Chapter 23

The flight from LAX to Century City wasn’t long, but it was interesting. The copilot, given permission by Jake, gave us a running commentary about the sights below and to either side. He pointed out a couple of the studios as we overflew them as well as several areas that we would recognize from blockbuster films. Fox Studios were in Century City and only a few blocks away from our building.

I looked over at Jake and I think he was having more fun watching all of our expressions as we found new things to point out.

“Hey Jake, you ever invest in the movies?” I asked, my eyes on the Fox Studios below us.

“A couple of times, though rarely in a specific picture. I had money in several studios at several points in the past. Nothing right now though.” He told me, shrugging.

“No tours or introductions to eligible young starlets?” I asked, pretending to be disappointed. Jake just laughed at me, not buying my act.

“Let’s ask Billy when we land. He probably knows someone who knows someone, this is LA after all.” he said with a shrug. He pointed outside and we all watched with interest as the pilot circled our building a couple of times before moving to the other end of the block and setting it down on the roof.

Outside, it was hot and muggy, but not all that different from Austin except for the almost overwhelming stench of automotive exhaust, even up on the roof, thirteen floors up.

We rode the elevator down to the ground floor and the walk, as predicted, only took us a few minutes. Up close, we could see that the paint still looked almost wet on some of the occupancy signs and you could see where the rolls of sod had been laid down in the newly renovated landscaping. Marching up through the main doors, we found the lobby to be richly appointed with imported marble floors, hidden lighting and fresh, delicately scented air displacing the smell of cars from outside.

There was a long, sleek looking reception desk manned by four attentive and smiling young women, though I could see at least three men scattered through the lobby discretely looking me over as well. The three men were larger and appeared to be fitter than your average pedestrian and dressed in suits. They were probably, hopefully, security.

Jake took the lead and we were greeted warmly at the desk.

“I’d like to see William Black, please. Tell him Jake Reilly and Jack McCoy are here, if you would.”

“Mister Reilly? Oh! And Mister McCoy too! Your pictures don’t do you justice. Give me just one second and I will let him know you are here.” the young lady said brightly, sounding surprised, but calm. Her eyes roved over our party, picking up details as she listened to her headset.

“Annie, Jake Reilly and Jack McCoy are here to see Mister Black. That’s right. There are five other people with them. I’ll let them know, thanks Annie!”

“Annie Collins, Mister Black’s assistant, will be here in a jiff to escort you back to the offices.” she said to us, disconnecting the call.

As we waited, I wandered a bit, looking at a huge carving that was hung, and backlit, on one wall between sets of doors leading outside. It was an intricate carving in what looked like one massive piece of reddish wood. It was hung by a dozen stout, braided-steel cables from the twenty-foot ceiling, hovering mere inches from the polished stone wall. Lights were cleverly hidden behind the massive carving so that you had to look and contort yourself to actually see one of the, maybe forty lights.

The subject was a valley, lush grasslands framed on one side by a substantial river. The valley was nestled between two ridges whose sides were steep and flocked with evergreens. The amount of detail in the trees made tiny to give the illusion of distance was phenomenal.

The longer I looked, the more detail jumped out to greet me. Tiny deer grazed in the tall grass at the base of the forest before the sides of the valley became steep again. Closer, almost hidden in the tall grass, a family of quail or grouse ... no, quail, definitely.

The sound of a throat clearing behind me made me jump and I whirled around to find the entire group, with a couple of new comers, smiling at me.

“We would have waited, but Billy here shouldn’t even be on his damn feet, and I want to get him sitting again pronto.” Jake waved at the older man standing beside him, two canes helping to hold him up. The man had a smile on his face, but there was a tightness around his eyes that told a different story.

“Sorry, Jake! I got lost in this, it’s fantastic! Let’s go though, I can look at this any time.” I said quickly, stepping back from the carving though it was hard not to turn my head to see it one more time.”

“I spent two days staring at that thing instead of working.” The older man, Billy, said with a wry chuckle. “Just about everyone who comes to work here, if they have any soul at all, does the same.”

