Here Be Monsters - By M T Murphy Page 0,2

gorgeous green eyes.

*****

When Tim arrived at the office the next morning, Barry was sitting at Tim’s desk, using his computer. “What are you doing?” he asked.

Barry jumped, obviously startled. “Sorry. System update was taking forever on my machine, so I was just surfing on yours. Had to check my messages.” He took his time, finally getting out of Tim’s chair after making several more precise clicks of the mouse. “I’m sending the CEO an email today to request a meeting tonight.”

They were the only two people in that corner of the building, but Tim still glanced around nervously. “Why are you talking about it out loud like that? Are you nuts?”

“Relax. I made friends with one of the security guys who works in the main control room. He said that only the entrances and exits are monitored. They don’t even log what websites we visit. Thank God for that, otherwise they’d have fired me years ago.” Barry laughed and punched Tim in the arm.

“Barry, we have to talk about this. There’s no way you’ll get away with it.”

“It’s fool-proof,” Barry said. “I’ll send Miss Romana a taste of the incriminating documents via a totally untraceable email account and tell her where to wire the cash. Once the transfer is made, the receiving account will split it up and send it to forty-three separate accounts in fifteen different countries. By the time they track them down, I’ll have run that money through several legit businesses and made it so squeaky clean you could eat off it.”

He reached into his pocket and produced a piece of paper with two series of numbers scrawled on it. “Before I forget, here is the account number and phone number for the bank with your cut.” He folded the paper and placed it in Tim’s shirt pocket, not giving him a chance to protest. “Don’t worry, I made sure yours goes through twelve different banks on its own. It is completely untraceable.”

“What makes you think she’ll go for this instead of calling the police?”

“It really is an offer she can’t refuse. Her choices are to call the cops and lose everything or pay the measly million and a half bucks. She’ll pay.” Barry’s confidence spilled out in the form of a smug grin.

Tim couldn’t help but see the specter of prison bars in their future.

“Look, Barry. I told you I don’t want any part of this. I’ve already done more than I wanted to. Just do me one favor. Don’t set this in motion today. Sleep on it. We’ll put our heads together and figure something out so you don’t have to do this.”

Barry scowled. Tim knew he was nearly impossible to dissuade once he’d set his mind to something, no matter how crazy it was. But, surprisingly, after a moment the scowl softened and Barry smiled. “Fine. Waiting one day won’t kill me, I guess. Let’s meet in your office tonight at eight. I have some month-end stuff to finish so I’ll be working late anyway. Go grab a bite to eat when you’re done with work and come back. I don’t know how the hell you think we can figure out a way to make enough cash to pay off my debt, but we can talk about it.”

They parted with a nod. Tim was surprised at how quickly Barry had caved, but he felt a little better. After Barry left, he looked at the computer and found that the last thing he had done was clear the internet history.

Tim shook his head. “Barry and his porn. I don’t even want to know.” He spent the rest of the day working and trying to figure out how to raise the money without breaking the law.

He finished up his work well after sunset and walked by Barry’s office door on his way to the elevator. It was closed, as it was every month when crunch time rolled around. He could hear fingers furiously banging on keys as Barry drafted the monthly summary for the executives to let them know the state of financial affairs. He had his issues, but Barry was a wizard when it came to numbers.

Tim rode the elevator down to the third floor. The bell rang and he reminded himself to look before rushing through the doors. They opened and he jumped.

“Hi, Tim.” Lucille Romana smiled and stood patiently outside the elevator.

He stood with his mouth agape for several seconds before rational thought returned. “Hi…uh…Lucy. I didn’t knock you down this time.” Smooth.

“I