Chapter 65: Settling Things Down

June 12, 1995, Chicago, Illinois

“Why are you leaving early?” Kara asked.

“I have an important meeting downtown,” I said. “Then I get to try to explain to the troops at NIKA what happened with Lone Star. That should be fun!”

“Have you figured out what’s really going on with Dante and Lone Star?” Jon asked.

I’d broken the news, in as much detail as I could, to everyone at dinner the previous night, just after Manny Nuñez had called to say that DCP accepted my terms and that the money would be wired to the Patent Partners, LLC account first thing Monday morning. NIKA’s portion would be paid out as ‘Consulting Fees’ for my work, and Spurgeon Capital would receive the remainder of the funds, returning all of their capital and a tidy profit as well. We’d also unwind the escrow to return all of that capital to Spurgeon as well.

“No more than I told you last night. Some things just do not make sense to me.”

“The one way this makes sense,” Elyse said, “is if Dante wanted to purchase DCP’s shares and didn’t have enough capital to do so, and couldn’t borrow enough at a good rate. And they turned down a structured deal.”

“And so he tries to drive the price down?”

“If he wrecks Lone Star, it becomes essentially an asset purchase similar to what we did with BLS. He cuts all the costs and buys just the pieces he wants at a steep discount.”

“OK. So how does that hurt us? I thought of what you just proposed but I don’t see how he hurts NIKA. In fact, what he’s done helps us. So he torpedoes the deal? It doesn’t hurt us because we can just walk away. Even if we didn’t gain a single customer, all we lost is some time and possibly some money, but in the end, we didn’t lose a dime because of the poison pill we set up.”

“What if we were just the stalking horse to allow him to wreck the company? In other words, he wasn’t trying to hurt us, just strip the assets and walk away.”

“That makes sense, but he’s buying 51% of the company at the valuation we set.”

“Which is FAR less than their original asking price, right?” Elyse asked.

“Yes. And once he pulls the rug out from under Nathan Edwards, the price will drop even more, because they’re in such deep trouble. Dante will offer DCP even less and I bet they take it. The company is a shambles now. And this assumes Dante is behind it. I mean, he called Skye and Jefferson, but that’s all we know so far for sure. We don’t know for sure that he’s funding Nathan Edwards. But who would at this point? It doesn’t make sense. I STILL say we’re missing something, and we may never find out. Anyway, I need to get going!”

I kissed Kara and the kids goodbye, then walked out to my car for the drive to the Loop. Zeke met me just outside the Dirksen Federal Building, and after showing ID, we were allowed into the elevators and went up to the FBI offices.

“Steve Adams and Zeke Woods to see Agent Stone,” I said to the receptionist.

She picked up the phone and announced us, and a minute later, Agent Stone came to meet us. After shaking hands, we followed him to a conference room where everyone was assembled. The meeting went similar to the one prior to the initial raid on Hart-Lincoln, and when all the instructions were given, I reminded Zeke to call if he needed help, then left as everyone else assembled into teams.

Ten minutes later, I pulled into my parking spot at NIKA, still mulling over exactly what Dante was up to, but realizing that, in the end, it didn’t matter. All we could do was respond to anything that happened, while ensuring our own strategies were sound and protected us.

I walked into the building and disarmed the alarm. This was one of the very rare occasions when I arrived before Lucas or Kimmy. I used my badge to enter the interior, and walked up the stairs, stopping in the kitchenette to start the coffee and plug in the electric kettle to ensure there was hot water for tea. When I got to my office, I plugged in the electric teakettle behind Kimmy’s desk so I could have my pot of tea.

“Good morning!” Kimmy exclaimed cheerfully when she arrived about five minutes later.

“Hi, Kimmy! How are you doing?”

“Just fine! I saw you turned on the coffee and water for tea. What do you want this morning?”

“Earl Grey, please. I take it there were no issues with any of the new folks getting into Chicago?”

“No. They all called at some point yesterday to let me know they were in town. They’ll ask for me when they arrive.”

“Excellent. Please bring them to the ‘Gretzky’ room and have Keri or Chris give them their tax and insurance forms. I’ll stop in to talk to them, and then we’ll all go downstairs for the meeting.”

“You got it!”

She was back about ten minutes later with a freshly brewed pot of Earl Grey and a mug. A few minutes after that, Penny arrived. I poured her some tea and she sat down at her workstation. When I’d thought about my promises to her in the past, I’d decided I needed to find a compromise - morning and afternoon tea was the solution I’d hit on, and Penny had gratefully accepted my invitation.

“How are you this morning?” I asked.

“OK, I suppose. Terry came by yesterday to see the kids.”

“How did that go?”

“OK. They’re totally confused, but Terry and I aren’t fighting; there’s just no point to it.”

“And your counseling?”

“It’s a bit touch-and-go because I have to be careful about my history before Terry. I just strongly implied Ned was first, when I was seventeen, then talked about cheating on him when I was eighteen.”

“The laws in this state are supremely stupid,” I sighed. “Is the counseling helping?”