The journey to Billy’s office was slow, but thankfully short. His assistant Annie was introduced and we all took seats around a conference table in a sterile, corporate feeling conference room.

“My office is too small to seat all of us and this is one of the conference rooms we rent out for meetings.” Billy explained, waving his hand at the sterile décor.

Billy, more properly William Black, was about seventy and had a full head of unruly white hair. He had a mustache that completely covered his mouth and the most startling blue eyes I had ever seen. He was only about five foot six or seven, and thin to boot, but he had a presence that belied his smaller stature. His voice, a solid baritone, was one that people wanted to listed to.

“So, Jake, you finally brought young Jack out to meet me. And Terry, damn, it is about time. We have talked a hundred times but you could never seem to get out here.”

“Well, I wanted to, but I felt guilty. There is nothing I can’t do over the phone or the computer, so coming out would be just to assuage my curiosity. Then Jack yells at me and tells me to stop being stupid, it’s his money not mine.” Terry laughed and shrugged.

“Well, you, and by extension these two money men, will be glad to hear that we have signed contracts on eighty-five percent of the floor space as of this morning, and are negotiating with another law firm for the entire twentieth floor. That would give us one hundred percent occupancy for the next year. Sixty percent are locked in for five years. We even have an opening bid for naming rights!” Billy seemed, justifiably, proud of the current state of affairs.

“Terry has been diligent on keeping me informed but I have been less than diligent about actually reading the reports he has been sending me every week.” I got a groan from Terry, but grins from Billy, Annie and Jake. Liz just smirked and shook her head.

“What does that mean to us in terms of the cost of remodeling, projected income and so on. Can you give me a thumbnail sketch, as Jake likes to say?”

Billy waved his hand in Annie’s direction and she straightened her shoulders, turning to face us all.

“The official costs for the remodel were thirty-two million, start to finish, though your partnership bought the building when the work was almost three-quarters complete. You paid one hundred and ten million, five hundred and thirty thousand for the building and put another twenty-one million into finishing the renovations.”

“Slightly more than eleven million of that was ripping out the data wiring the previous owner had installed and upgrading it throughout the building, making us one of the more future-proofed buildings in the city. We should be able to handle technology changes for a while without falling behind, including the move to CAT 6 and Fiber Optics.”

“The new server room in the basement is state of the art and as secure, physically, as any building in the city. Terry says that it was your idea, Jack?”

“Well, that is not strictly true. I have a friend, Alan, and he was talking about an installation in Las Vegas that was being built. Even before it was complete, all the server space had been sold and buyers were clamoring for more. The idea had been to build a secure server farm for the casinos, but more business from the tech world in California rented space than the casino owners there in Vegas! I thought, since we were spending money anyway, why not try and tap into that market?”

“Well,” Annie said, her smile bright, “you sure called that one. Delta Data, though not a company that most people have ever heard of, is well known in the secure data world and they leased one-quarter of our base here, the southern, interior corner, and leased the entire server space. They will provide data storage at a discount for tenants of the building, and the Demeter Trust, as well as manage the information security infrastructure of the building from their own staff. Their rent alone would make this building profitable by year five.”

There was silence around the room for a moment, then several murmurs as people chatted about that pronouncement. Me, I was chuffed! I would have to remember to send Alan something nice for Christmas.

“What about the naming bid, Billy?” Jake asked, getting everyone’s attention back on topic.

“What exactly is that, a naming bid?” I asked, not sure if what I’d guessed was correct.

“Jack, remember back when we came to Austin the first time? You visited the UT campus and said you would like to come here someday. I told you then that even if you didn’t finish High School, with your money you could get in, though you might have to pay for a library or a pool or something. People do that just to get their names on buildings. Hell, people do that and get their names on lamp posts!” Jake laughed and shook his head at that thought.

“Wait, light posts?” Deb blurted, then blushed a bit.

“You can get your own bench in one of the grass areas at UT for about fifteen thousand. The Deb Williams Memorial Bench”. For ten thousand, a lamp post with a brass plaque. For three hundred and fifty thousand, a scholarship and for a million, a small building. A man in New Hampshire just paid a hundred million to rename the entire college after him.”

