Chapter 26: A Wartime Consigliere

October 26, 2001, Chicago, Illinois

🎤 Steve

“I was totally surprised you agreed to run the new managed services business unit,” Stephanie said when we sat down in her office late on Friday morning.

“There really isn’t anyone else,” I replied. “It’s never been a focus of ours, and Sam and I handled all our internal needs before Noelle came on board. You and I both know that Sam would never do it, and we’ve never entrusted anything like this to anyone who hasn’t had long experience at NIKA. It’ll be a tech challenge, and it’ll keep me off the streets while Penny explores the chance she asked for back when she had her mini-meltdown.”

“That surprised me even more than you agreeing to run the new business unit. You could have knocked me over with a feather when Julia came to me to discuss Penny’s request. You two are OK, right?”

“Penny and I are fine. She needs to do this, if only to prove to herself that she was right about her skills and abilities.”

“You think she’ll decide she prefers programming the same as you do?”

“I think she’ll decide she prefers pair-programming with me, the same as I enjoy pair-programming with her. And we are pretty damned good at it.”

“Which has Dave about to tear his hair out. He put in a request for three programmers to make up for losing the two of you.”

“Approve it, Squirt. Don’t tie his hands because of Penny and me.”

“Do you know how many staff you’ll need?”

I shook my head, “Not yet. I’ll need one person almost right away so we can build out the first server rack with blade servers, NAS gear, and a firewall. We’ll do as much modularly as possible. In discussing it with Sam and Cindi, I think we’ll get quite a bit of remote backup business to start with. That will pay for the equipment, staff, and data center costs while her team sells web hosting, email, and other services. Cindi plans to add remote backup as an option for both the legal and medical software, and she thinks it’s pretty much a no-brainer to get a decent number of clients to sign up.”

“I’ll approve Dave’s request. What about Kimmy?”

“Mine, mine, all mine!” I declared in a faux whine, which made Stephanie laugh.

“No fishing off the company pier, Big Brother!”

“More importantly, no interfering with the relationship of a happily married couple. I think I’ll need her at least half time. We’re pretty thin when it comes to admin staff for executives. Besides Kimmy and Lucas, it’s just Barbara’s and Mario’s assistants who double as receptionists.”

“If you’re OK with it, I’ll hire someone who’ll share duties with Kimmy, but with Kimmy in charge, and with some of the new hire’s time available to Julia, Cindi, and Zeke. Did you know Bob requested an HR associate?”

“No, but given our size, I’m not surprised. We’re seeing more turnover than we did in the past, though nothing major, and benefits negotiations are taking more and more of Bob’s time.”

“That’s the main justification. And benefit costs are escalating faster than revenues.”

“Then we need to find more revenue, which is part of Cindi’s objective with this new business unit. Remote backups can be high margin and low touch if we implement it correctly.”

“So are these custom programming engagements, though they’re extremely competitive and at times we’re bidding against Indian companies who can seriously undercut us, given their far lower cost structures, mainly due to differences in cost of living between the US and India.”

“It’s the nature of the beast,” I replied. “The internet is giving us plenty of opportunities, but it’s also bringing in new competitors. We just have to provide more value. We’re never going to be the lowest cost, but we’re sure as hell going to be the best value. That’s worked for sixteen years, and I don’t think we should change that overall strategy. And we keep in touch with companies where we don’t win the business so if things go sideways with a low-cost vendor, we’re in a position to step in and rescue the project.”

“I’m with you on that. Got a few minutes for something personal?”

“Sure.”

“I’d like to bring Joel to our Sunday dinners starting this weekend.”

She’d been seeing him once every few weeks since June, so I wasn’t surprised.

“So bring him! If it’s that serious, then he should be there.”

“Serious enough I let him stay over last night.”

“For you, that’s serious. You don’t let many guys into your bedroom.”

“I notice how carefully you worded that!” Stephanie said with a twinkle in her eye.

