Revenge at Zero Degrees Kelvin

Nothing new here. It's just a bastard getting torched. It's probably a bit over the top, but I didn't write it to be taken seriously. No sex, and no real character development in this one. It's just a fun little story that came to me the other day. It's a short one, less than 2,800 words including this intro, so it won't waste much of your time.

Sorry, no underpowered Mustangs getting smoked by GTOs in this one. Speed Limit - 65 MPH. Fords, just do the best you can and stay in the right lane. For you Mustang lovers out there, one of my cars is actually a Mustang. What can I say, I got it cheap, and I am modifying it.

OK, because I really don't feel like answering a hundred comments and messages explaining the title. You engineer and science (real science like chemistry and physics, not pseudo-science like psychology anthropology, sociology, or the like) people will already know this. There is a saying that the best revenge is served cold. The title is a play on that. There are actually four different temperature scales. Most know about Celsius and Fahrenheit. Both those scales are based upon the freezing temperature of pure water. The other two scales are based upon absolute temperature. The Rankine scale is based upon the Fahrenheit scale to measure the absolute temperature of a substance. The Kelvin scale is based upon the Celsius scale. Zero degrees Kelvin is the absolute lowest temperature physically possible for a substance or environment to reach. Physically, nothing can ever get colder than zero degrees Kelvin. This title is a play on this. Revenge served at zero degrees Kelvin is revenge served as cold as you can get.

OK, I lied. The main story is less than 2,800 words and ends before the Epilogue. Including the Epilogue, it is just over 4,450 words. You can stop there if you want. The rest is just crap that deals with Karma. It's related, but just kind of an add-on. FYI, it would help to have read my story Karma to really understand the character in the Epilogue.

Anyway, it's time to suspend reality and just enjoy a true bastard getting his just reward.

"Steve! Hey Steve!" I heard someone calling my name as I was walking through the Expo.

Turning towards the voice calling my name, I smiled. "Hi, Tom. Haven't seen you around for a while." Glancing at the logo on the smart polo shirt he was wearing, I added, "That's not the company that you were with before. I hope it was a move up for you." A slight grimace came over his face.

"More of a lateral move. Anyway, how about we meet up later and catch up?" Heb offered.

"Sure. I'll be done about 5:00. Ill meet you at the Hotel bar then."

He confirmed, then headed back to his booth as I moved on. Tom wasn't what you would call a good friend, but in our business, you tend to run into the same people at most of these conferences. We had met up several times over the years and gotten along pretty well. As more than just casual acquaintances, but less that really good friends, we had discussed our families and lives in general, but no real specifics. I had noticed that he had been missing these conferences for the last couple of years, and it was good to see him back. I'm sure that we would have a good time catching up on our lives.

"So, new job then?" I asked as I sat down beside him and ordered my drink.

"Yeah. I had a difference of opinion with my old company, and we parted ways.:

"Wow. That's rough. Is that why you haven't been to these conferences for the last couple of years?"

"Yeah. I had to work my way up from the bottom again. It doesn't matter how much experience I had before, they want their longer-term employees that are more familiar with their products and services in the booth."

"Well, that does make sense. So, how've you been? What' going on in your life? How's the wife and kids?" I asked, wanting to change the subject.

His face turned dark. "Jenn divorced me." He replied. "And because I had to move three states away for this job, I almost never get to see my kids anymore."

"Oh. That' rough. Did she find out about you cheating on her? I mean you were always bragging to all of us about all the married women you were fucking on you trips out of town. What was the name of the last one? Mary? I remember you talking a lot about her. You had been banging her for a couple of months at that time."

He smiled at that one. "Yeah. Damn, she was hot. She had been putting her husband off on having kids for a couple of months already just so she could sow her last wild oats."

"Are you still tapping that?"

"No. She suddenly stopped taking my calls and even blocked my number shortly after the last conference I attended. I think I met her once more, then everything went to hell. In fact, it was the video of her and me that Jenn used I the divorce to invoke the prenup. That also cost me my job."

"They fired you for infidelity?" I asked in amazement. "Isn't that illegal?"

