by TheTimeTrust
"Doc? There's a problem," Security Chief Arnold Bobowsky said as he walked into Dr. Henry Quantos' office at Malvan-X Corporation.
"Yes, Chief? What is it?" Quantos said, frowning.
"I think you'd better come with me," Bobowsky replied, gesturing.
Dr. Quantos rose and followed Bobowsky to a secure room away from the surveillance cameras. "I followed Glover like you asked over the last day or so and made my observations, but..."
"But?"
"...But there were some other guys following him around, too." Bobowsky stopped and looked at Dr. Quantos directly. "They had weapons."
"Ah," Dr. Quantos said, considering. "Please... go on."
"Well, I quickly secured myself in the bathroom of Glover's suite when a waiter walked in with drinks for him and his... ah... guests."
"Mm-hmm..."
"When the shooting began, I had no choice but to come out of hiding, fire back at them, and get Glover out of there as quickly as possible."
Quantos rubbed his throbbing temple and groaned. "Don't tell me..."
"Yep," Bobowsky said. "I had to bring him here."
"Chief, have you any idea how dangerous this man could be?" Quantos said suddenly. "I've been studying the notes Schanz had written up, which he had on him when he was killed, and it looks like this Mr. Glover may have swallowed some kind of 'probability drug'...!"
Bobowsky looked back at Dr. Quantos blankly, as if saying, "So?"
Dr. Quantos realized the point hadn't hit home. "Chief Bobowsky -- those same apparently metagene-induced abilities over the laws of probability that made him the world's luckiest man also have the potential of making anyone around him extremely UN-lucky!"
"You mean, like... us?"
"I mean this whole damned company! Malvan-X could this very minute be affected by negative waves of probability that could destroy her, or at least make her prey to anyone who wishes to take advantage of her!"
"Oh... crap," Bobowsky said, thinking inwardly how strange it was that the Doc referred to the company as "her." Was he referring to the company really or the CEO herself, he wondered. "Well, does it make a difference whether or not he's unconscious?"
"I pray to God that his unconsciousness will work only to our advantage," said Quantos as the two stepped into the room where the puny, drugged and unconscious form of Pete "the Chimp" Glover had been laid on a makeshift bed.
As Chief Bobowsky turned to leave, Dr. Quantos said over his shoulder, "Thank you, Chief. You did the right thing."
"Thanks, Doc. I'll get to work on beefing up my security forces right away."
"And Chief?"
"Yes, Doc?"
"Your next target has arrived in Mandelovia. Try to follow procedure as we had outlined it earlier, all right?"
"No problem, Doc."
As Chief Bobowsky left, Dr. Quantos considered the gaunt, diminutive, wiry frame of Pete "the Chimp" Glover, the so-called world's luckiest man, and began working over in his mind how he could begin to teach this man how to use his abilities in a controlled manner.