Authors: Avi Domoshevizki
New York, October 24, 2013, 6:15 PM
“Hello, Robert.” It was the familiar chilling voice on the other
end of the line.
“I wired you the money, just like you asked,” said Robert in a
voice straining to sound determined. “From now on, we have nothing to do with
each other. I don’t want you to call me again.”
“Robert, Robert…I don’t understand why you’re talking to me like
that. I thought we were friends,” said the speaker in a mock-friendly manner,
then immediately changed his tone of voice. “Go down to the building entrance
immediately. In five minutes, a limousine will come to pick you up for an appointment.
I give you my word, no harm will come to you, and at the end of the meeting,
which I hope will be a brief one, we’ll take you back to your office. Five
minutes. Get a move on.”
“I’m busy at the moment and can’t clear any time for
appointments outside the building. Perhaps you could tell me what you’d like
over the phone.”
“Get down and be there in four and a half minutes, otherwise
your son won’t be coming back from baseball practice, which is about to end
pretty soon. Perhaps your wife, who by the way, has already arrived to pick him
up, might accidentally get hurt. And Robert, do us both a favor and don’t call
her. Now you’ve got three minutes and fifty-four seconds.”
The call was disconnected. Robert slowly got up and opened the
closet next to the office door. He took his coat from the hanger, inhaled
deeply and went out of his office. “I’m going to run some errands for about an
hour,” he explained to his secretary and slowly moved toward the elevator,
praying his feet wouldn’t betray him.
“But you have an appointment with the attorneys about the TDO
acquisition in fifteen minutes. What should I tell them?” Sinead was astounded.
“Just think of something. That’s why I pay you so much,” he
answered angrily. Sinead’s eyes followed his wide back, puzzled. He’d never
spoken to her like that before.
When he reached the lobby, he could see the limousine already
parked outside,
its door open
like a black monster’s
gaping maw. In a spur-of-the-moment decision, he approached the guard at the
entrance.
“Yes, Mr. Brown, how can I help you?” The guard stepped over,
waiting for his instructions.
“I—”
“There’s no need, Mr. Brown. The car is already here.” A hand
grabbed him from behind and squeezed his left elbow. Robert tried to release himself
from the grip but was unable to move his arm. “Your wife is waiting and we’re
already late.” The man began to march forward, without easing his grip. Now
Robert was able to see him. He was dressed in a casual black suit, wearing a
flat cap and dark sunglasses, and motioning with his available hand toward the
exit door.
“Mr. Brown…?” The guard was trying to decide what he should do.
“Everything is fine, Patrick,” Robert muttered and walked
outside.
When he sat in the car, the doors locked with a foreboding
clunk. From that moment on, he was at the mercy of his escort. He wondered if
he’d ever get to see the Loop skyscrapers again as the vehicle passed them, a
heavy lump in his chest.
The limo turned from Michigan Boulevard onto Roosevelt Road,
then
continued toward Chinatown. A few minutes later, it
slowed down next to an office building whose walls were covered with graffiti
and slid down into an underground parking lot. The driver opened the limousine
door and led Robert to an old elevator that creaked and groaned with effort
before stopping at the fourth floor. The long corridor reminded him of two-star
hotels in Shanghai.
Worn-out carpets with curling, unglued
edges, faded posters of banal paintings enclosed in dusty frames, and dozens of
doors bearing signs in Chinese.
The driver stopped next to one of the
doors and opened it without knocking. At the center of an empty, dusty room
stood a man with oriental features. Robert approached him hesitantly. The man
put out a hand clad in a black leather glove and crushed Robert’s with an
intense handshake. His eyes were flat and emotionless.
The
eyes of a shark.
“We meet at last, Robert. I hope you’ll forgive me for meeting
you in such a graceless place, but this is the only office that was available
at such a short notice. As soon as you get out of here and go back to your
office, we’ll disappear as well. I’m telling you all this just in case you were
thinking you’d try to remember where you were taken. Would you like to sit
down?” The man gestured theatrically to one of the two plastic chairs, the only
furniture in the room, and sat in the other one, waiting.
“Before we begin to talk about the subject I’ve invited you to
discuss, I wanted to calm you down and tell you your son and beautiful wife are
safe and sound at home. Here’s a picture to prove it.” The man took out a
smartphone and showed Robert a close-up image of his wife and son. “My men were
very sorry this wasn’t a summer mission. They thought seeing your wife
sunbathing in her bikini by the poolside, or if they were lucky enough, fully
nude, would have spiced up their assignment a bit.” The Chinese man gave a
hollow laugh without taking his dead eyes away from Robert, who felt like he
was about to throw up.
“You must be asking yourself why you’re here.” The man turned
serious abruptly. “My boss asked me to tell you it would be really nice of
Mentor to forgo the TDO acquisition. I want you to promise me it’s all right as
far as you’re concerned, and then my driver will take you back to the office
and you’ll never hear from me again.”
