Meanwhile, further down the beach, another lower-level character sat aboard a black horse, watching patiently as his cloak fluttered in the ocean breeze. He was patient. No reason to rush things this time. When the right moment came, he would claim his rightful place in KNC history once again.
Chapter Sixteen
“Afternoon ladies, gentlemen. Charles Danford, counsel for Mr. Garrett Wyland.”
Once again, the Western District of Texas was home to a meeting of high-powered legal and business minds. Rarely had so many gathered in a single room in an attempt to pin a former executive to a theoretical crime. This time, the government representatives were present mainly to determine if what they were being told was actually true. The first time around, it had all sounded like something out of a television drama. This time, it had become the case of the disappearing billionaire.
As before, the Honorable United States Attorney Sheila M. Powers was heading up the federal side of the table. Texas Deputy Attorney General J. Paul Winchester was also in attendance, along with SEC Enforcement Division Chief Zachary Lawrence and Mississippi Attorney General Atticus R. Bascom. The rest of the table was occupied by various forensic accountants, analysts, technicians and mid-level officials.
“Mr. Wyland I’d like you to know we are all relieved and grateful you sustained no permanent injuries during this ordeal. I would also like to remind you of your oath and your rights before we begin,” Powers said.
“My client has been apprised of his rights in this matter, Ms. Powers,” Danford replied. Garrett Wyland was dressed conservatively in a dark suit. His expression matched his outfit.
“Very well. Mr. Bascom, we’ll begin with you,” Powers said.
“Mr. Wyland, you faked your own death in an attempt to evade arrest. That’s against the law in the great state of Mississippi, something I’m sure you’re aware of.” Bascom’s drawl added heft to his words. One might have even called his demeanor somewhat arrogant.
“Faking one’s own death presumes intent, Mr. Bascom. My client was shot twice without cause by police officers in your jurisdiction,” Danford replied. “We’ve both represented the people before. As a former prosecutor I can tell you if my client faked his own death, I could make a credible circumstantial case the Mississippi Highway Patrol aided and abetted.”
“He fled the scene.”
“He sought medical attention for injuries he never should have sustained. One indicates consciousness of guilt. The other indicates consciousness of bleeding.”
“There is still a warrant for your arrest, Mr. Wyland.”
“In Mississippi,” Wyland replied.
“With all due respect Mr. Bascom, this is a matter for the courts to decide. The fugitive warrant your officers attempted to serve on my client was issued in response to faulty evidence. I’ve already filed a motion to have the warrant quashed.”
“Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves here,” Powers said. “There is litigation pending against Fairly Unusual Games. The SEC compliance division filed a report last week based on your quarterly financial statements, and I–”
“I’m no longer an employee of Fairly Unusual Games, madam,” Wyland said coolly.
“But you do business with them. In fact, your attorney is their former corporate counsel, is he not?”
“I’m a little confused as to the relevance of this, Ms. Powers,” Danford said. “I’m sure you’re aware I’m bound by privilege when it comes to my representation of a corporation and my discussions with its officers as they relate to this business.”
“Which implies a massive conflict of interest, doesn’t it?” Winchester asked.
“It would if my clients’ interests diverge. When they do, you’ll be the first to know,” Danford replied.
“Are you planning to share your financial arrangements with us?” Powers asked. “Specifically the agreement between your Worech subsidiary, Realm Holdings IV and Fairly Unusual?”
“One of those companies is not subject to United States jurisdiction. One is only partially owned by Mr. Wyland and the third is a licensee. My client has no specialized or particular knowledge that would be of any use to you in this matter.”
“Mr. Wyland is subject to United States jurisdiction,” one of the Texas police officials shot back.
“With all due respect, Mr. Danford,” Powers replied, “I’d like to hear the information first and decide for myself whether it is pertinent to our investigation.”
“I’m afraid that’s not how our system works, Ms. Powers. Whatever agreements exist between my client and his various business contacts are a matter of record and are available to the Grand Jury should they choose to review them. So far I am aware of no subpoenas for that material.”
“You sold shares in a company that was only days away from filing for bankruptcy. How can you explain that?” Winchester said.
“He doesn’t have to explain it, and neither does FUG management. Shareholders are allowed to take profits, Mr. Winchester,” Danford replied. “Or losses.”
“Sure, if they know a Chapter 11 is imminent!” Zachary Lawrence exclaimed.
“My client didn’t make the decision to file for bankruptcy. The Fairly Unusual board made that call.”
“So you’re saying he didn’t know they were bankrupt?”
“I’m saying it didn’t matter what my client knew or when. He didn’t make the decision. You can’t blame him for reacting to a crisis that legally didn’t exist, and only theoretically existed after he sold his shares. The board fulfilled its fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders as did my client. I think you’ll find those who didn’t sell are no longer complaining and you’ll find that according to Fairly Unusual’s books, there were never any financial problems in the first place.”
“I beg to differ, Mr. Danforth,” Zachary Lawrence said.
