[00] The Control Room

[DA 2009]

EPILOGUE

Damon observed with scrutinizing eyes as the lowly Syntex crew dismantled the facility. He had ordered the compound shut down, of course, as per the request list of the board. The host smiled in satisfaction as he recalled his brilliant last-minute maneuver. In the game of chess, you always had to be two moves ahead of your opponent, and that premise was no different when you added a clock to the rules. Dukes could simply think better on his feet that his opponents.

“I see you live to fight another day,” Josh Drake commented from behind.

Damon turned, acknowledging him briefly before swiveling back around to monitor the progress. The console, which housed the tournament program database, was carefully extracted.

“I just had a couple of very interesting phone calls,” the chairman continued.

“Oh?”

“The first one was a board member who informed me that a couple of our corporate executives were being arrested for illegal business practices as well as counts of extortion, kidnapping, money laundering, and falsifying legal documents. Open and shut cases, even against our very expensive attorneys. The second call was from a Kajin Ralan detective who informed me that we are to immediately cease and desist all Dante’s Abyss activities pending the investigation of several brain-dead contractors that were used to test the program. Audric was arrested and is being held responsible for the entire thing,” Josh explained, as if he were discussing the weather.

“I see,” Damon replied nonchalantly.

“The funny thing is, there was an overwhelming body of evidence against these two specific board members, and the rest were completely squeaky clean. And a paper trail led to Audric that didn’t exist yesterday,” Josh added. “I could have you fired and blackballed for misappropriation of Research and Development resources.”

“But you’re not going to,” Dukes said.

“But I’m not going to,” Josh repeated with a smile. “Tell me, how did you orchestrate your little coup in only five hours?”

“You don’t get to know,” Damon smiled back.

“You set three people up for crimes they didn’t commit. How do you sleep at night?”

“I lay down and close my eyes.”

Josh laughed. “Then you must know that you would have been charged for everything, being the head of this little project. One of those board members that was arrested was actually an informant for the Kajin Ralan police. Seems as though he was trying to muscle you out for some reason.”

“Tried, and failed,” Damon corrected. “I just…turned his little plan back on him.”

“You do know, of course, that these proceedings will have an effect on the company’s review of the project? And that you possibly just screwed yourself out of a seat on the board?”

“Two of the seats are now empty. I’m sure I can figure it out,” Dukes said smugly.

“Be careful, Damon. You’re playing with fire,” Josh warned.

Damon simply looked at Josh, not a word passing his lips. Josh laughed and shrugged, knowing it was pointless to continue.

“Expect to hear from us,” Drake promised.

“I look forward to it.”

Josh walked away, and that was that. Damon knew that there were no guarantees that any of his gambits would prove fruitful. He could run the tournament next year, or he could have made his life a living hell. At least if he was going to go down, he took somebody with him. By now, the control room was completely bare: a semblance of its former glory. Damon took one last look around, deeply inhaling the air as if the room itself was a drug of power. On the way out the door, he hit the lights, and the control room went dark.