Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 16:14:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: Orrin Rush <orrinrush@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Lifeguard, Chapter 15

Disclaimer:  The following is a work of fiction.  If you are offended
by graphic descriptions of homosexual acts, go somewhere else.

Copyright c 2000 by Orrin C. Rush.  All rights reserved.

Neither this story nor any parts of it may be distributed
electronically or in any other manner without the express, written
consent of the author.


                      THE LIFEGUARD

                        Chapter 15


Eric had another week off from school, so I didn't go to  work on
Monday.   I was also kind of tired after the ordeal the day before.

Annie got home from New York around noon.  We gave her a chance to
unwind before telling her about what had happened.

She wasn't mad or upset when she heard the story, she was furious.
Not at Tina or Gunter, but at her mother.   Gunter would "get his",
she felt, and Tina would recover, but Georgia was another matter.

Even though I fully agreed with her, I didn't say anything.  Her fury
ran its course, and we settled down.

"As far as I'm concerned, Georgia's dead," she said.  "I never want
to talk to her or see her again."  She needed a hug and I gave her
one.

Tina's first crisis happened on Wednesday.  The Clinic called Ingrid,
and Ingrid called me.  The plane was on standby, and Eric picked her
up and made the trip with her.  Since I couldn't see Tina, I stayed
home. And waited.

Eric brought his mother home with him.   Annie was home, too.

"I'm going to take a chance on 'Doctor - Patient Confidentiality', "
she told us.  "By knowing what's going on, I think you can do her a
lot more good than if you're in the dark."

"She's a very scared little girl," she continued.  "This morning she
wanted to leave the clinic.  She called her Mother.   Georgia
wouldn't talk to her and hung up on her.  Tina panicked.  That's when
they called me."

"That bitch!" Annie said.  "I mean Georgia."

Ingrid smiled and continued.  "Tina's lost and very alone.  She feels
that her mother's abandoned her, Gunter used her, and she's scared to
death of you, Dave.  She doesn't know where to turn."

I could only shake my head in amazement.

"We talked for almost three hours," she went on.  "I told her about
my relationship to you, that my son is your lover, and that you are a
gentle, caring man.  Even though you've never told me, I know that
you love her and would do anything in your power for her.  That was
obvious to me when we found her in that awful room in Indianapolis.
I told her all this, and I think I got through to her, but it's going
to be up to you to convince her."

"You know I'll do anything I can," I said.

"She needs you now, more than she ever has," Ingrid said.  "She will
stay at the clinic.  I convinced her that that would be best, for
now.  She signed all the papers voluntarily, committing herself for a
four-week treatment program."

"When can I see her?" I asked.

"I want to see her too," Annie added.  "She's my little sister and
I'll do whatever I can, too."

"That's what she needs," Ingrid said, "your love and support. The
clinic would prefer that you don't visit her for another week or so.
They want to work on the drug problem first and help her physically.
I plan to see her again on Friday, and we can go from there."

"I plan to be out of town on Sunday and Monday, at least," I said,
"but those plans can be changed very easily."

"She's in the best hands available," Ingrid said.  "Let them tell us
when to come see her."

While Eric took his mom home, Annie and I talked.

"I have a pretty good idea how she feels.  I felt pretty much the
same way when I left Mom.  I hated her and I didn't know what to
expect from you.  I'm damned glad I took the chance, though. You
turned out to be a pretty nice guy," she said, smiling.

                               - - - - -

Eric went to the office with me the next two days to sit in on the
brainstorming sessions on the Milton deal.  A lot was accomplished
and Eric's contributions were substantial.

Since he was starting school on Monday, we decided that I would go to
New York alone.  It would be preliminary, anyway.

I left at noon on Sunday and planned to return as soon as the meeting
was over.  It would be my first night away from Eric since his
accident and I wasn't looking forward to sleeping alone.

We were all staying at a hotel near the airport since Ron and Jason
would be waiting for me.  I waited as they "bedded down" the plane,
then we all took the rental car to the hotel.

We had dinner together, and naturally, the conversation was about
flying.

