I nodded to the guards in front of the armored car when I left the building. “You can wait here or follow me as I drop these lovely beauties off.”
The guards exchanged looks as Stephanie and Bethany blushed. “We were told to follow you.”
“Then saddle up and let's go.” I said and went to my car, held the back door for the girls, then climbed into the front. They told me the address to drop them off and the directions to get there. It wasn't really a far distance to go, to my surprise. When I came to a stop, the armored car stopped behind me. I got out and opened the back door for the two girls. They both looked a little guilty and I smiled at them.
“Damon.” Stephanie said and looked at the place nearby and back at me.
“It's all right.” I said and gave her a kiss. “I don't need to know where you really live.”
“You don't?” Bethany asked, surprised. “I mean, we did just meet and...”
“I said it's all right.” I gave her a kiss, too. “Do you want money for a taxi or something?”
They both shook their heads.
“You should turn your phone off again, too. Your battery's almost dead.” Stephanie said.
“Thanks. I'll charge it up when I go back home.” I said and turned it off. “I might be back in a day or two, depending on when the broker needs me to sign anything.”
“You can give us a call then.” Stephanie said.
I nodded and closed the back door. “Until then.” I said and walked around the car and climbed in. They both bent over to look into the passenger side window and I rolled it down with the button.
“You really are going to call, right? So we can have some more fun?” Stephanie asked.
I chuckled. “I gave you my real cell phone number and my real name.”
“We did, too.” Bethany said. “We usually don't do that.”
“Me, either. I think my first visit to the White House made me a little crazy.” I smiled at them. “I will be back to visit, I promise.”
“You better be. That money at the bank has our names all over it.” Bethany said.
I laughed. “Don't worry. I really will have it set aside for the both of you.”
She nodded and blew me a kiss, then they both stepped back onto the sidewalk and waved as I drove away. I had to go back home and the armored car followed me as we drove over four hours to go back to my apartment building. I sped a little, since having a huge armored vehicle practically on my ass the whole time, made me a little nervous. I mean, if I got into an accident, it was so much larger and heavier than my car that it would probably go right through my car and kill me before I realized it.
I slowed down for the last few miles and took the first turn off to return to the city I lived in, just so I would pass really close by the 'empty' federal building. I was a bit too far away to use a Detect spell when I passed; but, I saw several cars, two police cars, an ambulance, and a firetruck in the parking lot beside the building.
I wondered how they found the building so quickly, then remembered my staged murder scene with the fake detective. I had to assume the police came to her last known work environment as they searched for her. Either that, or my note to the secret service made a bigger impact than I thought it would and they came looking for their missing agent. Either way, I wouldn't have to anonymously call in the missing people.
I drove home and around my office building to point to the service elevator at the back of the property. I left the armored car there and parked in the parking structure next door in my reserved spot. I turned on my cell phone, now that I was home, and ran back over to them.
“Just give me a few minutes to fill them and I'll start bringing out the bags.”
“They have pull strings.” One of the guards said and handed me ten of them.
I nodded and took the bags inside the elevator, rode it down to the basement storage, then filled the bags with a thousand coins each and pulled the draw strings to close them. I rode the elevator back up and opened the doors. The two guards transferred the bags to the back of the truck and handed me ten more. I couldn't take more than that, because it would exceed the elevator's weight capacity.
I did the same action thirty three times and then all the bags were filled and secured into the back of the armored truck. Both I and the guards called and confirmed the transfer of possession, then my cell phone rang and received a text at the same time. I checked the text and it was an alert that a billion dollars had been deposited into my account. I checked the number and it was the bank.
“Hello?”
“This is real, isn't it?” A woman's slightly frantic voice asked me.
“Yes, it's quite real.” I said and she fell silent. “How big of a bonus is the bank going to give you for bringing a billion dollar client to them on a broker's recommendation?”
“I think they'll give me that corner office I always wanted.” She said and I laughed.
