Стюарт Вудс - Foul Play

“I think it would be better if you didn’t. He’s already angry with you. Angry with me, too, but less so. I think he regards me as just a lawyer.”

“All right, set it up.”

“I think it’s best for me to meet him in New York. Are you content to stay here until we have a signed deal?”

“Yes, Dad and I are very comfortable here. May we use the pool?”

“The president is in residence next door, but she’s leaving at six. Wait until after that. You don’t want to butt heads with the Secret Service.”

“You mean we’ve been living next door to the president?”

“You have.”

“Do you know her?” Rod asked.

“We’re old friends. I drove her out to Malibu for lunch today.”

“I’ve often thought that would be a great place to have a house,” Shep said.

Stone handed him the real estate agent’s card. “She has a beauty for sale in the Colony. They’re asking twelve million, but will take ten. The president looked at it today. But I don’t think she’ll buy it. I can find out, if you like it.”

“All right, we’ll drive out there.”

“Let Doug set that up,” Stone said. “Don’t take any chances.”

“I won’t.”

Stone was reading in his study later in the day when the house phone rang.

“Hello?”

“It’s Holly.”

“Hi, there. You still leaving?”

“Yes, I’m in the car now. I just wanted you to know that I’ve decided against buying the Malibu house. I’ve already told the agent.”

“As you wish.”

“As for living in sin, I can’t agree to that until I’ve decided whether to run for reelection. And that decision could be some months away.”

“I’ll try and be patient.”

“You? Never!”

“I said ‘try.’ ”

“I’ll be in touch,” she said, and they both hung up.

Stone called Joan in New York.

“Hi, boss. Coming home anytime soon?”

“Tomorrow, I think. Listen. Did that guy, Kronk, leave a number with you?”

“Yes.”

“Call him and see if you can make me a date with him in my office, the day after tomorrow. Tell him I may have a solution to our problem.”

“Will do. Ten am or two pm?”

“Ten. Let’s get it over with.” He hung up.

Five minutes later, Joan called back. “You’re on with Kronk for ten am the day after tomorrow.”

“Good.” As he hung up, he heard people come in the front door. Shep and Rod entered the study.

“What did you think of the house?”

“I loved it. I offered them nine million, furnished, and they accepted.”

“When do you want to close?”

“As soon as possible.”

“I’m going back to New York tomorrow morning, and I have a meeting with Kronk the following day. Let’s wait until after that to set a closing. I’ll get the Woodman & Weld office to have an attorney in the L.A. office to close for you.”

“When will we be able to leave here?”

“Let’s see how the meeting with Kronk goes, then we’ll have a better idea.”

“All right.”

“The pool next door is available now, if you’d like a swim.”

“Great idea.”

“There are swimsuits in your chests of drawers in your rooms.”

“Join us?”

“I’m in the middle of a good book,” Stone said. “I’ll stick with that.”

They went to change, and Stone’s phone rang. “Yes?”

“It’s Joan. I just wanted to say that the gentleman, Kronk, sounded very happy about meeting with you. I was surprised, since he looks like such an unhappy man.”

“Thanks for letting me know,” Stone said. He hung up and wondered if Kronk being happy was good or bad for him.

Stone arrived back at Teterboro late the following afternoon, and Fred met him in the hangar and drove him home. On the way in, Stone called Dino.

“Bacchetti.”

“I’m nearly home. Do you still get hungry in the evenings?”

“I do, and the wife is abroad. Patroon at seven?”

“You’re on.”

Over their first drink, Stone brought Dino up to date on the Kronk situation.

“You think that will work?” Dino asked.

“I think he’s probably as weary as we are by now. It just might work.”

“The more I hear about Kronk, the more worried I get,” Dino said.

“You hear about Kronk?”

“I didn’t, until I started paying attention and asking questions. One thing I learned is that our Italian-American mob friends are scared shitless of him.”

“What are their reasons?”

“They’ve had a couple of deals go wrong. Kronk reacted badly. They lost some people, and painfully.”

“Just what I wanted to hear when I’m about to start dealing with him.”

“Explain ‘dealing.’ ”

“We’re going to offer to sell him the patents.”

“The only problem with that is,” Dino pointed out, “that he believes he already owns them.”

“Well, there is that.”

“I believe that he could take an offer to sell them to him as an affront, so you’d better be very, very careful.”

“Oh, I’ll just be my usual, affable self.”

“I’m not sure charm will be enough.”

“We’ll have to see.”

“All right,” Dino said. “Let’s write ourselves a little scene. I’ll start.”

“Okay.”

They pretended to negotiate for a moment, but got nowhere. “You’re being intractable,” Stone said.

“That’s right,” Dino said, “I am. Do you think Kronk is going to be more tractable?”

“You have a point,” Stone said.

“I think you need to let him know, right off the bat, that you’re not going to be a pushover.”

“I’ll think about that,” Stone said, and they ordered dinner.

The following morning, promptly at ten, Joan showed Kronk into Stone’s office. He didn’t even look at Stone. “All right, Barrington, you asked for this meeting, what’s on your mind?”

“I thought we might try and reach an accommodation that would be beneficial to both you and my client.”

“I’ll tell you what will be beneficial: give me the patents and a release.”

“And what would you give us?”

“Your balls, to keep.”

“That’s not an accommodation, that’s a threat.”

“I’m glad you recognize it for what it is.”

“If you persist in this manner, I’ll tell you what we’ll give you, if there’s no accommodation.”

“You? Give me?”

“My client will sit down at any computer in the world, enter a series of codes, and shut down every factory you are operating. The coded machinery will become nothing more than a rusting pile of scrap metal, and that will be its only value. Now, from that position, calculate the loss of your investment and of all the income you would have derived from it, if you had been more tractable.”

“Tractable? What does this mean?”

“Cooperative. Nicer, even.”

Kronk glowered at him. Then Stone thought his shoulders slumped just a bit. “What number would your client deem ‘tractable’?”

“My client feels that the value of the patents and the software is equal to that of the factories.”

“You’re saying he wants another two hundred fifty million dollars?”

“I think I might be able to persuade him to be tractable.”

“I’ll offer him another hundred fifty million,” Kronk said.

Stone shrugged. “I can’t promise an outcome, but I’ll put your offer to him today.”

“I know you have his authority to make a deal. I want your answer now.”

Stone buzzed Joan. “Print a copy of the patent transfer, and insert the figure of one hundred fifty million dollars.”

“I won’t be a moment,” Joan said.

Stone and Kronk sat and stared at each other for three or four minutes.