them. I haven’t seen anything on the news much today, but I heard MSNBC has been blasting them.”

“Jay and I have been monitoring the news on our drive,” Donald said. “And there hasn’t been anything on the radio.”

“Most radio stations are owned by one or two big companies,” Michelle said. “They’re probably in Corporate Financial’s pocket.”

“Exactly.”

“Where are you guys now?”

“Colorado.” There was a short pause. “We just passed a little town two hours outside of Loveland and we’re going to gas up and switch places in about an hour.”

“Are you doing okay?”

“Yeah. We’re doing okay. We’re taking turns with the driving, and the back seat is comfortable for sleeping. Jay doesn’t need much sleep anyway thanks to all the caffeine he drinks. It’s a wonder we’re making such good time. You’d think with all the coke and coffee he drinks we’d be stopping every thirty minutes for a pit stop for him to pee.”

Michelle heard Jay’s voice in the background respond to this but she couldn’t make out what he said.

“Be careful,” Michelle said. She wished Donald was here with her now.

“I will,” Donald said. “You be careful, too. We should be there late in the day tomorrow.”

“Probably more like tomorrow night.” The thought of this chilled her. “I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

“Call Alan,” Donald said. “Tell him where you are. He’ll fill you in.”

“Have you been in touch with him?”

“Yes, and everything’s running smoothly.”

“I’m scared,” Michelle said. The fear hit her again hard and fast. She didn’t want to go through with this. She just wanted it to all go away.

“I am too, but we have to go through with this. If we don’t act now, Corporate Financial—the things controlling Corporate Financial—will take over and we’ll be enslaved. The entire human race will be subservient to the whims of a thing, an entity we can’t even begin to fathom. It’ll be like one of those science-fiction movies that’s on late night TV, where humans exist as slaves for some unseen alien hybrid. Only in this case it isn’t really alien, but something demonic… something so spiritually evil that I can’t even begin to describe it.”

Michelle didn’t want to think about the possibilities of what this all might entail. Knowing that Phase One and Two were going to be bad enough by forcing people to work twelve, fourteen, even eighteen hour days and keep them away from their families was enough to motivate her to barrel through the fear and regain her senses. For the past few hours she’d fantasized about how they were going to accomplish this: would their political power pressure police departments all over the country to keep workers in line? The thought chilled her. “I’m going to call Alan now,” she said. “Please call me tomorrow morning? At seven? I’ll need to hear your voice before I start my day tomorrow.”

“You’ve got it,” Donald said. “Seven sharp.”

“I love you,” Michelle said.

“Love you, too.”

After they hung up Michelle sat on the bed for a moment, silently wishing Donald and Jay would get to Calistoga quickly, then she regained her composure and called Alan. He answered on the third ring. “I’m here,” she said. “The Marriot on Pine Grove, room two eighty-seven.”

“Did you get a diagram of the building?”

“Yes.”

“Anything else?”

“No.”

“If you can, try connecting to the network tonight and see if you can get anything else. Email it to the account Jay gave you.”

“I will. I want to take a shower first. I’m beat.”

“Okay. I’ll meet you at three a.m. Your room.”

“You have the stuff?” She felt like a secret agent talking in code.

“I have it and I’ll bring it with me.”

“Okay. See you then.”

When she hung up the phone she sighed in relief. For a moment she felt alone, cast adrift, and more far away from home than she had ever felt before.

Then she sighed again and headed to the bathroom to take a shower.

WHEN THE ALARM woke her up at three a.m. sharp, Michelle rolled out of bed and hit the floor running.

She was ready ten minutes later, freshened up, robe pulled tight over her frame. She waited by the door to her room and opened it the instant she saw Alan appear in the fisheye lens of the peephole.

Alan came inside quickly and Michelle closed and locked the door behind him. She’d turned on the lamp by the bed and, as she joined Alan in the main portion of her room, she saw him put a briefcase on the bed. He opened the flaps and raised the lid. He was dressed in dark jeans and a dark shirt. “Open your briefcase and let’s transfer this stuff into it.”

Michelle got her briefcase, opened it, and removed papers and other documents from it. When it was empty, Alan handed her what looked like a small cardboard box, the kind bank checks arrive in. It felt heavy in her hands and was made of soft brown leather. “This thing’s loaded with C4 and it has a voice-activated trigger,” he said. “Rachel is about ten miles away with a radio that will send the signal to detonate these. I’ve already turned them on; they run on a battery that has a twenty-four hour life span. Rachel won’t turn the radio on until thirty minutes before we’re set to go. Then we’ll—”

“What if she fucks up or something?” Michelle asked, hefting the explosive in her hand. “Suppose it turns itself on accidentally this morning while I’m eating breakfast and instead of blowing up the parts of the building you want blown up, I blow up the cafeteria and myself instead?”

Alan shook his head. “That won’t happen. Trust me. I know we planned this sort of last minute, but we did it carefully.”

Michelle wanted to respond but didn’t know what to say. At this point she’d crossed the point of no return. It didn’t matter any more. What more did she have to live for? Corporate Financial was set to enslave the world; blowing herself up by accident would be a ticket out of the nightmare.

Alan began handing her more of the explosives and Michelle stacked them in her briefcase. “These things are water-proofed,” Alan said. “Best place for them is in the toilet tanks of as many of the women’s rest rooms as you can get them in.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep.” Alan held one of the devices in his hand. “The executive suite, the bathroom outside the executive secretary’s office, and the bathroom near conference room 4H on the fourth floor are prime targets. They’ll probably take you into the data center tomorrow. There’s a bathroom right off the data center’s main entrance. Plant two of them in that one. Then there’s going to be a bathroom in the executive lounge in the basement. Hit that one, too.”

“The basement?”

“That’s where they’re going to begin your immersion.”

“How… how will I be able to get out of the immersion?”

Alan held up an earpiece. “Remember this?” He passed it on to her. “You’ll be in direct contact with Rachel and me all day. The audio wire you wore today goes with it. At three p.m. tomorrow Rachel or myself will send a signal to you that will break through the subliminal messages Corporate Financial will be feeding you during immersion. It’s a signal designed to penetrate not only audio, but psychic messages as well.”

“Psychic messages?”

“It will intercept brain waves,” Alan explained. “That’s part of how they’ll turn you. Unlike planting the explosives, this part of our mission has been in the planning stages for a long time. We’ve been working on it for three years and we’ve tested it. Trust me on this. Naturally, you’re going to try to fight the immersion as you lie down in that room, but just in case you succumb we’re going to intercept their influences and awaken you this way. If we don’t hear anything from you, we’re going to jam the signals again. We’re going to keep jamming the signal until you tell us you’re awake and that you’re making your way out of the building. If we don’t hear from you in five minutes, we’re aborting.”

Michelle tried to read Alan’s face to see if he was telling the truth. He looked like he was. His features were open, honest, and she saw the same ray of hope she saw when she first met him. His was an honest face, one she felt she could trust. Yet for some reason, she didn’t believe him when he said that if they didn’t succeed in tearing her away from Corporate Financial’s grip they would abort. She didn’t believe that for one second.

If they didn’t hear from her, if she failed to wake up and make a beeline for the doors, they were going to go through with the plan anyway.

All this passed through her mind in a microsecond. “When I come out of it, then what?” she asked.

“Leave one of the devices in the room,” Alan said. “It’ll be the last one. Make your way out of the room and head upstairs. The stairway will dump you off near the data center and there will be a side exit. There’ll be a guard station there; don’t worry about that one, they probably won’t notice you leave anyway. If they do and they try to stop you, keep going. I’ll be waiting for you in a green Honda in the executive parking lot.”

“When will you show up?”

“Two p.m.” He sighed and rubbed his right hand across his face. He looked tired. “I told Sam that I’m meeting a client in the Bay Area and that I’ll be at headquarters to meet with IT. I’ll be planting devices myself, hopefully in the data center.”

“So I meet you at the car at, say, ten after three, and we take off and then what?”

“When we’re a mile away I call Rachel and give her the signal. If it works, we’ll know. We’ll likely hear the blast, probably even see it.”

Despite the severity of the crime she was about to partake in, Michelle no longer felt a sense of dread or foreboding. She no longer had any pangs of doubt. She had to do this come hell or high water. “And then what?”

“Then we meet up in San Francisco and one of our associates will put us up in a safe house. I’ll give Jay and Donald the address and phone number later this morning. We’ll meet up there, monitor things over the next day or so, and then we’ll see where we stand.”

Michelle looked at the briefcase, now almost packed with the explosive devices. She closed the lid and snapped the locks in place, then picked it up. It was heavy, but she’d be able to manage it. “What if we’re caught?”

“We won’t get caught.”

“What if we’re caught?”

“That can’t happen.”

“You didn’t make a backup plan?”

Alan grabbed her shoulders and spun her toward him. For the first time his face was livid, hot with anger. “We’re going to win! Do you understand me? We’re going to destroy these bastards and everything they stand for and that includes the… thing they’ve got sleeping in their basement!”

Michelle felt the blood drain from her face at the sound of Alan’s voice. “What thing?”

Alan looked at her. “You know what I mean. You know what Rachel and I told you last week in Chicago. About the Marstein’s devil-worshipping.”

When Rachel and Alan mentioned the occult angle to her yesterday, Michelle hadn’t given it much credit. If the Marstein’s believed it and were able to convince a bunch of other greedy executives that making sacrifices to the dark gods would increase their stock portfolios, that was their business. Michelle thought back to what Alan had told her yesterday about corporations being recognized as actual people. It stood to reason that if people could be possessed by demonic entities then corporations could too. And when the Marstein’s alleged devil-worship was taken into consideration, it all made sense. But if Alan and Rachel believed that there was some truth to the stories, then this was a whole different matter. “You believe the stories are real?”

“Hell yes!” Alan said, his voice a whisper. “I thought you believed us!”

“I did,” Michelle said, feeling a flush of embarrassment now that she realized she’d conveyed to them a little too strongly that she’d swallowed everything they’d told her. “But this… devil thing… is just… I mean, I believe that they believe it but—”

“Make no mistake about it,” Alan said, his tone serious, his gaze penetrating. “This shit is real. Corporate Financial has done something nobody would have ever dreamed of, and the thing Marstein conjured, the thing that makes him and his company rich and fat, exists to be fed and get stronger. It has its hooks in the people who run the company, and you can believe they’re getting something out of it.”

“What’s that?”

“Money. Power. Prestige.” Alan paused. “Pleasure.”

Michelle felt herself shiver. “What kind of pleasure?”

They looked at each other for a moment and despite her rational side telling her that this was bullshit, that this was a product of some mass hallucination, another part of her, the part that she always listened to, was telling her it was real, it was happening and she had to trust her instincts. She had to trust the fact that Donald believed it. If Donald was in the belief camp, it had to be true. She would trust her life to him. He’d never lied to her and never misled her before on anything. He’d never do anything to hurt her.

“Don’t you want to stop the people who made your mother into the fiend she is?” Alan said. “I know I do; I want to strike back at them for what they did to Susan. They took the love of my life away. They destroyed my future, my hopes and dreams. They’ve done that to a lot of people, and they’re going to do it to a lot more if we don’t stop them.”

Memories of Alanis popped into her mind; she remembered cradling her dead premature unborn daughter in the hospital alone, mourning her loss with no one there to comfort her because all her friends, her mother and father, were too busy working to come to her aid.

She choked back a sob and took a deep breath.

Do it for Alanis.

Her mother’s words rose in her mind. Get rid of it before it destroys your chance for a future with the company.

She faced Alan, her mind made up completely. She was no longer straddling the fence. “You don’t have to tell me,” she said. “I think I just realized what you meant by that.”

“Do you?”

“I don’t need to know what kind of pleasure it takes,” she said. “All I have to do is put myself in the shoes of every sadistic boss and manager I’ve ever worked under that thrived on controlling his or her subordinates.”

Alan seemed to approve. “You’d think something so simple wouldn’t be in the equation.”

“Yes,” Michelle said. “But that’s exactly what it is. They… it… gets off on the power it feels dominating others. It’s the common thread schoolyard bullies and control freak workaholic bosses seem to share.”

“You forgot power-hungry world leaders.”

“Them, too.”

“So you’re ready?”

Michelle faced him, more comfortable now with her decision and what she was going to do tomorrow than she had ever been. “I’m ready.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

EVERYTHING WENT LIKE clockwork the next morning.

After a restless sleep broken intermittently by visions of an infant Alanis calling her name as she lay on the floor in an empty office surrounded by humming fax machines and computer monitors that sputtered to life, Michelle woke up and quickly got dressed, applied her make-up, then gathered her laptop, purse, and the explosive-laden briefcase and left her hotel room. She left her suitcase behind, not knowing what else to do with her stuff. Her purse was slung over her shoulder and she hoped to at least be able to escape with it if she could. In fact, she would ditch the laptop if push came to shove. She had pictures of Alanis in her wallet; she’d never part with those.

Sam Greenberg and Gary Lawrence were waiting for her in the lobby. Sam smiled and nodded. “Good morning! Sleep well?”

“Like a rock,” Michelle answered.

“Good!”

They made small talk on the drive over. Michelle concentrated on slipping into the role. She’d applied the ear piece before she slipped into her business attire and she could hear Alan whispering to her from wherever he was, telling her he was getting last minute things ready from his location. She met Sam’s gaze in the rearview mirror as he addressed her. “Today is going to be a monumental day, Michelle.”

“It is?”

“We’re expecting sales to reach seventy percent again today,” Sam continued. “Productivity at our client companies is expected to be sixty percent. By week’s end, we’re planning on eighty percent.”

“It would be nice to reach one hundred percent,” Michelle said. Her fingers caressed the leather of her briefcase.

“Our goals exactly!” Sam said. He looked more alive than he’d looked in weeks. If Michelle had just met him for the first time she would think he was a normal human being. “We’re shooting for one hundred percent at the close of Phase Four.”

“When do you expect to commence with Phase Four?” Michelle asked.

“We’re shooting for within two weeks,” Gary Lawrence answered. He was sitting in the front seat this time, looking out the windshield ahead of him as Sam drove.

“Ambitious,” Michelle said.

“We think so,” Sam said.

“Will I still get to be involved with Phase Two?”

“Very much so.” Sam glanced at her again. “I expect you to be ready by week’s end. Thursday at the earliest. How does that sound to you?”

“Sounds great!”

“Will you be willing to travel right away?” Sam asked. “With the way things are moving, it will be prudent for you to jump right into your part in Phase Two and hit the ground running.”

“Absolutely,” Michelle answered. “I can leave from here if I have to.”

“No need for you to go home?” Sam was watching her subtly as he drove. Michelle could tell this question was a test of her loyalty.

“Nope,” Michelle said. “I have my business attire with me. I pay my bills online. My paycheck is deposited into my bank account, and I have somebody checking my mail at home. No need to go home right away.”

Sam smiled. “Good.”

The morning sun felt good on Michelle’s face as the car angled into the driveway of Corporate Financial Headquarters.

THE MORNING WAS going incredibly fast.

Michelle Dowling was in a stall in the women’s bathroom on the fourth floor. She had just placed one of the explosive devices in the toilet tank after waiting five minutes for a woman to leave the rest room. Michelle had sat on the toilet seat motionlessly as the woman did her business and took her leisure time in leaving. The minute the door whisked shut amid clicking heels that receded down the hall, Michelle got up, slung the briefcase up, and quickly got the device in the toilet tank. Then she exited the stall and approached the sink.

She inspected herself briefly in the mirror. I’m not looking too shabby despite everything I’m going through, she thought. She didn’t look like a terrorist, either. Rather, she fit the bill perfectly for a high-level female corporate executive.

Satisfied that her physical appearance was top-notch, she left the bathroom and headed back down the hall, briefcase in hand, back to the meeting in 4H.

