The Truth

“Thank you for coming down, gentlemen. Please, sit down,” Daniel says. The three men move to sit, and Daniel waits until the last moment before saying, “Shaun, you may be excused. This is not a meeting you want to be a part of.”

Shaun looks confused and stands slowly, moving toward the door as his eyes bounce around the room. When they land on Mr. Yuri and Ms. Maloney, he seems to finally realize that something serious is happening, and his pace quickens. He virtually runs out at that point.

Mark and Brandon’s confidence wavers, and they look at each other with furrowed brows. I notice Brandon lifting a shoulder in answer to Mark’s unasked question. But fear is lurking in their eyes as they turn back to Daniel.

Brandon finds his balls first. “Daniel, what’s going on here?”

Daniel steeples his fingers, leaning back in his chair and surveying Brandon thoroughly. He must have so many thoughts rushing through his mind, but you can’t tell it by his blank expression. If I remember right, Brandon worked on Daniel’s team for his internship years ago, and I’m sure that Daniel’s good word is what got Brandon his job.

And now . . . he’s betrayed that good word. No wonder Daniel had and still has so much armor up around his emotions.

Daniel takes his time before answering, and I wait with my fingers at the ready to type his response. “You already know what this is about. You both do.”

That does get their attention, and Mark sits up straighter.

“I presume you’ve got some new questions about the TRE contract?” His voice is tight and a bit high-pitched. “What is it?”

“There are a few clauses that were in the boilerplate that caught my attention,” Daniel says. “For example, clause twenty-three A. Mark, explain that one for me?”

“Ah, well . . . it’s one of the patent retention clauses,” Mark says, stumbling a little. “I believe it says that—”

“In a very roundabout way that is not part of our standard contract, it says that if sales numbers stay above a certain figure, the rights to the patent revert to the original patent holders,” Daniel says. “A clause which, to the best of my knowledge, literally means that we’d be giving the patent rights back to the original holders if the product is successful instead of keeping the patents and the royalties on them. First, I know that the Fox legal team wouldn’t write anything that moronic. And secondly, it’s some of the most convoluted phrasing I’ve ever seen in any contract. I don’t think that was unintentional.”

The accusation that perhaps Mark added the phrase himself is bold, and he stammers, not sure what to say to that. Daniel turns to Brandon.

“Brandon, explain to me as well why in the hell I would invest millions, pull the TRE tech out of the dark ages of accessibility, give the patents back, and then receive a payout of only a portion of the stock shares? Is that something you’ve seen in any acquisition you’ve been a part of?”

“Ah. Well, sir, we—”

“We can pull up those contracts if you need something to help you remember,” Daniel offers coldly.

“Uhm, no. That’s not needed,” Brandon snaps, his cockiness getting the better of him.

“Can it,” Daniel says. His voice his iron hard, cold as ice, and both men shut up immediately. In the corner of my eye, I see Billy cover his mouth, and I suspect he’s grinning behind that paw of his.

“Mark, Brandon, I’ve been around a long time,” Daniel says evenly. “I’ve worked my way up, learning every step of the way, and fighting for every deal I’ve made. It’s a cutthroat world with tempting shortcuts along the way. But do you know what happens if you take a shortcut?”

Both men shake their heads.

“You lose. Maybe not the first time, though sometimes it truly is that quick.” Daniel’s smile hints at an impending evil punishment for the two men. “But not carefully following every step and rushing to the finish line does not get you where you want to be. You’ll step on a landmine along the way. You always do.”

“Mr. Stryker, we—” Brandon is trying to take back control, but he’s a kitten in a room with a tiger. One who’s had his Fox family threatened and will not put up with that.

“You thought you could play a shell game and hide it behind a bunch of legalese. You thought you could get one over on Fox. Or am I wrong?”

Both men look guilty because they clearly are. But neither of them seems to realize that Daniel is talking to them both, trying to tease out every morsel of intel from the two men, setting them up for the big bomb he’s keeping in his back pocket.

Mark shifts in his seat and then glances at Brandon. “Well, you know, sir, Shaun—”