Trust Me

opposite in other ways as well. He was at ease in the social situations that Stark detested, and he genuinely cared about the arts, fine wines, and even the opera.
    He was also very good at managing people and money, qualities that made him invaluable to Stark.
    The two men had met a few years earlier at the Rosetta Institute. Stark had worked on the technical side. Dane had been in management and finance.
    When Stark had made the decision to go out on his own, he had approached Dane with an offer that amounted to little more than a gamble. He had not been able to hold out a fistful of money, because his first product, a computer encryption program, was still in his head. But he had promised Dane a vice presidency and stock in Stark Security Systems. To his surprise, Dane had jumped at the opportunity.
    Dane had proved to be just as skillful at bringing new business in to Stark Security Systems as he had once been at bringing in funding for the Institute.
    Stark was the first to acknowledge that he and Dane had little in common on the surface, yet somehow they had become friends. They were bound together by the mutual goal of making Stark Security Systems the leading company in its field. Hard work and success had welded them into a team.
    “How bad was the hangover on Sunday?” Dane asked equably.
    Stark shrugged. “I didn’t have one.”
    “No?” Dane smiled faintly as he lowered himself into a chair and stretched out his long legs. “I realize you’re not a heavy drinker, but I figured you’d make an exception Saturday night. If you didn’t get drunk, what did you do? I called around eight, but there was no answer.”
    “I spent the evening at the theater.”
    Dane’s brows rose. “Didn’t know you went to the theater.”
    “I went Saturday night. Saw something called Fly on the Wall at the Limelight.”
    “I don’t believe it. You went to see experimental theater? You must have been in worse shape than I thought. How the hell did you find your way to a fifth-rate playhouse like the Limelight?”
    “My caterer and her staff asked me to join them. It wasn’t as though I had anything better to do.”
    Dane blinked in surprise. “Your caterer?”
    “Forget it. It’s a long story.”
    “All right, you spent Saturday night at the theater. What did you do yesterday? I tried to get you on the phone a couple of times.”
    “I had the phone turned off,” Stark said. “I was working on ARCANE.”
    Dane’s eyes gleamed briefly. “To quote Maud, when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade, hmm?”
    “This is not a good time to quote Maud,” Stark warned.
    ARCANE was his newest brainchild, a highly flexible computer security program based on principles he had developed from what the popular press called chaos theory. Stark preferred to term the new field that existed at the frontiers of math and physics “the science of complexity.”
    He did not like the word chaos. In his mind it did not conjure up what it did for most scientists, an image of seemingly random signals and movements awaiting the discovery of the patterns hidden in them. For Stark, true chaos was an empty universe shrouded in an endless night. It was a place where everything was meaningless. A place where he was utterly, completely alone. And it existed inside a sorcerer’s cauldron that was buried somewhere deep inside him.
    Dane laced his fingers together and eyed Stark with a thoughtful gaze. “I hate to inquire, but sheer, morbid curiosity compels me. Have you heard from Pamela?”
    “No.”
    “Just as well, I suppose.”
    “I agree. Pamela and I don’t have a lot to talk about at the moment.”
    “Look on the bright side,” Dane said. “A cancelled wedding has got to be a hell of a lot cheaper than a divorce.”
    “You didn’t see the bill from the caterer.”
    Dane chuckled. “That may be so, but I speak from experience. Don’t forget, I’m still writing out checks to Alicia. I’ll bet they’re a lot bigger than your check to the caterer.”
    Stark didn’t argue. Alicia was Dane’s second ex-wife. The marriage had lasted less than a year. Dane had recently paid a fortune to her in the divorce settlement.
    “I suggested that you have Alicia sign a prenuptial agreement,” Stark said. “You should have learned your lesson after Elizabeth left you.”
    “Guess I’m just a romantic at heart.” Dane’s mouth twisted. “Unlike you.”
    Stark sat down behind his desk. “You saw where being logical and