A look of anger came across his face. "Of course, they didn't fire me for infidelity. She had me served at the office just as we were about to have our monthly meeting. The little blonde bitch that served me the divorce papers loudly exclaimed that I was being served with the divorce on grounds of adultery. Her dad, the CEO of the company, then put his attack dogs in the accounting department on me and began reviewing all my expense reports for the last several years. Lunches, dinners, motel rooms, everything. They even called up my clients to verify if I was actually having lunches and dinners with them at those times. Not only did they fire me for cause, but then they sued me for repayment. I still owe them about 10 grand. He also blackballed me from the industry."

"Wow. That's rough." I commented. "If he blackballed you, how did you get this job?"

"It wasn't easy." He remarked. "First off, I had to take a severe cut in pay. I have 20-years of experience, but I am being paid the same as a kid straight out of college. My base pay sucks, so I have to put in about 80 to 100 hours a week just to make enough commissions to get by. Second, the owner of this company really doesn't like Jenn's dad, so he didn't really care about the blackballing."

"Well, that's good for you then. At least you are making decent money and can pay your child support."

"That's not the worst part. Jenn wasn't just out for blood; she wanted my bone marrow as well. Since the accounting office had all the receipts, they knew all the places, times and dates. Her daddy hired a really good PI firm to track everything down. They found over a dozen other women that I had been fucking. Every one of their husbands got a package delivered to them. Of course, the Alienation of Affection suits went nowhere, except to ruin my reputation. The problem was that several of the husbands got DNA testing on their kids. What the fuck is wrong with these bitches? I mean, if you are going to cheat on your husbands, you should be practicing birth control. Three husbands sued me for back and future child support. I had to trade in my BMW for a used Ford Focus. Of course, I was kicked out of the house. It was in Jenn's name, a gift from her father just BEFORE we got married. I now live in a tiny studio apartment in the crappiest area of town. I am working so much and have no extra money, so I have no social life. The only time that I can afford to drink is when I am traveling and can expense it as entertaining a client. My only hope right now is that Jenn will marry the guy that I heard she is seeing and end the alimony payments. Hell, I'll even sign off on letting him adopt my children to quit the child support payments. It's not like I have the opportunity to see them now anyway."

"Wow." I remarked. "Sounds like you really pissed off the wrong people." He was on his fourth drink by this time. I was kind of wondering if he would have enough money to pay his bar bill.

"Look, Steve. You and I have been kind of friends for years. I'm really desperate here. I really need a good sale. I can get you a really good price, and I know that there are a lot of our products that you can use. Get me a list of what you need, and I'll beat any other price that you can get on them." Damn, it was sad to see this once proud man begging now.

"Tell you what. Let's just enjoy this evening, and we can discuss business tomorrow. After all, as you said, we have been friends for years." I offered.

He smiled at that, thinking that he would be getting a good order from me. "OK, buddy. Now, I've been sitting her blathering about my shitty life. What's been going on with you?"

"Well, Tom. The last couple of years has for me have been remarkably similar to your life, with a couple of differences."

"Really?" He asked in wide eyed amazement.

"Yeah. You see, I got divorced as well. Thankfully, we had no children yet."

"Were you cheating on her too?"

"No. Quite the opposite. You see, I was sitting in a bar, much like this one, talking to a client. I overheard some blowhard bragging about all the women that he was fucking on the side. I was just laughing most of it off until I heard him talking about one particular woman. That got my attention. When I got home, I installed cameras in all of our rooms, bugged her phone, and put GPS units in her car and purse. It didn't take long to catch her cheating on me. I managed to get video of her fucking the slimeball." He was listening to me with rapt attention. He was a bit to drunk to catch the subtle hints in there.

"What did you do?" he asked.

"I went full on BTB. Actually, it was BTBs, plural. I not only burned her, but I decided to burn the bastard as well."

A glimmer of something passed through his eyes. Maybe something was getting through the fog of the alcohol.

"Hey, you know? In all the years we've known each other, we've never shown each other pictures of our families." I exclaimed. "Here's a picture of my ex-wife." I proclaimed as I pulled up a photo on my phone.