It was the second meeting she’d undertaken this morning and things were going well. She’d already planted explosive devices in the bathrooms near the executive dining lounge, the one near Bruce Wellhorn’s office, and the first floor hallway near accounting. Now she’d planted the one in the bathroom by Conference room 4H. She hadn’t seen her mother yet and she didn’t know if she’d get to. It didn’t matter. She was going through with this. She was going to play her part in destroying Corporate Financial Consulting.

She composed herself by taking a deep breath, then entered conference room 4H, ready to do business.

ALAN PERKINS WAS sitting in an empty chair near a computer terminal in the data center, briefcase at his feet, wondering how Michelle Dowling was making out.

It was after twelve p.m. and most of the data center staff were at lunch, which was ironic when he thought about it. Alan had heard through various news sources of some disturbances throughout the country—arrests, spats of violence at the workplace. He had no doubt that workers all over the country were being forced to work through their lunch hour and that those who defied orders were being punished somehow. Of course, Corporate Financial employees, even those who hadn’t yet been immersed, were immune to such treatment since they were the ones orchestrating this massive takeover.

The IT manager was holed up in his office, his attention riveted to his computer and that’s exactly where Alan wanted him. The IT manager, a burly middle-aged man named Mark Hodges, was a perfect Corporate Financial pawn; dedicated, loyal, attentive, a complete corporate zombie. He was so dedicated to his task, so taken in by Corporate Financial Consulting, that he had no inkling of anything outside of his realm of Information Technology or Corporate Financial business. Therefore, he had no idea Alan was in the data center. Alan had arranged for one of Mark’s employees, Debbie White, to let him in and meet with her regarding the client he was working with. Debbie was not only completely overtaken by Corporate Financial, she was easy to manipulate. After fifteen minutes of discussing strategy and IT protocols, Alan had asked Debbie if she would run upstairs to Computer Analysis and ask Larry to run some reports and Debbie had scampered off, leaving Alan alone in her cubicle.

And now the rest of the IT staff, except for Mark Hodges, had gone to lunch.

Alan stood up slowly, listening for any sound of activity within the data center. Mark’s office was actually outside the data center, in a cubicle within a room of three other cubicles. There was a window along the wall of his cube that looked out into the data center so he could oversee things. Alan had taken a quick peek inside at Mark and noticed that the IT manager’s attention was wholly directed toward his computer screen, like he was mesmerized. Alan knew that look well; Mark would be absorbed for hours.

Alan opened his briefcase and quickly took out two of the explosive devices. He peeked around the corner of Debbie’s cubicle quickly. The network servers lined ten rows along the inner wall. The entire room was standard-issue data center: white walls and floor, raised flooring where the servers were, climate controlled room. Alan darted over to the server rack furthest away and knelt down. Thick cabling littered the floor of the rack to snake down beneath the raised flooring and he pushed one of the devices inside, beneath the lowest positioned server. He pushed it as far back as it would go so it would remain undetected, then quickly darted over to another server rack five rows down and did the same thing. This was a little more tricky since the window to Mark’s office was visible. Alan could see Mark’s back, his attention riveted to the computer as he worked. One false move and Mark could see what he was doing and come inside the data center. Alan quickly shoved the device underneath the cabling along the floor of the rack, then stood up quickly and took a few steps back. Neither device was visible at this level. They would remain undetected.

Alan turned his attention to his briefcase. He had four devices left. He’d planted one in each toilet tank in the men’s room beside the data center, Customer Service, and General Accounting. He’d also planted one underneath Richard Long’s desk when he met with the Account Executive this afternoon. Richard hadn’t noticed, either. Alan simply opened his briefcase on his lap as he sat down and then, the briefcase’s contents facing him, he’d slipped one of the devices out and casually slipped it beneath Richard’s desk as Rich rattled on about the company’s performance and numbers.

Alan looked at the four remaining devices. He could place one inside Debbie’s desk. What could it hurt?

He opened the top desk drawer, found a space, and slipped one of the devices inside and closed it. With three explosive devices placed within the data center itself, that should be enough to blow up the IT department sufficiently. The tape library was housed in a secured room on the fourth floor, and this afternoon’s offsite run wasn’t due to be picked up until after four p.m. when the courier arrived. By then the entire building should be blown sky high. He was hoping the explosive device Michelle planted in the women’s room near Computer Analysis on the fourth floor, which backed up against the Tape Library, would be enough to sufficiently destroy it.

Alan glanced at his watch. Ten after twelve.

He closed his briefcase. Sat down in Debbie’s cube to wait.

The door to the data center from the IT office opened. Footsteps sounded on the white tiled floor.

Mark Hodges stood in front of him outside Debbie’s cube.

Debbie White and Bob Gutenberg, one of the day shift IT techs, were glaring at him.

“Get up,” Mark said.

Alan feigned surprised. “What’s wrong?” He made no effort to get up.

“He said, get up!” Bob said. He reached inside the cubicle, grabbed Alan by his arm and hauled him to his feet.

Alan let himself be hauled up; to resist was to give himself away. “I don’t understand,” he said, fighting like mad to keep the nervousness out of his voice.

While Bob kept his grip locked on Alan’s arm, Debbie walked over to the server rack closest to her cubicle. She reached down, rummaged among the cables beneath, and brought out the explosive device. She held it up for him to see. “What’s this?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Alan said, suddenly feeling a stab of fear penetrate his stony veneer.

“I was watching you from my cubicle,” Mark Hodges said, his tone flat, devoid of emotion, like a robot. “We’ve initiated video surveillance of the data center. There’s hidden cameras all over here. I watched you put this under two of the server racks.”

Debbie walked over to the second server rack and pulled the other device out. She walked back, the second device on her outstretched palm. “What is this?” she asked. Her voice was robotic-like, too.

“I have no idea,” Alan said.

“You do,” Mark said. “You placed it there.”

Bob grabbed Alan roughly. Mark grasped his left arm and the two IT staff members steered Alan toward the data center exit. Alan protested. “What the hell’s going on?” His voice rose and he tried to keep the fear out of it. “I didn’t do anything! Get your hands off me!” He struggled, tried to pull away. Mark and Bob held him tight. An arm looped around Alan’s throat and he panicked. He lashed out with his feet but Debbie kicked him solidly in the muscle of his right thigh. The cramp was enormously painful. Alan doubled over from the intensity of it, unable to control himself now as Bob and Mark hauled him to his feet and half-dragged, half carried him out of the data center.

They steered him down the hall past the security booth near the rear door of the building toward the back elevators. “You need to be punished,” Mark said. The IT manager had the strength of an ox. His grip was vice-like, powerful.

Alan tried to get the upper hand on his pain management, and when the elevator door opened he tried to make another break for it. It was no use; Bob and Mark had the upper hand and they hauled him inside and the elevator doors whisked shut quickly and then they were heading down into the basement.

WHEN TIM CUSAK stepped into his office Tuesday morning after a glorious three day weekend he was surprised to find his staff inside it, seated at his desk or standing along the wall and window of his office, waiting for him.

Tim placed his briefcase on an empty chair, puzzled. “What is this, a surprise party?”

Tim’s secretary, a short, stocky woman named Leah Bailey, stepped forward. “You weren’t at the company picnic Saturday.”

“Trish and I went to Las Vegas for the weekend,” Tim said. “I told you that a month ago.”

Carl Ford, one of Tim’s Analysts, sounded off from where he was standing near the window. “You didn’t show up Monday. We were looking for you.”

A prickle of unease ran up Tim’s spine. He felt the skin on the back of his neck gooseflesh as he suddenly realized that his employees looked… well… different.

It was their attitude. Their expressions. The way they looked at him.

It was as if the lights were on but nobody was home.

“What’s going on here?” Tim asked, thinking the worst. Somebody died, the company is being sold, we’re all being outsourced—

Dale Goodman, who was hefty and bearded, spoke up from where he was sitting at Tim’s desk. “You weren’t at the company picnic and you didn’t show up yesterday. That’s all.”

Tim felt himself relax. It was a misunderstanding. They’d been so busy lately with all the projects that they must’ve forgotten the message he’d emailed them a month ago, telling them he was taking Monday off and that he and his wife, Trish, were going to

Las Vegas for a long weekend. No big deal. “You had me worried there for a minute. I thought something bad had happened.”

“Something bad did happen,” Dale said. “You weren’t at the picnic.”

Leah piped in. “And you weren’t here yesterday.”

They were playing this joke a little too far. Tim stepped around his desk. “Okay, so I wasn’t at the picnic Saturday. Big deal. I hope you all had fun. Now I’ve got a lot to catch up on, so if—”

“You were supposed to be at the company picnic,” Ed Rodriguez said. Ed had been in the Quality Control Department longer than Tim had been with the company. “All employees of Trident were required to be there.”

“Really? So when did it become mandatory I give up my personal time to go to a company picnic?” Tim said this intending it to be a joke; it came out in a sarcastic tone that was not lost on any of his employees.

Leah frowned. “Personal time?”

“What’s that?” Dale asked.

Tim regarded his employees, that creepy feeling coming back to him. The thought that there was something wrong crashed back into his system and he could now tell that they weren’t joking; something was terribly wrong. He took an involuntary step back. “Okay, you guys are freaking me out here.”

“There is no personal time,” Ed said.

“Having time to yourself is prohibited by the company,” said Barbara Newstein, another of his analysts who was standing by Ed and Carl.

“All of your time must be devoted to the company,” Leah said.

“You were supposed to be at the picnic,” Dale said.

“You violated company policy by not showing up.”

“Not showing up to the company picnic was a flagrant disregard for company loyalty.”

The litany built to a crescendo and Tim held up his hands. “Okay, let’s cut the crap!” He tried to raise his voice, to sound authoritative, but it came out sounding weak and scared. “You need to stop this now!”

Tim felt the presence of another person enter his office and he whirled around, surprised to see Francesca Rogers and Paul Hetfield, his superiors. They bore the same glazed, bland looks as his employees.

Tim was stunned. “What’s going on here?”

Francesca’s gaze was direct yet showed no emotion. “You didn’t show up to the company picnic.”

“You didn’t show up to work yesterday,” Paul Hetfield said.

Francesca and Paul took a step inside his office.

Tim took a step back.

Ed and Barbara grabbed Tim’s arms, pinning them behind his back. He felt Barbara’s breath on his ear as she said, “You must be punished for violating company policy.”

That broke Tim Cusak’s fear and he thrashed madly in an attempt to escape.

His employees and superiors swooped in and his punishment began.

AND SO IT was happening all across the country.

In New York City Matt Wagner lay tied up underneath his desk, a gag placed over his mouth. One of his eyes was bruised and swollen shut and his nose was still throbbing from the punch to his face. Twice, Matt had tried to escape and both times he’d been subdued and severely beaten. His supervisor told him that if he tried to escape again, they were going to throw him out the window. Matt had heard four screams coming from outside that sounded like people falling to their deaths from the surrounding skyscrapers onto Seventh Avenue below. Around him, everything continued as normal; phones rang and were answered, computer keyboards clacked as people typed into them. Matt’s personal line rang a dozen times last night then finally fell silent and Matt wondered if his wife and daughter were safe.

In Sedalia, Missouri Lynn McMurphy shook her head in an attempt to fight off fatigue. She’d been standing at her spot on the production line for the past eighteen hours and had only been allowed four hours of rest. Her feet hurt so bad she couldn’t stand still; she had to keep moving from one foot to the other to ease the pain, and she was barely aware of her tears as they coursed down her face. It felt like her feet were bleeding; she could feel a warm wetness in her socks. Her co-worker, Annette Ramsey, lay on the floor in a crumpled heap. Lynn hoped her friend wasn’t dead—when she’d passed out late last night, Lynn had tried to help her but Bob Jones, who had always been a pleasant guy to work with before, grabbed the back of Lynn’s shirt, hauled her to her feet and told her to get back to work. They wouldn’t let Lynn help Annette because it would hamper productivity. When Lynn finally burst out in rage that they could shove their productivity where the sun doesn’t shine, Bob had hauled off and slapped her hard in the face with a closed fist that bloodied her nose and blackened both her eyes. That was six hours ago. They still hadn’t dragged Annette away to see if she was okay, and Bob hovered nearby to make sure she didn’t slack up on her work.

In Denver, Colorado, Mel Howard appeared before Judge Carmichael on several felony and misdemeanor charges of assault and battery, assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, and disturbing the peace, among others. Mel’s face was battered and bruised. He was still wearing the clothes he was wearing yesterday when those fuckwads from work had showed up at his house, and he stank. After being kidnapped by those HR assholes from work, Mel had managed to escape, but first he’d socked Mary Barnhill in the face, breaking her nose from the sound of it. He’d gotten four blocks before he was captured by the police and taken to jail, where he’d remained until this morning.

Judge Matthew Carmichael looked frustrated and worried as he flipped through papers. Mel’s Defense Attorney droned on that Mel had been improperly and unjustly treated, that the city had no right to side with his employer—correction, former employer since Mel had tendered his resignation—on these criminal matters, and that Mel should be released and the charges dropped, but Judge Carmichael dropped a bombshell before Mel’s attorney could finish. “I would love to release your client, but I can’t.” Judge Carmichael closed the sheaf of papers, looking grave. “According to this new statute passed by Congress over the weekend, Mr. Howard’s employer has the right to forcefully demand that Mr. Howard return to his duties as an employee even if Mr. Howard tenders his resignation under the ‘at will’ provision of this state’s employment laws. I know that flies in the face of all common sense, but—”

“No shit it flies in the face of all common sense!” Mel shouted.

His court-appointed attorney nudged him. “Be quiet,” he whispered.

“I hate to do this, but I am going to order that you not be released from custody until I can find out the constitutionality of this new statute,” Judge Carmichael said. He looked worried and disturbed. “I promise you that I will write a brief this morning in challenge of this statute and—”

The Prosecuting Attorney stood up. “Permission to approach the bench, Your Honor.”

“Permission granted.”

The Prosecuting Attorney approached the bench and handed Judge Carmichael a sheaf of papers. “This is a temporary order from the Governor requesting all temporary stays be ignored until the Federal Branch passes this bill in Congress.”

“I would think the State Supreme Court will have—” Judge Carmichael began, not even looking at the papers.

“The State and Federal Supreme Court’s decision will have no bearing on this statute as it is written.” The attorney for the city was handsome, dapper even, and he was wearing a blue suit.

“Section S, Part IV, paragraphs A1 through A5, subheading 4b state that if Amendment 4895 of the United States Constitution is passed, Section 8, paragraph 5 cannot be overturned by the Supreme Court on the Federal or State level. Amendment 4895 was passed overwhelming by the Senate and House last week, the President signed it into law on Saturday. Therefore, the city recommends that Mel Howard receive his punishment and then be taken back to his place of employment as—”

Judge Carmichael pounded his gavel. “I’ve had enough of this! I’m not listening to any more of this drivel until I and my staff research this issue more!”

A dozen well-suited men and women who had been sitting in the spectator section of the court rose to their feet and began approaching the bench.

Mel turned around, confused. Judge Carmichael pounded his gavel. “Sit down! Bailiff! Call security!”

Judge Carmichael, the bailiff, the lone Sheriff’s Deputy present in this particular court room, and Mel Howard and his court-appointed Defense Attorney were no match for the worker bees sent by Corporate Financial Consulting to enforce a provision of the new Labor Law that had been signed by the President of the United States over the weekend, a provision that was hidden beneath hundreds of pages of pork concealing the fact that the American Worker—everybody from Janitors to Architects, as well as retirees and those currently working—was now owned by their employer, and giving said employer carte blanche to do anything they wanted with them in order to maintain and improve company productivity.

Which explained why José and Glenda Gonzalez, retired from the Automobile Club of Southern California for over a decade, were now working at the positions they once held at their old place of employment.

The only difference was that José and Glenda once got paid a comfortable salary and benefits.

Now they were lucky if they were allowed to go to the bathroom or take a nap.

Glenda lasted thirty-six hours before her supervisor ordered building security to have her taken to the basement for punishment and re-assessment training after she collapsed to the floor in fatigue.

José lasted eight hours longer.

