Chapter 48: Developments and Offers

April 1, 1995, Chicago, Illinois

“Sensei, I need both Will and Therese, today, please.”

“For?”

“One of them to spar with Marcia, because if I were to do it, I’d have my butt handed to me by a blue belt!”

Sensei Jim laughed, “Personally, I’d be more worried about a certain six-year-old yellow belt.”

“Well, yeah, but you know what I mean. Whoever isn’t sparring with Marcia will work with Dyani.”

“Sounds good. Welcome to life as Master of a dojo! Shall we see to our charges?”

I bowed and we went out to the main practice room where, after we lined up, Sensei Jim had Hannah lead us through our warm-up exercises. When we finished, I took Will, Therese, Marcia, and Dyani to the smaller training room.

“Marcia, we’re going to swap between Will and Therese sparring with you; and Dyani, the person who isn’t sparring will work with you. Will, put on your gear please.”

“Full speed?” he asked.

“Yes. But only 3rd kyu techniques, please.”

“More bruises,” Marcia groaned, but she was smiling.

We moved away from the practice bag so Therese and Dyani could use it and after bowing, Will and Marcia began sparring. She did a good job blocking most of his basic punches and kicks, but had more trouble against his combinations, suffering several hard, direct blows.

“He’s not me, Marcia,” I counseled gently. “You’re thinking about what I did instead of watching Will’s hips. And remember, I was repeating combinations so you could learn to block. That won’t happen except against a very inexperienced opponent, and I doubt you’ll meet one.”

“Sorry, Sensei.”

“The bruises will remind you,” I grinned. “Watch his hips, THEN his feet and hands. Forget the head fakes! Begin!”

She did better, as she was no longer anticipating the kinds of combinations I’d used, but instead was watching Will’s hips. He still landed a few combination blows which would have scored points, but not nearly as many as he had the first time through.

“Stop! Bow!” I commanded, and when they did, I continued. “OK. Now I want you to fight back. Think of this as a normal sparring match. I know he’s well ahead of you, and you SHOULD lose. Don’t worry about that. Worry about mixing up your attacks. Will, counter-strikes only, please.”

“Yes, Sensei!” he replied.

“Then, begin!”

Marcia did a nice job of varying her combinations, and blocked most counter-punches, but when Will responded with a kick, he landed it each time.

“Stop! Bow!” I said. “Marcia, your combinations are good, but you’re leaving your right side exposed and Will is landing every kick. It’s not a major problem with your technique; I can show you how to correct it. Let me demonstrate. Will, you know the rules. Don’t land any blows.”

“Yes, Sensei!”

I knew he had good enough control to make the kick without actually landing it. We bowed and I used combinations similar to the ones Marcia had used, explaining along the way how I was holding my feet and arms, and could block Will’s counter-strikes, be they punches or kicks. After a few demonstrations, I had them spar again and she did better, but was still vulnerable to kicks. I had Will and Therese switch and had her run through the same basic sparring routine. With about ten minutes to go, I switched with Will, asking him to work with Therese and Marcia so I could evaluate Dyani.

“Let’s see what he’s taught you,” I said. “Demonstrate your kicks and punches, then I’ll check your blocks. After that, we’ll have you run through your first kata.”

“Yes, Sensei!” she replied.

I watched and was satisfied that she had the basic punches and kicks down, and was properly driving them through the bag. I had her face me and I threw basic ‘pulled’ punches to test her ability to block. She was still slow, and even though I was only going half-speed, I’d have struck her every time.

“You need to react faster,” I said. “At this point, it’s safe just to watch my hands and shoulders. I’m not doing anything special and the punches are all the same ones you know. As soon as you see my hand move, you need to begin your block. Don’t worry about hurting me. Move quickly and forcefully.”

“Yes, Sensei!” she replied.

We repeated the drill and although I felt she was still weak, she wasn’t doing badly for a white belt who had only been practicing for a couple of weeks. I had her run through the kata which she did adequately, although I had to correct her a few times. That also wasn’t uncommon at this stage.

“I think you’re making good progress,” I said.

“Mitsuko said you might be willing to offer private lessons. She said she meets you on Sunday mornings sometimes.”

