Dirk smiled patiently, as though he were dealing with a child. “Dalton’s family has been doing business with this bank for a long time. He’s worth bending the rules for.”

She watched his eyes. “Are you ordering me to give him the money?”

“Oh, don’t phrase it so harshly. Just do it.”

She tried to get up, but he cinched her hard around the waist. “Let me up, Dirk.”

“Not yet. I have what might be some good news for you. I’m being transferred, if I decide to take the bump upstairs.”

She stopped struggling and turned a cool but interested expression on him. “Now, what does that mean?”

“When I go, everybody here goes up a notch. Or maybe two.”

“Well.” Colette’s eyes grew wide.

“Yes.” Dirk’s smile slid open and cracks and wrinkles ran from his mouth. “Of course, we’ll have to get together over at my place and discuss your career plans.”

Her face went dark, and she sprang from his lap. “I think you know how I feel about private discussions by now.”

“Come on, Colette. I could help your career a lot if you’d just be a bit friendlier. I know you’re not crazy about me, but there isn’t a girl in this building who wouldn’t crawl in the sack with me for a six-figure income.” He smiled broadly and she saw a silver clip in back of his twelve-year molars. She looked at his hair, and the gold seemed like silky polyester on a doll’s skull. She closed her eyes a moment as though something hurt, then walked toward the door. When she opened it, she said, just loudly enough for the secretaries to hear, “I’d rather go back to wrapping pennies than get promoted for that.”

His smile did not decrease in power, and she knew he held all the cards. “Well, if you change your mind, let me know. Meanwhile, run the paperwork to me so I can give Mr. Lizard his medical advance.”

As she left, she looked at the two young secretaries for some sign, but their faces were deliberately without light.

*   *   *

As the day wore on, she tried to put Dirk out of her mind, but she found herself slamming drawers and balling trash paper until the sheets were like wooden balls. She went down to talk to her friend Elise, who listened patiently and then suggested that she might be overreacting. It was then that she realized big blond Elise had worked at the bank a very long time, and was also ambitious.