When Gates opened his eyes, he saw nothing but a calming blue that looked like a tranquil blue morning sky. He wondered, Was this a dream or reality? But as eyes focussed to a more crisp, serene, clear blue, he wondered, "Am I dead?"

Sunny came into his view and he realized he wasn't dead, or maybe he was dead and hadn't made it to heaven. He was in the other place. But his skin wasn't burning, and he felt now pain despite the massive headache that had made him scream before.

"Gates, you're alive," Sunny said. She helped him sit up, and he almost collapsed as the blood rushed from his head.

He stood up and felt like he was flying on air. He looked around the room and saw that it was nothing but a large glass room surrounded by water, like an aquarium.

Still, it gave him the impression that he was standing in the clear blue sky. As he looked around, a shadow fell over him and Sunny like a cloud, but when he looked up, he gaped and stood stunned at the sight of a black silhouette of twenty foot great white shark. It glided thought he water above him as effortlessly as birds soar through the air. Its body barely moving. It's monstrous and, as he admired it in awe, a voice came from the distance.

"Amazing, isn't it?"

Gates and Sunny both turned his head in unison to the corner of the room where the man stood. He'd slipped in from a side room that couldn't be seen because of the design of the room.

"The great white shark is the king of the sea. It has three thousand razor-sharp teeth up to three inches in length and can smell a drop of blood from a hundred yards away. It can swim at up to twenty-five miles per hour with its sole purpose to kill. Now that's power, Mr. Gates. Wouldn't you say?"

Gates was more curious about the man giving the lecture on the shark than the shark itself. For the man had a way about him, he was smooth and spoke to him as if he' known him all his life. There was something more to him as Gats looked I his eyes for he'd had a knack or reading people, but this man's wall was impenetrable.

"Who the fuck are you?" Gates asked.

"Forgive me, Mr. Gates and Ms. Bunny, my name is Sato Mitsubishi, the owner of the Pearl Hotel and Casino."

"You're Sato Mitsubishi? Shit, I heard he was taller."

"A man need not to be physically tall to be tall, Mr.Gates." Sato spoke with a confidence and assurance and a great sense of pride. "The Pearl is my creation and the largest and biggest resort, not only in Las Vegas but in the world, Mr. Gates."

"Hey you can sell all you want, Buddy, but me and the Mrs aint buying no timeshare." Sato laughed.

"I see your point, Mr. Gates. I'm e very proud man and I'm proud of my accomplishments."

"What are we doing here?" Gates said.

"I'm afraid you find yourself at the back end of a very bad deal, Mr Gates. For you see I made a deal with Mr. Morcilla, Ms. Bunny's husband, but unfortunately Mr. Morcilla was not able to acquire what I wanted. It's too bad for him for Mr. Morcilla was looking to score a big payoff, he was hop into make something himself, he was hoping to become a someone.

"Why do you keep referring to him in the past tense?"

"Excuse me for my grammatical error, Mr. Gates, but as you will see, that will quickly be rectified."

On the side of the room Rico fell into the water which appeared to be a separate tank from the one the belonging to the great white shark. His hands and feet were bound and mouth gagged all with silver duct tape. So many uses for duct tape.

Sunny saw Rico and went up the glass.

"oh god, Rico!" Before she could even get her words out, Rico was engulfed by a school of fish and the water churned and boiled and became red and within seconds the school of Piranha had left nothing but Rico's skeletal Remains floating in his Armani suit.

"Whoa, never seen that before." Gates said.

"Oh My god, oh my god, Rico. You killed him." Sunny's eyes watered. Toto became upset and started barking. Sunny felt a darkness as she realized Rico had been telling her the truth. He told her they were going to kill him. She could not control. She looked at Mitsubishi and charged him.

"you killed him! How could you!" Gates grabbed Sunny before she could make things worse

"listen o me, Sunny, Stop it, stop it. Not this one." Gates huggedher and she cried on his shoulder.

"Tsk, Tsk, come now Ms Bunny, it can't be all bad, now you have your freedom."