“Well, businesses do it too. They especially love stadiums that are seen on TV, but any building big enough to put their name out in the public eye is good enough to have a name on it. The better the location, the more it can and will be seen, the higher the price that can be charged for naming rights.” Jake finished and turned back to Billy, getting a head nod in appreciation from his friend.

“Just so, Jake. Jack, we were offered a five-year deal at twenty-five million by the law firm that took the top floor. Our position on Santa Monica, here in the heart of Century City, means that we can get a premium for advertising space, which is what this really is.”

“You said that was the first bid. Do you expect others at those prices?” I asked, shocked that people would pay that much.

“A few.” Billy looked thoughtful, tapping the table with his well-manicured index finger. “The law firm is big in the Hollywood set and they will make back that five million a year with no problem. There are other firms who have also evinced an interest, so we are putting out the word that we will accept bids for ninety days, then do follow-up bids for another thirty. The winner will get ten-foot tall, lighted name signs on the top floor, on each side, for five years.”

Annie went on to give us the numbers that mattered. The occupancy rate, rents and leases, monthly expenses and so on. We looked to be in the black in five years with our initial investments paid back in eight at the outside. There had been one offer, not taken seriously, at two hundred million for the property, but Billy hadn’t even bothered to let us know. We had told him we were looking longer term so were not interested in flipping it for a quick profit.

By the time we were done just talking numbers, it was dinner time and we were all ready to call it quits for the day. We had rooms at the nearby Hyatt Regency and an armored limo was waiting out front when we came out. Jake had invited Billy and Annie to dinner, but they demurred for tonight, having already made plans before our surprise visit. We did make plans for the next night though.

Dean and I went down to the gym in the hotel for our morning workout, surprised to find Deb, Steph and Dave all waiting for us. Jake and Liz would sleep until eight, given a chance, and Dave had a couple of guys on the floor, watching the stairs and elevators just in case.

We took over the small gym, though it didn’t appear anyone else wanted to contest the space. There were only two ladies on stair steppers and then exercise bikes the whole time we were working out. We went out and took a swim, though the pool was more for lounging than it was for swimming laps.

Breakfast was in the hotel restaurant and we were back over to the building about nine. Billy was in his office but Annie met us up front when we came in.

“Billy is resting his hip and I volunteered to give you the tour we missed yesterday. What say we start up top and work our way down? We have already informed the tenants that we would be doing a walk around this morning, so there should be no surprises.”

The tour, from the roof top down to the sub-basement where the server farm was, took about two hours. The view from the roof and the top floor, for that matter, was spectacular. The corner office that faced Santa Monica Blvd had a panoramic view of the Los Angeles Country Club golf course! Annie showed that she was intimately familiar with every facet of the building as well as what had been fixed, upgraded, remodeled or just cleaned up from the original.

Jake was giving me the eye from a point about halfway through the tour and, by the time we were done, I knew exactly what he was asking and gave him an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

Back in the management offices on the first floor, Jake, Terry, Annie and I were taken into Billy’s small and unpretentious office while our security folks, following Liz, realized that this was business today and wandered over to check out the carving that had fascinated me the day before.

“Billy, you are the manager of the building, you could have a damn window.” Jake teased, shaking his head.

“And let the stuffed shirt owner come in and bitch about me wasting company funds on frippery? No way, buster.” Billy shot back in the same tone.

“Christ, Billy, I knew you were a tightwad, but this is a bit above and beyond, no?” Jake said, a bit more seriously. “You deserve better than this.”

“Jake, we have been friends for fifty damn years. Never once in all that time did I spend money on things that don’t matter to anyone. I drive a pickup because I like driving a pickup and don’t need no damn Cadillac.” Billy said firmly, closing the subject.

“So, you still retiring?” Jake asked, changing the subject.

“Yeah, gonna get that hip replacement. Myra says she has already made reservations for that Mediterranean cruise she always wanted.” Billy shrugged, but didn’t seem unhappy about the future.

“And Annie, what are your plans? I know you came out here with this old reprobate.”

