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But I hadhit the nail on the head, and by sheer luck I’d hit it at exactly the right moment. The stock market was just begi
Just then an interesting thought occurred to me, and I said to Da
“Nothing really,” he replied. “They’ve been pretty quiet, talking mostly about the cars in the parking lot, the usual shit.” He shrugged. “I’ll tell you, these guys are totally fucking clueless! It’s like they don’t even know we’re doing a deal today. They’re still looking at trading records from 1991.”
“Hmmm,” I said, rubbing my chin thoughtfully. I wasn’t all that surprised at Da
“What’s the temperature in there?” I asked with great interest.
Da
“For Chrissake, Da
Da
I took a deep breath and let it out slow. Da
Da
I held up my hand and smiled warmly. “Whoa—whoa—whoa! Settle down! First of all, I had the office swept for bugs thirty minutes ago, so if it’s already bugged again they deserve to catch us. And it’s not seventeen thousand laws we’re breaking; it’s maybe three or four, or five, tops. But either way, no one ever has to know.” I shrugged and then changed my tone to one of shock. “Anyway, I’m surprised at you, Dan! Having a signed agreement helps us a lot—even if we can’t actually use it. It’s a powerful deterrent to stop him from trying to fuck us over.”
Just then Janet’s voice came over the intercom: “Your father’s heading this way.”
A snap response: “Tell him I’m in a meeting, God damn it!”
Janet snapping right back: “Fuck you! Youtell him! I’m not telling him!”
Why, the insolence! The sheer audacity! A few seconds of silence passed. Then I whined, “Oh, come on, Janet! Can’t you just tell him I’m in an important meeting or on a conference call or something, please?”
“No and no,” she replied tonelessly.
“Thanks, you’re a real gem of an assistant, let me fucking tell you! Remind me of this day two weeks from now, when it’s time for your Christmas bonus, okay?”
I paused and waited for Janet’s response. Nothing. Dead fucking silence. Unbelievable!I soldiered on. “How far away is he?”
“About fifty yards, and closing awfully fast. I can see the veins popping out of his head from here, and he’s smoking at least one…or maybe two cigarettes at the same time. He looks like a fire-breathing dragon, I swear to God.”
“Thanks for the encouragement, Janet. Can’t you at least create some sort of diversion? Maybe pull a fire alarm or something? I—” Just then Da
Ke
Just then the door swung open and the mighty roar came pouring in. It was a fucking greed storm out there, and I loved every last ounce of it. The mighty roar—yes, it was the most powerful drug of all. It was stronger than the wrath of my wife; it was stronger than my back pain; and it was stronger than those bozo regulators shivering in my conference room.
And it was even stronger than the insanity of my own father, who at this particular moment was getting ready to release a mighty roar of his own.
CHAPTER 7
SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF
In ominous tones, and with his brilliant blue eyes bulging so far out of his head that he looked like a cartoon character about to pop, Mad Max said, “If you three bastards don’t wipe those smug fucking looks off your faces, I swear to fucking God I’m go
With that, he started pacing…slowly, deliberately…with his face contorted into a mask of unadulterated fury. In his right hand was a lit cigarette, probably his twentieth of the day; in his left hand was a white Styrofoam cup filled with Stolichnaya vodka, hopefully his first of the day but probably his second.