Mr. Soloff, are you going to let us go?,” asked Mikal. I actually need to urinate, now.”
Chang lifted his head from his cradled arms on the conference room table and drowsily uttered, “Oh, great. I’m being held captive in a urinal.”
“Sorry, but I’ve rigged the bathrooms to stop anyone from going near them, especially from through the roof,” Bernie told Mikal while rummaging through the large black sports bag under the conference table. “Here, use this coffee can over in the corner. We’re all guys in here, now.”
Mikal grabbed the can and went into the far corner to relieve himself while Bernie gave the once-over to Ishaan who was quietly sitting in his swivel chair taking in the show since the girls had been rescued. Trying to break Ishaan’s silence, Bernie prodded him with, “Hey, Ishaan. You’re an HR guy. What degree do you think Mikal has?”
Ishaan looked startled that Bernie had spoken to him, gathered himself and answered, “Oh, probably a business degree from a state school.”
Mikal was done with his business. He placed the coffee can on the carpet in the far corner of the room. He then took the opportunity to break into Ishaan’ and Bernie’s debate by saying to them, “How about a B.S. in math?” And, I know what your going to ask. Just like my relatives you’re going to want to know how I ended up working basically as a clerk with a degree in math.”
Bernie stopped him, “Hold, it, Mikal. Let’s ask the expert.”
“Ishaan, you’re up,” kidded Bernie. “How did Mikal end up as a clerk with a math degree?”
M-Mtek’s human resource executive had a quick answer for Bernie. “Well, business degrees, BA’s and BS’s are a dime a dozen, now days. Hell, even routine MBA’s are. They just don’t tell you that in the college program application booklets. Besides, most high school counselors are too busy reinforcing what the kids want to do rather than telling them they won’t be marketable after they get the degree they’re seeking.”
Ishaan added, “And, the parents are the same way. If their girl wants to go to school for performing arts, they’ll let her. And after a whole pile of money, tryouts in NYC and Hollywood, they’ll finally huddle and figure out a way to finance a second degree for her in accounting. That way she can at least can get a job at a place like TechCall.”
Chang Sun lifted his head again and spouted out, “Damn, who invited this guy to the cocktail party? What a bummer.”
Bernie tried to hide his smile by quickly shooting out another question, this time to Chang, “So, Chang, what did you take in school? Let me guess. Economics?”
Sitting up in a partial slouch, Chang replied, “Nope, I took math, too. I’m going to night school at M.I.T for a masters in math. I need 12 more credits for it. Keeps me poor.”
Ishaan’s and Bernie’s eyes glanced at one another. Neither had the heart to go on with the discussion but Ishaan felt obliged to tell both young men, “Well, guys, whatever you do make sure it’s a balance between what you want to do and what will provide you and your potential families with a comfortable life.”
Bernie made special note of Ishaan’s advice to Mikal and Chang as he saw Agent Dean‘s call light up his screen. He answered with a curt, “Hey, you better have something important on your mind. It’s going on 10 PM. We‘re solving all the world‘s education problems in here, right now.”
Agent Ramos immediately got to his point, “Look, Bernie, M-Mtek is willing to make a statement regarding a conditional reopening of the plant until they take a second look at the operation to figure out if they can make it work financially. No promises, but they say the review might take six months to a year and still might involve reassigning or eliminating units that are least profitable given today’s competition and market weakness. They would also be working plant employee retirements and attrition factors into the evaluation as well as the costs involved in rescheduling the shutdown plan. It might involve temporarily replacing new vacancies with contract workers, mattering on the numbers who accept early retirement plans.”
“That’s about it, Bernie,“ Agent Ramos concluded. “M-Mtek is listening in on this and I hope I correctly relayed their position to you. We need your response, please.”
With Ishaan, Mikal and Chang silently gazing at Bernie while he was on his call, Bernie looked up at them and said, “That all sounds fine and dandy, except I want it in writing from the head of M-Mtek at corporate. And, I want a signed copy sent to me at my personal email address as well as made into a hand out on corporate letterhead at a press conference held no later than 11 PM tonight. And, you better have the national media at the press conference. Got that, Ramos?” Bernie demanded.