“I don’t know for sure, Mister Reilly. I have a couple of offers back in Dallas, but nothing that makes me want to dance.”

Jake looked at me, then turned back to Annie. “Then you might entertain the thought of taking over after this old fart leaves? We can make the salary attractive, benefits and so on.”

Annie grinned at Billy first, then turned to us. She spent a second looking Jake over and then turning to me. She was an attractive woman, mid-forties, well-built and had smile lines around her mouth and eyes, but no gray and no settling you sometimes see. Right now, she looked pleased.

“I think I would like that. Billy said you would offer, but I wasn’t so sure.”

“Well, you sure know your way around the building! I doubt anything slips by you here, so who better to run the whole thing?” I said quietly.

“Good. I started dating a fellow a couple of months ago and his company has an office in Dallas, but he didn’t really want to move.” Annie said with a grin. “I guess Terry and I need to sit down and talk turkey then?”

“Definitely. He handles that stuff and I am not going to get in his way.” Jake said and I just nodded my agreement.

“One thing you can do for me before we wrap up, though, is get me the name of the artist for that piece in the lobby? Or, make that two things. Jake said you folks might have a contact at one of the studios? I would hate to come out to LA for the first time and not play tourist. I’ll like to see that Chinese theater place where they have the stars and footprints, and maybe visit a studio, see something being filmed?” I asked, feeling a bit like a kid and not caring at all who noticed.

Annie stood up and went to the credenza behind Billy. Opening a drawer, she took just a second to find a business card and brought it back to me.

“This is the gallery who arranged to have that piece hung. You can contact them about the artist. As for the studios, let me make a phone call.” Annie smiled warmly and left the office. Jake and Billy began chatting about old times and Terry and I talked about Annie.

I wanted her happy to be here, but we had paid Billy a premium for his knowledge and experience in bringing big projects like this in within the budget and time constraints. Annie would be managing the building, and I wasn’t sure how that would translate, salary wise. I didn’t want her feeling short changed. Terry understood completely and told me not to sweat it, it was what I paid him to do. He would close the deal with Annie.

Annie came back and we all turned to listen to what she had to say.

“If you don’t mind me coming along, I can provide you with an executive tour of the nearby Fox Studios lot. Mike, my gentleman friend, is in talent management with Fox. All it will cost you is the price of lunch at the Studio cafe.”

Sweet!

We all piled into the limo, except for Billy who just rolled his eyes and waved us on, and took the short ride down to the studio lot entrance. There, an unassuming guy in a polo shirt and jeans met us and introduced himself as Mike Sutter. The kiss he gave to Annie showed a casual, and warm, familiarity so there was no doubt that this was ‘her’ Mike.

Once the introductions were done, he gave the driver directions and sat back for the short trip.

“Mike, Annie said you were in Talent Management here at the studio. Frankly, I expected a suit and a million-dollar smile.” I said jokingly, but I really was curious.

He just grinned and shook his head. “I am not an agent! Seriously though, I know it is a stereotype, but Talent Management has more facets than just the shark with an aversion to the truth. I work as a sort of troubleshooter. If your star slips away from security and the paparazzi catch him downtown doing lines off a hooker’s butt? They call me. If a starlet turns up pregnant after a weekend with a Studio Exec? They call me. I have been around the business since I was a kid and know where the bodies are buried, so I can usually work out a compromise that lets the studio get its picture done and the girl to keep her self-respect until the next time.”

“A fixer, eh? We had a guy like that back when I was first starting out. He knew everyone in Austin and Dallas, and if you absolutely needed something done, he was the guy to see.” Jake was nodding his head, the grin on his face told me there were some stories there.

“You don’t sweep stuff under the rug, I mean, like, bad stuff. With all the crap coming out about this executive or that executive, that is not the kind of thing you fix right? I don’t know that I could be a part of anything like that.” I asked, not sure I liked this.