"If this deal goes through," I told them, "we're probably going to
need another plane.  Hell, I'm virtually monopolizing the one we've
got, and everybody else is having to fly commercial."

"We kinda figured that," Jason said.  "We've got some feelers out for
a couple more pilots.  I talked to your buddy Russ, and he's working
with a couple of Air Force guys right now that might be just what
we're looking for."

"They're gay?" I asked.

"Of course," Ron said, "and a couple of real hunks from what I hear,"
he leered.

"But can they fly?" I asked, chuckling.

"That comes first," Ron said.  "Anyway, we're all married, so what
they look like really doesn't matter."

"Happily, too, I might add," I said.

With the time difference, it was late, and my meeting was early, so
we headed for our rooms.  I called Eric.  Our conversation was
short.  We missed each other already, and didn't want to prolong our
talk.

I climbed into an empty bed for the first time in months.  It wasn't
pleasant.  Of course, I thought about Eric and what he had become to
me.

Admittedly, sex was a big part of our relationship, but, its
importance was diminishing every day.  There was so much more to Eric
than his big dick and ability to use it.  In less than a year our
love for one another had grown and deepened.  Just his presence had
become an integral part of my life.

I could see the changes, too, in both of us.  Eric had matured, grown
in his outlook on life, and focused on his goals, developing a
distinct personality along the way.   That personality was certainly
different from mine, which I admired. Still fiercely independent, but
able to compromise a little without compromising his values.

Being around him had changed me a lot.  My general outlook on life
had become a lot more optomistic and adventurous.  I guess the
security of having someone by my side did that.  Never before in my
life had I had these feelings of security and contentment.  I also
felt completely confident in the love that we shared.  That's the key
word, "shared".  It wasn't lopsided with one loving the other more.
As I saw it, it was pretty equal.

Eric had also brought out something else in me - the ability to share
my feelings.  With me, his feelings were almost transparent, and he
freely discussed them.  I responded in kind, something I had never
done with anyone, and I felt comfortable about it too.

God how I loved that man!  Being away from him, even if for a few
hours, gave me the opportunity to really see how big a part of my
life he had become.  We were as one, but still two completely
different people.

                              - - - - -

Jason drove me to the meeting.  He kept street maps of every city on
the plane and always planned his route - just like a flight plan.

The Milton brothers were waiting, formal as usual.  I kind of
expected that there would be more "family" involved, but these two
evidently spoke for the whole tribe.

After pleasantries were exchanged, Edward got down to business.

"I think you understand us, Mr. Rush," he said, "we are interested in
a private sale, not a public auction."

"I fully understand, Mr. Milton," I answered.  "There will be no
press leaks from my side until an agreement is reached."

"Thank you," he said.  "I also understand that you have very little
information to work with, our being a private company and all that.
Here is a copy of our last audited financial statement with all of
the supporting documents.  They're for the quarter ended last
September.  We'll have the year-end statements in three weeks.  I
realize that you might wish to delve deeper into some of our
operating statements, and we have arranged for that also."

He paused for a sip of coffee before continuing.  "We would
appreciate if only people from your own organization looked at our
books.  Outside accounting firms are supposed to be confidential, but
we have had some bad experiences with them."

"I see no problem there," I said.  "We have very capable people who
can do whatever needs to be done, and I assure you, they know how to
maintain confidentiality."

"Excellent," he answered.  "Just let us know what you want to see,
and we will make all the arrangements.  Our people will be most
cooperative."

"Once we analyze your statements," I said, "we'll have a better idea
of the areas where we need more detail, and I'll let you know."

"Based upon these statements," he said, handing me a small envelope,
"and a fair market multiple, we have come up with an asking price for
the company.  It is negotiable, but not much."  He smiled.

"Our terms are also included," he continued, "and we are interested
in an expeditious conclusion to the matter.  For your information,
you are the only potential buyer that we are talking with.  There are
other possible suitors, but we feel that you would carry on our
traditions better than anyone else."

"Thank you," I said, and pointing at the financial statements,
continued  "Our best people are waiting for this information, and
will give it their full attention."

I rose and picked up the two envelopes.  "We have a lot of work ahead
of us," I said, "and it's time to get started.  You will be hearing
from me in a few days, no doubt with a lot of questions, and I look
forward to personally working with you toward a rapid conclusion."