“Whatever makes you happy.” I said.
“Do you have any other... massive deposits to make?” She asked in a whisper.
I chuckled. “Not at the moment; but, I do have a tentative deal for gold ore.”
“I'll be sure to bring that up in the business meeting in the morning.” She said, her voice quite friendly.
“It'll only be for a couple hundred tons.” I said and she fell deathly silent. “Miss? Are you still there?”
“Yes.” She said, her voice faint. “I think they'll make me vice president of the bank if you do that.”
“Well, if you're hiring someone for your old position, I could recommend someone.” I responded and she laughed.
“No one else will be handling your money except me, sir.”
“That's not quite true. Please put that three million in cash into a safety deposit box for me. You know what it's for.” I said and she laughed again. “Have a good day.”
“You as well.” She said and hung up.
I looked at the two guards. “Gentlemen, thank you for the prompt service.” I said and took out the pouch of money and pulled out a hundred dollar bill. I held it out to one of them and he gave me a surprised look. “It's not a bribe or anything.”
The guards exchanged looks.
“Take the wife or girlfriend out to dinner or something.” I said and wiggled the bill. “I just made a billion dollars. This is less than nothing in comparison.”
The man smiled and took it.
I handed one to the other guard. “Have fun driving back and be careful. I'm sure I'll be seeing you guys again soon.”
No sooner had I said that when my phone rang. I answered it and it was my broker. He had successfully bought the gold mine and also a silver mine, both in tiny European countries. Also, buying citizenship was also a thing and I just had to fill out an online questionnaire to prove that I knew something about the country.
I had no clue that was possible, and he informed me that it worked in Canada and the US as well. That was definitely a surprise to hear, so I asked him to send me the details before I thanked him and hung up.
“Well, I have a foreign gold mine now.” I said to the guards, who looked quite pleased at the news. I turned off my cell phone and put it in my pocket and the leather pouch away into inventory.
“We'll pass that information along.” One of the guards said.
They nodded to me and left with over a billion dollars in gold in their armored car. I ran over to my car and drove to my old accountant's office to pick up the paperwork for everything. I was surprised that there was so much. One of the folders had my poor attempt at incorporating myself to try and store my gold in the federal reserve. I took out my cell phone and called my broker right away.
“Ha ha! That's great!” My broker said. “You just saved me about eight hours of extra paperwork.”
“I'll fax it over to you as soon as I can.” I said.
“You might as well send me everything. I've already got an accountant and a business manager lined up.” The broker said. “I assume you want to offer a standard salary?”
“How much is that?” I asked.
“About 60,000 to 70,000 a year.”
“Hmm. I don't want to seem cheap, so offer 75,000 with a ten percent raise after the first year.” I said. “If you know the people, that is. If they are just nobodies, go with the standard.”
The broker laughed. “You weren't kidding about the making enough money for everyone, were you?”
“Nope.” I said. “By the way, I just sold a billion dollars in gold coins.”
“Jesus Christ!” The broker said loudly.
“Hey, that's my favorite curse.” I joked. “It was a private sale, too.”
“That's a relief. Moving that much cash around can't be hidden if a corporation did it.”
“You better be using as many loopholes and tax evasion techniques allowed by law.” I said, almost as a warning, and he laughed.
“Don't worry about that. It's my specialty.”
“The government has screwed me out of enough money. I want to screw them out of as much as I can and I want them to know that I did.”
“That is definitely not a problem.”
“Make sure to set your own salary to a hundred thousand, too. This is all coming together because of your efforts.” I said.
“You aren't supposed to pay a salary for a broker that works for another company.” He said, laughter in his voice. “It's a severe conflict of interest.”
“Can you pretend that I'm a headhunter or something? I did kind of scout you out, thanks to Cherise.”
“...and now you're trying to poach me.” He said. “I'll think about it.”
“Same contract deal, ten percent after the first year.” I teased and he laughed.