“You’re no more a nun than I’m a monk!”

“True,” she admitted with a smirk.

“What do the kids think?” I asked.

“Patty likes him. Davey was giving him the stink eye at first, but when Joel mentioned that he has Bulls season tickets, Davey’s attitude changed big time!”

I chuckled, “I bet. Has he recovered from his snit over Michael Jordan signing with the Wizards?”

“About as much as Dave has! This is like you about Pete Rose going to the Phillies.”

“NOTHING is like Rose going to the Phillies! And when you add in the travesty of him playing for the Expos, well, never mind. MLB is dead to me ever since they canceled the World Series. Are you bringing Joel to the party tomorrow night?”

“Absolutely.”

“Cool. Anything else?”

“No.”

I left her office and returned to mine. When I opened Outlook, there was an email from Bo with his analysis of the convenience stores run by Muhammed Kuftaro. I read through the prose and the included charts, all of which indicated that it was a good investment, so long as I trusted Aisyah’s dad to keep his word. I did, and I’d agreed with Kara and Jessica on the investment, which would be funneled through our SKJ Partners LLC. I picked up the phone and dialed Muhammed’s number. He answered after two rings.

“It’s Steve Adams,” I said. “I have good news.”

“You’ll provide the capital?”

“Yes. I had my financial analyst run the deal past an expert in Islamic finance who is based in Dubai, and I have a proposed deal which conforms to all the guidelines. It’s a structured monthly payment for two years, after which the amount is based solely on the profitability of the business. It requires an outside audit each year, for which my LLC will cover the costs. I’ll have my assistant courier the documents to you to be reviewed by your attorney; you should have them Monday. If everything is in order, I can be in LA any time after November 1st to sign the papers. The money will be in your account the same day, or at worst, the following day. I will need to see the executed agreement with the current owner before the money can be released.”

“Thank you so much!” Muhammed exclaimed. “I’ll review the documents and have an attorney look them over, but I’m sure they’ll all be in order. I’ll also execute the deal with the current owner, contingent on financing. I think I can have everything completed by November 8th.”

“Then I’ll make plans to be in California on the 8th. I can always change them if there’s some kind of delay.”

“We’d like you to stay at our home, if you would.”

That was going to create a serious impediment to spending time with Aisyah, but I saw no way to reasonably decline the offer of hospitality.

“Thank you. I gratefully accept your hospitality.”

“How long do you plan to stay?”

“I’m not sure just yet,” I replied. “But most likely Thursday and Friday night.”

“You’re welcome both nights, and longer if you wish.”

“Thank you. I’ll let you know once I finalize my plans. Let me know if there are any delays with your attorney.”

“I will. Thank you very much!”

We said ‘goodbye’ and I replaced the handset. My new business partner had, without knowing it, managed to interfere with my relationship with his daughter. Staying at the house would mean orchestrating time alone, even if it were just to discuss what Imam Iqbal had said. I absolutely wanted to be with Aisyah again, but I knew I couldn’t do anything that might attract any attention to our relationship, both for her sake and for mine.

I added the trip to my calendar, sent SMS texts to both Kara and Jessica to let them know, then asked Kimmy to call Liesel to book my flight using my personal credit card. I also had her book a room at the Omni for Thursday and Friday nights, as I could cancel any nights I wouldn’t use without penalty. I needed to let Aisyah know, but didn’t want to interrupt her if she was at a client, so I sent her an SMS text asking her to please call me when she was free.

My mobile phone rang almost immediately, showing Aisyah’s number. Fortunately, Penny was in a meeting, so I could take the call in my office, though I moved to the «yōshitsu» room, to have some privacy from Kimmy, and flipped open the phone.

“Steve Adams,” I said, giving my usual greeting.

“Hi, Steve! It’s Aisyah!”

“I wanted to let you know I’m flying out to meet with your parents on the 8th to sign the documents for my investment.”

