“Um,” Kaem wondered what to say. He settled on, “Yes, the company transferred money into my account so I can pay for my dad’s treatment directly. I’ll, ah, have to show them receipts to justify it, of course.”
Starbach looked highly dubious. “So, you’re saying they’ve already transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to you for you to pay for treatment of your father?”
Kaem nodded.
“And… Well… You can imagine we find this hard to believe. What company do you work for?”
“Staze,” Kaem said. He rushed ahead, “You probably haven’t heard of it. It’s very new.”
“You’re right,” Starbach said, a sad smile on his face. “I haven’t heard of it. Can we pull up its website?”
I’ve got to set up a website! Kaem thought. He said, “The website’s still being built.”
“And your story’s a little too good to be true. Much as I’d love to treat your dad, the medical center can’t—”
“What if I deposit a half-million to cover my dad’s treatment?”
Starbach stared at him for a moment, “I don’t know if we have a way to accept overpayment in advance…”
“Come on! I tell you we have the money but you won’t believe me. I offer to pre-pay and you say you can’t accept it. Surely, rich people have some way to get treatment!”
Starbach gazed at him for a moment as if seeing the ridiculousness of the catch-22 himself, then he asked, “Can you see how this might seem like a phishing attack if you got it online?”
“Yes. But how do you propose I prove I can pay?”
“I thought your company was paying? Out of the goodness of its heart, I might add.”
“Yes, but they’ve transferred money to me, so, in a sense, I am rich at present. Can I show you my account balance?”
Starbach glanced at his watch and led off down the hall. “I’ve got patients waiting. You convince Claire, our clinic’s financial adviser, you have the money. If she’s convinced, my nurse’ll make your dad an appointment for his apheresis. Okay?”
“Yes, sir,” Kaem said, pumping Starbach’s hand enthusiastically.
Starbach took him to Claire’s office, explained the issue, and moved off to see his next patient.
Claire said, “If you really do have the money, you’re in luck. I used to work for the plastic surgery section. They had ways of taking prepayment for their cosmetic surgeries since those weren’t covered by insurance.”
With immense relief, Kaem said, “Great. How much do you want me to pay?”
“Two hundred and fifty thousand.”
“Nothing extra in case of complications?”
She snorted, “If you can transfer a quarter of a million dollars out of your checking account today, I think you can probably cover the cost of any complications.”
“Awesome.” And why couldn’t I have met someone like you earlier in this whole process?
That night, Kaem took Bana and his parents out to dinner at the Cavalier Buffalo. It was cheap and looked it, so he didn’t get the complaints he would’ve if he’d taken them somewhere nicer.
And, they loved the food.
Chapter Nine
Saturday morning Arya called to find out what’d happened with Kaem’s dad.
Kaem described the appointment and told her his dad was going to stay to have his apheresis—where they’d harvest some of his white blood cells—on Monday. Kaem’s mom was taking an Uber back to Valen Saturday because she had to work at the laundromat that evening. Bana would go back with her so she could go back to work Monday morning.
“I’ll go to brunch with you guys this morning,” Arya said as if it were already decided.
Taken aback, Kaem asked, “Really?”
“I still think you need protection. I wanted to go with you yesterday but I didn’t want to intrude on family matters. Besides, I want to meet your family.”
“Um, do I get to meet your family when they come to town?”
“Absolutely not!” Arya said as if talking to a child begging for candy. “If I introduced my parents to a boy the questions would never stop!”
Kaem hesitated, the asked, “What if my mother asks you some questions?”
“I’ll tell her I’m in business with you.”
“What if she’s sure there must be something romantic?”
“I’ll disabuse her of the notion.”
“Why can’t I do the same thing when your parents visit?”
“Because my mother would be on you like a barracuda. Your attempt to disabuse her would leave you with bloody stumps.”
“So, you think your mother would recognize how sexy I am, even though you don’t?”
“You’re still not funny, Kaem. Give it up.”
