by Finian Blake
Rhonda looked at his pleading eyes and clasped hands. “We told Boris to find talent. Let’s go with his lineup.” Rhonda kissed Boris on the cheek. “I have to work Cherry will have the ‘Red Angel’ help you. She is Georgian you know.” Boris punched a quick link and Nikki answered.
“So tell me Boris how many of our choices did the boss ladies chop.”
“We have them all but that is not what I am calling about.”
“What can I do for you?”
“Look in your computer for the ‘Red Angel’,” it only took a minute for Nikki to put up a screen.
“Oh my, this is a serious lady she and her little friend sent 84 Afghan fighters to Allah.” Boris pointed to the picture.
“The little one is not you.”
“No, that is her sister. Their aunt adopted me, but I call them sister.”
“The file shows them both dead in a plane crash in the Black Sea.”
“And the files will show your friends as being dead. Probably a bus accident with all of the bodies burnt to ashes. Nikki you and your friends will be dead in Russia and full American citizens when you arrive.”
“No one will die for us?”
“There are enough John Does that die in Moscow every day to supply ten bodies.” Nikki could not argue that point because the Russian crime bosses were killing people whole sale. Boris killed the connection.
Boris wanted the rest of the tale. “So what happens to me when I quit and go to work for you? What is the director going to say?”
“Boris I will tell him that you are just changing locations and you have talked ten of the best Russian cyber freaks into coming to our side. When we set up the studio we will have two Cray super computers one of which will be a NSA remote location. You can pursue your projects and still help the NSA. None of your friends will be forced to act against Russia but the NSA will gratefully accept the fact that they are no longer working for the Russians. They will not be defecting. They will be going to work for the studio. We will be making movies, advertising, cartoons, and video games. Plus, we will be starting a new computer security system for Four Diamonds. The good news is that if you agree you will be in charge of the entire computer program.”
“Do you really think that he will buy it?”
“I will sell it, because losing ten Geeks will hurt their program all by itself. The NSA will gain a reserve Cray computer plus he will not lose your services if you agree to do the consulting work. Everybody is outsourcing, so why not the NSA.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I am buying your services and providing you with a place to work. You may accept or decline any job.”
“I would never decline a request from you!”
“Never the less you have that option. I would suggest that you continue to do security tests for the NSA and offer reserve services for a reasonable price.”
“And the studio will be our cover?”
“No, the studio will turn a large profit. I really do work for movies, advertising, and designing clothing. The new age requires that we move into the digital world or expire. Nikki can do his video games and the others will be treated as well as you and Nikki are being treated.
“You are like ‘Specter’ in James Bond?”
“Somewhat, but we are not as dumb because we are 99%. Occasionally the government asks us to do something that they cannot claim.”
“So why did you tell me about the ‘Red Angel’?”
“She owns Four Diamonds Security and a spinoff will be Four Diamonds Computer Security.”
Boris rocked back in his chair reassessing Cherry. “I think that I understand. Now I have a better idea of who to approach. What are your ideas?”
“Four Diamonds has offices in over seventy countries on six Continents. I think that you might want to recruit the best from all over the world. We have $75,000,000 to set things up. We will start with Knoll Productions and Four Diamonds Computer Services. You can cut 95% of the decisions. Do you want a title or just run things?”
“I think that a title will make me a target. I will be happy just to run things. Is Rhonda going to really be the boss lady?”
“I believe Rhonda and I are going to be partners. She will have as much authority as me and I believe that she will exercise it in the same way. If Rhonda agrees to the change, I believe that she will be managing director of the entire operation.” They both jumped when they heard a pair of high heels drop on the floor. When the door opened she slipped off her shoes not walking through the door to leave. Rhonda walked back just within ear shot.
“I believe that you would have said the same thing in front of me.” Rhonda smiled saying, “Boris, would you care for a leg or a breast,” placing her foot solidly between his legs.
“I’m a pig, so I believe that I would like both.”