And so it went.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

ALAN PERKINS HAD been correct about the immersion. When it was presented to Michelle that afternoon at two o’clock, they gave her the impression it was a form of privilege and pampering for the upper-level executive consultants as well as all the upper-level managers and executives. “Think of it as another perk,” Sam Greenberg told her as he led her down a well-lighted hallway in the basement of the building toward a door at the end. “Corporate Financial has a gymnasium, a swimming pool and sauna, a racquetball court, and an executive lounge and bar as part of its benefits package for all our upper level staff members. We also bring in personal trainers and other therapists. This is just one sort of therapy. It’s a form of anti-stress, light hypnosis designed to open certain parts of your mind and prepare them for high levels of thought and analytical thinking you will be performing as part of your duties to our team.”

“So it’s like a high grade of psychotherapy geared toward your upper-level staff,” Michelle said.

“Yes, very much so,” Sam Greenberg responded. “Ah, here we are.” He led Michelle through a pair of large doors that, in turn, led to a small waiting room. Another hallway branched off into darkness. There was a maroon-colored receptionist desk to her right; it was currently empty. Sam led her across the waiting area toward the hall. “Linda is on assignment on the fourth floor,” he explained. “She’s a great hypnotherapist and many times she’s called up by Bruce or even Frank Marstein himself to tend to somebody at their desk. She’s very good at what she does.”

Sam led her down the dark hallway and stopped at a door. He opened it and went inside. Michelle followed him.

The room was small and well-lit. There was a potted plant in one corner and a comfortable-looking lounge in the center. “Lie down on the lounge,” Sam said. “I can get you started.”

Michelle set her briefcase, laptop, and purse down on one side of the lounge and settled herself down. This is where it starts, she thought as she stretched out. Despite knowing what was going to happen, what Sam had in store for her, she wasn’t afraid.

Sam was standing near the door fiddling with something on the wall. A moment later she heard gentle, soothing music pipe in from hidden speakers. “There we go,” he said. He turned to her, his features pleasant, smiling. “Simply lie down, relax, close your eyes. I’ve set the first wave in motion and this is just something to calm you down, get you in the mood. I’ll post a note on Linda’s desk that you’re here and she can work on the rest of your immersion when she returns.”

“Okay,” Michelle said. She closed her eyes. “Will she actually come in the room?”

“Probably for a little bit,” Sam said. “She’ll want to make sure I’ve put the right program in and have the settings adjusted right. Then she’ll be outside monitoring you.”

Michelle thought about this as Sam left. “I’ll see you in a few hours,” he said.

“Okay.”

The minute Sam was gone Michelle opened her eyes.

She lay on the lounge, staying silent and motionless. The room was darkened. The music was low, soothing, and combined with the atmosphere in the room—temperature, the scent, which was smoothly intoxicating with a hint of jasmine. If she’d kept her eyes closed she was sure she would have gone under quickly. The mood was very relaxing, designed to put you in a dream-like semi-conscious state that would allow one to enter your thoughts and influence your thinking.

She wondered how this worked and she allowed herself to close her eyes briefly. No telling if there were hidden cameras in the room watching her. She kept her eyes closed and focused on the music for a little bit, letting it transport her, caressing her pleasure senses. The slight scent of jasmine was wonderful and it put her in a relaxed state of mind. The temperature felt like the offshore breezes of the ocean; calm, peaceful, paradise. Michelle smiled, day dreaming about the daughter she had that was lost to her so quickly. In her daydream she pictured Alanis as a healthy ten-year-old, and mother and daughter were on some remote island paradise. Michelle was relaxing in a hammock, eyes closed, feeling the ocean breeze blow from a crystal clear blue ocean off their private beach as Alanis played in the sand near her, her daughter’s happy voice laughing as she made up some childish game that was bringing her joy. The dream was wonderful, one Michelle wished she could step into and disappear into, having it become reality.

Alanis stood up. She was wearing a yellow bathing suit. Her hair was golden and wavy, her skin tanned from the sun. There was damp sand on her feet and ankles. “Mommy! Look what I found!”

Michelle opened her eyes and looked at what Alanis was holding in her palm. “It’s a sand dollar!” Alanis said, excited.

The image was blurry. Her mind and body were tired from relaxing in the hammock—she felt like she had been floating on big white fluffy clouds. The sun was warm and pleasant and the offshore breeze kept off the heat, making it perfectly pleasant. Michelle blinked, trying to adjust her vision to see what Alanis was holding.

It wasn’t a sand dollar. It was a silver dollar. Michelle frowned.

“Honey, this is a silver dollar.”

“I found it in the sand!” Alanis squealed. “Look! There’s more!” Alanis knelt down and with both hands grabbed up a double fistful of the silver dollars and held them out to Michelle. “Sand dollars! Sand dollars!”

Michelle looked at the fistfuls of silver dollars in Alanis’s hands and then down at the hole in the sand she’d found them in and saw more of them spilling out. She could see little tremors in the sand as more silver dollars burrowed their way up. It looked like thousands of tiny sand crabs were digging their way out. More silver dollars burbled up from the hole from where Alanis had dug the initial handful. It looked like they were spewing from the earth. “Honey, those are silver dollars.”

“Sand dollars!” Alanis said, and Michelle felt her spine chill at the sight of her daughter’s face as she threw the silver dollars up and scooped another handful out of the sand and threw them into the air. Alanis’s eyes were blank muddy pits devoid of emotion, possessed by a singular greedy purpose now. “Sand dollars, sand dollars, sand dollars, dollars dollars dollars!” Alanis grabbed up huge fistfuls of the silver dollars and threw them in the air again and again, and Michelle felt terror strike her heart and the sight of her little girl’s face so drastically changed propelled her to flee and she did, she lunged out of the hammock and fell into the sand and the impact of the gritty sand hitting her bare knees jarred her—

—awake.

Michelle started and opened her eyes.

She was still in the immersion room. She was panting, her heart racing.

The smell of jasmine and the soothing atmosphere still enveloped her, seeming to cover her. The skin along her arms prickled, as if being tickled by tiny hairs. Likewise, the skin along her scalp and the inside of her legs tickled. She shook her head to clear it and when she moved she felt the feathery sensation along her arms burn slightly, as if a bandage had been ripped off suddenly. This feeling happened everywhere, all along her body. Her vision swam, blurred, then focused as she sat up abruptly. She felt her stomach lurch and for a moment she was dizzy. She controlled her breathing and closed her eyes, getting control of herself. When she felt the pleasant sensation seep back and her vertigo return to normal, she shook her head again and opened her eyes, her vision swimming briefly and then coming back into focus. This time she remained seated on the cot, waiting to feel some sense of normalcy.

Jesus, what’s going on? What’s happening to me?

She looked around the room. Everything looked normal. The soothing, dark blue lights still cast their relaxing shade. The atmosphere was still pleasing. The music still played softly in the background. The smell of jasmine was still in the air.

She still felt the feathers of sensation prickle along her arms, inside her pant suit legs, tickling her inner thighs and calves, snaking into her blouse and tickling her breasts, her belly, felt them caress her scalp.

She swung her legs over the cot and stood up suddenly and once again she felt that sensation of burning, as if tiny hairs were being suddenly yanked from her skin where the feathery sensations had been. Her heart thudded, understanding suddenly flooding her senses.

Immersion.

She was at the door to the room in an instant, ear pressed against it, trying to listen for any sounds outside. It was hard to listen with the music playing softly in the background. She waited for the sound of footsteps, for somebody to check on her, to see why she’d gotten up and interrupted the immersion process. She waited for two minutes; surely somebody, Linda or Sam, would have come down as quickly as possible. Nobody was coming, though. She was alone down here. For some reason they weren’t monitoring her the way she’d thought they would. She looked at the device bolted into the wall. It resembled a common room temperature station with various LED panels and knobs. She didn’t know what they meant and she didn’t care. She was getting out of here now.

She went back to the cot and opened the briefcase quickly and brought one of the explosive devices out. She placed it underneath the cot, closed the briefcase, then grabbed her purse and went back to the door. She tried the doorknob. It was unlocked.

She eased the door open and peaked outside.

The hallway was empty.

Nobody came from the lobby to investigate the newly opened door to the immersion room. Likewise she heard no alarms, saw no flashing lights that would indicate she’d triggered an alarm.

Holding her breath, she eased out of the room and closed the door softly. Then she stepped slowly into the lobby.

The receptionist desk was still empty.

This was her chance. Her best bet was to dart back down the hallway, plant another explosive or two in one of the other rooms, then plant one at the reception desk itself and get the hell out of there. She checked her watch quickly. It was two-thirty; Rachel didn’t have to wake her up. She wondered where Alan was now as she headed back down the hallway, preparing to leave one of the explosive devices in one of the other rooms. She had no idea if anybody else was in one of these rooms but if they were, they were probably under the intoxicating influence of Corporate Financial. They wouldn’t be shaken out of their trance.

She approached the first door she came to on her right and put her ear to it, trying to listen for any sounds within. Hearing nothing, she turned the doorknob and opened the door slowly.

Like the immersion room she’d just come out of, this room was bathed in a soft florescent blue light. The music and the relaxing atmosphere was present, and as Michelle stepped further into the room she saw a prone figure lying on the cot in the middle of the room. What appeared to be thick strands of webbing were attached to the figure, like strands of corn silk. They were attached to something beneath the cot, enveloping the figure completely. Another new Corporate Financial consultant? Curious, she stepped forward cautiously and took a quick peek.

She suppressed a gasp as she saw her mother lying on the cot.

When her mother shuddered, moaned, and opened her eyes it took every ounce of Michelle’s will-power to bite back the scream that threatened to unleash from her throat.

WHEN THEY REACHED the basement Mark Hodges and Bob Gutenberg herded Alan Perkins down a hallway. Debbie White trailed along behind them, still clutching the explosive device. They paused in front of a door in the middle of the hallway and Mark opened it with a key. Bob shoved Alan through the door and they followed him inside.

Alan took everything in quickly. The room was small and contained a desk and two chairs. The lighting was dim, but Bob flicked a switch and turned up the brightness in the room. Mark closed the door behind him. The three of them fixed Alan with those uneasy, blank stares.

Alan still tried to play dumb. “Will you explain to me what is going on here?”

“Where did you get these?” Debbie asked, holding up the explosive device.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Mark took the device from Debbie and turned it over in his hands. He appeared to be studying it. He fiddled with it and quickly got the lid off, displaying the batteries, the detonating device, and the C4. He held it up to Alan. “How many of these did you plant in the data center?”

“I didn’t put that in the data center,” Alan said. He knew lying wasn’t going to get him anywhere, but damned if he was going to say anything to them.

“How many of these did you place in the building?” Debbie asked.

“I didn’t place any in—”

“There were three left in your briefcase,” Bob said. “My guess is it was full of these things before we caught you. You obviously planted a bunch of these throughout the building. Where?”

Alan regarded them, trying to be calm. “You guys are out of your mind.”

“You need to be punished,” Mark Hodges said, his voice a flat monotone.

“You know what? I’ve had enough of this. I quit!” Alan made to leave the room. He grabbed the doorknob and turned it. The door was locked.

“You can’t quit. You’re part of the company.” Mark’s gaze was direct, yet empty.

“Bullshit! Unlock the door and let me out! I’m quitting!”

Mark turned to Debbie. “Call Mr. Marstein.”

Debbie picked up the receiver of a black phone on the desk, punched in a series of numbers and waited. “Mr. Marstein? Debbie White from the data center. We have a little problem in the disciplinary room.” Pause. “We discovered a consultant named Alan Perkins planting homemade explosive devices in the data center.” Pause. “No, I don’t know how many he planted.” Beat. “Yes.” Longer pause. Mark and Bob watched her, their emotions wooden as Debbie listened to Frank Marstein. Alan couldn’t help but feel terrified. “Yes, Mr. Marstein. I understand. We’ll wait until she arrives. Yes.”

Wait until who arrives? Alan thought. Did Michelle get caught, too?

Debbie hung up the phone and turned to her co-workers. “Mr. Marstein is sending somebody down for Alan. We’re to wait until she arrives.”

“Okay.” Mark nodded, his eyes lighting briefly on Alan’s for a moment and then the three of them became motionless. Alan watched them, studying each one of them intently. It was like they were robots or puppets that had suddenly been turned off; they stood motionless like wooden statues. He felt his skin gooseflesh.

Who are they sending down? Is Michelle okay? I hope they didn’t catch her, I hope—

His mind jumped into overdrive as he tried to think about what to do. He hadn’t anticipated this sudden chain of events and he tried to think of a way out of this. He could try making a break for it when this other person showed up. He was going to have to plan his escape by ear now. He glanced at his watch. It was two-thirty. He had to work fast, get out here, and call Rachel to give her the message to detonate all the explosive devices that would blow this building and its occupants, not to mention that dark hellish creature that controlled it, off the face of the earth.

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts and his heart began to race. Here it is, he thought, priming himself up to make a bolt for the door.

Mark unlocked the door and opened it.

A woman entered the room, nodded at the data center employees and for a moment Alan was too stunned to do anything. He was rooted to the spot. The three data center employees left the room and the door closed behind him, leaving Alan alone with the woman who had captured his complete undivided attention.

“Oh my God,” Alan said, feeling his emotions crumble.

“Hello Alan,” Susan Vickers said. She smiled.

IT WASN’T AT all like Dracula or ’Salem’s Lot. When Connie Dowling looked at her, Michelle felt no hypnotic power coming from her mother; she wasn’t held by the power of her mother’s gaze. If anything she was repelled. Michelle got over her initial fright, then snapped open her briefcase quickly and pulled out one of the explosive devices. She knelt down to place it underneath the cot and scrunched up her face in disgust at what could only be described as a thick jelly-like substance bubbled beneath the cot. The substance had no scent but it appeared to have texture. The spiderweb strand things emanated from it and crept over the cot, engulfing her mother, attaching themselves to her scalp and arms. That must have been what I felt when I got up, Michelle thought with rising disgust, remembering the slight painful sensation of a bandage being ripped off her arm suddenly. She had no idea what the things were, and had no desire to come in contact with them. Somehow, she knew that if she touched it the thing would grab her, like the Blob in that old 1950’s B-movie. So instead of shoving the explosive device beneath the cot she simply placed it on the floor next to it and stood up.

“Honey!”

The sound of her mother’s voice was so alien, so… so wrong, yet at the same time hearing it felt so good. Michelle stopped at the sound of it and turned around. Her mother was trying to raise her head up, and at the sight of Connie Dowling’s face Michelle almost broke down in tears.

Connie Dowling was struggling; that much was apparent from the strain in her anguished features. Michelle stood rooted to the spot, fighting back the tears as she watched her mother. There was something different about her, something Michelle had never seen before, and as she watched, trying to decide what to do, her mother made eye contact with her again and said in a raspy voice. “Help me!”

That broke Michelle’s temporary paralysis and she was at her mother’s side in an instant. Michelle almost touched the stuff covering Connie’s face and body, her instinctual revulsion to coming in direct contact with the thing strong, holding her back. Connie Dowling looked up at Michelle, tears brimming at the corner of her eyes. “Michelle… honey… please help me…”

“What’s going on?” Michelle said, terrified at what was happening.

“You know what’s happening,” Connie said. The older woman closed her eyes for a moment and Michelle could sense the struggle going on within. Connie opened her eyes again, seeming to get her strength back, and then looked up at Michelle. “It’s hard to fight it. So hard. It gets into you… makes you feel so strong and good… makes you feel… wanted…”

“Mom?” Michelle’s voice threatened to break. Something was happening here. It looked like her mother was trying to fight Corporate Financial.

“I knew it was you when I saw you yesterday but I didn’t want to say anything,” Connie Dowling said. She was breathing heavily from the exertion of her struggle. “I didn’t know how… deep they’d gotten you. I didn’t want them… didn’t want to… didn’t want them to…”

“It’s okay Mom,” Michelle said, still afraid to touch the stuff attached to her mother.