“I don’t understand,” Robert stuttered.
“I apologize if my English is not clear enough, but I’m asking
you to make an effort to understand, so I won’t have to repeat everything I’m
saying,” the Chinese man hissed through clenched teeth. “I — want — you — to —
assure — me — that — you’ll — pull — out —of — the — acquisition — plans — for
— TDO,” he said, spacing out the words. “There, was that any clearer?”
“But all the paperwork’s been drafted already, and tomorrow I’m
supposed to close the deal. I can’t just cancel without a reason.” Robert
mustered his courage.
“Tomorrow is a long time from now. You’ll cancel the deal
today.”
“I can’t do that. The board of directors will simply fire me and
replace me with someone who will finish the deal. TDO is up for sale; if I
don’t buy it, somebody else will. I don’t get it, what will you gain by this?”
“You’re right. It’s for sale, and we are the ones who will buy
it. By the way, you won’t have any problems with your board of directors
because I promise you full cooperation between our companies. We intend to give
you exclusive distribution rights for the product in return for your help in
stabilizing the production line. I think not only won’t the board of directors
fire
you,
they’ll even praise you for the wonderful
deal you were able to close. Now—” the thug cracked his knuckles “—do we have
an understanding, or do I need to move on to the next stage of our
‘negotiations,’ which, both of us know, I’ll be the only one to enjoy?”
“Why are you so interested in a company that developed a deadly
medicine? Do you own the knowledge that might fix the problem?”
“The medicine had no problem before we interfered.” The man sent
Robert a poisonous smile. “Perhaps now you understand why you should cooperate
with us.” He got up from his chair, lifted Robert to his feet without any
visible effort and drew his face close to Brown’s. “This conversation is
starting to tire me,” he whispered in his ear. “Do you agree to stay clear of
this acquisition?”
Robert’s head was spinning.
“So, what’s your answer!?” his captor screamed in his ear.
Robert recoiled as if he’d just been slapped.
“All
right.
All right,” he whispered and dropped back in his chair.
The Chinese man took out a thin, black ring binder from a bag
that rested near the wall at the edge of the balding carpet and handed it to
Robert. “This is the cooperation agreement between our companies as drafted by
our attorneys. You’ll find that they’ve been very generous with your company. Please
go over it with your advisors. If any questions arise, you’ll be able to get
back to our representatives. You have their names in the enclosed letter.” The
man extended his hand and pulled Robert from his chair. Then he wrapped his arm
around Robert’s shoulders and led him toward the door, where he said, “It’s a
pleasure doing business with you. Goodbye, Robert.”
When he got in the limo, Robert asked the driver to stop at the
nearest gas station. The latter obeyed his instruction without saying a word.
Robert headed to the restroom and, after locking the door, washed his face then
examined his clothes and carefully cleaned them. Finally, he fished out a comb
and fixed his hair. Only when he was somewhat pleased by the image reflected in
the mirror did he go out of the restroom and walk to the car.
When he got back to his office, a small army of lawyers was
already waiting for him, with Sinead rushing among them, carrying a tray with
coffee and refreshments.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” Robert addressed them. “If you’ll excuse
me, I have one more telephone call to make before we get started.” Without
waiting for an answer, he dialed and said, as soon as his call was answered,
“Mr. Saar, I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but we’ve decided to cancel
the deal. I wish you and TDO all the luck in the world. Goodbye.” He hung up
without waiting for an answer, raised his eyes and looked straight at the
astonished attorneys.
“Sinead” — he took a CD out of the black ring binder he brought
with him — “please print six copies of the document on this CD and give one to
each attorney on his way out.”
Once he’d handed off the CD, he turned his eyes back to the
lawyers and said, “Gentlemen, the rules of the game have changed. I have
information about another company that has entered the game and is interested
in acquiring TDO. According to the information I have, they were about to offer
a price that would make the deal unprofitable for us. I’ve spent the time you
were waiting for me in the office to close a deal with them, defining the
principles of the strategic cooperation between our companies. You’ll get
copies of the contract on your way out. Sinead will reserve a conference room
for you to go over the material. We’ll hold our meeting as soon as you’re ready
with your comments. The night’s still young. Thank you.”
He rose to his feet, signaling to them that the meeting was
adjourned. Only after the last of the lawyers had closed the door behind him,
did he allow himself to drop in his chair, ignoring the phone that wouldn’t
stop ringing.
New York, October 25, 2013, 6:50 AM
The telephone call he’d received from Robert had surprised
Ronnie, and Brown’s terse message didn’t leave his mind for hours. He spent the
night on the sofa, in front of the television. Even the last few drops of
whiskey he’d found buried in the liquor cabinet couldn’t help him fall asleep,
and the light of dawn found him drained and despondent.