“I'll take the commissions from these deals first before giving you my answer.” He responded.
“Just so you know, your job won't change, you'll just have a different employer.” I said. “I mean, assuming you want to keep doing the same thing. I'm not stupid enough to think you're going to drop all of your other clients, just so you can handle a few billion dollars for me.”
“Jesus, I already said I was in. Stop sales pitching me. I'm just bitching over the price you're buying me for.”
That made me laugh. “All right, I'll stop bugging you. I'll pick up a fax machine and send everything I have over as soon as I can.”
We said goodbye just in time, because my battery warning came on and I turned the phone off. The accountant and his secretary stared at me with wide eyes after hearing that conversation.
“I'm sorry that you decided I was too risky of a client.” I said and said goodbye to two very sad people.
I left there and drove over to the tech guy's place. I easily entered and ran around, unplugged everything, then emptied the place as I stored it all. Appliances, computers, bookshelves, filing cabinets, furniture, and everything that wasn't nailed down. I smiled at cleaning his place like he had cleaned the building where I was being held, then I used Search and Detect spells to look for safes and hidden places.
I didn't find anything, even when searching for money and guns, so I left there and went to Stacy's address. Needless to say, I did the same thing to her place. I felt a little bad about that, since she was one of the more reasonable ones, and I wanted to do her so badly that my teeth hurt. As a concession to that, I put her bed in the living room and closed the curtains.
I was tempted to leave my number for her to call, except that she would probably call the police or her boss to report that it was me. She might do that anyway, so I shrugged and left without leaving a note. I drove to a great fast food place and bought five meal combos, two with normal burgers and three kids meals. I stored them and drove to a toy store next. I bought the biggest teddy bear they had, eight feet tall, and I barely got it into the backseat of the car.
I stopped at an electronics store and bought a fax machine as well and drove home, now that I was properly prepared. I had a long and overdue meeting with a beautiful little girl that was going to need me to apologize again for leaving her alone. Hopefully, the bear would help with that.
I nodded to the guards in front of the armored car when I left the building. “You can wait here or follow me as I drop these lovely beauties off.”
The guards exchanged looks as Stephanie and Bethany blushed. “We were told to follow you.”
“Then saddle up and let's go.” I said and went to my car, held the back door for the girls, then climbed into the front. They told me the address to drop them off and the directions to get there. It wasn't really a far distance to go, to my surprise. When I came to a stop, the armored car stopped behind me. I got out and opened the back door for the two girls. They both looked a little guilty and I smiled at them.
“Damon.” Stephanie said and looked at the place nearby and back at me.
“It's all right.” I said and gave her a kiss. “I don't need to know where you really live.”
“You don't?” Bethany asked, surprised. “I mean, we did just meet and...”
“I said it's all right.” I gave her a kiss, too. “Do you want money for a taxi or something?”
They both shook their heads.
“You should turn your phone off again, too. Your battery's almost dead.” Stephanie said.
“Thanks. I'll charge it up when I go back home.” I said and turned it off. “I might be back in a day or two, depending on when the broker needs me to sign anything.”
“You can give us a call then.” Stephanie said.
I nodded and closed the back door. “Until then.” I said and walked around the car and climbed in. They both bent over to look into the passenger side window and I rolled it down with the button.
“You really are going to call, right? So we can have some more fun?” Stephanie asked.
I chuckled. “I gave you my real cell phone number and my real name.”
“We did, too.” Bethany said. “We usually don't do that.”
“Me, either. I think my first visit to the White House made me a little crazy.” I smiled at them. “I will be back to visit, I promise.”
“You better be. That money at the bank has our names all over it.” Bethany said.
I laughed. “Don't worry. I really will have it set aside for the both of you.”
She nodded and blew me a kiss, then they both stepped back onto the sidewalk and waved as I drove away. I had to go back home and the armored car followed me as we drove over four hours to go back to my apartment building. I sped a little, since having a huge armored vehicle practically on my ass the whole time, made me a little nervous. I mean, if I got into an accident, it was so much larger and heavier than my car that it would probably go right through my car and kill me before I realized it.
