Chapter 3: Derek

How could he have been so stupid? Stupid, stupid, stupid, he berated himself.

He had been worried he was going to be taking advantage of Morgan. Oh, the irony.

No wonder she wanted someone outside her company. Her plan had been to put up with him for the next few years while she was in jail in exchange for getting her twenty million back. There had never been any attraction to him, just cold calculation. Who better to get the desk back than the delivery guy who dropped it off?

After going to the trouble of retrieving the desk, it felt like a kick to the balls.

He told Konnor Interactive the desk was defective, that there was a recall from the manufacturer for this particular item. His offer to refund them twice what Morgan paid for the desk, “for their trouble”, prevented anyone from asking too many questions. That had taken a whole afternoon on the phone. Those were four hours of his life he had pissed down the drain for that manipulative bitch.

When he got the desk, opened up the secret compartment and saw the drive everything fell into place. It was now obvious why she ordered this desk and didn’t want to talk about it. She was using it, using him, to hide her crimes.

There was nothing Derek hated more than the feeling that someone had taken advantage of him.

He sent the drive to the police, just as he’d promised in his letter to Morgan, but not before making a copy. It was out of force of habit, really. He backed up all potentially valuable data that crossed his path just in case he found a use for it later. Of course, now that the police had the original, he was back to just one copy.

Naturally, Morgan had written to say there was nothing worthwhile on the drive. Her bogus password unlocked boring financial data. Lies on top of lies.

What should he do? What could he do? Well, he could just ignore her. Ignoring her would really, really hurt her.

Could he really pass up that opportunity? His visit with Morgan had reminded him just how incredibly gorgeous she was. Even though she was wearing those orange, baggy prison clothes, her natural beauty was obvious.

Of course, Lydia had been physically attractive too. She probably still was. Look where that got him.

He could use Morgan as a fuck-toy, showing up to the conjugal visits only when he felt like it, take what he wanted on his terms. Of course, using her like that is exactly what she would want, the more the better. If using her was what she wanted, then he wasn’t exactly using her, or punishing her, was he?

Maybe he could fuck her without giving her an orgasm. According to the Complement manual, only vaginal sex would allow her to climax. If she swallowed his semen, she wouldn’t have an orgasm, but after a few minutes she would feel a decrease in her level of arousal. It would be a release of erotic tension without the sharp, powerful climax. Anal sex would yield the exact opposite result, boosting her already super-charged libido even further.

Derek doubted Morgan would consent to anything that would make her more aroused, and he certainly wasn’t going to do anything she didn’t agree to. Maybe just let her blow him? It would calm her down, but she still wouldn’t be getting off, no matter how badly she needed it.

Did he really want to be that cruel? Wasn’t what they were already doing to Morgan enough? Maybe more than enough?

At eleven in the morning on a Thursday he found himself sitting at his kitchen table with a tumbler of Scotch. Derek rarely drank alcohol. However, when he had a difficult decision to make he often poured himself a drink and mulled it over. He would indulge twice a month, at most.

He stared at his copy of Morgan’s drive sitting on the table before him, trying to decide whether to go for his needle nosed pliers. Like Lydia’s ring, the drive was a symbol of his failure. On the other hand, it was just a symbol and it seemed silly to destroy something just to make himself feel better after being duped.

The doorbell rang. It was such an unusual event he first thought he had imagined it. The delivery drones left their letters and packages out back. Only personal couriers dropped anything off at the front door and that was very unusual. He wasn’t expecting any critical contract deliveries, especially on the weekend.

The doorbell rang a second time. He hadn’t imagined it.

Looking through the peephole Derek saw an enormous man in a pin-stripe business suit standing on his doorstep. He stood at least three inches taller than Derek, and while the suit covered most of his body, this was clearly a man that visited a gym regularly. Derek opened the door warily. The last time someone rang his doorbell unexpectedly it had been a pair of religious nuts.

“Derek Simon? May I have a moment of your time?”

“What do you want? I’m not interested in converting to your religion.”

“No, my name is Kevin Rollins. I worked with Morgan Heller at Konnor Interactive. I realize this is an awkward way to introduce myself, but I would really like to talk with you. May I come in?”

“Is this about the drive I found? I don’t have the real password.”

“Drive? No, I’m here about a personal matter, about Morgan.