Liah threw a quick “Good morning” in his direction on her way to
the kitchen.
Ronnie stood, stretched his aching limbs and followed her.
“Liah, what are you doing? You were discharged from the hospital only
yesterday. You need to rest. And besides, we need to talk about what stressed
you out so much. If it was the wedding, I…” He sought her eyes with his own.
“Not now. I’m late for class.” She rubbed herself against him in
an official affectionate gesture on her way back to the bedroom.
“Liah!” he called after her. He waited a moment, and when no answer
came, he left the apartment and slammed the door angrily behind him.
Wearing only a thin shirt, he was not prepared for the morning
chill. He crossed the street running and rushed into the coffee shop on the
other side. The warm coffee and the lively morning atmosphere helped him regain
his spirits. He sat in front of the large store window and looked at the
entrance to his building. A disheartening sense of loneliness engulfed him.
Liah, the woman he loved, had become a stranger. Suddenly, he saw her emerging
from the building, hurrying toward the subway station.
She didn’t even try
to look for me
, he noted sadly.
He left his coffee mug on the table and went back home. An hour
later, he was at the office, shaved and showered. Evelyn wasn’t at her station,
and Ronnie went into David’s office without knocking.
“Good thing I was supposed to be on the nine fifty-five PM
Spirit flight from LaGuardia and didn’t schedule an earlier flight,” he said,
eyes blazing. “Your son of a bitch friend didn’t even ask me where I was when
he cancelled the acquisition offer without offering any explanations.”
“I really don’t understand what happened,” David admitted in a
gloomy voice. “I’ve been trying since yesterday to get him to tell me what
caused him to cancel the deal at the last moment, but the explanations he’s
been giving me sound far-fetched. They didn’t contain even a hint about the new
information that made him change his mind so drastically.”
“At least he gave
you
the courtesy of answering. He’s
been avoiding my calls. The arrogant son of a bitch doesn’t even have the
decency to conduct a civilized conversation about the subject. Now, after
wasting a few valuable days, I need to start looking for investors again. I
hope that’s acceptable to you and to the rest of the company investors you’ve
convinced to vote for selling TDO at any cost.”
“What’s important now is saving the company. Do you have any
ideas as to what we should do?” David lowered his voice in an attempt to calm
things down.
“Same ideas I’ve always had. Ideas you and Henry constantly shot
down. Before I get back to speaking with the funds about investment, I just
wanted to know if you two will back me up and stop acting like Statler and
Waldorf from the Muppet Show. Your demeaning remarks are of no help.”
“I’m afraid sharp-eyed bankers will swoop down on the company
like vultures,” David remarked with an appeasing tone. “There are no secrets in
the industry. As far as they’re concerned, TDO is a wounded animal, so it’s the
right time to go for the kill. We can only hope we’ll be able to create some
competition among several potential buyers, so we’re still able to get a
reasonable price. I think we’ll end up fondly reminiscing about the price
Mentor Pharmaceuticals offered us. You can keep looking for investors. I don’t
want to discourage you, but I’m afraid the chances one of the funds will want
to jump on the bandwagon now are close to zero. I wouldn’t do it, and that’s
the answer I’ve been getting from friends in the industry I spoke with overnight.”
Ronnie couldn’t restrain his skepticism, “You’ve tried to
convince funds to invest in TDO?”
“Tried and failed.”
“I really appreciate it.” Ronnie regretted his outburst. “Now,
in another matter: I’ve appointed Jim to serve as temporary CEO and invited him
for a meeting on Monday. I thought by then I’d be able to tell him about the
acquisition of the company, but it appears I need him now more than ever.
Regarding possible plans for saving the company, give me a few hours to think
about it, and if I need your help, I won’t hesitate to ask.” Ronnie prepared to
leave the room.
“Talk to Henry as well. He can help,” David hurried to say.
Ronnie nodded and left.
Evelyn’s desk was still empty, but Ronnie noticed a cup of
coffee with a yellow sticky note on it saying:
Ronnie,
you look like someone who desperately needs a strong cup of coffee
. He
took the coffee to his office and sipped slowly, exhausted. The pieces of the
puzzle refused to come together. He couldn’t shake the ominous feeling that the
path he’d been following was made of quicksand. He rested his head on the table
and tried to relax. When he opened his eyes and glanced at his watch, he
discovered he’d been sleeping for almost an hour. While stretching in a useless
attempt to chase away the great tiredness nestling within him, he was surprised
to see an email from an unknown sender on his screen. The subject line screamed
with red bold letters: “Acquisition offer for TDO.” Ronnie hurried to open the
message and began to read:
“Dear Mr. Saar,
“Smith,
Jones and Co. Investment Banking represents a large European customer who has
shown an interest in acquiring TDO. The acquiring company began its due
diligence checkup two months ago and is interested in proceeding with the process
as quickly as possible. If you find this offer to be interesting, please
contact Mr. Smith as soon as possible at the phone number at the bottom of this
email.”