Ellen the AG’s wife was waiting patiently for the nurse to arrive with a wheel chair for Betty. She had stopped by the house to get Betty some fresh clothing that was not splattered with blood. Unfortunately, half of Betty’s face was wrapped in a thick gauze bandage. The doctor removed the other bandage and when Betty looked in the mirror she thought of the ‘Elephant Man’. The swelling and the bruising looked much worse than the pillow like bandage. Ellen quietly explained her presence.
“Bob gave Felix a choice he could either go to the hospital for a nice long stay or to jail for a longer stay.”
Betty put her hand to the bandage. “I said that it was an accident and I believe it was.”
“It wasn’t you. He assaulted another federal employee on federal property. The whole thing was caught on a security camera in living color with sound.” Betty’s jaw dropped to her chest remembering the pictures of the battered woman on the lap top. “Felix is looking at doing a few years if she presses charges. Bob worked a deal with her. If Felix commits himself for evaluation along with treatment she will drop the charges and make the whole incident go away. Bob wants you to know that if Felix does this he will not be fired, just demoted.”
Betty forced the words out of her mouth, “I want to see the footage from the security camera.”
“You don’t want to see things like that.”
“I…want…to…see…the…footage…” Each word seemed to burn as they came out of her mouth.
“I will have to ask Bob for the access code when we get back to your place.
The nurse agreed to take Betty out of a side door hoping to avoid the press. It was a slow news day and there were fifteen or twenty reporters patrolling the hospital. They noticed the black Mercedes parked at a side entrance. When the nurse rolled Betty out the reporters descended on the wheel chair as Betty began to stand up with Ellen slamming the door as the crush pinned her against the car. She pulled the pepper spray out of her purse and released it in an arc forcing the reporters back far enough for her to escape to the driver side of the car. She rolled the window down far enough to release a stream toward the front of the car. Ellen put the car in gear letting it roll forward until she was sure that nobody was in the way and then accelerated out of the area. Fortunately, there were no reporters at the house.
Betty went straight to the study pouring herself and Ellen a drink noticing that one glass was missing from the set up on the side board. She turned around to give Ellen her drink seeing the base of the glass sticking out of the wall. Ellen stepped in the room and spotted the new addition instantly.
“He does have a temper. Let me call Bob and we can access those files.” Ellen turned on the computer letting it boot up while she called Bob.
“I need the access code for the security file in Felix’s FBI case.”
“Ellen, you don’t need a code. Just look on U-TUBE under ‘A BAD DAY AT THE OFFICE’. It has had over five million hits so far. They even have a few hits from Antarctica, for Christ sake.”
“Betty has to know what the story is. I am looking at the base of a glass that is stuck in the wall. If he loses it again Betty could go to the morgue instead of the hospit
al.”
“I don’t know how it got there, but the whole thing is on U-TUBE including the FBI files.”
Ellen loaded the file footage and the two ladies sipped their drinks. Betty gulped down her entire drink when Felix sucker punched Cherry. Watching stunned as her clothes flew up in the air with the incident ending as Felix picked up the naked woman pushing her head against the security pad to leave the room carelessly throwing her like a rag doll against the wall behind the door when he left. The footage played for two more minutes before a huge security guard entered the room covering the unconscious woman with his coat and tending to her. Ellen poured two more glasses full of whiskey. She was about to turn off the computer when Betty stopped her. There is a file with still pictures associated with this file. I want to see it. Ellen sipped her whiskey while she searched for the file finally bringing it up on the screen. Cherry stood with her arms outstretched against the computer screen there were several dark blue bruises all over her body. Ellen put her finger over the woman’s breast on the screen.
“That bruise looks like a large foot print. Shit…! He stomped her chest no wonder she was not moving. How in the hell did they talk her into dropping the charges?”
