A Toy for Christmas

by Mary Jane Forbes

  GK paused the game, stood up. “Two more volunteers. Two more to man the warriors—come on up to finish off the enemy if you can.”

  A man and a young woman raced up taking the remotes from GK’s hands. He whispered to each.

  The three gamers sat down. The screen came back to life. Three squads of warriors sparred. A fierce battle ensued—the villain and his army, Bella and the commander of the drone warriors.

  Missiles, lasers, flame throwers fought valiantly, good versus evil ending with Bella and the commander darting off together, tiny hearts fluttering about on the screen.

  The game ended.

  The screen turned black.

  The lights came up filling the room.

  The room was empty.

  The volunteers fidgeted, laid down their remotes on the chairs and ambled down the empty aisle, snickering about the dumb game. Amateurish.

  GK stood on the stage, his mouth gaped open, whispering his prepared remarks. “In addition to the character drones you just saw battling, two more will be announced in the next three months. Send an email to the address on the back of the card you found on your chair to Gideon Knight. You will be added to the list of pre-orders. From the random drawing on the release date, twenty will receive the first game you saw today. Free.”

  Stepping off the stage, GK packed up the remotes, the flash drives, stuffing them in his backpack. The cleaners entered the room and began vacuuming the debris, tossing the business cards left on the chairs and on the floor into a trash bag swinging from their belts.

  Chapter 23

  ────

  BACK IN THEIR HOTEL room, Frank and Michael were trying to comprehend the debacle that GK was laying out in front of them.

  Michael, hands on hips, red faced, began yelling at GK. “Did you have an inkling that your game wasn’t any good? Did you do any due diligence like sending the game out to friends or a gaming group to get their feedback? More important did you ask anyone for their feedback?”

  “No. I didn’t have a chance? All of a sudden Frank signed us up for this conference.”

  “That’s lame,” Frank said.

  “Really? Well…you two never took the time to play either. Always too busy with engineering crap, flying Merc. Or, Michael, you peddled real estate videos to Charley…trying to cozy up to her.” GK scrambled off the bed, paced to the slider looking out over the manicured hotel gardens. He turned, stalked to the closet yanking out his duffle bag.

  “I’m leaving. Changing my flight. Don’t worry, I’ll be out of the apartment by the time you two get back and don’t charge me for the rent. I ain’t paying another dime.”

  GK stomped out the door. Michael flopped on the couch. Frank shook his head, scrubbed the thick dark hair on his scalp as he retrieved his cell. Seeing the caller ID he strode out to the balcony closing the slider behind him.

  “Frank?”

  “Yes! It’s me.”

  “What’s the matter? You sound distracted.”

  “No, no. Just leaving for my presentation. Will you be there?”

  “You bet. Wouldn’t miss it. Are you still planning to come out to the ranch with me?”

  “Sure. Absolutely. Looking forward to it, Tavis.”

  “I’ll pick you up at the end of the circular drive. You can’t miss my black Lincoln convertible, top down, so you’ll see some Vegas dancer isn’t trying to pick you up.”

  “Remember, I don’t want anyone to know we’re meeting.”

  “Gotcha. I’ll sit in the back of the room when you’re speechifying, slip out the moment you’re done. See you about an hour after your big presentation. Good luck.”

  Disconnecting the call, Frank joined Michael. He was pocketing the flash drive with the videos he was showing before introducing Frank.

  “After you finish with the videos,” Frank said, changing his shirt, checking his five-o’clock shadow was trimmed to his satisfaction, “I’ll talk about our company, overall business plan, and end with current statistics and the growing drone industry. Especially highlight the commercial applications for Mercury. In other words, get everyone salivating to buy.”

  “I’m ready,” Michael said.

  “I’ll be ducking out of the hotel after I’m done. I’m meeting an old friend for dinner. Could be late. May even stay the night.”

  “What? Are you hooking up with a showgirl?”

  “Something like that. You take Mercury and Pigeon home in their cases. Now let’s get out of here.”