“That’s excellent news!”

“There’s one minor glitch; your dad invited me to stay at the house in Santa Barbara rather than in the hotel. I didn’t see how I could decline.”

“No, probably not,” Aisyah replied, sounding disappointed. “I want to be with you again, but I’m not sure how we could arrange that. I’m not on call that weekend, so my parents would expect me at the house for the whole weekend, and they would be suspicious if we left the house together.”

I was also sure that it was a bad idea to try to sneak time together at the house, as that had the word ‘disaster’ written all over it. I did have an idea, though.

“I think we could arrange to spend Friday together,” I offered, “if you were to take the day off work.”

“I have the time, though if I miss prayers at the mosque, it would be noticed.”

“I’ll leave it up to you, but I plan to fly home on Saturday.”

“I’ll ask for the day off. It’s really only a half-day, because I usually only work five hours, and work an extra hour Monday through Wednesday.”

“Then I’ll see you in a few weeks.”

We said ‘goodbye’ and I closed my phone. I went back to my desk and saw a waiting IM from Jeri saying that Rebecca Steadman had accepted the role at Project Lydia. I replied with a thumbs-up emoji, then starting creating a hiring requisition for the first staff member of NIKA Managed Services. I wasn’t going to be able to hire anyone straight out of school, which was my norm, though a number of support engineers had the basic qualifications - Linux server configuration and administration, NAS configuration and administration, and networking. I’d post the position internally before I looked outside the company.

As I filled out the form, I realized that I’d walked right into the concern which Liz had expressed because Aisyah was perfectly qualified for the role, and I was reasonably sure she’d apply, given everything we’d discussed. And that created a significant potential problem - bringing her into the new business unit could be seen as favoritism, or worse, Aisyah using sex to gain what would amount to a promotion. I put that thought aside temporarily, completed the requisition, and emailed it to Bob and Cindi.

I decided I needed to take the bull by the horns, so to speak, and got up and went to Liz’s office. I shut the door and sat down on the couch.

“You were right,” I said.

“About what, this time?” she asked with a silly smile.

“I just completed the hiring req for the first position in the new business unit. The most qualified internal candidate is Aisyah, and I fully expect her to apply.”

“When you step in it, Steve, you really step in it. You’ve fallen into the perfect trap, solely of your own making. Hire her, and you risk all sorts of accusations if it ever comes out that you were involved with her; don’t hire her, and risk she complains, though I find that unlikely. But if she is qualified, and wants the position, and you turn her down, you’re harming her for actions YOU took, no matter who initiated the relationship because you’re the boss, and therefore it’s ALWAYS your responsibility to not engage in inappropriate behavior.”

“Tell me something I don’t already know.”

“I can tell you something you do know, and that I know, and that is that you would never, ever act in a way that would harm her, which means that if she does apply, you’re going to agree to bring her onto your team.”

“No lecture?” I asked.

“To what end? You don’t lecture your kids, do you?”

“Not really, because it doesn’t work.”

“And, given men are generally no different from teenage boys except in terms of the money they have and their body mass, it won’t work with you, either. And you’ve created a nice trap for me as well. I can’t interfere without outing you and creating a nightmare scenario, but I also can’t really do nothing, either. So I have to impose one condition, and that is you end your relationship with her before you post the job opening. Period. And I’ll brook no arguments from you.

“Actually, make that two conditions - you promise me, right here, right now, that you will never, under ANY circumstances, become involved with a NIKA employee in the future. If you do, I’ll have no choice but to report it to your sister and Bob, and let the chips fall. Am I clear?”

“Crystal,” I replied.

“I mean it, Steve. Nobody. Period.”

“I have a formal, written exception for my relationship with Elyse, but other than that, I can live with it.”

“Not live with it; embrace it. You ‘living with it’ means you allow for exceptions. There are none. Seriously, Jamie should have put his foot down even harder, and made it clear that he wouldn’t just quit, but would go to the Board and state that you were putting the company at great risk.”

