Pryce Towers
Office of Theo Pryce


The interior of Theo Pryce’s office has changed dramatically over the last week or so. The broken television set still remains from Theo’s coke enraged tirade but just about everything else is different. The couch is now gone, replaced by a spinning water bed in the shape of a crown. The dry bar that was off to the corner of the room has now been replaced by a cocaine buffet. Picture a much longer bar but instead of various bottles of alcohol there are now different bricks of white, off white and even yellow powder, each one with the brand listed above it. We have “Peruvian Flake”, “White Prussian”, “Gold Dust”, “Snow White” and Theo’s personal favorite “Bolivian Marching Powder”. Theo’s beautiful oak desk from Italy has now been replaced be a sleeker work station that stands at about 5 feet and 6 inches high. No chair accompanies the desk as it is one of those new trendy “Stand Up Workstations”. The wall adjacent to the bar, where Theo’s couch used to be is now adorned with portraits of various men and women in their 50’s and 60’s. A closer examination of the portraits reveals them to be members of Pryce Industry’s Board of Directors. Standing roughly 5 feet from the portraits, seemingly studying the wall is Michael McBride and formerly forgotten Sin Wild. Across the office the door to Theo’s private bathroom opens and out comes Theo Pryce, dressed to the nines. He walks over to the Cocaine, takes a look at the different choices but of course settles on old faithful. He grabs a rolled $100 dollar bill, places it at the end of a neatly formed line of the drug and places the other end up against the edge of his nostril, and in one action breaths in heavily, forcing the magical white powder up his nose where it will now become a part of his bloodstream. Having just gotten his fix Theo turns around to face the two members of his team.


“Michael, thanks for coming. And more importantly thanks for the 15 pounds of cocaine you had delivered. When you said you had connections I just figured it was some local gang bangers looking for a pay day. I didn’t realize you knew various Drug Lords across the globe.”

“Oi lad, you wanted cocaine. And cocaine is what I delivered. There is nothing I can’t get for you. Nothing.”

“Good to know. And Sin, welcome back, it’s been a few weeks. I trust you took care of what I asked of you.”

“You know I did.”

“Indeed. Now, let’s get down to brass tax. I see both of you studying the wall over there. As you have already figured out, the names and faces you see are all the members of Pryce Industries Board of Directors. Now I am sure your first question is, why are they on my wall? And the answer is very simple. Several weeks ago my sister informed me that those greedy good for nothing mother fuckers didn’t like the way I was going about my business and they were moving to take my company from me. Obviously that can not happen, will not happen. And that is where you two come in. While I have no issue getting my hands dirty I’d prefer to outsource my dirty work.”

“Consider me your weapon.”

“And why am I here?”

“You know why Sin. Don’t act like this sort of thing isn’t right up your alley.”

“Oi Mate, what’s the plan?”

“Patience my minions. I am getting there. The Board meets once a month, here in this building, just down the hall actually. And as luck would have it, their meeting for December, in fact, their last meeting of the year is occurring right now. My sister is overseeing the meeting.”

“Ahhh the indelible Erica, how is she?”

“She’s great Sin, thanks for asking. Found herself a man, he treats her well, by that I mean, he hasn’t shot her yet.”

“High standards you got there Theo.”

“I prefer to keep my standards low, mitigates the chances for disappointment. But none of that matters. Let’s get back to the topic at hand. The 10 pieces of shit trying to take my company from me. Michael did you bring what I asked?”

“Of course.”


Michael walks over to the floor, picks up a black duffle bag, unzips it and opens it wide enough for Theo to take a glance inside.


“Perfect. Then it looks like we are good to go. Let’s do this.”

“Wait, you said you had a plan. What is it?”

“Oh Sin, you poor misguided soul. I do have a plan. And you will see it as it unfolds before those beautiful eyes of yours. You need not worry yourself with the details. You know me, I like to fly by the seat of my pants so to speak. Come, let’s have some fun.”