Connie Dowling looked wounded and beaten. “Please help me… I never… never wanted to be away from you like this…”

And then Michelle let forth the sob she’d been holding back and she felt her emotions collapse. She almost sunk to the floor. “Oh, mother!”

“I know you can do it,” Connie said, struggling with her words. “It’s… it’s so strong, but… you’re stronger… I can feel it. Just… just…” Connie closed her eyes and something happened—it almost looked like her mother was having a light seizure. As quick as it came it was gone, and Connie opened her eyes. “…pull those… tendrils off me…”

Michelle looked at the thin strands of webbing covering her mother and shuddered. “Oh my God… I can’t!”

“You can!” It came out as a hiss. Connie Dowling’s eyes were desperate, pleading. “I want… I want you in my life, Michelle. Please! I know things weren’t so great when you were growing up and… I regret that… but… it’s just so strong…”

Michelle felt the tears roll down her cheeks as she stood over her mother. She did want to help her. If this was the chance to save her and perhaps have the relationship she’d never had with her, she wanted to take it. “Oh mom!” Michelle said, her voice breaking.

“You can do it,” Connie said, struggling. “I know you can. Just… get these…”

Michelle tentatively put her right hand close to the tendrils wrapping her mother’s body and instinctively flinched. Her belly crawled. “I can’t!” She cried.

“You can!” Connie said. “Just… fight it! Remember the good times we had… remember those times… when you were young and your daddy and I… lived in New Jersey and you were growing up… just remember the good times and think about them as you pull these… these things away from me.”

Michelle took a deep breath, suddenly realizing what she had to do but not wanting to do it. She stifled back a sob and stood over her mother, torn by her decision.

FOR THE FIRST time in three years Alan Perkins was alone with his ex-fiancé Susan Vickers.

He was feeling his resolve crumble.

Susan was crying.

“I’m so sorry, Alan!” Susan sobbed into her palms, her shoulders shaking, as Alan stood there in stunned shock. He still couldn’t get over the fact that she was here and that she seemed so different!

She wasn’t anything like the wooden, unemotional woman she’d been in the last year of their relationship. Back then Susan had lost all of the emotional characteristics he’d fallen in love with. All she’d been concerned about was work.

Now she was actually crying. She actually seemed emotionally affected at the sight of him.

“I didn’t mean to drive you away,” Susan said between sobs. “I just… wanted to get in a position with my career where I could be comfortable. You know… I wanted a stable position… one that… I could manage my time wisely and then… you know…” She wiped her eyes and looked at him. Alan was remembering the last five years of their relationship when she started to drift away emotionally, the time Corporate Financial started taking over. It was all coming back to him in quick images; the long nights alone in their townhouse, the weekends spent apart because she was always working, the vacations she started canceling because she had work to do, her inability to open up to him the way she used to when they’d first met. “I had to work like hell to make a reach for the brass ring because I knew that when I got it we could have a life together.” She looked at him, her blue eyes deep and penetrating. For the first time in years Alan thought he could see the woman he once knew before Susan was taken over by Corporate Financial. “Do you understand?”

Alan wanted to understand. He was fighting to keep his emotions down. Seeing her like this—emotional, crying, having her be the way she was before she drifted away from him—was affecting him profoundly. “Yeah,” he said, swallowing his tears down. “I do. But Susan—”

Susan stopped what he was going to say by pressing her index finger over his mouth. The feel of her skin on his lips sent a tingle of sensation down his spine and he felt his eyes pool with tears. “I know you understand,” she said. She drew closer to him and he could smell her perfume. Memories of their life together before she changed began to overwhelm him and he choked back a sob. “I know you remember the way things were before I put things on hold so I could work on my career. I thought you would understand. I know that you were working hard too and that—”

“I didn’t abandon you though!” Alan cried out, and now he couldn’t help it. He started crying. “I was always there for you! Always! I never put my job over our relationship!”

“I know,” Susan said, breaking down again. “And I’m so sorry. I really am, Alan. I never wanted this to happen.” She tried to embrace him but Alan pulled away. “Please Alan!” She pleaded. “Don’t pull away from me now!”

“Oh, so now you want me back!” Alan cried. Susan’s form was blurry through his tears. He wiped them away with his fingers. “Now that your career is at the place you want it, you think you can just come back to me and we can pick up where we left off.”

“I’d like to try,” Susan said. Alan couldn’t help but notice that she really had changed. She was no longer the unemotional corporate drone she’d turned into in the phase of their relationship. “I remember we talked about it before, when we first got together. How we wanted to get our careers started before we got settled into our relationship. Then we would get married… have a family. I… I know I was wrong to neglect you when I was working at getting to where I am now with my career, but… don’t I get another chance?”

Alan felt a pang of guilt worm through him as he struggled to hold his emotions in. They had talked about this early on in their relationship, how they realized they would have to put in extra effort in their chosen career paths so they could get to a comfortable position to enable them to turn their attention to their relationship and starting a family. They were young when they first got together—just out of graduate school. They still had six years to go before each of them turned thirty and Alan remembered they’d talked about getting married when they turned twenty-six. Of course that never happened, their careers had been more demanding than either of them had expected, so they pushed it back another year, and then when they decided to get married at the age of twenty-eight it never happened because by then Susan was totally ensnared by Corporate Financial and had become a completely different person. She had changed so drastically in such a short time span that Alan felt like he didn’t even know her. She no longer had an interest in getting married, in having kids; she’d even lost interest in her hobbies. She’d never been around to talk about it because she was always working, and whenever he’d tried to bring the subject up she dismissed it.

Or at least that’s how it seemed at the time. Seeing her here now, hearing what she was saying, was driving a spike of doubt into everything he had been led to believe in the past five years.

“Alan… please!” Susan was crying; tears streamed down her cheeks. She grasped Alan’s upper arms and he instinctively reached out to her. “Please forgive me!”

Alan couldn’t hold it in anymore. He was crying openly now. “Oh Susan!” he gasped, thinking, have I been suckered the whole time? Have I… have I lost my mind?

“I’m in that place now, Alan,” Susan said. She melted against him and another piece of his armor slipped away at the feel of her body melding against his. “For the first time in my life I feel ready. I want you.” She looked up at him and there was no doubt in Alan’s mind now that he was looking at the woman—the real Susan Vickers—that he’d fallen in love with. “I want you and I want to live the rest of my life with you. I want to start over. I want to grow old with you, have your child—”

Alan choked back a sob and held her, trying to stem the rising tide of emotions but unable to stop it. He just couldn’t believe this was happening. His Susan—his love—was back!

And then he let the barriers down and the tears rolled more freely down his face and he cried, the long-buried emotions finally coming to the surface as he held her tightly, not wanting to let go of her ever again.

“YOUR FATHER WANTS to see you,” Connie Dowling said, still struggling to break free of the tendrils that enveloped her body. “He’s… not far from here. When we… have these brief moments of… ourselves… you’re the first person we talk about.”

Michelle’s vision was blurry from her tears as she fought to keep the intense emotions she was feeling down. Her throat hurt. Memories of her childhood were rushing past her, making the hurt even more raw and painful.

“I know you remember,” Connie said. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Michelle watched and waited, wondering what to do. Connie seemed to be holding her breath. Her limbs trembled; a vein pulsed in her forehead. Michelle stifled back a cry. My God, what’s happening? Is she having a stroke? A heart attack?

When Connie opened her eyes she released a long breath. Her eyes, empty and muddy-looking yesterday when she saw her, now had a vibrancy in them that Michelle had never seen before. Connie’s demeanor seemed to change, her face grimaced and then relaxed, as if some unseen force was doing battle within. Her eyes would go from cloudy and unemotional to being filled with stark fear and fiery passion. When she shook her head Michelle stepped back, nervous about what was happening.

Finally the struggle stopped. Connie opened her eyes again and Michelle saw the urgency in them. “Run, Michelle! Get away from here now!”

Michelle broke down, confused. “Mother, what’s happening to you?”

Connie stifled back a sob of her own. “Michelle, I love you, please just listen to me and go!”

“I have to get you out!” Michelle made an attempt to go back to where Connie was laying but stopped short of touching the tendrils attached to her mother’s skin.

“No—” Connie Dowling shuddered, eyes locked open then suddenly closing again. When she opened them again she was panting. Her face was slick with moisture. She looked back at Michelle. “I know you… remember… when you were a child… and I’m sorry… please… trust those memories…” Her eyes closed and she went into those mini-convulsions again.

Michelle backed into the corner near the door and sobbed.

The episode lasted a long time—almost a minute. When it was over Connie Dowling lay prone on the cot. Michelle watched the slow rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, then her mother opened her eyes. “Michelle?”

Michelle said nothing, too afraid to move.

“Michelle?” Connie’s eyes traveled the room until they locked on her. They were the eyes of a warm, caring woman. “Michelle… listen to me.”

“I’m so scared,” Michelle whimpered. All the memories and emotions that had come blasting through were now gone, leaving traces of themselves to linger in her mind.

“Look at me,” Connie said quickly. “Listen to me. I’m… trapped, honey. I know that you know what’s going on, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. Your father and I…” Another small tremor passed through Connie and was gone quickly. “Your father… and I… were forced to watch you grow up as Corporate Financial took over us… our bodies… our minds…” She appeared to struggle again and her voice choked. “We always loved you. I know you didn’t know that then, that we didn’t tell you because… we couldn’t… Corporate Financial wouldn’t let us… but I’m telling you now… we always loved you.”

Michelle stifled back another sob. Despite the fact that her mother’s voice sounded choked the emotion in it was genuine. This was her real mother speaking to her from somewhere deep inside the flesh and blood shell of her physical self, the part that had been taken over by Corporate Financial. Connie Dowling’s real self had emerged and was fighting for control. “Oh, mom!”

Connie’s eyes closed again as another series of small tremors overtook her, then her eyes opened again. “I’m trying to fight it,” she said. “God help me, I want to fight it.”

And at the sound of Connie Dowling’s voice Michelle broke through her temporary paralysis and approached the cot. She picked up the explosive device she’d left at the foot of the cot, feeling the weight of it in her hands as she stood up and looked down at her mother. Tears continued to stream down her face as she locked her eyes with mother’s. “Mom?”

Connie Dowling looked at Michelle, her face struggling as Corporate Financial tried to take over. The light was going on and off in Connie’s eyes. “I’m trying to fight it… trying to… please…” Connie’s voice was raspy. “Help me… get these tendrils off and help me up. We’ll leave together… get your father, get him out, we’ll be a family again.”

“Mother,” Michelle said, trying to stifle back the tears.

“We’ll be a family again and it’ll be just like old times,” Connie Dowling said. She was smiling. “Remember how it used to be? Remember how things were when we were a family? Surely you remember the good times, don’t you?”

“Oh, mother,” Michelle said, holding back the sorrow as she took a deep breath, now knowing what she had to do.

Connie smiled wider as Michelle started to cry. “You remember! I knew you’d remember! Come… take these tendrils off. Help me…”

“I love you, mother,” Michelle said and then she raised the explosive device high over her head and brought it crashing down onto her mother’s skull. There was a hearty crunch as the heavy end of the device smashed into her mother’s forehead.

Connie Dowling went into convulsions and this time the tremors were different. They were those of a person with a serious head injury. Michelle dropped the explosive device she’d used to crush her mother’s skull with and scrambled back, stifling back a cry, part of her horrified at what she’d just done. God, I hope I did the right thing, omigod please I didn’t want her to suffer any more than she has to—

Then Connie Dowling stopped thrashing about and was still.

Michelle cried, slumped down into the corner, not knowing what to do now, only knowing that she had put her mother out of her misery and freed her spirit.

HOLDING SUSAN VICKERS again was like going back in time.

Susan was crying against his chest as he held her. Alan was crying, too. He couldn’t believe that he had let himself be taken in by this, that he had actually believed a corporate entity had manifested into a spiritual one.

What had he been thinking?

“Oh Alan,” Susan sobbed, holding him tightly. “I’m so sorry for everything. I’m so sorry.”

Alan could only hold her, so overwhelmed with grief of what he had put himself through, for allowing his stressed-out imagination to get the better of him, to allow it to be fed by those whack-nuts from the Coalition and so happy to finally be here with her, to see that she’d changed for the better. She’d gone through this so they could have a happy life together. He saw that now.

He was so overwhelmed with the emotions of seeing Susan Vickers again that he didn’t even notice the feathery sensations of the tendrils snaking out of Susan’s skin to make contact with his flesh.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

MICHELLE FOUGHT TO get control of her emotions. She held back her tears, wiped her eyes and cheeks with the back of her hand. Connie Dowling’s prone body lay on the cot, motionless. Michelle took a deep breath, fighting every emotion back down into a tiny place in her mind to be dealt with later. Right now she had a job to do and she had to finish it. She’d lost fifteen minutes in this immersion room. Any minute now Rachel would attempt to jam the signal in an attempt to wake her up. Instead, what she got was Rachel Drummond’s voice coming through the tiny speaker in her ear. “Michelle! Michelle! You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Michelle said. Her throat was raw. “I’m getting out of here.”

“My God, I heard everything!” Rachel said. For the first time, Rachel sounded scared. Michelle wiped the moisture of tears and sweat off on her pant suit and straightened herself up. “I tried jamming the signal but it had no effect. I couldn’t get past it!”

“You did? You tried getting through to me?”

“Yes. I tried several times. I kept hoping you would fight her, that—”

“I killed her, Rachel. I killed my mother.” She felt dead, on the verge of crying again.

“You set her free, Michelle,” Rachel said. “You know that, don’t you?”

Michelle took a deep breath and looked at her mother’s lifeless body. “Yes,” she said. She couldn’t cry now. She had to regain her strength and get out of this.

“You have to get out of there,” Rachel said. “Now!”

“Affirmative.” Michelle picked up the briefcase and went to the door.

“Michelle?”

“Yes.”

“I can’t raise Alan. He got caught.”

Michelle stopped, suddenly feeling cold. “Corporate Financial got him?”

“Yes, and they brought him down to the basement level. They sent his—”

“I’ve got to get him,” Michelle said. She turned the doorknob to go out into the hallway.

“No!” The tone of Rachel’s voice stopped her. “They sent his ex-girlfriend in. The one Corporate Financial snagged years ago. She’s completely fooled him. He broke down. He…” Rachel sounded upset, on the verge of tears. “He bought it, Michelle. He got suckered in by her, by them, and he broke down. I listened to the whole thing and I was trying to stop it. I kept trying to jam their signal but nothing went through. I even tried yelling into his ear and he didn’t respond. She got him, ensnared him, and now he’s under immersion. He’s totally under and there’s nothing we can do now. You have to get out of there.”

“Oh my God,” Michelle moaned. She felt her knees turn rubbery.

“Get out of there! Leave now!”

The urgency in Rachel’s voice was strong and Michelle picked up the briefcase, and opened the door. “I’m leaving,” she said.

She closed the door behind her and stepped into the darkened hallway just as she heard the elevator outside the immersion department open.

A single pair of footsteps made their way out of the lobby and headed toward the immersion department.

Michelle slipped back into her role quickly, fighting back her nervousness and fear, and walked calmly and purposefully toward the reception area. If it was Sam or Gary she already had a plan in mind.

She met the figure walking into the immersion area just as she reached the still empty receptionist’s desk and was so into her role, had conditioned herself to look and act and sound wooden and unemotional, that she didn’t react visibly or emotionally when she saw her father—dressed in an immaculate gray three-piece suit, looking every much like a powerful corporate CEO—smile and hold out his hand. “Ms. Dowling, I presume?”

“Yes,” she said. She shook his hand, noting that in many ways he hadn’t changed at all since the last time she saw him over twelve years ago. If anything he looked even more slick and sinister.

“I’m Frank Marstein,” Dad said, smiling.

Michelle would have reacted visibly had she not prepared herself for this. Instead she nodded and said, “Pleased to meet you, sir. It’s an honor.”

