Making The Upgrade

by

Bek D Corbin

Edits by Steve Zink

 

There is a certain look to the people who organize Class Reunions. The women at the reception table for the Daria Morgandorfer High Class of 2027’s Thirtieth Reunion were no exception to that rule. The women at the reception desk were only slightly less chipper than the holograms which the hotel chain used in the lobby. Stacy, Sandy and Tiffany had been the ‘Popular Girls’ at ‘Morgandoofus High’, and had a lot invested in seeing those years as ‘the Good Old Days’. They greeted each old classmate with a certain vindication, as more and more people came to help reinforce their delusion.

 

Sandy perked up at the sight of the next couple to show up, and let out a ‘teenage girl squeal’ that was totally out of character for a forty-eight-year-old woman. “Tally! Brick! It’s so goood to seeee yooou!” She rushed out from behind the table and rushed up to embrace them.

Time had withered her, and custom had staled the woman's infinite variety, but only slightly so; Tally Beeman, now Mrs. Brian ‘Brick’ Dalton, still showed the charms that had made her the sweetheart of Daria M. High. Her long, golden blonde hair now needed a little help to hide the gray, and her figure wasn’t as gazelle slender as it was, but she was still a fine figure of a woman. Where once she had been the Golden Girl, ripe with physical, intellectual and social promise, now she was the elegant matron, graciously passing from prime to maturity as her children left for college. Tally accepted Sandy’s air-kiss and passed her on to Brick, who tried to accept with as much panache. Let’s just say that neither Sandy, Stacy, nor Tiffany had aged as gracefully, and leave it at that.

While Brick was only beginning to show signs of thickening, his football days were still clearly behind him. His dark good looks still contrasted well with Tally’s peaches and cream blonde, and his rugged good looks showed only the slightest signs of tension. He steeled himself against pulling out his Personal Telecommunications Node and checking in. He was here at his reunion to be seen having a good time. Never mind the fact that he'd spent the last thirty years trying to get away from these people. He smiled as Stacy, Sandy and Tiffany each gave him a big hug.

Sandy dragged them to the registration table and had them check in, as if she didn’t know exactly who they both were. Or that anyone could be expected to try and crash a relentlessly bourgeois high school reunion at a mid-range hotel chain. Or that the hotel Security teams and automatic Identity Confirmation systems hadn’t already vetted them. Stacy and Tiffany bubbled at them for a bit, and then Sandy said with the relish of one toying with a choice tidbit of dish, “You’ll never guess who’s coming tonight!”

Tally shrugged at Brick, and he shrugged back. “It’s Alex Fitch!”

“Alex?” Tally raised one sculpted eyebrow.

“Alex Fitch?” Brick rolled the name around in his mouth, as if trying to get a taste.

“Oh Yes!” Tally suddenly brightened. “You remember, Brick, he was the one who had that horrible accident, back in Junior year. He was in the hospital for three weeks, and completely missed the Christmas season.”

“Oh Yeah! I remember him now. Squirrelly little dude. Always going around asking damn-fool questions. I hear that he was nosing around the druggies, and they kicked the shit out of him for asking the wrong questions.”

“Really?” Stacy said with an air of smug sadism. “I heard that the little fruit made a pass at Fred Flagstone, and ol’ Bronto almost mashed him to paste, all by himself. But then, you know what Bronto was like.” Fred ‘Bronto’ Flagstone had been on the football team with Brick. He was also both the class hero and the class ‘tragedy’. Like Brick, Bronto had been part of the team that went to the State Championship in their Senior Year, and they’d both gone onto glory in College Football. But Bronto made the cut to the Pros, while Brick merely got his MBA and an intro to Business at the Executive level. Bronto led the Canton Rebels out of the cellar that they’d been in since forever, and to seven consecutive winning seasons and three Super Bowls.

And then, in the last off-season, Bronto had suddenly gone berserk, killing twelve customers at his restaurant with his bare hands before he was cut down by SWAT sharpshooters. A medical examination showed cerebral deterioration, tracked down to prolonged use of no less than six different illegal ‘performance enhancing’ steroids and hormones. And the very subtle implants that the autopsy revealed hadn’t helped things any, either.

Brick waved that ugly association aside. “So? Why is having Alex Fitch coming tonight such a big hoo-hah? Wasn’t he a contender for being named ‘Most Likely To Fade Into Total Obscurity’ in the yearbook?”

“Oh, he WAS!” Sandy gloated. “BUT, his secretary called, and informed us that he would be coming, BUT that we should call the BIC [Bureau of Identification & Certification] to verify his identity, as he’d undergone - and I quote - ‘a drastic Total Cellular Upgrade’, and that confirmation would most likely be required.”

“A Total Upgrade?” Brick let out a low whistle. A Total Cellular Upgrade changed the genetic dominances on every cell in the human body, and could increase strength, dexterity and durability, as well as correct an entire raft of genetic and teratogenic flaws. A Total Upgrade started at Ten Million dollars, and went up at a nauseatingly high rate from there. “How would a weasel like Fitch ever scare up the Kopecks for a Total Upgrade? Ah, the little geek is just yanking yer chain. Diamonds to Donuts, he calls in at the last minute, sayin’ that he was ‘called away on urgent business’, or he sends some guy from an Escort Service to pose as him.”

Sandy shook her head. “I called to the BIC and double checked. Alexander Graham Bell Fitch, Social Security Number yada-yada-yada applied for, and was duly issued, a Special Identity Verification Card, due to - and I quote - ‘an extreme alteration in gross physical characteristics, as a result of a Total Cellular Upgrade, which would make such verification of identity necessary’. Can you imagine what he must have had done, to warrant an SIV Card?”

Brick looked totally croggled. “I’m trying to imagine what he did, in order to pay for what he had done!”

Tiffany leaned in, “I’ll bet that he went for the Rejuvenation Process!”

“I dunno,” Brick hedged, “do you know how much those things cost? Thirty Million, and that’s just to turn back the clock!”

“I know.” Stacy shoved her lower lip out. “I checked. If you ask me, they’re keeping it so damned expensive, just so that the Big Wigs can live forever, while the rest of us get to grow old and die.”

“Stacy, it’s a matter of supply and demand,” Brick said reasonably. “People are willing to pay fortunes for a Total Upgrade, so the folks at Panacea International are able to make huge amounts of money with little overhead, and vastly reduced liability. Believe me, as soon as they get the overhead and liability angles covered, you’re gonna have Total Upgrade clinics in every town in the developed world.”

“What are you, their PR guy?”

“I applied for the position, and they wouldn’t give it to me. No, I’m just an admiring competitor.”

“Oh, right, right - you’re an executive for Howell Chemicals, right?”

“Yep, Junior Veep, Pharmaceuticals Division. So, any idea of how a loser like Fitch could afford something like that?”

“I don’t know,” Tiffany purred, “but I am absolutely dying to find out!”

“Cool your jets, Tiff,” Tally chuckled, “if he’s got the kind of money for a Total Cellular Upgrade, then the Alex Fitch that I remember would have a very young, very pretty, and very expensive date on his arm.”

“Oh? I didn’t know that you knew Alex Fitch, Honey,” Brick murmured.

“Oh, Brick!” Stacy giggled. “Tally knew everyone in high school!”

Brick offered his wife his elbow. “Well, in that case, honey, I’m counting on you to find out where he got all that moolah, and whether he’s interested in investing in a certain Pharmaceuticals company!” With that they breezed into the ballroom, to the loud recognition of many inside.

The ballroom was standard for the chain, with the sort of plastic ‘wood’ veneer ‘luxury’ that gave their middle-class clientele the sense that they were getting the best. The Pop Music hits of the 2020s was playing on a sound system, as long obsolete holograms of the artists danced and lip-synched to the music. Hologram displays along the walls played sequences of the Regional Championships, the Senior Prom, Graduation, and a few other nostalgia inducing images. A ‘mirror’ showed a computer generated image of what the user looked like back in 2027, based on archived school security scans, which moved as its user moved. It was, in other words, just another High School reunion.

A half-hour later, Stacy nudged Tiffany. “I think we have a hit.” At the door to the hotel lobby had appeared a couple. The man was tall, broad-shouldered, athletic, and ruggedly handsome, with a full head of dark hair. He wore a suit of good material in a subtle cut, the sort that implied, rather than shouted, the touch of a tailor of the Old School. As Tally had suggested, on his arm was a very attractive young woman. She was a sleek, dark, cat-like femme fatale type, wearing a red strapless evening gown with biceps-high gloves and a deceptively simple thick gold necklace. She had long, straight raven’s-wing black hair over a triangular face with large dark blue eyes, a sharp nose and a full mouth that seemed to be permanently set in a knowing smirk.

“How,” Tiffany mused, “can anyone that cheap, be that expensive looking?”

The couple walked up to the reception table. “Are you here for the reunion?” Sandy asked coyly.

“Yes, we are...” the woman said with a lovely velvet purring voice. She leaned forward and read the reunion name tag with the snapshot from the Yearbook, “...Sandy.” Sandy recognized her voice as the one on the phone. “I called ahead. Did you confirm with the DIC?”

