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MAGGIE HAD HER OWN contact with a small but profitable beauty manufacturer that specialized in all natural beauty products. Thanks to selling a few ideas to this company, Maggie had allowed been able to purchase the house and equipment for her lab.
It had been almost a month since Danny and Kevin had ingested and absorbed the formula, and there had been no adverse changes in their appearance or healing abilities. They had also run the formula through standard FDA stability testing. The samples were left out for twenty-eight days and tested again after this period to determine if the product was still valid and the preservatives had held up. Since the formula passed all the tests, Danny and Kevin felt they had enough data to give to Maggie’s contact, so that production could begin.
Danny and Kevin had also returned to work after successfully passing their EAP counseling sessions. Kevin had hacked into the counselor's computer and took a peek at the questions usually asked in these sessions and briefed Danny on what their responses should be. After their sessions, the counselor submitted a report to Lexi that both Danny and Kevin were fit to return to work. Since they felt that their time at Lexi would be short, since the formula was going to make them insanely rich, they promptly agreed to start the next day.
Right now they were in Maggie’s garage, waiting for her to return from work and hopefully bring dinner with her. Maggie and the guys spent most of their time in her garage and she had consequently poured most of her money into the comfort and design of the lab. The heated and air-conditioned lab had large comfortable leather chairs, a flat screen TV, and Blu-ray player. The old Victorian house was similarly furnished. The living room had comfortable leather sofas and chairs, which looked as though several wrestling teams held practice on them on a regular basis, another flat screen TV, and Blu-ray player. The dining room and kitchen, however, looked like they had just come out of a showroom. The majority of the appliances in the kitchen were in pristine condition, and the gleaming stove and oven looked untouched.
Danny was concerned that Mr. Millwood and/or the board would want the formula they had been working on as soon as they returned, but Kevin had covered that problem.
“You see, Danny, I wasn’t just working on the formula, I was also working on their formula.”
“Isn’t our formula the same formula as their formula?”
“Yes. Up to a point, except where ours erases all flaws and seems to be permanent, not to mention somehow turning us into self-healing machines, this second formula is a very watered down version.”
“How watered down?”
“Well, it seems to erase a lot of flaws but really just fades them quite a bit. And it lasts for only a week or so, and doesn’t turn one into a super healing machine.”
“Still that is quite impressive and enough to get Mr. Millwood off our backs for quite a while.”
“Yes, that is the point. And by the time Lexi produces our watered down version, the real one will be out there making us billionaires.”
“Other than one of us getting super greedy and killing the other two, I don’t see what could go wrong with the plan.”
“No, I agree, but the only one who technically is going to invent this formula is Maggie, so you can put all murderous thoughts out of your head right now.”
“What, like I would ever do anything to hurt the two most important people in my life? So, do you suppose Maggie has thought this through and reached the same conclusion you have?”
“Have I come to the same conclusion as what?” Maggie asked as she appeared with an armful of Chinese takeout.
“Er, that you were going to stop and pick up dinner for us, and you have, and you are lovely and smart and sexy, and I’ve run out of adjectives. Let me help you with the food,” sputtered Danny.
“Well my, my, my, aren’t we being gallant. You usually wait for me to get everything organized and then ask if you can help.”
“This is the new and improved me, Maggie. As you can see and please don’t kill us or at least me, we are good together, and one of these days sometime in the near future, I can see us as one big happy family,” Danny said in another gasp while grabbing for a carton of Moo Shu.
“Oh my God, it’s happened. The side effects have started. It starts with a personality change, and then schizophrenia sets in. Crap, crap, crap!” cried Maggie dropping the remaining cartons of food on the lab table. “And everything was going so well.”
“No, it’s just moron here babbling on. Oh my, this Kung Po scallop is fantastic. Is this a new place Mags?” asked Kevin through a mouthful of scallops.
“No, but I think Sku Yu has a new chef and, wait a second, what’s with the ‘don’t kill us,’ and ‘one big happy family thing’ you spat out just a few seconds ago, Danny?” Maggie inquired in her most accusatory voice.
“Kevin and I were thinking aloud, and it was mostly Kevin.”
“Wash not” came a muffled reply from Kevin, now chin deep in Kung Po.
“Well, let’s not point fingers, but you know we watch a lot of movies, and in those movies whenever a group of people comes into money, the group usually diminishes in violent, lead filled ways. As you know, Danny and I can’t claim the formula so, well, you know, our minds naturally turned in a certain direction.”
“So you think that I would take all the credit and money for myself? That I would throw the years we’ve had together and all the good times we’ve spent and the promise of things to come over for fame and fortune. Is that how little you think of me?”
No, of course not, we were just talking like we always do. It’s just a lot of bullshit, you know that, baby,” whined Danny.
“Yes, and you know how full of that he is,” chimed in Kevin.
“All right, you two are forgiven. Geez, ‘lead-filled ways.’ To think I would shoot anyone. How ridiculous is that? Not to mention messy. It would be much easier to poison your food.”
Two boxes of Sku Yu’s takeout boxes simultaneously hit the table as Maggie’s laughter filled the air.
“Mmm, these scallops are fantastic. You’re not going to finish this, Kevin? You don’t mind if I help myself? Thank you. This is quite good. Danny. Not hungry? I’ll just take a little sample of what you have. This is quite good too. Lovely.”