“I understand you came here for immersion training,” Frank Marstein said. His demeanor, his very presence, commanded power. His behavior was totally unlike the man she’d known when she was growing up. Dad had always been somewhat aloof and preoccupied with work, but his demeanor now was very different. “Mr. Greenberg and Lawrence recommended you very highly and I admit I was very pleased by your credentials and track record. Sam is in my office now with the rest of the executives. I came down to see how you were doing.” His smile diminished slightly. “Why are you out of the immersion room?”

“I finished,” she said, keeping her voice wooden.

Her father’s frown deepened. There was no sign of recognition that he was looking at his daughter. “I was led to believe Sam had just brought you in.”

“I was here early,” she said. “He wanted to get me in early so I could attend your strategy meeting. I was just leaving to go upstairs. In fact, I have something for you.”

“Oh?”

“Last night I was going over the reports for Project Reign when I had an idea.” Her voice was crisp, business-like. “I drafted a report that I think you’ll want to see. I project that we can cut the production time of Project Reign down by half.”

“Half?”

“Yes. We’ll not only see increased profits within a quicker time period, but my report will show that implementing it will save on costs.”

Her father’s expression changed from slight disapproval to interest. “Increased profits and we can save money on costs?”

“Yes.” She held up her briefcase. “I worked on this report all night. It’s in here.”

“I’d like to see it and hear your presentation on it.”

“I’ve been looking forward to presenting it to you all day,” Michelle said.

“Then let’s adjourn to the executive suites,” her father said. He motioned toward the double-glass doors that led out into the main foyer of the basement level and she headed out, her father following her.

When they reached the elevator lobby Michelle handed the briefcase to Frank Marstein. “I’m going to freshen up in the ladies room to ensure I look presentable. Why don’t you take this up to the conference room and familiarize yourself with it before we meet?”

“Good idea,” Frank said, taking the briefcase. Like Sam Greenberg and Gary Lawrence, Frank Marstein could pass for a human being on the street. What gave him away was his veneer, the miasma of evil that seemed to envelope him, the dead look in his eyes that one had to pay attention to in order to see that no human spirit lived within the flesh and blood shell that used to be her father. “By the way, you look fine and very professional.”

Michelle acknowledged the compliment with a nod. “Thank you, but I’d like to make sure. I’ll only be a moment.” Then, without waiting for an answer, she turned and headed toward the Ladies Room.

She entered the restroom and immediately stopped behind the closed door. She waited, held her breath. A moment later she heard the elevator door open, then close. She glanced at her watch quickly. Two and a half minutes left.

“Rachel?” Michelle whispered. “You there?”

“I’m here,” Rachel said. She sounded troubled. “That was Marstein, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, it was,” Michelle said. For the first time she wondered if there was anybody inside the bathroom in one of the stalls. “But then again, it wasn’t. It was my father.”

“Your… father?” Rachel’s voice, at first questioning, became tinged with fear as understanding dawned on her. “Oh man! Oh shit, this is weird. Frank Marstein is now your father?”

“Yeah,” Michelle whispered, not wanting to understand the connections now. “I don’t know what the real Marstein looks like, but he’s my father now.”

“We believe Hubert Marstein’s spirit actually possessed the body of his son Frank years ago,” Rachel said quickly. “They merged, became one. There’s speculation that one of Frank’s children was killed in the late sixties. Drug overdose or something. The family swept it up, nobody will talk about it now. Alan uncovered evidence that suggests they use the bodies of those who rise to the level of CEO to be Frank Marstein’s vessel.”

Michelle understood the concept perfectly and it scared the hell out of her. Marstein was continuing his mission from beyond the grave, possessing the bodies of those high level corporate employees who were most easy to influence. She couldn’t hear anything out in the hall. “I gotta go. If Marstein faked me out and is standing at the elevator lobby, he’s going to start getting suspicious.”

“If he’s still there make a dash for the steps and get the hell out.”

Michelle straightened herself up and exited the bathroom.

The elevator lobby was empty.

With her purse slung over her shoulder, Michelle passed the bank of elevators and made a dash for the door that led to the stairway. She pushed through and took the stairs up to the first floor two at a time. When she burst through the doorway she made a jig to the right past the security station and exited the side door, ignoring the security guard inside who yelled, “Excuse me! Miss! Excuse me! You have to sign out!”

She ran towards the executive parking lot, seeing the green Honda Alan told her about. “The car’s here,” she said to Rachel. “What am I going to do?”

“I can’t get Alan,” Rachel said. She sounded stressed out. “I’ve been trying to jam the signal but I just can’t get through to him!”

The side door of the building burst open and she heard two voices call to her. “Hey! You! Lady! You didn’t sign out! Come back!”

Michelle ignored them, slipped out of her heels, and ran between the cars in the parking lot in her stocking feet. She silently chastised herself for not packing a pair of slip-on sneakers. “Security just followed me out.”

“Fuck!” Rachel said. Her voice changed from worry to grim determination. “Okay, just get the hell off the property. There’s a drainage ditch that runs parallel to the side road that leads to the executive parking lot. It’s bordered by a barb-wired fence. Go through that and run through the field to Highway 1. I’m leaving now to meet you.”

“What about Alan?” Michelle was running, following Rachel’s directions.

Behind her, more voices, the sound of running footsteps.

“Come back! You’re not following procedure!”

Michelle risked a glance behind her as she ran. She had a good hundred yard lead on them. “They’re chasing me!”

“Shit! Just go! Hurry!”

Michelle made it to the drainage ditch and almost tumbled down the concrete slopes to the bottom. She skidded down to the bottom, skinning her knees, and then raced back up the opposite wall. When she reached the top she scrambled on her belly, pushed her purse through and crawled beneath the lower wire. She felt sharp metallic edges rip at the back of her blouse as she crawled underneath the fence. She stood up, checked her pursuer’s progress once more, then started running across the field toward Highway 1, which was a good five hundred yards away.

She heard a car start back in the executive parking lot behind her. Building Security?

“Where are you?” Rachel asked.

“Running through the field,” Michelle panted. Her bare feet slapped the hard, rocky earth as she ran.

“I’m sorry,” Rachel said. “Just keep going. If you have to duck and cover do it, but once you’re able to, get up and get to Highway 1! I’ll be there any minute!”

“What are you doing?” Michelle asked and then the building exploded behind her.

It began as a sudden explosive boom. The sound initially propelled her to run faster and then she felt the tremendous heat as it seemed to push her forward. She didn’t even look back to see what happened. Hearing it was enough to tell her that Rachel had sent the signal out to detonate the explosives. And because that single signal would detonate all the devices at once, the explosive boom was massive.

The ground shook beneath her feet and for a moment Michelle thought she was airborne. She ran faster, feeling something like a warm hand gently push against her back. She risked a glance back and tripped, falling in a sprawl on the ground. She scrambled to her knees just in time to see the fireball burst forth from the center of the building to send another massive explosion through the structure, creating yet another concussive tremor. Debris and concrete rained down all over the parking lot and she ducked as she saw scraps of metal come winging their way down towards the field. They whizzed overhead, striking the ground behind and ahead of her, all around her, and she drew into a tight ball, praying she wouldn’t get hit. The heat of the fireball was intense and already the air was getting thick with smoke. The explosions were so loud, were so reverberating, that she didn’t hear screams emanating from the building. She risked a glance, saw unrecognizable scraps of metal and concrete dotting the field, then looked behind her at the burning structure. A good portion of the building was on fire; the south wing of the structure, which contained Accounting and Marketing, was undergoing a series of small explosions. She wondered if the explosives she planted helped detonate flammable or highly combustible sections of the building.

She sprang to her feet, purse still slung over her shoulder, and started running toward Highway 1 while Corporate Financial Headquarters burned behind her.

Highway 1 looked to be a hundred miles away.

Her feet hurt as she ran toward the highway, her only purpose now to get away, to reach the highway and meet up with Rachel Drummond before the cops showed up. She didn’t even think about what kind of excuse she was going to give if the authorities picked her up. She simply ran as fast as she could, ignoring the stitch in her side and the nicks and cuts the little rocks along the ground pounded into her feet as she ran. She ignored the heat from the fire behind her, ignored the sounds of the building falling apart as it continued to explode elsewhere, ignored the screams of the dying and wounded, ignored her conscience telling her she’d just participated in a terrorist act that no doubt killed hundreds of people (they weren’t people, they were immersed, taken over by Corporate Financial, they were like my mother and father, they weren’t real!), she ignored it all as she sprinted across the field, jumping over mounds of dirt and scrubs of brush, ignoring the heat and the smoke and the sounds of destruction and then she saw a glimmer of metal on the horizon on Highway 1 and she ran faster, the heat searing in her lungs as she forced herself to keep going, just keep going, and then she was reaching the edge of the field and she saw that the glimmer of metal was a car and the driver had seen her, was driving faster, and as it reached the juncture where she was running it stopped at the edge of the field and Rachel popped out of the driver’s side. Michelle was twenty feet away and then ten and Rachel was shouting at her to get in the car, hurry hurry hurry! and then Michelle dived into the open backseat, not even aware of Rachel slamming the door shut after her, not even aware of Rachel getting in the car and peeling away from the field, making a U-Turn in the road and heading away from the burning mass of confusion behind. All she could think about was getting away, getting far away from Corporate Financial and hoping what she’d done had destroyed the evil.

“We’re okay,” Rachel said as she drove down the road. “We’re okay. We’re okay…” Michelle didn’t hear her. She was too involved in her own little world. All she could think about was what she’d done, what she’d experienced, and then she broke down and wept in the back seat.

She let it all out; all the anger and rage and frustration that had been bottled up inside her over the last twelve years. All the emotion she had fretted over, thoughts of her upbringing, her parents, losing Alanis, wanting to see Donald again, hold him in her arms… it all bubbled to the surface and she cried, thankful that she was alive.

“Hey, we’re okay,” Rachel said. Michelle felt Rachel’s hand touch her knee lightly as she drove and Michelle looked up, not knowing where they were. She was lying sprawled in the backseat. Her purse had tumbled to the floor and rested against the rear driver’s side passenger door. The adrenaline was still running through her, making her feel light-headed. “Don’t worry, we’re okay, we’re getting out of here.”

Michelle raised herself up and looked out the window. They were on Highway 1, heading toward the main road that would take them to the Interstate. She risked a glance out the back window. Dark black smoke billowed out from where Corporate Financial Headquarters was. She could make out the tell-tale signs of flames licking upward. Because this was the only road that led to Corporate Financial Headquarters they passed no cars and Michelle heard no sirens. Michelle felt her stomach turn to lead as they approached the T Intersection of the road that would take them to the interstate. While this road was rarely traveled as well, should any passing motorist see them making a right hand turn toward the Interstate and see the smoke and fire, they might remember their car. This must have been on Rachel’s mind as well because she said, “Hang on, keep your fingers crossed.”

Michelle held her breath, not realizing she was doing it as they came to a stop at the intersection. There were no cars coming from either direction. Rachel eased out onto the road and was soon up to the speed limit. Michelle turned around, looking back toward Corporate Financial, watching it burn.

“We did it,” Rachel said, her tear-filled eyes on the road. “Damn, we fucking did it.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. It looked like she was trying to control her own emotions. Their eyes met in the rearview mirror. Michelle saw that Rachel had beautiful eyes—they were a deep green, reflecting care and emotion and that same fiery passion they’d held a few nights ago when they first met in Chicago. Now those eyes were red from sleep-deprivation and watery from crying. “I’m sorry. I can’t cry now even though I want to. I gotta get us out of here.”

“We’ll share a box of Kleenex whenever we get to where we’re going,” Michelle said.

Rachel laughed and Michelle smiled. She was turned away from the flames now. She sat up in the back seat, head resting against the seat, trying to relax as Rachel drove them toward the Interstate. Far off she heard the dim sound of police sirens.

“Here comes a car,” Rachel said. Her fingers gripped the steering wheel.

Michelle didn’t care. She was just glad it was over. But was it?

She caught a glimpse of the passing car. It was a tan Acura being driven by a man.

Rachel relaxed. “Okay, here we go,” she said as she made a turn down another road. “This should take us to the Interstate faster.”

They were now descending downhill, away from the hilly, mountainous region into small towns and suburbs. Sirens could now be heard from all around. Michelle closed her eyes, only wanting to put the nightmare behind her.

“We’re gonna be fine,” Rachel said from the front seat. Michelle opened her eyes. Rachel was calm. She kept the vehicle at a safe speed. “Everything’s going to be fine.” Their eyes met in the rearview mirror again.

And for the first time in weeks Michelle Dowling began to feel that this was true.

CHAPTER TWENTY

DESPITE BEING PHYSICALLY exhausted, Michelle Dowling sat on a rumpled sofa in an apartment somewhere in downtown San Francisco, sitting with Rachel Drummond and four other members of the Coalition, their attention riveted to the news.

It was nine-thirty p.m and the major news story was the explosion that leveled the National Headquarters of Corporate Financial Consulting Group near Calistoga, California.

Speculation was running rampant on all the news networks that the explosion was caused by a bomb, or a series of bombs. Shell-shocked survivors were interviewed, men and women in rumpled, dusty business attire, their features glazed with shock—something that surprised Michelle. They all said the same thing, how they were working when all of a sudden there was an explosion, or they heard an explosion, or something down the hall exploded. They ran out of the building despite feeling that they should stay and help salvage the company. One man said, “I was at my desk when the building shook and the lights went out. The building kept shaking and something inside me just snapped and I realized what was happening. I realized I had ducked under my desk and I thought that if I stayed there I’d be crushed, so I ran out of the department and was lucky enough that the explosion came from a department a few doors down. I went down the staircase and made it outside as the rest of the building just started going under.” The man was streaked with dirt and blood and appeared visibly upset. For a moment Michelle felt guilty that she had been responsible for causing this man pain but then something John Stanley, one of the Coalition members who was gathered there, said, “Look at his face. Listen to what he’s saying.”

Michelle paid closer attention to the man, as well as other victims of the bombing. All of the people interviewed by the media said pretty much the same thing; they were in a daze, just blindly going about their everyday duties prior to the blast; they felt a brief desire to stay and help protect company property and their work but then something snapped—it was as if they realized their very lives were at stake. Then they ran out of the building.

“That’s the key,” John Stanley said as they watched the news coverage. John appeared to be in his late forties, maybe early fifties, had thinning blonde hair, and he wore thin wire-frame glasses. “When we blew up Corporate Financial we severed its hold on people. That’s what happened.”

The investigation was ongoing and the fire had been put out an hour ago. The estimated death toll was over six hundred so far. The Department of Homeland Security was called in and the Federal Government was investigating possible links to Islamic Terrorism. Still, other sources opined that it looked to be the work of an American Terrorist outfit, one probably holding the same anti-government views as Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

Michelle kept waiting for a news flash to announce that two women were seen fleeing the scene in a battered Honda and were wanted for questioning.

As the evening wore on those fears slipped further away.

The apartment she was in was on the tenth floor of an old building near the Mission District. It was owned by an ex University Professor of Philosophy, a golden-skinned white-haired man named Rafael Martinez, who introduced himself to Michelle as one of the founding members of the Coalition when she and Rachel arrived. Talking with Rafael and John and the other members she met there—everything had happened so fast she couldn’t remember the names of the other people—helped calm her down. Only Rachel appeared to lose it in the hour or two after they arrived at the apartment. She retreated to a corner, plopped herself down in an easy chair and wept. A few times Michelle heard Rachel say Alan’s name during her sobs. Michelle felt bad that Alan didn’t make it out of the building, that he was probably dead, lying in the rubble of Corporate Financial. She was too numb emotionally to react. Rachel, on the other hand, couldn’t get over it. The way she was crying gave Michelle the feeling that she was mourning the loss of a great love.

As much as Michelle wanted to see Donald, as much as she yearned for him, she couldn’t stop thinking about her mother, Connie Dowling.

