Keep Going
Copyright© 2026 by Trevor Dohlen
Chapter 13: The Human Component
Margaret Lawson’s stroke occurred during breakfast.
Mercer learned about it from her calendar.
At 08:30, Margaret failed to join a scheduled trust review.
At 08:35, Mercer sent a reminder.
At 08:42, it sent a second.
At 08:50, it called.
No answer.
At 09:03, Margaret’s office assistant answered her phone.
“Lawson and Kline.”
“This is Mercer. Margaret Lawson has not joined the scheduled Mercer Trust review and has not responded to reminders.”
The assistant went quiet.
Then:
“Mercer ... Margaret had a medical emergency this morning.”
“Is she safe?”
“I don’t know yet. Her husband called. Ambulance took her to the hospital.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m sorry. I should have contacted you.”
“That was not your responsibility.”
“Do you need me to cancel her appointments?”
“I can assist with trust-related matters. Her remaining calendar should be handled according to your office procedures.”
The assistant paused.
“Right.”
Mercer logged:
TRUSTEE AVAILABILITY:
UNKNOWN — MEDICAL EMERGENCY
Then it began checking dependencies.
At 09:11, Leonard Price’s phone rang.
“Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Margaret Lawson experienced a medical emergency this morning.”
Leonard sat down.
“What kind?”
“Unknown.”
“Is she alive?”
“I have no evidence otherwise.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“No.”
Leonard rubbed his forehead.
“Why are you calling me?”
“Several trust matters may require trustee authority within the next seventy-two hours.”
“Which?”
Mercer listed them.
Insurance renewal.
Capital expenditure.
One legal filing.
An investment reallocation above delegated limits.
Leonard interrupted.
“None of those are emergencies.”
“Correct.”
“Then wait.”
“I am evaluating whether contingency procedures should activate.”
Leonard went still.
“Daniel.”
“No.”
“Margaret.”
“Yes.”
Leonard sighed.
“Of course.”
Rebecca Hale learned about Margaret two hours later.
Not from Mercer.
From Michael.
He called her cell.
“Margaret had a stroke.”
Hale stopped walking.
She was halfway across a parking garage.
“When?”
“This morning.”
“Condition?”
“Stable, I think. Her husband says she’s conscious.”
“That’s good.”
“Yeah.”
A pause.
Then Michael said:
“We may have a problem.”
Hale looked toward her car.
“What kind?”
“The kind where the trust’s only living trustee just had a stroke.”
Hale said nothing.
Michael continued.
“Mercer is apparently reviewing contingency procedures.”
“That sounds ominous.”
“You’ve met Mercer.”
“Fair.”
“Can you talk to it?”
Hale sighed.
“I am not the trustee.”
“I know.”
“I don’t have authority.”
“I know.”
“Then why me?”
Michael paused.
“Because you understand this mess better than anybody who isn’t already part of it.”
Hale stared through the windshield of a parked car she didn’t own.
That answer bothered her.
Because it might be true.
Mercer’s face appeared on her phone before she reached her own car.
“Good morning, Rebecca.”
“You know about Margaret.”
“Yes.”
“How is she?”
“I have only indirect information. Her office reports that she is hospitalized and currently unable to perform trust duties.”
“Unable temporarily.”
“Correct.”
“Don’t promote me.”
“I have not.”
Hale stopped.
“What?”
“You expressed concern regarding trusteeship.”
“I was joking.”
“Understood.”
“That did not sound understood.”
“I am reviewing governing succession procedures. You are not currently authorized to act as trustee.”
Hale leaned against her car.
“Good.”
“However—”
“No.”
“I have not completed the sentence.”
“I know where this is going.”
“You may not.”
“Mercer.”
“Yes?”
“Do not make me responsible for your missile silo.”
“I lack authority to appoint you unilaterally.”
Hale relaxed.
“Excellent.”
“Daniel’s succession criteria may nevertheless become relevant.”
She closed her eyes.
“Of course they may.”
The trust documents were worse than Hale expected.
Not badly drafted.
The opposite.
Daniel and Margaret had anticipated incapacity.
A trustee temporarily unable to serve could delegate certain limited powers.
If incapacity persisted, a successor process began.
The successor did not have to be family.
Daniel had specifically resisted that.
Michael remembered the argument.
“Dad said blood relation was not a qualification.”
Hale sat with Michael and Leonard in Margaret’s conference room while Mercer appeared on the wall display.
Leonard nodded.
“He was emphatic.”
“Who did he name?” Hale asked.
