Payback

by Fern Michaels

  “Where the hell is the safe, Elaine? We’ve been walking for a long time here. You better not be stalling me,” Kathryn hissed angrily.

  “It’s in the private wing of the house. We really don’t use this section. It’s for…”

  “I know, housing your treasures. You should get one of those moving walkways.”

  “We looked into it but it didn’t…seem feasible,” Elaine whined. “This is the beginning of the private wing.”

  Kathryn looked around. More cavernous rooms, more priceless rugs and paintings. “OK, show me the safe and open it up.”

  Elaine Monarch moved toward a door in the center of what looked like a sitting room that held no less than seven ugly couches and eleven ugly armchairs. She opened the door, stepped through the opening and then opened another door. She stood to the side. Kathryn gaped at the heavy steel door. A vault similar to those used in banks. Her insides started to twitch. “Open it!”

  “It can only be opened at three minutes past the hour. The time is precise.” Elaine looked down at the diamond studded watch on her wrist and then at the digital clock mounted in the vault door. “We have five minutes to wait,” she said nervously.

  Five minutes later a tiny ping of sound could be heard from the mounted clock on the vault door. Elaine moved forward and punched in numbers. It took all her strength to turn the huge wheel but finally the door moved and then slid silently to the side on well oiled hinges. She pressed another switch that flooded the room with light.

  The inside of the vault was possibly eight by ten feet in size with floor to ceiling shelves on all three walls. A small chair and metal table sat in the middle of the room. An overhead fan whirred to circulate the air. Probably so the money lining the shelves wouldn’t dry out, Kathryn thought inanely.

  She turned to her hostess and said, “I really don’t have time to count all this but how much money is on those shelves? Remember rule number one.”

  “Twenty-five million dollars,” Elaine mumbled.

  “And the jewelry? That is jewelry in those velvet boxes, right?”

  “Around sixteen million,” Elaine mumbled again.

  “All right, let’s just leave this door open for now. Is there a shortcut back to your offices?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then hit it, lady. Don’t mess with me again. Why did you take me on the scenic route instead of the shortcut?”

  “Why should I help you? You’re going to kill us, aren’t you? You people have no mercy.”

  Kathryn chewed on her lower lip. “No, we don’t. Have mercy, that is. Come on, pick up those stilettos and let’s move. We wasted enough time with your scenic tour.” Elaine teetered on her spike heels but did as Kathryn ordered. Both women were breathless when they entered the Monarch home office.

  Both senior and junior Monarch were stark naked. It wasn’t a pretty sight. “You’re next, Mom,” Nikki said, waving the gun. Elaine started to cry. “Don’t make me help you.” Elaine complied. A naked Elaine was not some kind of pretty. “OK, sit down,” Nikki said, indicating three small chairs on casters as she pulled a roll of duct tape out of her back-pack and tossed it to Kathryn.

  “Oh, God, why are you doing this to us? I opened the safe. Take the money and leave us alone.” Elaine sobbed.

  Nikki shoved her gun into the belt of her slacks the moment Kathryn secured the little family to the swivel chairs. Cell phone in hand, she called Charles but not before Kathryn whispered in her ear. “All our chicks in the area are secure. Tell me what to do.” Nikki scribbled furiously. “Got it. I’ll get back to you,” she told Charles.

  “Turn them around so they can see the monitor.” Kathryn turned the chairs and waited.

  “I’m only going to ask you these questions once. If you stall me, give me the wrong answers, you will feel” — she pointed to the cattle prod Kathryn was holding upright — “some severe pain. How do I access the business account?”

  Derek blurted the information, his eyes never leaving the cattle prod. Ethan glared defiantly. Elaine continued to sob.

  The question and answer routine went on for twenty minutes. When Nikki had all the information she needed she nodded to Kathryn.

  A picture of a small blonde girl flashed on the screen. It was followed by pictures of a middle-aged man and then an elderly lady in a white shawl. Picture after picture appeared on the screen. The Monarch family looked at each picture not understanding what they were seeing but they didn’t ask any questions.

