A Conspiracy to Defraud...

"Bullshit, Barry. I know better than that. You love being in charge. Every pore in your body is involved with being the top man in this company. The results over the past six weeks verified my belief that you are the right man to run this company." Steven's voice had an odd sound to it. Barry just sat there watching Steven's face.

"That vacation of mine taught me one very valuable lesson. I don't need the stress and strain of being CEO of GeoTex any longer. I have nothing to prove and certainly I don't need to put any more money into my retirement account." Steven smiled.

"So today, I will be calling the chairman of the board and submitting my resignation. I suspect that Albert will ask me to stay on for a transition period just to keep the stockholders happy. But, the show will remain yours. I have no intentions of taking back the reins from you." ... A bigger smile ... "I should have told you last night over the phone, but I wanted to do it in person. Congratulations, Barry"

Barry was now speechless.

He had driven into work this morning knowing that Steven was back and his rein as "king of the hill" would be over for some unknown time period. It was a dreary thought for Barry to have to give back 'the bridge' to the commander. After being in the CEO position for six weeks, he liked everything about the position.

"At least I had a chance to 'test drive' the beast while Steven was on vacation." Barry had thought to himself as he walked into his quiet office earlier that morning.

That was two hours ago. Now he had just been told that the 'beast' was all his because Steven didn't want it back. It was almost impossible for Barry to contain his emotions.

"I don't know what to say, Steven. I fully expected you to come back and work another couple of years before you hung up your spurs." The impact of what Steven was just taking hold in Barry's mind.

"So did I, Barry...so did I. But six weeks away from the stress and pressures of this place made me realize that I need to find a new life to live. There are a hundred things that I've wanted to do but managed to postpone them. Now its time to go and enjoy those things." Steven go up from the sofa. They both shook hands and Steven left the office.

Barry wanted to call Carol and tell her the good news. But, just like Steven, he wanted to tell her face-to-face. He wanted to see her eyes light up and share her excitement with her.

It was about three o'clock in the afternoon when Rita knocked on his door.

"Mr. Chase would like to see you in his office right now Mr. Knoll. It sounded urgent." She said, not knowing what was going on since Mr. Chase came in this morning.

Barry walked into Steven's office and closed the door. Steven was on a conference call.

"Sit down Barry, I have the Chairman and two of the other board members on the line. I have given them my resignation, which they accepted with the condition that I stay on, in the background of course, for the next six months." ...There was a pause ... "Albert, why don't you tell Barry all about it." Steven sat back and smiled.

"Hello Barry, as you might guess, I was very surprised with Steven's phone call to me. I didn't expect that he would come back from his vacation and resign." ... Pause ... "Speaking for myself and the other members of the board, I am very pleased to offer you the permanent position of President and CEO of GeoTex. We have been watching your performance during Steven's absence and we are quite pleased with the job that you are doing." ... Another pause ... "Will you accept the position of President and CEO on a permanent basis."

The fireworks went off in Barry's head. "This is it!! The brass ring...the golden scepter...the keys to the kingdom! Damn right its mine!!" Barry quickly thought to himself.

"I would be honored to accept the position Mr. Higgins. And thank you and the board for your confidence in me." Barry replied as calmly as he could while every nerve in his body was exploding.

The conference call lasted another fifteen minutes before they all signed off.

"Well Barry, that's that. We'll wait a till then end of the week till all the members of the board convene and make the announcement to the general public. In the mean time, I'll be in and out of the office with no regular schedule. If you need to confer about anything, I will be available whenever you call."

"Thanks Steven. This is so sudden that it will take a day or so to sink in. I'll tell Carol tonight, she'll be thrilled."

"By the way, how is Carol? How is your marriage doing these days?" Steven asked almost like a concerned parent.

"Great. Carol is doing just fine and we are slowly putting all the pieces of our marriage together. In some ways our marriage is stronger now than it was before her affair." There was a strong tone of confidence in Barry's voice.

"I'm glad to hear that, Barry. I was really rooting for you and Carol to get things back together again."