Penny shrugged, “I don’t know. We just talk a lot.”

I smiled, “I know how that goes. Believe it or not, that helps, and it usually helps you find the solution to your issues.”

“How do you solve a problem that results from a mistake you made years ago?” Penny asked with a deep sigh.

“That, Pretty Penny, is exactly why I started seeing Doctor Mercer again. Focus on the future, don’t dwell on the past.”

“If only it were that easy.”

She drained her mug, kissed me on the cheek, then left to go downstairs to her temporary workstation. I checked my email, then fired up Netscape Navigator to surf the internet a bit. There was nothing much of interest on the news sites, and after about ten minutes of browsing, I shut it down. Kimmy came into the room a moment later to let me know everyone had arrived and was waiting for me in the ‘Gretzky’ room.

I walked to the conference room and as I entered, I looked around and saw Skye and Vickie, the two developers, as well as Bruce Gallatin, the support rep, Neil Atkins, Jill Forest, and Gabe Newell, sales reps for the Eastern, Central, and Western Regions, respectively.

“Good morning!” I said to the six people assembled. “Welcome to your first day at NIKA. I know it’s been a bit of a whirlwind, but we’ll do our best to get things settled as quickly as possible. I see Keri has brought you all the tax and insurance forms, and we want to get that stuff out of the way, but we’ll be having an ‘all staff’ meeting in about fifteen minutes. Once that’s done, I’ll sit down with each of you and figure out how we best move forward. I’ll see you all downstairs in about fifteen minutes. Keri or Kimmy will bring you down.”

Everyone nodded their approval and I went back to my office for about ten minutes before heading downstairs. A number of people shot me curious looks, which didn’t surprise me. As far as I could tell, the information hadn’t leaked, but there could very well have been a story in the Dallas paper on Saturday or Sunday. Keri brought the new team members down, and Kimmy dialed into the telephone conference with the speakerphone.

“Good morning!” I said once everyone was on the line. “Once again, I apologize for getting you West Coast folks up early in the morning, but this is a very important call. I know a few people are missing due to vacation, and Zeke is on a special assignment, but that really can’t be helped. I’ll get straight to the point. Last week, on Tuesday, Nathan Edwards, a founder of Lone Star, exercised his option to buy the shares in Lone Star owned by DCP.”

There were gasps of surprise from around the room and from the speaker phone.

“Needless to say, that led to the termination of the merger between NIKA and Lone Star. Because of provisions of our offer, all the restrictions on NIKA were removed, and on Friday, I extended offers of employment to eight Lone Star employees. Six of them chose to join us, and are here with us in Chicago today. The six are: Skye Gaston and Vickie Vance, developers; Bruce Gallatin, a telephone and on-site support rep; Neil Atkins a sales rep for the Eastern Region; Jill Forest a sales rep for the Central Region; and Gabe Newell a sales rep for the Western Region.

“We’re still sorting out exactly where our new team members will work, as we obviously no longer have space in Raleigh, Reno, or Dallas. I want to assure all of you, both new and current NIKA team members that we are committed to expanding in Dallas and the Raleigh-Durham area, though obviously we’re going to need to find space in both Texas and North Carolina.

“I’m sure you have questions, and I’ll tell you I have plenty myself. All I know is what Manny Nuñez told me, and that is that Nathan Edwards served notice to them last Tuesday. We took a few days to sort out what that meant, then put our own plans into action. Cindi’s team is going to work quickly to reach out to Lone Star customers and offer any assistance we’re able to, with an eye towards bringing them on board as NIKA clients. To that end, we’re going to build a close replica of Lone Star’s GUI to make transition easy for any of their customers who move to us.

“Those are really all the details I have for you at the moment. As always, please remember to direct any inquiries from the Press to Cindi, and any issues which might arise with any existing customers about what has happened to the Regional Managers. In Zeke’s absence, which will likely be for a few days, please speak to Kimmy for the Central Region. She’ll coordinate with Zeke and me as necessary.

“Given that I don’t have any more information at this point, taking questions about the situation would pretty much be fruitless. I promise to share with you any information I’m able to, and let you all know what the plans are for our new team members and our new locations. Thanks, everyone!”

Kimmy disconnected the call.

“We’ll have a company lunch today,” she announced. “That will let everyone meet our new people. For right now, they need to finish their paperwork, meet with Cindi, Julia, and Steve, and get their orientation. Lunch will be Aurelio’s, and it’ll be here at noon.”

The six new NIKA employees went back upstairs with Keri and I went to my office. Over the course of the morning, I met with each of them, and either Cindi or Julia attended each of the meetings. Once I’d met with all six, Elyse, Cindi, Julia, Michelle, Kimmy, Dave, Charlie, and I all met in the ‘Lemieux’ room to discuss the new staff and our proposed reorganization plan.

“First, I want to let you know where Zeke is. The FBI is conducting a full-scale raid on Hart-Lincoln this morning, and he’s providing technical assistance. If he needs help, either Eve Dunham or Sam will be assigned. They’ve been cleared with the FBI to help. The third backup is Eve Falvey.”