  Then a series of pictures, possibly a hundred or so, appeared on the screen. They were all small children from newborns to children five or six years of age. All looked listless, their arms dangling at their sides. They looked like tiny robots.

  Thirty minutes later, Nikki finally stopped popping pictures. She held up a thick stack of photos six inches thick. “Do you know who those people are?” she demanded.

  “How could we possibly know that?” Elaine cried. “Just take the money and leave us alone. What are you doing? What do you want from us?”

  “We’re going to give all your money away. To people like those you just saw on the screen. And, to these,” Nikki said, wagging the stack of photos in their direction. “Those people are your subscribers. You denied their claims. Most of them died because they couldn’t get the care they needed. The children were all born with Erb’s Palsy because their mothers were sent to a doctor Monarch approved of. When they were born, there was no doctor in attendance, the families tried to sue Monarch. Once again, you greedy people ordered arbitration by retired judges who were on your payroll. Needless to say, the verdicts were always on Monarch’s side because those judges didn’t want to lose the income you provided. Someone has to pay for that. We find you guilty as charged so you are going to pay. We’re going to bankrupt all three of your Monarch HMOs. And we’re going to ruin all the people who have helped you launder that money sitting in the vault in your personal quarters. When we’re done with you, we’re going after the doctor, his staff and all those bloodsucking judges on your payroll.”

  Elaine continued to wail. Senior and Junior glared. They were getting good at it.

  “Now, give me your personal bank information and that also includes all your off-shore accounts. Come on now, don’t be shy. Kathryn you might want to…ah…prod them a little to move things along.”

  Kathryn yanked at the charged up cattle prod and gave Junior and Senior a none too gentle prod. They screamed in pain just as a knock sounded on the door. Elaine stomped her bare feet and tried to shout something but the duct tape Kathryn quickly put on muffled the sound.

  “Oh, gee whiz, company,” Nikki said as she busily clicked the keys in front of her. She nodded to Kathryn who obediently trotted across the room to open the door. Julia waltzed through, followed by her husband. Kathryn slammed and locked the door.

  Mitch Webster looked around the room, the color draining from his face.

  Julia walked over to the duct-taped family members, leaned over and said, “I’m a doctor. Are you all right?” Her tone clearly indicated she didn’t care one way or the other. She dipped her hand into one of the pockets of her wrap and brought out a bouquet of hypodermic syringes. “You name it and I got it,” she said cheerfully.

  “Julia! What the hell is going on here? Who are these people?”

  “Well that one and that one,” Julia said, pointing to Nikki and Kathryn, “are my friends. These three are scum of the earth. Strip down, Mitch!” Julia looked at Kathryn and said, “I don’t smell it, do you?” Kathryn shrugged, not understanding the question. Julia laughed. “Testosterone! I think it evaporated.” She turned her attention back to her husband, the bouquet of syringes still in her hand. “Strip or you get one of each!”

  “Are you crazy?”

  The charged up cattle prod snapped outward and Mitch doubled over. Kathryn struck a second and third time. Mitch took off his clothes. Kathryn clucked her tongue. “You bad boys never seem to learn.”

  A knock sou
nded on the door.

  “Oh, gee whiz, more company,” Nikki gurgled as she sent blizzards of numbers flying across the screen.

  Kathryn tossed the roll of duct tape to Julia who shoved her husband onto the last chair in the office. “My goodness, where are my manners? I’d like you all to meet my philandering husband, Senator Mitchell Webster. Mitch, these lovely naked people are the Monarchs of the infamous Monarch HMOs. We’re giving away all their money and making restitution to their subscribers. Actually, what we’re doing is bankrupting them and their company.”

  Mitch opened his mouth to snarl something but Julia slapped a strip of tape over his mouth.

  The door flew inward as Kathryn backed up. Two black clad figures brandishing swords danced into the room. Only their eyes were visible in the black hoods. Yoko advanced, brandishing a wicked-looking sword as she yelled, “Eyow!” she followed up with a high pirouette. A puff of smoke exploded from her hand before a steel star sailed through the air to land between Ethan Monarch’s legs. Urine squirted high in the air.

  Not to be outdone, Alexis whooped, whirled and dipped as she, too, delivered puffs of smoke and loud bloodcurdling shouts.

