Doc's Place

Chapter 17 | Part 2

Monday, October 15, 1984

Back inside, I call Margaret and ask her to connect me with Ume. After I tell her about this little `crisis,' she swears for ten seconds without taking a breath. When she pauses to inhale, I ask, "What's my title at Pere?"

"Majority stockholder and board member, which board consists of you and me."

"We have to separate the two of them, Ume."

"Separate them? When I get back, I'm going to kill them with my bare hands!"

Suddenly, I get it. Ume left on vacation to separate herself from this breach of fiduciary trust.

"You're not to call, and not to give them a clue that you even know. I'm launching an independent audit without your knowledge, Ume. When I have my findings, I'll take action and duly inform you, but you are to remain hands off, understand?"

"Yes, you're right of course. Go ahead," she says, backing off without a fight, which confirms she has known about Le and Mei all along. She's been waiting for me to discover the impropriety, audit it and fix it. Her independence from the entire affair is fiscally responsible.

"I have to go now," I tell her.

"Why did you call, Jill? Perhaps to wish me a relaxing vacation and tell me you'll handle anything that comes up," prompts Ume.

"Yeah, that," I tell her and disconnect. Calling Margaret, I ask her to give me Le. When she answers, I ask, "Who's in charge of IS over at Chief Financial?"

"The director is Harold Pineki."

"Call Harold. Tell him I am acting in Ume's stead while she's on vacation and tell him to call me, now."

"We screwed up, didn't we?"

"Le, twenty years from now, will we trust one another?"

"Absolutely."

"See you at lunch."

Send another email to Alvin saying that I want to query all Pere and Chief Financial data.

Connecting my headset, I call Donny Witlow, Director of Pere Properties.

"Jill, I was about to call you," says Donny.

"Oh, why?"

"I have another extremely capable young woman for you to look at. How's Mei working out?"

"Extremely capable."

"Sara runs rings around Mei." He gives me a name and number to contact. "Now, how may I help you, Jill?"

"What's the name of the accounting firm we used to audit JP's books before I decided not to sell?"

"What's the problem? If you don't mind my asking."

"Just found out two of my executives have been lovers for a month." I don't tell him that the lovers are Le and Mei because he probably already knows. Le is his boss and he recommended that Ume and Le hire Mei.

"Shitfuck. You're making the right move, though, auditing the whole mess. By the way, Ume should stay as far away from this as possible until you resolve the issue."

"She's on an island somewhere in the South Pacific for ten days or so."

"Good," says Donny. "Now, look at the contact I just sent you in email."

I see the contact name, Kevin Sark, and a number in New York. "Yeah?"

"Kevin is a junior partner at the same firm we hired to audit JP back in August. He will help you set up this audit and also tell you about Sara."

Thank Donny, disconnect and call Kevin at the accounting firm. He agrees with me when I tell him I need a woman for this project. He recommends a project manager out of the Chicago office. Her name is Sara Toone. Kevin will tell her to call me immediately. We agree on a price for the project.

"Between you and me, Jill," says Kevin, "if you like Sara's work, offer her a job."

"Why?"

"Sara excels at everything she does. She's too damned good for this all-male outfit. You know the term glass ceiling?"

"No, but the metaphor is obvious."

"Not only that, one of the senior partners probably attacked her. He's a big, aggressive guy with years of training in some kind of judo. Last year, the DA indicted but never convicted him of aggravated assault. Last week, this guy asks Sara to work late on an account. Next morning, he's in the emergency room. He's still in traction right now. Neither one is talking but he told the other senior partners to get rid of her quickly and quietly."

"I'll let you know if I decide to hire her."

"Don't bother. We forget anything when we see cash. Offer us an extra fee for stealing her."

"Donny Witlow says you have a woman I should talk to, Kevin. Is it Sara?"

"Yes, and she is one sleek rocket, Jill. Point her in a direction and get the hell out of her way."

Smiling at Ume's subterfuge, I disconnect and the phone rings. "What?"

