Chapter Four

The conference room took up an entire corner of the skyscraper’s upper floor. It offered a sharply angled panorama of the city. The great view came with the great territory, just about equal to many other great working businesses that couldn’t quite reach the very top of their respective towers. High enough to look down on the streets but still low enough to be looked down on by those who moved the world.

Anthony entered to six of his co-workers. All of them were a bit younger than him in their 20s. William Smart, Peter Danks, Nate Nash with his zealous helping of hot sauce with a side of breakfast burrito, Brodie Sellers, Travis Edmond and Sam Gunn. These were the elite among the Thatcher LLC attorneys. In the court and the Judge’s chambers they were experts in dealing with settlements and getting their due even from a losing case. Outside of their work, they remained stellar examples of men worthy of their expensive suits. Vaping away as they spoke on girlfriend issues.

“What the fuck does a friend even mean?” Sam said, in the midst of his own very vocal conversation with Brodie. “I don’t know man, it just rubbed me the wrong way. Usually she’ll say things like… I’m out with my friends or she’ll just say the name of the person she’s with.”

“The little slut is cheating on you man,” Brodie said. “If you suspect it. It’s true.”

Sam waved his hands. “You don’t have to call her a slut.”

“Hey I’m just trying to paint a picture for you.”

“Brodie’s right,” Nate said. “Take it for what it is. Like a bad habit man, drop the bitch.”

“See?” Brodie said.

“I’m insecure,” Travis added on, joining the conversation at its lowest point. “The second I have those kinds of thoughts with a girl I’m seeing. I break it off immediately. I don’t want to stay to find out.”

“He’s stuck on her blowjobs,” Brodie said.

“Shut up, man,” Sam protested.

“No tell us the truth, good blowjobs are hard to come by. Oh, here’s another option. Pretend like you don’t know and… keep sharing with the other guy.” said Brodie.

“That’s disgusting.”

“Don’t listen to these idiots,” William interjected. “None of them are married so obviously they don’t know how to keep a woman. Listen Sam, I know this might sound cliche but follow your heart. Everything’s an experience, good or bad. I got married at a young age. Do I regret sometimes, yes but believe me the good always outweighs the bad.”

“Until,” Peter proffered, “you find out you’re sharing those good blowjobs with that person named a friend. What’s he supposed to do then Will?”

“Kill the bitch,” William said with surprising confidence.

Sam shook his head as he turned it toward the formerly empty seat Anthony took over.

“What do you think, Anthony?” Brodie asked.

“What do I think?” Anthony repeated.

“Yeah, what should he do? You’re a lady’s man.”

Anthony felt on the spot from the vouching and sat up in his chair to try and keep the conversation elevated. “Uh, when’s the last time you two had a serious argument?”

“We haven’t been together long enough to have one,” Sam admitted.

“You should probably create one.”

“Art of War,” Nate added with a mouth full of food.

“Where’s you getting at?” Brodie asked.

“Shut up. Let him finish. After I create the argument then what?” Sam asked.

Anthony nodded along with his developing wisdom. “Her reaction will tell you everything you need to know. If she leaves the house, you should be worried about that friend. A shoulder to cry on equals a dick to ride on.”

“Wow,” Travis remarked.

“That’s some cold shit man,” Nate nodded.

The critical advice was cut short as Jimmy Thatcher entered the conference room. Every muscle in the bodies of the attorneys on deck ceased grinning and shot their backs into a straight-up position with hands at the ready with pens against notepad paper. Jimmy surveyed them like a drill sergeant and walked around to the front of the room, to stand between them and the open sky framed by great panes of glass.

“Gentlemen,” he began, “thank you for joining me for our Friday briefing. Unfortunately I heard dreadful news this morning which excuse my language, already FUCKED UP my weekend. I thought it’ll be important for everybody to be on the same page. So let’s begin. Who’s first?”

The unexpected burst of cursing put the room on edge. Jimmy was a difficult man to read most of the time. Showing his anger was like pointing a loaded gun at whoever spoke first. Brodie took the chance and cleared his throat to speak up first.

“First I’ll like to begin by saying I’m furious to say that we lost the E-Cig settlement. My team… Sam and Travis… We had it in the bag until they took it from underneath us.”

“Who?” William asked.

“Our neighbor,” Travis said. He pointed over his shoulder to the highrise up the street.