Derek was curious. He wanted know what this was about, to use this opportunity to learn more about Morgan, even if she had tried to use him. His gut reaction, however, was to ask Kevin to leave. Derek couldn’t put his finger on exactly what it was about Kevin Rollins that he instantly distrusted, but something about the man didn’t sit well with him.

Derek considered insisting they talk on the porch, but any trouble this man might cause inside he could just as easily cause on the porch. The closest neighbor was over a quarter of a mile away. Curiosity won out over his apprehension.

“Come on in.” Derek waved his guest inside.

Derek led Kevin into the kitchen, watching him closely. The old, tall pine trees that grew outside Derek’s house hid the bulk of the mansion from the driveway, even in winter. Most people didn’t grasp the sheer size of the place unless they saw it from the back or had been inside. From the front it appeared to be a relatively small home.

Derek watched as Kevin took in the complex pattern of the hardwood flooring, the ornate wardrobe in the entryway, the long, polished stone counter tops and the gleaming modern appliances in the kitchen. Light streamed in from two large windows, highlighting the intricate design of the large, wooden table and chairs.

Kevin’s eyes widened in surprise. His guest clearly didn’t know much about Derek, but then not many people did.

“You, ah, like to cook, I take it?” Kevin asked looking around.

“I make most of my meals here, yes. I don’t particularly like eating out.” Derek gestured at the table. “Sit down.”

Derek realized his bottle of Scotch and tumbler were still sitting on the table. Damn, the one time he decided to have a drink it was a Thursday morning, and he had unexpected company. Kevin probably now thought him an alcoholic. He decided to just go with it. “I was just thinking over an important decision. Care to have a drink with me? If you’d prefer I could get you a coffee, or espresso. Or water.”

Kevin leaned down, looking at the bottle. “25 Year Lagavulin? Must be some decision. If you’re sharing, I won’t say no.”

Derek took another tumbler down from one of the cabinets and poured Kevin a glass. “My ex insisted I stock up on only the finest Scotch. Said it would make me refined. As far as I can tell it just makes me drunk, though I can’t complain about the taste.”

They both enjoyed the Scotch in silence for a few moments.

“So...” Derek began. “You were going to explain what you’re doing here?”

“Ah, yes. Let me ask you: how well do you know Morgan?”

“To be perfectly honest, not well at all.” Derek replied. He had only had a little bit of the Scotch, but he was definitely feeling it now.

“Has she mentioned me?” Kevin asked.

“No. Who are you?”

“Morgan and I had, well, you could call it an intermittent relationship.” Kevin took another large sip from his tumbler. “We would see each other for a while, then one of us would do something stupid, and a few months later we’d get back together again. This time I get the feeling she may be a bit more upset than usual.”

“You know she’s in jail, right?” Derek asked. It seemed the obvious question.

“Yes. That’s why I’m here. I understand that she requested her Complement be keyed to you. Honestly, I took the morning off work and came over here as soon as I heard. I was expecting I’d have to come back this evening I didn’t really expect you to be here, but, well, here you are.”

Derek raised an eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure Morgan was looking for someone who doesn’t work for your company.”

“I can understand that,” said Kevin slowly. “You need to understand, I was in a very awkward position. If I didn’t testify, I was fired. I didn’t know much, anyway. I could confirm the Marketing director never touched her mobile during the meeting that day, but that’s it. A dozen people were there and they forced us all to testify. What could I do? If I didn’t do it, I would have been fired, and there were another eleven witnesses. That doesn’t mean I don’t care about Morgan.”

“And what did Morgan say to that?” Derek asked.

“Nothing, because I never told her. I’m a fool, I know. I just assumed she would reach out to me, and now she’s gone and put her life in your hands.” Kevin took another large swallow of the Scotch. He seemed genuinely upset, but Derek got the impression that Kevin was angrier at the idea that Morgan wasn’t his than at the idea that she was in the hands of someone he didn’t know who might mistreat her.

“I’m not sure you answered my question,” Derek said slowly. “Why are you here if you haven’t talked with Morgan? What do you want from me?”

“What do you think I want? I want her back.”

Derek was still confused. “Why are you talking to me instead of her?”

“Let’s say Morgan says yes. Something tells me she will, but the rules say that you have to agree too. As I see it, you’re the one I need to convince.”

Here was a way for Derek to get Morgan out of his life. She would no longer be his problem. The way she had tricked him, he should be eager for this. Unexpectedly, he found himself reluctant to agree to what Kevin was asking. Derek couldn’t shake his earlier sense that something didn’t feel right about his guest.

