Alec's Dream

by Dave Birchbauer

  *****

  “That sounds great, call us when you get there.” Clay said into his phone.

  Alec entered Clay’s office just as he hung up. “McDonald’s lawyer is here. I put him in the conference room. How are Olivia and Cleveland doing?”

  “I just talked to Cleveland, they’re on their way… should be there in about a half-hour.”

  “Perfect, so far so good.” Alec sat in one of Clay’s visitor chairs. “Why is this so difficult?”

  “Hey, at least we’re in the position to do this.”

  “Sheldon saved our butts. Where did you find him anyway?” Alec asked. With the last week being so hectic, signing contracts, transferring money and refocusing their efforts to Sheldon’s spacecraft Alec never had time to ask.

  “He found me. After we sent out the invites, he contacted me and pretty much invited himself.”

  “He’s our savior now. I can’t believe he just gave us the 50 million we needed just to equip his space shuttle with our anti-gravity drives.” Alec shook his head.

  “We’ve got the money, now we just need to meet the terms of McDonald’s contract.” Clay sat. “We’ve gotten past all his legal obstacles and traps, now we just need to transfer the money. Cleveland said he’d call us when he got there. Is everything setup in the conference room?”

  “We’ve got video. Now we just need to wait until 10 AM for the bank to open.” Alec shook his head again. This was the day, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the day they’d been dreading… or waiting for. Everything was set, they had money in the bank for the transfer and Olivia and Cleveland were on their way to McDonald’s office.

  “Ten minutes, let’s get to the conference room and get this over with.” Clay pulled out his phone as he made his way for the door. “Strange the Cleveland hasn’t called yet. They should have been there by now. It was only a 10 minute drive from their hotel.” Clay pulled out his phone.

  “You don’t think anything happened to them?” They had feared McDonald might try something. “Try Olivia’s number.”

  Clay was a step ahead and had already dialed her number. “Olivia?” he said into the phone. “Are you there? OK, OK. Call us when you get there.” Clay hung up.

  “She said they ran into some traffic. She also said Cleveland’s phone battery died.” Clay frowned.

  “Let’s hope that was all.” Alec said as he opened the door.

  “Mr. McCoughe.” McDonald stood smiling just outside the door with one of his body guards. “… and Mr. Matteson.”

  “Ah, Mr. McDonald, I see you’ve come in person to witness the transaction.” Clay said while walking out the door with the expectation that they would follow him. The body guard, Alec recognized him as Rug, stepped in front of him.

  “Not actually, we’re here to keep you company for the next hour or so.” McDonald said.

  “Well, why don’t you come in? We can wait here.” Alec said casually.

  McDonald looked suspiciously at him, then at Clay. “I would like to wait somewhere else if you don’t mind. Maybe your office Mr. McCoughe?” Rug pulled a gun and signaled them to move ahead of them down the hall.

  After walking the length of the hall to its other end Clay opened the door. “You first.”

  “Get in!” McDonald snapped.

  Clay and Alec walked in first followed by Rug then McDonald. Before McDonald was fully in Eugene stepped from behind the door casually slipping behind Rug where he easily tripped him to the floor. Clay quickly dropped his knee on Rug’s back and pulled the gun from his hand.

  “Looks like we should have stayed in my office.” Clay said holding the gun on them as he carefully watched Rug regain his feet. “Why would you think we wouldn’t be expecting some thuggery from you?” he grinned at McDonald.

  “Great, so what’s your next move? You gonna have us arrested?” McDonald badgered.

  “I think we’re needed in the conference room. Please you first.” Clay waved the gun towards the door. McDonald, then Rug walked out first followed by Clay, Alec and Eugene. “Turn right.” Clay ordered.

  After entering the hall a gravelly voice spoke from behind them. “Drop it.” They stopped. McDonald turned and held out his hand to Clay. Clay looked behind to see Rugs partner Pug, holding a gun on them. He then handed the gun to McDonald who in turn, returned it to Rug.

  “You think we would have let you ambush us so easily? Do you really think I’m so stupid as to not think you’d have a trap for us?” McDonald gloated. “And you.” He said to Eugene. “You look so familiar but… no, I can see now that you’re not.” He shook his head and turned back to Alec. “I believe we can now safely spend the next hour in your office.”

  A dejected Clay, Alec and Eugene led them back into Alec’s office. The three of them sat around his small conference table while Pug and Rug stood watch. McDonald sat at Alec’s desk.

  “It looks like it’s going to be a nice day.” McDonald gloated. “Just 30 more minutes and I’ll be able to let you go home… for good.” He laughed. “And don’t forget to take your brat kids with you.” He leaned back in Alec’s desk chair and began putting his feet up on Alec’s desk. Before he finished his move, the room flipped upside down as everyone fell up hitting the ceiling hard. After the initial impact, the force subsided and they began floating as the gravity in the room went null. Everyone now floated in different positions, Alec hung upside down while Clay was quick enough to grab hold of one of the wood ceiling beams. Rug was bouncing between the ceiling and floor while Pug slowly spun sideways.

  Alec watched all this from his upside down position. He soon realized that Eugene was nowhere to be seen. Twisting, he looked behind and saw Eugene kicking McDonald against the far wall while the reaction pushed him across the room. During his flight, he acrobatically did a summersault where he knocked into Rug’s legs causing Rug to summersault directly in Clay’s direction. The collision changed Eugene’s direction just enough where he now flew straight at Pug. The direct hit slammed Pug against the floor knocking his gun loose. Eugene easily stopped himself against the wall while snatching the gun from the air. He then gracefully kicked off to float near the door while holding the gun on Pug.

  Alec turned his attention to Rug and saw there wasn’t much to see as Clay had easily kicked the gun loose from Rug’s hand while he was tumbling past him. The gun now floated near the ceiling below Alec’s feet and he now realized it was his turn for action. Tucking his legs, he righted himself and floated to the floor. Once close enough to the floor, he pushed off toward the ceiling. It took a couple of tries before he hauled it in. A second later the gravity gently returned.

  “Dad… are you guys OK?” Jessie ran in with Sofie.

  “Was this you?” Alec said stomping his feet in reassurance that the gravity had fully returned.

  “Yea… sorry, it was supposed to be a practical joke. It looks like it kinda backfired.” Sofie said.

  “Alec, we don’t have much time.” Clay looked at his cell phone. “We only have 15 minutes” he dialed it and ran out the room.

  Alec surveyed the scene. McDonald was crumpled in the corner while Pug and Rug were standing against the wall with Eugene holding the gun on them. “Girls, get out of here, go home. I don’t want you to get hurt… and by the way… thanks.” He gave Jessie a wink before they left.

  “I take teeengs heere. You go.” Eugene gave a wry smile.

  Alec caught up with Clay in the second floor corridor just as Clay hung up his phone. “Alec, Sheldon made it to McDonald’s office. He said Olivia and Cleveland never showed. Everything is in place. We just need to make the transfer.” He said as they entered the conference room.