CHAPTER 24

I collected my mail and sent an email to Sara telling her that I was home safely—client thrilled. All that was left was in Tom O'Neill's hands. Hopefully, he wouldn't fuck it up. The best part of this was that Margaret would be facing a complete change of lifestyle. She would have no income coming in, a big mortgage on the house, and would owe at least two hundred thousand in capital gains taxes. Good luck with that, you fucking bitch! It was just what she deserved.

I was back in the office early the following morning where I was greeted by a loving phone call from Sara. "Hi," I began in my usual bumbling manner. We chatted for almost twenty minutes and I realized almost immediately that I felt totally comfortable with Sara—much more comfortable than I had ever been with Daisy.

Sara explained that she was on the night shift this week and that she had to pick up the two weekend slots to cover for a colleague who was out of state to attend a wedding. "I always look forward to going straight to bed when I finish this shift. Can it be your bed? Can we get together this afternoon for an early dinner, too?"

I agreed to both and was thrilled when she told me she had all of next week off. I had no difficulty convincing her to accompany me to Columbus. She signed off with a huge kissing sound that left me laughing when I ended the call on my end.

Cara brought me coffee when she picked up the payroll approval. It included her promised $2,000 raise--well…a week's worth. I told her to schedule two first or business class tickets to Columbus for Sunday afternoon or evening for Sara and me and to arrange for a limo to pick us up at the house at an appropriate time to make the flight. She showed no signs of surprise, but she did smile as she turned to return to her desk. I knew she'd reserve either a large room or, hopefully, a suite for us.

I had done all of the installations personally when I started the business, but now I needed all the help I could get. I had more than 70,000 computers under contract and there would be more than ten thousand additional computers and servers involved throughout the state of Ohio. That meant that some of my team would be in Ohio for close to a month. Travel requirements were one of the primary reasons why I paid them so well. Each member of this team had a salary of $200,000 and, last year, had received bonuses that more than tripled their earnings. Each also received fully paid medical and dental insurance and had a $250,000 group life insurance policy payable to any beneficiary they chose.

Cara passed a typed sheet with all of the travel and hotel arrangements to me shortly before lunch. "Want to join Sara and me for an early dinner tonight?"

"I would, but Sara would probably kill me."

"She's already told me that nothing's going to happen until tomorrow morning because she has to work tonight."

"Geez, John…you can be so dense sometimes. Just because she can't fuck you before going to work doesn't mean she wants her little sister along to destroy the romance. Where are you going to take her?"

"I was thinking about Nicky's in Centerport. It's a bar, but they serve food in the back and they have a great lobster special on Friday nights." She was shaking her head, telling me "no" before I was even half done.

"No! No! No! Take her there when you're engaged or married, but now you need a place that will be quiet and elegant—a place where you can hold her hand, hopefully in a booth where you can touch each other and maybe kiss. You don't want me there and neither does Sara. Thanks for the raise. I'll really need it when Sara moves out." She laughed when she saw the expression on my face. "I saw the way you two reacted to each other and I can see it in your face now. And, don't forget that I've been listening to Sara all week. I think you two were made for each other.

"On another note, I assume your efforts to screw Daisy's mother went well."

"I don't want to say anything and I don't want you to, either. I'll be amazed if the FBI or police don't stop to question me. I'm on record as being in the area. I used my own name when I registered and my credit card will show that I was there, too. However, I did give Mr. O'Neill a company prospectus and he agreed to pass it up to the CEO with a recommendation. Once he looks at the list of clients I'm pretty sure we'll get their business, too. New England is still virgin territory for us. Oh, yeah…I'll want you to wire $500,000 to a bank in Montenegro next Tuesday. I'll let you know which bank by the end of the day. Account signatories will be me and Thomas O'Neill." The look of shock never left her face as she left the office. I returned to my work, clearing my desk by working through lunch and finishing everything by 3:30 that afternoon after telling Cara to wire the money to the Komercijalna Banka AD Budva . I left the office early knowing that she would phone the bank early Monday morning to arrange the transfer, returning to my home for a quick shower and shave, even changing my clothes to a preppy outfit complete with a cotton red, white, and blue striped shirt, thin gray wool sweater, and dark gray worsted wool slacks.

I had just finished dressing when I had a call on my cell. It was Tom O'Neill and I was pleased to see that he had phoned me using a cheap burner phone from Wal-Mart, exactly as I had suggested. "I'll be on the next plane to Mexico City and then I have a flight to Paris. I understand that money really talks in Mexico. That's why I took a dozen of the Krugerrands." I had to laugh. I hadn't thought of that. He wouldn't be searched while driving to Canada on business and once out of the country he could do anything he wanted with them. I wished him luck and reminded him to email me at the Yahoo account I'd given him. Accounts like Yahoo and Gmail are web-based and much harder to track than one with your local internet provider.