“Why, yes, I did. I have the confirmation numbers right here.” Sandy turned to the ruggedly handsome man. “Would you care to show me your identification?”

“Why, yes I would!” the sleek young woman said with a cat-that-ate-the-canary smile. She reached into her clutch bag and produced a BIC ID card with two photographs.

“Oh...My...God...” Sandy stammered as she picked up the card with numb fingers. She checked the numbers. They were exact, all twenty-five of them. The hologram ‘water mark’, and the colors of the background fields on both of the photos were right as well. The card itself had the very difficult to copy look of the Federal Government Secure ID format. The Foto-Proof© finish that prevented copying had the Federal pattern as well. She fumbled as she handed Alex Fitch her reunion nametag.

Alex tried to find a place on the tight fitting dress to fix the nametag, and had to settle for dangling it on her necklace.

“So, ah,” Stacy fumbled, “should we call you Alex? Or Alexandria? Or-”

“I go by Xandra now. Xandra Fox.” With that, she took her escort by the arm and sashayed into the reunion.

Xandra caused a bit of a stir when she first entered. There was a ripple of speculation. Who was she? She was the one wearing the name tag, so she had to be the graduate of the pair, but no one could peg her; hell, no one could imagine whose daughter she might be! Courtney Miklovich (now Sanchez) came up and peered into her face from three feet away. “Imogene? Imogene Pamplas? Is that you?”

Xandra shook her head. “No, I am - or at least I WAS - Alex Fitch.” She pointed at her name tag.

“Alex FITCH?” Courtney blurted, absolutely flabbergasted.

“Yes,” Xandra purred, obviously enjoying every minute of it, “and you are…” she peered at Courtney’s name tag, “...Courtney Miklovich. Courtney, Courtney…” She rolled the name around in her mouth, trying to place a memory to the name. “...Oh Yes! You were the Queen of the Auto Shop! You were going to patent that carburetor idea of yours! What happened with that?”

“Oh, it turned out that one of the big oil companies already had the patent on that, and they had lawyers who made sure that no one infringed on that patent.” And with that, Courtney faded back into the crowd.

Xandra amused herself by trying to talk to some of the guys that she’d known back in school, but for some reason, either they stuck to their wives like glue, or their wives held onto them with clawed hands. Xandra could tell that the news was making the rounds by the tenor of the buzz of the conversations around her. Then a gaggle of women came up, their husbands trailing behind them.

“Alex Fitch! Is that really you?”

“Well, I go by Xandra Fox these days, but yeah!”

“My GOD!” the leader giggled, half in gleeful appreciation of THE scandal of the reunion, and half in greedy anticipation of THE inside tip of her lifetime. “What happened?

“Oh the usual,” Xandra sighed, “graduation, a hitch in the Army - I did two TODs in Malaysia, and got a couple of medals, including a Purple Heart during the fighting in Kuala Lumpur. Got on-line degrees in Economics and Business Management, and then a real class degree in History. I went to Law School, and passed the Bar on the second pass.”

“No!” Tally giggled, “I mean, THIS?” She swept a hand over Xandra’s lithe physique.

“Oh, that’s a long story,” Xandra purred over her mineral water. “When I graduated from Law School, I decided that I hadn’t gone through all of that to make someone else rich, so I set up my own practice. The going was rough at first, but I managed to build up a decent client base.”

“Alex, enough with the Horatio Alger already!” Tally urged. “When did THIS happen?”

“I’m getting there! Anyway, fast-forward a little over ten years, I got stuck crowbarring this one joker with an illegal plastics recycling scam going, out from under an indictment on a technicality. Sunnuvabitch stiffed me for my fees, and headed for the boarder before the State Recyke Board could do him proper. Anyway, I hadda put a lien on all the stuff that he left behind, including a drawer full of Online Raffle tickets.”

“An Online Raffle?” Jody MacArthur hooted. “You’re KIDDING! Nobody wins those things!”

“Not quite,” Xandra demurred, “but damn close. Someone HAS to win, after all that’s the entire idea. At any rate, it seems that my absconded client was addicted to the damned things, and after years of throwing away money on them, wouldn’t you know it? His number FINALLY comes up, a week after he split on me.”

“So that’s your long story?” Brick asked, rather disappointed. “You won a Raffle - second hand, of course - and got yourself one of these upgrades?” 

“Hold on,” Tally cut in, "since when do they put Rejuve treatments up to be raffled off? I mean, they cost MILLIONS!”

“Aaahhh…” Xandra grinned evilly, “that’s just it - they don’t. What I won wasn’t a Rejuve job, it was one of those ‘New You’ treatments, the non-upgrade treatments that Panacea Int’l sells for a few hundred grand. Y’know, the ‘You can be the man of your dreams’ jobs?” She struck a few mocking poses of the stock muscle man. “The thing is, as I was going through their procedures - the fine print version, don’t try this if you’re not a lawyer - I noticed something. They had a standard practice for substitutions that if one of the options - like Lung Cleaning or Liver Replacement - isn’t necessary, you can you can take another option. Well, among their ‘options’ were entire Package Deals! And, since I don’t drink or smoke-” Xandra spared a fleeting glance at the hard alcohol and cigarettes in the hands of her audience, “-I didn’t need that, so I traded them for entire package deals! And since I didn’t need elements of those package deals, I traded THEM-”

“So, basically, you horse-traded your way all the way up to a total genetic upgrade, including Rejuve and Sex Change?” Brick said incredulously.

“Not quite,” Xandra replied, obviously loving being the center of attention. "Mind you, I WAS well on my way, and Panacea’s lawyers were beginning their counter-offensive, when Ernst Blumfeld, one of their sharper Execs, saw a golden opportunity. He offered to trade my ‘New You’ treatment for a complete Upgrade, with an option for a reduced rate for future upgrades, in exchange for my spotting and plugging the loopholes in their procedure.”

“You’re KIDDING?” Jody gawped. “A complete Total Upgrade would cost at least a HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS! There’s no way that your legal services would be worth that much!”

“Well, Jody,” Xandra chuckled, “you have to understand that it doesn’t really cost THEM that much to actually do the Upgrade, it’s just that it’s an invaluable service, and right now, Panacea International is the only firm offering it.”

“Sure,” Brick said smoothly, “it’s Supply and Demand, like I told Sandy out front. Panacea Int’l knows that it’s only a matter of time before someone else breaks their monopoly on the process, so they’re soaking the market for everything they can, while they can.”

“Precisely,” Xandra said as she took the floor back, “it only costs them about twenty thousand a shot - and that’s including very expensive trained personnel and the upkeep on those ritzy clinics. So, they figured that buying me off and putting me on the case would be cheaper than using their own very expensive lawyers.”

Mack, Jody’s husband, gave her an appreciative once-over. “I can imagine that it’s done a lot for your career.”

“You have an almost British talent for understatement...who are you, again? I not only got a second lease on Life, but I got a GREAT second career out of it!”

“Oh? You’re working for Panacea International now?” Tally asked.

“On and off. Y’see, after an Upgrade, there’s about two to three weeks where you’re up and about, but you have to be under intense medical observation, just in case. And, given Panacea’s clientele, the recovery is spent in an absolutely gorgeous spa on a little island in the Virgin Islands. So, there I am, spending four to six weeks, among fit, young, absolutely gorgeous, and stinkin’ RICH-”

“Four to Six? I thought you said two to three?”

“That’s the minimum time. For a Total Upgrade, they want roughly double observation time, Just In Case. And it’s two more weeks, at a Five-Star resort, free of charge, all expenses paid, so who’s complaining? Anyway, there I am, in my ‘new and improved’ bod-” Xandra struck a pose.

“I’ll bet you utterly FREAKED,” Chuck Ruttmer guffawed, ”when you saw that they gave you some rich bitch’s Upgrade by mistake!”

“uh, Chuck - it wasn’t a mistake,” Xandra corrected him with gentle gravity. “Besides, the ‘wrong upgrade’ blunder only exists on poorly written TV. Upgrades don’t work that way. Each upgrade is unique to every patient - it has to be. Every upgrade is built up from the genetic potentials already in the patient’s genome.”

“So...” Chuck floundered, “you mean...that you... MEANT.. to turn out this way? You’re a transsexual?”

“Not anymore,” Xandra gloated. “Now, I’m a genetically and anatomically 100% and then some female.” She got up in his face. “Whaddya gonna do, Chuckie? Get the football team together and beat me up in the Boys’ locker room after PE? Kinda hard to really do that right, what with what happened to ‘Good Ol’ Bronto’.”

Tiffany dragged the conversation off of this rather nasty tangent. “So, ah, Xandra, you were at that spa in the Virgin Islands?”

Xandra reluctantly let Chuck off the hook. “Right. Anyway, there I was, surrounded by the Rich, Powerful and newly Young and Beautiful. I needed a party story, so I told them about my little coup with Panacea.”

“Man,” Stacy snorted, “I’ll really bet that frosted the flakes of some of those rich snobs!”