She was positive that her real mother had somehow broken through the corporate influence that had taken over her physical self. When Connie had told Michelle to leave the building, to run, to get away, that had been the real Connie Dowling. Michelle had seen the stark terror in her eyes and the love her mother never lost for her; she knew now that her mother had been fighting with Corporate Financial the entire time and somehow Michelle had never known it. The Corporate Financial side had tried to trick her into believing her mother still cared for her whenever it gained control. That’s what tipped Michelle off. When Connie told her to remember her childhood and the good times they’d had, that was the clincher. Michelle had no good memories of childhood and her real mother. The Corporate Financial side was pretending to be emotional and human. But it didn’t know how to do that. It didn’t realize it had sucked all the humanity out of her mother years ago, when Michelle was a baby.

That’s when Michelle started to cry again and this time she let her emotions out. She sat down on the sofa and mourned the loss of her mother. Rafael sat down gently beside her and asked if she wanted to talk. She shook her head. “I’ll be okay,” she said between sobs.

Rafael’s hand on her shoulder was reassuring. She felt genuine warmth coming from him. “I’m here if you need to talk,” he said.

Michelle accepted the tissues he offered and when she got control of herself her mother came into her mind again, followed closely by her father. “My father,” she said. “He was Frank Marstein.”

Rafael nodded. “Yes. I know.”

“My mother… she was still there. She… was trying to fight it. But my father…” Michelle searched for the right words. “There was nothing there. I looked into his eyes and… he just wasn’t there.”

“Your father had risen to an extremely powerful position prior to becoming immersed with Frank Marstein,” Rafael said. He had a slight Spanish accent. “That helped when it was time for Frank Marstein to surrender his previous host, an executive named Carl Jacobs who developed lung cancer. Your father went through another immersion process and Frank Marstein possessed your father’s body fully. Frank’s spirit completely took over your father’s. It made him so powerful that he was blinded by his singular purpose to consume resources and grow the business, consuming everything in his path.”

“We’ve been working on this for five years now,” John Stanley said. He had planted himself on the floor, sitting cross-legged. “All of us here had at one time either worked for Corporate Financial or been with companies that used them as consultants.”

“In my case, my life-partner worked at a law firm where several of their consultants were stationed.” Rafael motioned to his partner, a middle-aged man with a similar look and build. The man smiled at Michelle. Michelle smiled back, feeling better. “When Tomas began to be affected, I started doing research. I met John and we were able to save Tomas, thank God.”

“I was purified in the desert,” Tomas said. He stepped forward. “I was already being influenced and I didn’t even know it. Rafael and John basically kidnapped me and took me to a remote spot in the desert, performed a couple of purifying rituals over me. That severed Corporate Financial’s hold on me and I was cleansed.” He paused. “The three of us dropped out of the corporate world, out of legitimate employment basically, and started the movement.”

The rest of the members filled her in during the three or so hours they watched news reports of the destruction of Corporate Financial. The group began pulling together in a tight, underground organization thanks to the Internet. “Rachel helped keep it tight,” Tomas said. “She met Rafael on a message board when they were trading stories on what happened to each other. This was before corporations began monitoring message boards and blogs. They started emailing each other and Rachel came out here and we met. She brought a few other members together and one of us, Bill Wesley,” Tomas motioned to a middle-aged man with dark hair sitting cross-legged on the floor with a small group of people, “did background checks on everybody. He used to be in law enforcement. That reassured everybody, made them feel that there were no Corporate Financial spies in the group. We were able to keep our membership down to twenty people. The smaller, the better. That’s why we were able to avoid detection from law enforcement. We have no web presence, no official base. Unlike groups like Weather Report or fringe groups like American Workers United for Freedom From Corporate Tyranny, we already knew where the source of the cancer lay—in Corporate Financial. We saw that they were secretly working at becoming the dominant corporate force in the world… bigger than Time Warner, bigger than Microsoft. We saw that they were influencing the rise of Corporatism in the world, that they were influencing and guiding the majority of corporate buyouts and fraud in the world.”

“Alan told me he filled you in on our background,” Rafael said.

Michelle nodded. “A little.”

“We didn’t have to do much,” Rafael said. “A lot of the work was already being done by some of the groups Tomas just mentioned. We sort of piggy-backed on them in stealth mode I guess you could say. We planted several key people within Corporate Financial to gather as much information as possible and others in the group mapped out this operation.” Rafael paused. “We planned carefully and thank God, it worked.”

By now Rachel had stopped crying but she still appeared down. She stared blankly at the TV.

Rafael leaned close to Michelle and squeezed her hand. “Rachel and Alan were very close,” he whispered. Michelle nodded. Her feelings were confirmed.

One of the Coalition members changed the channel from CNN to Fox. The news reports from Fox were even sketchier, so Rafael asked him to turn to MSNBC. There was more coverage of the bombing on that news outlet and then it switched to another story, one coming out of Washington. “The House and Senate are meeting tonight in what is being described as an emergency measure to draft legislation reversing a bill that passed by a narrow margin last week,” the newscaster was well-known to Michelle. “The bill, known to Labor Advocates as ‘The Corporate Slavery Bill’, passed quietly last week and was signed by the President. It had been pushed and lobbied by various pro-corporate and big business groups who were working to abolish many of the rules and regulations put forth by the Department of Labor which they believed tilted too heavily in favor of employees. Labor Groups and Unions were quick to raise questions about the bill and had worked hard at applying pressure to various media and corporate groups to defeat it. It has since come to the attention of many of the senators that supported it that the bill would have virtually done away with all protections guaranteed to workers in all forms of employment. Basically, anybody employed at any company, no matter how small or large, could be made to work for however many hours and for whatever wage the employer deemed fit. That included slave wages, under slave conditions.”

Everybody in the room was riveted to the report. A Senator went on camera to relate that he and many of his colleagues didn’t even see that particular provision in the bill, which was actually originally written to clarify certain Trade and Commerce laws in the country. The section seemed to have been slipped in as an afterthought (several members of the Coalition openly scoffed at this; John Stanley said, “I find it hard to believe this bullshit, coming from a guy who has favored big business over consumer rights his entire political career!”). Nobody in either the House or Senate knew how it got in and several members of Congress refused to speak about it on camera.

The news anchor concluded the report with an interview with a journalist from a highly respected Internet News site who related that, had the bill remained in place, the law would have allowed employers to invade the privacy of their employees in their homes on their off-time, demand they work longer hours without additional compensation or risk losing their jobs altogether, eliminate mandatory vacations and sick time, and lower their wages to fit the marketplace. All this, the journalist said, was all in the guise of “strengthening the companies in the global marketplace.” John Stanley piped up again. “That was just the tip of the iceberg. It would have been a lot worse.”

Michelle didn’t even want to imagine how much worse it would have been but she couldn’t help it. Visions of the majority of the population working seventeen hour days, seven days a week, made to work or risk starvation and extreme poverty. It would be like the middle ages when the serfs were trampled on by the landowners and royal members of society of the day. And it would have been perfectly legal thanks to the legislation. Civil disturbances would have broken out, resulting in hundreds, probably thousands, of deaths. When it was all over the entire country would have been devastated. There would be lawlessness, anarchy. There would only be the very rich and the very poor. The middle-class would cease to exist.

She saw now how Corporate Financial had made it their goal to intertwine with government to advance their goals. Change the laws and you change the business climate in your favor.

She only hoped they had been able to stop it in time.

They watched the news in relative silence for the next thirty minutes as other stories seemingly unrelated to the Corporate Financial bombing and the last-minute effort to reverse the so-called Corporate Slavery law were related: violent disturbances in New York (one on Wall Street when a Finance Executive hung himself in the men’s room of a trading firm), Los Angeles and Chicago. There was one story about a violent skirmish in Lincoln, Nebraska when a secretary beat her supervisor to death with her shoe. The secretary had apparently been working at her office for the past two days non-stop. “Flip the channels,” Bill said. “Let’s see what else is going on.”

Rafael flipped through the stations. The news was reporting more of the same. In addition to the main stories on Corporate Financial and the show-down in Washington, there were scattered reports of violent incidents in the work place. “People are waking up and breaking free of Corporate Financial’s hold,” John Stanley said. He was sitting on the sofa now, on Michelle’s right. “If you notice, a lot of what’s happening is people who were forced to work against their will saw a chance and struck back. Some of them had pent-up anger and unleashed it.”

“The people Corporate Financial was controlling,” Michelle said, remembering Alma Smith and David Harrington and the others who displayed similar zombified expressions. “What happened to them?”

“Many of them most likely died,” John Stanley said. “We have reports that there were numerous Corporate Financial Consultants who succumbed to exhaustion and heart attacks and died but they were animated by Corporate Financial. The corporate entity itself kept them going, sort of like a puppet master.”

“Like Dennis Harrington,” Michelle said, remembering the story Jay related to Donald, that Dennis Harrington looked and appeared dead in his hotel room. She quickly told the story to John, who nodded.

“I’ve heard similar stories but have never witnessed them myself,” he said. He looked troubled. “I’d like to think that with the destruction of the building, we’ve destroyed the source of possession.”

“What about people who weren’t like Dennis?” Michelle asked.

“It looks like some of them may be confused now,” John Stanley said, indicating the current news story with a nod. The news story in question concerned a mini-riot at an office park after several hundred office employees destroyed office equipment, smashed windows and computers, and assaulted each other. One of the witnesses was being interviewed. He looked haggard and bruised and was described as an Office Manager. “It was like everybody snapped,” he said. “One minute I was… well… I was working and the next I heard this great… well… it’s hard to describe, but all of a sudden everybody in the office just started screaming. My secretary screamed that she was going to kill me. I looked up, saw one of my Analysts hog-tied with duct tape under the desk and I immediately went over to help him when I was attacked.”

The stories were so similar in their outlandishness and surreal quality that they had Michelle mesmerized. She couldn’t help but stay glued to the TV as the rest of the Coalition members wandered in and out of the living room, talking in small groups, nibbling on plates of food. It was the only thing she could do to convince herself that the world, in some way, was returning to normal.

WHEN THE KNOCK on the apartment door came at ten minutes past midnight, Michelle Dowling was off the sofa quickly. One of the Coalition members was already positioned at the door and drew a small caliber handgun as he looked through the peephole. Michelle had to fight the urge to yell, “Donald!”, she was so excited. She’d been aching to see him since Jay called a few hours ago and told her and Rafael that they were passing Bakersfield and would be in the Bay Area in a few hours. Rafael had given them directions and Michelle had stayed awake running on pure adrenaline. She was so tired but she couldn’t go to sleep. She had to see Donald!

The Coalition member with the gun unlatched the bolt, and opened the door just as Michelle reached it. “Donald!”

Donald Beck went to her and held her, and Michelle knew right then that somehow everything was going to be okay.

A FEW HOURS later.

It was closing in on three a.m. Most of the Coalition members who lived in other parts of the city, or who had secured lodgings elsewhere, had left. Rafael Hernandez and Tomas Rodriguez were the only ones left, as this was their apartment. Jay O’Rourke was sitting in the kitchen at the table, his laptop open, talking to Tomas in quiet tones as Michelle bundled down with Donald in sleeping bags on the sofa and the floor. Donald was stretched out in a sleeping bag on the floor by the sofa. Michelle was lying on her side, dressed in sweat pants and a T-shirt Tomas had found for her. Rafael had already gone to bed. Rachel was sleeping in the one guest room of the apartment and had turned in over an hour ago. Michelle had heard her crying a while ago but now the room was silent.

Michelle looked down at Donald as he lay on his back, his eyes open. “I still can’t believe any of this happened.”

“What do you mean?” Donald asked.

“It just seems so surreal,” Michelle said. “The fact that I participated in this… the media’s calling it the worst terrorist act in this country since the Twin Towers attacks… it’s just surreal. I don’t think of it as a terrorist act.”

“I don’t either,” Donald said softly.

“I’m sure other terrorists have thought the same thing,” Michelle continued. “Osama bin Laden, Mohammad Atta, Timothy McVeigh… they didn’t think of themselves as criminals. They really thought… still think in some cases… that they’re fighting the ultimate evil.”

“Don’t start thinking you’re the same as them,” Donald said, raising himself up and looking at her. “You aren’t a terrorist. You aren’t a monster.”

Visions of her mother came to her and she felt the tears again. Donald held her; she’d told Donald everything within the first thirty minutes of his arrival. Now she held back the tears and said, “I know this is different! I can see from what’s going on today that what we did affected everything! I mean… look at what’s going on in Congress… all those… incidents across the country—”

“We’re all a part of it as much as you are,” Donald said softly. “You, me, Jay and Rachel… Rafael and Tomas. All of us.” Donald looked tired. “If I didn’t know your heart the way I do, I would have been inclined to think you were going over the deep end when this all came up a few weeks ago, but I didn’t. I saw it happening myself in the medical field. Part of me so much wants to pick up the phone and call Dr. Brown and find out how Michael Brennan is but I can’t. Especially if the police or the FBI has already put two and two together and are looking for you.”

Michelle wiped tears from her eyes. She knew what Donald was talking about. Rafael told them all before the others left that they would convene in the morning to discuss the next phase: picking up and moving on, was how he termed it. He had an operative already assigned to Donald’s situation and was working to see how much the authorities might know about him, if they didn’t already. For Michelle it was a different story. The FBI was eventually going to find out that she had flown to California for Corporate Financial Business and had most likely died in the explosion. If they found her alive they would want answers, namely where she was when the blast happened. And if any kind of surveillance equipment survived the blast and evidence obtained from it pointed her way, there would be trouble. That’s why they needed to discuss the next move. “Don’t worry,” Rafael had said soothingly. “We can make sure you are either out of the country or have a new identity. We’ve been working on something like this for a long time now. We figured that when it all came down, we’d need the resources to disappear.”

There was so much uncertainty in what was going to happen, but despite that Michelle felt okay. She stretched out on the sofa, finally feeling her mind give way to the fatigue that her body was under. “I’m so tired,” she said, not even aware she was crying again, this time from the sheer relief that it was over. It was finally over.

“I love you,” Donald said, sitting up in his sleeping bag. She went to him and they embraced awkwardly, she half on the sofa and he sitting up on the floor wrapped in his sleeping bag. “No matter what happens, I love you.”

They remained that way for a moment and after awhile she lay back down. Donald lay down too and she felt herself drifting to sleep. For the first time in months she felt calm, at peace. She felt comforted with these people, with Rafael and Tomas, and John, Jay, and Rachel. She was worried about Jay’s situation with his wife—she’d caught bits of his conversation with her earlier and it was obvious she was very worried about him and that the police were pressuring her to tell them where he was. Her heart bled for him; she knew more than anything he wanted to see his son again but would probably be unable to after today. She wished she could help him.

She closed her eyes, sinking into sleep. She felt a strange kinship with these people. She knew they would take care of her just as she wanted to take care of them. She fell asleep with the sounds of police sirens racing by outside and when she dreamed, she dreamed about Alanis.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

SHE NEVER THOUGHT southwest Montana could be so beautiful.

It was also hard to believe that a year could go by so fast.

She was thinking this as she piloted the Jeep Cherokee down Route 30 near Ryan, Montana, the town they’d settled in. Sixty miles southwest of Butte, the largest city in their area, Ryan had a population of just under two thousand people and drew the majority of its income from the Ghost Town business that catered heavily to tourists. There was also a ski-lodge twenty miles up in the mountains. In the winter the area was pretty much what Michelle Dowling had expected, only the winters here seemed a little harsher than those in Pennsylvania and New York. Here she was on the plains and the snow blew in fiercely, driving stinging pelts of it in your face if you weren’t wearing a scarf. Winter hung around longer too—it was already mid May and the evening temperatures still dipped into the thirties. Today was the first day meteorologists were predicting actual Spring-like weather. That would be nice. Michelle was tired of bundling up in heavy coats and jackets.

She supposed she’d get used to it.

Of course, her name wasn’t Michelle Dowling anymore. It was now Jane Gorman.

Her hair was no longer shoulder-length or blonde. She’d lost twenty pounds, had toned her body up a bit, and now wore her hair short in a stylish cut that accented her face nicely. She’d colored it an off-red. Donald liked her new look. In fact, he was really turned on by it.

