North Vancouver, British Columbia. The home of Dr. Henry Quantos:
Dr. Henry Quantos pressed the "END" button on his cell-phone and breathed a sigh of relief. Well, at least Kit wasn't dead or anything -- Quantos often feared that the EPS would catch up to the guys eventually and hit them at the time when they were weakest -- but things were not all well.
Kit had confessed to Grissom and himself about embezzling all that money from the company as well as the team's own private fund, something Kit never should have had access to in the first place. Kit had been put in a position he never should have been in in the first place, either. Especially not with so much money involved. Sure, Kit had managed to get a few juicy jobs for the team, but he should NEVER have been made President. He was under-qualified for the position, and it had become obvious that it had gone to his head. His gambling weakness was one which Quantos had known about, not to mention Kit's criminal record from when he was a young man, but he seemed to be able to manage things. And since it had been Pete's money, after all, Quantos had left the decision to Pete. Of course, Pete was little more than a vagrant with a bit of dumb luck who had come into money through gambling himself -- how could he possibly make a decision which affected the team as much as it did?
If it had really been necessary, Quantos thought to himself, he would have stepped in to replace Kit if he had proven to be a bad choice as President. Except... Quantos wasn't qualified to run a business. He was a scientist -- a theoretician and researcher, at best (albeit with a bit of applied science and engineering experience), as well as a doctor. Business-training was not in his resume. When he'd been the head of research at Malvan-X, Inc, he had left the details of business to the Board of Directors, and kept them up to date with a weekly report on his department. He was even less qualified than Kit to run MBL Consulting!
Grissom had told Quantos not to worry about why Kit had stolen the large amount of money, but that he would take care of it if Quantos would start working on the financial problems the team was in. But where was he going to start? He was the team's Scientific Advisor and sometime-doctor, and in this he felt way over his head. He had a vague idea about somehow attracting investors to the company in order to get it out of debt enough so it wouldn't have to declare bankruptcy, but where would he begin? He didn't know any millionaires around here.
The doorbell rang just then.
"What is it now?" he muttered to himself, walking over to the door, where Mandelovia was wagging her tail. "Down, girl, down. You'll get your W-A-L-K later."
He opened the door and smiled broadly at the person standing on his doorstep. "Well, hello there!" he said, opening his door more widely. And all his troubles suddenly seemed to fade away as he saw the face of his guest.
******************************************
The Fish Factory, Del Mar, La Perdita:
Kit sat at his desk nervously. Grissom stood and looked at his watch again.
"How long do you figure he'll be here, again?" Kit asked.
"Not long," Grissom answered. "He's very punctual. If he says he's going to be here at a certain time, he's here at a certain time."
"Isn't it a bit late in the day for him?"
"Nah. Griffin's a zombie -- sleeps strange hours, and never at the same time each day. Says he doesn't like to be too predictable. If you're too predictable, if you get yourself into a daily routine, it's much easier for someone to find you. And if it's easier for someone to find you, it's easier for someone to kill you. Like that chap who rode his motorcycle to work each day on the same lonely stretch of road in the countryside. One day someone placed a string of piano wire across that road at neck level. That day on his way to work he ran right through it. Clipped his head right off. That's what predictability gets you. Well, at least that's Griffin's philosophy as he explains it."
"Man..." Kit breathed, his eyes widened, "Where'd you meet this guy?"
"Uhh... that takes some explaining, Kit," Grissom said, scratching the back of his head. "Can you keep a secret?"
"Hell, man, I owe you that much at least, especially for agreeing to keep the secret of my daughters being kidnapped from everyone else until this business is over with. And your secret can't possibly be any worse than what I've done to the company."
"Well, old man, t'tell you the truth, I haven't always been a security consultant. Back in my wild days I used to work as a mercenary. Gun-for-hire. And with my abilities, it made me a lot of money. Enough to start up my own business a few years later. Back then I took a lot of messy assignments, some of which required me to do a bit of damage. Y'understand?"
"Sure," Kit said. "I grew up on the streets, man. Did some stuff in my own youth I'm not proud of. Lost my kid brother that way, in fact. But that's another story. So how'd you hook up with Griffin? From what you've said of him, he doesn't really seem like much of a nice guy. Not like you."
Grissom laughed. "Griffin's not without his charm. Just so long as you never forget that the charming persona which he shows everyone covers up a completely ruthless, psychotic personality which will murder without a single thought if it served his interests at the time. I'm no angel myself, but I'd like to think I have a line I won't cross. Anyways, it was during a job in the Middle East that I crossed paths with Griffin. We worked together so long as it served both our best interests, but he left me in the lurch when he no longer needed my help. Of course, I somehow managed to get myself out of there fine, as you can see, but it was quite a predicament. At the time, I swore if I ever saw him again, I'd kill him."
