| Subject: Chapter 16 |
Author:
Mary
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Date Posted: Thursday, September 08, 01:48:10pm
In reply to:
Mary
's message, "The Healing Touch II - Chapter 14 +" on Sunday, September 04, 02:35:16pm
Chapter 16
The room was vast and meant to be intimidating. Nikita shivered in the coldness of the room. Mick standing beside her saw the shiver and realized that she should have been wearing a heavier suit than the one he had selected for her. They had just entered the vast hall and their escort led them to the long table. Michael stood immediately and the other men followed suit. He assessed her as she walked into the room, she was pale he noticed as she seemed to miss a step and Mick grabbed her arm. Michael had to physically stop himself from moving and attempting to go to her. She brushed it off with one of her enticing smiles and continued on. But Michael could tell that all was not well.
She barely glanced at Michael as she put her briefcase down and stood behind the chair awaiting introductions. He could see the anxiety she was feeling in her eyes but she was playing her role perfect so far, no one else could tell that anything might be amiss.
“Ms. Wirth welcome to Marcali Industries. I hope you had a pleasant trip.”
She smiled that perfect beautiful smile that Michael loved and he felt his heart lurch at what she was going through, “Thank you Mr. Marcali. It’s good to be here and to meet you.” She shook his hand.
Marcali continued the introductions, “This is Mr. John Hughes, Vice-President of Worldwide Operations. Mr. Igor Nossov Vice President Mergers and Acquisitions, and Mr. Swami Reddey Primary Legal Counsel. And Mr. Michael Samuelle, an Investment Consultant that I’ve asked to join us this evening.”
She shook their hands one at time and nodded to each. Michael took her smaller hand in his and felt that it was very cold. She then turned and introduced Mick, “This is Mick Schtoppel my Personal Assistant.”
Mick nodded his head and in typical Mick-style could not be quiet, “Nice to meet you fine gentlemen. I’ll sure we’ll all get along quite swimmingly.” He rubbed his hands together and Nikita glared at him. Training is the only thing that Michael from almost smiling at the pair the two of them made.
The group all sat and got down to business. “As Primary Legal Counsel for Mr. Marcali I have to tell you that we are really not open to a merger agreement nor acquisition at this time.”
“Mr. Reddey, neither you nor Mr. Marcali have even heard my proposal yet. Certainly men of your intelligence of business savvy realize that there is always the possibility of an unexplored opportunity.” She was using her charm to work them, Michael was impressed.
“Certainly Ms. Wirth we are not implying that we will not listen to you this evening. I believe Mr. Reddey is just letting you know our current long term strategy for the organization as a whole. We didn’t ask you to the table Ms. Wirth, you asked us.” Nikolai’s tone was cool and detached, he didn’t want to make an enemy of her.
“Yes I did. So let’s begin. I believe you have already received the presentation that I sent. Mick if you would please hand out the proposals? If you turn to page three, you will see that there is a listing of the strategic business units of Wolfe Enterprises. On page four I have aligned both Wolfe Enterprises and Marcali Industries business units so that you can see how the two are compatible.”
Nikita paused in order for the others to look at the data she was presented. She chanced a quick glance at Michael and his eyes met hers. He immediately saw her fear and distress, she saw his quiet confidence and warmth that he conveyed with just a look. He noticed that she was growing paler and the pages she held in her hand were slightly shaking.
Michael spoke knowing he had to play his role well and hating it, “Ms. Wirth the alignment does not take into account factories in Istanbul, a distribution point in Scotland, nor our metal processing plant in Argentina. These are major assets for Mr. Marcali. Why were they disregarded in your analysis?”
She snapped back to a focused state that Michael was hoping for the moment she was challenged, “They were not ‘disregarded’ Mr. Samuelle. They do not align well with Wolfe units. They would then be evaluated, as you can see in Appendix B page 31, as either part of a re-structuring effort or potentially sold for much needed capital financing.”
Mr. Nossov joined the conversation, “I believe those assets are critical to the operation of Marcali. Neither of your options is accepted.”
And so the meeting went, for hours and hours. Mick almost fell asleep at one point in time until Nikita’s high heel dig into his foot and then he almost yelled out loud at the pain in his foot. It was dull, it was boring. They all poured over the papers doing this volleying back and forth over the large table. Voices were raised at a couple points in time but Mick noticed that things seemed to stay fairly civil. He hoped that continued.