Margaret says, "Jill, did you ask Le to have Harold Pineki call you?"

"Yes. I'm also waiting for a call from Sara Toone, a CPA out of Chicago."

"Very well, here's Harold."

"This is Harold Pineki, Ms. Price."

"You know Alvin in IS?"

"Of course, Ms. Price. Alvin Metzger is our IS Manager."

He's a lecherous, middle-aged geek. "When Alvin asks if he should give me access to all Chief Financial and Pere data, what will you say?"

"I will say do it, Ms. Price."

"Thank you."

"Uh, Ms. Price, I hope we can meet some time."

"No you don't."

"I doubt that, Ms. Price."

"Harold."

"Yes, ma'am?"

"One way to find out the hard way is to call me a liar again."

"Oh, I didn't mean to do that. I mean, yes ma'am." Fucking spineless weasel. I should tell Peter to hire Harold Pineki at Doc's Place.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

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Doc's Place Chat
© 2008, Michel Grover.
Chapter 17 | Part 2
Early Autumn 2009

Lucia :

Mic has posted in the left frame paragraphs from Doc's Place, one of his copyrighted stories. I'm moderating chat here in the right frame. I post every day, but I don't post everything. I have formed a secondary group from which I may also post comments.

Carlo :

It seems like a lot of time has passed but it's only a few hours into this Monday morning of Jill's 3rd week at Doc's Place. It seems as though she ought to be doing something related to her job, but Jill reports into Louise every afternoon and so far, she's right on schedule.

Maria :

Even though it's only Monday morning, a lot has happened so it probably seems like Jill's not doing her job. Don't forget that she's already handed off the first issue to the graphic artist so it's out of her hands for the moment.

Marcus :

Donny Witlow makes quite a statement, "Sara runs rings around Mei." Kevin Sark seems to back up Donny's assertion. Mei is about to multiply Jill's wealth by 20 times in 10yrs. Sara Toone must be astonishing indeed.

Les :

In the space of 14yrs, Sara developed the neural network and took Pere from 6 billion in 1994 to >100 times that. Without a doubt, Sara is a remarkable woman.

Avani :

Have you met Sara, Les?

Les :

No, apparently she has to keep her identity and location secret. Many people want to get their hands on Sara Toone, not the least of which is the federal government. By her own admission, Sara has opened up every computer on earth to the neural network, which only Pere executives can access. Of course, they have to prove she exists, find her, catch her and bring her in first.

Avani :

You told us that you had met Sara, Amalie.

Amalie :

Well, I told you I had and I thought I had but Lizzie tells me that Sara has a dozen or so decoys, so I do not know if I have or not. Personally, I think I have but I cannot be certain. For a woman in her late forties, Sara is amazingly fit. I watched her spar with one of my doubles.

Oh, by the way, I already have 3 decoys who look quite a lot like me. All 3 have spent time with me so they can pick up my habits. They're convincing, I must say.

The one I believe is closest in appearance to me is twice my age and SIA's most successful undercover operative. Whoever plans to kidnap me will have a handful when they snatch her by mistake. Yva holds 4 engineering degrees, speaks 17 languages, picks any lock in less than a second, works out at a dojo every day and restores old musical instruments as a hobby. Anyone who has seen us together asks if we're identical twins.

Lucia :

You're getting better at changing the subject, Amalie, but you still need to work on your technique. When you're changing the subject, don't say, "Oh by the way." It's a dead giveaway.

Now, I don't want to cause her a problem, but I'll ask anyway. Can you provide a general description of Sara?

Amalie :

I'll give you what the US government has on her from her unclassified file, which is 25yrs out of date now. Sara is 173cm, 50kg, with café-au-lait skin and dark brown eyes and hair cut quite short.

Sara is a Pacific Island girl, like me, but our similarities stop there. Sara moves like a big cat while I'm an awkward, clunky teenager. She is serious, quiet and impatient, while I love to laugh, sing, dance and party.