Michelle smiled to herself as she headed home. The terrain she drove through was lonely and desolate. In many ways it resembled the American Southwest. Not too far from here there was actual desert. The badlands, it was called. This summer she wanted to go out there with Donald. Maybe they’d find dinosaur bones or something. They could pack up a weekend’s worth of clothes, get in the Jeep and check into a little motel or cabin somewhere. Get away for the weekend. It would be fun.

They were adjusting to their new life quite well.

Donald had set up a small medical practice in town which drew great business since the nearest hospital was in Grass Valley, a larger town twenty miles west. Most of the people who lived in Ryan had been so used to making the drive that they no longer gave it any thought. Major medical emergencies had been handled by a Medivac helicopter. Donald had been able to get a license to practice medicine in the state of Montana easily, and set up shop quickly, converting an old house into a state-of-the-art medical office complete with three examination rooms, a waiting room, and a small lab. Dr. Eric Brown from his old medical practice had lent considerable support, helping arrange financing with a local bank and securing equipment. Michelle and Jay had helped set up the office. Jay had been wonderful with his technical proficiency. He’d programmed all of the computers and developed a patient database that tapped into the State’s pharmaceutical database that gave Donald quick and easy access.

Legally it was easier for Donald to pick up and move. For Michelle, it wasn’t so easy.

Michelle reflected on the past year quickly as she drew closer to home.

It became apparent within the day after the destruction of

Corporate Financial Consulting Group’s Corporate Headquarters that Michelle Dowling would have to be declared legally dead by the authorities. Sam Greenberg and Gary Lawrence were among the first bodies found in the rubble. Alan Perkins was found a few days later and was identified through fingerprints. Likewise, Connie Dowling was among the six hundred and seventy-three people listed on the government’s official list of the deceased.

Her father, Michael Dowling, was on that list too. She wondered if Frank Marstein’s spirit was killed when her father was blown to smithereens.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms located evidence that the building was brought down by over twenty highly-contained explosives packed with C4 that had been placed in strategic parts of the building. Fingerprint analysis failed to yield good clues. A high-level investigation was quickly undertaken, one that drove Michelle to paranoia. She’d had to be calmed down by Rafael and Tomas that first week when she thought the feds would pound on their door any minute, but it was apparent as the days passed into weeks, and with the news reports that the feds were chasing their tails, that they’d never pin the crime to her or anybody else in the Coalition. Nobody in the group was questioned; that’s how far underground they were. All the leads dwindled to dead ends: the C4 could not be traced, and the government admitted that they could not lay the blame on any particular group or organization. Several organizations like Weather Report condemned the bombing but also said they could understand the motives behind it. Individuals from Weather Report and other groups were relentlessly grilled, some placed in custody on other charges, but in the end the government could not produce solid ties between the bombing and their activities.

The Corporate Slavery portion of the Labor bill that had been passed by Congress and signed by the President a week before the bombing was reversed after twenty-four hours of open floor debate in the House and Senate. The reversal was hailed by Labor Advocates and denounced by various Business Lobbies and was sure to be introduced in some guise again during the next session, but it was unsure if it would gain support. Polls taken in the weeks following the debacle indicated that Senators and House members who had previously supported the bill were in danger of not being re-elected next term. The President himself was facing the lowest job approval ratings since he’d taken office. Like-wise, local politicians, judges, and lawyers were facing tremendous heat and backlash from their support and enactment of the bill’s policies during the hectic three days that things went hay-wire for many workers in the U.S. In Denver, Colorado, the state, as well as a plastics manufacturer, was being sued for nine hundred million dollars by one Mel Howard for destruction of personal property, assault and battery, false imprisonment and a host of other claims. In Fountain Valley, California, a retired couple named José and Glenda Gonzalez was suing their former employer on similar charges including kidnapping; they were also claiming that the undue stress of their ordeal had contributed to their health problems. In Ephrata, PA, a twenty-six year old factory worker was suing Red Rose Medical Insurance. Likewise, the four Red Rose Insurance Adjusters who’d visited him that day were awaiting trial on various criminal charges. Donald had heard Michael Brennan had just finished a six month round of chemotherapy to fight off the cancer cells that had been reintroduced into his body. Dr. Schellenger believed his prognosis was good, much to Donald’s relief.

In Sedalia, Missouri a middle-aged divorced woman was suing her employer under similar charges. Hundreds, if not thousands, of similar lawsuits were being brought against companies, and editorials in major newspapers were unanimous in saying that corporations now had a responsibility to their employees and not just their stockholders and board members. The people who did the work that made the money made the corporations, they argued. Treat the workers right and they will respond by being more loyal which, in turn, will result in better productivity and higher profits.

Of course not all companies behaved this way during the three days things went slightly mad for a lot of U.S. workers. Some started buying out those companies affected by the lawsuits, offering to settle legal claims in exchange for a majority ownership of stock. As a result, many acquisitions and mergers began to go through. The unemployment rate hit an all time high as people in various industries and jobs were laid off suddenly, but it quickly rebounded as other companies took up the slack. Sociologists wrote articles for leading magazines and journals attempting to explain the sudden bouts of violence in the workplace, many of them pointing to a sort of hive mentality that had been helped along by the Internet. Not surprisingly, the Small Business Administration reported that there was a sudden large surge in the number of applicants for Small Business loans; in many areas, small businesses were springing up faster than larger businesses.

Meanwhile, Corporate Financial Consultant Group was tottering on the verge of bankruptcy.

While the structure that housed Corporate Headquarters was demolished, their satellite offices remained open. Many of them started closing within weeks of Headquarters being destroyed. A few continued bravely on, getting new clients, continuing the work they had been doing before the bombing, but those projects were now floundering. Many of the consultants at those satellite offices and those who were working at their client’s locations reported that after the bombing they felt a sudden sense of lethargy, as if they had just woken up from a long sleep. Productivity dipped briefly and resumed but it wasn’t the same. Many consultants left Corporate Financial for competing firms, others left the field altogether. In an article published in Life magazine six months after the bombing, one former consultant said that when he used to work at Corporate Financial his life was consumed with work. It was all he thought about. He had trouble with his wife, with his friends, with his personal obligations due to the fact that he was always working. Once Corporate Financial was destroyed he felt a new outlook on life. No longer would he take life for granted, so he cut back on his hours and eventually left Corporate Financial for another firm. He later found Business Analysis work not only too demanding, but he found the business world itself anathema to his very identity, and he dropped out all together and got a job at a hospital designing and maintaining patient databases. At least he felt like he was contributing in some small way toward something significant, he said.

Those who lost loved ones in the bombing openly grieved as one would expect. For awhile Michelle had been troubled by this; the public perception put forth by the media was that hundreds of innocent people had been killed. Rafael Gonzalez showed her an interview with one survivor in a local paper who said that as much as she missed her husband, she was glad the company he worked for was destroyed because ever since he started working there he had become a different person. He’d become so driven to work for Corporate Financial that he’d completely neglected his family. The widow’s only regret was that the last six months of his life had been consumed with working, that she never got a chance to reconnect emotionally with him. “This won’t be reported in the mainstream media,” Rafael had said, “but I bet a lot of people are feeling this way about their loved ones. They just aren’t saying it publicly.”

Still, it bothered Michelle. Her troubles were eased a few months later when John Stanley did some stealth research by posing as a journalist and interviewed no less than a hundred relatives and loved ones of people who were killed in the blast and found that all of them related to him that their loved ones had changed when they started working for Corporate Financial. They were no longer the same people, they’d become distant, aloof, uncaring toward their personal life and loved ones, and this had made the grieving process for them even tougher. The people they’d known and loved had died long before the blast killed them.

When the FBI contacted Donald Beck a few days after the bombing it was to tell him they couldn’t locate his live-in girlfriend, Michelle Dowling. Donald had contacted the task force created in the wake of the bombing to tell them tearfully that Michelle had flown to California on business for Corporate Financial business and that he couldn’t raise her by cell phone. It was one of hundreds of phone calls from concerned loved ones the FBI received in the days following the bombing. The FBI questioned Donald at his home in Pennsylvania (the Coalition had provided Donald with a one way ticket back home and came up with a solid alibi for him to explain the days he and Jay had spent driving across the country, which Donald used to great success when talking to the feds). He played the grieving, worried boyfriend well. When six bodies out of the six hundred and seventy-three remained unidentified (many of them were so badly mangled or only partially recovered), and several people who were supposed to be in the building that day remained unaccounted for, matches were made by DNA, fingerprints or dental records. Modern science helped identify three of them. The other three remained unidentified. Donald volunteered to view the scant remains of the other three and did so two weeks after the blast. One of the bodies had a piece of jewelry embedded in its flesh that Donald identified as a pendant Michelle had worn; he’d given it to her as a present. He’d presented the ruse to them expertly and they’d bought it.

Donald told Michelle on numerous occasions since then that he often wondered who that unknown person really was and why no one had stepped forward to identify them. Was that person someone who had been so consumed by the thing controlling Corporate Financial that they’d literally cut off all contact with their family and friends?

Naturally Donald Beck was investigated, as were a lot of people, including many of the deceased. It was theorized that the bomber was one of the deceased. The FBI was still conducting this investigation and they had looked into Michelle Dowling’s life briefly and found nothing alarming. They did find it a weird coincidence that Michelle’s parents were killed in the blast, but Donald explained that one easily. Yes, Michelle had been estranged briefly from her parents a decade ago but that had changed. They still kept in touch. In fact, her mother had helped Michelle get the job at Corporate Financial. It was Donald’s word against anybody who cared to challenge him on it. The Lancaster Corporate Financial office couldn’t verify or substantiate the claim, and all personnel records were kept at Headquarters anyway and were now destroyed. Plus, Michelle’s boss, Sam Greenberg was dead.

While Donald was in Pennsylvania playing the grieving boyfriend, Michelle remained in the Bay Area and underwent a Swan-like transformation thanks to the Coalition. She got a haircut that drastically changed her looks; she got a new wardrobe; she went on a strict exercise routine and diet that shaved twenty pounds off in three months. The Coalition found temporary lodgings for her, Rachel, and Jay, who was wanted by the police in Oklahoma. The time spent apart from Donald was unbearable but she managed it. They communicated by email and cell phone at special numbers set up by Tomas. Donald cashed in on Michelle’s life insurance policy—nearly one hundred thousand dollars—and quickly sold the house. His friend at Crossroads Medical Group, Eric Brown, had asked Donald to come back to the Medical Group and he did for a short period, just to keep himself busy and to make things look more legitimate. Privately he told Eric that he couldn’t remain in Lancaster. There were too many painful memories of Michelle Dowling, not just in the house but in the area. He was reminded of her everywhere he went. Eric understood and gave his blessing when Donald tip-toed around the idea of leaving the area for somewhere new where he could start over. Eric told him he’d help him any way he could. The urge to tell Eric everything was strong but he resisted. The fewer people who knew, the better.

Ryan, Montana was chosen because it was out-of-the-way and in a remote section of the country. Rafael wanted them to relocate to a big city—Chicago or Los Angeles maybe. The cost of living was a big factor against that. Michelle had a desire to remain anonymous, and with a new identity it was easier to resurface in a small town. The move was choreographed so that Michelle moved to Ryan first, securing a small apartment by herself. Under her new identity, she was a widow grieving the loss of her husband and child in an auto accident. Tomas had even come up with a real case to model her story after, which Michelle committed to memory. When Donald arrived at the end of the summer and secured a nice little house in town and began making plans to open a medical clinic, Michelle responded to his employment ad to make it even more legitimate. Privately, they were reunited in the flesh forty miles from Ryan, in a little motel off the Interstate.

Things fell together quickly after that. Jay O’Rourke had undergone a transformation as well. His hair was now shoulder length and dyed blonde, and he’d gotten some new tattoos to cover up the ones he’d had before. Tomas had been unable to get Jay to quit smoking, which was understandable since Jay had a hard time dealing with having to leave his wife and son. It was the thought of never being able to see his son that affected him the most and brought him great anguish. Tomas and Michelle spent a lot of time with Jay in San Francisco in the months following the blast when he made the decision to drop out and have Tomas and Rafael help him obtain a new identity. Ballistics tests done on the bullet that killed the Corporate Financial operative in a truck stop restroom in Oklahoma pointed to a .45 caliber handgun owned by Jay O’Rourke, from El Paso, Texas. The feds were looking for Jay and had a murder warrant out on him. Jay was not going to prison under any circumstances, and he had to keep Julie and Danny safe, so he simply stopped communicating with them.

The last time he talked to them, the day after the blast, he told Julie that he loved her and to tell Danny that he would love him forever. Then, tears streaming down his face, he’d hung up. Forever.

Michelle insisted Jay come to Ryan, Montana with her. She also invited Rachel Drummond to come along. Rachel went into a funk in the weeks following the blast, and she admitted to Michelle one night that she and Alan had been lovers. The five of them—Michelle, Jay, Rachel, Tomas, and Rafael—spent a lot of late nights talking about love and loss in the weeks that followed. Michelle told them about losing Alanis and how, despite the fact that her daughter was a preemie, it was very much like losing a full-term child. Their conversations brought them closer, and when she left California for Montana she was eventually followed by Jay, who was now going by the name Bob Ford. Rachel came a few weeks later and moved in with Michelle briefly. She didn’t have to change her name; she wasn’t wanted by the government for anything.

The town of Ryan was coming up in the horizon and Michelle sighed. She had gone into Billings that day for some DVDs, some books, some things for the kitchen. The past eight months had been a rollercoaster but they were surviving. Jay had been a tremendous help in hooking up Donald’s computer network at the office and he was now working part-time for him as their resident IT guru. He’d also set himself up as a freelance computer repairman on the side, doing work for local farmers and businesses. Rachel had moved in with him and they now shared a small apartment in town. Michelle thought it was inevitable that Rachel and Jay hook up; so far the relationship seemed to be built entirely on sex, but they got along together great as friends as well. Maybe they could make something work. Both of them were still mourning over their respective losses, Jay more so than Rachel, but they were doing relatively well. They all were.

Michelle sighed as she drove through town toward the house she and Donald now shared. Financially, they were doing okay. The sale of the house in Pennsylvania, and the money from her life insurance had helped create a small nest egg for them, one they’d had to live on for awhile until Donald could build up his patient base. His practice was doing well, so far. He’d even hired a medical assistant. Michelle had gotten back into her art and was painting, mostly commercial work for local businesses. In time, she thought she might apply for a teaching position at the local community college. It would keep her busy.

As she drove down the street she and Donald lived on she realized she had come a long way in the past year. She had made peace with her past; she’d forgiven her mother for the emotional abandonment she’d felt as a child. Part of what helped her get over that was seeing her real mother in those few minutes at Corporate Financial and learning that Connie had never wanted any of this to happen—she’d loved Michelle deeply but was controlled by the force that was Corporate Financial. Knowing this gave her a new direction in life, one she felt when she first became pregnant with Alanis. More than ever, she would never live for a collective again, even for financial purposes. No amount of money would get her to do that.

And as for Alanis…

Michelle thought about her beloved first daughter and rubbed her pregnant belly. At five months, she was already showing. She had a good OB/GYN in the nearby town of Clifford who assured her that her pregnancy was coming along well. Michelle and Donald didn’t know the sex of their baby yet, and Michelle wanted it to be a surprise. Whether the baby was a boy or a girl, Michelle was adamant that her child would always come first. She’d had to go through a hellish experience in order to get to this place, but she’d made her decisions and she could live with them. They would be okay together, the three of them. And with Rachel Drummond and Jay O’Rourke living nearby, maybe they could have a nice support system in place. They’d have to look out for each other since, technically, the bombing of Corporate Financial Group was still officially open.

Michelle made a right on Hempland Road and headed to their home, a pleasant little cottage along the middle of the street. The porch light was on, and as Michelle swung the Jeep into the driveway she saw Donald’s silhouette in the window and she smiled, feeling genuinely more happy and fulfilled than she had ever felt in her life.