Chapter 6

The Las Vegas trip

April was here, the second month since Steven returned from his vacation and resigned from the company. Barry was the top dog and everyone knew who was in charge. Even Rita, who dreaded to come to work some mornings, knew she had to contend with the new man at the top. She also knew that Barry was no softie, not like Steven.

True to his word, Steven stayed in the background. He even switched offices with Barry so that the promotion and all of the perks that went with the position were visible to everyone.

April was the month of the Industrial Manufacturing Convention which is held every year in Las Vegas. GeoTex had several divisions that featured their products at one large GeoTex booth on the convention floor. The annual convention was the opportunity for a hundred or so companies to showcase their new products and to drum up new business for the company. But, many of the attendees would often say..."Same shit, different year!"

And so it was with the GeoTex divisions. Lots of glamorous models at the booth, a lot of hand-shaking and a well stocked hospitality suite for potential customers. Most of the executives dreaded to come to this fiasco event, but it was almost a must-do-thing.

For Barry, it would be his first trip to the convention as the new CEO of GeoTex. He knew that it was a must-do for him also. Some of GeoTex's largest accounts would be there and would be expecting him and to wine and dine them.

Steven totally enjoyed these high profile events. He would even volunteer to be on the speaker's panel. Barry had a different approach to these events. Less glitz and glamour, more business and service. He would soon find out that glitz and glamour really were a necessity.

This time, Barry decided that he would take Carol with him on the trip to Las Vegas. It would be her first trip on the corporate jet and their first 'get away trip' in over six months. That evening when Barry told her she was coming along with him she exploded with excitement.

"Las Vegas! Damn! What a great place to go and have some excitement!" Carol thought to herself as she floated around the house for the next several days. She had gone to all the upscale stores and bought herself some very trendy clothes. Both day-time and evening wear. She wanted to be one hot 'escort' for her husband. The trip would last four days for Barry and Carol.

There were four corporate VP's who would be traveling to the convention on the company jet with Barry and Carol. These four executives would be the ones to meet with all the customers' lower level representatives and be on staff in the hospitality room. Barry would be saved for all the 'bigger fish'.

The flight was scheduled for that Monday evening. Barry had gone into work that morning and told Carol that a company car would come by and take her to Midway airport. He would meet her there instead of coming home from the office. He told her it would be better if she traveled in slacks instead of a dress. More comfortable he told her.

She knew that he didn't want her to be too sexy on the plane, especially with the other men who would be on board.

The five GeoTex men were already on board waiting for the last passenger to arrive. As with most females, Carol was late arriving at the plane. As she entered the plane's cabin, even Barry was awestruck by this beautiful woman.

Carol was wearing a chic black knit top and slacks outfit. She entered the cabin and all the talking stopped. It was as if she had just stepped out of a Cosmopolitan magazine, she was simply gorgeous. There was a slight devilishness in her smile as she looked at the five seated men.

"Well hello, darling. Late as usual." Barry said with a laughter in his voice and a sense of pride as he knew the other four men were sitting there stunned by her presence.

"I'm so sorry to keep all you important gentlemen waiting." She said with a make believe pout on her lips. "But, the time just flew by so fast this afternoon...."

"No excuse, my dear. You know how valuable our time is." Barry was now 'pulling her chain' for the amusement of the other men. Carol was wise to this kind of male chauvinist talk. So, she just went along with it.

"I'll just have to think of something to make it up to all of you for wasting your valuable time." A devilish smile and a sexy voice as she took the seat next to her husband.

If she wasn't the boss's wife, there would be four aroused males competing for her attention. All they did was to laugh and clap their hands as she sat down.

The male cabin assistant came down the aisle and stopped by Carol's seat. "May I get you something after the plane is airborne, mam?" He asked her.

"Why yes! I'll have a gin and tonic." Carol was loving all this attention she was getting.

"First, tell the pilot that we are now ready and get this bird in the air... pronto!" Barry snapped at the cabin assistant. No sense in not using the power of the position.

The flight was a thrilling experience for Carol. The only woman among the total of eight males on board this luxury private jet. She had spent the morning at the day spa getting the complete 'body and hair works'. That morning everyone at that spa knew that Carol was heading to Las Vegas in the afternoon. Female envy was very thick by the time Carol left the day spa to go home.