Sunny pushed herself away from Gates. Shew was angry at Mitsubiths for killing Rico and she was angry at Rico for having failed her. But most of all, Sunny was mad at herself. She had gotten Rico Killed, sure he was a jackass, but he never deserved to die not this way.

Mitsubishi smiled menacingly and walked around both Gates and Sunny the way a shark does before it attacks. Testing the waters, so to speak.

"Exquisite, isn't she?" Mitsubithsi said. "Women are like Gods, Mr. Gates. They transcend world's men cannot. They enter battle fields and war zones and leave unscathed. Women are perfect. They bring beauty wherever they go."

"Now that is one heck of a pick up line. You mind if write that down" said Gates.

"Always a comedian, Mr. Gates. That's why I like you. But you won't be laughing long. How funny was it when you came home one day and found our wife in bed with your best partner on the police force?"

"What happened to Mr. Rico will happen to the both of you if I dont get what I want.

"your a monster" said Sunny.

"No Ms Bunny, I'm I am...god."

"I control everything from who eats and who starves who fight and who loses who lives and who dies. I control what foods you eat, what medicines you will take, what diseases will be cured and which will be used to maximize the profits of my drug companies. I control what you watch on television, Who will be famous and who will not and I create careers and destroy them."

Mitsubishi moved about the room, gloating about his power.

"I own corporations who own corporations and those own other corporations. You think there are hundred of companies, but I tell you there is only one. Whether you eat at the big Mac or shop at the SamMart it all goes to the same place. One man controls the world M.r Gates and it sint' the president of the United States, it's the one who has the most money. Money is power."

A video screen appeared on behind Mitsubishi.

"This small villages sts on a mineral reserve that one of my corporations use to make nuclear warheads. I've spent two years fighting to get them off that land. Mitsubishi presses a button on a handheld computer and in the next few seconds, two missiles fire at the villages and destroy the civilation.

"as you see, nothing stand in my way now."

Sunny and Gates were stunned. What could they do. What did the man who owned the world want with them?

"So what does the great and Powerful OZ want with us."

Mitsubithsi felt his chest fill with pride. He felt more than complimented he felt appreciated.

"eternity, Mr. Gates, to live forever."

"Good luck."

"No, don't be so sure. There is this story I heard among the monks in Tibet that spoke of a golden carp. The fish had swam away with the pearl that belonged to a princess who had accident dropped it in a pond. The fish was never discovered but a hundred years later a fisherman caught the fish and painted in brass though it looks gold. The fish is said to have a magical quality. It grants the bearer enlightement and his hearts desire.

Gates began to laugh hysterically. Toto began to bark and Sunny calmed him down.

"Laugh all you want, but I've seen things you'd never believe in my years of enlightenment."

"So why don't you just send out a party to get it."

"it's not that easy, Mr. Gates. The fish has an elusive quality, Mr. Gates. Just as the princess could not find but the fisherman could without much effort, those who seek the elusive thing they crave will never din it. The carp selects who it wants. Mr. Morcilla had found the man with the fish and when he touched the fish, I'm guessing it led him to me."

"Sheek," Sunny said under her breath.

"Unfortunately, Ms Bunny got in his way." Gates looked at Sunny.

"You are bad luck, toots," he said. "So what you want us to find what makes you think we can get it.:

"you're a man of great curiosity, Mr. Gates. You have incredible abilities that others don't. The fish is out there and I want it. A few days ago you rescued a kidnapped girl. A girl that would ave been impossible to fine, but you found her."

"You did that?"

"The policed looked at all the evidence, but you found her, Mr. Gates. I'm offering you your life, Mr. Gates. Find my fish in twenty-four hours or suffer the fate of Mr. Morcilla. Find the fish and both of you walk away with your lives.

Gates looked at Sunny and her solemn expression said, I'm sorry, I'm sorry for everything.

"Find me my fish, Mr Gates. Find me my fish. or you will die. You have twetney four hours."