New Title 32 (32 page)

I had to stop and stare a moment at the sign over the buffet entrance—a giant, hairy ursine backside squatting over a bonfire. The last time I ate here, I was too asleep to notice either the sign or the name. The Bear Ass Grill, named after one of
Warblade
’s more wretched hives of scum and villainy. Turns out I hadn’t been dreaming about that nearly topless Goblin waitress…or the Ogre carving up the slabs of Roast Beast. Rose bought a dozen “I got Bear Assed in Vegas” T-shirts to use as gifts for her relatives. The thought of my mother wearing one was enough to cause me to snort coffee, so I picked up a dozen as well.

Josephine and Sandy were already there and waved us to their table. As crowded as the place was, I wasn’t about to turn the invitation down. Then Josephine handed me a leather folder. “I assumed we’d see you sometime today, so I prepared another offer for you. It is not a final offer, but I believe it to be a fair one.”

Another offer on the fusion battery. I looked at the numbers and felt an overwhelming urge to find a bathroom before I needed new pants. I handed the folder to Rose and waited.

Rose’s eyes widened and a burst of fire shot out of her nose. She patted at the scorch mark on the paper and said, “I think we can work with this. I’ll look at the proposal in-depth later today, but I think we have a working agreement in principle.”

“Excellent.” Josephine handed me a duplicate copy of the contract and we took turns signing both in between bites of breakfast. “When will you be starting design work on
Ecophage
?”

“We have a few details to work out first,” I said. “Starting with design staff. I should be able to give you a status report in a week.”

“That will be fine.” Josephine looked at her hands and sighed. “I wanted to thank you for saving my life. I saw the pre-
Retcon
security footage. I would certainly have been killed instead of injured if you hadn’t acted.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “I wish I’d done a better job of getting us both out of the way.”

“It is still a debt, and I wish to settle accounts by giving you something personal and precious to me.” She took a deep breath and said, “David, I am RainbowSparklePwnie. And I apologize for ganking you all this past year.”

I stared at her as though she’d just turned into a honey badger. “You. Just…what the hell was that all about? Did I do something to piss you off?”

She shook her head. “No. You posted your in-game identity in social media, as quite a few others have done, and I decided to make a point of targeting you for being careless. It was fun while it lasted, but now you know my identity, so there’s no point to it any more. I’ll move on to someone else, and you can enjoy the game in peace.”

“I appreciate that.” I shook my head and snorted. “No wonder Aerin started laughing when Matthew had her scry his mysterious griefer. So, what about this is personal and precious to you?”

Josephine looked down at her plate. “It’s what I do for relaxation. All day, every day, people defer to me and go out of their way not to be seen as challenging me in any way. No one knows me in games. It’s the only challenge in my life. That’s why it’s precious to me.”

I nodded. “Then I guess we better keep trying to kill each other. Dropping that building on you the other day was the most fun I’ve had in months.”

The corner of her mouth twitched. “Well, if you prefer to continue, it would be rude of me to refuse. Thank you, David.” She got up to leave and shook my hand. “We’ll be in touch to get the details ironed out.”

“Just a moment,” Sandy said. She gave Rose a slight bow and said, “Madam Dragon, I understand the two of you are planning to be married soon?”

“Rose is fine, and yes, we are.”

Sandy smiled. “Wonderful. If you have any trouble finding a location, the family owns a large chunk of one of the smaller islands in the Hawaiian chain. Waterfalls, jungles, secure beaches, and thirty separate bungalows for guests. We’d be glad to make it available to you and your guests. Just let me know.” She handed Rose a business card and headed out with Josephine.

“Hawaii would be nice,” I said.

Rose nodded. “I think…I like here better. I like this town. I think my family would like it. Whatever we want, this town will provide it. I like that.” She held her arms up in a joint-cracking, feline stretch. “We should talk to Gordon. About using the hotel. I bet he’d give us a very good deal.”

“I bet he would at that.” I snagged one last pile of sausages and pastries for Rose to hide away and we headed to the convention floor. We still had to run the booth until the end of the day, and I was anxious to see how our people had come through last night. Thankfully, everyone was accounted for. The whole group had gone off to a paintball course for their Saturday night “zombie hunt”, and had missed all the excitement.