  ────

  Word spread throughout the conference that DroneKing’s video game was a bust. But hype also spread that DroneKing, Inc. was a fresh startup so the attendees shouldn’t judge the company by the game. Besides, gaming versus playing with a real drone was enticing.

  The room was packed. Michael stepped to the front of the room. He held up Pigeon. “This, my friends, is a toy, a really fun toy. Inside a building or home drones are hand-held but I thought it might be amusing to wing it for a minute.” He set Pigeon back on the table, snatched the remote and tapped LAUNCH.

  Michael was a master pilot. He had the audience in stitches jerking around fearing Pigeon was going to hit them but at the last second darting up to the high ceiling playing hide and seek with the chandeliers.

  “Come home to daddy little Pigeon,” Michael called out as he tapped LAND.

  The toy responded to the signal dropping on the carpet a few feet in front of him.

  Michael then picked up Mercury. “Now this guy means business, big business. Video business. To illustrate, I have three videos featuring Mercury in the starring role in two. The first is a short clip where Pigeon, our small drone, recorded a wedding reception. He was a little too playful, and, as you will see, a breeze kicked up. I had to make a hasty exit…but you’ll get the idea why a proud father of the bride would hire you to memorialize the wedding.”

  Michael hit the play button, and the eight-foot screen came to life behind him. Laughing, tears rolled down the cheeks of many in the audience when Pigeon clipped the top of the wedding cake, toppling the sugar bride and groom. The video produced the effect he was looking for—thigh slapping laughter. He smiled. He was in his element. His buzz cut, the tuft of a soul patch under his lips, and an occasional suck on a cigarette, all an image he copied from a wealthy film director he met in California.

  Michael then showed Mercury’s video of the spooky house, an example of marketing real estate. “The first day the agency put this video on their website, they had a call ending in a sale. Now, this next video is of a potential renovation site again the video was captured by Mercury. The construction engineer wanted to show the client his building, the surrounding parking lot and land from the air. But not only that, Mercury gave the contractor the dimensions so he was ready with estimated costs of various construction options.”

  This ended Michael’s part of the session. At his solo session earlier, he had expanded on the intricacies of piloting hand-held videos indoors as well as from the air outside. He gave tips on editing, adding music in the background, and adding text. He listed various software programs that he found useful.

  Wrapping up, Michael then introduced Frank Kingman, DroneKing’s founder.

  Frank strolled to the front, shook Michael’s hand. “Good job, partner.”

  Releasing the microphone from the stand, Frank turned to his audience.

  Standing room only.

  His presentation was short and sweet. A replay of the business plan he laid out for his dad. Of course, he added a few embellishments, and a few pauses for maximum impact. At the end, he urged anyone interested in receiving company updates to please leave their business cards in the fishbowls lined up on a side table.

  The attendees rushed Michael peppering him with questions. Frank had slipped out of the room, disappearing around the edge of the crowd.

  Chapter 24

  ────

  THE FIRST HOUR OF the three-hundred-miles from Las Vegas to Enterprise
, Arizona, was spent with two good friends reminiscing about their days matriculating together at MIT. Frank Kingman and Tavis Hunter had been inseparable but always competing for number one in the class. The top of the convertible was down, and wind from speeding down Interstate 93 south felt wonderful and cool against their sweaty skin. The temperature was teasing a hundred degrees, but the frat brothers didn’t notice and didn’t care.

  The sun dipped in the sky casting purple shadows on the hills and mountaintops outside Scottsdale by the time the black Lincoln rolled to a stop under the portico of the Hunter mansion. Frank had filled Tavis in on what had transpired with GK. As a frat brother, Tavis knew the players.

  Frank climbed out of the car, strolled out onto the expanse of lawn and gazed at the desert beyond. Sighing, his eyes followed the skyline of the mountains, peak to peak. Arms hugging his chest, he rocked back on his heels. The desert sand was very different from the sandy beaches of home. The peace of the vista in front of him took his breath away. The crashing waves of the Atlantic seemed in another world. He slowly turned from the beauty lying in front of him and joined Tavis.