So stiff, so fucking formal.  I wanted to yell "shit" or "fuck" to
see if they would have any reaction.  More politeness, and I was on
my way.  Another quick meeting over with.

"Get what you wanted?" Jason wanted to know.

"Got something," I said.  "I don't know if it's what we need or not
yet.  Those guys are so goddam formal I want to yell!"

Somehow, I managed to suppress the urge to dig into the envelopes in
my lap.  I decided to wait until I was on board the plane.  It wasn't
easy.  My curiosity was killing me.

Ron was waiting for us when we pulled up.  We jumped on board and
were quickly in line for takeoff.  I dug out the envelopes and ripped
open the big one, the one with the statements.

The first thing I noticed was that the statement had been prepared by
a local firm, not one of the Big 5.  They'd be losing the account,
and we couldn't expect much help from them.

I bypassed the Balance Sheet and went straight to the Income
Statement.  It was a five year comparison spread across two pages.  I
glanced at the current year's bottom line. About $100 million, but
when I looked at the comparisons, I saw that in 5 years, it had
declined more than a third from more than $160 million.  Interesting.

Sales had increased substantially each year, but so had expenses.
General and Administrative had soared and so  had Cost of Goods
Sold.  That told me that they were top- heavy and either weren't very
efficient or had no control over manufacturing costs.

I looked at the supporting schedules.  Not much there that revealed
anything.  Last, I looked at the Balance Sheet.

No surprises there.  Very conservative.  A lot of cash, and a lot of
depreciable plant and equipment.  Book value was a  not surprising
$2.6 billion.

Finally, I opened the other envelope.  The price, "respectfully
submitted" was $3.25 billion. Cash.

With the time difference, Eric hadn't left for school yet, so I
called him.  He wanted all the details, but I told him he'd have to
wait.  He got out of class at 2:00, and would come straight to the
office.

I got out a pad and started making notes.  I was so engrossed that
the time flew by, and before I knew it, we were home.  My pad was
almost full.

The troops were assembled when I arrived at the office.  I gave the
Financial Statements to Nancy to make copies, and handed the "price
quote" to Bill and Annie.  I didn't want the rest to see it yet.

I had planned my instructions on the plane and explained them to the
group.  "As soon as copies are made, I want you all to take your copy
and study it overnight.  Look at it from the perspective of your area
of expertise.  Make notes, condense them, and we'll meet back here
tomorrow to discuss the situation,"  I told them.

"I'll warn you," I continued.  "These statements are pretty
condensed, so I also suggest that you prepare a plan of action for
getting the detailed information you'll need."

Nancy came in with the copies and distributed them.  "Nancy will let
you know what time tomorrow's meeting is scheduled."

They grabbed their copies and ran, as curious as I had been.

Bill didn't even look at his.  He walked over to me and said "I
really don't care how this thing turns out.  Just seeing you back in
action makes it all worthwhile!"

"I've been thinking about that, too," I told him.  "I guess we both
have Eric to thank for that."

About that time, Eric walked in.  After a hug and a kiss, I gave him
a copy of the Statements.  He took it, found a chair and started
poring over it.

I sat and waited for his reaction.  Finally, he held up the copy and
said "Either this is fishy as hell or nobody there gives a damn!"

"That's pretty much what I came up with, too," I told him.

"At the rate they're going, they'll be out of business in five
years," he observed.  "What the hell's going on?"

"Obviously, I don't have an answer to that," I said, "and they want
three and a quarter billion for it."

"That'd be reasonable if their earnings were rising, but..." he
paused.  "By the way, you got the three billion?"

"Not on me," I chuckled, "but it'd be no problem."

"Someday you're gonna have to tell me what you're REALLY worth," he
grinned at me.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening going
over the notes I'd made.  Eric's insightful comments were added, and
I used up the pad and had to get another.

We stopped for dinner on the way home, and when we got there, he
announced "No more business.  I missed you, and I need to hold you in
my arms."

"Is that all I get?" I kidded him.  The gleam in his eye told me that
I'd be getting a whole lot more.

