Chapter 19

In one of the non-descript office buildings in Framingham, far from the ongoing mess that was Boston proper, Eitan sat with Akemi and Bea, waiting. Boston had converted its tech hub to promote startup nano corporations over a decade ago. The startup companies experimented with mechanical nano and biological nano, along with a couple of exotic forays using A.I. technology. With the protests and riots still bubbling in areas where nano firms were plastered on signs and buildings, some corporations had quietly opened temporary offices in the suburbs.

Akemi’s contract was offering a near-term forecast of government actions concerning nano. Businesses were understandably nervous about new and possibly draconian legislation being tossed about on Capitol Hill. Eitan was contracted for auxiliary services, including tasting the energy of the clients. Akemi had never worked with Exponential Solutions Inc., but their reputation was murky. Even Hawthorne, Hier & Shipley, based in Boston, had precious little information to offer.

“Are you sure?” Bea asked Akemi.

“We plan for contingencies,” Akemi said. “We bring the adorable, innocuous one with us. He has a proven track record.”

Framingham was another dull suburb with big box strip malls, too many traffic lights, and poor zoning. Eitan, sitting in the backseat of the sedan as they drove down from New Hampshire, judged everything in the near vicinity ugly despite the greenery and the kept houses. Drivers were aggressive, impatient, and unforgiving.

The corporate center was blandly ugly, even ominously anonymous. He settled back into the cheap chairs in the waiting room, trying to tamp down his impatience. Everything tasted slightly off.

“This place smells like cheap plastic,” he muttered.

A door opened. All heads in the room swiveled to check out the new development in a rather beige moment of time. The man was dressed in a techy-trendy blue suit of a non-traditional fabric and an open-collar button-down peach shirt. His teeth were perfectly white in the middle of his smile. Eitan hated him instantly.

Thomas Guildencourt introduced himself with great fanfare, inviting the three of them to join him and his team in the conference room. Eitan decided he hated that term too. The table was long, but a bit thin. On one side was Thomas Guildencourt and his “core” team. Akemi, Bea and Eitan sat on the other side. Eitan adjusted his Yale blue tie, doing his best to appear relaxed and engaged.

Glass bottles of a vintage water were sitting on trays, with each bottle surrounded by half a dozen glasses. The walls had several canvases of waves of muted pastels, probably straight from the interior designer’s storeroom, Eitan wagered. The room looked worse than he expected.

As Thomas, “please call me Thomas,” made introductions, Eitan began tasting with more detail. Thomas was a bundle of nervous energy, but it had a sour taste to it. Something was off with him. The older man and the middle-aged woman directly in front of Eitan were wary, which he could see just from their presentation. They smelled like battery acid.

Bea opened her briefcase. She lifted out a white binder that was about an inch thick. The cover read “Vantage Point Consultancy,” which was the name of Akemi’s company, complete with a tracing of the village townhall of their youth. She passed the binder over to Thomas, who dropped his smile as he opened the binder.

With everyone in the room paying attention to the binder, Eitan tasted the two men on Thomas’s right. He almost recoiled in distaste. These men were generating energy and it tasted foul, like a sewer. Whoever they were, they were the reason Thomas was generating something sour and the other two were wary. He laid his hand on Bea’s, tapping her knuckle three times with his finger. She gave him the slightest of nods, indicating that she understood. She pulled out her cell phone under the table and tapped the screen a few times.

Bea sat back in her chair, putting her arm on Akemi, giving her pre-assigned signals. Akemi pushed her chair back from the table, folding her arms in her lap as she watched Thomas and the man to his left scan pages of the report.

The man on the right was introduced as John, but Eitan was not fooled. He watched as John put a finger on a sentence, then looked up at Akemi. “What is your source for these contributions to the Senate Majority Leader’s campaign? It is too early for the parties to report.”

“It is not a secret among the K Street firms,” Akemi said. “They have been unusually active on Capitol Hill since the Majority Leader’s speech about nano last week. Instead of the wine and dine route, they are making appointments and swarming offices.”

“Congress is serious about passing nano legislation, yes?” John asked. “They are going to ban things?”

Something about the question bugged Eitan, although he could not say why precisely. Akemi was responding with a stock answer to the question as Eitan puzzled over the question. Congress was always serious about passing legislation, which was an obvious observation. The real question was always which bill and why.

Akemi finished her spiel. Bea closed her briefcase and brought out her cell phone. “Would you like an oral synopsis of the report, or would you prefer to send us questions after you’ve had a chance to read the report in full?”

“It would have been easier if you could have sent us a digital copy ahead of our appointment,” Thomas said, flipping another page.

“The information in that report is proprietary,” Bea said. “Further, no digital copy exists connected to any network and you have the only print copy. If you are satisfied, we request final payment for our services at this time.”

“Give it to Marvin,” Thomas said, indicating the older man on his left. Marvin opened his laptop. After the machine woke up, he tapped away for a moment. He stopped and closed the laptop. Bea’s cell dinged a moment later.

Then her cell dinged again.

Thomas sat back. “Your model predicts that if there is going to be legislation, it will happen in the next month.”

Akemi nodded. “If they rush to take control of the story for themselves, then yes, they will pass something that appears to regulate or restrict the nano industry within the next month. There will be unforeseen consequences if they do so. If they wait and allow their staff to pursue due diligence, there will be legislation later in the year, but it will be on a smaller, targeted scale. Which path Congress chooses will probably depend on polling data, which is due out next week.”

“Would it be wise to shift development activities overseas at this time?” John asked. “Who is ready to flee for better climate and where do they go first?”

Eitan made the connection. He shuffled in his seat, which coaxed Akemi to look at him. Eitan said, “Only Singapore has any sophisticated development capacity for purchase at this time, and that capacity is limited. India will not be viable until late next year, possibly fourth quarter.”

John grunted. “Perhaps there is more to this than we expected. We would like you to accompany us to our executive offices for a deeper conversation. Now.”

Thomas went pale and his two associates on his left leaned away from him. The balding man on the far right slipped his hand into his sport coat.

Bea smiled. “While we would be delighted to expand the parameters of our contract with Exponential Solutions, for a fair price, our schedule is not flexible today. In fact, our security team is waiting at reception for us at this time,” she said.

Balding man on the end went to jerk his arm out of his jacket. Akemi leaped up and grabbed the bottle of water in front of her. Stretching over, she clubbed the balding man’s face with the bottle, which shattered against the side of his head as he ducked. He screamed as a thousand shards flew, many into his face. John began to rise when Eitan grabbed the other bottle. He cocked it over his shoulder and threw it with all his might at John. The bottle hit him in the chest, knocking him back into his chair, spilling more water everywhere. In the meantime, balding man dropped something heavy that thunked on the carpet.

“Gun!” Akemi screamed at the top of her lungs. Eitan grabbed the table with both palms and pushed it as hard as he could, slamming the people on the other side against the wall and pining them. Thomas vomited.