“That’s true. Let me talk to her and see what my schedule looks like.”

“Thanks,” she said, flashing me a smile.

It was time for dismissal, so the five of us went to line up, and then Will and I went to Sensei Jim’s office to report.

“I think Dyani is ready to join the other white and yellow belts,” I said. “And that would be a good group for Will to work with. I can supervise while I work with Marcia.”

“How is Marcia doing?”

“Will?” I asked, looking to him for an answer.

“She’s really easy to score points on with counter-strike kicks,” he responded. “Sensei Steve is working with her on not ending up in an open stance after combinations. Otherwise? I think she’s pretty good. It’s hard to judge because she’s a purple belt and I’m a black belt.”

“That’s something you need to learn to do,” Sensei Jim said. “You need to adjust your thinking back to when you were a purple belt and understand how she’s thinking and what she knows. I’m sure you could easily beat her if you used all the advanced techniques you learned as a brown belt. Steve?”

“I had him only use 3rd kyu techniques and he was able to strike her. When I practiced with her, I used up to 1st kyu, but repeated the combinations over and over so she could get a feel for it. She has the ability to win, Sensei. I’m sure of it.”

“Will she?”

“She will,” I said firmly. “In a couple of weeks, I’ll bring in Darla and Nellie and have them spar with her with no restrictions.”

“That sounds good.”

“Sensei, Dyani asked about private lessons. She’s Mitsuko’s friend and she knows Mitsuko and I train on Sunday mornings.”

“That’s up to you. You’re a full instructor, and don’t need my permission.”

“This is still YOUR dojo, «Shihan»!” I grinned.

“For now,” he said with a smile.

Will and I bowed and left his office. I saw my wives in the vestibule with Michelle, but not Birgit. I looked around and saw her in an animated conversation with Felipe.

“Birgit, honey, it’s time to go!” Kara called.

Birgit turned, gave Kara a ‘do NOT bother me’ look, then turned back to Felipe.

Jessica and I exchanged a look and both of us fought mightily to not burst out laughing as Felipe mimicked Birgit’s look with a smirk.

“Birgit Elizabeth!” Kara said firmly. “Right now! And YOU Felipe, do NOT encourage her!”

“That kid does NOT need any encouragement to be a pistol,” Sensei Jim said quietly from behind me.

“No shit,” I replied quietly.

Felipe grinned sillily, in a way that only a grandfather could, and said to Birgit, “Go to your mom, «Tesoro»!”

“Another recruit for Birgit’s scheme to take over the world?” Michelle asked quietly.

“As if she needs more help!” I said, finally losing control and laughing.

Birgit came to me and held out her arm to be picked up. I did, and instantly realized my mistake. She gave Kara a haughty look which caused everyone in the dojo except Kara to laugh. Me laughing only made it worse. Kara shot me an evil look, and we left the dojo.

“Pumpkin, I think you need to treat your mommy with a bit more respect.”

“I was talking to Mr. Felipe!”

“Yes, you were. But you’re still a little girl, and you need to listen to Mommy.”

“But I was talking! She interrupted!”

“Yes, she did. But sometimes Mommy and Daddy need to interrupt you.”

“Daddy doesn’t!”

“Because Daddy walks on water“ Kara groused, sotto voce.

“Pumpkin, when Mommy calls you, you need to listen and obey. Understand?”

“Yes,” she sighed, and I could hear her eyes roll even if I couldn’t see them.

“Nice save, Tiger,” Jessica laughed.

“He’s not out of the doghouse THAT easily,” Kara said, trying to sound upset, but with the corners of her mouth upturned.

I knew what was coming. The flogger. And that meant Sunday morning breakfast was going to be VERY uncomfortable.

April 3, 1995, Chicago, Illinois

“Steve, I have Joyce on the line for you,” Kimmy said.

“Thanks, Kimmy. Put her through.”

“Also, I have lunch arranged for your meeting with Dave, Julia, Elyse, and Cindi.”

“Thanks. You did include yourself, right?”

“Yes.”

She put the call from Joyce through.

“You do know you can call my private line,” I said.

“I didn’t want to disturb you if you were busy.”