“I’ll tell you what,” Derek said. “Why don’t you and I go schedule a visit with Morgan and let her decide. We’ll talk it over together, the three of us. I’ll agree to whatever she thinks is best.”

“Don’t you think that would be a little awkward?” asked Kevin. “I would rather settle this with you now, between the two of us.”

“You could talk to Morgan alone. I just want to hear her confirm that this is what she wants.”

Kevin paused for a moment. “I’d still rather settle this now, with you, first. I don’t want to get her hopes up, and then have you break your promise.”

Derek noticed Kevin’s hesitation and it all clicked. This wasn’t about Kevin’s concern for Morgan or even jealousy. This was something else. He gently pushed the tumbler of Scotch off to the side. He was done drinking for now.

“Is it that you don’t want to get her hopes up, or that you know she’ll turn you down?” Derek asked. “If I don’t want her, she’s got no choice but to accept you, does she?”

“Alright, you’ve got me there. I don’t honestly know what she’d say and I do want her for myself. Can you blame me? You know what she’s like in bed.”

Derek didn’t know what Morgan was like in bed, but didn’t feel like pointing it out. “Reminding me how hot she is isn’t exactly helping your case.”

“How about this, then? I’ll give you one hundred,” Kevin hesitated, quickly glancing around the enormous kitchen. “no, make that two hundred thousand dollars if you’ll agree to back off.”

“No,” Derek said. “I think you’re full of shit. I think you don’t care about Morgan at all. I think this is about the money.”

Kevin went pale. “What do you mean?” he spluttered, clearly agitated. He wasn’t fooling anyone.

“Morgan stole twenty million dollars. You’re not after her, you’re after the money she stole. Get her Complement keyed to you, and then threaten not to show up for her conjugal visits. You’ll tell her you’ll give her what she wants only if she agrees to tell you where the money is. The Complement will make her so desperate, she’ll cave within a few months. Am I getting close?”

Kevin downed the rest his drink in one gulp, then poured himself another in silence. He was clearly stalling, thinking. Derek didn’t move to stop him, just waited. He didn’t care if the asshole sucked down all of the expensive Scotch Lydia bought for him. It would be one less thing of hers in the house.

After the second drink, some part of Kevin finally seemed to relax. “Let’s pretend you’re right. I can see you won’t believe me if I keep insisting that I just want my girlfriend back. Not everything is about money, you know. Either way, the two hundred grand is still on the table.”

“I don’t think so.”

“What do you want, then?”

What he really wanted was a good reason to tell this son of a bitch that Morgan was not some piece of meat for sale.

“What do I want? You know what? How about I just give you what you want. Here, catch.” Derek picked up the tiny, plastic drive and hurled it in Kevin’s direction.

Kevin caught it. Despite the two large glasses of Scotch, his hand shot out and picked the drive out of the air. “What is this?”

“That’s just a copy of course,” he lied. Well, it was a half-truth really. The cops had the other one. “There’s twenty million dollars on that drive if you know the right password.”

Kevin looked at the drive. “Twenty million, on this drive?” he asked. He seemed genuinely incredulous.

“Alright, “ said Derek, “technically, if you want to split hairs, what’s on the drive are called ‘private keys.’ The cryptocurrency she stole, which can be accessed with those keys, is somewhere out there on the internet.”

Keven continued to look incredulous. “Yeah, but, still ... Where did you get this?”

“I got it from the desk in Morgan’s office. That’s how I met her, I’m the guy that built that desk for her. After she was arrested, I just recalled my own product from your company and I found the drive in the secret compartment. It’s encrypted though, and I don’t have the real password. Keep the drive, I’ll tell you the password if Morgan ever gives it to me. I don’t want the money. It’s stolen and more trouble than it’s worth.”

“If you don’t have the password, how can you be sure there’s any money, or ‘private keys,’ or whatever on here?” Kevin asked. “My guess is it’s just pictures of me and her getting naked. That would explain the encryption. To be fair, if I know Morgan, there’s probably pictures of her and a few other guys along with the pictures she and I took. That would be a pretty good reason not to tell you the password.”

“Technically, she already gave me the password,” Derek admitted. “I’m just not convinced it’s the only password. You know how encryption works. Enter one password and you get photos, enter a different password and you get cryptocurrency.”