Theo, Michael and Sin make their way out of the office. They get about 10 feet before Theo stops suddenly, his attention captured by an episode of The Big Bang Theory which is currently playing on the TV in the waiting area of his office. As is often the case on that show, the 4 main characters, Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter, Howard Wolowitz and Rajesh Koothrappali are sitting around the table at Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment playing a game of some sort. This time it appears to be some type of deck game. Rajesh puts a card down on the board exclaiming “I activate my trap card to banish your entire deck to the Shadow Realm!" Of course, Sheldon being Sheldon takes immediate offense to this. “Now wait a minute. You can’t do that.” Leonard, ever the one to try and keep the peace interjects.


“Love this show. You ever watch it Michael?”

“Here and there, my daughter rather enjoys it.”

“How about you Sin?”

“No.”

“I didn’t think so, but I didn’t want to assume either. Alright, enough dilly dallying. To the conference room.”


Theo looks around the room, trying to make eye contact with someone, anyone but with Sin in the immediate vicinity all eyes remain glued to the floor.


“You there. Yeah you, the blonde with the substantial rack and the black glasses.”


As perfectly described by Theo a large chested blonde woman with black glasses looks up from her and gazes in Theo’s direction with a look of unmitigated terror.


“Yes Mr. Pryce?”

“What’s your name dear?”

“Susan, sir. Susan Kemp.”

“Well Susan Kemp, I need you to do me a favor. I need you to call Jimmy and ask him to get up here asap. That’s as soon as possible. And once he gets here I want him to take that TV off the wall there and swap it out with the one in my office. Can you do that for me Susan?”

“Yes sir, absolutely sir.”

“I thought you might. Thanks Susan. Alright, enough dilly dallying. To the conference room.”


The trio of Theo Pryce, Sin Wild and Michael McBride make their way down the hall, around a corner and come face to face with the oversized double doors marking the entrance to the conference room. Theo pauses for a second, gathers his thoughts and then pushes the two doors open, startling those currently seated around the large oval shaped conference table.


“Joy to the World, your King has come. No, please don’t get up. Just sit there like the disrespectful cunts that I know you all here. My sister not included.”

“Theo what are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? This is still my company is it not Michael? Am I still not the President and CEO?”

“Yes you are.”

“Ok good, because for a second there I thought I had lost my mind. Now shut the fuck up. It’s my turn to speak.”


Theo makes his way to the head of the table and relieves his sister who had been seated, Sin and Michael in tow.


“First let me start off by saying Merry fucking Christmas to all you two faced fucks. And to our token Jew. Fuck you. You shouldn’t have killed Jesus. This is for him.”


The members of the board begin to stir, clearly aware that something bad is about to happen. While they know Theo is known for his short temper they have not really experienced the Theo Pryce of the last 6 weeks as he has been here there and everywhere but his office.


“So you pieces of shit, you, ungrateful, mother fuckers thought that you could try and take this company from me? The company that my father built and that I turned into a vast empire. You honestly believed that you could push me out of my own company and I wasn’t going to hear about it? You really thought that? Was the company not making money hand over fist? Were we not bringing in new clients, clients with deep pockets? Let me ask you, what was so bad about the last few weeks that a group of unics suddenly thought they had balls the size of grapefruits?”

“Mr. Pryce, if you will just…”

“I won’t just anything. Sit the fuck down. You all had your chance to quiet me and you blew it. Now Michael, if you would be so kind please empty the contents of your bag onto the center of the table please. Sin, if you could, please stand at the doors for me.”


At Theo’s request, Michael unzips the bag, walks over to the side of the table and dumps the contents, which is about a dozen white envelops onto the center of the table, drops the bag on the floor, and then joins Sin by the doors.

“Go ahead everyone, please grab the envelope with your name on it. No peaking. No one opens their envelope until everyone has one.”


It takes about a minute for all of the envelopes to be dispersed to their rightful owners, all the while Theo looks around, studying the looks on everyone’s face, including that of his sisters who is standing off to the side. While Theo did apprise her of his plan, he did not tell share all of the details, specifically what is unfolding in front of them right now.


