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“I’ll do better,” Hulan vowed.
“We’ll see,” he said. “For now, just get back to—”
A woman’s high-pitched screams cut him off. Instantly a quiet fell just under the continuing drone of the machines as all of the talking among the women came to an abrupt halt. Once the machines were shut down, the woman’s screams seemed even louder as they reverberated through the echoing vastness of the room. Aaron took off at a trot; then the others left their posts and began crowding around the injured woman. Hulan edged into the throng, using her elbows to push her way to the front.
A woman sat on the floor before the fiber-shredding machine. Her right hand gripped her left elbow, holding that arm up and away from her body as she tried vainly to stanch the flow of blood. The flesh along her forearm was sliced open, and two of her fingers were gone. Aaron knelt beside her, pulled his shirt off, and wrapped it around the arm. Without any hesitancy he picked her up. The crowd parted to create an aisle. As he walked toward the door, the woman began to struggle. “No! No! No!” Her screams now seemed louder, more terrified than before. Instinctively the other girls stepped back even farther. A few turned their eyes away. A minute later Aaron stepped out of the room, the door shut, and the woman’s screams faded. Someone near Hulan muttered, “We won’t see Xiao Yang again.” Then Madame Leung’s voice came over a loudspeaker. “Please return to your places.” The girls obeyed. Levers were pulled and buttons pushed. The machines revved back to speed, and the girls went back to their labors. Hulan held her spot just long enough to see the still bloody claws reach out, grab another fiber brick, and draw it into the machine’s thrashing maw.
10
TWO HOURS AFTER HULAN TOOK HER PLACE ON THE assembly line for her first full day of work, Investigator Lo dropped David off in front of the Administration Building. As with Hulan’s initial visit, Sandy New heart stood on the steps to greet him. The two men shook hands, then went into the building, making their way down a corridor to a conference room where Henry and Douglas Knight awaited their arrival. There were no other attorneys present.
Henry Knight’s handshake was straightforward and firm. He was of average height and lean. His silvery hair curled just over his collar. “It’s great to have you here,” he said. “Randall Craig and Miles Stout said they’d send us someone who was familiar with China, our company, and was quick on his feet. They say you fit the bill.” He looked over to where his son sat. “That’s my boy, Doug.”
Doug raised a hand and waved. He looked to be about forty-five. Like his father, he was thin. But while Henry seemed spry and full of vigor, Doug came across as gaunt and lethargic.
“Can I get anyone coffee?” Sandy asked. “I can have it brought in.”
“No, thanks,” Henry said. “I don’t want some damn tea girl hovering around. We can break later.” Then, “That okay with you, Stark?”
“Just fine.”
The four men sat at one end of the table, leaving the other dozen seats empty.
“We’re on a tight schedule with Tartan and I want to keep things moving along, so I’ll start with a quick review for your benefit.” Henry opened the file in front of him, waited for the others to follow suit, and said with a grin, “I’ve always liked the Tartan offer. They’re acquiring us outright. Doug retains his position as chief financial officer for five years. I gracefully exit and enjoy my retirement. Tartan asked for and received a non-compete clause, so that if I come up with any new ideas they’ll come straight here as they always have.”
Henry checked the others, then went on. “But I don’t plan to do much in the way of development. I want to enjoy myself—travel a bit, visit my old haunts. Doug, on the other hand, is still young. I built this company and grew it to where it is today. We have these new technologies, and who knows where they’ll end up?” He turned his steel gray eyes on David. “I want my boy to be a part of that excitement.”
“As I see it, everything you’ve asked for is right here,” David assured him. “But I wouldn’t be completely honest if I didn’t tell you that once a conglomerate like Tartan buys a
company like this, it gets to do what it wants. Sometimes the people who are left behind are squeezed out. Sometimes they’re uncomfortable with all the changes. Sometimes it’s a perfect fit. There are no guarantees.”
“Is that what Miles told you to say?” Henry asked, grinning at David.
“No,” David answered, “no, he probably wouldn’t have liked that I said that.”
“An honest lawyer,” Henry said. “I guess that’s why they pay you the big bucks.”
The others in the room laughed, as they were supposed to. David did too, realizing that despite Henry’s hard eyes and years of business, he fancied himself as a bit of a cutup.
“All right, then,” David said, trying for a more lawyerly tone. “As I understand it, Miles Stout and Keith Baxter have gone through this about twenty times, so I know they’re satisfied. And I’m assuming that none of you or your lawyers are worried about the substance of the agreement—”
“Yes, we’ve had lawyers look at things, but the buck stops with me,” Henry said. “I’m the one who makes the decisions.”
“Are you sure you don’t want your attorneys here?” David asked. “Only a fool would go into a transaction like this without having representation.”
“I’ve come a long way in business without using too many lawyers,” Henry said. “Mine have vetted everything. It looks good to them. My feeling is, why fly them out here first-class, put them up in a hotel, and hire them companions for the night, when I know my company better than anyone else? Put another way, it’s my money that’s at stake, and I’m satisfied.”
David looked at Sandy and Doug to gauge their reaction to this outburst. Sandy drummed on the papers in front of him with his pen; Doug seemed to be daydreaming. Both were reactions that David had experienced with his own father on occasion. No, Henry Knight wasn’t the first entrepreneur to be a little eccentric. If that’s the way they wanted to play it, it was fine with David.
“The final deal is slated to be signed in Beijing on July 21, with monies and power transferring on that date,” David continued. “I know Miles and Keith have covered all this. Still, my main area of expertise is litigation, so I always like to double-check potential trouble spots. I don’t mean those places where anyone is trying to slip something clever past the other side. By my reading and from what Miles has told me, all that’s been taken care of to the satisfaction of both parties. I’m talking about places where Tartan might be exposed to future litigation.”
“Are you asking me if I have anything to hide?” Henry asked in a friendly tone.
“You can put it that way if you like,” David replied, also keeping his voice light.
“Well, we don’t. Keith made sure about that.”
“That’s good, because you’ve got a good deal here. Seven hundred million is a lot of money. You don’t want something to come up three years from now and bite Tartan on the ass. Because I can guarantee you that we’ll come back to you full force.”