"Wow. So what now? Are you gonna kill him?"
Grissom was silent for a moment. Then he grinned devilishly and said, "I haven't decided yet..."
******************************************
North Vancouver, British Columbia. The home of Dr. Henry Quantos:
"Here's your cup of tea. Green tea, right? I remembered."
"Yes. Thank you, Henry."
"I love tea. It's a lot easier on the stomach. I gave myself an ulcer a few years ago from drinking too much coffee while under stress, so I switched to tea. Haven't had those problems since."
"You always took things to heart too much, Henry. That's what I remember about you."
"I still do. And there's this thing with this company I'm working for now, too. It's a real mess. I'm not sure what to do about it."
"Oh?"
"Yes. We started it up almost a year ago now, with the help of this guy named Kit Piper. Real used-car salesman type, you understand. Well, anyways, he's been useful for getting a good customer base going, but his leadership of the actual company has been a complete disaster. He relied too much on a business owned by the late Mr. Glover to keep the company funded, but we've recently lost control of that business."
"Ah, I'm beginning to see..."
"Yes, and of course, now that the funds have dried up, all these bills are piling up. Bills that we have no hope in heck of ever paying, not at the rate we're going now. Anyways, Mr. Piper has proven himself to be completely unfit to run this company, and even if he were qualified to do so, we still need a heck of a lot of investment capital to get us back on our feet again."
"I know you too well, Henry. You're like an open book. You're asking me to invest, aren't you?"
"Well... yeah... kinda..."
"Hmmm... Well, I must say it would be a challenge. And you know I love challenges. And I haven't been up to much of anything recently. Traveling has begun to bore me so."
"So... can you help us out?"
"I will..."
"Great!"
"...on two conditions only."
"Okay..."
******************************************
The Fish Factory, Del Mar, La Perdita:
"Hello."
Kit jumped up, startled at the voice. "GAH!"
Grissom smiled as he heard the disembodied voice next to him. "Griffin."
Slowly a tall trenchcoat and hat materialized. One with no visible head. "Grissom -- it's been a long time, you old rascal." The sleeve of the trenchcoat reached up, and a gloved hand stretched out.
"It has," Grissom said, shaking the gloved hand in greeting. As soon as he released his hand, he swung his balled fist directly into the space between the top of the trenchcoat and the bottom of the hat, striking something definitely solid.
The trenchcoat fell back as the hat toppled away. "A-heh."
"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do that."
"A-heh. I guess I deserved that one, old chap," the voice said as the trenchcoat pushed itself back off the floor and placed the hat back over it. "But that's the only one I'll allow."
"Agreed."
"It has been a while though, hasn't it? Ah, but enough about old times. You have a job for me, I suppose? I'm assuming you can afford my rate?"
"That's not a problem."
"For you, old man, I'll charge you 75% of my usual commission. Now tell me -- who do you want me to kill?" And if Griffin's face could have become visible at that moment, Kit and Grissom would not be surprised to see a grin upon his face...
******************************************
North Vancouver, British Columbia:
Barbara Townsend heard the doorbell ring. "No, Ladybird!" she whispered. "No barking!" Who could it be at this late hour, she thought to herself as she put on her robe and crept to the front door. She looked through the peephole and recognized the face.
"Henry?" she said, puzzled as she opened the door. "What's wrong, dear? It's late."
"Barbara, I'm sorry, honey, but I'm going to have to ask you to look after Mandy again," Henry Quantos said as his dog Mandelovia pushed through the open door and began wagging her tail at Ladybird.
"Oh Henry," Barbara said, "not another business trip?"
"It's very important, honey. The guys need my help again."
Barbara looked over his shoulder at the taxicab at the curb. "Henry? Is that man waiting for you? Who is he?" The man was dressed in a black trenchcoat and wore a dark hat and sunglasses, even though it was dark outside.
Henry looked back and laughed. "Oh, him? That's... that's Victor Xiang. An old colleague of mine who's interested in investing in my company. I'm going to, uh... give him a personal tour of the facilities."
"I see," she replied. "Well, how long will you be gone this time?"
"Hopefully just a few days this time, hon. Don't want to miss that concert at the Orpheum next week, do we?" he said, winking at her.
"Come back to me, sweetheart," Barbara said as she hugged him.
"I will," Henry said, and he kissed her. He waved as he walked back to the taxicab.
On the ride to the airport, Xiang said to him, "True love, Henry? I never thought you had it in you."
"There's a lot more to me than you might know," he replied with a grin. "Anyone currently in your life?"
"No, no. You know me, Henry. I've never been one to settle down. I did love someone once, but that ship has long ago sailed, I'm afraid."
[ 03-11-2003, 07:37 AM: Message edited by: TheTimeTrust ]