“This probably would warrant that. What did you find out?”

“I’d say they’re negotiating with someone. I can’t swear to that, but everything Manny said suggests that’s the case. I let him know that we might be interested, and we could get financing overnight, and likely offer a better price than anyone else who might be interested if they happened to be for sale.”

“OK. That’s all we should do at the moment. How did you leave it with him?”

“I made sure he had my contact information and said I’d love to hear from him if anything changed. What’s your next step?”

“Billie Lawson, who is Melissa’s shark in this tank, is going to deliver discovery that includes the formation of the LLC. Dante will lose his mind at that point. I don’t plan on interrupting him when he makes mistakes because he’s ‘on tilt’.”

“Jake is convinced you cheat at Hold ‘Em!” Joyce laughed.

“Which is why I can beat him. He goes ‘on tilt’ far too easily. And that guy had his finger on the nuclear trigger!”

“He did not!” Joyce protested, laughing. “He was in the engineering spaces. Nobody was foolish enough to give my husband the nuclear trigger!”

“He shouldn’t be given poker chips, either, but hey, what are you going to do?”

“What do you expect Dante’s response to be?”

“I’m not sure what he CAN do. The only way he could attack the LLC is if he controlled M&M, and nobody thinks that’s really possible. He also can’t really start a new company because of the five-year non-compete. I think he hoped to have his suits survive motions to dismiss and summary judgment and then make a settlement offer.”

“Does he have any avenues at all?”

“Not really. I think that’s why he’s trying to buy Lone Star. He’s taking a shot at me. But I don’t see what he hopes to accomplish there. Could he cut prices and try to undercut us? Sure. But how long is that sustainable? And you know darn well I have access to a line of credit which he could only dream about.”

“Samantha?”

“And Jeri. And the bank, which is where I’d start. And our reserves. He can’t run us out of business before he goes bankrupt. Even if he tries to buy our customers, he’s got an impossible task on his hands in trying to convert them. And we have significant revenue from consulting and the medical software. You know how we’ve run the company. How many big clients are going to leave for what will clearly be a desperation move by the new owners of Lone Star, IF Dante can get control of the company, which I wouldn’t count on.”

“You do have all your ducks in a row. You know, you’re really good at this.”

“DO NOT go there, Joyce. It’s not happening. In a couple of years, the truly ruthless Adams will take over. Speaking of which, how are things with your little sister?”

Joyce laughed, “Would it surprise you that she squirreled away quite a bit of money and my brother-in-law is livid?”

“No, it wouldn’t. She was always like that.”

“And you, Mr. Adams, were dumb enough to sleep with her!”

“I might have made a mistake in that regard, though you know what happened!”

Joyce laughed, “Do you know how many times I wanted to say something about that to one of them?”

“I’m sure. Just as I wanted to tell Anthony years ago. But those two are neutered. Let me know if you hear anything from Dallas.”

“And keep me apprised of any developments.”

“Will do.”

We said ‘goodbye’ and I hung up, only to have Kimmy buzz me right away.

“Your houseguest is on the line and he seems irate.”

“Wonderful,” I sighed. “Put him through.”

She did.

“Hi, Jon,” I answered. “What’s the problem?”

“I just had a visit from two bloody plods from the bloody Federal Bureau of Investigation!”

“Agents Stone and O’Toole?” I asked.

“That’s them. I felt like a Chicago hoodlum caught in bloody clothes with a firearm! What did they want with me?”

“You live at Cirque du Steve and those two have taken an unhealthy interest in my affairs for a long time. It started with my Russian friend and then moved onto the fact that I’m in business in Chicago which means I’m doing business with unions, politicians, and the Outfit, even if I’m completely clean.”

“So why the bloody third degree?”

“Other than the fact you live with me? Nothing, I suspect. Is everything OK?”

“Once Doctor Barton spoke to them, yes.”

“Don’t sweat it, Sweeney. I’ll call them to see if there’s anything really going on.”

“Why would a pair of plods tell you?”

“Because I’ve helped them put away some crooked lawyers and uncover some shady real estate deals in the past.”

“Just don’t get me kicked out of the country! I’m actually enjoying it here!”

