Kickass Anthology (32 page)

Shell’s hands clutched at the part of Jay’s ass that was above the desktop. One hand slipped behind Jay’s belt and into a world of warmth and wonder. Shit, this felt like panic sex on steroids. And it felt incredible. They were panting and grinding and kissing and groaning all at once like a single writhing organism.

Not now. Not yet. Not here. Oh fuck. Shel sunk to his knees and undid Jay’s belt. Jay took care of his zipper with one hand and buried the fingers of the other hand in Shell’s soft, kinky hair. Under his boxers, Jay’s cock curved toward his left hip.  Shel licked and kissed the straining fabric before setting Jay free.

He looked up, his lips swollen, his face and throat flushed with anticipation. “Oh dear god. I’ve waited all my life for you.”

Jay was lost in the sensations of fingers exploring his belly and balls, and wet warm lips sliding over his cock. Oh god, he was so close. He grabbed Shell’s arms, urged him to his feet, and had him unzipped and freed in seconds.

Shel held his heavy cock, already purple and straining, and wrapped his fingers around Jay’s longer, thinner one. Together, their erections were too thick for one hand, so he added a second and began to stroke up and down, squeezing firmly from base tip.  He’d barely started when Jay cried, “No, not yet. Fuck.” But he was already coming in Shell’s hands, pulling Sheldon along with him into bliss.

They leaned against the desk and each other. Still panting, Shel took a couple of tissues from a box on a side table and wiped his hands. They pulled themselves together without talking. What, after all, was there to say?

 “THE QUESTION is, what did your father know and when did he know it?”

“Yeah. I guess. So what do we do? How do we find out?”

“There’s a safe back here. I’ve seen it open.” Shel moved to a picture on the wall, took hold of the frame, and opened it like a door. Inside was another door, gray metal, with four serrated wheels sticking out of slots in the front. Shel turned one slowly with a fingertip. “Numbers 0 to 9” he said.  “It’ll take hours to go through every possible combination. There must be thousands.”

“Ten thousand, actually.”

“How’d you know that? Did you just do that in your head?”

“Read it somewhere.”

Jay spun one of the wheels experimentally. “You read a lot?”

Shel smiled. “All the time.”

“So how are we going to get this open?  Just dig it out of the wall and carry it home?”

“No. It’s probably bolted to a steel I-beam anyway. We can get it open.  It’s like cracking a computer password. But remember he was kind of old fashioned. Think about number combinations that he would have thought important.”

“Like the year Abel Enterprises started? It’s right on the letterhead. Founded 1985.”

Sheldon spun the wheels and set them to 1-9-8-5. He slipped his fingers under the base of the door and pulled. “Nope. But that’s the idea.”

“I don’t know. What about his birthday?”

They tried 1961 and then 0810 for August 10
th
. Nothing.

“How about my birthday?  Try July 3; 0703.”

Shel spun the wheels and lined up the numbers, then tried the door again. “That’s it!” He started to open the safe when he felt Jay’s hand stop him.

“I meant that as a joke. Jesus, more than a little freaked about him using my birthday. Or even remembering it.”

“How come?”

Jay shook his head. “Doesn’t matter.  Tell you another time. Open it.”

Inside lay a stack of neatly folded papers and a brown accordion envelope, the kind that has a string to tie it closed. Jay’s hands began to tremble and he shivered as if an icy wind had blown in through the still partly open window.

Trying to sound casual and disinterested – fat chance of that!—he said, “Why don’t you have a look through that stuff, and I’ll see if I can find the computer or something.”

Jay ran his fingers across the spines of shelved books and even pulled a few out to check behind them. Then he turned to the desk.

“Anything in those papers?” he asked over his shoulder.

“They’re mostly business papers. The document of incorporation, IRS tax letter, licensing stuff,” Shel went through them one at a time. “D&B rating. Investment stuff. Hmmm. Here’s a letter from a law firm about an IPO.”

Jay turned. “What’s that?”

“I.P.O. Initial Public Offering. When a company sells stock.” Shel looked up, “Jay, I think he was considering going public.”

“And you didn’t know about this?”

“No. He never said a thing to me.” Sheldon read the letter three times, frowning and shaking his head. “Um, it doesn’t sound like a done deal. Just discusses the mechanics and legalities. Odd, though. He chose to go to an outside law firm instead of working with our own department or even talking to me.” He looked at Jay. “My degree is in corporate law.”

Jay squatted on his heels beside the desk and traced the intricate carvings. Acanthus leaves. Rosettes. Pilasters at the corners encircled with dragons. Dolphins and vases of flowers, all tied together with extravagant scroll work. 

“Jay, what are you doing?”

“Shhhhh.” He continued to press and wiggle the deeply incised carving, and put his ear close to the wood. “Sometimes these things have springs and hidden compartments. I’m looking for something that moves or goes ping or click.” He worked his way across the front of the desk “Why don’t you check the drawers.”

The Old Man’s desk had a lock on the top drawer that, when it was engaged, locked all the other drawers as well.  It wasn’t locked. Sheldon went through the drawers starting with the top. Papers. Office supplies. A spare umbrella. No laptop. Shel took out a tall old fashioned ledger book covered in faded green cloth. “What do you suppose this is?”