“Again?” Nate said.

“Yes,” Jimmy confirmed, “that’s twice this quarter, gentlemen.” He sounded disappointed.

“We called,” Sam continued, “all 200 affected parties and asked them why they went with them. None of them wanted to talk except for one guy. He told us they guaranteed each of them $100,000 in their account after signing the settlement.”

“That’s 20 million dollars,” Peter quickly assessed. “How much was the deal worth?”

“Fifteen,” Sam said.

“What are they cooking up over there?” Anthony wondered aloud.

“Great question, Anthony,” Jimmy began. “This is a great opportunity for all of you to learn why they would offer clients something that puts a dent on their portfolio. On paper they lost 5 million dollars. In reality they have 200 new testimonies that can vouch that the law firm put 100 grand in their pocket for going to the store and buying one bad e-cig. Gentlemen always keep it simple. I know most of you here worked your little asses off to acquire law degrees from prestigious universities. Hell we all did but I’ll hate to disappoint you. School credits didn’t get me here. I want you to remember this… Where does money come from?”

“Public and private markets,” Nate answered.

“You’re using that shit you learned in school, forget about it.” Nate lowered his head. “Gentlemen, money comes from people’s pockets. Those pockets are connected to their mouths… so you have to listen more and talk less. Losing 5 million dollars is not going to take me out of business. When the next deal is worth 50 million. Understood?”

“Yes sir,” Brodie said.

“Now let’s run a scenario,” Jimmy offered. “What could we have done to close this deal?” There was a moment of hesitation, after which came a sudden swell of enthusiasm. When nobody answered, the gap of silence just one second long pushed everyone to speak at once. However, the first voice to break that silence also had to speak for all of them. Those who wavered in trust and in confidence held their tongues, while Anthony moved his.

“I remember when I first started working you said, ‘There’s only one way to make a living in this business… Be cut throat’. We screwed up not knowing exactly what they were doing next door. There’s no reason we’re in the same business and we don’t know what our competitor — who’s right next door — next move is.”

“Art of War,” Nate nodded.

“Well put Mr. Little,” Jimmy said. “I couldn’t have said it any better. Are you guys taking notes.” Brodie turned to Nate. “You still fucking that assistant over there?”

“Sara?” Nate asked. “No, but one text and I’m back in.”

“Good,” Brodie nodded. “Get back in her good graces. Any information you pull out of her can help us. Anthony’s right, we need to think outside the box.”

“We also have unfortunate news,” William began, buoyed by the affirmation they received just a moment ago. “We got wind Brown Capital Management’s new CEO Logan Green called an emergency meeting with his partners. He’s decided to liquidate his entire position with us. 35 million dollars worth of settlement assets are due in about 30 days.” “Have they sent a notice?” Jimmy asked.

“No, sir,” he answered.

“Good. Find a buyer before the day ends.”

“Who’s gonna buy 35 million dollars worth of settlements without doing any due diligence?” “Find them or find another job. It’s that simple.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jimmy looked around the room to scan through the disappointment. “Do we have any fucking good news?” Peter spoke up. “You remember George?”

Jimmy paused for a second to parse through the many names he learned and had to forget over the years. “Yeah, Bernstein the Jewish guy. Private equity. You’ve been pitching him for 2 years now.”

“I don’t pitch Jimmy, I befriend. He recently called me asking about the Liko diabetes settlement. I told him about it a month ago.”

“Liko?” Jimmy asked with confusion.

“You forget what we do around here boss?” Peter said with a smirk.

“Right…right. What are the numbers?”

“125 million for 50 cents on the dollar with a 13% return. Mother Teresa wouldn’t turn down that deal.”

“Only 13?” Jimmy asked.

Peter shrugged humbly. “I’ve never been the greedy type.”

“Attaboy, great job man. See gentlemen this is what I’m talking about. He’s been wheeling this guy in for 2 years. This one deal will set Peter up for the rest of his life. The opportunity to change your life and your family’s lives is here. Now get the fuck outta here. Go sell some settlements.”

With his rallying cry delivered, the men assembled into their smaller teams and left together with a renewed enthusiasm for their work. It wasn’t all gloom and doom earning money from the occasional misfortunes of the well established legal foibles of the world. As long as they could each get theirs, they could be happy.