EPILOGUE

JESSICA WILLIAMS COULDN’T wait to tell Diana Early about her date with Micah Walters Monday morning.

Jessica stepped into Diana’s office quietly and closed the door. Diana looked up from the spreadsheet she was working on and grinned. “Well, how was it?”

“You won’t believe it,” Jessica sat down in one of the two chairs in front of Diana’s desk. She was a temporary employee Handy Supplies had hired to perform some general clerical work over the summer while she was on summer break from University. Diana was the company payroll administrator. Jessica had accepted a date with Micah Walters, who had been with the company as an Assistant Operations Manager for six months.

“So, what happened?” Diana asked, gushing to hear the news.

When Jessica told her Diana’s smile faded.

They’d gone to dinner and the only topic of conversation Micah seemed to want to talk about was work. How he’d saved the company x number of dollars by launching his new initiative; how his supervisor had recommended he be on the new committee for the redesign of the data warehouse; how he was working weekends and nights to facilitate his operation reorganization plans. Diana couldn’t believe it. “All he talked about was work?”

Jessica nodded. Her pretty features bore a look of disappointment. Last week when she told Diana that Micah had asked her out she was excited. She thought Micah was handsome and she was very attracted to him. Now that enthusiasm was zapped. “It wasn’t what I would call a romantic weekend at all,” she said.

“So what happened after dinner?”

Jessica gave her the rundown. Micah seemed uninterested in her sexually and every time Jessica tried to interest him in another topic—what school he’d gone to, his family, favorite movies or music or something—Micah steered the conversation back to his work with Handy. At one point, Jessica said, he even asked her why she didn’t consider her job so important. “Why would he say that?” Diana asked.

“Because I wasn’t talking about it,” Jessica said. She leaned forward. “And get this. He… well, it ended badly. He made me walk home from the restaurant and—”

“He made you walk home?” Diana’s eyebrows raised in shock.

“—he said he was going to have a talk with Mary about me,” Jessica said. Now she looked nervous. “He said I should be a more devoted employee; that I should be concerned about our position in the marketplace and be a team player and—”

“What a bunch of bullshit!” Diana said; she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“And he said he was going to have a talk with Mary about me first thing Monday,” Jessica said.

Now Diana knew why Jessica looked so nervous, and she tried to calm the girl’s fears. Mary was the Accounting Manager. “What he says to Mary isn’t going to do anything,” she said. “I mean, you’re a temp! Everybody knows you’re only here for the summer and when the Fall Semester starts, you’re back to school. Besides, we all like your work. There’s no way Mary will—”

“He said he was going to recommend to Mary that I either quit school and come on board as a full-time employee, or be fired,” Jessica said.

Diana was getting angry. She’d had no opinion of Micah when he first came on board, but now she felt a supreme hatred for him. She knew he’d been hired six months ago, that he used to be a consultant from that firm that was in the news a year ago, the one that got blown up. He’d worked out of their Detroit office and left voluntarily before it was eventually shut down. “If Mary says anything to you, come to me,” Diana said. “I’ll vouch for you. Don’t worry; nothing will happen. Mary will just humor him and then—”

Suddenly the door to Diana’s office flew open and there was Mary Fulmer and Micah Walters.

Diana was startled by the sudden intrusion. Jessica glanced up, a look of guilt on her face. Don’t look guilty, Diana thought. You haven’t done anything wrong, for God’s sakes.

Mary took a step inside the office. “Jessica, Micah told me about your dinner engagement Saturday evening and I must say I am most disappointed.”

Jessica opened her mouth to say something. Mary continued. “Micah recommends we dismiss you from the company unless you are willing to quit school and come on board full-time.”

“What?” Diana practically yelled.

“Umm…” Jessica said, nervous and squirming uncomfortably in her seat.

Mary ignored Diana’s outburst. “What will it be, Jessica.”

“You can’t make her quit school! Are you out of your mind?” Diana was practically shouting now.

Mary looked at Diana. “You’re fired. Get out!”

Diana gasped. The expression on Mary’s face was one of emptiness; it was like she was talking to a robot.

Mary turned back to Jessica. “I’d like an answer.”

“I can’t quit now,” Jessica said. “I still have two more years.”

“Then you can leave,” Mary said. “Handy is no longer in need of your services.”

Diana Early and Jessica Williams left Handy Supplies together that day and went to a bar on State Street. They spent most of the morning and afternoon drinking and venting their anger and frustration over what happened to them at work.

Back at Handy, Mary Fulmer and Micah Williams outlined the presentation they planned to present at the emergency employee staff meeting. They’d been planning this the past two days now, ever since Micah had infiltrated the company. Already he’d sunk his hooks into all of the executive staff; Mary was the first member of management to be influenced by him. She was working on the Manager of Engineering now and hoped to have him under control shortly. She was sure employees would start questioning the sudden dismissal of Diana and Jessica but that was par for the course. Trimming dead wood early would be beneficial for the company. The plan she and Micah were to present to the staff that afternoon was even more crucial. Mary had a feeling that it would be met by protest, but if they didn’t like it they could go elsewhere. After all, if they intended to remain employed by Handy they would need to be dedicated employees, not only when they were on duty from eight to five, but twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The Human Resource manager had already sent two associates to the homes of several Handy employees to confiscate various items—televisions, stereos, books, games. Engaging in the consumption of any media unrelated to Handy business was now officially prohibited even when it was conducted on the employee’s own property (another initiative was currently being carried out in stealth mode—the takeover of all mortgages and property deeds held by Handy employees; if employees were paying mortgages from funds made while employed by Handy, then the property was really owned by the company). One must eat, drink, and sleep Handy business.

It was the only way to stay competitive in the global marketplace.

While elsewhere in the world, business continued on as usual.

January 17, 2005 — October 2, 2005

Lititz/Lancaster, PA

Fountain Valley, CA

About J. F. Gonzalez

J. F. Gonzalez is the author of over fifteen novels of horror and dark suspense including Back From the Dead, Primitive, Bully, The Beloved, Survivor, and is co-author of Clickers series (with Mark Williams and Brian Keene respectively). His short fiction is collected in four volumes, of which the latest, The Summoning and Other Eldritch Tales, is available as an exclusive digital title. He also works in other media including film, the technology sector, and other areas of publishing. He lives with his family in Pennsylvania and is currently working on his next novel. For more information, visit him on the web at www.jfgonzalez.com.

Also by J. F. Gonzalez

Clickers

(Co-written with Mark Williams)

Click Click Click Click

Phillipsport, Maine is a quaint and peaceful seaside village. But when hundreds of creatures pour out of the ocean and attack, its residents must take up arms to drive the beasts back.

They are the Clickers, giant venomous blood-thirsty crabs from the depths of the sea. The only warning to their rampage of dismemberment and death is the terrible clicking of their claws. But these monsters aren’t merely here to ravage and pillage. They are being driven onto land by fear. Something is hunting the Clickers. Something ancient and without mercy.

Clickers II: The Next Wave

(Co-written with Brian Keene)

The first wave was just the beginning…

The United States is in ruins. It has just suffered one of the worst hurricanes in history, the people are demoralized, and the president is a religious fanatic. Then things get really bad — the Clickers return.

Thousands of the monsters swarm across the entire nation and march inland, slaughtering anyone and anything they come across. But this time the Clickers aren’t blindly rushing onto land — they are being led by an intelligence older than civilization itself. A force that wants to take dry land away from the mammals.

Those left alive soon realize that they must do everything and anything they can to protect humanity no matter the cost.

This isn’t war, this is extermination.

Clickers III: Dagon Rising

(Co-written with Brian Keene)

They thought it was over, but the second wave was only the beginning. In the aftermath of the Clickers and Dark Ones’s siege and a coup against an insane President, America rebuilds. Change has come, and a better future is promised to all. But promises can be broken and there may be no future at all because deep beneath the ocean a new terror awaits. Dagon, god of the Dark Ones, is waking up… and if humanity doesn’t stop him, then mankind will face extinction.

Trapped on a South Pacific Island, the cast of Clickers and Clickers II: The Next Wave join forces with a mysterious group of occult agents to face off against the Clickers, the Dark Ones, Dagon, and an all-new threat — the deadly obsidian Clickers. The stakes have never been higher. Dagon is rising… and humanity will fall.

Survivor

Author’s Preferred Edition

Before Hostel… before Saw… there was Survivor.

It was supposed to be a romantic weekend getaway. Lisa was looking forward to spending time alone with her husband, Brad, and telling him that they are going to have a baby. Instead, it becomes a nightmare when Brad is arrested and Lisa is kidnapped. But the kidnappers aren’t asking for ransom. They want Lisa herself. They’re going to make her a star — in a snuff film.

What they have in mind for Lisa is unspeakable. They plan to torture and murder her as graphically and brutally as possible, and to capture it all on film. If they have their way, Lisa’s death will be truly horrifying… but even more horrifying is what Lisa will do to survive…

It Drinks Blood

New Castle, Pennsylvania, during the tail end of the Great Depression.

Robert Brennan has never completely forgotten those days, even though he has tried to forget them. But when the nursing home he lives in receives a patient he remembers from those dark darks, it takes his mind back to a period marked by terrible, blood-soaked violence… the very kind marked by the twisted perversity of the stories he used to write for the weird-menace pulps… the kind marked by the real-life fiend that stalked the hobo jungles in search of fresh blood!

Primitive

It began as just another day for David Spires and his wife Tracy: coffee, breakfast, and getting the kids ready for school. Then the bottom dropped out of civilization.

The world ends not with a bang or a whimper, but with a dizzying downward spiral. Instead of the rat race of commuters scurrying to beat the clock, humans are now packs of animals reduced to snarling primitives.

David, Tracy and their daughter Emily, along with fellow survivors, leave Los Angeles for the safety of the country where fewer people means fewer primitives. But as they venture farther away from the city, they realize an unnatural force is at work. Civilization didn’t just fall apart… it was overtaken by an ancient evil that was present before the first cave paintings. Human history has no formal record of it, but the dark presence that’s fueled nightmares since time began has crept out of the shadows… and its influence is growing.

The Summoning and Other Eldritch Tales

The Summoning contains seven collected tales of Lovecraftian-inspired nightmares from J. F. Gonzalez. Featured in this collection are two original pieces: "Holes" and "The Summoning" (co-authored with Mike Baker).

This exclusive digital collection of stories includes:

Opening The Way: An Introduction

Tattoos

Going Home

The Revenge of Cthulhu

Holes

The Man Who Had a Death Wish

The Summoning

The Watcher From the Grave

Each story contains special story notes penned by the author!

Back From the Dead

Tim Gaines was the town pariah. Mocked and teased continuously since he was in the sixth grade, he approaches his senior year of high school with a sense of cautious trepidation. Years before, when he was in the sixth grade, a group of boys led by Scott Bradfield — a popular, well-liked kid from well-to-do parents — spread a vicious rumor that he was a devil-worshipper. The rumor stuck, and is believed by most of the students and even a few of the teachers and administrators. It’s a rumor Tim can’t beat, and one he sometimes feels he’s brought on to himself due to his love of horror novels and movies.

Now Tim has become friends with a loose-knit group of kids who have also become social outcasts thanks to other rumors about them by the student elite. With their mutual support, Tim has begun to come out of his shell. He’s going out with them, being invited to parties, and even begins to have a romantic interest in a girl, something he never thought would happen to him in high school.

But all that will change when Scott Bradfield and his friends set their sights on Tim again. Only this time, they need his help. Like most of the student body of Spring Valley High School, they sincerely believe Tim Gaines is a devil-worshipper. And they believe he has a dark power. Now they want to use him and that power for their own sinister plight…

…To bring back the dead homeless man they’d kidnapped and brutally beaten to a pulp in the guesthouse that resides on the Bradfield residence.

They want him brought back not because they're scared of getting caught for his murder, but so they can savagely beat and murder him again…

…and again…

Fetish

Something is in search of human prey in the gang-ridden communities of Los Angeles…

When the member of a notorious street gang is found decapitated and dismembered at the bottom of the LA River, it quickly becomes apparent something is amiss. Detective Daryl Garcia connects it with the murders of six other gang members killed in the same way. It looks like the work of a serial killer, but the gang members don’t think so. They believe the murders are the work of rival gang members.

Someone has a dark desire of the most depraved fetish…

Detective Garcia becomes determined to find the killer at any cost. Together with Rachael Pearce, a journalist he falls in love with, he searches for the killer through the gang underground and the world of prostitution and drugs. And as suspect after suspect is released with no solid evidence to connect them to the crimes, the search for the killer becomes more urgent as the gang-infested areas of the city reach a boiling point to the brink of rioting. In a community of gang members — who are killers themselves — how does Detective Garcia find the most monstrous killer he has ever encountered?

Madness wears many faces…

Do Unto Others

Jim Cornell used to believe in God.

But when things went bad — his daughter getting cancer, his layoff from his well-paying job, the strain of his marriage — he began to have no use for God anymore.

When Jim’s forced into a situation that will require his participation in another man’s murder, his faith will be tested. Because while Jim used to believe in God, he’d never given that much thought to the Devil.

Now he’s going to have to. Because, like it or not, Jim is involved with people who have a deep religious faith, too.

Jim is about to discover that where there is light, there must be darkness. There’s more than one kind of religious faith and his is about to be put to the ultimate test.

Acknowledgements

Much of this novel was written while I was working a full-time job in the IT world as a Web Designer/Technical Writer/Database Administrator, but I drew on my entire past employment in the corporate world for much of it’s background. I’d like to take the time now to thank some of those people who were instrumental in its support and development.

My thanks to Larry Roberts for publishing this novel in its original limited edition; my thanks also go to Gilbert Schloss, Don D’Auria, and Shane Ryan Staley who provided support by buying (and publishing) other projects during the stages The Corporation went through numerous drafts. Steve Calcutt gets credit for repping me during this period. Special acknowledgement must be made to Julia Atkins, who provided the cover illustration for this new edition and provided much-needed assistance on the overall cover design. Special thanks to Mike Lombardo for providing the introduction.

Dori Miller gets credit for helping me with research and for sharing her own corporate horror stories from her years in the trenches. She also provided pre-reader feedback on an early draft of this bad boy, along with Todd Clark, Bob Strauss, and Jamie LaChance.

Brian and Cassi Keene, Bob Ford, David Nordhaus, Gord Rollo, Gene O’Neill, Jamie LaChance, Todd Clark, Bob Strauss, Gary Zimmerman, Dori, Michael Laimo, Geoff Cooper, and Ken Atkins provided safe havens from the madness of both this novel and the corporate world.

Ramona Pearce, Salpy Manjikian, Matt Thompson, Ken Atkins, Jeremiah Brown, and Bob “Isn’t That Neat!” Fegley, were like-minded allies in the corporate worlds that inspired much of this novel.

Cathy and Hannah Gonzalez get their own paragraph because they deserve it.

While this novel is completely fictitious and my original intention in writing it was to provide hours of bizarre and (I hope) suspenseful entertainment, I could not help but be drawn to some of the underlying themes that crept into the narrative. For a look at the truly scary, I direct you to the Mark Achbar/Jennifer Abbott documentary film The Corporation (2003), or the Human Resources Department of any large corporation.

Copyright

No part of this book may be used or reproduced, stored into or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or any other means now known or yet to be invented) without the prior written permission of the copyright holder, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed are either fictitious or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events and individuals is coincidental. This book is sold as is and neither the publisher, nor the author, will be responsible for any direct or consequential damages that may arise from the misuse of the information within.

A Signed Limited First edition of this book was previously published by MorningStar Press.

The Corporation © 2010 by J. F. Gonzalez

Cover Illustration and Design © 2012 by Julia Atkins

All rights reserved

Midnight Library

Lititz, PA

Content

J. F. Gonzalez
THE CORPORATION

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

EPILOGUE

About J. F. Gonzalez

Also by J. F. Gonzalez

Acknowledgements

Copyright