Blonde Joke Chapter Sixteen by Jeffrey M. Mahr   Did you hear about the blonde who thought she had a twin sister? She didn’t realize she was looking in the mirror.

“Well, this is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into,” Tommi said as she watched Kat shower. One of the guards, the silent one, was just outside the bathroom door and the security on the windows was such that she’d never be able to escape via that route.

While Kat showered, Tommi stripped off her clothes and wrapped a towel around herself.

“So how much of what I remember was real and how much was drug-induced dream?” Kat asked.

“Sadly, reality ended at the point of the needle that knocked you out. It was a truly lovely dream, but no one but you and Maggie got injections. Daddy-dearest is still trying to take over the world with an initial sub-goal of destroying you and your friends. About the only good news was that he decided to release Maggie after realizing that I was right and that he didn’t have enough time to replace her too. Of course, he made her promise not to tell anyone, thus, no one is looking for any missing scientists.”

Kat quickly blow-dried her hair and did it in the style Tommi had been wearing. As she dressed herself in the clothes Tommi had been wearing, she asked, “Are you certain you want to do this?”

“Kat, this is not the time or place for me to explain my motivations. Will a simple ‘yes’ serve for now?”

“Sigh! I guess it will have to do, won’t it?” Kat replied as she hugged Tommi tightly to her.

“Don’t you dare start to cry,” Tommi whispered. “We don’t have time to redo your makeup. And the password is ‘persimmon’.” Don’t forget it.”

“Hey, Bud. This is a private club. Beat it!” The bouncer stopped them well before the front door to the Cravat. The tuxedo he wore looked like it would burst from the not too subtly hidden muscles beneath it and his face, while not bearing the traditional mashed nose and scars of a professional fighter, was mean enough to cause trepidation in those who dared to approach him.

“But we’re here to see Dr. Isseksen,” Harry blurted out.

“Oh, well, why didn’t you say so?” the bouncer asked magnanimously before snarling, “I said this is a private club. No one but members and their guests go in the front entrance. Try the staff entrance around the corner.”

Turning away from Dick and Harry, the bouncer opened the door for a couple of women.

“I’ll bet they’re members, Harry grumbled as Dick and he moved down a narrow alleyway to the side entrance.

“Why Harry,” Dick responded with the perkiest voice he could manage, which after dealing with Franklin Brodsky again, was not a lot. “Don’t you recognize Justice Bill Mattingly and Mayor George Wolfensen? Tsk, tsk. It must be time for you to recheck the prescription on your glasses.

“Can it, Dick! I’m really not in the mood. Brodsky has screwed us yet again. I’m amazed we even got away.”

“We didn’t. We both know that his goons could find us any time they wanted to. They as much as promised us as much.”

There was another bouncer at the staff entrance. If anything, he was bigger and meaner looking that the first one.

“Beat it. We don’t want none,” was his only response as he saw the two smaller men walking up to him.

Uh, oh, we’re not salesmen. We’re here to see Katrina Isseksen.”

“Dat’s nice. I said, ‘Beat it!’”

“No, you don’t understand. We have an appointment to see Dr. Katrina Isseksen in about ten minutes. If you ask her, she’ll confirm it.”

“You ain’t on da list.”

“Wait a minute, you didn’t even look.”

“Don’t gotta. Ain’t no one on da list tonight. Now move outta da way.” With that he slowly swung an arm wide, forcing them to quickly step back, just as a trio of ladies came up from behind them. The bouncer opened the door and allowed them to enter without a word.

“I suppose they were on the list?” Harry asked, fists balling up in frustration.

“Nope. There ain’t no one on da list.” The bouncer smirked down at the two men, daring them to do something, anything, but walk away.

“The hell with the list, have someone check with Dr. Isseksen. She’ll vouch for us.”

“Nope.”

“No? Why the hell not?” Seeing where this was going, Dick started trying to drag Harry away, but he was having nothing to do with it.

“Can’t leave da door. If I do, da wrong people could get in.”

“So don’t leave the damned door. Just call in to someone and have them check.”

“Nope.”

“And why can’t you do that?” Harry asked. His voice cold and flat he was so angry.