  “You live here?” Frank said, hands on his hips, brows furrowed.

  “Most of the time. My folks summer in the Alps. Can’t take the Arizona heat. But come October, this is where they call home.”

  “Who takes care of…of all this?” Frank said waving his hand.

  “An army of gardeners and house sitters. If I’m home the sitters stay in the guest house. Come on in. I’ll give you a quick tour and then let’s grab a drink at the bar. We can relax by the pool. You’re not a vegan are you because steak au poivre is Rosie’s specialty? She grinds fresh peppercorns.”

  “And Gladys is?”

  “The ruler of the kitchen and all things food.”

  Frank smiled. Good old easy-going Tavis. He hadn’t changed a bit. His charm still belied the fact that he was the smartest man in their engineering classes. Shaking his head, Frank lifted his backpack out of the car and followed Tavis into the house. After a brief tour of the main floor they wandered up a grand staircase to the second landing. Tavis nodded to an open bedroom door. “That’s your room.”

  Frank ambled in dropping the backpack on the bed. “Give me thirty minutes to take a shower, freshen up. I’ll meet you by the pool.”

  “Sounds good partner. Take your time.”

  ────

  Toasting each other with very dry martinis, the two settled on lounge chairs facing the kidney shaped pool. The soft sound of a rippling waterfall at the far end cascading over orangey-red boulders from the hills was soothing after the long drive. The sun had set behind the mountain peaks. Tiki torches spotted around the large terrace provided a soft glow—a dramatic effect against the black starry sky.

  “Okay, Tavis, you live like a prince, what do you do with yourself all day. You graduated with honors, beat me by a hair for the top computer engineering grad. Tell me your story since we last saw each other…what, seven years now?”

  “Doing nothing. Married briefly. Very briefly. Stopped in a Vegas all-night wedding chapel with a gorgeous blonde dancer decked out in feathers…nothing but feathers. That was my last night to tie one on so to speak.”

  Frank chuckled. “Come on. Tell me what engineering marvel you’re designing. My lips are sealed.”

  “Ah, Frankie. How I envy you. Your drone today—an elegant design. Has your fingerprints all over it. I sat in for a minute, I mean sixty seconds of GK’s game and tiptoed out. Too painful. Good old Michael, his videos are really nice. He was always good at capturing beauty, sharp images through the lens of a camera. But you, Frank…I want to team up with you.”

  Frank pondered Tavis’s words. Looked up at the stars. He swung his legs off the lounger and snapped up straight facing his friend. “You what?”

  “I’ve been watching the trade journals, the articles on the developing drone market. Your name kept popping up. A new startup in the drone arena. A new engineer joining the clamor of designing drones to do this and that. I know the military is way ahead in the use of drones against our enemies. But Frank, the potential in the commercial space has barely been scratched. Bezos and his Amazon crew, Google’s Sundar Pichai and his minions are working in the space, but the market is still in its infancy. If Steve Jobs was alive, he’d hire you in a nanosecond with the elegance of your designs.”

  Frank stared at Tavis. The guy was serious. If Tavis worked on the drone with him there would be no stopping DroneKing, Inc.

  Sipping the last drop of his martini, looking out over the pool, then to the sky, Tavis turned to Frank. “How many employees do you have? What’s your setup? How many investors. How much start-up money?”

  “There’s only the three of us, potentially four if Janet joins us.”

  “Janet?”

  “Janet Scott. Ex military. Offered her a job as chief of everything administrative. I’m putting into effect the business plan you heard me talk about today. I was waiting until this conference wrapped up. I figured with my session on the developing drone market, and Michael’s videos showing the capabilities for real estate, commercial building construction, to say nothing about helping police investigative teams, we could springboard onto the first rung of the burgeoning drone market, Mercury’s market, that—”

  “Stop! I’ve got shivers running up my arms,” Tavis said laughing, rubbing his elbows.