Kevin actually laughed. The tense moment seemed to have passed. “By that logic every encrypted drive is the key to hidden treasure. There just might be another password that will unlock millions of dollars?”

“Morgan specifically told me to retrieve that desk, but not why,” Derek said. “That drive was the only interesting thing in that desk. She wanted whatever is on that drive.”

“I think she just wanted to remember the wild times we had in the sack. How did I look in the pictures, by the way? I’m surprised you didn’t recognize me, but I guess I can forgive you for focusing your attention on the smoking hot babe.”

“Oh, the password I have didn’t unlock any photos. It was all financial data for Morgan’s division at Konnor Interactive.”

Kevin tried to hide it, but that meant something to him. He tensed up again. “What kind of financial data? Why did she have it?”

“I don’t know, it just looked like a backup copy of all the accounts and transactions of her division over the past few years. As I said, it’s probably just a decoy for what’s really there.”

“That actually makes a lot of sense,” Kevin said. He sounded distracted, and as he spoke he reached up and rubbed his temple. “Hey, the Scotch seems to have gone straight to my head, would you mind getting me a glass of water?”

Derek turned to a cabinet to get Kevin another glass for his water. As Derek reached for the glass, he noticed movement in his peripheral vision. Kevin was on his feet, and had pulled a large chef’s knife from a knife block on the counter next to him. Kevin stood between Derek and the door to the kitchen that led back to the entrance hall and the front door.

“Where are the other copies of that drive?” Kevin demanded. He moved forward, extending the knife towards Derek.

Shit.

Kevin picked up the drive and dropped it in Derek’s half-full tumbler of Scotch, destroying it and any information it contained. In that moment, while Kevin’s attention was momentarily distracted, Derek bolted for his office.

The hall on the other side of the kitchen, the side Kevin wasn’t blocking, led to a small bathroom, his office and the master staircase. The bathroom was tiny, with only one entrance. Going upstairs meant getting even farther from the exit.

There was a door in his office that led back to the entry hall, but he never used it. The large wardrobe where he kept his winter coat sat on the other side of that door, blocking it. That was probably his best shot, if he could push the wardrobe aside. He could try going out the window in his office too, but while the entire window was large, it was made up of several narrow sections and it would be a very tight, maybe impossible, squeeze.

The only other option was going out of his office through the door that led to his workshop. There were two doors that led outside from his workshop. The first was a very large door for moving raw materials in and finished furniture out, but that only led to the fenced in drone delivery patio. He used the gate from the fenced in patio to his backyard so rarely that he didn’t usually carry the key with him, making that useless as an exit. The second door out of the workshop could be used as an exit, but it was on the far wall from his office, past a huge amount of machinery. There was also the elevator in there, but that had the same problem as the stairs — that would trap him on one of the higher floors.

When he reached his office he slammed the door shut behind him. He could hear Kevin’s footfalls just a few feet away, coming down the hallway.

Derek grabbed a chair and wedged it under the doorknob with less than a second to spare. The doorknob turned and Kevin attempted to force open the door blocked by the chair. The chair creaked. It wouldn’t hold for long.

Derek threw open the door to the workshop. He wanted Kevin to think he’d gone that way, while ducking out the other door towards the entrance hall.

He turned the door knob on the door to the entrance hall and pushed, hard, trying to move the wardrobe on the other side. It didn’t budge.

Kevin’s bulk crashed into the door with more force than before. The chair held, barely. A crack appeared in one of the legs. It would probably buckle under the next hit.

Derek had specially designed the wardrobe on the other side of that door to be wide and tall so that the door frame would not be visible behind it. He hadn’t wanted it to look out of place. He’d succeeded there, but at the same time, that meant it was very heavy. No matter how hard he pushed, the door wouldn’t open.

There was no time. He ran for the workshop.

The door opened out onto the a ledge overlooking the bulk of the workshop. The ledge was only one story high, while the ramp next to it led down into the pit with the heavy machinery. The floor had been removed there, the basement merged with the first floor to create the two-story workshop pit.

The door Derek needed to reach was on the other side of the pit, up a steep set of stairs, about a hundred feet distant. The door couldn’t be seen over the bulk of the CNC machines, routers, lathes, conveyor belts, lumber feed mechanisms, robotic arms and paint-sprayers. There were narrow paths in between the equipment but the thought of being hunted by his unwanted guest down there in the maze of machinery made Derek nervous.