Masterminx

Well, I left off with my worthless paycheck crumbled into a ball in Wes's pocket. A series of events followed that my memories holds in a disjointed chain leading to today.

The next day, I went out with **CB** to kill a day. She had an appointment with Carlos in the afternoon, but came over to my place in the morning. The phones were constantly ringing.

At one point, she received the news that **RB** and **BL** were able to cash their checks. We were advised to make tracks down to the bank to take care of my check. We left, headed for Wes's office, as soon as we could. We picked him up and ran to the bank, but he returned with nothing more than the same, crumpled check which the bank had refused to cash. He was quite pissed off.

**CB** and I took him back to work, and headed up to the Metaphysical bookstore. I think she was looking for a reader to confirm her feeling that everything was going to be okay. She was obviously rattled by the circumstances. We paced around in the bookstore like victims of a tornado--shocked and shattered amidst an eerie calm.

I wound my way through the incense and statues and altercloths, to the area where they keep the herbs, oils, and candles. I eyed the scroll paper, the quills, and the dove- and dragon-blood inks. It occured to me that, though I don't place a great deal of stock in the spell-casting portion of that spiritual bent, I felt that I would enjoy spending my last cents on a few red-and-black skull candles and the other various trappings of spellwork to send evil back to the evil-doers. I thought it would even be rewarding to follow the ritual of binding them or even wishing them great suffering.

These are the sort of thoughts that one really ought not to have. It's wrong to wish ill on people, even if you think they deserve it. I told **CB** we needed to get out of there, so we went to brunch.

After brunch, we weaded to Echo Canyon Park, and walked around in the hot sun a little bit. We startled a long, plated, skink-like lizard as we were walking back to the car. He ran ahead of us on the trail for several feet before he jumped into the rocks to hide. From there, we went to Carlos.

I stayed in the lobby while they met. When it was over, he had placed her on medical leave for two weeks. She was restricted from speaking to anyone at work. It was probably the best thing for her. Gene, however, kept calling her in search of a key to the office.

Ever since the first confrontation, access to the office was limited to three or four people. Gene was not one of them. So, even though they took over again, they didn't have a key to the front door. The closest people to the office who had keys were **CB** and I. But she wasn't talking to him. Every time he called, she got all nervous and upset.

Finally, I went to a payphone and called him. I told him that she was taken into the care of her doctor and forbidden to speak to anyone at work. I left a message on his voicemail, and I instructed him to call Wes if he needed to reach me. While we waited for the return call, we ate ice cream at a parlor near the phone. It didn't take very long.

Wes called and gave me another number to call to reach Gene. When I called this time, Gene answered. He said he needed a key so that the employees of the company could get back to work. I said that was funny, because I needed to get paid. He assured me that my check would be good the next day (Friday), but I hardly believed him. He pointed out that it was after 5:00, so the bank was closed for the day. I told him I would give him the key as soon as I had my pay. I reasoned that I couldn't give it to him sooner than that because I needed gas in my car. He agreed. He asked me whether I was planning on coming back to work. I said I wasn't sure: work had been so unstable for the last few weeks. I told him that, as long as I wasn't getting paid, I was going to just stay away and wait for things to settle. He said that was a good idea.

Then, he asked me when I planned to get my surgery. He added that they made sure the insurance was still in effect. The bastard was goading me. It didn't work.

On the way home, I got a call from Mr. Magoo. He said he would do whatever he could to help me get my check taken care of. He offered to drive me to the bank in the morning, until he heard that I live on the other side of the valley. He was stumbling for a way to get his hands on the office key before 10 or 11 then next day--or whenever I managed to get my money, gas up the car, and drive to Scottsdale. He offered to go to the bank branch in a grocery store near him, withdraw cash, and exchange it for the key and my paycheck. This would take place at my home.

I gave him half-assed directions, and agreed to meet him at my security gate when he arrived. The exchange went fine. Magoo shook his head and said, "All this\\ for nothing." I replied, "It's nothing, \\now," and walked away.

On Saturday, I took Wes to work, then joined Megnog and **CB** on an excursion to Tucson. We spent the day with the CEO family at their home. We started the day off with a couple of bottles of Pinot Grigio and some shared appetizer at Oven's. We talked and shared our news of the week's events. We found out that the former CEO was all set to sign over his proxy vote and end all of this upheaval--he told the Heroes to send the paperwork to his attorney and he'd sign. Unfortunately, no one had seen him or heard from him since then. His wife was MIA, as well. Mrs. CEO told us that they suspected that he was in jail for a probation violation, since he was thoroughly intoxicated when he called. He had been out with Gene and Magoo.

Before we left the restaurant, Mrs. CEO asked me if I minded if John came over, as well. She said he wanted to a chance to talk to me, and to see how I was doing. I had no objections, except that I wished I was better dressed (which I kept to myself). I mean, I was wearing pool-loungewear.

We spent the day with the kids and the dogs. The ladies had more wine, and the men drank Glenlivet. Nobody got drunk or angry or unruly. It was very pleasant. John made me laugh, and it was good to see him in better spirits. Megnog said we spent the whole time "gazing into each other's eyes," which is crap. We talked about Wes, about comics, and about role-playing games. The looks we exchanged were mostly the shared moments of the only people in the room who got each other's jokes. Still, Mrs. CEO commented on the synergy of the company later, citing as an example, "Rxxxxx is crazy about John, and John is crazy about Rxxxxx." What can I say? We smart folk have to stick together.

By the end of the day, I had made up my mind to quit. I was granted a week of vacation days that were "owed to me" by John and Mrs. CEO, so I took them and continued to look for a new job. That hunt continues. The Bad Guys still have control of the office--albeit, a largely empty office.

Yesterday, I found out that the old, evil CEO was in prison. The probation he had been granted for pleading No Contest to aggravated assault against his wife was revoked the night he disappeared. According to the account I heard, he was riding home in the car with his wife after his evening of debauchery with Gene and Magoo, and the two of them began to argue. He grabbed the steering wheel, causing the car to swerve. This caught the attention of another motorist, who observed them yelling and struggling in the car. The police were notified, and when they pulled old CEO over, finding him totally blitzed and in violation of probation, he got cuffed and stuffed. I am told that when the good, new CEO when to visit him in his prison uniform, he found the prick in pretty bad shape. He was covered with sores from the lime treatment on the concrete where he had been sleeping. GO KARMA, GO KARMA, GO KARMA

The two largest investors in the company are meeting on Wednesday, with Gene and Magoo, and the other parties of good. That will be the last stand.

On Friday, I received a call from Gene, inquiring as to my intentions. I told him I was not coming back. I had an interview with another company in the valley on Friday morning that seemed to go okay. It was probably just the first of several I will have to sit through, but I won't know until later in the week.

The paycheck that was supposedly mailed to me on Wednesday evening has still not arrived.

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