“Alright, now that all of you have your envelopes go on ahead and open them. Inside them is the details of your severance, which, if I may say so myself, is rather generous considering what you all schemed to do to me.”


Several members of the groups rip into their envelopes, some a little more methodical than others. The first person to get theirs open completely and review the piece of paper inside is Chris Samuels, the head of one of the local Energy Companies in the area, married and father of 3 girls.

“This paper is blank. There is nothing on it.”

“You are right, it is in fact blank, but there is something on it. Did you actually think that after what you scum bags tried to pull that I would offer any of you anything? Do you believe that you deserve anything? As for what is on the paper. I’ll allow my associate to explain. Michael, if you will.”


“Oi, it would be my pleasure. Some of you may know who I am, some of you may not, after today I assure you, not a one of you will forget my face. The pieces of paper you all currently hold in your hands have been infused with what we call the “Dew of Death”. It’s a chemical weapon developed right here at Pryce Industries that coats your throats and lungs triggering pulmonary edema. At this point each one of you has now become infected. I should also add that this weapon is rather aggressive strain and you have approximately 6 hours before you are all in a state where you will wish you were dead. That should give you enough time to get home and say good bye to your families, though doing so would only spread the virus so that’s probably not a good idea.”

“This is madness, you can’t do this to us.”

“Except that I already have. But don’t worry Chris, I am not an unreasonable man. In fact, despite you all being deserving of the gift I have given you, I am willing to let bygones be bygones. And by that I mean, I will give each and every one of you the antidote, in exchange for you signing a piece of paper that says that your last day as members of Pryce Industries Board of Directors is today, and that each of you forfeits any further compensation or the right to any legal actions should you suddenly decide that you were on the wrong end of this ordeal.”

“How do we know you aren’t bluffing?” chimes in another member of the board.

“You don’t. By all means, walk out of here, go home, be with your family and see what happens. That’s completely up to you. But I suggest you make a decision and you make it quickly. Clock is ticking.”


Theo looks over to his sister, while her face does not betray her feelings he can tell that she is not completely on board with what is going on. Especially when you consider that she was the one that alerted her brother to what was going on behind closed doors. A good lawyer would be able to add a complicit charge if litigation became an issue.


“Tick tock ladies and gentlemen. Tick tock.”

“Where is the antidote. I want to see it.”

“My my. What kind of person do you think I am? That I would kill all of you, so close to Christmas? Very well.” Theo reaches into his pocket and pulls out to vials, containing a goldish colored liquid. “Here it is. A few milligrams of this and your problems are solved. So what say you?”

“Give us the antitodte first and then we will sign the documents.” Chimes in Janet Richards, another prominent business woman in the area.

“Now why would I do that?”

“As a show of good faith.”

“Me not having Michael put a bullet in each one of your heads was a show of good faith. What I am doing, I am only doing because I know my sister could not live with all of your deaths on her conscience. So, will you be signing the documents renouncing your rights or will you all be spending your last Christmas by yourselves, locked away in this conference room?”

Where is the document Theo?”

“Oh did I forget to mention, this is an all for one deal. All of you conspired against me, so either all of you agree on your next course of action, or all of you root away. Talk amongst yourselves. But do it quickly. I’m getting bored with this topic.”


Theo walks over to Sin and Michael and exchanges a few words with them while the members of the Board discuss their next steps. Obviously Theo knows what they will decide, they will do what any human would do and choice to live. People by and large have their faults but when it comes to the choice of life or death, they will do whatever they can to ensure their continued existence.

Again the first person to speak up is Chris Samuels, a look of resignment stapled across his face.

“Alright Theo, you win. Where are the forms?”


Theo motions over to Sin who grabs a stack of papers from a chair located in the back of the room, she disperses the forms one by one to each person and awaits their signature before collecting them.


“Excellent choice. Now here you go.”


Theo throws the two vials of the antidote onto the table along with a handful of syringes.


“Now take your medicine and get the fuck out of my face.”