The Kingmaker

5 - Money, Money

SEVEN YEARS LATER

-------

“We’ll miss you.”

Eden looked up from her laptop to toss the man a dubious glance. “Sure, you will. You didn’t pay me back for the lattes yet, by the way. That’s five times now.”

“Hey, I mean it.” He rounded the desk in three slow strides to stand beside her. “I know we’ve had our differences, but you know I respect your work. You’re young, but -”

“I mean it, too, Arthur. You owe me just over thirty dollars.”

“How about twenty?”

Eden kept her eyes trained on her screen as she typed away. “I don’t haggle with people who rode my ass for budgetary disagreements every day for the last seven years.”

“Eden -”

“Fine,” she said. She closed her laptop with a snap and slapped both hands on the lid, palms down. “I’ll make you a deal instead, since I don’t want your paper anyway. Just a thirty dollar favor.”

Arthur sighed and scratched his brow before pulling himself up to sit back on the desk. “I knew you were going to do something like this. That’s why you waited so long to bring it up.”

“If you knew, then why’d you let it happen?”

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Because I like coffee and I don’t like using my money, that’s why. So what is it you want.”

Eden leaned back in her office chair and turned it so that she could face the man. “Your car.”

Arthur scowled. “Very nice. So witty. I really will miss you.”

She folded her arms across her chest and c****d her head to the side. “I’m not kidding.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“You get, what, fifteen miles to the gallon in that piece of Stone Age junk? Gas is about four bucks a gallon, so roughly a hundred miles for thirty dollars’ worth. I want to use your car.”

Arthur gave her a look as if she had just ejected all of her brain cells into the stratosphere. “You’ve got a car.”

Eden raised her eyebrows at him. “I know I do. I want your car.” She held her hand out, presenting him with a single key. “Trade me. I’ll bring it back to your place by, say, eight?”

“I won’t be home.”

“I know. It’s Friday night, and you’ve got a hot date. I’ll park your car in the driveway, drop your key in your mail slot, and in the morning, you can leave my key in your mailbox for me. You won’t even have to see my face at all, Arthur.”

“Oh, so you’re just going to walk all the way home from my place and then back again in the morning, then?”

She smiled. “I’ll take care of that, Arthur.”

“I don’t trust you. No way.”

“Listen,” Eden said, and she dangled her car key by its ring in front of the man. “You were going to borrow someone else’s nice car for your date anyway. Honestly, I’m the one doing you a favor - you can take my BMW out and do whatever you want with Lisa or Bella or whoever it is this time. I’ll take the heap of junk that you’re hiding from her off your hands for a night, and then we’ll swap back tomorrow. It’s my last day. Make it your going-away gift for me since you were too cheap to buy me anything.”

Arthur narrowed his eyes and shook his head again, but more slowly this time - and in resignation, Eden noticed. Bingo. Caught like a fish. “I will never understand you.”

“And you’ll never have to. But hey, congratulations on getting to head the presentation on Monday.”

“You mean the one where I have to convince the US military that your 400 million dollar apiece prototype is a great investment for them?” He scoffed. “You’re not passing me an opportunity, Eden. You’re foisting what’s going to be a f*****g disaster onto me.”

Eden gave him a friendly wink. “Stop doubting me, Arthur. Trust me, they’ll buy the blueprint. If nothing else, they’ll do it just to manufacture at least one so that they can test it for themselves.”

“It’ll cost them 400 million dollars apiece.”

“So what? It’s the military. You think they’re going to worry about a budget? The government will just defund schools again, so don’t worry about it.”

Arthur dragged one hand down his face. “You’re unbelievable.”

“And you’re going to get a very fat bonus this year. So just give me the key, Arthur.”

-------

It was nearly fifty miles away on the fringe of the city limits to get to this hole in the wall diner. Eden took a sip of her coffee and, after a reluctant swallow, set it back down on the table. Appearances. She had to at least make a show of being normal if she didn’t want to attract unwanted attention.

Someone slid into the other side of the booth. “You weren’t followed?” the man asked quietly.

Eden gave him a quick visual inspection, noting the bland sweatshirt and jeans getup he had chosen to wear today. Not bad. He looked normal. “No,” she answered. “I also drove here in a forty year old junk heap so that we aren’t running the risk of being GPS logged and tracked in the future.”

The man stiffened. “You think they’re going to try?”

She chuckled. “No. But I like to be exceedingly careful when I can, to offset the risks that I need to take when I can’t.”

“Fine.”

“You have my woman?”

The man slid a white clasp envelope across the table to her. “See for yourself. Everything you asked for.”

Eden was already taking the papers out and rifling through them. “Identical,” she said. “I knew you said the surgeon was good, but I wasn’t sure how high to set my expectations.”

“Enough money could take you to the moon and back, this is nothing. Yours was enough to get you the best, twice over. For another twenty percent, we could even create a boyfriend for her, a little domestic fantasy. Something to make it more believable for anyone who’s trying to pry.”

She smiled and ran her fingers over the page.

“Good, no? She could fool even you, and she’s your double.”

Eden nodded and slid the papers back into the envelope. “Then I’ll wire the remaining half of the money and the twenty percent together tonight. Did you give her the instructions and the address? Everything needs to be done right. Perfectly. Tonight’s the only chance I have to make the swap.”

The man nodded. “She knows what to do. Your colleague’s home, pick up the key in the morning and drive your vehicle to your loft. No contact.”

“Good. How’s her voice?”

He shrugged. “The operation was as much of a success as it could be, but it’ll be a few weeks more before her voice can try to pass for yours. We’re giving her instructions to fake illness and a sore throat in the meantime.”

“Remember. Recluse. Make her keep to herself. I’ve lived like a hermit the last few years, so no one will think twice about it. But she’s not going to be able to fake anything else about me other than my appearance, so if she accidentally runs across one of my colleagues -”

He nodded again. “We know. We’ve put together a plan to have her ‘discover’ a passion for full time blogging. She’ll stay indoors and make sub-par online content that will never go mainstream.”

Eden grinned. “Great. Make sure it hurts to finish reading whatever she writes.”

“Already done. We have twelve months’ worth of superficial commentary on all sorts of obscure social issues. If anyone’s going to track her online activity like you think -”

“They will.”

“- then they’ll get sick of it within the week. Guaranteed.”

Eden leaned back in the seat. “It’s been outstanding doing business with you, Beetle.”

He gave her a smirk and folded his arms over the table. “I know. My man will see you tonight to pick you up where we agreed. Remember, you bring nothing with you. Before you go, he’ll give you a full scan to make sure you’re not bugged inside with anything that they might have sneaked into your food or drink.”

“Thorough as always. It’s a shame we won’t be doing business again.”

Beetle rubbed his hands over his buzz cut with a sheepish grin. “That’s alright, ma’am. You’ve made me very rich.”

Eden winked. “Money, money.”

He nodded.

“Money, money.”