The Knoll's suite was very large and luxurious suite. A suite fitting the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Walking into the room was another ego boost for Barry. For Carol it was like a page from a Cinderella story. She had seen pictures of guest rooms like this on TV, but she thought they were there for other people. Now she was one of the 'other people'.

After the bell-hop left the room, Carol let out a loud squeal and threw her arms around Barry's neck. His previously semi-hard cock turned to granite as she kissed him passionately with her tongue inside his mouth.

"Oh Barry....this is so much like a fairy tale. It is true isn't it?" She said in a somewhat disbelieving voice.

"Yes....my beautiful and stunning wife. It is all so very real. And you need to start getting used to this lifestyle. I think its going to be around for a number of years." He said to her as he held her luscious body tightly against his.

"I don't think that I'll have any trouble getting used to this lifestyle as long as you are there to teach me how to enjoy it." Carol said as she danced away from him to inspect the rest of the three room suite.

A nasty thought raced across Barry's mind. "I'll teach her how to enjoy this lifestyle. Les taught her how to enjoy the sex lifestyle." It was just a brief reminder that the ugly fact of Carol's affair was still not completely dead and buried.

That night in the very large bed, Carol proved to him that she was an excellent student of the school of sex. Their sex session was long and intense. Carol offered her complete body to her eager husband. Everything he wanted from her she gave him with an intensity that finally exhausted him. He was a spent man by the time they both drifted off into a dreamland bliss.

The next couple of days for Barry were spent meeting with most of the CEO's from other companies. Surprisingly he fit right in with this close knit 'boys club'. No one treated him like the new kid on the block, even though they all had a numbers of years over his thirty-six years.

Carol was a busy bee. She did the casinos, she did shopping, she did the casinos, she did shopping. Life was very good and very happy for Carol. The evening dinners were lush affairs and she dressed like the queen of Las Vegas. She was more than just the perfect escort for Barry, she was the attracting magnet for all the other CEO's who wanted to dine with them.

The third afternoon of the convention, Barry got an invitation to a private high rollers poker game. The invitation didn't say who the other players would be, but it did hint at some very fast action. The game started at seven o'clock that night.

Carol was somewhat disappointed that she and Barry would not have another fabulous evening of dining, dancing and some gambling before they return to their suite. Barry had to remind her that this was a business trip and that the card game was a way of doing business in Las Vegas.

There were about a half dozen men in the room when Barry showed up. There was a well stocked bar which everybody seemed to have visited more than once. Barry had a secret rule whenever he played poker....no liquor. Pickling the brain was for those other idiots. Barry never wanted to give even a fraction on an inch advantage to the other players when he was in a card game. Just ginger ale, with some ice.

The players introduced themselves and took a chair around the table. Across from Barry sat Ted Swanson, the CEO of Fastcom, one of GeoTex customers. Fastcom was one of the target companies for the GeoTex San Diego operation at this convention. That operation had about 10% of Fastcom business. It would be a coup for that operation to get that percentage up to at least 30%. Barry tucked that thought away in the back of his mind.

The game was straight five card stud. There was a twenty-five thousand buy in for each player. No more chips or credit would be given. If the player lost his twenty-five thousand dollars, he just dropped out of the game. That meant there was a potential for one player to run the table and walk away with a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Barry like that kind of game.

Except for a nature break every two hours, the game went solid for five hours before two of the players dropped out of the game. Ted and Barry were the two heavy winners up to that point. The game resumed with only four players. After six hands, another player dropped out, it wasn't Ted and it wasn't Barry.

Barry had been hoping that Ted would keep drinking his sour mash liquor, but Ted was no fool either. Once the game started, his drink of choice was straight water.

As the game began with just the three players, Barry mentally calculated what he thought each of them had in front of them. Ted probably had sixty thousand, Chuck had about twenty thousand and Barry had the rest, about seventy thousand. Just a slight edge over Ted.

The bad hands seemed to all fall Chuck's way. Barry increased his edge after four more hands. Then came a hot hand for Ted, he kept raising the ante until he forced Chuck to fold. It was now a game between ginger ale and water.

