Read Online The Good Doctor's Tales Folio Eight by Randall Farmer - Free Book Online

me.”  Lust filled Tonya’s voice, and hearing it, Gail began to understand how Tonya got a seat on the Focus Council.  Hers was a voice to die for.  “A tax accountant.  Specializing in Focus households,” Tonya said, marveling.
    “Uh huh.”  Tonya sounded as if these other households would hire Phil, for money.  Gail hoped she had found an opportunity for her new friend, rather than trouble.
    “Beth also talked about how to get over the Focus blahs with meditation.  Practice thinking positive thoughts and putting a smile on your face.  Stuff along those lines.  Do you meditate?”  Beth was so, well, cheerful.  It hurt a little, when she realized Beth actually had to practice being cheerful.
    “I don’t meditate.  I say the Rosary though, when I find myself getting too tense.  Other Focuses do other things, like running or other extensive exercise, or praying, or even things like painting and losing themselves in their art.  Each Focus needs to do something, though.”
    “Oh.  Okay.”  Beth ’s advice had made sense anyway.
    “We talked about places to live,” Gail said.  “She had some suggestions.  We talked about how to make money.  She talked about some of the ways other households cope with the money problem.  Small businesses, stuff like that.”
    “Good,” Tonya said.  “Did it help?”
    “Well, I think so, anyway.  I have a couple of ideas.”
    “Did she talk about ways of earning money that aren’t quite so legal?”
    “No,” Gail said, startled and remembering Kurt’s extra activities.  “Why?”
    “Some households can get a little desperate for money and slip over to the far side of the law.  If you ever get in a money bind, give me a call.  We have some people who can help you out.  If you ever do find yourself in something illegal, it’s critical you know what you’re doing.”
    “The Focuses don’t object to illegal activities?” Gail said, a little nervous.
    “The UFA objects to Focuses getting caught.  Or ruining their households with legal troubles.  But no, other Focuses understand the things you need to do to keep your household afloat, and we’ll help.”
    “Oh.  I’ll think about that.”
    “Good.  Make sure you don’t go down that road on your own, though.  You’re never so vulnerable as when you’re starting out, and don’t know enough to avoid the mistakes.  We have people who can show you the ropes.  Now, what else did you talk about?”
    Tonya never stopped.  She wanted to know everything.
     

Tom’s Recruitment
(Carol Hancock’s POV) [expanded]
    Top talent is difficult to recruit.  Oh, I was able to recruit as many smart, willful white-collar types as I could support, no problem.  However, I already had one Hank Zielinski, and I couldn’t support any more overly-willful big ego super-successful types.  With people like Hank, you had to keep them busy, with everything they needed to do their work properly, or they would cause problems.  As Lori and Inferno had found out.  When the need arose, for managers, accountants, lawyers and the like, I would just go find what I needed.  Houston was a veritable smorgasbord of white-collar prospects.
    The real problem was on the other side of the fence.  I had been searching for someone of talent to run the criminal side of my organization for my entire Arm career, and I continuously kept settling for second or third best.  Yes, I had checked out heads of successful criminal organizations until my eyes bled, but with them I kept running into a dilemma – the talented goons were beyond untrustworthy, and the trustworthy ones untalented.  I would have had to keep a daily eyeball on the talented mobsters if they learned anything real about me, making them useless for a continent-trotting Arm.  I did hire such types, as they did have their uses, but never as myself.
    What I needed was a hard case version of Hank , someone I would be able to turn into the Godfather.  Given the