Page 14 of Fool’s Gold

Matt nodded once, also never changing his face. “Of course. We’ll be delighted.” He moved away so Dan could meet the next well-wisher.

Jack linked arms with him. “You’ve done this before.” He didn’t know why he was so surprised by that fact. There wasn’t any place like corporate America for sneaking, skullduggery, and weasel words.

“Audits can be pretty cutthroat.” Matt allowed himself to be guided over to the open bar. Jack watched carefully as the bartender mixed martinis for both of them. He tipped her generously and guided them slowly, meanderingly, toward the room Dan had indicated.

Dan joined them at the appointed time. No one would have made the connection that they’d gone in to meet each other. Now that they were in private, all the rigid formality of a prince on a diplomatic mission evaporated.

Dan loosened his tie and sank onto one of the sofas. “Christ Almighty, I can see why Eric ran off.” He shook his head, as if the tie had restricted air flow. “Give me BDUs and an M16 any day.” He looked up and grinned, a bright sunshine smile that almost made Jack relax. “Vessely! Never would have figured you for this gig, man.”

“You know me. I go where I’m sent.” He bent down and hugged Dan. “But hey, I’d never have figured you for royalty, so I guess we’re even.”

Dan laughed out loud. “Hey, I’m a prince among men. Seriously, pull up a chair, you two. I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to hide out in here. The ambassador is covering for me, but no one put on a monkey suit to seeher. They want to see a prince, so I’m going to have to go back out there eventually.” He turned to Matt. “How much do you know about my husband?”

Matt tugged at his collar. “Er, not as much as I should, Your Highness.”

Dan snorted. “Please don’tYour Highnessat me, not while we’re alone. I’m from Boston. We had a whole thing with some tea and the harbor? My dad was a carpenter. Anyway. Eric’s a genius. He’s going to be the king, but before he went back to Corvia, he was a Harvard professor. Hung out with all kinds of genius types, and he’s brought a bunch of ’em back to Corvia too.”

“That’s fantastic.” Matt gave a small smile. “It’s always good to have a hub of research and innovation.”

“Not just that. Researchers have been working on your—er, Besse’s super flu. We got the genome from Dr. Darrow at the CDC. I assume you already knew?”

Matt shook his head. “The first thing I did when I agreed to take this job was to sign over any patents or copyrights related to the Besse flu into the public domain. It’s wildly inappropriate for us to profit from this atrocity.”

Dan nodded slowly. “That’s... good to hear. A bit surprising, but good. Anyway, this is what we’ve been doing. We’ve got some vague ideas for a cure and for a vaccine. Obviously, we want to work with Besse to get your input, and to get US regulatory approval.”

Matt took a deep breath. “First of all, thank you. I can’t thank you enough. The thought of that virus being out there and still hurting people keeps me up at night. I’m an accountant so there’s not much I can directly do about it.

“I am a little concerned that Besse is not the best partner to help bring any treatment or vaccine to market. We’re rightly hyperscrutinized, and we definitely don’t have the trust of the populace. I’m not sure that we’d get as many people willing to take a vaccine from Besse for a disease we released.” He gave a watery smile. “Please don’t get me wrong. I want for us to participate. I want for us to be involved. I just feel like we should let someone else take the lead on this.”

Dan scratched his chin. “Okay. It makes sense. I’m not sure how to respond to it, but it makes sense.”

Jack rolled his eyes. Matt loved to sound like a martyr.

“I’m pursuing a research partnership with three local universities.” Matt cleared his throat. “The plan is to essentially outsource the research function to these schools, and then for us to manufacture the products, splitting the profits fifty-fifty. This way the schools get additional money without strings attached, and we get an extra set of controls in that process that would be significantly more difficult for a bad actor to manipulate. If we were to bring the schools into this process...”

Dan lit up. “That’s brilliant. I’ll talk to Eric about this and let you know what he says, but I suspect he’ll be on board. He’s good at PR, but he’s never really worked in a corporate environment. He’ll appreciate the input.”

Matt’s cheeks turned red, and Jack looked away. The last thing he needed was to find Matt attractive. More attractive, anyway.

They exchanged private contact information, and then returned separately to the larger reception.

The other guests came from all across the upper echelons of Atlanta life, and Matt moved among them with what looked to Jack to be practiced ease.

He recognized the mayor, of course, and the governor. A few film studio owners were there, too, along with the occasional celebrity. Owen Paul, the actor, had made it to the show. Jack wasn’t entirely sure why, but whatever. It was his job to see and be seen. And, of course, there were few men easier on the eyes than Owen Paul.

There was dancing, because of course fancy formal shindigs had to have dancing.

Jack invited Matt out onto the dance floor on the grounds that they’d look odd if they didn’t dance. Matt gave him a pained expression, but acquitted himself tolerably as they swayed to politically neutral renditions of big band music.

Cameras flashed around them, but Jack didn’t get the impression that they were the primary targets. How could they be, with a real-life prince and Owen Paul so close?

He found Matt put off a lot of body heat. He hadn’t been close enough to find out, not for long enough to notice. It was a strange observation, and not one he particularly welcomed.

Neither was the realization that he wanted to get closer.

He pushed the thought away. It was nothing; just a dry spell. He needed to keep his head in the game. The sooner Matt discharged his responsibilities the sooner they could part.

And there it was—a short, slender man, slipping through the dancers with clear intent, straight for them. The new arrival didn’t quite stand out among their fellow revelers, but he wasn’t subtle either.

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