Chapter 6
"You know it's not that hard to be patriotic. In fact, it's one of the easiest things to pretend to do. All you have to do is stand for the national anthem every time it's played. Put a flag outside your home or business and pretend none of the bad things your country has ever done, either in the past or currently, had happened. In other words, act like a sheep while hiding you're a wolf underneath. That is what I did in the early days of my business. To secure military contracts and subsidies, I pretended to be a patriot and watched the money roll in. The same thing every other business in any country in the world does. The only difference between them and me is that I have actually delivered what I promised. Granted, with some creative liberties taken here and there, but by the time they realized I wasn't nearly as patriotic as I pretended to be, it was far too late to abandon me." - Isabel Cadaval.
-1998-
God, I was in a good mood today. In fact, I have been in a good mood for nearly two months now. Some people may ask why. Well, it's simple: I had a girlfriend, kind of. Ayah didn't like labeling what we were primarily because she had not yet come to terms with the fact that she was dating another woman or identifying as a homosexual. Well, bisexual, most likely, seeing as I had seen her eyes wander towards guys more than once when we went out on a date. Not that I minded, seeing as I was the one taking her home.
The fact is, we were dating even if she didn't wish to admit it. We went to dinner, the movies, and clubs, then back to her place or mine afterward, where we would wake up in the same bed the following morning. Unusually naked after a passionate night of fucking. I can't really call what we did love-making, seeing as, like me, she had a thing for kinky play.
So why couldn't she accept that she was dating me? Well, there were two reasons. The first is her own mindset. There was little doubt in my mind that Ayah liked me. I wouldn't call it love, but she wasn't actively looking for a boyfriend at the moment, and it wouldn't be hard for her to find one if she really wanted to. The problem was that she was a product of a Southern upbringing. Where being gay or having homosexual feelings was something you didn't allow yourself to feel, and you definitely didn't admit to it. Even in private alone, it just wasn't allowed, ever.
This led her to be very standoffish even in private. Again, I didn't really mind this. Despite how things ended with my family, I never had trouble accepting what I was, nor did I overly care what others thought. What others thought of me didn't matter outside of business matters, like my family. Once they decided they didn't wish to speak with me anymore, I closed that chapter of my life and moved on. They were the past, and the past was dead. Now, with that said, not everyone was like me. Most people couldn't just forget about their families like I could, and while the reasons why would forever escape me. I understood Ayah's hang-ups and accepted them. We were together, and that was all that mattered. So be it if she needed time to come to grips with that. I had incredible patience; I could wait.
Her other hang-up, however, was, of course, her own family. Now, I had not met them yet, but from what little she had told me, her family was not like mine. They were Christian, yes, but not deep-rooted Southern hate you for being different from us Christians. More love you, neighbor, and forgive you, Christians. That being said, she was unsure how they would take their daughter being a girl home and telling them they were dating. It did help when I told her how my parents had reacted, and now we were no longer talking. It got me some excellent pity sex, but other than that, it didn't help.
Other than that, things were going wonderfully in my personal life, and having a girlfriend as passionate about her work as she was in the bedroom worked out well. I didn't have to worry about spending a lot of time with her all that much. She had her fashion, and I had my company, and she was not a leech despite knowing how much I was currently making. She didn't ask me for things like gifts and stuff. She wouldn't even let me pay her rent when she fell behind, and we took turns paying whenever we went out. We stayed in if she couldn't afford to go out when it was her turn.
We did, however, fight from time to time. After all, we were both bitches who liked to get our way. It was mostly over small things, except for this one time when I offered to buy her a new sewing machine and better fabric for her work. She did not take that well at all. Luckily enough, she calmed down after about 2 hours of yelling, or at least that is what it felt like. After she calmed down, she realized I was trying to help and forgave me, so to speak. She even allowed me to help her by being her own personal model. I had the body after all, and this way, she could pay me with sex and clothes instead of money she didn't have. I am pretty sure I won that fight at the end of the day. Not that I told her that.
Outside of my personal life, things were going well, too, for the most part. In the last quarter of the year, Buzzsaw experienced a 25 percent decline in domestic sales. Sad, I know, but it wasn't like we didn't realize that it was coming, even with more and more people hopping on the internet daily. The facts were that we were still a small company based out of Florida. We didn't have the reach to project our product to the US at large, and new anti-vail products were starting to pop up everywhere.