Rose enlisted the ladies in a whirlwind of online wedding dress shopping, while I found a quiet spot to check the last three days’ worth of email. Most I skipped over, but there were several from Suzanne I had to look at.

The first was a reminder that I owed her a raise, along with a pile of compensation data showing what a Vice-President of Human Resources should be making in the Denver market. I had to laugh at the cheek, but her numbers were workable.

The second was her letting me know about Mitch’s suicide. The Vegas Metro Police had contacted his family, and the family had called the office to find out why he’d been fired. I sighed and hauled my laptop to the business center and a private phone vault.

It took several minutes to brace for the call. Mitch’s mother, Rachel, answered the phone. As soon as I gave her my name, she handed the phone to her cousin, Ike, who turned out to be a personal injury lawyer. The first thing he asked was, “What is the status of Mitch’s separation compensation and key man policy?”

I stared at the phone receiver. “I don’t know of any key man policy on him, but if there is, the money paid out would belong to the company, not to his family. As for his separation compensation, he was terminated for cause due to inappropriate behavior toward a number of female staffers, all in front of about twelve witnesses. I’m sorry, but his estate is not entitled to collect anything. You can stop by to collect his personal effects at your convenience.”

As I spoke, I texted Suzanne. “Need to know if Mitch had a key man contract or anything else like that. I never approved one.”

Ike brushed my comments aside. “These trivial allegations have no merit, and in no way reduce the monies owed…”

“Mitch hired a group of prostitutes with a company credit card and made explicit sexual advances on four female contractors hired by the company to work the convention. He was fired for cause and is due nothing. Your family has my sympathies in this hour of sadness. Good day.” I hung up and dashed off a quick email to our lawyer.

By the time I hit Send I was angry with myself for feeling sorry for Mitch’s family. The way he’d behaved, how could I have not expected them to be a bunch of lawsuit-happy gold diggers?

I sighed, banishing the anger and the faint traces of nagging guilt. I’d help them, and gladly, if they had a legitimate need. But not like that. I stepped out of the phone vault and started back to the exhibition hall. While I walked, I felt a quiet certainty settle over me. I’d rather burn the company down than give in to that sort of blackmail.

You sound just like Josephine.

I snorted.
Maybe so. Maybe that’s not entirely a bad thing.

But it’s not a good thing. Not for me.
I rang Suzanne back. “Do we have any information on Mitch’s next of kin?”

“I knew you were going to ask for that.” I heard a rustle of papers. “His mother is his emergency contact and the only beneficiary on his life insurance. No other family mentioned anywhere in his paperwork. There used to be a key man policy on him, but it was cancelled when you bought the company and never reinstated. One thing I did find on his personal drive was a contract proposal for bandwidth after
Living Land
goes live.” She read off the terms, and I had to find a place to sit down.

Our business plan called for a set minimum bandwidth level, with additional bandwidth available to be added to meet our needs after launch. This contract was for a fixed amount ten times our maximum bandwidth estimate. These terms would have cost Curious Diversions more than a million dollars in the first year. The cherry on top was the ten percent “referral bonus” Mitch would have received for arranging the contract. It would have come to more than double his annual salary. Thankfully, he’d held off signing it, waiting for this weekend to see if we landed an investor.

I rubbed my eyes. “At least it’s just a proposal. We’ll document it and deal with it later. Thank you, Suzanne.” I hesitated a moment, and added, “The numbers you sent on your salary range won’t work. Add fifteen percent…you know, screw it. Write me a letter telling me what you feel you should be making, and how much you want to make. Talk to your family and let me know what your decision is. Sure, tomorrow will be fine. Have a good afternoon discussing it.”

I put Mitch out of mind and walked back to our booth. Nadia and Eric had arrived, both looking tanned and relaxed. I said, “Watch out, Nadia, you’ll wind up getting your Creepy Goth Chick license revoked for lack of pallor. Did you guys find a tanning booth or something?”

“No, we had a week and a half honeymoon on Eric’s world, flying around and seeing the sights. I got to meet his family and we went to see the Hall of Undying Names, then we went out sightseeing. We stuck to the Elven and Dwarven territories, so no issues with angry Humans. In fact, most of the people we met were amazed to meet a Dragonbound Human.” Nadia’s eyebrows went up for a moment and she started looking through one of her suitcases. “Speaking of which…this is for you, from an old friend.” She handed me a wooden scroll case sealed with wax.