Kaem sighed. “If you’re going to meet my parents, I’ve got to tell you some stuff.”
“What? Are they serial killers?”
In a horrified tone, Kaem said, “That was not funny!”
Suddenly very apologetic, Arya said, “I’m sorry! So sorry. I know better than to make jokes…” She paused, recognizing the sounds of Kaem stifling hysterical laughter. Sternly, she growled, “I’m gonna make you pay for that.”
Getting himself in control, Kaem said, “Back to the stuff I need to tell you. Remember how I was worried about getting famous as the inventor of stade and founder of Staze? That I didn’t think I’d like it?”
“Uh-huh,” Arya said in a puzzled tone.
“I’ve decided I do want to be anonymous. Well, I won’t be anonymous, the main owner of Staze, Mister X is going to be the anonymous one. I’ll just be a regular schmo at the company. I’ll be a guy who had an idea the real founder riffed off of to come up with stade.”
“Mister X? Who the hell is Mr. X?”
“He doesn’t exist. He’s imaginary… Well, he’s me, but no one’s going to know it.”
“And… how is Staze supposed to pay an imaginary person?!”
“Arya, this is a good thing for you too. It’s how I’ll become so unimportant you won’t have to guard me. Everybody’s going to think Mr. X invented stade. That he’s the guy who knows how to make stazers. They can try to chase him down but they won’t be able to find him because he doesn’t exist.”
“You haven’t answered the question about how I’m supposed to pay this imaginary person!”
“I don’t know! That’s what we have lawyers for, isn’t it? Shell companies or something. Oh, and we need a website in the worst way. I’ll set one up and when I do, I’ll come up with an origin story for Staze that tells about Mr. X, the reclusive billionaire who got the idea for Staze after hearing Kaem Seba talk about his time theory. He took a patent out in my name and granted me a share just because I’m the one who stimulated him to have the idea. The public won’t know who has how much of a share, just that some of us have something. As far as we’re concerned, you and I’ll have the same 19.5% shares, Gunnar’ll have one percent, and Mr. X will have the remaining sixty percent, minus the tenth of a percent that’s going to Morales for the next three years. As far as the public’s concerned, you and I and Gunnar will each have one percent, Morales a tenth, and Mr. X’ll have all the rest. That’ll take the target off your back too. Oh, and X gave me a part-time job but still pays for my health insurance and he agreed to pay for my dad’s medical bills.”
“Come on Kaem. You’ll still be in danger. Since you’re the one who gave him the idea, you’d obviously know who he is. Someone trying to find out who X is could kidnap and torture you!”
“No, no. X heard me talking about my theory. He was one of a bunch of people who heard me going on about it. I wasn’t talking specifically to him and I have no idea who he is.”
“Kaem…” Arya said, sounding frustrated. “If you’re going to lie, you need something simple. This… this’s way too complex.”
“It is not!” Kaem said indignantly. “Mr. X invented stade, none of us know who he is. He’s the only one who knows how to staze. Simp
le. Oh, and I just realized, you won’t have to pay him. Like some other CEOs, he’ll take a salary of a dollar a year. His wealth will come from increases in the value of the company he owns such a big chunk of.”
“What about Marks and Branzon and their people?! They’ve seen you in action. They aren’t gonna believe you’re some kind of dupe!”
“I was only doing what X told me to do. He reaches me through my earbud using a disguised voice.”
“Oh, my, God! Just when I’m thinking you’re getting rational, you go completely off the deep end!”
“Where are we going to brunch?” Kaem asked, as if she hadn’t just questioned his sanity.
“What?!”
“You said you were going to brunch with me and my family. Now that you know the story of how stade was invented so you can carry on a conversation with them, we need to decide where we’re going.”
“Bistro Valentin has a nice brunch.”
“Okay. See you there in half an hour. Oh, don’t forget you’re paying with the company’s credit line. Also, be aware my family already thinks the company paid for my dad’s treatment.”
“I’m paying?” she asked threateningly. “You own four times as much of Staze as I do.”
