Radi, still struggling with the news, replied, “It’s just so improbable. How could something like this happen? He wasn’t even convicted of a crime?!”
“I don’t know man. But I sure as hell do know Keece’s kids have been through enough hardship! How do we get her money back to her? After this debacle, we can’t make her struggle financially too. Not on top of losing the man she adored…at least until we give her cause to think he was unfaithful!” Cole stated adamantly.
Radi’s response was quiet and strained in contrast, “But we can’t.”
“What! What are you saying? The money’ll still be there, right? All you need to do is send her the real account emails and stop subbing in the fake ones. How is that a problem?”
“If I do that now, the authorities will for sure track us and probably throw us both in jail for what we did. I’m not good enough with stealth technology to return the money and cover our tracks in a way that will keep them from finding out. The plan was always to simply give the money back to Pele, who wouldn’t say anything because he would know it would lead to exposure of CodeY and our kids becoming lab rats for some research group, which none of us can risk. I don’t know how to do it, and safely, so no one will know.” Radi answered, almost sounding like he was pleading with Cole.
“Oh God. You’re kidding! We have no backup plan?! No way to get the money back to Keece without her knowing?!”
“No,” responded Radi sheepishly. “I already had to change the name on the account to a company name and ask for a new advisor so that no one in their financial advisory firm would put two and two together with all this media coverage of the story.”
“Oh wow.” Cole was angry now. How could he have been so stupid not to question Radi more on the different potential outcomes. And how could they do this to poor Keece and her kids? They had literally ruined her life.
Cole, in a quieter almost threatening tone now, “Well you better figure it out. I cannot forgive you for this mess and what we’ve done to Keece! You better find a way to make things right!” With that Cole hung up the phone with force, still furious he could not rectify the situation.
What he did not realize at the time was that he would be fighting Radi for years to return the funds. Radi never touched the funds, but he was too afraid to return them. He was sure Keece would not forgive them and would turn them in if she knew. Cole threatened several times to simply tell Keece, but Radi would talk him out of it. Convincing Cole that if Ava found out she would never let him see their kids again. And that they were both likely to go to jail since any genetic testing on humans was still highly illegal. Cole was tempted to take the chance and tell Keece anyhow, but he could not bear the thought of not seeing his kids. He knew Radi was likely right. Ava would go ballistic if she thought he had married her and had kids with her for an experiment. She would never let him see them, especially if they had to visit him in jail!
The Match 2041
Chapter 1
The lazy sun gently warmed the smooth green fields, a light breeze softly dusting away any excess heat, making for a perfectly comfortable Sunday afternoon. Bright patches of picnic blankets and canopies lined the edges as the tailgaters enjoyed festivities, the thundering hooves of the polo match background entertainment. Keece and her friends, wandered between their tent and their neighbors, loudly bantering and reminiscing, sounding like a group of chortling hens.
Keece had stolen away from her usual family obligations, to enjoy the afternoon’s polo match with her old pals, Sidney and Jess. It was like a reunion, seeing so many friends she had not seen for many years.
Keece had only recently returned to the club. She finally felt like she could indulge herself with an afternoon off. She was no longer completely focused on making sure every bill got paid and obligation met. She was running her old company, Vesta.Fit again. The owners had been generous with her compensation. To be fair, she had earned it. The company had more than doubled due to a couple of her product ideas and skillful strategic moves. She finally had a little breathing room.
Her children were also doing well, or at least relatively well considering all they had been through. Fortunately, they were talented enough to remain in the top schools on scholarships. When Pele first went MIA, and all the family savings were gone with him, the schools had been sympathetic and willing to help out. But now her children were receiving scholarships purely on merit. Rane, seventeen, would head to college in a year. She was already being recruited by the top schools, for both her academics, especially her computer coding talents, and her soccer skills, she played on boys’ soccer teams because she was too good for the girls’ teams. Losing her father had been hard on her. As a result, she was almost fiercely independent, hesitant to depend on anyone, but her soccer coach had been a helpful influence.
Even Pace, with his autistic tendencies, was adjusting well. His obsession with flying and ability with numbers put him at the top of his class in physics and math. He originally learned his piloting skills in virtual reality games, but soon graduated to the real thing. Luckily, his uncle was a pilot, so Pace had a good tutor.
Pace and his twin sister, Kala were still very close. Keece was grateful for Kala’s attention and support of her brother. Keece knew this made things easier for Pace. But Kala had her own interests. Her specialty was in automated 3D spatial design. She learned many of her skills from time spent in her Mom’s office. Kala had already created her first VR game. She also loved to drive race cars. Like Pace, she had originally learned in VR games but had quickly graduated to the real thing. She was still in the Karting level, but eager to get into bigger, faster cars.