Loud banging on the door made them both jump. Shel dropped the ledger back in the drawer. The door flew open and the short, stout, barrel-shaped frame of Vince Megaro filled the opening. He was flanked by two burly bouncer types, all neck and no ears. All three men held guns trained  on Jay and Shel.

“Well, well, well. What have we here?”

Jay was so nervous, he almost laughed. The voice sounded like a cartoon villain. If Megaro had had a mustache, Jay was sure he’d be twirling it.

“Something funny, pretty boy? I know your friend here. Who the fuck are you?”

By then, the three armed men were in the office. Megaro faced  them from the door with the thick-necked goons standing behind Jay and Shel.

“I said who the fuck are you?” Megaro moved his gun hand until it was pointing at Jay’s forehead.

“BANG!” He shouted.

Jay jumped, his face went pale.

“You’re a dead man, that’s who.”

Sheldon interrupted. “Vince. Don’t do anything you’ll be sorry for.” He tried to sound tough but his eyes were pleading.

Megaro turned to Shel. “I’m never sorry for anything, Mr. Goldman.”

Then he nodded once and the goons swung their guns and connected with skulls. Jay and Sheldon dropped to the floor like marionettes with their strings cut. Everything went black.

Sometime later, they woke up bruised and bleeding, hog tied back to back, sitting in the middle of the room. Jay and Sheldon had no way of knowing how long they’d been out. Long enough for Vince to go through their pockets and have them tied up.

Megaro held Jay’s wallet in his hand. “So you’re the faggot son, pretty boy. Jay-son. Come to save your daddy? As I’m sure Goldman’s told you, you’re too late, Jay-son.”  He gave the name a sing-songy lilt.

“What were you looking for in here? I assume you were looking for something.”

“I just wanted a keepsake is all,” murmured Jay through bloody lips.

“You don’t expect me to believe that do you, faggot?” One of the goons smacked Jay in the head.

Jay’s ears rang.

“I want to know what the fuck you were looking for in here. WHAT?” Megaro bellowed. The goons cocked their arms back, but Megaro shook his head and they relaxed their fists and dropped their arms to their sides.

“Do you want me to hurt your friend? Shall I hurt Goldman? I can and I will. Now answer me.”

Sheldon chimed in. “Megaro, we know about the IPO. That would have messed you up if Abel decided to go through with it.”

“You don’t know shit, Goldman.”

“I know you killed him. Whether you pushed him or just didn’t try to stop his fall, Abel had to go so you could take over. I wouldn’t be surprised if the auditors find you were siphoning off money from the business and covering it up somehow.” Sheldon was on a roll. All the terror and sadness of the past week narrowed down and powered his outburst.

“Well the verdict’s in, Megaro. The cash cow died.”

Suddenly, Sheldon’s cell phone began to chime in his pocket. “Grab that,” ordered Megaro. “Give it here.” Whomever it was had already gone to voice mail. Vince dropped the phone in his pocket and a light went on behind his eyes.

“You got a phone, too, faggot?” One of the goons bent down and was already going through his pockets. He shook his head at Megaro. “What the fuck is that?” He pointed to a chip of something white just under the desk. The goon felt around, fished out a cell phone and handed it to Megaro.

“Drop this, did you? Not just a flamer, but a clumsy flamer at that. Okay. My patience is about gone. Get ‘em out of here. Now.” The burly men each took a body, lifted Jay and Shel to their feet and pushed them toward the door.

Jay turned to Megaro. “Can I ask where we’re going?”

“No you can not. Go on. Move.”

Despite punching and pushing from the goons, with Shel walking frontwards and Jay having to walk backwards, they made slow progress toward the elevators.

The bronze floor indicator over the door was moving in a steady arc, showing the car was on its way up.

“Probably that useless guard dog downstairs finally looked at the monitor and saw us.” Megaro shrugged. “Saves us the trouble of waiting for a down car.”

The goons snickered.

The elevator doors slid open to reveal a pair of uniformed police officers, their weapons drawn. Megaro started for the service elevator and that opened, adding two more armed officers to the crowded hallway. He turned toward the stairs when all of a sudden Jay stuck out his leg and tripped him.

Vince went down hard. “What the fuck?”

“Nice language,” said one of the cops as he straddled Megaro’s back and twisted his arm as far as it would go toward his shoulder blades.

As three cops got Megaro and his men cuffed and controlled, the fourth pulled out a knife and cut the prisoners free. For just a moment, they remained leaning back to back, then turned and pulled each other into a hug.

“You’re hurt,” said Sheldon examining Jay’s cut lip and the huge bruise blossoming on the side of his head. Sheldon’s left eye was swollen almost shut. It would be one hell of a shiner tomorrow.

The officer observed, “You don’t look so good yourself, sir. Come with me and I’ll drive you both to the emergency room.”

“No thanks. We’ll go home. Right, Jay?”  Jay nodded and slid his arm around Sheldon’s waist.

They climbed into the back of the police car. Sheldon said, “Can I ask what brought you guys here in the nick of time as they say?”

“Yeah. Funny thing. Somebody must’ve dialed 911 and left their phone on long enough for us to get a fix on the location.”