Ronnie wasn’t familiar with the name of the sender and neither
with Smith, Jones and Co. He reread the email, trying to draw some more
information from it but couldn’t find any. A phone number was underneath the
signature, but a physical or even a website address was noticeably missing.
An investment banking company without a website?
Without offices?
What about the names? They sounded so
overused and fictitious, as if they’d been taken out of a bad mystery book.
Smith and Jones…
He pulled the phone over and dialed.
The phone rang for a long time, and seconds before Ronnie
decided to hang up, a voice with an Oxford accent answered.
“Smith.”
Ronnie decided to skip the pleasantries and get straight to the
point. “This is Ronnie Saar. I read the intriguing email you sent me, and I’m
interested in getting more details from you.”
“I’m happy you got back to me so quickly. Sorry you had to wait
on the line, but you’ve caught me in the middle of another meeting,” the
Englishman apologized. “I’d like to meet face-to-face, instead of wasting
valuable time on the phone. I can assure you my client is serious and is
willing to pay a fair price for the company you chair.”
“I’d be delighted to meet you, of course. I’m available this
afternoon and Monday.” Ronnie managed to restrain his voice, but his heart was
beating like a drum.
“If it’s OK with you, my partner, Mr. Jones, and I would like to
meet with you as early as today. Will two o’clock
be
convenient for you?”
His words were like celestial music to Ronnie’s ears. “Two
o’clock will be fine. Our offices are on—”
“I know where you are, Mr. Saar. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I
must get back to my meeting. Be seeing you.” The call was disconnected.
Ronnie spent the next hour doing some in-depth searching on the
internet and in various venture capital databases the firm subscribed to but
was able to come up with only three references to the investment bankers’ name.
In all three references, they were presented as bankers who’d led acquisitions
of American companies by nameless European purchasers. It was very noticeable
that the sellers were quoted as praising the process that Smith and Jones had
led and the decency of the purchasers, which made the absence of the identities
of the acquiring parties
all the
stranger.
“David asked not to be disturbed,” Evelyn scolded Ronnie, “he
has a long list of telephone calls to make.” When he got closer, she
whispered, “Based on the sour look on his face, some of them are not going as
well as he’d hoped.”
“I’m sure he’ll be glad to see me.” Ronnie smiled. “I have some
good news for a change.”
Evelyn raised her eyebrows and gave Ronnie an inquisitive look.
“Ray,” she called him by the nickname she’d crowned him with, “if you were able
to come up with some good news, you’re a wizard…”
“I’m not a wizard. I think I just got lucky.”
“Luck has a tendency to deceive desperate people. Don’t trust
anyone but yourself.” Evelyn surprised him. “You can go into David’s office,
but it’ll be on your head.”
“Are you familiar with an investment banking company called
Smith and Jones?” Ronnie asked while marching toward David’s desk.
“What’s this nonsense? I really don’t have time for this now.”
David’s face reddened.
“I just got an email stating an investment banking group that
goes by that name is representing an organization that would like to acquire
TDO,” Ronnie continued. “I’ve no idea who this buyer is or who these bankers
are. Either the heavens are smiling on us, or something fishy is going on. I
think it’s suspicious the offer was sent such a short time after I received the
telephone call from Robert cancelling the deal. Anyway, they’re scheduled to
come to our offices at two o’clock to discuss the acquisition. I’d be happy if
you could attend the meeting; I have a feeling I could use your experience.”
“I was afraid this would happen; the vultures have come out of their
nests,” David mumbled, disheartened. “But I guess we’ll have to settle for
that. I’ll clear some time and bring Henry with me as well.”
“All right” — Ronnie hesitated — “as long as it’s clear to
Henry,
I’ll
be the one leading the conversation. If the
investment bankers think, even for a moment, that we don’t speak with a single
voice, they’ll tear us apart.”
“I’ll talk to him. Goodbye.” David cut off the conversation and
began to go through his paperwork with exaggerated attention.
“David doesn’t seem too happy. Neither do you, for that matter,”
Evelyn remarked as Ronnie left David’s office, sunk in thought.
“Ye…s…s.
In…teresting,” Ronnie muttered
to himself distractedly.
“Ronnie?” Her concern was evident.
“Everything’s fine, Evelyn.”
Ronnie
pulled himself together. “Two investment bankers will be coming in at two
o’clock. David, Henry and I will be meeting with them. Please clear a
conference room for us, and arrange some refreshments, if you would.” He stopped
in front of her desk. “And thanks for the morning coffee.”
“For you — anything,” she said with a joyless smile.