“Well, yeah, but my family doesn’t know that. Of course, the high and mighty CFO with the big salary would offer to pay.” Kaem stopped there but when she didn’t say anything, he decided he could feel her fuming right through the phone. “Keep track of it. I will pay you back, okay?”
“Damned right you will,” she muttered. “See you at the bistro.”
~~~
Bana felt as if her world was askew. The frequent rides in Ubers were something new for her. The family’d had an old car until a few years ago but sold it during a financial crisis. They’d relied on their feet and public transport ever since, only occasionally taking one of Uber’s cheaper competitors when they had to. As they’d lived close to their jobs, this hadn’t been much of a hardship.
She’d looked up how much it cost to take an Uber from Valen to Charlottesville and found it breathtaking.
Then there was the hotel. She knew it wasn’t an especially expensive hotel, but it was nice. And its online prices were scary.
Now, despite the included breakfast, Kaem was taking them to another restaurant for ‘brunch’! Her parents didn’t seem to realize a breakfast came with the room or she was sure they would’ve gone apeshit. Bana’d considered pointing it out to them, but she’d liked eating at the Cavalier Buffalo last night. I could get used to eating out, she realized.
So, she was going along, though she couldn’t help worrying about her brother. This Mr. X he kept going on about had already been incredibly generous. It just couldn’t be possible the man would keep spending money on their family after putting up a quarter of a million dollars for their dad’s treatment, could it? Even if Kaem’s crazy theory had been behind the founding of his new company, she didn’t think it meant X owed Kaem anything.
No one was generous forever and Bana worried Kaem was milking that cow dry.
At the restaurant, Kaem introduced them to a very pretty Indian girl, Arya Vaii. He claimed Vaii was Staze’s financial officer, but the girl was far too young. She seemed a year or two younger than Kaem—about Bana’s age.
Bana watched her mother’s eyes go back and forth from Kaem to Vaii several times, then realized her mother thought they were romantically involved. Sophia asked, “How long have you and Kaem known one another?”
“Since he came to school here. When he first arrived, I was assigned to be his guide by the Curtis scholarship people.”
“Really?!” Sophia asked with raised eyebrows. “And you’re still friends?”
At first, Bana thought her mother was twitting Kaem about being hard to get along with, then she realized her mother thought that if they still knew one another it confirmed Sophia’s theory that there had to be something special about their relationship.
Arya said, “Yep, still friends. We pretty much have to get along since we’re both involved in Staze.”
“And how many people work at Staze?” Sophia asked—Bana thought this was another transparent attempt to figure out how close they were.
“Not even ten,” Arya said, “though we’re expecting to grow rapidly in the next few months.”
It turned out Arya also worked part-time for Staze, though she’d be working full time as soon as she graduated at the end of the month. Bizarrely, she also claimed to be the company’s financial officer. As if any company would have their finances handled by a part-time employee who was still in school.
Bana couldn’t take it anymore. “So,” she said dubiously, “Staze is new. It has fewer than ten employees. Two of them, you two, only work part-time. Yet,” she let her suspicion tinge her voice, “it has enough money to pay for our father’s medical care?”
Kaem opened his mouth to respond, but Bana stilled him with a hand on his arm, “I’d like to hear from Ms. Vaii. She’s the financial person.”
Vaii’s eyes went from Bana to Kaem and back to Bana. She grinned, “From that question I might come to believe you don’t trust your brother?”
Bana rolled her eyes. “He’s shifty, that one.”
Vaii laughed as if she found the assertion hilarious. In fact, she laughed so long and so hard she was soon wiping tears from her eyes. Bana looked at her brother and found him glaring at Vaii. Mysteriously he said, “I see you do find some things amusing, Ms. Vaii.”
Settling down, Vaii said, “Thank you, Bana. It’s good to encounter someone who doesn’t have your brother up on a pedestal.”
“Arya…” Kaem began, sounding apprehensive, but also as if issuing a warning.