I slowed down for the last few miles and took the first turn off to return to the city I lived in, just so I would pass really close by the 'empty' federal building. I was a bit too far away to use a Detect spell when I passed; but, I saw several cars, two police cars, an ambulance, and a firetruck in the parking lot beside the building.
I wondered how they found the building so quickly, then remembered my staged murder scene with the fake detective. I had to assume the police came to her last known work environment as they searched for her. Either that, or my note to the secret service made a bigger impact than I thought it would and they came looking for their missing agent. Either way, I wouldn't have to anonymously call in the missing people.
I drove home and around my office building to point to the service elevator at the back of the property. I left the armored car there and parked in the parking structure next door in my reserved spot. I turned on my cell phone, now that I was home, and ran back over to them.
“Just give me a few minutes to fill them and I'll start bringing out the bags.”
“They have pull strings.” One of the guards said and handed me ten of them.
I nodded and took the bags inside the elevator, rode it down to the basement storage, then filled the bags with a thousand coins each and pulled the draw strings to close them. I rode the elevator back up and opened the doors. The two guards transferred the bags to the back of the truck and handed me ten more. I couldn't take more than that, because it would exceed the elevator's weight capacity.
I did the same action thirty three times and then all the bags were filled and secured into the back of the armored truck. Both I and the guards called and confirmed the transfer of possession, then my cell phone rang and received a text at the same time. I checked the text and it was an alert that a billion dollars had been deposited into my account. I checked the number and it was the bank.
“Hello?”
“This is real, isn't it?” A woman's slightly frantic voice asked me.
“Yes, it's quite real.” I said and she fell silent. “How big of a bonus is the bank going to give you for bringing a billion dollar client to them on a broker's recommendation?”
“I think they'll give me that corner office I always wanted.” She said and I laughed.
“Whatever makes you happy.” I said.
“Do you have any other... massive deposits to make?” She asked in a whisper.
I chuckled. “Not at the moment; but, I do have a tentative deal for gold ore.”
“I'll be sure to bring that up in the business meeting in the morning.” She said, her voice quite friendly.
“It'll only be for a couple hundred tons.” I said and she fell deathly silent. “Miss? Are you still there?”
“Yes.” She said, her voice faint. “I think they'll make me vice president of the bank if you do that.”
“Well, if you're hiring someone for your old position, I could recommend someone.” I responded and she laughed.
“No one else will be handling your money except me, sir.”
“That's not quite true. Please put that three million in cash into a safety deposit box for me. You know what it's for.” I said and she laughed again. “Have a good day.”
“You as well.” She said and hung up.
I looked at the two guards. “Gentlemen, thank you for the prompt service.” I said and took out the pouch of money and pulled out a hundred dollar bill. I held it out to one of them and he gave me a surprised look. “It's not a bribe or anything.”
The guards exchanged looks.
“Take the wife or girlfriend out to dinner or something.” I said and wiggled the bill. “I just made a billion dollars. This is less than nothing in comparison.”
The man smiled and took it.
I handed one to the other guard. “Have fun driving back and be careful. I'm sure I'll be seeing you guys again soon.”
No sooner had I said that when my phone rang. I answered it and it was my broker. He had successfully bought the gold mine and also a silver mine, both in tiny European countries. Also, buying citizenship was also a thing and I just had to fill out an online questionnaire to prove that I knew something about the country.
I had no clue that was possible, and he informed me that it worked in Canada and the US as well. That was definitely a surprise to hear, so I asked him to send me the details before I thanked him and hung up.
“Well, I have a foreign gold mine now.” I said to the guards, who looked quite pleased at the news. I turned off my cell phone and put it in my pocket and the leather pouch away into inventory.
“We'll pass that information along.” One of the guards said.