  Frank started laughing. Set his empty glass on a glass side table, kicked of his sandals and dove into the pool clothes and all. Swimming from one end to the other, his strokes were strong, feet kicking up a wake, propelling his body forward. Finally he hoisted himself up on the edge of the pool’s tile apron.

  Tavis watched him. Waited for him to speak.

  “You’re something else, Tavis. I came here to entice you to join me… you’re trying to get me to ask you to join my group. So, partner, after all that foreplay, I’m starving. Where are those steaks you bragged about? Seems to me we’ve got a whole lot of talking to do, serious talking and it can’t be done on an empty stomach. One thing you should know, I thought GK’s game was going to be a show stopper. Thought orders would fund the beginning of the next phase, the launch of Mercury. Now, we have to come up with plan B.”

  “And that is?” Tavis said stroking his stubbly beard.

  “I don’t know…maybe Pigeon, the toy.”

  Chapter 25

  ────

  IT HAD BEEN A stressful few days since Charley stomped out of the beach house. She talked to her mother once. Dottie urged her to apologize to her father, after all it was certainly drastic to change her name, wasn’t it? Charley said an apology was not going to happen. Trying to put the scene out of her mind she spent her time digging up leads for potential buyers of the agency’s listings.

  Turning away from the computer screen, she checked her cell…the Saints were marching again. Michael’s caller ID was displayed.

  “Hi, Michael. How did your presentation go? Did they love your videos?”

  “Very good, great. I’m at the airport.”

  “Airport? You and the guys? How did their sessions go?”

  “Great and a disaster. No guys. Just me. GK left yesterday. He’s probably home by now. I hung around waiting for Frank.”

  “Doesn’t sound good. I’ll give GK a call. So, you and Frank are at the airport?”

  “Just yours truly. Frank never showed. He took off yesterday after our sessions. Said he was meeting a friend and might stay the night. I haven’t heard from him. Hung around a day and then left. How are you?”

  “I started the online school…for a drone’s pilot license…the one GK set up for me. Thank goodness you asked me to tag along at that wedding and then the spooky house shoot.”

  “How’s that?”

  “I wouldn’t have had a clue what they were talking about. I finished the initial assignment but have homework and—”

  “Homework? How—”

  “I didn’
t tell you but I bought a toy drone. Turns out it’s a little more sophisticated than your average toy.”

  “You could have played with Pigeon.”

  “And break it? I don’t think so. When you get back, can you help me shoot a video outside? My toy drone, Sky Rider, came with a camera eye. Maybe a lesson or two at a parking lot…you with Pigeon and me with Sky Rider?”

  “Sure, but Frank has the remotes. I don’t know where he is or when he’s coming back. He hasn’t answered his cell since we parted company. Enough about him. I’ll be back in Florida late afternoon. I’ll meet you for dinner…I miss your pretty face.”

  Charley’s brows knitted at his remark. It hit her wrong.

  “Miss Kingman? Dinner?” Michael said.

  He was annoying, demanding, assuming.

  “I told you my name is Charley King…call me Charley King not Kingman. But not around my family…oh, forget it.”

  “Okay, Miss Charley King, how about dinner tonight?”

  “Sure. Where?” Was he going to pick her up or—

  “That place at the beach—The Crab Shack, on the pier.”

  “OK, what time?”

  “I’m pretty beat. Let’s meet early so I can crash. Six o’clock? Meet you there?”

  “Six is fine.”

  “Any change I’ll call you. See you tonight, Miss King.”

  “See you there, Mr. Rich.”

  The call disconnected and Charley immediately tapped her brother’s cell number. Her call transferred to voicemail. Visions of the Nevada desert filled her mind—alone, no water, danger lurking behind every boulder. Maybe he was kidnapped for his drone design. Frowning, she called her favorite private investigator. The only PI she knew—Elizabeth Stitchway.

  Chapter 26

  ────

  PACING FROM HER DESK to the front entrance and back, cell to her ear Charley explained the situation to Liz that her brother was missing somewhere in Nevada, at least that’s what she’d been told.