Vaii glanced at Kaem, then said, “I mean, I know he gets good grades and makes the other physics students look like idiots, but seriously,” she wrinkled her nose and lowered her voice, as if speaking confidentially to Bana alone, “smart isn’t everything, is it?”
On the face of it, the words weren’t funny, but something about the way Vaii had said them struck a chord with Bana. Grinning, she shook her head. “No, it surely isn’t.”
“In answer to your question,” Vaii said, “the product…” she hesitated as if not wanting to say it, then proceeded, “Mister X, came up with after hearing Kaem’s theory… People in the business world like to say selling something like that is ‘like printing money.’ It’s already made several million dollars and it’s going to make so much more that…” She shook her head, “It’ll make so much money that putting a couple of undeserving college students on the payroll and paying for Mr. Seba’s medical bills will be inconsequential. Mr. X says he’s happy to do it.”
Bana narrowed her eyes, “I can understand why he’d be nice to my brother since his windfall’s based on Kaem’s theory, but why you?”
Vaii shrugged, “I put up the money for the first test of Kaem’s idea. That test was unsuccessful, but maybe that’s how Mister X came to hear about it?”
“You don’t know?”
Vaii shook her head. “I don’t know who X is, much less what he’s thinking. I’m just grateful he’s taken Kaem and me on.” She glanced at Kaem a little wistfully, “I don’t think he had to.”
~~~
On the walk back to the hotel Bana turned to Kaem. “You think I could get a job at Staze? Because, you know, they say ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.’ It’s occurred to me that if I know you and you seem to be in good stead with them at present, I’d probably better see if you can get me a job now, before they find out what you’re really like.”
Kaem didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled out his phone and handed it to her. “I got my replacement yesterday, but it took me a bit to get everything switched over.”
“Oh!” Bana said, excitement flaring. She suppressed it and looked him in the eye. “Are you trying to use this phone to distract me from the job you should be getting me?”
“No,” he said, slowing a bit,
then turning to look in a shop window while their parents pulled ahead a little. “I can try to get you a job. In fact, I’m pretty sure I can get you one as soon as the company expands a little. But…”
“But what?”
“But, when he’s better, I’d rather get Dad a job there. I think you should go to college. Then you’ll be able to get a job anywhere you want. You won’t depend on your brother arranging jobs for you. You’ll be your own woman.”
“I’m not smart like you, Kaem—" she began.
He cut her off, “The hell you aren’t. You got good grades. Maybe not as good as mine, but you weren’t even trying. I think if someone paid your tuition,” he said fiercely, “you could do anything you wanted.”
She stared at him. Sarcastically, she said, “I suppose you think Mr. X is going to pay for your sister to go to college?”
“No! I’ll pay for it.” He grabbed her and pulled her close, speaking hoarsely into her ear, “I’ve never forgotten the little sister who knocked a bully off me in grade school. I owe you.”
“Y-you couldn’t afford college tuition!” Bana said, holding him close so he couldn’t pull back and see the tears in her eyes.
“I could. I’ve learned how to live cheaply, going to school here while sending you guys money from my scholarship. I can keep living cheap… though,” he snorted, “you gotta go in-state and live in the dorm. I definitely can’t pay Ivy League prices.
“You’re gonna tell me your part-time salary will cover that?”
“I’ll stretch it. I’ll still be on the Curtis scholarship and I’ll keep living in the dorm. My entire salary can go to paying for your schooling.”
“It’ll pay that much?” Bana asked, still clinging to him, her voice breaking.”
“Yeah,” Kaem said hoarsely. Then warningly, “But don’t you go applying to expensive schools.”
Suddenly their mother’s voice came from behind her. “What’s the matter?!”
Oh. This has to be freaking Mom out, Bana thought, Kaem and me hugging and crying. She probably thinks something horrible’s happened! Bana turned to her mother. “It’s okay Mom,” she sniffled, “Kaem says he’s going to pay for me to go to college.”
The Thunder of Engines Page 24