Yva is quiet, studious and business-like too, but she can get into character as quickly as a professional actor can because she's had training and experience. She also has proficiency in tantra, so she has taught me almost everything I know about sex.

Jules :

Now that was a smoother transition to a different subject, Amalie. However, you need to make the previous paragraph work for you. For example, when changing the subject from Sara to Yva, bring Yva into the paragraph with Sara and then make the transition to Yva. Also, if you're going to titillate using sex, drama or action to help smooth the transition, then relate it to the subject. For example, you were discussing acting, which is also titillating, so use that instead.

Amalie :

Thank you, Jules and you too, Lucia. It is one thing to learn about these things but it's quite another to put them into practice. I appreciate your constructive criticism.

Annie :

If you want tips from a master, ask Benny. He's only 13yrs old, but he hides behind weasel words as if he's been doing so for decades. Any anecdote from his personal life conveys nothing about him self, but always seems charming and sweet. We know he has an agenda but no one knows what it is. We know he can be manipulative and, at times, quite cruel, but hey, it's Benny, so it's okay. If you don't believe me, ask Alan, Alice or Suze.

Suze :

Still haven't thought of a snappy comeback for my Benny the Bull comment, have you, you little prick?

Alice :

Nothing is as delightful on a hot summer day as a museum tour with Benny, unless it's a snot-flavored ice cream cone. Yum

Alan :

My sophistication prevents me from criticizing a slimy little turd who leverages the 94% against the 6% while acting civil. Fact: Benny bounced Doug without lifting a finger because Doug refused to acknowledge his existence in any meaningful way. Wake up, people.

Benny :

Take it from me, Amalie. The best way to hide is to develop a persona and never leave it, even when you don't need it.

You have the awkward teen-aged girl persona down, for example. Quit trying to impress us with your maturity and stay in character.

Another thing, quit acting so nice: A, teenagers by definition are not nice and B, your enemies, not your friends, define you. Case in point: I have a virtual Moby, a pathetic old hacker and a has-been assassin. What do you have?

Carlo :

Ha, that line's from Victor Victoria. Pretty subtle, Benny.

Lucia :

Unless, of course, Amalie got us all off point by encouraging someone, namely Annie, to vector us off Sara and on to helping her improve her prevarication skills. One more question about Sara and then I'll quit, Amalie. What will Sara do with all her money with no one to leave it to?

Amalie :

Sara and the other executives have split their estates between family and Aliversal. In Sara's case, she has no family, so she has named Aliversal as the sole beneficiary of her estate.

Lucia :

Does Aliversal have some objective or purpose other than loaning money to women who have small businesses?

Amalie :

No, however, Aliversal tracks the use of its money closely. A woman will never receive another Aliversal loan if she donates to charities, religions or groups associated with terrorism.

Lucia :

I'm glad to hear about that last one but donating to a religion or a charity is a personal decision, is it not?

Amalie :

Yes but Aliversal makes loans for business purposes, not charity or religion.

Lucia :

What is the reasoning behind such restrictions?

Amalie :

Aliversal considers all organized religions to be terrorist organizations and all charities to be damaging to both the giver and the recipient.

Lucia :

You must be kidding. You're a Catholic, Amalie. You don't believe that organized religions are terrorist organizations by definition.

Amalie :

I certainly am Catholic but I've studied enough history to understand the Crusades and the Inquisition. Those are terrorist acts.

Lucia :

That was hundreds of years ago. The Catholic Church does not do such things any more.

Amalie :

Do you really want to defend organized religion's terrorist acts without a few seconds of research on any Internet search engine, Lucia? You're using a computer. Take a moment to answer.

Benny :

You go, girl. Piss off the primary chat group leader, a worthy adversary. By the way, you did a nice job of diverting attention from Sara. You're improving before our very eyes.

Lucia :

Amalie and I are not adversaries. We're friends.

Benny :

And I am your uncle Bob.

Carlo :

Terminator 2, another fine movie