His face immediately went pure white. "But that's......" He sputtered.

"Yeah." I agreed. "That's the slut you were bragging about fucking at the last conference that you attended.

"You!" He accused.

"Yep. Me."

"You ruined my life!"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Well, you did fuck my wife. You should know that actions have consequences."

"It was just sex." He pleaded. "It didn't mean anything."

"Actually, it meant everything."

"I didn't know that she was your wife."

"Doesn't really matter. You knew that she was somebody's wife. Besides, you knew that you were also married. You remember that vow 'To forsake all others'? Some of us take that seriously."

It was really sad to watch the guy fall apart and begin crying there in the middle of the bar like that.

"OK, Tom. Get yourself together now. There's a bit more information that you really need to know about." I told him.

"Really? How much worse can it get?" He asked.

"Well, a lot worse, actually. The good news is that everything else has already been put in place and is already in play. There will be nothing else added on from here on, unless you fuck things up again."

"Please tell me that things will be getting better for me." He begged.

"Well, they can, depending on your actions. At least, they won't be getting any worse. I should start by telling you about my new job. I'm now working for your old company. I'm the Director of Engineering, and I work directly for the CEO, your ex-father-in-law. He's going to be retiring in six months, and I will be named the new CEO. I think that's what the plan was for you until you fucked it all up. Next, the owner of your company and your ex-father-in-law don't exactly hate each other. Actually, they are more friendly rivals. In fact, the three of us will be playing a round of golf on Friday. Stan (the ex-father-in-law) realized that without a job, you wouldn't be able to pay his daughter the court mandated alimony and child support. He discussed it with your new boss and got you the job you have now."

"Well, at least it can't get any worse. I can start working my way up on this company, and, hopefully, she will marry the guy she's seeing and eliminate my alimony payments."

"Yeah, I wouldn't count on that too much. I seriously doubt that you will be moving up in your company. Sure, you will be getting your annual cost of living raises, but you will remain at your current position. Nobody trusts you enough to promote you."

I let that sink in for a couple of minutes, then I continued.

"Oh. Let me show you a couple of pictures of my new fiancé and her kids." I pulled up another photo on my phone.

I think that it was a bit of a shock, because it took him a minute or two to react.

"That's, that's, that's. my....."

"Your ex-wife, yes." I confirmed. "And these are your children."

"My children?"

"Yep. You know that they are now calling me daddy? I guess that since you haven't been able to see them for a couple of years, it is probably natural. Inam the only adult male in their lives now."

"You're dating my ex-wife?" He exclaimed.

"Actually, we are engaged." I replied. "Our wedding is planned for April 2027."

He thought about that for a minute. Then it dawned on him. "Wait a minute. My last alimony payment to her is in March of 2027."

"Yes, I know. She refused to marry me before then. She wants to bleed you for all she can. You really should have known better than to piss off an Irish redhead. You got a double shot of anger management issues there. You got that famous Irish temper, then the famous redhead temper on top of that. That's a bad combination."

"I thought we were friends. How can you do this to me?"

"Well, I thought that we were friends as well, that is until I found out you were fucking my wife."

"But I didn't even know she was your wife." He complained.

"Doesn't matter. You knew she was someone's wife. Maybe you should have found out who's wife she was before you fucked her."

"Oh God! Can this get any worse?"

"You really should never ask that. It jinxes you. It can always get worse. On the upside, you still have 10 years of child support left to pay. Eventually, those kids will start dropping off as they turn 18. Unfortunately, you will most likely still be paying the back support for a while yet. Once the first couple of kids turn 18, you can use that money to double up on those payments. Unfortunately, unless you REALLY impress your boss, you will most likely be laid off as soon as your last child support payment is made. Also, there are still several angry husbands that really want to get their pound of flesh out of you. So far, I have convinced them to hold off, because if you are injured, you can't work and keep making the payments on time. Once you are done with those payments, there really won't be much of an incentive to hold off anymore.