This drop, however, was only domestic. In the last quarter, we expanded our presence into international sales. Although it was only the first quarter for global sales, we achieved 10,000 units in sales, a full five percent more than expected. Again, we had the college campuses to thank for that, as word of mouth about Buzzsaw saw it sell better than it perhaps should have. And while 10,000 units may sound small, 200 thousand dollars was nothing to laugh at for the first quarter.
Additionally, thanks to Doug hiring an actual marketing professional, Starlight's sales also increased. Really, Bill our new marketing guy, made us look like complete dumbass when he came on board. He tore us apart so badly that at one point, I think we were all going to cry in shame. I mean, it was one thing to be told you are doing something wrong and another to sit and listen to a step-by-step lecture on why. It was brutal, and I liked it. He was the type of person my papa always told me to work with. It was rare to find someone who would directly say to their bosses, "You are wrong." So, signing him full-time on a high salary was a no-brainer as I knew he would help us grow.
He quickly proved to be worth every cent, too. Before he was hired, we thought we would only reach 5000 uses for Starlight by the end of the year. If we were lucky, that is. Thanks to his marketing strategy, we ended up with over 10,000 users. Such a jump forced our legal team to work overtime to clear those permits so we could build the towers needed to cover all of Miami. That also meant getting started on creating another server. An improved one made of the best parts this time, too, and not the junk we built.
Approximately 4 million people reside in Miami, with 14 million in the whole of Florida. Although not everyone had access to the internet, the fact is that it was growing rapidly. Right now, the market is flooded with internet providers, but none of them are doing what we could. We may be relatively unknown now, but Bill was about to change that. In our last company meeting, he had gone over his plan to push Starlight towards greater heights, and while it would cost nearly 3 million dollars in advertising. It would be money well spent.
At least, I thought so. Doug wasn't nearly as sure and wanted to cut that funding in half despite the company's overall profits for the first official year, netting 12.5 million. Yes, that was after taxes, paying our employees, and everything else. Without it, it was more like 20 million. That made me a millionaire at the young age of 19. My birthday wasn't for another couple of months.
I didn't care all that much about being a millionaire, however. The end goal was about how much money I made or my overall net worth. It was just a means to an end, and after today, my net worth would make me a multimillionaire, I thought as I walked into my building, and Doug met me at the door.
"Where have you been?" He asks in a somewhat aggravated voice.
"Getting breakfast with my girlfriend. Why are they here already?" I ask.
"No, not yet, but this is important. You should have been here hours ago," Doug says as he rushes me to my office, much to my amusement.
Turning around before we reach my office, I say, "Doug, please calm down? We knew that this meeting was coming before they did. We are ready."
Hearing me say that in a calm voice, Doug, who is somewhat embarrassed that this girl has a better handle on her emotions right now than he does. He takes a few deep breaths and says, "You're right. I apologize. It's just this is big, Isabel. We are discussing U.S. subsidies and grants here. This has the potential of taking us from a small business to a major corporation way ahead of when I thought we would be."
I smile at hearing this because I fully expected this to happen. Maybe not immediately, but certainly within a few years. We were simply ahead of schedule as far as I was concerned, but even that wasn't a surprise. No one in the world had anything that could beat Buzzsaw right now, and I should know. I was tracking several countries outside the US that were trying. While cyberattacks were still somewhat new, my primary server had already come under attack from IP addresses outside the country. Primarily from Russia, Iran, China, and Japan. Three of them were attacking, hoping to crash it, while the latter was only trying to learn about its capabilities.
Of course, I left them alone and let them have their fun. Their attempt to crash my mainframes was actually beneficial. It allowed me to go into this meeting with solid proof that my system could not be beaten even by those the US called its enemies. Once they saw this evidence, securing those government contracts would be easy. There was no doubt about that.
"Don't worry too much about it, Doug. We got this. Trust me. By the end of the day, Ezekiel Inc. will be a multimillion-dollar company.
If he were honest with himself, Mitchell had to say he wasn't sure what to expect when meeting Isabel Cadaval. Oh, sure, the government had done its due diligence on her. Providing him with a full background check on her and a character profile. They knew she had a falling out with her family a few years before she created her company over her homosexuality. They knew she currently had a girlfriend and about her near-perfect SAT scores. But all the information in the world couldn't tell you more than when you speak and meet someone for the first time, and Mitchell had to say Isabel was a cold young woman.