We were holding each other after a couple of mind-blowing orgasms
when Eric commented "Do you realize what just happened?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Your orgasms are lasting longer and longer, and seem to me to be a
lot more intense," he said.

"In case you hadn't noticed, babe," I told him, "yours are getting a
lot longer too.  I told you it keeps getting better and better."

                               - - - - -

I called Nancy to tell her that the meeting would be at 1:30, and
asked her to let everyone know.  Eric wanted to sit in, and I wanted
him there too.  Bill would be delighted.

By now, virtually everyone at the office knew who Eric was, and his
relationship to me.  Last week when he had sat in on our
brainstorming sessions, I had noticed a little animosity from some of
our people.  Even though nothing was said, I'm sure a few wondered
"Who is this guy, and what the hell does he know about anything."

Eric's comments and probing questions soon dissipated any of these
feelings, and I could sense mutual respect  developing.  There would
be a few new people at today's meeting, and they would undoubtedly
feel the same.  Give them a little time.

Of course, I was immensely proud of Eric.  He had a quick mind and
the ability to cut to the heart of the issue.  The phrase "cut the
crap" could have been invented for him.

Just about all of the top management of Metalco were younger guys.
Annie was the only female in the upper echelon.  Bill did most of the
hiring at that level, and I don't think he was sexist, though I
kidded him about it a lot.

They worked as a team.  No little "fiefdoms" were allowed to develop,
and the resulting cooperation contributed a lot to our success.  It
had taken some time, but Annie had been assimilated into the group.
In time, I hoped that Eric would, too.

I knew that they had worked together overnight on analyzing the
Milton statements, so when everyone was assembled around the
conference table in my office, I asked "Well, guys, what's the
verdict?"

Mike, our Manager of Production spoke up first.  "There's something
wrong.  They're hemorrhaging."

I saw a general nodding of heads.

John, our Chief Financial Officer added "It looks like there aren't
any controls, or if there are, nobody's paying any attention.  And,
my God, the overhead!  They must have the whole family on the payroll
drawing seven figure salaries."

"I want to see those plants," Mike said.  "Production costs are out
of sight, and getting worse."

>From there, the discussion got really lively.  Everybody, including
Eric, joined in.  Each area had been analyzed, and, the consensus of
opinion was that a LOT of digging was needed.

Working together, they had come up with a plan of action that would
get the answers that were needed.  Everyone had been assigned an
"area" to investigate, and, with their staff, they were ready to get
going almost immediately.

At this point, Eric snapped everybody back to reality.  "Nobody's
come right out and said it, but I think we all agree that it looks
like somebody is ripping the company off big time.  We're talking
major money so it isn't just one or two people who are involved, and
either they've covered themselves well, or nobody's paying any
attention.  Either way, they're not going to be very eager to
cooperate with you guys.  They won't want to lose a good thing."

"That's another thing," I added, "the Miltons are a very private
bunch, and don't want any publicity whatsoever.  I don't know what
they've told their people, but I doubt that it has been much, so
far.  They WANT to sell to us, but they're going to have to bite the
bullet and let us find out what's going on if they expect us to buy.
Afterall, they want more than $3 billion for the company."

"That's a lot of money for a sinking ship," John commented.

"I have no intention of buying a 'sinking ship', as you call it,
John.  If it really is sinking, we'll run like hell, but I don't
think that's really the case," I said.

"Maybe they think that because we're a private company we won't
really dig," Eric chimed in.

"Then they've underestimated us," Bill added.

"The first order of business," I said, "is to let the Miltons know
what we want to see.  I hope they're cooperative.  Another thing I'd
like to mention is that we need to keep whatever we find to
ourselves.  We are under no obligation to let the Miltons know where
the leaks are if we find any."

"I think it's important that we hit them from every angle at the same
time so that they won't be able to mount a coverup before we get
there.  This means coordination, which I will leave to Bill," I
said.  "It's too late today to talk to the Miltons, but I'll call
them early tomorrow morning.  If possible, I'd like all of you guys
out of here by tomorrow night."

