To further squash the theory, he threw in
a nugget about takeovers, and how FTC regulations would prevent
ICP from subsuming Wallaby as long as Wallaby continued to build
portable computers.
However the reason his response had sounded so believable to
everyone, and to himself especially, because it was the truth.
Was.
Right then, as he had answered the reporter's question, a new
plan, a revised plan, had crystallized in Matthew's mind: There
would be no eventual merger between ICP and Wallaby.
"It's back to the office for me," William said, checking his
watch.
Matthew said good-bye and turned to face himself in the mirror.
He felt different, felt he looked different. Younger. More alive
than ever. He pinched back a smile as he whispered the words he
would say if it were Peter rather than himself looking him in the
eye right now: "I told you so." He said it again, and this time
broke into a huge self-satisfied grin, his laughing eyes piercing
back from the mirror into his own.
"Matthew?" Laurence stepped into the room. "Who are you talking
to? Is everything okay?"
This somehow stuck him as funny and he let out a burst of
laughter. "Fine. Great. Super," he said. He whisked his fingers
through his hair and inhaled a deep breath.
Ironically, he at once understood that Wallaby - no, that he -
now had ICP in a precarious position.
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