Betty’s voice was completely flat with only the tone of hopelessness. “It’s a boy’s club over there. They probably threatened the shit out of her and offered her a promotion or a raise with a promise of dismissal if she refused. They cut deals to protect their own.” Ellen stepped into the hall looking up and down to make sure nobody was coming in the house.
“Betty we have to get you out of here. You will be staying by my mother’s house. I would say that you can stay at my house but Bob set this whole thing up so that will not be safe.”
“But Ellen, Felix is committing himself.”
“Yes and he can sign himself out. He gets a hospital room instead of a cell and he can leave when he likes.
Betty jumped up. “We have to get out of here now!” She ran upstairs with Ellen.
“Betty, where does Felix keep his guns?”
“He has two hunting rifles in the den, a shotgun in the closet and a pistol in the night stand. Why…?” Ellen held up two tubes of super glue.
“I keep these in my purse for my fake nails. What do you use?”
“Super glue it’s in the bathroom.” Ellen took the pistol out of the Night stand slipping the clip out. “Your asshole husband keeps a loaded gun with two children living in the house!” After a few minutes study she turned it over applying a healthy amount to each trigger mechanism. “It won’t ruin the gun but it won’t fire unless you clean it with acetone. Get your clothes and the kids clothes too. I have a judge that lives down the street from me and I will have him issue an order allowing you to pick them up because your husband has committed himself.” Betty stood transfixed by this quick thinking woman. “Move I have a feeling that asshole will not stay in the hospital long.” Betty went in to motion scooping clothes out of drawers and closets. Ellen found the shotgun and applied a liberal amount of glue into the trigger mechanism. She went down to the den doing the same thing to both hunting rifles. Ellen was about to go back upstairs when she looked at the computer. She sat down and put the computer in the recovery mode. A warning sign appeared on the screen WARNING STARTING RECOVERY MODE WILL ERASE ALL FILES. Ellen clicked on ok and chose the box that read SHUT DOWN COMPUTER AFTER PROCESS. She poured the booze from Felix’s bar into the potted plant and went into the kitchen booze cabinet pouring everything down the sink. Betty had filled two suitcases so Ellen started hauling them out to the car. Ellen made three trips up stairs when she saw Betty coming down with the last bag.
“Betty we need to get moving let’s hit the bank. You need some cash.” Betty decided to take the money out of savings. She hit the ATM at the bank for $4,000 which was the limit that she could pull out daily.
“What about my car?”
“Felix can trace it. My mother never got rid of dad’s car when he died. Felix can’t trace that. Just don’t take it with you for meetings with him later.
When Boris walked out of the visitor’s entrance at eight thirty with Cherry an uneasy feeling settled over him since he had not taken a full day off in years. He would do shopping trips but he always returned in a few hours. The director knew that he slept in the computer lab which was against the rules, but was happy to turn a blind eye for him because Boris was salaried. He was on the job seven days a week. Having Boris was like having three employees for the price of one. Cherry pointed to the limousine that was pulling up to the curb. Boris was going crazy at the idea of meeting Nadia the ‘Red Angel’ who had just thoroughly bruised his sex goddesses.
“I have to help Rhonda. Nadia will make sure that everything will be there for everybody tomorrow.” Cherry opened the door and Nadia stepped out. She stood straight with her head erect. At six foot four Nadia was a full head taller than Boris. She was wearing a long sleeve rust red linen top and white linen pants with wide legs that almost looked like a long skirt. Boris looked down at her feet to see that she was wearing jeweled gold leather sandals noting that her extreme height was not due to high heels. Cherry started the introduction.
“Boris Baronov I would like you to meet my sister Nadia. Nadia this is Boris.” Nadia extended her hand and Boris shook it. Nadia’s grip was stronger than most men that he had shaken hands with. Cherry continued, “Maybe you could start with a good barber and some clothes.” Nadia nodded and climbed back in the car. As Boris stuck his head in the car he looked up and down her impossibly long legs.