He had met many scientists in his time in the military, and one thing he had learned about them was that they all had their little quirks. Some were outright arrogant, others were standoffish, and others were shy and meek. Isabel was none of these things on the surface and even seemed approachable or normal. However, her eyes told a different story. They were cold and unfeeling. While it looked friendly, her smile didn't reach her eyes, and again, while she said all the right words, Mitchell could tell she didn't mean them. This made him think, "Great, we were dealing with a sociopath."
Not the worst thing in the world, mind you. He had dealt with sociopaths before. Hell, the military and government were filled with them. What made her strange, however, was that her eyes softened just a bit when she spoke with her CEO, Doug. That was her quirk, he realized. She wasn't so much a sociopath as she was callous towards those she did not know or care about. If a bomb were to fall in this very room, she wouldn't care who died, so long as Doug was okay. It was unnerving, to be honest.
"Gentlemen, now that we have gotten the pleasantries out of the way, would you like to begin?" I ask the men sitting across from me. All of them were military personnel, and high-ranking ones at that.
"Of course, Miss Cadaval, can I assume you already know the reason why we are here today?" Mitchell asks.
"I have a good guess. You are here to talk about Buzzsaw, am I correct?" I ask with a relaxed face.
"That is correct," Mitchell says.
"Wonderful, but before we start, please have a look at these files. Ted, if you will." I ask, looking at my head of IT.
Ted stands and starts to hand out the files to the military men. They take the file with confused looks on their faces. However, once they open the files, those looks of confusion quickly turn into ones of concern after they start to read the file, as it details several large-scale attacks on my mainframe by foreign governments. Despite their best efforts to hide their actions from me, I was able to track down the IP address of the computers they had used. All of which could be found outside the US.
Idiots, the lot of them. Did they really think that a computer software as advanced as Buzzsaw couldn't track where the attacks were coming from? If they did, then stupid wouldn't even begin to describe how foolish they were. This, of course, also let those within the US Government know that I knew they were doing the same thing. After all, if I could track down where an attack was coming from outside the country, I could easily track it from within. I did, however, leave that part out of the report—no point in ruffling feathers over that. Especially seeing as like those foreign governments, they were not getting anywhere.
Placing the folder down after reading what is inside it, Mitchell says, "This is… very detailed, Miss Cadaval."
"That it is, Colonel, so let's cut to the chase, shall we. I have something the US Government wants. Something you and the boys back at the Pentagon think I could provide you, and it is not Buzzsaw." I say to him with a soft smile.
"You're very straightforward, Miss Cadaval," Mitchell says.
"I didn't get into business to be a politician, Colonel, nor do I aspire ever to do so. I hate wasting time on things that don't matter to me in the long run." I say with a smirk.
Nodding his head, Mitchell can respect that. As a military man he like to cut the bullshit as well. "Very well, Miss Cadaval, I will cut to the chase. How much would it cost the US Government for you to develop something more advanced than Buzzsaw?"
I lean back in my chair and ask, "Can I assume you're already aware of the business model I am currently selling to several companies here in Florida?"
"We are," Mitchell answers.
"And can I assume you also want something more advanced than that?" I inquire, though I am aware of the response.
"We do," Mitchell says.
"I see, then I will be blunt here. Despite my age and how quickly it appears to the outside world, gentlemen, Buzzsaw wasn't made in a day. The fact of the matter is, I started working on the initial designs when I was 12."
"Twelve," One of the men with Mitchell, an IT expert, says in shock.
"That is right. My grandfather, after whom the company is named, gave me my first computer when I was 8. I fell in love with them right away. I love working on them, taking them apart, rebuilding them, and writing code. It provides me with the most significant sense of satisfaction. So it should come as no surprise that I have been aware of the internet and its potential threats for some time. Knowing that humanity's future would depend on them, I set out early on to build a software program that would protect the US and its people from potential attack. That program is Buzzsaw." I say to them.
Of course, it is a complete lie, but they don't need to know the truth. In order for me to get top dollar, they needed to think that while I did accomplish a grand feat of computer engineering, it took a long time to get there.