“What the fuck is going on?” Cindi demanded.

“It wasn’t just John Lentz,” I said. “The FBI, US Attorney, State’s Attorney, IRS, US Marshals, Postal Inspector, and CPD are all involved. I can’t share any details other than the fact that our services were requested because we installed and maintain all their computers, and they use our legal software.”

“Well, there goes a very good client,” she sighed.

“Obviously,” I said. “So on to the new staff and the reorganization. Cindi?”

“I think what we discussed with the new sales reps is the best course of action. We’ll get them each mobile phones and have them work out of their homes for the short term. Zeke and Mario will work with Michelle to secure office space, and once we have it, the reps for the Eastern and Central regions will work out of those spaces. The two developers, plus Terry, will move to Colorado Springs as soon as practicable, but will work from Chicago until then. Vickie has her young son with her, and he’ll be in the daycare co-op.”

“She’s married?” Dave asked.

“Yes. Her husband is a consulting engineer to companies which use CNC machines, and can be based anywhere with an airport. The company he works for is completely flexible that way. He’s originally from Cheyenne, Wyoming, so Colorado was pretty much a no-brainer. They decided in about five minutes to take the deal.”

“Where is Bruce going to work?” Michelle asked.

“For now, it has to be Chicago,” Cindi said. “Once we sort out office space in Dallas, he’ll move back. He’s single, so we don’t have any family issues to deal with in the interim.”

“On the reorganization,” I began, “obviously we won’t have a Lone Star division, but we will have a new programming team in Colorado Springs. Terry is going to lead that, as I announced. Julia, Dave, and I have agreed they’ll do the new GUI for the Lone Star customers, and once that’s done, they’ll be the main user interface team. Kajri, who is our lead GUI designer and human interface expert, will likely move to Colorado Springs as well. All of which means taking the option on the additional space in the building which Barbara secured there.

“Otherwise, what we discussed about the regions is going to remain the same. The only real issues are who the National Service Manager will be and who the National Sales Manager will be.”

“My choice for National Sales Manager is Cynthia Norwood,” Cindi said. “She’s in Colorado, but I don’t see that as an issue because everyone travels so much. National Service Manager is a more interesting question. Lone Star combined phone and on-site support, and I’m thinking that gives us much more flexibility. Does anyone object to that?”

“I think it makes perfect sense,” I said. “And it sort of goes back to how you, Mario, and Zeke handled things when we first started. Training might be an issue, at least at first.”

“I think we can deal with that by which assignments we give to which person,” Cindi said. “And over time we can get everyone up to speed.”

“OK. I approve that change. Who’s your manager?”

“Cèlia expressly asked me for the position even before it was proposed. I’m not sure she’s ready for that kind of jump in responsibility.”

“I think the same thing was said about both Michelle and me,” Kimmy said.

“And I’m in my role simply because I asked for the opportunity,” Michelle said. “Sure, I’ve needed some assistance from Kimmy, but I’ve learned. Cèlia could as well. She’s quite intelligent.”

“Cindi, did you have another candidate?” I asked.

“Nobody really stands out.”

“It’s your call,” I said.

“Well, I’m not going to be able to hire any time soon, so waiting doesn’t really buy me anything. I’m inclined to appoint her to the position.”

“Yes or no?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“OK. What do we have in terms of open positions?” I asked.

“Just one developer,” Elyse said. “My accounting clerk is contingent on new business.”

“I have a couple of candidates to bring in to see Steve later this week now that we’re not taking the entire Lone Star team,” Julia said.

“Good,” I said. “Cindi, do you have your campaign ready?”

“Yes. I already gave marching orders to contact every single Lone Star customer in our database. And we’ll start running ads right away. Obviously, there’s a bit of lead time for print. I sent out the press release right after this morning’s meeting.”

“I have an interview scheduled with the Tribune on Thursday afternoon,” I said. “They want the ‘inside story’ of the failed merger. I’ll give them what I can reasonably give them.”

“What do you expect to happen now?” Julia asked.

“I honestly have no idea,” I said. “It’s possible Nathan Edwards is trying to salvage the company he founded. Cindi, have we seen a press release from them?”

“No. But I’ll call my contact at PR Newswire and see if they’ve received anything. That should give us some kind of clue.”

“Maybe,” I said. “In any event, even if Lone Star is ‘rescued’, they’re going to be much weaker. We need to take advantage of that. And not concern ourselves with what they do. I do have one additional piece of information to share. I have information, but not absolute proof, that Dante Puccini bought Peach Software.”

“Holy crap!” Julia said. “What the heck is HE up to?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” I said.

“Is HE behind all the stuff at Lone Star?”

“Maybe. That was my speculation based on a couple of phone calls, but I can’t see how it benefits him with the way it played out. We’re going to scoop up a bunch of Lone Star customers, which strengthens us, and leaves only the firm in Vancouver as any real competition, at least for the moment. There are a number of startups, but none of them have national reach just yet, at least according to Cindi.”