Since most of the Milton's operations were in the New York area, it
was agreed that we'd all meet there over the weekend to discuss our
findings.

The meeting was over.  Bill, Eric and I went to work on the list of
areas to be investigated to make it more palatable to the Miltons and
not give them any more idea of what we were looking for than
necessary.

At 6:00 AM our time, 9:00 Eastern Time, I called the Miltons from the
den at home.  It was on speakerphone and Eric, Bill and Annie were
there.

We went through the usual politeness thing, then I got down to
business.

"We'd like to send some people to look into a few things," I said.

"That would be fine," Edward answered.

I then read off the list of areas we wanted to investigate.  When I
was finished, Edward asked "When do you wish to begin this ambitious
project?"

"We'd like to start tomorrow morning," I told him.

"Oh," Edward answered, "I don't think that would be possible."

"Why not?" I asked.  "A few phone calls should handle everything."

"I think not, Mr. Rush," Edward said.  "The earliest would be
sometime next week or the following."

"Then," I said, "I don't think we have anything further to discuss."

"Is that an ultimatum, Mr. Rush?" he asked.

"I'm afraid it is," I said.  "You want to close this deal in a hurry,
and we're doing our part."

"Can we compromise?" he asked.

"No," I said.  I was getting tired of this bullshit.

"Can we think this over and call you back?" he asked.

"I'll give you an hour, that's all," I said, giving him the number.

"You will hear from us," he answered and hung up.

"They're scared," Eric commented as soon as our phone was hung up.

"I'm sure they didn't expect you to act this fast," Annie commented.
"Sounds like they need to get shaken up a little. Good work, Dad."

"A masterful performance," Bill added.

"Those guys had better get off their prim and proper asses if they
intend to do business with us," I said.  "I'm getting tired of their
bullshit.  Maybe I'm not as polished as they are, but who gives a
damn."

"Our money's just about as old as theirs," Annie said.  "And we've
got a helluva lot more of it than they do.  They're selling, we're
buying."

Time for more coffee and clock watching.

"I may be late for class, but I wouldn't miss this for anything,"
Eric said.

We waited.  55 minutes later, the phone rang.

I answered.

"Mr. Rush," Edward said, "I believe we can accomodate you, but I must
protest your bullying tactics."

I chose to ignore that.  "Thank you, Mr. Milton, our people will  be
there tomorrow morning.  We expect to have free and complete access
to everything."

"We will do our best," he answered.  "How many people should we
expect?"

I looked at Bill who mouthed "60".  "There will be about sixty," I
said.

"Oh my," Edward sighed.  "Why are you sending so many?"

"We want to complete the job as fast as possible," I told him.

"We will prepare for them," he said, and after a terse goodbye, hung
up.

"This whole thing is starting to smell," I said.  "I want an even
more thorough audit than we were planning.  We need to verify
everything down to the last nut and bolt."

"I fully agree," Bill said.

"What're you working on, Annie?" I asked.

"The real estate," she said.  "As soon as I can get a list, I'll get
appraisals and title searches underway."

"As soon as they find out where everything is, the troops will be
fanning out," Bill said.  "Dan will be handling all the travel
arrangements from here."

"OK," I said, "let's deploy the troops."

I could tell that Eric was disappointed that he wouldn't be in the
middle of all the action.  We talked about it, and he quickly worked
out which classes he could miss so that he could be with me as much
as possible.  It was going to be exciting.

The office was bedlam.  Excitement was at fever pitch, with everyone
involved - those who were going East and those who would stay home
and hold down the fort.

It was Company policy that everyone, down to the people in our
factories were informed on what was going on in the company, and the
current flurry of activity wouldn't go unnoticed.  I decided to send
an Email to all of our installations to explain what was going on.
It would be  distributed to every employee, and was as specific as I
could make it without divulging the target of our acquisition efforts.

Dan had chartered a plane for the trip and would have a bus waiting
at the other end.  Service, in flight, would be first class all the
way.

After everyone left for the airport, there wasn't much to do but
wait.  I went home early to try to unwind.

Eric was already home, studying out by the pool.  I joined him.

He wanted to know the "latest".  There wasn't much to report except
that the troops were on their way.

