“I have the right to know what happened to Svetlana. She’s my best friend,” Jin said unremittingly. “Perhaps last night someone else saw or heard something… or knows something? Someone from security? Liam?”
“We only know that she left the hotel in the early morning,” Liam said.
“Jin, what do you mean ‘did someone else see’? Who saw Svetlana last night?” anxiously asked Marina, a secretary, looking at her colleagues Phoebe, Eve and Dorika, who, also surprised, shrugged their shoulders and shook their heads.
“Gloria saw her,” Jin said.
“Gloria?!” shouted Marina, Phoebe, Eve and Dorika, looking at their colleague in disbelief.
“How could you not tell us?” Phoebe asked Gloria in an excited tone, still not believing that such a thing was possible.
“I’m sorry… How could I tell you when Raul said that she left Pascal?”
“You should have, in any case…” Phoebe was relentless.
“Alright, let it go, Phoebe. Come on, tell us what you saw,” Eve said impatiently.
“I was just falling asleep…”
“What do you mean ‘you were falling asleep’?!” Dorika exclaimed in shock. “So, you were in our room, and you didn’t wake me?! How could you?! How?! Margot, please, I don’t want to sleep in the same room as this person… I mean, in the next hotel. Don’t talk to me anymore, Gloria! Is that clear?”
“Dorika… forgive me… I’ll explain everything in private. I was waiting for something… I can’t talk about that right now…”
“I’m not interested! Now you’re going to make things up!” Dorika raged on.
“I’m not making anything up, I just didn’t want to…”
“Wait! Wait, Gloria!” Raul interrupted. “You girls will go on for days. Now tell me, what did Svetlana look like? Was she really in tears?”
“Yes, she was. She was desperate… miserable. As though it wasn’t her, as though…”
“Do you hear, Raul? That’s not a girl that left…” Margot said.
“She left someone?” said Gloria. “Pascal? Nonsense! Who could leave Pascal? I’m sorry, Raul, but you are very naïve if you really believed Pascal.”
“You think?” Raul asked.
“Of course!” said Gloria with the authority of an expert. “And even if she had left him, she wouldn’t be crying because of it. I’ve left guys… I mean, it’s unpleasant while you tell them, but when that moment passes, you immediately forget everything and think about him. I mean, the new one… that you like. Right?” Gloria asked her colleagues.
“Exactly,” the girls confirmed.
“Alright, alright… You’re probably right,” Raul interrupted them. “Svetlana left for some reason of hers. It’s not important. What’s important is that she is safe. She’s neither with Pascal nor with us. No one will be looking for her,” said Raul. “Now please return to your seats. I have to think in peace about which city we should go to. Liam, I expect to hear your recommendations.”
“Very well,” said Liam.
Chapter 43
“You know, I’m getting old… I get sentimental very easily… but let’s continue…” said Mr. Kaella. “Yes, dear viewers, that was the state of Earth when I was born. And as a boy, growing up alongside my father, I wondered… what is my mission? What is it that I have to do, to create in my life, to prove worthy of my name?”
“Growing up and pondering, I realized that it wasn’t enough that our family, our Company, provides mankind with energy. People also need food and water. When I looked around, I was surprised with what I saw.
“Numerous companies that used our energy, at a very cheap price, were selling food to people at astronomical prices and profiting from the hungry and the thirsty. That is why I increased the price of energy to a level that they couldn’t withstand. And I bought them all and merged them with our company. The prices of water and food immediately dropped drastically for all people.”
“Then I wondered, what next? What else do people need? What belongs to people? Education, healthcare, protection of lives and properties… Does every person have this? Does every person, to who my family selflessly gives energy, food and water, also have everything else necessary for a decent life? No. And why not? Because not every person can earn enough to be able to put their children through school, get medical treatment… And why not? Because there is no work for them, or they aren’t paid enough, or the company that they worked for went bankrupt. Is a person responsible for their company going bankrupt? Is another person responsible for their company not going bankrupt and for being able to educate their children? While their neighbor cannot.”
“At one moment, I was nearing forty, it became clear to me what I must do. I have to create an Association of Companies within which all companies will collaborate, and not compete against and destroy each other.”
Chapter 44
The elevator doors opened. Bear stepped out into the garage and passed by his colleagues with his head hung low, carrying a role of duck tape. He walked up to the presidential car, opened the passenger door, bent over and said to the dead driver
“Hello, Barney.”
He threw the tape on the passenger seat, stood up and went to the rear door, opened it wide and knelt beside them.
The Xings were seated, fastened to the seats and backs by wide gray adhesive tape. Seated on Bear’s left were her mom and dad, and across from them, to Bear’s right, looking with dead eyes at their parents was she, and next to her - her brother.
Bear reached into his jacket pocket and took something out. He put his hand on her lap.
“I found this in your sheets last night, Liv,” whispered Bear, gently laying Henry on her nightgown. “I didn’t know… you know, your Bear isn’t very smart, Liv… that there used to be birds in tuxedos.”
With angry jerks of the fingers and nails of both hands he tore the tape fastening her upturned palm to the seat. He raised the bluish hand to his lips and kissed it.
His colleagues looked on in silence as Bear slowly rose, closed the rear door, took the roll of tape and sat down in the passenger sat.
At that moment Iceman ran up and held the door with both hands, preventing Bear from shutting it.
“What are you doing, Bear?”
“Let go of the door, Iceman.”
“Don’t, my friend… please. It’s difficult for me too. For all of us.”
“Move out of the way, Iceman.”
“Don’t be crazy…”
Iceman was silent when Bear drew his pistol from his belt holster with lightning speed and pointed it at him.
“Move away, Iceman, I’m telling you.”
Iceman stepped back. Bear closed the door and locked the car from the inside.
Chapter 45
“And I created the Association around my Kaella Cosmic Energy Corporation,” Mr. Kaella presented his life’s journey to the viewers. “I sent a public invitation for all companies to join me.
“Dear viewers, don’t think that everything went smoothly. On the contrary, it was a lengthy process. I traveled the world and spoke to and begged CEOs and managing boards to hear me out. Some did and some companies joined the Association. But they were a minority.
“At one moment I had had enough of the begging and convincing. I created two prices for my energy: one was for the companies that were part of the Association, and the other, ten times higher, for those that were not.