TQB Base, Colorado – USA
The lawyers from Mill, Sethy, and Brimer followed Cheryl Lynn down the hall. All of them passed a sharp dressed man lounging in the hallway. Their guide nodded her head, “Michael.” He nodded his head to her as the men stepped around him. Mr. Mill and Sethy nodded their head politely to him while Brimer ignored him altogether.
They were a couple of minutes behind the team from Thuresson and Guaran, and they had noticed Jakob Yadav pulling up in his older silver Mercedes Benz E350 behind them.
Like them, Yadav had come himself. Thuresson and Guaran were rumored to have sent a pinch hit team.
Apparently, Thuresson and Guaran hadn’t done their homework.
This account could easily add tens of millions to the coffers of their practice and between the three of them, they had over one hundred and twenty years of legal experience. The felt pretty assured that there wasn’t anything this group could throw at them that they wouldn’t be able to handle.
This was it, the final round that had started quickly in the last two weeks.
The three men were shown into the large meeting room, and all of them were surprised at the display of sophistication. The room was more of a small amphitheater with four levels of desks and screens and a large conference table at the bottom.
Thuresson and Guaran had five members already seated down at the first level of desks and to the left. Mill, Sethy, and Brimer were shown the chairs to the right on the first level.
Brimer smiled, that meant Yadav would probably get a second-row seat.
When she got back up front, Cheryl Lynn found Jakob Yadav waiting for her. He was dressed in a simple three-piece suit and had a fashionable gold pocket watch and chain. Cheryl Lynn found it cute. The man had already taken his hat off inside the office, and he was bald and had a somewhat large nose. He reminded her of the legendary NY Yankee manager Yogi Berra.
“Hello,” He reached out to shake her hand. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Jakob Yadav. I was asked to attend, but I have to be honest. I wasn’t planning on taking any customers.” He shrugged, pointed to his bare head and smiled, “Brain is good, but some cold mornings it takes more than one cup of coffee to get going!”
“Well,” Cheryl Lynn said, “as far as I know, they want you for your mind, not your body.” The twinkle in his eye assured Cheryl Lynn that Mr. Yadav had not lost any of his sense of humor.
“If you would follow me?” He nodded his agreement and grabbed his yellow pad and a pen and started to follow her down the hall. She nodded to Michael again but was caught by surprise when Mr. Yadav called out from behind her.
“You are Mr. Michael, are you not?”
Cheryl Lynn turned to see the two men shaking hands and Michael replying, “I am.”
“Good to meet you, my name is Jakob Yadav. Those hooligans getting snapshots of you and Ms. Bethany Anne when you have been on your dates have to be a right pain to deal with. If I were younger, I think I might risk getting thrown in the pokey after throwing a swing at those bastards.” Mr. Yadav released Michael’s hand and then leaned forward to gently poked him in the chest and leaned back again. “If you happen to punch one, call me. I’ll consider it a public service and I’ll represent you for free.”
Michael smiled at the much younger man whose body was rapidly getting away from him.
“I’ll tell you what,” Michael answered, “Next chance I get I will deck one of them. But it isn’t the police I’ll need you to intercede with for me. But rather my girlfriend.” He winked to Jacob, “She tends to frown at unnecessary violence.”
“Hmph.” He replied, “Rudeness taking pictures when you are having a private dinner is certainly a cause for violence. At least in my day it was.”
Michael smiled and turned towards Cheryl Lynn, a gleam in his eye. “My day as well Jakob, why don’t we go sit down together and hear what the group is going to say?”
Jakob and turned to walk with Michael. The two of them walking around the stupefied Cheryl Lynn in the hallway.
She turned her head and watched as the two men disappeared into the doors leading into the conference room. Looking back towards where her work waited for her she shrugged her shoulders and turned to follow the two men.
Michael wasn’t expected to be a part of the meeting. That he invited himself along was an indication that exciting times might lay ahead, and Cheryl Lynn would need to know the details for when Giannini grilled her later!