"They'll think they're being invaded tomorrow morning," he chuckled.
"How many went?"

"Sixty three," I told him.  "They'll be getting rental cars in the
morning.  We thought it'd be overdoing it if they arrived in a bus."

"From what you say about the Miltons, they'll shit their drawers
anyway," he said.

"There's one thing bothering me," I told him.  "When you think of New
Jersey, I, at least, think Mafia.  I know that's not always the case,
but you still hear about all the stuff they are still doing.  If it
turns out that they've infiltrated Milton, we're going to drop
everything and run like hell.  I just don't want to deal with THAT
regardless of how much I want to buy them."

"That thought crossed my mind too," he said.  "Let's hope that isn't
the case.  Oh, by the way, I talked to Mom today and Tina's doing
great.  Mom would like you to call her."

"I'll do it right now," I said.  "I've been thinking about Tina and
wondering."

I called Ingrid.  She had been to Palm Springs last Friday and again
that morning.  According to her, Tina was making great progress
physically, but still had a lot of other issues to deal with.

"May I make a suggestion?" she asked.

"Absolutely," I said.

"From what Tina tells me, Annie was in a similar situation when she
left her mother to come to you.  Possibly, if Annie went to see Tina
first, she could clear up some of the misconceptions about you that
Tina has," she said.

"Annie said something about that," I said, "how she'd felt when she
came here, not knowing exactly what to expect.  Even though Annie and
Tina haven't been close, I know she's willing to do anything she can
to help her, and me, for that matter."

"Do you think she could go over to Palm Springs on Friday?" Ingrid
asked.

"Annie's on her way to New Jersey," I said, "but I'll be talking to
her in the morning.  I'm sure we can arrange it."

"Let me know so I can alert the Clinic," she said, "then we'll see
when you should go see her."

"I will," I said.  "Ingrid, you have no idea how much I appreciate
everything you're doing."

"Glad to do it, Dave, and you'll be getting a hefty bill, too," she
laughed.

That night, on our way to bed, I noticed that Eric had a huge bulge
in his shorts.  I patted him and asked "Happy to see me, or what?"

"You're gonna think I'm weird," he grinned.

"That isn't weird," I said giving him a good grope.  "I kind of like
it."

"It started this morning," he said.

"You mean you've been going around like that all day?" I asked.

"No, well, kinda," he said.

We undressed.  His cock popped out hard as a rock.

"It started this morning," he repeated.  "On my way to school, I
started thinking about your conversation with the Miltons, how it
demonstrated the power you have.  It gave me a hardon then."

"What power?" I asked.

"The power to talk to billionaires like that, to make them do what
you want.  You're usually so subtle, but this morning, you made them
back down.  That's what I call power, and it turned me on," he said.

"That turned you on?" I asked.

"Oh God yes," he said.  "Knowing that you have that kind of power,
and that I belong to you really got me hot.  I was thinking about it
again a few minutes ago, and you see what happened."  He paused.
"I've heard somewhere that 'power' is an aphrodesiac, but never
realized it would affect me this way.  Hell, I'm about to shoot just
thinking about it."

"Wait for me," I kidded.

"Seriously," he said, "I want you to fuck me senseless!"

It only took one long stroke and Eric was convulsed in a powerful
orgasm.  I rode it out, barely staying inside him.

"More," he said, and I obliged.  When I reached my peak, he was ready
again, and joined me in the throes of ecstacy.

When we were both coherent again, he said "I think I've found my
'button'.  You've got my arm, and now, all you have to say is 'power'
and I'm a goner!"

                               - - - - -

By the time I got there, reports were already coming into the
office.  All our troops had cell phones, and Bill's office was the
command center.  He briefed me.

"About all I know so far," he said, "is that they were cordially
welcomed.  Not by the Miltons themselves, but by their staff, and, it
seems like everything will be open to them."

It was soon noon, east coast time, and a flurry of calls came in.  We
took Mike's call first, and had the others wait.

"I've been all over the plant here," he said.  "Everything looks
good.  Very modern, efficient.  The only thing is that it's an old
building and stuff has to be moved from floor to floor.  There aren't
any obvious problems."