Both of the twins also played polo, mostly when they spent their summers in Argentina with Luca, their family friend, on his farm. Luca kept teasing Keece that he would turn both of them into polo pros if she was not careful. Fortunately, both twins were still young, with many other talents and interests, so Keece did not take Luca too seriously. She knew being a polo pro was not always an easy life. It was an expensive sport and only a few pros were paid well enough to make much money over and above their costs.
“It’s so great to see you, Keece. Do you think you’ll start riding again?” asked the wife of one of Keece’s old teammates.
“I’ve started to dabble, but I’m not sure I’m ready to jump in full force yet. As you know, it’s not a cheap sport!” replied Keece with a grin.
Their conversation was interrupted by a call from Rane.
“Excuse me a moment. It’s my daughter,” Keece said as she stepped away.
“Mom, have you heard?!,” asked Rane, obviously upset.
“What?” Keece was completely at a loss as to what Rane was talking about and alarmed, Rane was not one to over-dramatize.
“The Kapurs have been in a car accident. They all seem to be okay…except…Mom, Radi’s dead.” Rane blurted out, obviously distraught and crying.
“What? How?” Keece gasped, completely shocked by the news. Car accidents were so rare these days. Driverless cars had essentially taken the risk out of driving. They were so much safer than self-driven cars.
Rane managed to regain enough composure to answer, “I don’t know all the details. I just got a call from their mom, Sophie. She asked me to call you.”
“Oh my God. I can’t believe it. I’ll call Sophie right away. Where are you? I’ll come pick you up.” Keece knew Rane would want to see Devon, Radi’s and Sophie’s oldest son. Rane had always been close to Devon. They had grown apart in recent years, but there was still a strong bond.
Keece slipped back to the group and hastily whispered her goodbyes to Jess, explaining there was a family emergency and asked her to tell the others. She then rushed off to her car, calling Sophie as she walked.
“Keece?”
“Sophie, Rane called me. I heard the news.” Keece said anxiously.
Sophie clearly upset, wailed, “Oh Keece. It’s terrible. I can’t believe he’s gone.” She started to sob.
/> Keece replied sympathetically, “Oh Sophie, I know. How did this happen?”
Her question seemed to help Sophie pull herself together as she focused on the explanation, “They were hit by a bus. The driver had a heart attack. The car swerved in time to save the kids’ lives, but not Radi’s.”
Cars had all gone driverless, but there were still many bus organizations that employed people as drivers to preserve jobs, and the unions protected them. Most bus drivers were good drivers, so it was seldom an issue, except for those rare occasions when a human error or a situation like this happened. Such a tragedy for Sophie and her children.
“Where are the children, Sophie? Do you want me to take them for a few days?” Keece asked gently, knowing that dealing with a stressful situation and the children at the same time would be difficult for Sophie.
“Oh my gosh, could you? That would be so helpful.” There was relief in Sophie’s voice. “We’re still at the hospital, UCSD in La Jolla.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Chapter 2
Cole heard about Radi from Sophie, who had called all Radi’s closest friends before the story hit the news that evening. It made headlines because of the political tension over using real drivers by the bus organizations. The accident rate was so much lower for driverless vehicles; the unions were bound to lose this battle.
Cole was shocked and saddened to lose another one of his closest school buddies. It also put him in a quandary. He and Radi had grown apart over the last several years, largely due to the rift between them over Keece’s hidden funds. The money they hid from her was part of the setup for Pele’s hardship. Radi kept insisting he could not give the funds back for fear of being discovered. He and Cole would be at risk of getting arrested because the authorities might trace the vanishing funds back to them.` If that happened, they would not only likely be found guilty of sending an innocent man to prison, but, even worse, the CodeY experiment might get exposed while they were searching for a motive, which would put their children at risk. Cole did not want to be responsible for the kids becoming part of a larger genetics experiment.
Cole had still argued for years that the funds should be returned, both for Keece’s sake and her children’s. It was true that every time Cole pushed to return the funds, Keece seemed to have some sort of windfall, the product she launched for her company would be a hit and she would get a bonus, or one of the children would get a scholarship. Regardless, Cole argued again and again that this was not the point. The money was Keece’s and she should have it. If nothing else, it would certainly allow her and her children to have an easier life and enjoy some of the things she had been forced to give up, like her polo.
Now that Radi was dead, Cole had no idea how to fix the problem. He didn’t know how to re-program the system to reveal Keece’s and Pele’s money. Cole knew he could not tell anyone about CodeY or he would risk arrest. The only ones who could access the money without word getting out were Keece or Pele. Pele was obviously not an option. How could he tell Keece?
The late morning sun was still dazzling and cheery as attendees streamed in from the parking lot for Radi’s Celebration of Life ceremony at Morgan Run Country Club. Remnants of the morning dew still sparkled on the lawns and gardens, in sharp contrast to the somber tone of the attendees hustling in, hushed and red-eyed. Radi’s friends and family filled the room to over-capacity, still in shock by the completely unexpected death of their beloved friend, family member, and fellow doctor. All felt cheated to lose him at such a young age and so suddenly.