  “Ninjas!” Derek Monarch moaned pitifully, his eyes on the star between his son’s legs.

  Elaine screamed at the top of her lungs.

  Derek looked down at his privates and then at the swords in the hands of the black clad figures. Mitch tried to cross his legs. “Just think of us as a bunch of party animals, Mitch.” Then Julia laughed. And laughed.

  “By the way, we’re all together,” Nikki called from her computer station. “It’s time to divvy up,” she called out cheerfully. She pointed to Kathryn. “Do you have any special causes?”

  “Let me think. Can I pick anyone I want?”

  Nikki nodded.

  “Let’s donate twenty thousand to Green-peace. Another twenty thousand to the Sierra Club. Two million to the ASPCA. Twenty million to Emily Sanchez’s family.” Kathryn turned to the Monarchs. “Monarch said the bone marrow Emily needed was unnecessary. Emily died. Nah, make that twenty-five million. I heard the Cartoon Network is in financial trouble. Let’s give them a hundred thousand. Murphy loves watching cartoons.”

  Nikki directed her next comment to Derek Monarch. “We’re sending a year’s premiums back to all your subscribers and advising them to sign on with a PPO opposed to an HMO. All existing claims will be paid in full. We’re also ignoring the deductibles.”

  It was Julia’s turn. She looked at the robust bottom line on Nikki’s chart. “Ten million to the Haggerty family. Mr. and Mrs. Haggerty used up all their savings and are currently in the welfare system because you denied the coverage that would have made him whole. Greed is a terrible thing.”

  Derek Monarch started to drool when he realized what was happening. Ethan slumped in his chair as his millions were allocated to worthy recipients. Elaine wept noisily, so noisily Kathryn pointed the cattle prod at her perky silicone breasts. She shut up instantly and then hic-cupped.

  “You raided this company for your own personal greed,” Nikki said. “We simply can’t allow that. We find you three, guilty as charged! Damn, I already said that, didn’t I? Well, that’s what we’re doing.”

  “Oh, dear, Mitch wants to say something,” Julia said, walking over to her husband. She yanked at the strip of duct tape.

  “I don’t know these people. If they did what they did then they deserve this but what the hell am I doing here? I hate HMOs. It’s the Republicans who love those HMOs. I’m a goddamn Democrat. I demand you let me loose immediately.”

  “Demand all you want, Mitch. We’re going to deal with you later. Make another peep and the Ninjas can have you. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Are we having fun yet?” Kathryn chortled.

  “I didn’t know any of this,” Elaine Monarch sobbed. “I didn’t know those people died. How could you do such a thing, Derek?”

  “Shut up, Elaine. Where did you think the money came from for…all of this?”

  “Your salary. That’s what you told me. Oh, God, Oh, God!” She sobbed.

  “Ooops, more company,” Nikki said when a knock was heard at the door. The two Ninjas stepped aside as Julia ran to open it.

  “Refreshments!” Isabelle trilled as she trundled in a huge dolly laden with food.

  Nikki stepped away from the computer to stand in front of the four bound figures strapped to the chairs. “OK, the fun’s over. Do any of you four have even one compassionate bone in your bodies? How could you knowingly withhold crucial medical care to those who need it the most? How? Do you have any idea how many deaths and crippling illnesses are lying on your personal doorstep?” She didn’t expect an answer and she didn’t get one.

  “As of Monday morning, Monarch’s doors are closed. Every account that has your name or a family member’s name on it is now carrying a zero balance. We’ve only made a dent in what we plan to do to right all the wrongs you three made in the name of your greed. It’s going to take us weeks to notify and make restitution to all those you’ve damaged but it will be done. You are now going to sign off on some quit claim deeds to all the different properties you own. Everything is going to be sold and given to the people you bilked. All your cars, your boats, that fancy Gulfstream plane will go on the auction block. The whole ball of wax. But first the three of you are going to sign this power of attorney allowing me to dispose of your assets and the company’s assets. Kathryn, untie their writing hands then bind them back up.”