*eennhh!* “Some of ‘em,” Xandra admitted. “Mostly the ones who only really have money goin’ for ‘em. I mean, just ‘cause your family is rolling in it, doesn’t mean that you’ve got anything else going for you. But that was all for the best - it sort of automatically vetted out the real weenies. But, really, it was the best move that I ever made. Most of the guests were impressed by my moxie - I mean, it’s not easy, pulling one over on Panacea! Heck, I not only got a new lease on Life out of the bargain, but I got a second career out of it!”

“Whaddya mean, Ale- I mean, Xandra?” Brick asked, a touch of worry on his face.

“Well, about a week after I got back from the Virgins, Chet Locklear called me-”

“Chet Locklear?” Brick bleated. “You mean Old Man Locklear, the Director-for-Life for American Operations, over at Bridges-Naberhause™? I used to work for him!”

“It must not have been in the last seven years,” Xandra purred, “‘cause Chet doesn’t go by ‘Old Man’ anymore. Anyway, he was having a few problems in his Purchasing division, and he asked me to see if I could spot the holes in their procedures, like I did for Panacea. Since my client base had sort of shriveled up, and I was dipping into my IRA to finance my new wardrobe, I took the job. Chet was so happy with the job I did, that he turned me on to a couple of other opportunities, and word got around that I was good at it. So, for the last seven years, I’ve been doing it more or less freelance.”

“Is there any real money in that?” Tally asked, running a finger over the rim of her highball glass.

Xandra held up both hands and mouthed, ‘Seven Figures’.

“SEVEN FIGURES?” Jody blurted, “A YEAR?”

“Well, you have to understand,” Xandra paused as she picked up her mineral water and took a sip, “at the level where I work, the sort of errors and slip-ups that I ferret out cost corporations tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars per annum. And that’s even when it’s not Silk-Collar crooks bleeding the company, so my fees are actually pretty reasonable.”

“‘Silk-Collar crooks’?” Tally asked, her eyes alight with curiosity. “You mean there’s someone actually taking on the big boys?”

“Tally,” Xandra laughed, “you watch too much TV! In the real world, even when a top executive IS cooking the books and like that, the other executives don’t cover up for them! After all, he may be a rat in a silk suit, but he’s still eating off of their plate! No, they’re only too glad to see their immediate competition shown discretely to the door. Mind you, it’s hushed up - don’t want to scare the shareholders, after all.”

“But you DO run into it?” Tally prodded.

Xandra shrugged. “It happens. It’s not my main business, but it does happen.”

“Are you working on anything interesting right now?” Tally urged, her eyes shining. “I mean, that you can ethically talk about.”

“Well, I do have one hot case hanging fire right now. As a matter of fact, it’s for Panacea. Their newest wonder drug, something that’s supposed to be their bridge when the competition catches up to them on the Upgrade front, is having a few complications with the new ‘Fast-Forward’ FDA approval process. My backup team says-”

“Backup team?” Tally asked. “You have a backup team now?”

“Well, of course!” Xandra grinned, “I can’t run a really thorough examination-”

“Examination?”

“Well, if I call it an ‘Investigation’, that implies that I’m looking for a crime, not a simple snag. Anyway, my backup team is checking out the provenance on a new smart drug that Panacea has developed. We have to get this one lab rat’s name on an affidavit, and then we start checking Lab Records. This part is pretty boring, so I left it to the hired help, while I came here.”

“Really?” Brick asked. “I’d think that you’d want to be right on top of something that important to Panacea.”

“To be honest, it’s probably nothing, just a few irregularities,” Xandra breezed. “But if this new smart drug is all that it’s supposed to be, then Panacea wants the provenance to be like Caesar’s Wife. I find the irregularities, identify them, make sure that nothing’s wrong before people start poking around, and I’ve saved them millions in production delays when the opposition tries to stir up fool questions, looking for a little catch-up time. Hell, I wish all my jobs were this simple.”

Brick started none-too-discretely pumping Xandra for information about any possible openings in Panacea’s Executive ranks, when her Personal Telecommunications Node went off. "It never fails!” Xandra moaned. “ ‘Scuze me while I take this; probably nothing, but better safe and all that...”

Xandra went off to a corner, pulled out her PTN, and began talking intently. The others talked among themselves, making veiled remarks that suggested that getting a Total Cellular Upgrade had suddenly become a major priority. Of course, given the price, the issue of exactly who was going to get the Upgrade first was probably going to be the cause of at least one divorce. Unseen by the others, Brick slipped a speaker-bud into his ear, and turned on his own PTN. He switched the hideously illegal military grade scrambler chip in the PTN to de-‘crypt’, and aimed it at Xandra. She might just be here for the Reunion, like she said, but he had too much riding on tonight to take any chances.

In less than three seconds, there was a *beep!*, and Brick was party to Xandra’s conversation. “-averall never knew what hit him.”

       Then Xandra’s voice: “How badly was he hurt?”

       “Ah, I didn’t bang him up that badly. A nasty sideswipe, he thinks that he has a broken leg, maybe some broken ribs. And I was very apologetic, told him that the Cab company would pay for everything. Even got him a nice private room, on the company tab.”

       Xandra chuckled, “Gawd, am I glad that you aren’t pissed off at me!”

       “Remember that, Boss Lady, when you’re passing around bonuses.”

       “So, when will Mister Haverall wake up?”

       “Chelsea is all set up to be his nurse; she’s gonna give him a stimulant that will wake him up with a clear head, with about three hours to meet the window of opportunity.”

“And the phone in his room?”

“Rigged to tape and trace, no prob; we’ll know who and where he’s calling, even before they do.”

 “And what about Panacea?”

  “The security guards are gonna be particularly obvious tonight, taking names and faces, as befits a high security research facility.”

“And Haverall’s special little bolt-hole behind the dumpster?”

“Got a motion sensor set up that an ant couldn’t find. The minute the rat goes into that hole- *Snap!*”

Xandra sighed, “IF the rat goes in that hole.”

 The voice on the other end paused and said, “Hey, Foxie - are you SURE about this? I mean we are pulling a LOT of really hairy stuff t’night, and it’s all on your say-so. I mean, you've got a lot of stuff, but it only hooks up b’cuz you say it does.”

“Gideon, I am telling you that the ‘Fast Forward’ approval process is just screaming to be abused. And ‘THX-1138’ is just too good to be true. I’m telling you, someone’s gonna try a last second swap, and it’s gonna be tonight.”

“Yeah, so you SAY. But no one at Panacea’s list’n’n to you, Babe, so there’s no way to prove it.”

“Only one way, Gideon - catch ‘em red handed. By the way, are there any openings still left on the Rat Pool?”

“ah, Yeah. The HowChem CEO’s Executive Assistant’s Secretary, the Third Seat R&C chemist, and the Skanderberg AG Pharm Div Senior Veep’s Girlfriend.”

“Put me down for Five each on the Secretary and the Girlfriend.”

“What? Not on the Chemist?”

 “Cherchez la femme, Mister Trueblood, cherchez la femme.”

“If’n you say so, Boss Lady. So, how’s the reunion going?”

Before Xandra could reply, Brick cut the link. Damn. It was so close, so CLOSE! He schooled his features into bland pleasantness, despite the fury and desperation that were sending his blood pressure through the roof. He leaned over the Tally, “Scuze me, Hon - pit stop.”

Brick headed to the Men’s Room, but blew past it, and through a door leading outside. Once in the cool night air, he pulled his PTN out of his pocket, set the MilSpec chip to ‘Encrypt/Decrypt’, and hit the speed-dial for a number that would blow right past any number of receptionists, assistants or other intermediaries.

Unfortunately, he still got nothing. He tried another number and another, and still got nothing. Then, finally, he had only one number that he could call, and still save all their hash.

He hit the speed-dial, and waited on tenterhooks. Then, finally, there was a pick-up. “What is it?” snapped an obviously impatient voice.

“It’s me, Dalton. There’s been a major complication. Haverall’s been compromised.”

“What? How do you know?”

“I got it straight from Xandra Fox.”

“XANDRA FOX? How the hell did YOU-”

“It turns out that I went to High School with her.”

The voice on the other end went wary, “You never told me that you knew Xandra Fox.”

Brick gritted his teeth, “Hey, she wasn’t Xandra Fox back then; Hell, she wasn’t even a SHE back then!” Brick took a deep breath and got back on the track. “Listen up, somehow, she managed to get wind of this deal, and she’s suspicious. She fingered Haverall, and got him put in a hospital somewhere, so he can’t pull the switch. AND, she has his phone line wired so that if he calls anyone to tell them what happened, they’re fingered, too.”

The voice was wary again. “So, Xandra Fox just came up to you at your High School Reunion, and told you all about her high-stakes game?”

“NO! I overheard her talking to her crew!”

 “She discussed this, just where you could conveniently overhear it.”

“No,” Brick said through gritted teeth, “I used that crypto-chip - the one that you said you paid an arm and a leg for, and said couldn’t be broken by anything less than a Kray™ Mainframe? - and used it to intercept her phone call. I recorded it." Brick hit the playback option, and sent the conversation to his secret partner.

After listening to the exchange, the voice on the other end said, “It sounds like Fox is just sniffing in the wind. She suspects, but she doesn’t have any real proof. Best of all, it sounds like Panacea doesn’t really believe her. We can still go through with the deal. Call-”

“Do you honestly think that I’d call YOU, if I hadn’t called everyone else already? Nobody’s picking up!”