"What's next?" Bill asked.

"I'm taking my bunch to their Ohio plant this afternoon," Mike said.
"That's their biggest operation, and we want to look it over from top
to bottom.  After that, we'll decide which one to look at next.  They
have 43 factories here in the U.S., and I'm faxing you the list."

"Keep us informed," Bill asked.

"Will do," Mike said and hung up.

Next was Annie.  She had gotten a fixed asset list, and was ready to
head home, feeling that she could handle her end from here.  We
discussed Tina and she was eager to go to  Palm Springs on Friday.
She'd be on a plane home that afternoon, and she'd already arranged
for Jason to meet her.

John was next.  He reported that they had been given free access to
everything, but that their computer system was rather antiquated and
they'd have a lot of digging ahead.  In effect, they were performing
a complete audit.  He felt it might take a week or more to complete
the task, maybe even longer.

Others called, all pretty much reporting the same thing.  Everything
"looked" OK on the surface, and they were getting the cooperation
they needed.

"I still think something's fishy," I told Bill.

"Whatever it is, they'll find it," he assured me.

                               - - - - - -

Annie made the trip to Palm Springs and came home quite enthused
about the progress Tina was making.

"Between Ingrid and me, I think we're getting through to her," she
reported.  "Since she really doesn't know you and has been filled
with so much crap from Mom, we have to start from the beginning.
Since I was in the same boat a few years ago, she's listening to me."

"What did I do to change your thinking back then?" I asked.

"You were just yourself," she said.  "You didn't ask a lot of
questions that I didn't want to answer, you weren't judgmental, and
you didn't tell me what to do.  That's what I really like about you.
You don't boss anybody around or give advice."

"I can't believe I'm that wonderful," I said.

"Actually, you are, Dad," she said.  "You let me make my own
mistakes, but you're always there for me, not blaming me or giving me
hell for what I've done.  You let me learn from my mistakes, but
you're there in case I get into real trouble."

"How else can you learn?" I asked.

"That's just it," she said.  "When I ask for advice, you don't tell
me what to do, instead you tell me about my options, usually some I
haven't thought of, then let me make my own decisions, right or
wrong, and you back me up whatever I do."

"Isn't that what Dads are for?" I answered.  "How's she dealing with
the gay issue?"

"Ingrid's the one who's making progress in that area," she said.  "It
makes sense.  Here's a very respectable lady, a Doctor, too, and her
son is your lover and she totally approves.  That's about as
convincing as you can get!"

"If anybody can convince Tina, Ingrid can," I said.

"I don't know what awful things Mom told her, but I can guess," Annie
said.  "I told her how I felt too, that I was totally comfortable
around you and Eric, and that neither one of you were ogres or
monsters.  It just happens that you are two men who like men and love
each other, and I couldn't be happier for both of you.  I think
Tina'll come around."

Eric came in and wanted to know about Tina.  Annie gave him a brief
but complete report on her progress.

"What's happening with Milton?" she asked after she finished.

"Nothing new," I told them.  "Everything looks good on the surface,
but we all know that a ton of money is going someplace.  The troops
are still digging.  Since there isn't anything to really talk about,
we've canceled the 'get-together' in New York this weekend.  They'll
keep going until they find something."

"Have you heard anything from the Milton brothers?" Eric asked.

"Not a word," I said.

"I wonder what they're thinking," he mused.

"I don't know why," I said, "but I'm expecting a big breakthrough
next week.  I can just feel it."

"The suspense is killing me," Annie said.  "I should be getting
some information back by then on their properties that may
shed some light.  In the meantime, I have a date with Kevin,
I'm outta here."

"What do you feel like doing tonight?" I asked Eric.

"Hadn't thought about it," he said.

"I feel like doing something wild and crazy," I told him.  "All this
tension has gotten to me."

"You got any ideas?" he asked, perking up.

"How about Vegas?  See a show, lose some money," I suggested.

"Sounds like fun," he said.  "I hear they have a new gay revue with
lots of hot guys."

"Let's go!" I said.  "We'll spend the night."

                               - - - - -

There was no news from the East Coast until Thursday.

