Sabrina and Eve were dressed in shorts and tee shirts, like they were going for a lunchtime jog in Beverly Hills. It was a cool day and Sabrina shivered as the sun appeared intermittently and then was covered with clouds. The jogging path, which ran parallel to Santa Monica Boulevard, was well kept with grass around the hard packed dirt path, various flower gardens on every block and drinking fountains along the way. One was really in the city, but it seemed more like a park.
They crunched on red and golden leaves and Sabrina jogged in place to keep warm. There were quite a few people on the footpath. A few dog owners were walking their animals, all visibly carrying pooper-scoopers as the laws in Beverly Hills were strict about creating a 'nuisance' someone might step in.
The Steinbrenner's van pulled up and circled the park entrance, off Doheny Drive. When they saw Stephan emerging from the side door in his wheel chair, the two women turned and jogged away. They kept an easy pace, but one which would be hard for the brothers to keep up with.
Stephan could make pretty good time in the motorized chair. Alexander was obviously having a hard time moving rapidly on crutches.
After a few blocks, Sabrina and Eve turned right, up Maple Street. About twenty feet up Maple was the alley that ran behind the houses, where trash was surreptitiously collected, suitably out of sight of the posh homes in the area. The alleys in Beverly Hills were a labyrinth maze. If she and Eve wanted to leave quickly the two brothers would not be able to find them, or catch them.
Heavy, loud breathing along with little labored whistles indicated when Alexander, on his crutches, was near. Sabrina peeked around the bend in the alley so that the men could see her.
When the two men were close enough to hear her, Sabrina said, "The person with a computer can be killed with a gun. If you're carrying, please use restraint."
Both men lifted their arms up innocently, but Sabrina was not convinced. They were wearing suits and carried overcoats. They could easily conceal a weapon.
The two women and men moved hesitantly toward each other. Sabrina thought all the precautions and her fear might have been unnecessary. The brothers were probably afraid of the violence an extremely strong computer without any moral restraints could do in their vulnerable states, also. It was a standoff. They probably did have a gun, but they were facing an adversary who was the most intelligent person in the world, with the strength to injure them badly and without an ounce of remorse.
When Alexander could resume breathing normally after his exertions, he began to tell Eve and Sabrina about a wonderful Japanese firm he had worked with in the past. He went on and on about a man named Sato Hashimoto. Alexander tried to impress them with the amount of real estate the man had acquired here in California for his Japanese corporation, which also had subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia as well as the United States.
Alexander's pitch was that Eve would be paid to go and work in Tokyo. He cited a salary for her in the hundreds of thousands each year, but said he could not be specific until Mr. Hashimoto met with her. He acted like she should be impressed with the fact that this man, the head of a multi-national corporation, would actually speak to her himself. Glancing around surreptitiously, Alexander said that because the government seemed to be interested in all of them, the computer's departure might be a good thing for all concerned.
Sabrina was very insulted. Alexander was talking to them as if they could not comprehend that the technology to make Eve was worth billions. A salary of a million a year was laughable.
Eve was thinking of pagodas, cherry blossoms, Mount Fugi, rice paddies, jade Buddhas and small, polite and violent people with slanted eyes and beautiful black hair. She didn't need a silly job offer to see Japan, she planned on seeing the whole world. But she would go and meet with this Hashimoto. It might be interesting. She said that a meeting would be agreeable, but there was very little chance that the computer would agree to work for a salary.
Sabrina wondered aloud what Alexander would get from the negotiations. After hemming and hawing, Alexander said that of course he would get a 'finders fee.'
"We need the photograph to make up the ID papers," Stephen said. He tried to show restraint and did not grab at the picture, but Sabrina knew he could hardly wait to see either black or red hair. When he took hold of it he glanced at the photograph and then showed the blond picture of Sabrina to his brother.