"I'm guessing," Alex said, "that nonprofit is a technical term. More like a redirection of profit, to the individuals involved. No taxes, more for them if they can hide it."

"Exactly." Harry said. "You hear about the big ones, former presidents, even people who wanted to be president but didn't make it, they start nonprofits. Food and medicine and stuff for poor people in third world countries. Huge donations from people wanting to use their connections. Hundreds of millions, billions even. And very little ever gets used to help the unfortunates. It buys Gulfstream jets at fifty million a copy, mansions all over the world, and the non-profiters live a life like legitimately rich people. Hobnobbing with showbiz people and billionaires. And of course a a lot gets siphoned off to family and friends."

"So the little players do the same." Alex said. "Just on a smaller scale."

"Sure, but it's plenty big to them. From where most of them started. Guy working in a small-town bank or insurance company, whatever, wants more. What he sees on TV. Unless your parents are billionaires, only way you're gonna do it is climb the ladder as far as you can, as fast as you can. Someone gets in your way, push them off. Make deals, whatever works."

"As bad as that? Maybe I don't want my memory back."

"Some might agree with you." Harry said. "Me being one. But we play the hand we're dealt. And so here we are.

"In any case, here's the picture we have so far. I wish I'd taken this dive earlier, but it was only after I saw your case I knew something was bad wrong.

"Flip over to page, seven I believe. Yeah."

It was a map of the entire country, including Alaska and Hawaii. "You can see the concentration in the south," Harry said, "but they're all over. Some of the hospitals they own, others they have management contracts with. Consulting. Supplies purchasing. All the ways the money flows."

"Laundering?"

"Pretty much. But all nominally legal. And hard to prove otherwise, if anyone bothers to investigate. And the IRS is about the only one that can. Or will. I suppose the Justice Department could get in on it, maybe for Medicare fraud or something similar. And they generally only go after for-profits for that."

"So they go nonprofit."

"Something a buddy told me," Harry said, "worked with him in the early days. He went free-lance early, moved to Florida and lives on a boat. He does high-dollar jobs, one or two a year usually. Enough to stay sharp and build a good retirement fund. Spends a lot of time fishing, learned a lot about marine life. Having a neighbor that's a marine biologist doesn't hurt.

"He was talking about sharks one time. He said in a feeding frenzy, sharks completely lose control of what little mind they have. Sensory overload or something. They'll eat anything that comes close, including other sharks. Even parts of their own body that was ripped off by another shark."

"Sharks don't have much of a mind, do they?" Alex said. "What excuse do people have?"

Human Harvest (Quiescent Benevolence - 2023)