“'Cause I don’t wanna.” Dick would not have thought it possible, but the bouncer’s smirk actually got more pronounced as he shifted slightly onto the balls of his feet, anticipating that Harry would finally blow.

“That does it. I’m through playing games. We have an appointment and I’m going to keep it.” With that, Harry shook off Dick’s restraining arm and stepped toward the door. He didn’t finish the first step. A jab to the face dropped him to the ground with a broken and bleeding nose.

“You can’t keep me here indefinitely, you bastard.”

“Actually, yes I can,” Franklin Brodsky responded as he waved the guard out of his office at White Wood.

“How? Even you will have to let the police in if they have a search warrant.”

“Of course I would, my dear.” After all, I’m a law abiding citizen,” Brodsky responded with what seemed to be complete innocence, although that didn’t last another word. “Anyone coming here would find my daughter, Tommi, suffering from the horrid trickery of the evil Dr. Isseksen and under psychiatric care by a rather renowned physician of impeccable reputation. She would be sedated and unable to answer any questions, but then she’s signed over her power of attorney and has a health care proxy giving me full control of her treatment, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“But what about finger… Oh. Oh!” Dr. Isseksen was silent for several moments.

“’Alright, let’s try a different tack, why? What could you possibly gain from this? It can’t be money; you’ve already got more than some small countries. It can’t be power; I can’t count how many politicians you’ve got in your pocket, but it’s probably enough to get any single piece of legislation you want passed, despite what the rest of the country or even the rest of the world thinks. So, why?”

“You young folks,” the senior Brodsky laughed. “You’ve seen so many movies you expect everyone to act according to a formula. Why should I answer you? How do they say it, ‘If I did, then I’d have to kill you.’”

“Now who’s being melodramatic? I expect you to kill me when this is done. The only reason you’re keeping me alive now is as a hedge in case my clone needs some specialized information and if you’ve planned as well as you think, even that’s quite unlikely. That means I may be the only person in the world you can afford to unburden yourself to. I’m smart enough that I’ll understand. I despise you enough that I certainly won’t try to psychoanalyze you. Whatever is driving you must be eating a huge hole in you.”

Franklin Brodsky examined the woman in the chair across from him. She was quite astute in her observations and her speculations. Would he enjoy having her recognize his ingenuity? Did he even understand his own motivations? The reality was that there was only one way to find out, but he had not gotten where he had by jumping into things.

“I’ll think about it Dr. Isseksen. I’ll think about it.

“What do you mean ViTaGeSeM is a fake?” Jack Webster almost screamed. The rest of the Board of Directors just stared at Dr. Isseksen in shock.

“Just that. It doesn’t work. I pretended it did so I could get even with Tom Brodsky, who’s off on a ski holiday just like his office claims.”

“We saw Tommi. Who was she and where did he come from?”

“What does it matter? It was a hoax, a fraud, a scam.” Kat dropped to her seat and began to cry.”

“But what about the lawsuit? It’s already in the judge’s hands,” Archie asked.

“We can have our lawyers contact the judge’s law clerk. He can…”

“Thank you Dr. Isseksen,” Jack said coldly. “You can leave now. You’ve done more than enough. We’ll handle this from here.”

The rest sat in stony silence as Kat slowly stood and left the Board room.

“…and that’s what Talker’s report said happened,” Neil told Sandra.

“But that’s…”

“…at least two violations of criminal law, not to mention an unguessable number of civil laws and regulations,” Neil completed for her.

“My god. We can’t let this happen. Mr. Brodsky has always been willing to dance around the edge of the law, but this is so far over the edge it’s unbelievable.”

“The role of a Chief of Security is to protect his boss from harm.”

“You’re not going to say that what’s happening here is ‘acceptable’, Neil Stevens.” Sandra was aghast.

“Of course not. There may be those who feel protection from harm means falling on your sword for your boss no matter what, but Franklin Brodsky is only one of our bosses. We are also responsible to the Board of Directors, the stock holders and the rest of the company’s employees. Forgetting for a moment the illegality of what’s going on, think what this does to the company.”

“So what next?”

Neil took a deep cleansing breath before answering. “I think we need to talk to Katrina Isseksen.”

“But she’s at White Wood. How do we do that?”

“Leave that to me,” Neil said. “I’ll arrange it.”