Letting out a sigh at hearing this, Mitchell and the IT boys back at the Pentagon had guessed as much. They had no way of knowing when Isabel had begun working on Buzzsaw, but hearing that she was so young when she started made sense. No matter how intelligent she was, no one would create something like Buzzsaw easily. This was some game or movie where success comes overnight.
"So what you're telling me is that there is no way you can build something better than Buzzsaw," Mitchell says.
"Not at all. What I am saying is that I have reached the limit of what outdated equipment will take me. Pushing forward will require time, money, and personnel—all of which are beyond my company's current capabilities." I say to him with a smile and watch as he understands where I am going with this.
Mitchell had to fight off a smile as he thought, "A businesswoman to the end, huh. I can deal with that."
"How much are we talking about?" He asks me.
Looking over at Ted, I say, "Ted, if you will be so kind."
"Yes, ma'am," Ted says, handing out another file with a cost analysis showing how much it would cost to update Buzzsaw.
Almost all of it is a lie. The truth of the matter was that Buzzsaw 2.0 was already under development. Now that I had money, I could easily buy what I needed, and cost analysis was for other projects. All I needed was the money the US had to offer me. They would get Buzzsaw 2.0, but not for at least four years. Two, if I felt generous and wanted to work on the project alone. Something I didn't wish to do, seeing as I wanted to keep my true capabilities hidden. The longer it took, the less likely I would end up in someone's crosshairs, both literally and figuratively.
After reading over our proposal and explaining everything to them, Mitchell asks, "What is this Starlight system here?"
"Ah, I'm so happy you asked about that. Please follow me." I say, and I get up.
When everyone joins me, I leave the room and take them to the Starlight Server, which is kept under lock and key and guarded by some ex-military vets whom Dong had hired to keep anyone from getting into this room. After all, while Buzzsaw was all well and good, Starlight was the real prize in all this, as I explained to Mitchell and his boys. To say they were shocked and excited to hear about a new way of communication that no one knew about would be an understatement.
So I was not surprised when Mitchell asked, "Does it have military applications?"
I smile and say, "It's communications, Colonel. Of course, it has military applications, but there is a slight problem."
Not liking the sound of that, Mitchell asks, "And what is that?"
"Well…. Here is the thing. Starlight, as I have dubbed both my internet service and the wavelength it operates on, is…. How do I put this? Well, I am not sure how it works."
"What?" Mitchell asks me.
"You see, we know what it does, but we don't know how it does it. Somehow, this wavelength can carry vast amounts of data at the speed of light, with no way of interrupting it as far as we can tell. All the things that would normally jam it or outright block the signal don't work on it." I say to him.
"Okay, that sounds good to me. So what is the problem? Is it harmful to people?" Mitchell says.
"Not as far as we can tell, and the problem is we haven't been able to use it to its full potential. The amount of information it can send is so vast that we had to continually scale back how much we sent. When we didn't, we continuously overheated and even overloaded the server. There is also a problem with how far it can travel. So far, we can cover less than half of Miami from one tower. " I tell him.
With a disappointed sigh, Mitchell says, "So basically what you're saying is you are using a wavelength that you have no idea how to utilize fully, and the only thing you can tell me is you think it's non-harmful to people."
"In a nutshell. Exciting, right?" I say with a big smile as I see the gears turn in his head.
Forget the fact that I was telling them that I didn't know how Starlight fully worked or had a clue how to utilize it fully. That didn't fucking matter to them one bit. All Mitchell heard was that the military could have a communication network to which no one else in the world would have access, at least for some time. It didn't matter how it worked or how well. Any problems it had could be resolved later.
By the end of the meeting, it was agreed that we would receive military funding. Right now, only $ 20 million would be allocated for the Buzzsaw 2.0 project, but after Mitchell got back to Washington, he told us we could expect a call. While Mitchell was smart enough not to show how excited he was, I could tell we would soon be getting an even bigger check for Starlight. Knowing this, Dong and I told our lawyer to start drawing up some paperwork quickly. There was little doubt the US would try to either steal our technology or push us out at some point, so we need to be ready for that.
Once all the meetings were done, I returned to my office, picked up my phone, and waited.
"Hello," The voice of my not girlfriend Ayah answers.
"Hey, babe girl, guess who?" I say in a sing-song voice.