Ted was now on a roll. This was the way he loved to play the game. All or nothing. He raised the ante till he only had about ten thousand dollars in front of him. Barry saw the bet and raised Ted twenty thousand. That would have put Ted out of the game. No way was he going to let that young up-start across the table get the pot that easily from him. Not with him holding two pairs, Kings and Jacks.

"Since I can't get any more chips to meet your bet, Barry. I'll sweeten the pot with an offer of increasing the Fastcom business to GeoTex from 10% to 30% for the next two years." Ted was dangling a huge carrot in front of him. If he accepted, the San Diego operation would more than exceed their annual goal. If he could beat Ted's hand, that is. Barry looked down at his two pair, tens and sevens.

There would be one last chance to discard and get another from the dealer. Barry knew that there was no bluffing involved in this last hand. His instincts told him that Ted was probably holding at least three of a kind which would beat his two pair.

"Naw...not good enough Ted. Make it 50% and for four years and you got a deal. If not then that nice pot will be all mine." That was the only bluff that Barry could think of to make Ted fold.

"You got to be kidding....50% for four years...no way, man!" Ted barked out as the veins stood out on his neck. He was mad...and he was in a corner.

"Kings and Jacks...goddamn they got to be winners..." He thought to himself. "And besides, I have to show this guy just who the big man really is." Ted was mad.

Barry put his cards face down on the table and began reaching for the pot.

"Not so goddamn fast, Barry. I'll take that offer...50% for four years." He said almost growling at Barry.

"Ok, you're on." Barry said as he felt that Ted was going to walk away the winner tonight.

Ted he threw one card down on the table. The dealer dealt the top card, Ted picked it up. An ace. Not bad he thought, Kings and Jacks with an ace as a top card.

Barry threw out one card. The dealer dealt the top card, Barry picked it up. It was a seven of clubs. He had a full house! Still no expression on his face.

Ted pushed his remaining chips to the center of the table. Barry nodded his head and pushed his pile of chips to the center of the table. The pot was the full one hundred and fifty thousand dollars and 50% of Fastcom's business.

Slowly, Ted peeled one card at a time face up on the table. One Jack, two Jacks, one King, two Kings and finally the Ace of hearts. A big grin spread across Ted's face as he looked at Barry.

Stone faced, no expression at all, Barry mimicked Ted's gesture as he peeled one card at a time face up. One ten, two tens, one seven, two sevens. Barry stopped with the last card in his hand, he looked across at Ted, who now had an anxious look on his face. The third seven went down on the table.

"Goddamn! Goddamn it!!! You lucky son-of-a-bitch Barry! You had to have drawn a seven as the last card!" Ted realized that he had Barry beat up until that last card was dealt. "You lucky bastard!"

Barry just sat back in his chair. He made no move to rake in the pot. It was a moment of glorious triumph for him. Screw the one hundred and fifty dollars, it was the Fastcom business that made the victory so very sweet.

Like two fierce combatants of medieval times, the two men stared at each other.

Finally a big shit-eating grin came over Ted's face. "Damn it Barry, you're are one hell of a gutsy poker player. If I was going to get my ass whipped, I'm glad that it was done by someone with a set of brass balls!"

The two men got up from the table and walked over to the bar. "Let me buy you a drink, Ted. I really need one myself." Barry said as he ordered a double JD for himself and a double Wild Turkey for Ted. The two men leaned against the bar and began to bullshit about card games that they had been in and bets they had won and lost. It was a moment of male bonding.

"Let me ask you a favor, Ted" Barry said as he order another JD.

"What the fuck do you want now? You got half of my business for four years! What the fuck do you want now?" Ted's voice had a jovial ring to it as he finished his drink.

"All I want is that you don't tell the guys at the San Diego operation that I won the business for them. I want you to give them hell, rake them over the coals first. Make them think that it was all their effort that won the contract from Fastcom." Barry replied. He knew that handing the Fastcom contract to the San Diego guys would be a big downer for them. They needed to be the 'heroes'....not the big man from corporate headquarters.