The voice on the other end swore. “Very well. You’re going to have to make the switch.”

Brick thumped his fist on the stucco wall in frustration. “What the HELL are you talking about? I can’t leave! This is my 30th Reunion! And Xandra Fox is right in there! Do you honestly think that she wouldn’t get suspicious if I suddenly went running off, right after she discussed her big game with her people?”

The voice was grudgingly accepting. “You’re right, that’s exactly the sort of thing that she’s supposed to pick up on.” He went wary again. “But, I wonder why she’s at a stupid reunion, with such a big play going down?”

“Probably for the same reason that _I_ am; she wants anyone who might be watching her to think that she’s here, doing one thing, while her people are somewhere else, doing the important stuff. So, you have to get one of your people-”

“That...would be...problematic...” The voice drawled back, obviously on the defensive. “You’ll have to risk it-“

“What?” Brick had to choke down a shriek. “Are you KIDDING?”

 “If you hurry, you could make it.”

“Yeah, I could make it - if this were a race course! IF I could get a coeleopter here in five minutes, and get onto a semi-ballistic without a snag, I COULD make it - and leave a trail of freaking flames in my path! Oh, that would be REAL subtle, now wouldn’t it? No Way that Fox would spot anything like THAT!”

“Listen up, it isn’t that big a risk - from your recording, Fox only knows about Haverall's secret entrance, but not about Myrdal’s trap door into the parking lot-”

“WHAT? If you remember, I’ve never even been to the Panacea R&D lab in Rocklynn; heck, I’ve never even been to Rocklynn at ALL! And I know absolutely bupkiss about Panacea procedure. That was part of the reason why you brought me in on this! No connection to anyone, at all! And, I don’t even know where the docs and samples that are supposed to be switched are!”

“They’re right here. You can come here, pick them up-”

“You’re expecting me to go roaring across three time zones, pick up the samples, travel to a ‘burb that I’ve never been to before, find an R&D lab that I’ve never seen before, find a HIDDEN door, go to a security room, switch no less than six documents and samples - which HAVE to be in exactly the right place, or it’s all a wash - get out and get back here before people notice that I’m gone - ALL WITHOUT BEING SPOTTED? You don’t ask much, do you?”

“Oh, you expected to make 25 Million dollars for just sitting around and playing golf?”

“Do NOT give me that!” Brick snarled back. “I have busted my ASS making this deal work! I’ve done all the work, made all the contacts, everything! You are right there, in the right Time Zone, you’ve got the samples right there. Put one of those Spooks that you’re so proud of on it. Hey, I just saved everyone’s hash - it’s your turn to take one for the team. And remember, I might want this to happen, but you NEED this to happen, just to stay alive!”

The voice was resigned. “You’re right, Dalton. It would be stupid for you to come screaming all this way to handle it. I just don’t like getting this close to it, just at this time.” The voice sighed, “No, you’re right, Dalton, you did good. Tonight, you showed that you’ve really got the stuff. Way to keep your head in a crisis. Not to worry, I’ll keep my end of the bargain. Your Senior Veep position will be waiting for you.” Then the line closed.

Brick folded up his PTN and tucked it away with a deep sigh of a Job Well Done. Yep, the Man himself had said it - Way to keep your head in a crisis, Bricker!

Brick went back into the hotel, feeling very pleased with himself. As he rejoined the Reunion, he spotted Xandra, still chatting with a smaller group of women. Probably bragging about her latest Big Game. He grinned to himself. Well, Hotshot, you don’t know it, but the Brickster just knocked the wind out of your big move, AGAIN.

He strutted up to the giggling group, as Stacy was making veiled inquiries as to whether Xandra might be convinced to pass along anything interesting. “Please, Ladies!” he boomed good naturedly. “If there’s going to be any insider trading, I’M going to be the one getting the dirt!” He offered his arm to Xandra and showed her onto the dance floor.

After a few turns of slow dancing, Brick asked, “So, what’s the scoop with this smart drug? I mean, they’ve been coming out with ‘smart drugs’ for decades, but to be honest, all that ‘promotes cerebral activity’ crap sounds more like marketing than science.”

Xandra smiled, “Well, you’re right, most of the ‘smart drugs’ on the market work more by suggestion than by actual chemistry. But THX-1138 has actual measurable effects on learning, memory and creativity. But then, you already know that? After all, that’s what you sold Myrdal, isn’t it?”

Brick looked down into Xandra’s lovely face as he might at a viper that was suddenly coiled on his chest. “What are you talking about?” he wheezed out.

“Oh, I’m afraid that I told a teensy white lie,” Xandra gloated. “But then, that’s what you do at a reunion, isn’t it? You lie about how those were the ‘Good Old Days’ - though, I guess for YOU they were, hunh? You tell people how good they look, even though they’ve obviously been drinking too much and exercising too little. Stacy says that her marriage is just sailing along, despite the fact that Jeff’s been seeing Quinn on the side, and she knows it. And you tell everyone that you’re a big wheel at Howell Chemical, despite the fact that you’ve jumped from six jobs in the last twenty years, and you’re still only a crummy Junior Vee Pee. And you’re all curious about Total Upgrades, even though you have a fully paid appointment for one. Oh yes, and the fact that you’re using HowChem as a cover to sell DRJ-46/D, a compound that Skanderburg AG developed and scrapped as dangerous, to Lazlo Myrdal at Panacea, which they will register as THX-1138, their new wonder drug. You see, MY little lie is that I just patch up holes in procedure and such. Well, the story about my Upgrade was true, and so was the story about Chet Locklear, as far as it went. But I’ve moved on to a more exciting, more lucrative field; I’m a bounty hunter. I catch petty crooks with big job titles with their hands in the till, and I get BIG money for doing it.”

Brick steeled himself. “Oh, really? Is there a lot of money in that?”

“Oh, definitely,” Xandra smirked, “and I’m going to make a bundle, bringing YOU in.”

Brick smiled down at the woman. Yeah, the man was right on the money - she was sniffing in the wind, and she was trying to shake him. If she really thought that her ‘rat trap’ was going to work, then she wouldn’t be here, she’d be at Rocklynn for the kill, if only to make sure that Gideon guy didn’t hog all the glory. But, play along a little, “Really? What have _I_ done to be worth anything?”

Xandra reached into her clutch bag, pulled out her PTN and flipped it open. “Gideon, would you play back what we just taped, for Mister Dalton?”

She held the PTN to his ear and he heard: “What is it?”  “It’s Me, Dalton. There’s been a major complication. Haverall’s been compromised.” “What? How do you know?” “I got it straight from Xandra Fox.” “XANDRA FOX? How the hell did YOU-”

Brick goggled at her, “How did you...?”

She smirked back at him, never losing the tempo of the dance. “I’m Xandra Fox - it’s what I DO.”

“That’s Illegal--”

“I have a notarized copy of the surveillance writ, signed by a Federal Judge, right here in my purse, if you really want to see it.” Brick said nothing, but kept dancing numbly. “Oh,” she breathed, “you’re not worth much on the hoof, but LORD, the satisfaction!”

“Why are you doing this? What did I ever do to you?” Brick whined.

“WHAT did you ever DO?” Xandra’s eyes and voice went cold and hard, her face screwed up with anger, and her fingers dug into Brick’s arm like claws. “What do you THINK? Junior Year, three days after you blew the Regional Championships. You and your buddies were drunk on school grounds; you all grabbed me and dragged me into the locker room. You started spouting some bullshit about me coming on to Tally, and trying to use your failure to split you two up. Then you spent all of fourth period beating the crap out of me! Everyone could hear me screaming, everyone knew what was going on, but nobody did SHIT! After all, it was Golden Boy Brick Dalton! Even the teachers just looked the other way, while you dumped me in the trash! Do you know what you did to me? A broken jaw, two broken arms, SIX broken ribs, and both kneecaps! You burst my spleen, mashed my right kidney, and ruptured my right eye!”

“Well,” Brick choked, “you were all right when you came back in February...”

“THREE MONTHS of regenerative therapy! Do you have any IDEA of how PAINFUL Regen was back then? I was tanked to the gills, and I _still_ was crying for my mommy! And do you know how Expensive Regen was back then? They had to pay for it out of my College Money! It wiped out all the money that my parents had been saving, and it even took a big bite out of their retirement accounts! I had to go into the Army to get Vet’s benefits to go to college! While you were being the Golden Boy at University of Chicago, I was a foot grunt in Malaysia! I was part of the holding action in Kuala Lumpur! I waded through some of the worst street fighting since Stalingrad, while you were chasing cheerleaders! I got hit when a smart grenade zipped into my position. And all because YOU couldn’t handle the fact that you screwed up a fucking football game!”

“I – I’m sorry---“

“Oh, you’re sorry!” she sneered. “Oh, that makes it all better. The Golden Boy is sorry. Well, that still doesn’t make up for the fact that you’re trying to foist a dangerous toxin off on Panacea, as a safe learning drug, and you’re going to slip it past the FDA as safe.”

