Free Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 01 - Flapjack by Daniel Ganninger Page B

tailed.  They were also, clearly, as excited as me, but Galveston exhibited a bit of trepidation for all of us.
    “ So what’s the story?”  I asked hurriedly before I was even in the door.
    “ What did you bring us?  I hope it’s some pigs in a blanket.  I love those things,”
    Galveston said grabbing the box from me, beginning to open it.
    “ Donuts?  You just got donuts?  Mindless calories,” he mumbled, already with half a jelly-filled protruding from his mouth.
    “ I didn’t know you were so concerned about your health before,” I told him.
    “ I am now.”
    “ Okay, you got your food.  Now what’s the story?”  I pressed.
    “ First things first, what are we going to get paid?”  Galveston inquired to me with glee.  I reached for a piece of scrap paper and leaned forward in my seat.
    “ Well, if all is successful, based on my estimates we may get paid this amount.”  I wrote on the piece of paper, folded it and slid it to Galveston on top of the coffee table in front of him.  He slowly unfolded it and nervously looked at the figure.
    “ Here, let me reattach your retinas,” I said to him noticing his surprise.
    “ Wow.  That’s a lot of zeros.”  The paper read $30,000.  “Are you serious?”  He asked me holding the paper.
    “ Yep, that’s about right.  Of course the breakdown will be different based on the distribution,” I told him.  We previously had agreed together that 40% would go directly back in the business, and 60% would be split evenly three ways, between each of us.  The business got $12,000 and we each received $6,000, all for essentially one week of work.
    I had managed to work some contractual magic.  I had to apply stipulation after stipulation while forcing myself to be confident in our success.  We came in under time, under budget, stayed concealed, and potentially saved Playcom millions of dollars.  I leaned back in my chair.
    “Not bad, is it?”  I said with an air of contention.
    “ Not bad?  If you weren’t a disgusting man, and it wouldn’t give me the feeling of expelling my half digested donut, I’d kiss you,” Galveston retorted.
    “ Oh, that’s lovely to hear.  What do you think Alex?  Do you plan to stick around and see what other high jinks we can get ourselves into?”
    “ Why not?  I think I’m going to kiss you no matter what,” Alex responded with a scary glint in his eye.
    I felt a new sense of purpose, one of the great financier.  I couldn’t do the jobs of Alex and Galveston nearly as well as they could, but they couldn’t pull off my job.  That’s why I was here.
    Playcom was willing to pay.  The potential losses superseded the measly amount they would pay us.  I played on this fact and it succeeded, along with stipulations of increased payment for coming under time.
    We all glowed over our new found bounty.  Maybe we glowed too much.  I propped my feet up on the coffee table.
    “ Did you figure out what that code was?  Not that it matters now, since we’re going to get paid,” I asked Galveston.
    “ Alright, alright,” Galveston said exhaustively.  “You better sit down.”
    I grabbed a donut and sat on the couch.  Galveston smiled, revealing bits of jelly goo around his mouth.
    “That file caught my attention,” Galveston began.
    “ What do you mean?”
    “ Well, as Alex was pointing at it, I noticed the name and numbers and something just clicked.  Where had I seen that before?  And then, I remembered.”  He held up his finger as he took a sip of coffee.
    “ You know I worked for Black Bear security right?”  He asked us, as if we didn’t know that information.
    “ Yes,” I answered.
    “ Well, that file name was so peculiar.  I learned during an investigation that Black Bear would name their black ops after Greek, Roman, or Egyptian mythological figures.  Sometimes they would use team names corresponding to letters of the phonetic alphabet.  Team alpha, bravo, Charlie.  They