The scroll case was a crimson and ivory hardwood. The metal caps bore the seal of Stonewall monastery. I cut the seal and opened the case. I recognized the runes for Maraz’ name and for ‘Dragonbound’, but… “Just one problem. I don’t speak Dwarven.”

Rose said, “I’ll read it to you when we have some privacy. Want me to hang on to it?”

“Please.” I handed the scroll to Rose and asked Nadia, “How is Maraz? She has to be in her mid-eighties now.”

“She’s ninety-two, and is the head trainer now.” Nadia said. She flipped through several pictures and handed me her phone.

Maraz looked harder and more elemental than she had the last time I saw her. Her hair and beard were iron-grey, her features now sharp and unforgiving, even with the mirth in her smile. Her sleek form and pinup-queen curves were long faded, replaced by crisp lines and skin drawn taut as the head of a drum over muscles of granite.

I handed the phone back. “She looks like she could still kick my ass while holding a tankard of ale in each hand and not spill a drop.”

“Probably. She’s scared the crap out of me when we met. I was taking a picture of these lizard men at a beach market, when she grabs my wrist and asks if I’m Dragonbound and if I knew you. Anyway, we had a nice conversation and she gave us a tour of Stonewall. We even slept in the stone hut you stayed in. It was pretty cool.”

Rose snagged Nadia and asked, “Can I get your advice? I need some ideas on where to look for wedding dresses.”

Nadia grinned. “I won’t be of much use, but my sister is an expert in this area.” She hauled out her laptop and the ladies went to work tracking down a wedding dress that Rose would be happy with. The boys and I stayed out of their way and broke the booth down as soon as the doors closed. We schlepped the cases holding the computers and booth décor up to our suite and left them there while we all went out for dinner.

BuzzCon was over, but Vegas…Vegas never changes.

Four Months Later…

“This is the Captain speaking. We are now ten minutes away from beginning our approach to Las Vegas. At this time, we ask all passengers to return to their seats and fasten safety belts. Also, please switch off all phones and other electronic devices until we come to a full stop at the terminal. Thank you very much.”

Mom sighed. “We have to go downstairs now, don’t we?” She didn’t actually wait for an answer; she tossed back the rest of her Long Island Iced Tea and handed the glass to Flora, the bartender. “Thank you, dear, you’ve been lovely. Why didn’t anyone tell me flying could be this nice?”

I took Mom’s elbow and guided her down the spiral staircase. “It usually isn’t, Mom. Boeing hasn’t made a plane like this in twenty years.”

“They should. I love the lounge. And the chairs. Heated massage chairs. When did those get invented?” She plopped down next to Dad and poked him until he woke up. “Orlando, this plane has twenty heated massaging recliners upstairs in the lounge. Why can’t we have two in our living room?”

Dad gave her a long, slow, lizard-like blink. “Money.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, we can afford a few nice things….”

I left Dad to lose this discussion on his own and made my way forward to sit next to Rose. “I think Mom’s Long Island was close to a triple. One more and she’d be looking for a fountain to dance in.”

“I don’t blame her,” Rose said. “I love travelling this way.”

I did too. Aerin and Angus’s 747 wasn’t ostentatious—other than the portrait of Riki painted on the tail—but it was luxurious to the brink of decadence. Last year, Aerin and Angus had replaced the old-style first class seating with state-of-the-art passenger pods, each with a high-definition monitor, top of the line gaming computer, media center, full-time high-speed Internet connection, and a seat that converted to a fully reclining bed. The galley was stocked with meals from half a dozen Los Angeles restaurants as well as some excellent snack makings and a Japanese mad scientist’s idea of a coffee maker.

Every passenger pod held a parachute, with extras stored in overhead bins. Any crash alarm or evacuation triggered a dozen survival bundles to drop from the plane. Each sent out a radio alarm and GPS coordinates to help survivors locate them. The pre-flight safety briefing went over how to put the parachutes on and how to land with one. They deployed automatically, based on information from a ground-targeting laser rangefinder. The parachutes were mostly for show; normally Aerin and Angus would simply teleport everyone out if there was a problem.