Keece saw Cole across the room. She had been distant from him after Pele was gone and she had learned about CodeY. It was hard enough to say nothing about it to Radi, whom she saw on a regular basis, let alone Cole, whom she felt almost angrier toward. It somehow felt like more of a betrayal from Cole, who was always so kind to her. But she kept their secret, afraid it could be hurtful to both their ex-wives, Ava and Sophie, as well as to all of their children, who were already more talented in many ways than their peers. There was no need to make them feel superior because of some genetic selection experiment, or worse yet, like outsiders. She thought it better to simply keep the information to herself, even if it was still so hard for her to believe her relationship with Pele was only part of a genetic experiment. She’d gone over and over every memory with him and still could not think of a single moment when he did not seem sincere and truly in love with her. Could she really have been so blind? Was he that good of an actor? Or was there a chance his embezzlement and attempt to run away were all made up? She could not believe it had been eight years since Pele had gone missing-in-action during his convict military training. Eight long years she had spent putting her life back together.
Cole was in town from Virginia, where he still lived. He had always wanted to move back to San Diego after he and Ava got divorced, but he stayed back east to be close to his children. Truth-be-told, he took care of them most of the time and was practically a stay-at-home dad while Ava worked. The children were a handful, but his low-key personality was better suited to coping with them, than Ava’s fiery temper. Keece knew Cole missed his cardiology practice, but he worked part-time filling in for others. She was sure he would return to more full-time work as soon as he felt he could, maybe when the children were a little older.
Keece headed over to Cole. The years had been good to him. He still looked vibrant and strong but was clearly out-of-sorts and sad today.
“How are you Cole?”
“Terrible, almost like I’ve been hit by a…” He stopped himself before he could finish the common phrase, immediately apologizing profusely, “Oh Jeez, I didn’t mean that. So sorry. I’m just kind of a disaster right now. Please ignore me.” Before Keece could respond, he stumbled on, “I can’t believe he’s gone too.”
“I’m so sorry Cole. I can’t believe it either. So tragic.” Keece gave him a big hug, tearing up as she did.
As they stepped back from the warm embrace, Cole looked intensely into Keece’s face, “Keece, I need to talk with you about something. Can we have coffee while I’m in town? Maybe tomorrow?”
“Is it about CodeY?” Keece responded measuredly.
Cole looked astonished for a moment, then pulled Keece back away from the others. “You knew?”
“Devon and Rane cracked into Pele’s computer after he was arrested. I caught them before they saw anything, but I found all the recorded minutes from your meetings.”
“Oh, my God. We definitely need to talk. That fiasco is my biggest regret.” His apology was so sincere, Keece could not help but believe he was truly sorry. She was about to go on when he interrupted her.
“Wait, what was the last one you saw? Do you remember the date or anything about what happened?” asked Cole.
Keece thought about this for a minute. She had always thought it was strange that there had been regular meetings every month until three months before Pele was arrested. “I think they ended about three months before Pele’s arrest. Why?”
Cole looked very serious, “Yah, we really need to talk, but not here. Does tomorrow morning work?”
She scanned her schedule. Her morning was free, so she agreed.
“Good, Let’s do Claire’s in Solana Beach at 9am.”
Chapter 3
When Cole and Keece met the next morning, Cole went through the whole story of CodeY, almost like a confession. He explained that he and Pele at first thought it might be kind of exciting to find their perfect genetic matches, but after several failed, and many ridiculous attempts, it became much more of a lark. Radi, of course, still took it seriously, but Cole and Pele had all but given up. Until Cole met Keece. He explained to Keece that she was such a perfect fit for Pele, he couldn’t help but tell the guys. Then, because she was dating Luca, the young stud polo pro, it turned into almost a game watching Pele try to woo her away. Especially since neither Cole nor Radi had ever seen Pele struggle to get a girl and really fall for someone. It was clear early on
that he was totally smitten with her.
Keece couldn’t help but smile at this. She remembered those days. She had suspected and hoped Pele might be interested in her but was never sure until her relationship with Luca ended. Hearing Pele truly loved her, made her heart sing. She could hardly sit still. She felt so much relief and joy that their love had been real. At least until he had an affair, she reminded herself.
Cole continued, explaining how Radi had loosened the standards and they had both met matches too, Sophie and Ava. Pele and Cole had always been concerned that Radi had “loved” Sophie more because she met his match criteria than for true love, but Cole confessed he was madly in love with Ava.
“Honestly, I didn’t give two shits whether Ava met the criteria or not. I was totally into her. In fact, I didn’t even run the tests on her. Radi did that without my even knowing. That at least kept Radi off my back trying to get me to find someone else. But I definitely would have married her anyway. Truth-be-told, I still love that spitfire. It’s unfortunate we can’t seem to be in the same room these days without trying to kill each other, but a part of me still loves her,” Cole said with a forlorn smile.
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