*****
Alexandria watched the exchange in Hungary with great interest. Yes, she wanted this supplier of terrorists stopped. But it went beyond him and she knew it. After an organization had been in place long enough it took on a life of its own. Just removing Marcali would not be enough based on the intel that Michael had retrieved while on site. That would not stop the funding. The organization had to be destroyed. A complete takeover was her only option at this point in time. Nikita had to make this work.
She was doing a good job, even though the girl obviously was not well, Alexandria knew what to look for and knew what the problem was. In time Medlab would be able to take care of her. Until then she trusted that Michael would keep her in the negotiations and working at this as long as possible.
If in the end Marcali could not be persuaded with enough money to agree to the terms, then drastic action would have to be taken, that contingency was in place. He had over 300,000 employees’ world-wide, most of whom worked very hard and had no idea that they contributed daily to the funding of some of the most deadly terrorist on the planet. Alexandria didn’t want this way, but based on Michael’s intel at least 60% of them had to be considered acceptable collateral in a contingency scenario. She didn’t always like the decisions that she had to make, but she was the only one to do it – for now.
She heard the door open behind her and felt warm hands on her shoulders. She leaned into his quiet strength and shut her eyes for a moment, relaxing. She couldn’t wait until they could be away from this place and have time together. She loved him so and they had had so little time together over the years. With a sigh, she returned to watching the meeting, realizing that the participants were all tired from the many hours of negotiations and would break soon until morning.
****
Progress was slow and Marcali was a difficult man but an amazing negotiator. He was at his core a very greedy man and if this were to happen at all, Michael had no doubt, that he would squeeze every penny out of this process. Tea and coffee had been served some time ago and the hour was now growing quite late, Michael was tired, he knew Nikita had to be exhausted. Mick also seemed to be glancing to her nervously over the last few minutes.
As they mulled over another point Michael took the opportunity, “It’s been a long evening. May I suggest that we break and start again in the late morning after we are rested?”
Marcali pondered the request for a moment, “An excellent idea. Ms. Wirth you have captured my attention for much longer than I anticipated that you might. Congratulations on accomplishing something that few people can do. However the hour does grow late and you look weary from your travels. Some rest for us all, and we come together again at noon tomorrow. Yes?”
They all agreed and began to gather papers from the table and prepare to leave. Then Nikolai remembered, “Ah, Ms. Wirth and Mr. Schtoppel, I took the liberty of having your things sent to the corporate apartments that we have here in town. I thought that would be more comfortable for you than a hotel during your stay. You are in the same building as Michael perhaps he will offer you a ride to your accommodations?”
Nikita smiled, “How very hospitable of you to think of us that way. If Mr. Samuelle doesn’t mind we will take you up on that offer, otherwise I’m sure we can get a taxi.”
“I’d be very happy to take you both.” Michael smiled at her and she almost melted right on the spot.
He took her briefcase from her hand to carry, they said their goodnights and soon the three of them were on their way to the apartments. Mick actually fell asleep in the back seat of the car even though it was not really a long drive. His snoring was the only sound in the car until Michael spoke, “Are you all right?”
“Yes,” she answered too quickly. “I – I mean, sitting there pretending I didn’t know you that was extremely awkward. I mean, knowing who you are and what you are really there to do. And Nikolai is a much tougher negotiator than I expected, how long were we in that cavernous room anyway?”
“Over six hours,” he answered softly.
“I’m sure tomorrow will be even harder. And you ask some pretty difficult questions yourself Michael.”
“That’s my role. I’m sorry if I make things difficult for you.” He noticed that she was nervous, rambling on about subjects. He was worried.
He expected a reply from her and when he looked over she seemed confused, “I’m sorry Michael. What did you say?”
She was rubbing her forehead with one hand and he asked, “Headache?”
“Yeah. I just feel a little fuzzy, think I’m just tired.”
“The apartments are right up the street and we’ll get you settled.”
He parked and Mick awoke with a start as soon as the car stopped moving, “Bloody good dream. Hey, where are we?”
“Just at the apartment,” Nikita replied as Michael opened her door.
“Thank heaven, I’m exhausted and starved, hope they stocked the icebox for us.” Mick said as he scooted out the car.
The moment Nikita’s feet hit the ground her head swam and she leaned into Michael for support. His arm instantly went around her waist and he took in her pale complexion with small beads of sweat on her forehead. “Nikita, Nikita can you hear me?”
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