[JEMMA]

Chuck checked his printed pages one last time before he left for his boss's office. He had far more than he needed, but he wanted to make sure that there was no way that Walter could argue with him. The wide sheets of lined paper had been printing in the computer room all afternoon, the tractor feed advancing one line at a time as the striker imprinted the pages with his future. It was all here. Now all he had to do was sell it.

He had called Walter right before 5:00 and asked him to stay and meet with him around 6:00, when the rest of the office had cleared out.

"Walter, I need to talk to you in private," he said. "I was reviewing one of our client's and I think I spotted some irregularities in the accounting. I want to show it to you, but I want to make sure no one else is around. This is some serious shit."

"What kind of irregularities," he asked a bit too quickly.

"I think someone may be stealing money from the company. Look, I don't want to say any more now. I'll come to your office at 6:00."

At 6:05 he knocked on Walter's office door and walked in before he was asked. For just a moment, before he made his stand, he looked around at the large, plush office all decked out in wood and leather and allowed himself to know this would be his office shortly. Then he got right too it.

"Alright, Chuck, let's hear it. Though I'm sure you simply made a mistake. There is no way someone in this company would be stealing. We're a security company, for crying out loud."

Chuck dropped the stack of impressive looking papers on the desk and said "Walter, over the last year you have embezzled a minimum of US$288K from 16 different client accounts and moved the money though Luzern, Switzerland. I have detailed bank transactions proving this, as well as all five of your bank accounts that you are hiding it in. "

Now here was the surprise. Chuck expected Walter to rant and rave. To scream bloody murder and fire him and have to be convinced of how much trouble he was in, but he didn't. He simply deflated like a hot air balloon with a hole in it and sank into his chair.

"How did you find out," he asked, in a quiet voice.

"At your house the other night. It was too good to be true. There was too much money there. Too many toys. It sure wasn't coming from this place, and your wife grew up comfortable, but not rich. It had to be coming from somewhere, and I wanted to know where."

At the mention of Karen, Walter flinched a bit.

"I guess I knew it was only a matter of time. Who else have you told?"

"No one. Not yet, anyway," he said. Then he braced himself and launched into the trickiest part of this. "And I don't have to."

Walter looked up, startled but with hope in his voice. "You want a cut?" he asked.

"No, I want your job. Here is the way it is. You resign at the end of the week. Contact your connections in London. They are looking for a new director of operations. The reason you are leaving this job is because you have always wanted to move to England. The pay will be lower there, but when you sell off all of your assets here you should come out of it ahead. They are going to think they won the lottery when you call and tell them you are interested in the job.

"You will then make it clear to anyone and everyone here that I am the only choice for your successor. You better sell it too, because if I don't get the job, you're fucked. And I mean that very literally. You're only other alternative is to go to jail for the rest of your life while thugs pass you around and shit in your mouth for fun."

There was a long silence while both men stared at each other, one broken, weighing his options, and the other triumphant. Finally Walter started nodding. "Karen always did love the English countryside. She would never even have to know. I could tell her it was a growing company... stake in our future..." he said quietly to himself.

"Two things," Chuck said. "First, it should go without saying, but there are two more copies of this information. One is with a friend, one is with my lawyer. If anything happens to me, they are instructed to deliver this information to the CIB. Do you understand?"

"Yes," he said dismissively.

"Second, I better see confirmation of your end of this plan by the end of the week or the deal is off. I understand the transition will take a few weeks, but I better know my end is covered by the weekend, or we are going to have a problem."

"I get it. I'll find a way to make it happen. You don't have the experience, but I'll figure out a way."

"That's your problem, deal with it".

"You're a real son of a bitch," Walter said, not so much with anger or defiance in his voice, but with resignation. A powerful man, brought low in a matter of seconds. It wasn't enough. It didn't feel enough like victory. It was all too easy.

Chuck turned back around and stared at Walter for a very long moment. He thought about what Walter had said about his wife never having to know.

"There is one more thing that I want from you."

"I guess you want what's left of the money? I expected you to say that earlier."

"Tempting, but no. You can keep the money. I want your wife."

"What," Walter roared, as he rocketed from his chair. "You must be out of your fucking mind".

"Or your daughter. Honestly I don't care. Its 6:15 now. I'm going home. You will send one of them too me by 11:00 tonight or your life as you know it is over."

"You'll never lay a hand on my daughter!"

"Fine, your wife then. Explain it to her. Tell her how you will go to prison for the rest of your life. Explain how she and Karenna will be left with nothing after the lawyers and the CIB are done. No more tennis lessons, no more country club, no more fancy cars. She'll have to get a real job like the rest of us and she and your daughter will be living in some HDB apartment in a bad section of town, working shitty jobs and wondering what they ever did to deserve this. Or she can give up one night of her dignity and go back to living the life of a princess. Just over the pond."

"She'll never go for it," he said, shaking his head.

"Eleven o'clock. Tell her to dress pretty."

With that, chuck walked out of his soon to be new office and went home. That last part of the bargain he had never planned on, but it was such a good idea he was amazed he hadn't thought of it earlier. He stopped on the way to pick up some party favors, and decided to take a nap before company arrived.