“I guess I don’t share your flair for the mystic, Donny. Our guys read the report. And looked over your whole file. They tell us you have no client, and nobody you can replace them with. Come next week, your whole deal goes poof.”

“So wait till then, and you can collect.”

“Collect from what?” He held up his hands to gesture at Donny’s accumulated business assets piled up around them. “The boss doesn’t like those odds. We need a better plan, Donny.”

“You guys have all those researchers,” said Donny. “Why don’t you help me find a substitute plaintiff?”

Thelen put his hand on his chin. He and his boss weren’t like the loan sharks of old. They were corporate. Money managers, running a firm of family investment offices, with a few billion under management. The personal loans were a way of expanding their influence network, and extracting obscene profits in the process. The other difference: they were legal. In no small part because half the legislators in the Texas statehouse were borrowers, usually under much more generous terms than Donny.

“That’s an interesting idea, Donny. But I thought you said you have a plan B, and we’ll all have a happy ending.”

“That’s right,” said Donny.

“So let’s stick with that. We just need to make sure you have some real skin in the game. Give us a little more confidence in the outcome.”

“You think I don’t have skin in this game, you slick fuck?”

“Hey,” said the bodyguard. The hand on Donny’s arm felt like it could snap his bones like a pretzel.

“It’s okay, Buzz,” said Thelen. “Donny, we need some additional surety, is what I’m trying to say. I can’t leave without it. Got any ideas?”

Donny looked at Thelen leaning back in Donny’s swivel chair with his arms behind his head like he owned the place, which evidently he actually did.

“I’d love to hook you up with a new watch,” said Donny. “A guy with your style should have something more singular than that Rolex. I have a Time Master in the lock box that would look great on you.”

Thelen watched Donny as he said that, then busted out laughing. “You hear that, Buzz? Donny Kimoe’s gonna give me a new watch!”

“Priceless,” said Buzz.

“Yeah, no kidding,” said Thelen. “Donny, the one who needs a new Time Master is you! Preferably one that enables actual time travel, so you can go undo this pathetic fucking mess you have made of your life.”

“Ouch,” said Buzz.

He was right. Donny felt the blush, equal parts shame and anger. He looked at his own office with fresh eyes. Rewound what had happened that day. What had got him to this point.