Chapter 2

The next morning Barbara Dawson was wearing her best suit when Harriet Dobbs picked her up near the apartment to drive downtown. While they were driving, Harriet admitted that she hadn't seen Sandra Harris in years, but she was certain that Sandra could persuade her partners to go along with their plan.

Although there was a garage in the basement of the building where they were going, Harriet felt the parking rates were terribly dear so they found an outdoor lot and walked back to the building. Checking the directory they found that Clifford & Jamison was on the thirty-eighth floor. When they got off the elevator, they saw the most impressive office entrance either had ever seen. When they opened the outer door, they saw a reception area that was even more impressive.

Sandy Harris came out to greet them and escorted them back to her office. The day was another of the Los Angeles rarities: It was crystal clear and there was a clear view through the glass wall out to the Pacific. The two women stood at the window and just gaped at the vista. Then, when Sandy cleared her throat, they were jerked back to the present.

They took seats on the most comfortable leather-covered sofa Barbara had ever seen. Although her parents were quite well-off and her father was a very successful executive, nothing she had ever seen was a sumptuous as this. When Sandy called for coffee, a girl brought it in.

Looking up, Barbara realized that she was one of the most beautiful young women she had ever seen, with a golden tan, brown eyes, and the most incredible hair coloring that ranged from brown to sandy to blonde to white. She did not see Kathy wink at Sandy when she served.

After Sandy and Harriet chatted about old times in the peace movement for a few minutes, they finished their coffee and went into the conference room. Sandy had said that it would save time if Harriet only had to explain the plan once to all the relevant partners.

Barbara had told Tom and his wife that she wanted to work for Clifford & Jamison, but all she really knew about it was its reputation. Now that she was in the firm offices for the first time, she was certain that she did.

The conference room was in keeping with everything else she had seen. Several women were waiting and Barbara almost fell over when she looked at them. Without exception, they were the most beautiful women she had ever seen, and no one looked to be even thirty years old.

In fact, she was puzzled. Harriet spoke of Sandra Harris as a contemporary yet Harriet looked to be about twenty years older. Sandra looks so young, so beautifully alive and vibrant, while to be honest, she thought, Harriet looks very middle-aged and frumpy.

She met Mrs. Clifford and Miss Jamison, the two name partners. Allison Clifford, she decided, was the most beautiful human being in the world. When the meeting began, Sandra led off by telling the group how she had met Harriet Dobbs in the peace movement but hadn't seen her in years. She explained that Dobbs was now an associate professor of environmental studies at USC.

When they were seated around the conference table, Barbara realized that she and Harriet had become physically separated, and it almost seemed to be by plan. As Harriet began to speak, the door opened and another woman came in.

Barbara's jaw dropped when she saw who it was. Before she could say anything, Ali Clifford introduced Marie Trang as the firm's tax partner. "In fact," Ali said, "Marie is our professional professional. In addition to her law degree, she has her MBA and is a Certified Public Accountant." She grinned and added, "The CPA designation was a little tough to arrange because Marie never worked for an accounting firm, but we managed."

Marie was wearing a hand-tailored white silk suit. She was the picture of a young professional as she carried a purse and a portfolio both made of what appeared to be sharkskin. It reminded Barbara of the belt she had been wearing the day before.

Suddenly Barbara wanted to crawl into a crack in the floor remembering how she had been babbling about Marie going to a community college. Then she also realized that Marie must be far older than she had thought or could even believe. But two advanced degrees plus the CPA designation took time.

Harriet, meanwhile, explained how they were going to organize the foundation, and, using the people they had lined up, were going to initiate the colluded action with the Coastal Commission. Finally, she ended her long speech — she had been talking for over an hour — with a plea for the environment.

At that point she looked at Marie and asked icily, "Is that leather, sharkskin?"

Marie looked up from her notes and said coolly, "Yes, it is. In fact it's from the belly of a Great White shark."

"But ... but ... but that's inhuman! Don't you realize how few Great Whites there are left in the world?"

"Well," Marie replied coolly, "It was him or us, and I like to think of myself as being higher on the food chain."

At that point Ali Clifford broke in and said, "Miss Dobbs, I'll make a deal with you. I'll donate ten million dollars to your organization on one condition. Are you interested?"

Stopped as she was about to retort, the woman just gasped and said, "Of course I'm interested. And I am prepared to do anything to get that kind of money."

"Great!" Ali replied. "All you have to do is replicate what Marie and her husband have just done."

The woman looked at Marie in surprise as Ali continued, "You see, they have just returned — less than a week ago, in fact — from the most remarkable honeymoon I have ever heard of. As an environmentalist, I'm sure you will be interested. Do you hike? Camp out? That sort of thing?"

Harriet Dobbs said she did.

"Then maybe you're the one to do it yourself. You see, rather than going to some hotel somewhere to lose her virginity, Tom and Marie were dropped off a boat about a thousand yards off the beach of a tiny island cove. They were naked, of course, and had three knives, a few fish hooks and some line."

Looking up for a moment, Ali grinned and said, "Oh, I almost forgot. They each carried a few matches in waterproof containers in their anuses. That's all. They spent the next four months alone on that island. They were picked up last week."

Now her blue eyes blazed with blue fire as she said, "That poor endangered shark you spoke of? It swam into the little cove and, to say the least, interfered with their fishing. They went after it. They estimate it was small: only 1,500 to 2,000 pounds. When it started after Tom, Marie killed it with her knife." Turning to Marie Ali asked, "Have you decided what to do with its teeth yet?"

Marie grinned and replied, "No, Ali, we haven't. I'll tell you one thing, though: I'm not planning on eating shark meat again anytime soon. Tom and I were really getting sick of it, and then to top everything off, we had to bury the remains of the dumb thing to keep it from stinking up the whole island."

Harriet was aghast and astounded. "Do you mean to say you actually hunted down that poor creature!?"

Marie looked at her calmly and asked, "Have you ever seen a Great White up close? You do realize, I hope, that Tom and I were completely naked. All we had were our knives. Given that it outweighed the two of us combined by a factor of at least five and we were in its environment, not ours, I think it was a fair fight. Of course the thing is sort of stupid..."

"That's impossible!" Harriet exclaimed. "I mean ... It's just utterly ridiculous..."

"Okay," Marie said agreeably, "then its all a figment of our collective imaginations. So there's nothing to be concerned about, is there? My honeymoon souvenirs must be something else."