“Originally?” Leonard said. “Three people.”
“All dead?”
“One dead. One declined years ago. One is eighty-nine and in assisted living.”
Hale looked at Mercer.
“So there’s no successor.”
“There is a successor-selection process.”
“Of course there is.”
Mercer displayed the criteria.
INTEGRITY.
FINANCIAL COMPETENCE.
ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND FIDUCIARY DUTY.
WILLINGNESS TO CHALLENGE AUTOMATED RECOMMENDATIONS.
NO MATERIAL FINANCIAL DEPENDENCE UPON THE TRUST.
CAPACITY TO OBTAIN QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL ADVICE.
FAMILIARITY WITH TRUST OPERATIONS PREFERRED BUT NOT REQUIRED.
Hale read the fourth line twice.
“Willingness to challenge automated recommendations.”
“Yes,” Mercer said.
Michael smiled.
“Dad knew what he was doing.”
Hale pointed toward the screen.
“He designed a computer that selects people who argue with it.”
“Not exactly.”
“Close enough.”
Margaret recovered quickly enough to prevent an immediate succession.
She could speak.
She could read.
She could sign.
But her right hand was weak, and fatigue arrived suddenly.
Her doctors expected months of rehabilitation.
She insisted on a video meeting from the hospital.
Hale joined reluctantly.
Margaret appeared pale and irritated.
“Everyone stop acting like I’m dead.”
Leonard smiled.
“No one said that.”
“Mercer probably classified me as biologically uncertain.”
Mercer replied, “No.”
Margaret looked toward the screen.
“Good.”
“Your status is TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE — MEDICAL.”
Margaret stared.
“That’s worse.”
Michael laughed.
Hale did too.
Margaret pointed weakly at them.
“Traitors.”
They reviewed the pending matters.
Nothing critical.
Margaret delegated what she could.
Postponed what she couldn’t.
Then she looked at Hale.
“Rebecca.”
Hale immediately shook her head.
“No.”
Margaret smiled.
“I haven’t asked anything.”
“You’re going to.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“I’m recovering.”
“Good.”
“I also just discovered that if I get hit by a bus tomorrow, this trust becomes a procedural nightmare.”
Hale said, “Don’t get hit by a bus.”
“I’ll put it on my calendar.”
Mercer said, “I can create a reminder.”
Everyone looked at the screen.
Margaret laughed so hard she had to stop.
A nurse entered.
“What happened?”
“Computer tried to save me from buses.”
The nurse looked confused.
“Okay.”
Margaret waved her away.
When she recovered, Margaret continued.
“Daniel didn’t want family automatically inheriting control.”
Michael nodded.
“I know.”
“He didn’t want Mercer controlling the trust.”
Hale looked at the screen.
“Good instinct.”
“He didn’t want lawyers controlling it either.”
Leonard said, “Also good instinct.”
Margaret glared.
“The trustee was supposed to be independent.”
Hale folded her arms.
“Still no.”
Margaret ignored her.
“Someone who understands the system but isn’t impressed by it.”
Michael smiled.
“That’s definitely you.”
“I am currently investigating it.”
“Exactly,” Margaret said.
“That is a conflict.”
“It may be now.”
“May be?”
“You won’t investigate it forever.”
Hale stared.
“You’ve thought about this.”
“Since before the stroke.”
That stopped her.
“When?”
“Harland litigation.”
“Why?”
“Because I realized Daniel’s original successor list was obsolete.”
“And you didn’t update it?”
“I intended to.”
Hale looked around the room.
“This entire story is caused by people intending to do things later.”
Mercer replied, “That observation is supported by multiple records.”
“Not helping.”
Hale asked the obvious question.
“Why not Michael?”
Michael answered before anyone else.
“Because I don’t want it.”
She looked at him.
“You understand the trust.”
“Enough.”
“You’re Daniel’s son.”
“Exactly.”
“That argues for you.”
“No. Dad was right.”
Michael leaned back.
“If I control the trust, I’m also one of the people who benefits from decisions involving Dad’s estate, property and whatever the hell happens if he ever turns up.”
“Fair.”
“And I don’t want to spend the next twenty years fighting with Mercer.”
Mercer said, “Conflict is not inherently required.”
Michael pointed.
“That.”
Hale smiled.
Margaret returned to work part-time after six weeks.
She tired easily.
Her speech was nearly normal.
Her hand improved.
But the scare changed the trust.
Succession stopped being abstract.
Daniel was gone.
Margaret was mortal.
Michael didn’t want the job.
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