“What are you talking about?” Brick asked incredulously. “The guys at Skanderburg AG turned in a doctored report on DRJ-46/D, saying that it was dangerous. So Skanderburg filed it away as useless, and I bought it for a song. A little sleazy, but it’s just business as usual.”

“Dalton,” Xandra said warningly, “DRJ-46/D is dangerous. At first, it does everything that it’s supposed to - promotes clear thinking, increases short term memory, speeds up the transfer from short-term to long-term memory, stabilizes the ‘In The Zone’ mindset, the whole schmeer. But after a while - seven years in adults, five years in adolescents, and three years in children - it starts to ‘callus’ the neural receptors, so that overall intelligence DROPS. The tests, the REAL tests, show that adults who would have taken it long enough for those ‘calluses’ to form would require an agent to bypass those calluses FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES. Teens using it would develop serious neuro-biological deficiencies, and kids would be so severely screwed over that they’d need constant care for the rest of their lives. Oh, and newborns? The literature for ‘THX-1138’ suggests that using it while pregnant would pass the benefits along to the baby; it would - the baby would be born a vegetable. Given Panacea's projected marketing for ‘THX-1138’, I figure that if you’re getting 25 Million for this, then you’d be ruining lives at a rate of roughly 25 cents a head. But then, that’s about par for the course with you.”

“That - that’s impossible. Skanderburg-”

“Hey, Brick-for-brains,” Xandra sneered, “think about it. If you had a ground-breaking, industry altering quantum shift breakthrough like ‘THX-1138’, would YOU sell it to your competition for a measly cut of 50 Mil, or would you ride it for everything that it was worth?”

Brick stopped short.

“Oh, and one more little thing,” Xandra added, “my sources tell me that Skanderburg has a treatment, that agent that bypasses those calluses, that has already passed FDA tests. But, there’s no condition around for it to treat. Convenient, no?” Xandra sighed, “Well, I doubt that whoever they send to pull the switch will drop the dime on whoever’s calling the shots over at Skanderburg. I guess I’ll have to settle for my usual 10% take for the return of the $50 Million that Myrdal was going to pay-“ she looked up at him with a predatory grin, “-oh, and bagging YOU, of course.”

Then a realization seemed to cross Xandra’s face. “Y’know, there IS one other benefit, now that I think of it.”

“What?” Brick asked desperately.

“Tally,” Xandra purred. She turned and smiled over at Tally, who was sitting at a table, chatting with an old friend. Tally smiled and waved back, and then returned to her conversation. “Man, look at her! Forty-Eight years old, and she still looks like a teenager playing the matron.”

“What?” Brick blurted. “But I thought – you – you’re a-”

“Oh, I am,” Xandra grinned. “But I swing both ways. And y’know, I had the biggest crush on Tally back in school. Not that she would ever even look at me, not beyond the whole ‘just friends’ thing. But things are different now - hey, maybe Tally swings both ways, too!” Xandra drifted off, her face a cat-that’s-been-at-the-cream smirk of sensual speculation.

“NO!” Brick grated. “Not TALLY!

“Why not? This time tomorrow, you’re going to be in a Federal Marshall’s lockup, with a bail set at amounts that would give the Federal Reserve palpitations; you’re not going to have any say in it. And after that, all your sexual needs are going to be taken care of by your cellmate. And with the charges that you’re looking at, there’s no way that they’re sticking you in some Club Fed. Nope, it’s Leavenworth for you, Brickie-boy!” Xandra sighed happily.

“Do you honestly think that Tally would take up with the FREAK who put her husband in jail?” Brick snarled.

“Well, when the word of what you tried to pull hits the media, Tally’s going to need all the friends that she can get! Y’see, Brickster, the ‘Fast Forward’ approval process is a very hot potato in Washington right now. The media’s gonna jump on this like a pack of starving wolves. And the way that it’s set up, it’s all about YOU. Like you told your buddy, you busted your hump to make that deal. You made all the contacts, you cut all the deals, and you bought DRJ-46/D and peddled it to Myrdal. For the next nine days, you are gonna be the Corporate Sleaze that everyone loves to hate, the fallen Golden Boy who tried to screw over millions to make his pile. God, the snarky jokes just write themselves! And Tally and your kids are gonna be right in the line of fire with you. She’s gonna need someone who can hide her from the media, someone who knows that she had nothing to do with it.” Xandra grinned ferally, “Guess who.”

“Tally loves me.” Brick held onto that like a life preserver. “She’d never throw me to the wolves.”

“You’re right about that. Tally’s just the sort to ‘stand by her man’ in the middle of a crisis. Of course, there IS one little thing that no woman, not even Tally, would be able to forgive. And I know all about it.”

“What are you talking about?”

Xandra flashed her vulpine grin again. “That Total Upgrade appointment that you got three months ago? The Upgrade that Zanderburg AG’s paying for? It’s for ONE. And I really doubt that you’re the type to go through all of this, just so that your beloved wife can have a second chance at youth. Nope, you were gonna leave Tally behind in the dust, and she’s gonna know it.”

“How did you find out about that?”

“Hey, I’m Xandra Fox! It’s what I do! And, it’s the way that I twigged to all of this - I mean, there’s no WAY that an Nth-rater like you could ever scare up the cash for a Rejuve Upgrade, so I knew that something fishy was going on.”

“She’ll never believe you.”

“So, I’ll arrange for her to find out about it on her own. Once it all goes down, she’s gonna be trying to find out everything on her own, so I won’t have to lift a finger.” Xandra paused to consider Tally again. “Y’know, that Rejuve Upgrade at Panacea is fully paid for - I’m sure that I could talk them into transferring it over to Tally personally before everything that you own gets confiscated. Can you imagine Tally with an Upgrade? All the youth, beauty and vitality of her prime, AND the wisdom, grace and polish of her maturity...  And she’ll need someone to stand by her...and provide comfort and support...” Xandra trailed off suggestively.

“OKAY!” Brick snapped. “Enough already! So, let’s make a deal!”

“Hey, Brick-for-Brains!” Xandra muttered. “In case you haven’t noticed, you don’t have anything to deal with! We have you dead to rights! Once your buddy steps through the hidden door into Myrdal’s office, we’ll have you ALL dead-bang! You can’t even get away to warn them! All the lines and frequencies to this hotel are being monitored - if you use a phone, we’ll block it.

“And getting away? Not an option. Outside this hotel is a van with seven trained enforcers, armed to stun and restrain. Santos, the guy I came in with? He’s not just arm candy - he’s a Green Beret trained bodyguard; his suit is armored, and he’s carrying a gun loaded with Shock rounds. He can miss with eight out of nine shots, get you and still not have to worry about the misses.

“And finally, up close and personal, there’s ME. My Upgrade didn’t just make me young, gorgeous and female - I’m stronger, faster and tougher than you are! I’ve been spending the last thirty years training in Hapkido - what have YOU been doing since College? Golf? Racketball? Hell, do you even JOG? Go ahead, Brick, TRY and get away! I’d love an excuse to bounce you off the walls!”

Brick paused, even as they kept dancing. Finally, his last scruple gave way. “Oh, I have something to bargain with.”

“Oh?” Xandra looked up, a curious tilt to her eyebrow.

“Achillas Serentidias.”

Xandra stopped dead in her tracks. “Serentidias? The ‘Modern Pericles’?” She let out a low whistle. “What’s a minnow like YOU, doing swimming with a shark that big?”

“Serentidias isn’t the only shark in the ocean. He and Lillian Jellicoe are duking it out for control of Skanderburg AG. He needs forty Million to come out of the blue, at just the right moment, to clinch a much larger loan at just the right time.”

“Forty Million?” Xandra raised an eyebrow. “But, Serentidias’ cut of the take should be only 25 Million, if that.”

“I’m going to lend him the balance that he needs, out of my take.”

“Brick,” Xandra hedged, “it’s not that I don’t believe you - this really is more Serentidias’ kind of game than yours - but it’s your word against his. His lawyers will cut you to shreds, he’ll walk, and you’ll still take the fall, just like he planned.”

“I kept records of everything.”

“You did?” Xandra looked at him, impressed for the first time. “Well, it’s about damn time that you did something smart!” She gave him a hard look. “WHY did you do it?”

He looked at her offended, “What, you think that I’d just assume that a barracuda like Serentidias would pay me back, and come across with all of his promises, just because he gave his Word?”

Xandra gave a gusty sigh. “Well, it looks like it isn’t solid wood between the ears - there must be some sawdust.” She fixed Brick with a no-nonsense glare. “So, are you willing to drop the dime on him?” Brick nodded sadly. Xandra pulled her PTN out again and hit speed-dial. “Sasha? Is Pauling there?” She handed Brick her PTN. “Wanda Pauling from the US Attorney General’s Office is on the other end. First, you give her a micro-deposition over the phone. Don’t worry, it’s scrambled, and even your crypto-chip couldn’t break this cypher. Then, you go talk to Wanda personally, and give her a more detailed deposition.”

Brick woodenly took the cell phone and gave a bare bones description of his involvement with Serentidias, with a few dates and details. When he was finished, he folded the PTN and handed it to Xandra. As he was handing the phone back to her, a flicker of realization crossed his face. “Hold on - how did you tap into my conversation with Serentidias? My PTN has a MilSpec cryptographic scrambler chip!”