“Whoa! NO! Never. Look, I try to find a solution that protects everyone. Perfect solutions mean everyone is happy, but I have never covered up a major crime. Yes, I have fixed a few tickets, gotten a jerk out of a DUI if he didn’t hurt anyone. I do my damnedest to always be on the right side and I never, ever screw people over. I couldn’t do my job if people didn’t trust me to do the right thing.” Mike seemed to make sure I understood and, when I nodded, he let out a big sigh.

“Now, that doesn’t mean that I don’t have to kick a little butt or sooth a few feathers and today is a prime example. When I left clearance at the gate for you and your crew, someone overheard your name, Mister Reilly, and that was enough to get the execs sniffing around. Right now, Mort Greenbaum is waiting for us at the office. He’s a money guy and wants to meet you. Sorry about that. If it means anything, Mort is one of the good guys.”

Mike seemed embarrassed and shrugged, as if to say it was out of his hands. Jake just rolled his eyes.

“Don’t worry about it. I have dealt with bigger sharks that you’ll find in these waters. I got shanghaied by Prince Charles last time I was in London. Try telling him no!”

Mike looked relieved that Jake wasn’t angry, though I got the feeling he was more relieved that Annie’s boss would not be angry and, maybe, take it out on her. Shit rolls downhill, after all, and in that particular arrangement, he would definitely be at the bottom!

The office building where we stopped was more utilitarian and less glitzy than I would have expected for a big studio. Then again though, this was the studio lot office, not a downtown, awe-the-peasants type office.

Standing out front when we pulled up was a short, plump and balding man with a big smile on his face. Next to him was a statuesque blonde with more than a little padding, who towered over the small man but seemed to hover protectively over him as well.

“Mike! Glad to see you! And this must be Jake Reilly. Mister Reilly, I am a big fan of yours. I am especially fond of the stories they tell about how you dealt with Mexico when negotiating for those offshore wells off the coast of Veracruz. I used the same tactic and saved the studio almost five million dollars on a picture we did down there three years ago!”

The short man had hurried over and was pumping Jake’s arm for all he was worth. I was beginning to think I should step in and Dave was hovering as though he thought the same way. Instead, the tall blonde with the big bosom saved Jake.

“Mort, for god ‘s sake, you are going to break the man’s arm!” she said, laying her hand on the back of his neck.

Mort looked surprised, turning to look up at the blonde before looking down at his hands as if they belonged to someone else.

“Oh! Sorry about that, Mister Reilly. I got a little carried away. Let me introduce my wife and keeper, Sylvia. She has been keeping me from stepping on my crank for thirty years now.” he said with a big grin, looking lovingly at the large woman.

“He’s a whiz with numbers but shouldn’t be allowed out in polite company without a keeper.” she said, but you could tell she loved the guy.

“Please, Mort, call me Jake. This wonderful lady on my arm is Liz Turner and this young man over here is Jack McCoy. This other young man is Terry Alcott and back here are Dave, Steph, Dean and Deb. You know Mike, but I don’t know if you have met Annie Collins.” Jake said, introducing the folks in our party.

“We know Mike. Everyone who is anyone in this town knows Mike. We have all been listening to Mike sing the praises of his Annie, but this is the first time we have had a chance to meet her.” Sylvia Greenbaum said, obviously teasing Mike.

“Well, if you had married me when you had the chance instead of sticking with this little toad ... too late now though.” Mike said, then his face paled as he turned to see Annie’s reaction.

Sylvia didn’t even flinch, laughing long and hard at Mike’s comments. “I like you Mike, but my Morty shoulda been called tripod. Anyway, sorry about that folks. Mike and Morty and I are all old friends. He has saved Morty’s butt a few times when some ditzy floof did something stupid and only Mike could talk them down. That you are all with him speaks highly of you. Annie, you will be treated as both a queen, because Mike obviously cares about you, or Satan’s spawn, by those bimbos who thought they had a chance with him, but everyone will respect you.”

Annie looked flustered, but pleased, wrapping her hands around Mike’s arm and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Mike just blushed and stammered without saying much.

“Look, I don’t want to keep you. I know Mike volunteered to give you the nickel tour, but if you ever find yourself in town with some time to kill, I would love to have you out to our place in the hills for dinner or hell, even a weekend, Jake. I would love to pick your brain about a couple of the deals you have done. There are very few as successful as you out there and I have studied everything I could get my hands on.”