Nadia switched to speaking Georgian. “36 inches...” Boris looked at her dumbly. “You were staring at my legs I have a thirty-six-inch inseam. I am six foot four inches tall, my bra size is 42 C and if you don’t stop staring at me I will put my size eleven foot up your ass.”
“Why have you bruised my friend?” Boris asked without hesitation. Nadia warmed to his direct nature. She pulled the hem of her pants leg up as far as they would go displaying several Bruises and then pulled her blouse up over her bra showing a few more bruises.
“Your friend has bruised me. It is the way that we play.”
“Nice tits…” Boris smiled.
Nadia smiled, “Tell that to Cherry. She thinks that my tits are too small.”
“Her tits are spectacular but yours are very nice,” Boris said politely with enthusiasm.
Nadia kissed Boris warmly on both cheeks giving him a big hug. “I like you because you are direct and that is good. I will tell you what is on my mind and I hope that you will do the same. Xavier our driver does not speak Georgian so as a matter of courtesy we must switch back to English.”
“Xavier, take me to the best men’s hair dresser that you know of.”
Xavier pulled the car up to the Executive Men’s Spa. The receptionist frowned, “I have no openings until Thursday we are very popular.” Nadia held up $50 causing the receptionist to reconsider. “Freddie is off today but I think that he will come in for the right price but he takes the bus so figure that it will be an hour.” Nadia politely took the phone from the receptionist and handed it to Xavier who disappeared, returning after a two-minute conversation. Xavier returned with Freddie in fifteen minutes. Nadia started issuing instructions as Freddie walked in the door.
Freddie balked pointing to a silent Boris. “It’s his head.” Nadia held up a hundred-dollar bill.
“And it will look perfect when I am through. Would you like a shave too?”
“Yes, and he will have a manicure and a pedicure hold the nail varnish. I believe that he will have a facial too.” Boris opened his mouth to say something but before he could Nadia reached under the barber’s cloth. Boris’s eyes went wide.
Nadia whispered in his ear. “Cherry says that you use a joy stick for a game controller. Is the game under control?” Boris went silent nodding his head.
“Freddie I go for the rugged masculine look. Can you manage that?”
“Yes mam…” The manager of the
shop saw Freddie working at his chair on his day off and started walking toward him. Nadia intercepted him extending her hand.
The manager fumed. “You can’t…” Nadia increased the pressure of her grip until he was silent.
“I must apologize for my forward behavior but this is a fashion emergency and your staff has been kind enough to accommodate us. I assure you that everyone will be very well compensated.” Nadia released her grip and waited for an answer.
“Well since it is an emergency…”
Nadia loaded a perfectly groomed Boris into the limo proceeding to a men’s clothing store. Nadia walked in with Boris in tow.
“I would like to see the manager.” Nadia looked around sharply not seeing anybody volunteering. She strode over to the best dressed salesman. “You don’t have a manager?”
“There is a meeting of all the managers in the tristate area and he won’t be in until two.” Nadia caught him eyeing her up and down. Nadia was extremely well attired and all of her clothes looked tailored. Nadia looked around the store as the salesman closely inspected her.
“You look hungry. Do you work on commission?”
“Yes…”
“What is your name?”
“James…” He was well dressed, but there was something about him that Nadia just did not trust.
She pointed at Boris. “James, I have a fashion emergency if you can deal with my eccentricities you will make around two months’ commission. Are you up for a challenge?” James did not much like Nadia. He did not like his women with an in charge attitude, but her clothes and her grooming screamed money.
“Of course I am.” James said, as Nadia took over.
“Boris changing room and take your clothes off. James underwear…” He led her over to a counter laying several packages of underwear on the counter for inspection as if you were dealing cards. “No…no…no…yes…no…yes.” Nadia picked out some nylon briefs that looked almost like panties and some silk boxers. She moved on to socks selecting sport socks, everyday socks and fine dress socks. She pointed out three types of tee shirts. Nadia walked back into the changing area to find Boris sitting in the changing booth fully clothed.