They nodded to me and left with over a billion dollars in gold in their armored car. I ran over to my car and drove to my old accountant's office to pick up the paperwork for everything. I was surprised that there was so much. One of the folders had my poor attempt at incorporating myself to try and store my gold in the federal reserve. I took out my cell phone and called my broker right away.
“Ha ha! That's great!” My broker said. “You just saved me about eight hours of extra paperwork.”
“I'll fax it over to you as soon as I can.” I said.
“You might as well send me everything. I've already got an accountant and a business manager lined up.” The broker said. “I assume you want to offer a standard salary?”
“How much is that?” I asked.
“About 60,000 to 70,000 a year.”
“Hmm. I don't want to seem cheap, so offer 75,000 with a ten percent raise after the first year.” I said. “If you know the people, that is. If they are just nobodies, go with the standard.”
The broker laughed. “You weren't kidding about the making enough money for everyone, were you?”
“Nope.” I said. “By the way, I just sold a billion dollars in gold coins.”
“Jesus Christ!” The broker said loudly.
“Hey, that's my favorite curse.” I joked. “It was a private sale, too.”
“That's a relief. Moving that much cash around can't be hidden if a corporation did it.”
“You better be using as many loopholes and tax evasion techniques allowed by law.” I said, almost as a warning, and he laughed.
“Don't worry about that. It's my specialty.”
“The government has screwed me out of enough money. I want to screw them out of as much as I can and I want them to know that I did.”
“That is definitely not a problem.”
“Make sure to set your own salary to a hundred thousand, too. This is all coming together because of your efforts.” I said.
“You aren't supposed to pay a salary for a broker that works for another company.” He said, laughter in his voice. “It's a severe conflict of interest.”
“Can you pretend that I'm a headhunter or something? I did kind of scout you out, thanks to Cherise.”
“...and now you're trying to poach me.” He said. “I'll think about it.”
“Same contract deal, ten percent after the first year.” I teased and he laughed.
“I'll take the commissions from these deals first before giving you my answer.” He responded.
“Just so you know, your job won't change, you'll just have a different employer.” I said. “I mean, assuming you want to keep doing the same thing. I'm not stupid enough to think you're going to drop all of your other clients, just so you can handle a few billion dollars for me.”
“Jesus, I already said I was in. Stop sales pitching me. I'm just bitching over the price you're buying me for.”
That made me laugh. “All right, I'll stop bugging you. I'll pick up a fax machine and send everything I have over as soon as I can.”
We said goodbye just in time, because my battery warning came on and I turned the phone off. The accountant and his secretary stared at me with wide eyes after hearing that conversation.
“I'm sorry that you decided I was too risky of a client.” I said and said goodbye to two very sad people.
I left there and drove over to the tech guy's place. I easily entered and ran around, unplugged everything, then emptied the place as I stored it all. Appliances, computers, bookshelves, filing cabinets, furniture, and everything that wasn't nailed down. I smiled at cleaning his place like he had cleaned the building where I was being held, then I used Search and Detect spells to look for safes and hidden places.
I didn't find anything, even when searching for money and guns, so I left there and went to Stacy's address. Needless to say, I did the same thing to her place. I felt a little bad about that, since she was one of the more reasonable ones, and I wanted to do her so badly that my teeth hurt. As a concession to that, I put her bed in the living room and closed the curtains.
I was tempted to leave my number for her to call, except that she would probably call the police or her boss to report that it was me. She might do that anyway, so I shrugged and left without leaving a note. I drove to a great fast food place and bought five meal combos, two with normal burgers and three kids meals. I stored them and drove to a toy store next. I bought the biggest teddy bear they had, eight feet tall, and I barely got it into the backseat of the car.
I stopped at an electronics store and bought a fax machine as well and drove home, now that I was properly prepared. I had a long and overdue meeting with a beautiful little girl that was going to need me to apologize again for leaving her alone. Hopefully, the bear would help with that.