“Danford.”
“It does matter what he knew. If he had knowledge the company was in financial trouble, and he sold his shares on that knowledge, he is guilty of insider trading,” Lawrence replied.
“The company wasn’t in financial trouble,” Wyland stated flatly. “The bankruptcy was a PR stunt.”
Audible gasps were heard
“Say again?” Powers asked.
“Fairly Unusual Games filed for bankruptcy as part of a long-planned marketing campaign. We needed time to combine our crowdfunding efforts and our subscription business. A Chapter 11 filing puts us on the front page and gives us time to rearrange our businesses using the orderly processes of the court. We emerged from bankruptcy exactly as planned in a matter of days. Everything we did was to preserve and protect shareholder value. We were even complimented by the judge herself on the record.”
“Chapter 11 as a way to get media coverage? Now I’ve seen it all,” Winchester said with a chuckle.
“Well, Mr. Attorney General, I go by what my marketing director once told me. ‘If you aren’t on the front page with your face buried in some girl’s chest, nobody’s going to pay attention.’ Turns out he was right. So we had to be inventive. What we did perfectly fulfilled the expectations of the scholars and noblemen our fine customers perceive themselves to be. They desperately wanted us to suffer to the fullest extent of their hatred and envy, so we obliged, and we increased the value of our shares while we did it.”
“If you like, I can provide you with some examples of the mail this man receives on an hourly basis,” Danford added.
“All we did was figure out a way to turn hate into money,” Wyland said. “You can measure our success by whatever metric you like. I’ve been getting engraved ‘fuck yous’ since we announced this game. My response is updated every 60 seconds on the board of the Western Stock Exchange.”
“Your position is that since the board voted to declare bankruptcy, and you were apparently uninvolved, you weren’t aware of any financial problems until after you sold the majority of your shares? Therefore the subsequent indictment was faulty and there was no probabl
e cause for an arrest?” Powers asked.
“No. My position is there were never any financial problems to begin with.” Wyland replied.
“The rest is essentially correct,” Danford said.
“Fairly Unusual is on track to become the most successful game company of all time,” Wyland said. “It still is. By every metric known to business I did my job and did it better than most. I had a responsibility to the shareholders which I carried out to the best of my ability. Our stock is up more than 600% from the issue price in less than six months. At this point the assertion that I did my job is beyond dispute. You may not agree with my tactics, but you can’t argue with the scoreboard.”
“Then why sell?”
“Because ‘CEO Holds His Shares’ doesn’t make a good headline, Mr. Lawrence.”
“Is marketing all that matters to you, Mr. Wyland?”
“No. I like money too, but in America I can’t have one without the other.”
“As entertaining as this is, I need to be on a plane in an hour,” Powers said, folding up her folio along with her prosecutorial interest. “Is there anything else?”
“There is the matter of my client’s pending litigation against the state of Mississippi for ordering armed police officers to shoot him twice and leave him for dead in a flood control channel.”
“You’ll have to take that up with the officials of the great state of Mississippi, Mr. Danford. I’m afraid that’s out of our jurisdiction,” Powers replied.
“They shot him serving a fugitive warrant issued because my client was under indictment by a federal Grand Jury you convened, Ms. Powers.”
“They thought he had a weapon.”
“They were wrong.”
“What do you want, Mr. Danford?” Powers asked.
“My client wants his passport back and this ridiculous case dropped. At this point a motion to quash the indictment is a foregone conclusion. If you want to charge my client with insider trading you have to prove there was the potential of a financial loss he fraudulently tried to avoid. Since that notion has now been thoroughly refuted, there was no crime, which means the events that took place on Interstate 20 constitute an unprovoked attack on Mr. Wyland’s person under color of authority.”
“What the hell is this!?” Winchester roared. Then he pointed at Wyland. “That bastard pulled a gun on police officers and put innocent people in danger! I don’t care what papers you push, Mr. Danforth! We don’t stand for that kind of lawlessness in this part of the country!”
“Danford.”
“I have video proof what police thought was a gun was, in fact, my mobile phone,” Wyland said calmly. “My video was shot at a sufficient frame rate to forensically prove the bullet that struck my vest was fired by Officer Rodriguez’s gun. In fact, I have the attack from three different angles. If this were one of those crime scene TV shows this case would be solved before the first commercial break.”
“You were wearing a vest?” Powers asked incredulously.
“My client had been advised by our corporate security consultants he could be facing potential danger from any number of sources. So he took appropriate measures to not only protect himself but a valuable company asset,” Danford replied.
“Turns out my security people were right. I was facing potential danger. I have the broken rib to prove it.”
“The police found cash, an airline ticket and a disguise in your car! You’re lucky we didn’t amend the charges!”
“With what? Aggravated possession of a mustache?”
More than a few of the mid-level people in the room tried to stifle laughs. Powers closed her folio and began gathering her things.
