Christopher Reich - The First Billion

Gavallan had come to give a talk on the banker’s role in preparing start-ups for their IPO. The few stalwarts who caught his 9 A.M. speech managed to laugh in the right places, even if it did cause their booze-soaked noggins to ring like the Liberty Bell. Cate was there to deliver a speech on the social ramifications of the Internet, and you can bet not one of the attendees missed her early-morning presentation. She strode to the dais wearing a flowered Hawaiian halter atop a blood red sarong, a white gardenia tucked behind one ear. Her feet were as bare as her midriff. And yes, she’d dared to wear her navel ring.

Today, Gavallan reflected, the outfit would have caused an uproar. Too sexy, too provocative, too disrespectful by half. But this was before the correction. The Nasdaq was making new highs every day. The Dow was puffing like the eighty-year-old geezer it was to keep up. Funding was flowing from venture capitalists like champagne from an excited bottle. This was a celebration of the new economy. A toast to the little engine that could. Graham and Dodd were dead and good riddance to the old blowhards! In short, it was as close to pure bacchanal as Wall Street was ever going to get, in this or any other lifetime.

He’d spotted her by the beach bar the afternoon after she’d given her speech. She’d exchanged her halter and sarong for a black string bikini, and ditched the gardenia in favor of a cycling cap advertising Cinzano. He’d come out of the surf after a mile swim and was still dripping.

“Liked your talk this morning,” he’d said, leaning against the bar and asking for a beer. “You’re a real believer.”

“In the Net, absolutely. In these prices, I’m not so sure. What’s your take on things? Is the market really going to keep going up, up, up?”

“For now,” he said, seeking out her eyes. “Lot of money on the sidelines waiting to join the parade.”

Turning toward him, Cate propped her elbows on the bar and leaned back. “A hundred fifty times earnings is pretty hard to support in the long run, don’t you think?”

“Shh!” he said, bringing a finger to his lips. “Trying to upset the apple cart or what?”

“Just saying that reality always catches up to speculation.” Cate stole the wedge of lime from Gavallan’s beer and bit it between her teeth.

“Not too soon, let’s hope. Besides, I didn’t hear you mention anything about speculation up there on the podium. ‘The Internet is going to radically redefine human existence.’ Aren’t those your words?”

“Wow. A listener. I’m impressed. You must have been the only guy who wasn’t staring at my boobs.”

Gavallan choked on his beer, laughing while stumbling back a few steps. “Not necessarily.”

“Oh?” Her voice sounded distressed, but her smile confessed her pleasure.

“Just remember, Miss Magnus, when you make money, it’s called investing. When you lose it, it’s speculation.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Mr. Gavallan. At least you don’t have to worry as much as the others. You’re not a gold digger. Not yet, anyway.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’ve got some common sense.” She grinned. “You want the B-school verdict?”

“Why not?”

Cate drew a deep breath. “It means that you alone among your peers have demonstrated prescience and restraint in selecting and bringing to market only those companies whose products not only have a sustainable competitive advantage but whose business models promise long-term profitability.” She wagged a finger for him to come closer and, when he did, whispered in his ear. “You know how to separate the pyrite from the gold.”

Gavallan backed away, his expression bemused yet appreciative. “Sorry if I’m staring. I didn’t know Michael Porter had such a nice ass.”

“I pay Professor Porter royalties.”

“Can I buy you a drink?”

“Sure. But that means you’ll have to take me away from this slum,” she said. “At the hotel, everything’s comped. I know a decent place in Kahului. A hole in the wall where the windsurfers hang out. You eat meat, don’t you? They have great burgers.”

Gavallan took the question as an affront to his dignity. “Where I come from in Texas, them’s fighting words.”

“I know,” she winked. “I read the article in Fortune. Meet me in the lobby at seven.”

They feasted on cheeseburgers and mai tais and promised not to say one word about the market. They talked about diving and sailing and designer tequila, consciously steering away from the other’s past or anything more frothy than their horoscopes—he was a Scorpio, she a Leo—and their favorite movies—his was Bridge on the River Kwai, hers Anastasia. He stuck fifty cents in the jukebox to hear Junior Brown “a-pickin’ and a-grinnin’,” and she protested, saying that they didn’t have any of Pearl Jam’s greatest hits. He said that if he hadn’t gone into finance, he would have chosen forestry. She lied as adeptly, saying that greeting cards were her secret passion and that journalism just paid the bills.

Before long, they’d broken their promises and she was telling him about her teenage years—high school at Choate, college at Georgetown, business school at Wharton. Her father was in international business, her mother had passed away years ago. He told her about school in Brownsville, about being one of twenty-four Anglos in a graduating class of eight hundred, about thinking he was Mexican until he was six and went home crying to his mother and demanding to know why his hair wasn’t black like everyone else’s.

Afterward, the two climbed into Gavallan’s Jeep for a drive up the Hana Road. She wasn’t the only one who knew their way around Maui. Half an hour later, he pulled into a drive-by just past Hoolawa Bridge.

“Come here,” he said, running round the Jeep and offering a hand down. “Five minutes to the most beautiful spot on God’s green earth.”

Cate regarded the trail before them. A dense tropical canopy obscured the path ten yards in. “‘And they were never found again,’” she said, shaking her hand free and setting off into the jungle.

The path led up a steep hill, following the course of a tumbling stream. Cate’s pace soon slowed and Gavallan took the lead, careful to point out the exposed banyan roots and moss-covered stones that one could trip or stumble on. Though the night was cool, both were soon covered in a light sweat.

“I thought you said five minutes?” Cate asked, stopping and placing her hands on her hips, her breath coming hard.

“Okay, maybe ten. But we’re almost there. Fifty yards max.” Gavallan brushed back a smattering of low-hanging vines, praying he was on the right trail and that he could find the way back to the Jeep. No sooner had he rounded the next bend than he came upon it: a wide pool fed by a crescent-shaped waterfall that dropped from a cliff twenty feet above. A half moon shone high in the sky, and its reflection was caught in the pool’s obsidian calm.

“It’s beautiful.” Cate stood at the edge of the water, her arms wrapped around herself. “Should we go in?”

“If a little mountain water doesn’t scare a city girl, why not?” Gavallan bent low and stuck a hand in the water. Fur-eezing! The stream was fed from the summit of Haleakala, elevation 10,500 feet. Him and his big mouth. “It’s great,” he said, even as he suppressed a shiver. “Not bad at all.”

Cate stepped closer to him, her hands rising to her neck to untie her dress. Suddenly, she stopped and fixed him with a wary grin. “You didn’t bring me up here to seduce me, did you? I mean, you don’t really think I’d sleep with you on our first date?”

“Of course not… er, um, uh… well, I am an optimist.”