  “Why am I here?” Mitch bellowed. “I’m a goddamn United States senator! I demand you release me immediately. You better not be thinking about murdering anyone!”

  Isabelle, who was spreading caviar on crackers and handing them out with glasses of champagne, looked at Julia and said, “This might be a good time to tell your husband why he’s here.”

  “I think you’re right. Take the tape off one of his hands so he can read my medical report.”

  Kathryn, her hands shaking, undid the tape and handed him Julia’s diagnosis. She stepped back to watch the senator.

  “What the hell is this? It says you…it says you have AIDS! I knew it! I knew you were screwing around! You bitch!”

  “Oh, God! Oh, God! Did you touch me?” Elaine Monarch squealed in fright.

  Julia closed her eyes and would have dropped to the floor but Nikki caught her. Kathryn handed the senator a second medical report. An evil grin stretched across her face. “Read it and weep, Senator!”

  “You gave me AIDS! I’ll kill you for this.”

  Isabelle was in his face in the blink of an eye. “Look at the dates, Senator. You gave AIDS to your wife. You’re the one. And you infected everyone you came in contact with. That’s why your wife wanted the list of women you slept with. You have AIDS, Senator Webster.”

  “You’re lying! You’re all crazy! I didn’t have a blood test,” the senator blustered.

  “You gave blood, you just don’t remember. I took a blood sample while you were sleeping. I am a doctor, you know. I had you tested. I’m more than willing to leak that to the Post,” Julia said.

  Mitch continued to bluster. “I don’t believe you. I feel fine. I’m healthy as a horse. You’re lying!”

  “I felt fine, too, in the beginning. The drugs will work for a while and then they won’t work anymore. Your immune system may be stronger than mine. You have it, Mitch, make no mistake about it.”

  “I’ll throw all of your asses in jail the minute I get out of here. I am not without influence.”

  “You aren’t getting out of here, Senator,” Isabelle said. “Caviar, anyone?”

  “What the hell does that mean? Kidnapping is against the law. You can’t kidnap a United States senator. This scum,” he said, jerking his head in the Monarchs’ direction, “yeah, but not me.”

  “Oh, well!” Kathryn said.

  Nikki looked down at the stack of quit claim deeds in her hand. “Now, let’s tackle those trusts you think you’
re getting away with. I’m going to need all of your signatures quite a few more times. Shame on you for not mentioning the trusts. I think you were just so agitated you simply forgot.”

  The women moved toward the door, Isabelle pushing the dolly ahead of her. She closed the door behind her. They all walked down to the end of the hallway.

  “We did it! We actually did it! Julia, honey, are you OK?” Alexis asked.

  “I’m fine. Did you see his face? I will take that look of disbelief with me forever.”

  Alexis and Yoko ripped off their black masks. “Now what?” Alexis demanded.

  “Charles said we have to dismantle all the computers,” Nikki said. “He won’t care if we smash them up. We have to sanitize this place. Charles is working on something for the Post and it will hit sometime this week. By then, the four of them will be so far away no one in the world will be able to find them.”

  “What about all these treasures, the paintings, what’s going to happen to them?” Alexis asked.

  “They go with the house. Mr. Monarch signed off on everything. Everything will be sold. Charles has it all arranged. Private collectors, you know. We have to take all the money and the jewelry out of the vault and take it to McLean.”

  “Alexis, you and Yoko take Junior and Senior out to Kathryn’s rig. Stick them in the car and use the handcuffs to shackle them to the door handle. Mrs. Monarch gets the passenger seat in front. The senator can bounce around inside the back of the truck for all I care. Tape his hands behind his back and his ankles as well,” Nikki said.

  Kathryn led Julia over to a brocaded sofa and helped her to stretch out. “Take a nap, Julia. We’ll wake you when it’s time to leave.” Kathryn kissed her cheek and touched her hair with gentle fingers. Julia closed her eyes and was asleep within minutes.

  As one, the sisters wiped at their eyes. “Time is money, ladies, let’s get to it,” Nikki said.

  They worked feverishly as they trundled the dolly back and forth to the eighteen-wheeler. It was up to Nikki to sanitize the residence which she did with the air of a professional.