Xandra gave him a fox-smirk that made him want to wipe up the floor with her. “Yep, a Skototech™ Langely Special, Model # 15073-J-436. Bubbie, who do you think SOLD him that crypto-chip in the first place?”

Brick’s face fell. “But that means-”

“That we’ve been listening into everything that you artful dodgers have been saying to each other over those ‘secure’ links, for the past six weeks.”

“You knew about Serentidias all along.”

“Yep.”

“You were really after Serentidias. You’ve been playing me.”

“Pretty much.”

“Why? If you had all those wiretaps-”

“Because we need YOU, Brick. Yes, you actually have value. Recordings are only worth so much in a court of Law; Serentidias’ lawyers could play absolute hob with electronic evidence. Now, a witness, on the other hand - it’s real hard to pish-tosh away a witness, especially with the recordings backing them up. And you are the very best witness that we could hope for - Serentidias was going to use you for the fall guy, which was why he had you do so much of the actual hands on work of the scam. You had to have your fingerprints all over it. But that also means that you can testify as to almost every aspect of it.”

“But Serentidias’ lawyers will just pull out the old ‘He’s just turning State’s Evidence to save his own skin’ argument.”

“True.” Xandra allowed herself the indulgence of a twirl to the music. “That’s why we timed it so that we put the squeeze on you BEFORE Serentidias falls for the trap. This way, you can honestly say that you were only made aware of DRJ-46/D’s dangers minutes before talking to an Assistant Attorney General, and the phone logs will back you up. You gain tons of credibility before a Grand Jury, and the US Attorney General’s Office doesn’t take as much heat for offering you immunity.”

Brick stopped and looked hard at her. “Why are you doing this? You just got through venting about how much you hate me - why are you giving me an out?”

Xandra’s smirk faded into wry bemusement. ”I hadda spook you, in order to get you to roll over on Serentidias. I dragged out that piece of old news, because a guy like you would believe that I’d still hold onto that grudge, after all these years. Y’know, they say that some people graduate from High School and go onto better things, while others just stop going to classes. Me? I grew up. You? Way down where you make your reality, you’re still the captain of the football team, and you’ve had a lonnnggg losing streak. And, if it means anything to you, you’re not really to blame for that beating.”

Perplexity covered Brick’s face. He began to worry that it would stick. “What are you talking about?”

“Serentidias wasn’t the first one to play you for a chump, not by a long shot. Hell, even Coach Halevy used you.”

“HEY!” Brick’s face twisted up in rage. “You watch what you say about Coach! He was like a second Father to me!”

“Oh?” Xandra’s face quirked into an amused half-smile. “Would a father poison his own children, just to make a buck? Would a father set his own kids up for a fall, just to get ahead? Would a father turn his kids into killers, just to cover his ass?”

“Talk sense, damn you!”

“Okay, the Elementary School version. Coach Halevy was fixing the football games."

“How do you fix a football game?”

“Well, you either pay off one side to lose, or you feed them steroids and amphetamines so that they win. Not enough to produce serious results, mind you, just enough to give you that ‘winning edge’. Halevy had an arrangement with a bookie. The coach used the steroids and hormones to build you guys up into a Regional powerhouse, in order to stack the odds. And then, on the day of the Regional Championships, he just didn’t give you your usual fix; you weren’t out of it, you just weren’t up to your usual game, and lost in a stunning upset. Coach’s bookie buddy made a bundle, and shared it with Coach.”

“But the Team Doctor-”

“Who do you think supplied the steroids?”

“Okay, even IF all of this is true - what does it have to do with us beating the crap out of you in the locker room?”

“The reason that you assholes all got together and beat me up, was that I was nosing around asking questions about steroids and such. I was on the school paper, remember? It struck me strange that ‘Good ol’ Bronto’ went from the pudgy kid that he was in Junior High to a wall of muscle in little over a year. I was fool enough to ask Coach about it, and the next thing you know, ‘Good ol’ Bronto’ is wheeling a keg into the team locker room and talking trash about me and Tally. Beer, disappointment, teenage hormones, and steroids, all in one batch - I’m amazed that you yutzes didn’t kill me!”

Brick shook his head. “No, wait - we WON the regionals the next year!”

“Well, of course! The ‘smart money’ was on you guys to choke again, so Coach and his bookie friend made another killing. And besides, Coach wanted to keep his job.”

“You’re guessing all of this.”

“Nope - ‘Good Ol’ Bronto’ showed up in my hospital room, and let it slip that if I kept poking around in the team’s business, that I wouldn’t have to worry about getting beaten up again - I’d have to worry about my house getting fire-bombed. It seems that besides getting free steroids, Bronto was also doing a little leg-breaking work for the bookie.”

Brick looked at Xandra with fear in his eyes. “Did—did you have a hand in what happened to Bronto?”

“If I HAD been gunning for anyone, it would have been Coach; he was the one who was calling the shots, and he was the one raking in the bucks. No, Bronto and Coach did themselves in. Bronto kept using drugs that he KNEW were gonna kill him some day, and Coach tried the same trick on the next batch of beefy young idiots that came along. But this time, he did something wrong, ‘cause he mysteriously dropped out of sight, just before the Regional Final Four.” Xandra speared Brick with a glance. “ODD, that you didn’t know that about a man who was ‘like a father to you’.”

Brick cleared his throat. “Okay, so, you got the drop on me. It’s still going to be touchy. Serentidias’ spooks are very good; they might spot the trap and pass on it. Hell, they might even manage to pull it off!”

Xandra quirked that fox-smirk of hers. “True, and IF we’d left it up to them, that might have been a problem. Again, the timing. The reason that you couldn’t get in touch with any of your partners in crime was that they were all off, giving themselves iron-clad alibis, like you were. Serentidias would have been in Crete, doing the same, but we, ah, arranged for a few last minute crises and delays that kept him in the states, just in time for your phone call. Anfinsen, his right-hand man, is already in Crete, and having a few problems with the Khania Police. Patel and Nyeveksi, his other two goons, are parked in a rented car down the street from your house, and are observing radio silence. My guess is that they’re waiting for 11 PM, when the switch is supposed to happen, and then they’ll go in and either grab all those records of yours, or just torch the place. Not to worry, a team of Federal Marshals are watching them, nothing’s gonna happen.”

Utter confusion passed over Brick’s face. “So, who’s Serentidias going to get to pull off the switch?”

Xandra’s smirk went positively Evil. “Nobody. That’s why he was so amped to get YOU to pull off the switch. Getting anyone else to do it would mean an unacceptable risk. He’s got to do it - HIMSELF. And he may be as slick as shit in the boardroom, but he’s no cat burglar. We’ve got a team tailing him, from his condo, to where the new samples are stored, to Rocklynn, videotaping him every step of the way. The second that he steps through Myrdal’s secret door, we’ve got him red-handed, with the real ‘THX-1138’ samples in his hands.”

Brick recoiled. *Eeewww…* “You’re really covering all the bases for this.”

“Of course! Serentidias is a multi-billioniare; he can afford the very best defense possible. With someone that slippery, you nail down ALL the options.”

Then the PTN in Xandra’s hand beeped. She held it to her ear. “Good. I’ll get him moving.” She flipped it shut. “My surveillance team just reported that Serentidias just entered the secure warehouse, where the production samples are stored. We only have a few hours before Serentidias’ coeleopter gets him to Rocklynn. You have to make an official deposition to Wanda Pauling, covering as many points as possible, before Serentidias enters the Panacea R&D facility. Then Pauling will have Due Cause to send the Federal Marshals in to bag him.”

Brick sagged where he stood. “So, where is this Pauling broad?”

“She’s in a suite on the Third Floor, waiting for you with a stenographer and a notary public. Go with Santos, my escort; he’ll make sure that nothing bad happens to you on the way there.”

Brick squared his shoulders, and tried to not look like someone who was about to sell someone out to save his own hide. As he stepped away from her and strode across the dance floor to the door where Santos was waiting for him, Xandra could see Brick begin to rationalize the situation to himself. By the time he was out the door, he was a courageous citizen, going to do his civic duty by cooperating with the Authorities in bringing in a dangerous criminal. At least, in his own mind, if nowhere else.

Chuck Ruttmer quickly stepped up to fill the vacuum that Brick left, smoothing back the thinning hair that had been like red steel wool in High School. "So...where’s the Bricker off to, in such a hurry, hmmm?” he sleazed.

“Oh, I cut him a deal, and he’s hurrying to clinch it.”

“What?” Chuck hooted. “You cut a deal with BRICK, but not ME? After what he did you in-”

Xandra fixed him with an icy glare. “As I remember, YOU were in that locker room as well, Weasel.”

Instinctively knowing when he was outclassed, Ruttmer scuttled back into the crowd. Xandra looked around the crowd. Despite their efforts, she and Brick hadn’t been anything like discrete. But then, when you’re shedding that much hostility, it’s hard to keep a lid on it. There was a low buzz of speculation, with revenge, greed and lust being the main possibilities being considered. Xandra wearily wondered if it was the reunion tripping them back to their High School selves, or if they, like Brick, just never really grew up on some level.