I can hear a sigh of annoyance as Ayah says," Isabel, what have I told you about calling me that?"
"Oh, come on, babe, it's sweet," I tell her.
"It's creepy, and I will ask you to stop it now," Ayah said, rubbing the bridge of her nose as she could feel a headache coming on.
If she were being candid with herself, Ayah didn't really mind Isabel calling her baby girl or boo, babe, sugar, doll and so on and that is why she didn't want her calling any of that. They had been dating, and yes, she was starting to admit that they were indeed dating for several months now, and she still wasn't used to liking it. Ayah had been dating guys since she was 14 years old and had been having sex since she was 16, but none of them compared to Isabel. When she took her out, Isabel paid so much attention to her that it felt like Ayah was the only one in the world. Isabel's eyes didn't wander; she didn't suddenly stop paying attention and the sex. Well, the sex spoke for itself. Girl was a fucking freak but in a good way.
"Okay, okay then, how about Principal Thomason?" I say in a very suggestive way.
While I can't see her, I know Ayah is rolling her eyes at me right now.
"God, I shouldn't have let you talk me into roleplaying," Ayah says in a not-so-regretful voice.
"Please, we both know you liked it when I dressed up in my little schoolgirl uniform. If anyone should complain, it should be me. My butt still hurts. Couldn't you have gone a bit easier on me?" I say, pouting.
"Please bitch don't even pretend you didn't like me spanking that ass," Ayah says with a bit of anger in her voice. Primarily because she had developed a bit of obsession with Isabel's ass. Her very tone and round ass.
"I can't deny that," I said, smirking.
Hearing another sigh, Ayah says, "Isabel, is there a reason you called me, or are you just trying to get on my nerves?"
"Nooo…. I called to let you know the deal went through, babe. I got the contract," I say in a happy voice.
That earns a long pause from Ayah. If there was one thing about Isabel that Ayah liked even more then her ass it was how open she was with her. Nothing was going on in Isabel's life that she didn't know about. Therefore, when Isabel mentioned that she had secured the contract, Ayah understood the context and responded with a smile.
"That is wonderful, Isabel," Ayah says, meaning it.
"Thanks, babe, and I was wondering how about we celebrate with a little vacation. You know Paris Fashion Week starts soon," I say with a smile on my lips.
Ayah doesn't give me an answer right away. This time, because she wasn't sure what to say. There was little doubt that she was a proud woman who didn't like the idea of someone taking care of her. Ayah could take care of herself, thank you very much. That was why Isabel and she mostly stayed at each other's places when it was date night—having a nice dinner inside instead of going to a restaurant or something. They hit the clubs occasionally, but the difference between how much they made was staggering.
Ayah knew Isabel's current wealth and understood the government contract would increase it further. The girl was rich, and Ayah frankly didn't have two cents to rub together most days. Her pride stopped her from letting Isabel spend more than she could match. She wouldn't even let a man do that without paying at least a bit—nonetheless, a fellow woman.
All that said, this was the Paris Fashion Week they were talking about. Ayah had always wanted to attend it, and here was her chance. The only question was whether she could put her pride to the side and allow Isabel to take her. Fuck that wasn't an easy question to answer.
Lucky for her, Isabel paid close attention to her, not girlfriend, and knew exactly what to say: "Come on, babe, this is a great opportunity for me. Do you know how many tech giants and their mistresses attend this event?"
Simply put, she made it all about herself, like Ayah would be doing her a favor by going. Of course, her girlfriend wasn't so simple or stupid. Ayah could see what Isabel was doing, but needed an excuse to go. One that Isabel was providing to her.
"So what? You want me to go and pretend to be your trophy girlfriend." Ayah says in an annoyed voice.
"That's right. Say what you like, love, but having a beautiful woman on your arms works just as well for a woman as it does for a man. Even better if you play your cards right," I say in a cheerful voice, and again, I can feel my girlfriend roll her eyes.
"Find but don't expect me to act like one of these bleach bottle blonde whores and you going to wear what I tell you to and when," Ayah says in commanding voice.
"Wow, when did we get married? But if that is what my wife commands, I will do it." I said, then heard the sound of a phone slamming down, ending the call right then and there.
"How rude?" I say with a giggle as I go to pack for our trip.