I chuckled, “And Amanda is enjoying having you here!”

“Don’t forget Karen and the kids arrive on the 14th. She confirmed her travel to me a few minutes ago.”

“I haven’t forgotten. And I’m sure Albert will be happy to see Jane!”

We said ‘goodbye’ and I dialed the FBI office and asked for Agent Stone.

“Stone,” he said.

“Adams,” I replied. “Why are you harassing my houseguest?”

Agent Stone laughed, “Harassing? We spoke to him for about seven minutes, asked maybe a dozen questions, and then your friend Doctor Barton asked us to leave. But we didn’t have any more questions at that point.”

“Questions about what?”

“Come on, Steve. He’s a wildcard and we do need to know what’s going on. You didn’t volunteer you had a houseguest and once we stumbled on that we had to follow up. He’s fine. His passport and visa are in order and he’s licensed in Illinois.”

“So now you’re the medical board and immigration?”

“No, of course not, but we do check. His record is spotless, both here and in the UK, in case you were wondering.”

“I wasn’t,” I said testily. “Next time ask, OK? Cooperation depends on you treating me AND my friends properly.”

“We do have to follow protocol,” he protested.

“And I can always ‘take the Fifth’ and refuse to talk to you. And decline to help with our software when you need us to.”

“We’ll do our best, OK? That’s all I can promise.”

“Thank you.”

We hung up and I dialed the ER at UofC to let Jon know there was nothing going on.

“And seriously? Seven minutes of basic questioning is harassment? You have NO idea!”

“Seven seconds of questioning by plods feels like harassment when you’re in a foreign country!”

“I can see that. I had a very short experience with East German border guards which seemed to last forever.”

“Will I see those blokes again?”

“Unlikely. Don’t worry about it. This is par for the course at Cirque du Steve.”

“Bloody hell,” he sighed.

April 4, 1995, Chicago, Illinois

“Dante has called three times this morning,” Kimmy said late on Tuesday morning.

“Let him stew in his own juices,” I chuckled. “Did Melissa call yet?”

“No. You’re expecting her to?”

“Yes. I suspect she’s received a call from Dante as well. If I’m not at my desk for any reason, have her call my mobile.”

“Will do!”

I went back to working on my code, chuckling to myself. Dante had, as I’d predicted, completely flipped out. He’d tracked down the LLC via his attorney, but all he could get was the name of the registered agent who declined to answer any questions about the partners. I was sure he suspected I had a hand in it. He was right, but I sure wasn’t going to speak to him about it.

“Steve?” Cindi said, coming into the office ten minutes later, minus her shoes.

“What’s up?”

“We closed two of the three competitive deals this morning. We should have the third one by the end of the week.”

“Good work!”

“And we’ve had two inquiries from current Lone Star customers.”

“In response to what?”

“The same rumor ran in a Dallas paper yesterday. I had a call from Computerworld about ten minutes ago asking for comments. I think they’ll run something in the next issue.”

I chuckled, “Perfect.”

“What’s your next move?”

“Nothing. Remember the guiding principle here.”

“Never interrupt your enemy while he’s making a mistake.”

“Exactly.”

“What do you expect to happen?”

“Lone Star is stuck,” I said. “They have to give a definitive answer and I don’t think they can. Which means either they have to complete an agreement to sell and announce it, OR decide not to sell, and announce that in a convincing way. Well, there’s a third option, they call Joyce and ask what we’ll offer.”

“Then what? You don’t want to own them.”

“I’ve been thinking about that. There might be a way.”

“Care to share? I mean, I am Senior VP of Sales, Marketing, and Support, after all!”

“Forget it, Cindi,” Penny said without looking away from her workstation. “He’s engaging in ‘radio silence’ at the moment.”

“Only with you, Penny,” I teased, and then ducked the thrown Nerf ball.

“I see you gave her non-damaging things to throw at you,” Cindi laughed.

“Self-defense,” I chuckled. “Anyway, I really can’t share right now. And, honestly, they aren’t going to sell out to us. If they’re considering a sale it’s only because Dante made an unsolicited offer. Keep me posted on the defections from Lone Star.”