"The only thing that the Miltons won't let us look at are their
Stockholder records," Bill told me.  "For some reason, they don't
want us to see who owns what percentages of the company.  We got
around that, though.  One of our guys got 'real friendly' with a gal
in that department, and she gave him some really interesting
information."

"What?" I asked.

"John and Edward only own five percent each," he said.

"I don't understand," I said.  "I got the impression that they held
control of the company."

"They don't," he said.  "Their older sister has the largest chunk of
stock, around 75%, and the rest is spread around among cousins and a
few trusts.  The brothers run it for the rest of the family, it
seems."

"Maybe we should look into that a little deeper," I suggested.

"We already are," Bill said.  "The information we have isn't all that
reliable, so we're digging into the family's history.  That should
tell us something."

"Do you think it means anything?" I asked.

"Hard to tell at this point," he said.  "Wait until we get more
information."

Friday, there were more revelations.   Some cross-checking had shown
that paychecks were being sent to people who didn't actually work
where they were supposed to.  In fact, they didn't exist.  It wasn't
one or two, but literally hundreds, and they were all receiving six
figure salaries.

When Bill told me about this, he added that these checks were direct
deposited to bank accounts all around the New York area, and that the
funds were periodically withdrawn by checks that were cashed in the
Bahamas, all at the same time.  More than a coincidence.

I wanted to know how in hell we had gotten information like this.
Banks are pretty touchy about giving out that kind of information.

"You don't want to know," he said.  "I can assure you, though, that
the information is accurate.  We're working right now on finding out
who owns the accounts in the Bahamas.  That may take some time."

"You're right," I said.  "I don't want to know.  Just let me know
what you find out.  What kind of money are we talking about here?"

"Our preliminary estimate is between sixty and a hundred million a
year," he answered.

"That explains the bloated overhead," I said.

"Just eliminating that drain would make their bottom line look a
helluva lot better," he said, "but I think theres more, a whole lot
more."

"I do too," I said.  "I wonder who's behind it."

"We won't know until we find out about the accounts in the Bahamas,"
he said.

That evening, Eric and I discussed the findings of the day.

He was incredulous that we had been able to get this information.
"I'm not all that familiar with banks, but I know they wouldn't give
out that kind of information willingly," he said.

"Maybe they didn't," I said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"A few years ago, a bunch of hackers attacked the computers at
Metalco," I told him.  "When we found them, instead of pressing
charges, we hired them.  Ever since, they've been working on breaking
into our systems.  When they find a hole, we plug it.  It's a guess,
but I'll bet they've been hacking somebody else's computers lately."

"That would explain it," he said.  "Another thing I wonder about is
how they're getting around the IRS.  Milton has to report earnings
every year, and anybody getting that kind of salary would surely have
to file a tax return."

"I don't know," I said.  "Obviously, whoever's doing this has done a
lot of careful planning.  It's also pretty obvious to me that it's an
inside job."

"For sure," he said.  "How could the Miltons fail to notice?"

"Look at the statements," I told him, "the overhead has really jumped
in the last three years, and has been gradual, so it could, possibly,
be justified."

"I really want to meet those guys sometime," he said.  "I want to see
what stupid looks like."

That got us both laughing.

Another week passed with no new revelations.  Bill was uncommonly
busy and uncommunicative.  I felt left out but didn't complain
because I trusted him implicitly.

Sunday evening Bill called me at home.  "Everybody's on their way
home," he said.  "We've put all the pieces of the puzzle together,
but I don't know what we're going to do with the solution.  It's not
a pretty picture, but you'll get it in the morning.  I want them to
tell you themselves."

"You expect me to wait until tomorrow?" I yelled.

"I don't know all the details myself," he said, "you'll hear it all
at the same time I do."

"That's not very comforting," I told him, getting rather pissed.

"I know, Dave, and I'm sorry, but it's the best I can do," he said.

                                - - - - -

To be Continued.

Author's Note:  I really appreciate the suggestions I've been
receiving from you guys.  I'm using most of the ones I receive.
I answer all mail, and love to hear from you, and don't mind getting
bashed when I make a mistake.  orrinrush@yahoo.com