"Anyway, it was good to catch-up with you tonight. Maybe we can catch up again at the next conference. I'll take care of the check, since you seem to be having some money issues." I told him as I paid the check, then left him there contemplating his future existence.

The beautiful redhead sat at a booth in the corner observing the conversation. She watched as the tall, well-built man got up, paid the bill, and strode out of the bar. She saw the devastation on the other man's face. Of course, she knew what had just happened. Still, she was compassionate. The poor, broken man really could use some good karma to come into his life. Yes, he deserved everything that was happening to him, but judgment tempered with mercy is always best. After all, people can learn from their mistakes, so giving them a chance to redeem themselves always benefits society.

The redheaded Goddess spied a tall, leggy blonde beauty enter the bar and look around. She was already familiar with the blonde, and she had already made arrangements for her karma to visit. The redhead smiled. Worst case, she would move up her plans for the blonde. Her fate was sealed regardless. The redhead closed her eyes and concentrated. Suddenly, several other customers entered the bar and took all the available booths. The only seat left was at the bar beside the devastated man. Having no other choice, the blond strode confidently to the seat and sat down. Karma smiled. It was all now up to the devastated man whether he would get a bit of relief or have further devastation in his life. After a quick glance at the 6'5" muscular man in an obvious disguise sitting alone in a dark booth at the back of the bar, the redheaded goddess decided to let things play out as they would.

It had been a long month for the beautiful redhead. She needed to relax for a night. With one more incantation to ensure that the devastated man would not be seriously harmed, he did need to be able to work to make his court mandated payments, she decided to relax for the rest of the evening. The clearly exhausted and over-worked cocktail waitress set another drink down in front of her. The redhead who was named Karma saw the pain in the waitress's eyes. She saw that life had been hard on her, and that she did not deserve what she had been through. She saw that this woman was a very honorable and decent person that had been dealt a shitty hand. It was time for her to get a strong dose of good Karma.

As she was sipping her drink, her mind went into her archives to discover her situation. She discovered what she needed to know. She made her move the next time that she stopped at her booth.

"What time do you get off, honey?" She asked.

"Uuummm, it will be another two hours, but I really don't date customers." Was the reply. "Besides, I really need to get home to take care of my daughter."

'What's the use of being a Goddess if you can't use it occasionally for your own purposes?' She thought.

Suddenly, the brunette waitress's phone suddenly rang. She answered it. The gist of the conversation was that the waitress's daughter had already fallen asleep, and her teenage babysitter was willing to stay the night for no extra charge. She was disorientated when she woke up in her own bed the next mo

"Well, now that that has been settled, I'm in room 512. Don't worry, I'll have you home in plenty of time to fix her breakfast tomorrow morning. I'm pretty sure that this is something that you need."

Seriously! She is a fucking Goddess! No one can resist her.

The brunette passed out in exhaustion on the luxurious bed in the high-end suite. She was disorientated when she woke up in her own bed the next morning in her own bed with the memories of the night before.

The Goddess woke up with a sigh od resignation, knowing that she would never be able to have a real relationship. Still, she was content that she had made the proper arrangements so that the waitress would be taken care of. She would just have to be satisfied with the occasional tryst that she could work out.

EPILOGUE:

Tom failed his test for redemption. He used his expense account to buy the married blonde drinks and talk her into his hotel room. Unfortunately for both, she didn't take much talking. In fact, it is still a point of contention on whether he talked her into it, or she talked him into it. Either way, her jealous husband who had watched the entire thing in disguise destroyed Tom's testicles to the extent that he would never get an erection again. He then used his prenup to divorce the blonde and leave her with just the clothes on her back when she left. She is now a prostitute working for a rather violent pimp on the bad side of town.

Oddly, ss week after the sexual tryst between the redheaded goddess and the brunette waitress, a very expensive Lexus SUV suddenly broke down in front of the seedy bar. As luck (or Karma) would have it, the rich woman sat in a booth that the brunette beauty was serving. Through a series of odd circumstances, the rich woman ended up sitting in the booth for several hours before her car was towed. The time allowed the two to get to know each other very well.