Well, there were people who’d attended Daria M. whose good opinion she cared about, but Xandra didn’t see any of them around. So, she left them to their rather juvenile sport.

Tally wasn’t anywhere to be seen, so she must have gone to the powder room. Well aware that almost every eye in the ballroom was on her, Xandra slinked off the dance floor, making a show of it, and headed to the powder room.

Tally was in the powder room, seated at the makeup counter, enduring Sandy, Stacy and Tiffany’s ‘consolations’. “Gee, I’m SURE that there’s nothing there,” Sandy said with patent insincerity. “I mean, so WHAT if she’s young, and gorgeous and has enough money to sink a river barge?”

“I am SO SORRY for you!” Stacy squeaked. Even thirty years after graduation, she still clung to the strongest person in any group like a vine. “To be HUMILIATED! At your REUNION!”

“This is SOOO WRONNNNGGGG...” Tiffany murmured. She’d been honing her sycophant skills as an Executive Assistant to a demanding boss (her husband insisted that she work) so she was in good form. “You should leave him, and-”

Tiffany’s opening shot in her campaign to get Tally to sabotage herself was cut short when Xandra loudly cleared her throat. "Excuse me, ladies. Could I have a few minutes alone with Tally?” Xandra’s lips were curved in a polite smile, but her eyes said, ‘SCRAM!’ They looked at Tally, who was rising up from the makeup counter with murder in her eyes, and lost no time skittering out of the room.

Xandra checked the stalls, and then put a chair against the door. If anyone wanted to use the facilities for the next bit, they’d have to go elsewhere.

Tally stared Xandra right in the eye. “Do you have any idea of what you’ve done?”

"After what you did in High School, nothing else would do.” Xandra reached into her more commodious than it would appear to the untrained eye clutch bag, and produced something that looked like a very high tech cigarette lighter. She twisted the top. “White Noise Generator. It will garble any attempts to eavesdrop.”

Tally came up, putting her face right up to Xandra’s-

-and wrapped her arms around Xandra. “Oh, Thank God! It’s finally over!” Tally disengaged herself and collapsed onto the bench in front of the makeup mirror. “You have no idea of what I’ve been through for the past six months!” Tally looked up at Xandra. “You really saved my life!”

Xandra sat down on the bench next to Tally and looked at their joint reflections in the mirror. “Hey, De Nada! Even if you hadn’t saved MY life, back in high school, I’d have jumped at the chance to bag Serentidias anyway!”

“Does he have any idea?”

“Not a clue.” Xandra grinned. “As far as Brick was concerned, he was well and truly sandbagged by Xandra Fox, International Woman of Mystery!” Xandra mugged a farcical pose in the mirror. “Man, I wish that I could have taped the whole scene with Brick! I could use it as part of a video brochure. God, I looked like fucking SuperWoman! Y’know, normally I have to work a LOT harder than I did tonight. It’s nice being six steps ahead of the opposition for a change. Usually I’m two steps behind, and I have to sucker one of their underlings into thinking that they’re gonna be tossed to the wolves, to find out what’s really going on.”

Tally worried a nail, “Do - do you think that Brick will be all right? I mean, he put so much into that idiotic deal – did we break his heart?”

Xandra let out an amused noise. “Brick? Are you kidding? As he was going to talk to Pauling, I swear that he already had himself convinced that he was being the concerned citizen, coming forward to do his duty. By this time tomorrow, he’ll be thinking that it was all his idea to trap Serentidias, and be bitching about me ‘stealing his prize’.”

Tally let out a rueful laugh. “Boy, do I know about that!” Then she let out a long sigh. “Brick never did really understand what business was about. On some level, he thinks that after the dust settles, that the two sides should shake hands and say ‘better luck next time’.”

Xandra looked at Tally exasperatedly. “God’s teeth, Tally, why do you stay with him? I mean, you’ve been carrying him since High School! The only reason that he’s lasted this long in business is that you keep following after him, cleaning up his blunders, and sweet-talking his bosses! You just plain deserve better.”

Tally just gave a sad sigh. “Xandra, it just comes down to I love him.”

Xandra went deadly serious. “Tal, he arranged for ONE Rejuve treatment. He was gonna ditch you, and go chasing twenty-year old bimbos.”

Tally shook her head. “Alex, you just don’t understand Brick-”

“Oh? Am I really supposed to think that Mister ‘Look Out For Number One’ was really going to hang around, once the dew was back on the rose? I mean, you are DAMN good looking for Forty-Eight, Tal, but how long would he be willing to have Mrs. Robinson on his arm?”

Tally shook her head again. “Like I said, you just don’t understand him, Xandra. He loves me. I know this. As for the Upgrade, he just didn’t think that far. He was all excited, and that bastard Serentidias was keeping him off guard and not thinking. He just sort of assumed that when he was young again, that I’d be young again, automatically. Or, he had some lamebrain plan for wrangling me an Upgrade, too. But I always know when he’s cheating on me; he has a problem looking me in the eyes. And, this morning, when I asked him if he loved me, he looked me right in the eye and told me that he couldn’t imagine living without me.”

Xandra let out a long exasperated sigh. Then she gave Tally a wry smile. “What? Is he THAT good in bed?”

Tally smiled beatifcially. “All I know is, after thirty years and three kids, I still get butterflies when he kisses me. When we’re alone, and he takes me in his arms, it’s like the first time, all over again. And I know that he loves Jared and the girls. You only see him in the office, where he’s totally out of his league - at home, he’s something completely different.”

Xandra let out another long sigh. “Okay, Tally-Hon, it’s your life. But you keep those happy memories, ‘cause while the ‘Big Deal’ may have gone south, it ain’t over, not by a long shot. Even with catching Serentidias red-handed, he has the kind of money to put up a helluva fight in court. The trial and pre-lims will take months, and Brick’s gonna be in the thick of it, every inch of the way. And the second the blood hits the walls, Howell Chemicals will let Brick go, just to distance themselves from the mess, so you’re going to be living - and paying for your kids’ tuition and expenses - out of your own pockets."

Tally looked in the mirror and primped a bit. “Yes, well, if we can’t live on Forty Million until Brick lands another job, well, then we’re doing something seriously wrong!”

Xandra crossed her eyes in confusion. “Forty Million? Where did this Forty Million come from?”

Tally smirked at Xandra. “What’s this, ‘Xandra Fox, International Woman of Mystery’ didn’t pick up on this angle? The forty million that Serentidias paid for Brick’s Upgrade. I figure that Serentidias needed to put that money someplace where he could get at it easily, while still not showing up in any assets reports. So, he buys this Upgrade, allegedly for Brick, and when he needs the money, he just cashes in the value of the Upgrade. What’s Brick going to do? Go to the cops? Well, all that we have to do to get along is cash in that Upgrade ourselves - after all, it IS in our name - and live on the money!” Tally finished off with the flip of her hair that Xandra remembered from High School.

Xandra said in a ‘Lady of Shallot’ voice, “Tally, why didn’t you bring this up earlier?”

“Well, I thought it was obvious!” Tally deflated. “Xandra, you’re not telling me that there’s something wrong with that?”

“Tally,” Xandra began tenuously, “Serentidias didn’t pay for that Upgrade - Brick did.”

“WHAT?” Tally screeched so loud that it actually overcame the White Noise generator. “Where would he come up with FORTY MILLION?”

“He didn’t,” Xandra said gingerly, “it was part of his deal with Myrdal at Panacea - Myrdal let him have the Rejuve Package at cost. It only sent Brick back 30 Grand. And there’s no way that Panacea’s going to refund 40 Mil for something that Brick only paid 30 K for.”

“THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS?” Tally sobbed. “Oh, my GAWD, Brick took out double loans against everything that we HAD to make this stupid thing of his work! He even took out loans against the kids’ College funds! Thirty thousand will be a drop in the bucket against all of that! I was counting on the Forty Million to pay off creditors and keep us afloat until the stink from all of this faded! We’re ruined...!” Tally put her head in her hands down on the makeup counter, and moaned.

“Tally! TALLY!” Xandra coaxed. “It’s not that bad! I’m sure that I can talk Panacea into giving you a split of my take from the recovery of their $50 Million, and I’ll make sure that you get a split of what the Government shakes down Serentidias for!”

“With all the publicity that’s gonna come down the pike,” Tally moaned, “the banks will be sure to foreclose, especially if Brick loses his job! Two and a half million will barely pay off the first year’s INTEREST on all of that! And Serentidias is a Multi-Billionaire; the proceedings to get his money will take years! DECADES! By the time we see a penny, we’ll be ruined!”

“TALLY!” Xandra grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to look her in the eye. “I am NOT gonna let that happen! Tally, when Bronto threw me in the dumpster, YOU fished me out! Everyone else just looked the other way, but You did something. You called the ambulance. You used enough first aid on me to keep me alive until the ambulance got there. You visited me in the hospital, when I NEEDED someone to talk to. Tally, you saved my Life! And, beyond all that, you knew about me. If anyone else in school had found out about me being a TS, they would’a used it like a club! But not you. Not Tally Beeman, the Golden Girl with the Golden Heart. You kept my secret. You gave me hope. You gave me the strength to go on. That asshole Bronto could have broken me, but I knew that there were better people in the world, people who cared about me.

