I am Baaack! Part 9

Rose stood before Joan's office door at 1:59pm. She was dressed in the same black leather outfit she had worn the night before, and she was also wearing the same "Don't fuck with me!" attitude. She had pulled herself together in the limo, assuming that Joan would have security cameras focused everywhere from the street to the hallway in front of her door. She reflected on the events of the past twenty-four hours.

>From what Steve had said when he got back to Vaingirls about midnight, he and Robbie had done their part perfectly. She was willing to bet that Robbie was in Joan's office now, hidden somewhere as Joan's backup, a double agent. Joan trusting Robbie was part of the plan, and Rose hoped that things would progress today in such a way that Robbie would not have to blow her cover.

Ed and Lou were in Vaingirls' sub-basement, heavily sedated. G.A. had been out since 8:00am this morning, using the power of attorney both had signed, to transfer control of Transformation Systems to a holding company ultimately controlled by Adain, Salielah, and Rose. Later on today, the women would be trotted out to give carefully scripted answers to the questions of the Chicago Fire Department. G.A. was already making arrangements to break the lease on the apartment and pay for it's repair. He was hiring a moving company to move out all Lou and Ed's things; they wouldn't be going back there.

Rose had two aces in the hole down in the black Rolls parked at the curb. She took a deep breath, let the anger wash trough her one last time, and willed it to become ice cold determination. She was ready.

Without knocking, she opened the door and entered. There was nobody at the receptionist's desk, so she swept on by and strode into Joan's office. Joan rose from her seat, came around to the front of the desk, and as the two women appraised each other, the carefully scripted scenarios both had prepared fell apart. Both were prepared to be ice maidens, to stare down the other in the ultimate power struggle. Both tried to stare coldly; they tried to be stern. But little smiles began to tug at the edges of their mouth; both put a hand to their mouths to stifle giggles. The giggles escalated into outright laughter as the two embraced each other - if only to hold each other upright.