Prologue

June 8, 2017, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

“Well, that’s ONE way to answer!” I chuckled as John, Mario, Jesse, and I left our seats in the PPG Paints Arena, the new name for the Consol Energy Center, the home of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“I’ll say!” John laughed. “6-0 in the playoffs? With Schultz, Rust, Malkin, Sheary, Kessel, and Hainsey all scoring? And Sid having three assists?”

“Kessel had four points tonight!” Mario said. “He should be series MVP!”

“I agree,” I replied, “but it’ll be Crosby when the Pens win Game 6 to capture ANOTHER back-to-back Stanley Cup! Mark my words; the league hyped him and fucking Ovi and now they have to run with it.”

“Dad hates Ovechkin more than Jágr!” Jesse laughed. “And that’s saying something!”

“Don’t you have a hot Russian woman who needs your attention?” I asked sternly.

He laughed, “She’s back in Chicago with the kids, Dad!”

“You’re what now, Jesse, thirty-one?” Mario asked.

“Back in February, yes.”

“I remember you being born about seven months after I was hired. You were never interested in your dad’s business?”

“No. Computers are tools like a hammer or screwdriver. I just was never into them the way he was when he was young. None of my brothers and sisters were, either. What made you decide to leave NIKA?”

“After thirty years, I decided it was time to retire. Besides, John is a perfect replacement for me as director. He’s been my second-in-command for nearly twenty years.”

“Not to mention being able to cash out his options,” John laughed.

“Jesse knows that part,” Mario laughed. “He’s my guy at Spurgeon Capital.”

“How did you decide on that career, Jesse?” John asked.

“I was just finishing my degree in management, and right before graduation Samantha offered me a job. Larisa and I were living together then, and she encouraged me to be, as her mom put it, a decadent capitalist oppressor of the people, and make a pile of money!”

We all laughed.

“I don’t think Tanya Ivanovna is any more of a communist than Lyusya Alekseyevna is!” I replied.

“When she was in Chicago a month ago, she was introducing herself as Lucy Alexa,” Jesse laughed. “And talking like a California surfer chick!”

“Only to annoy me,” I chuckled. “She knows I hate that.”

“Drinks?” Mario asked as we exited the building.

“I’m meeting Tara,” I said. “We have some business to discuss.”

“Riiigghhht!” Jesse laughed, making air quotes, “‘Business’.”

“She’s a successful campaign consultant who I backed years ago to start her business, including helping her write her business plan AND investing some seed capital.”

“You invested ‘seed’ alright!” Jesse laughed.

“Who’s worse, Steve?” Mario asked with a smirk, “Jesse or Birgit?”

“Neither,” I chuckled. “It’s when they gang up on me I’m in REAL trouble!”

“Now that you say that,” Jesse grinned, pulling his iPhone from his pocket, “I COULD call her. She’d LOVE to FaceTime with us!”

“Please, NO!” I exclaimed, to everyone’s laughter.

“Tara is the one who helped Albert get his appointment to the Naval Academy with her contacts, right?” Mario asked.

I smiled, “She was. He’s been assigned to the Nimitz and is VERY happy to be in Washington State. He’s always been an outdoors kind of guy, and loved to hike the Fox River and the forest preserves. He’ll be in his element in the Pacific Northwest.”

“Your kids have all achieved their dreams, haven’t they?”

“Theirs,” I replied. “And mine.”