“Do you HONESTLY think that I’m just going to stand by and let you go under? Hell, NO!” Xandra’s expression went from laser focused concern to bemused speculation. “Y’know, this could work out perfectly?”

Tally looked at Xandra sternly. “I am not going to accept charity! I won’t just let you bail us out of Brick’s mess!”

“Not to worry, Sweetheart!” Xandra fondly patted Tally’s cheek. “First of all, don’t tell anyone about the Two and a half Mil that you’re going to get from Panacea...”

“You have something up your sleeve already?” Tally said incredulously.

“Hey, I’m Xan-“

“Yeah, yeah, I know, you’re Xandra Fox, ‘International Woman of Mystery’! I’ve heard this joke already! What is it?”

“Well, when the news gets out, there are going to be two kinds of lenders. There are going to be the ones that are going to try and foreclose on what they can before anyone else does, and the ones that are going to try to sluff what they think is a bad debt off on the first sucker that comes along. We hold off the first type for a while, and I buy up the paper for pennies on the dollar - hey, they’ll think that it’s a big black hole of a non-repayable debt, and they’ll be glad to get whatever they can back. Once I have that paper, I’ll just tear it up. If you absolutely HAVE to, you can pay me back later, out of the money that you get from Serentidias. Then I inform the other lenders that part of the debt has been redeemed, so they’ll be a lot more likely to hold off, when they hear about your new job.”

“New Job?” Tally blinked at this non sequitur. “But who’d give ME a job?”

“Southern Hospitality Enterprises. They’re a chain of Upper-Mid range Spa and Resort Operations in Virginia through Georgia. They’re a few notches up the food chain from the folks who run this dump.“ Xandra glared at the faux-marble veneer on the wall.

“Southern Hospitality Enterprises? I haven’t heard anything about them needing a new executive.”

“New _CEO_!” Xandra corrected with her fox-grin. “And they don’t - yet.”

“CEO?” Tally squeaked. “What do I know about being a CEO? And I don’t know anything about the Hospitality industry!”

“Tally, you’ve kept Brick Dalton alive as an executive for twenty-five years! Just think about what you could do, without lugging him around! And, as for the Hospitality industry, you won’t HAVE to know anything, beyond a few basics. That’s what Junior Vice-Presidents are for. All that you have to do, is make sure that the people who are actually running the place are competent, honest and motivated.”

“And why would the Board of Directors at Southern Hospitality hire ME, a complete unknown, over any of a hundred people with actual track records?”

“Tally, before you told me about Brick and Serentidias, I was checking out Southern Hospitality. The Hospitality Industry RUNS on ethics, and Southern Hospitality’s leadership makes the Nixon Administration look squeaky clean. And you, m’lovely, are the most relentlessly ethical person I know.”

“You can say that, after I sabotaged my own husband’s move into the Big League’s, so that he wouldn’t leave me.”

“No, I can say that after you saved your husband from being offered up as a sacrifice for some ruthless bastard’s sick greed. It’s like this - I drop the hammer on Southern Hospitality’s leadership, and drop Sylvia Lorca in as CEO. Sylvia is from the ‘Ivan the Terrible’ school of leadership. She’ll clean out all the deadwood and hangers on. Then, when the place is cleaned out, Sylvia moves on to the job that she really wants, over at Trans-Pacific. Then I use my voting stock, proxies, and blackmail on the Board of Directors to have you installed as CEO at Southern Hospitality, at, oh, I’d say Six Mil per annum, plus a list of perks that could choke a whale. After the assholes they have now, and then Slyvia, the execs who are actually making Southern Hospitality work - instead of goldbricking on the golf course - will be delighted when they learn that their new boss is human. When they learn that their new boss is a beautiful and gracious young lady with scads of leadership skills, they’ll be dancing in the corridors.”

“Young?” Tally laughed bitterly, “I may be young compared to some of the Antediluvians that run the Ladies’ Conservation League, but I’d hardly use it on my resume.”

“Oh, but you CAN be, Tal!” Xandra enthused. “Hey, you still have the Panacea Rejuve Upgrade! When the trial starts, you show up at court by Brick’s side, showing support and your usual shtick. After about a week of this, you quietly drop out of sight, and go to Panacea’s clinic in the Virgins. While you’re undergoing the procedure, I drop the hammer on Southern Hospitality, and unleash Sylvia. By the time that you’re through recuperating, Sylvia should have finished her purges. A quick shopping expedition for your new wardrobe, and then you begin your new career as Tally Beeman, CEO and savior of Southern Hospitality.”

“So you honestly think that they’d take orders from a woman who looks like she just got out of college?” Tally asked, starting to get interested, despite herself.

“OF COURSE they will!” Xandra breezed. “The Upgrade is what makes it work! The Upgrade says that you have the clout to get a 30 Million minimum procedure. Believe me, that’s the kind of statement that makes people sit up and listen! And I know, from personal experience!.”

“But Brick-”

“If Brick pitches a hissie about it, just let ME handle it. I scare the piss out of him.”

“Yeah, I heard,” Tally said with a chuckle, as she removed the speaker-bud from her ear. “But I seriously doubt that Brick will stand still for being a ‘kept man’.”

“So, give him a division to manage. Tell him that if he can make his division perform, that people will begin to forget his part in the Serentidias mess, and consider him for another executive berth.

“Though, to be honest, I think he’ll actually be happy as Management, rather than as an Executive,” Xandra mused. “Deep in his heart, he’s still the star quarterback, trying to get his team to work together. Totally different mindset from an Executive."

Xandra turned to look at Tally. “So? At least think about the Upgrade. If nothing else, it will keep Brick from getting it, and doing something stupid.”

Tally chuckled wryly and shook her head. “What is it, with you and these Upgrades? Are you trying to get me to become a sweet young thing again, so that you can have your wicked way with me?”

Xandra leaned over and kissed Tally on the cheek. “Oh, like I’d wait for you to get an Upgrade to get you into my bed! No, while I admit that I still have a few old fantasies from school, that’s not the reason. Tally, you never really had a chance to strut your stuff.”

“What do you mean? I’ve had lot of opportunities. Hey, I’m nothing special.”

Xandra cupped Tally’s cheek in her hand. “You really don’t know how special you are, do you?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I know - I’m the Golden Girl.”

“No, not just a Golden Girl - you’re a Golden Girl with a Golden Heart. That’s DAMN rare. You had all the advantages - looks, charm, brains, fitness, friends - but you still managed to stay human.”

Tally blushed. “Oh, it was all so easy for me. I mean, like you said, I had all the advantages, and my parents were rich and they still made time to show that they loved me. I mean, it wasn’t like I was ugly, or fat, or was born the wrong sex like you. I mean, how could I NOT at least try to make other people feel better?”

“Oh, easy - you could have just blithely assumed that all that was your birthright. Most of the ‘Golden Boys’ and ‘Golden Girls’ that I have met - and I’ve met a more than a few - assume that all that sort of comes with them being them. Hell, most of the Golden Girls that I’ve ever met seemed to think that the rest of the world should pay THEM for the privilege of eating their shit. But you? You saw the common, everyday suffering around you, and refused to regard it as a show, just for your amusement.

“And THAT is why I want you to have that Rejuve Upgrade. Because Ethics start at the head and work their way down. Because I want you, young, fit and healthy, showing the Executive Class what Ethics is all about, for at least four decades. Because you deserve a chance to show the world what you can really do, without hiding behind Brick Dalton.”

Tally seemed a little hurt. “So, this ISN’T about getting me into bed?”

Xandra laughed and gave her a big hug. “Tally, Hon, any time that you’re serious about walking the other side of the street, just let me know! But give me a few days notice - I don’t exactly have cobwebs on my sheets, y’know. So, you’ll take the Upgrade?”

Tally definitely seemed to be thinking about it. “Give me a week, and I’ll let you know.”

Xandra put a few finishing touches on her makeup. “Well, I think we’ve hogged the powder room for long enough.”

Tally checked herself in the mirror. “Shouldn’t we, y’know, muss ourselves up a little? The girls have been waiting for so long, they should at least have a nice little catfight to add to the gossip.”

“Nah, mussing ourselves up would only be admitting that we didn’t have a fight. After a fight, the first that we’d do is get ourselves perfect. So?” Xandra offered Tally her arm. “Just remember to favor one leg a little.”

Tally took the arm. “Back to the Reunion?”

“Sort of. You may have noticed that a few of the people that we went to school with didn’t show up.”

“Yes, a few - but they were the sort that don’t come to reunions, anyway.”

Xandra nodded. “True, usually. But right now, twelve of the people from High School that I actually WANTED to meet, are up in the Penthouse. Now that all this is finally taken care of, I'm going up there for my real reunion. Want to come along?”

Tally gave a loud relieved laugh. “Why not? If we go up together, they’ll be absolutely scandalized! Sandy, Stacy and Tiffany would simply LOVE yet another thing to gossip about!”

FINIS