Jake, flattered, just smiled and shook his head. He looked to the right, and Liz was grinning and nodded towards Mort. “You don’t want to spend the next two hours tramping around the lot with the kids anyway.”

When the dust settled, Jake, Terry and Dave stayed with Mort, much to Mort’s pleasure, while Liz and Steph took off with Sylvia for Lord knows where. Dean, Deb and I went with Mike and Annie for a fascinating tour of sets, streets that were like stepping back in time, but were only facias, and workshops where they could create almost anything on demand.

I got to see a few familiar faces, but no superstars. They were filming a made for TV movie on one set, a sitcom on a second and a news segment on a third set. On a soundstage, they were doing voiceovers for a couple of productions, one an animated film and the other just fixing little things that got messed up during filming. It was really cool to see all these things in one place.

As we finished up, we were sitting outside of Moe’s cafe, finishing up our lunch, when the world intruded again.

“Mike, you son-of-a-bitch, I should have known I couldn’t count on you.” The shrill voice came from somewhere behind me and, when I turned to look, Deb was already up and standing between the woman and our table.

The young woman, a couple of inches over five feet, was a slim, brunette with an unfortunate nose. Right now, she looked shocked, and more than a little angry, that Deb was standing in her way and not letting her approach the table.

“Who the fuck do you think you are? Bitch, if you ever want to work in this town again, even as a stunt woman, you better move your ass out of my fucking way.” Her voice was getting even more shrill, not to mention louder, and her tone was dripping scorn when she mentioned that Deb might be a stunt woman.

Dean was up now, standing between me and the girl so, when Deb looked over her shoulder and grinned at me, I just shrugged.

“Teach her some manners if you want, Deb. No permanent marks or broken bones though, I don’t want to deal with the lawsuit.” I joked, but I was curious to see how Deb would respond.

A glance at Annie showed me that she was at a loss for words. I wasn’t sure if she was embarrassed for her boyfriend, that this foul-mouthed woman knew him, or angry that she was interrupting what had been a great morning. Mike, on the other hand, looked annoyed and was moving around the table to address the issue.

“Do you have any idea who I am? Take your fucking hands off of me!” the woman was screaming. Then things got worse.

“Hey, let her go!” A masculine voice called out angrily, and Dean shifted forward.

I stood at this point. Mike was still moving forward, trying to get the girl who was now being held in an arm bar by Deb. Dean had set himself into a defensive stance and I moved to his side, looking to see what had his attention.

Three guys, all with spiked hair and spray-on tans, were shoving through the late lunch crowd, upsetting chairs and even a table as they stalked over towards us. They were hurling insults and threats even as they swore to the screaming woman, evidently her name was Lea, that they would protect her.

None of the guys were particularly impressive, the tallest of them being about five ten. They all had some gym muscles, though one of them looked store bought, and the amount of gold they were wearing must have been slowing them down. Two of them looked Italian-ish the third some indeterminate mixture, but all dressed alike in loud, flashy colors.

It only took about ten or fifteen seconds for them to reach us but they left a trail of destruction and upset lunch patrons in their wake.

“Yo, bitch, you betta let her go or I am going to fuck you up. And what chu looking at, faggot? You and your boyfriend wanna dance?” The leader of the three actually stopped to pose. Seriously. He stood there, puffed his chest out and held his arms out as if to display himself like a peacock.

I think I made him mad when I started laughing. That got Dean to laugh too and, when Deb looked over and saw us roaring, she began to snicker too.

I think that kinda forced the guys hand and he took a swing at Dean. Mistake. Big mistake! Dean didn’t even get fancy, lucky for the guy.

Dean caught the man’s fist and twisted, bending the wrist backwards and causing the man to straighten his arm, hyper extending it a bit and bringing the man to his tip toes to ease the sudden agony he felt. With the man’s dominant hand controlled, Dean kicked the man, lightly, in the side of the leg, bringing the guy to his knees.