“And our relationship?” I asked.

“Should have ended before you asked me to come work for you. I’d have hated that, but it would have been the right thing to do. So, once again, you’re going to embrace this as a rule as inviolable and unwavering as your love for Birgit.”

“This is not me seeking an exception, but I want to know your view on hiring someone with whom I’d had a past relationship.”

“Give me the details,” Liz said sternly.

“The daughter of a friend from High School who I’m mentoring, and who ultimately wants to come work for NIKA.”

“Did you know that before you bedded her?”

“Yes,” I admitted. “That was her plan when she decided to come to Chicago to attend UofC.”

Liz shook her head, “Bad news. I know Jamie warned you about that. Given that you can’t undo what you’ve done, I’d say my first inclination is that you can’t hire her, but I suspect, strongly, you made SOME kind of commitment, even if it was vague.”

“You’d suspect correctly.”

“Following your principle of least harm, I won’t forbid her from being hired, but you can have nothing to do with the hiring process, and the relationship obviously needs to be over before she applies. I’d prefer you ended it as quickly as possible. And Steve, this is the last one. If you sleep with a girl, she is no longer eligible to be hired. And if I catch you lying to me, you’re toast. Got it?”

“Got it.”

Liz smiled, “There is a distinct advantage to being the only girl on the planet with whom you are hopelessly in love.”

“You mean because I let you get away with talking to me that way?”

“Yes, but you hired me to do that because we’re hopelessly in love with each other, and you know I’ll never do anything not in your best interest.”

“Including ratting me out to my sister?”

“As majority shareholder in NIKA, that would be in your best interest. Would you prefer the multi-million dollar lawsuit, infamy, forced resignation, and forced sale of your shares?”

“No.”

“Not to mention some enterprising prosecutor could find grounds to bring a criminal indictment. The charges might not stick, but given how you piss all over the government every chance you get, it wouldn’t surprise me if they tried.”

“I’m not going to stop criticizing idiocy.”

“Then you have to be squeaky clean, and I mean cleaner than whichever holy man or hero you want to refer to. And you have to stop tweaking them at every turn. And now that I think about it, you need to call that cop and apologize for being an ass. You don’t have to help her, but you shouldn’t have dismissed her the way you did.”

“Liz...” I protested.

“If you don’t listen to your Consigliere, then you’re going to be in a world of hurt. And, Steve, I am a ‘wartime Consigliere’. And, in that vein, like Mitch McDeere with the Moroltos and their money, I need a full accounting of every girl you’ve been with, not just ones who work here, have worked here, or will work here.”

“Seriously?”

“As the Russian proverb Reagan quoted about Reykjavik goes, ‘Trust, but verify’. The only way I can protect you is to know everything. And I mean everything, right down to the last kiss, cuddle, suck, and fuck, as I should, as your Consigliere. It’s not prurient interest, and you know I know quite a few of the names that would be on the list.”

I smiled and shook my head at the VERY loose paraphrase of what Mitch had said in The Firm, then said, “Nine million words.”

“Nine million words?” Liz asked.

“That’s how long my journal is, give or take, and that’s what you would have to read to know everything.”

Well, that wasn’t quite true because I’d left out all my associations with the mob. If I ever turned the story into a novel, as quite a few people had suggested, I might include my ‘secret’ files, assuming it was safe to do so, both with regard to the mob AND the government.

“A list would be sufficient, if it included the time and length of the relationship. Well, unless there is more that I would need to know.”

There was, including my relationship with Stephanie, and there was no way I was going to reveal that to Liz, Consigliere or not. Too many people knew about that as it was, and it was the one thing I couldn’t reveal to anyone else. The problem with THAT, of course, is that if I were ever to novelize my life, there would be no way I could leave that out, as it had had such a great impact not just on Stephanie, but on me, and on so many others around me.