“If it were up to me, I’d string your client up, Mr. Danford.” Winchester said, his face red with frustration.
“It is up to you. You’re the Deputy Attorney General of Texas,” Danford replied. “Ladies and gentlemen, my client has graciously given of his time and patience in this meeting, and I believe he has done a splendid job of answering all the pertinent questions. When all is said and done, my firm will be making a recommendation and I think we can sum this meeting up in two words.”
“What words are those, Mr. Danford?” Bascom asked.
“Reasonable doubt. You all have a nice day.”
Chapter Seventeen
Peredone and Rhanis were making considerable progress. Their non-stop scouring of the western shores near Yarshire had netted them a princely sum, and they had immediately leveraged the value of all they had gathered to construct a glassmaking pipeline that would have been the envy of all the crafting players in KNC had they known about it.
However, Rich and Jason weren’t talking.
Not long after their first forays into the familiar sandy beaches to gather the materials to make simple lenses, a quest line had developed where the NPC merchants in Yarshire began requesting specific components so they could build more complex objects to sell in the village auction house. Crude spyglasses and window panes were the first finished works that became valuable enough to support their growing business. Then Peredone reached level four and unlocked a choice of skill paths for the innate Treasure Sense ability he had gained by virtue of choosing the Neros race. He selected Gemstone Treasure Sense and immediately began finding shards and tiny unfinished stones in the piles of sand he examined during long days on the beach.
What was most encouraging to the budding treasure team enterprise was that at low levels, the experience being gained by finding key reagents for more advanced treasures was almost as valuable as the silver and gold monarchs pouring into their coffers. A particularly lucrative trip to the rocky shoals north of Yarshire had netted enough treasure to triple the team’s in-game net worth and move them almost halfway from level two to level three.
Now, with their treasure sense supported by the increasingly popular practice of using Will bonuses to re-allocate characteristics scores, Peredone and Rhanis had added sixteen and nineteen points to their Insight scores respectively. Rhanis in particular had benefited greatly from this development, as his new Insight score of 82 made him eligible to start gaining skill points in “fortune sense,” which was the brighter cousin of the more popular “danger sense” ability.
The power they had unlocked was formidable and increasing with each treasure haul. Fortune sense was very much like a homing beacon for gold, and every time Rhanis earned treasure, experience, a quest reward or successfully navigated interaction with an NPC, his character’s fortune sense skill improved. It didn’t take a genius to recognize the positive feedback loop that was forming around his abilities. At this point, all Peredone had to do was park Rhanis on the beach and let him walk in circles. It was like taking a giant block of cash and running it over a cheese grater. Peredone stood in the right place and could catch what he liked. The duo wasn’t worth a shit in combat, but why fight with sticks and blades when you can buy heavy horse?
Meanwhile, the loot windows rang like cash registers.
21 copper monarchs
12 silver monarchs
Footman’s Bow
Quality Leather Gloves
Illusionary Ink
3 gold monarchs
16 copper monarchs
11 silver monarchs
Sun-touched Rare Sand
Journeyman’s Satchel
Crude Amber
Siren’s Glory
Ring of Tidal Awakening
5 silver monarchs
Starlight Enchanting Dust
Gorian Canvas
Broken Pincer Shell
Sun-touched Rare Sand
Cracked Amber
3 gold monarchs
Smooth Driftwood
Tarnished Lantern Globe
“Okay, what have we got in the way of monarchs to qualify for level four merchant status?” Rich asked. The formerly unfurnished apartment was a bit more crowded with new equipment, better furniture, a coffee maker and two pair of new headphones, but not much had changed in the few
days since the new approach.
“We need one thousand monarchs in each denomination: copper, silver, gold and platinum.” Jason replied. “We’re way ahead on copper and way behind on platinum.”
“Can we exchange one for the other yet?”
“We can’t bid on auction exchanges until we join the Yarshire merchant’s guild.”
“Chicken or egg again,” Rich muttered. “Alright, what if we price auctions in platinum?”
“We can try, but they’re likely to sell slow. The most common coins at this level are copper and silver for obvious reasons.”
“How about buying raw platinum and minting our own?”
“Then we go to jail for counterfeiting and get kicked out of the merchant’s guild.”
“Fairly Unusual thought of everything, didn’t they?” Rich asked. “What about black market platinum?”
“Expensive as hell, and we risk being banned from the legitimate sales channels,” Jason replied. “That said, there’s a father extensive and reportedly rather successful list of instructions on how to join the Salt Bandits.”
“I’m not familiar.”
“The guild that runs the black market in Yarshire is an organization of pirates and bushwhackers. They have very stringent entry requirements, but once we get through the initiation, they give us access to the black market, the ability to hire bag men to steal for us and at higher levels, the ability to hit local NPC merchants up for protection money. If we level fast enough, we can obtain a status that essentially makes us a fact of life for the local government. Then we just have to bribe the right people to keep the money flowing.”
“That’s just plain venal,” Rich replied.
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