“It’s doable, Bernie. But, one caveat. You got to let the hostages go,” Agent Dean posed back.
Bernie detailed his response to agent Dean, “Look, Dean, we don’t have much time here. I’d have some work to do making it safe passage though the halls for any of the guys to leave.’
“Look, here’s the deal. You send me M-Mtek’s prepared statement so I can review it. Meantime, if the statement passes muster, I’ll set up a safe pathway for only the two younger guys, Chang and Mikal, to vamoose. If the news conference goes without a hitch, we’ll talk about letting Ishaan go. Then we’ll work from there. And, don’t try anything after you get the boys. I got this building set up so I control all the stop points around it from in here.”
“OK, give me a minute to clear it with command and M-Mtek,” Agent Dean told Bernie. “In the meantime, do you want to talk to Mimi or Sam?”
“Yeah, I would like to talk to Sam. Was he listening in on this?” Bernie asked.
Dean said that Sam was on line and gave him the OK signal to talk to Bernie while he hammered-out what he hoped would be Bernie’s final ultimatum.
“So, Sam. They’ve assigned you baby-sitting duty,” poked Bernie jokingly. “What will they have you do next? Carry their water?”
“Well, I thought I’d talk to a mediocre golfer while my government tax dollars were being spent on negotiating the corporate shake-down of the decade,” Sam fired back. “You really think they’ll go for your deal?”
Bernie shot back, “Forget the deal. I’m monitoring the traffic relative to the virus on M-Mtek’s network. Apparently a lot of people send and forward emails on Friday afternoons. Things should be so bollixed by now they’re going to have to use carrier pigeons to conduct business.”
“Well it’s no sweat off my back, now. My M-Mtek days are over,” Sam responded.
“What? You’re not going to take their temp offer? I thought for sure you would,” said Bernie in a surprised tone.
“Nah, I’ve been thinking about it and I’ve got better things to do like helping more with veterans’ causes and looking for a second career, maybe in teaching science or math to young kids,” Sam confessed.
Bernie changed the subject by asking, “Sam. Tell me the truth. How’s Mimi taking this?”
“To be honest with you, Bernie,” Sam said, “She looks kind of numb to it all. Might be using that as protection. Maybe she’s taking calmatives. Does she have a supply of Prozac or stuff like that?”
“Hell, I don’t know. Between her and my stuff in the medicine cabinet, I can’t keep track of what’s going on. She manages my meds otherwise I’d be more spooky that I already am,” Bernie admitted.
“How are the boys doing, Bernie? “ Sam asked.
“Well, Chang finally broke down and took a piss in a coffee can. They should be good for a few more hours,“ Bernie joked, again. “By the way, what the hell is going on with my M-Mtek deal? I want the statement read by the 11 o’clock news. Goddamn government moves like a slug. Hear that, guys. I know you’re listening in. Get your asses in gear, Hut, hut! You think that will help, Sam?”
“The lawyers probably have it. You know the old story. The lawyers run corporate America, now. The bosses are just pawns of the lawyers,” Sam thought out loud. “You want me to try to flush them out.”
“Yep, do that. If they’re making any changes at all, I want to see them first. I wasn’t kidding about having this place booby-trapped,” he warned Sam and those who were listening.
“Keep the circuit open. I’ll go up to the command center and see if they’ll tell me what’s going on. Hang tight, Bernie. OK?” Sam implored.
Yeah, sure Sam,” clipped Bernie. “FUBAR all the way.”
Trotting off to the negotiation trailer, Sam went in to tell Peg and Mimi he was going to the command center to get in the faces of the feds and M-Mtek about the progress on Bernie’s ultimatum. They both said they wanted to go with him. Sam told them he was worried that would complicate things but agreed to let them accompany him, thinking maybe it would be better to be less outnumbered.
Upon entering the command center he was immediately corralled by the corporate Executive VP of Manufacturing Operations, Harold Smith, who went into a rant about M-Mtek’s entire corporate network grid and data, manufacturing processes and customer interfaces being incapacitated by Bernie’s viral hack job. He stammered on that the virus had spread to a major portion of M-Mtek’s customer base networks as well as onto employees’ personal home and mobile devices.
Sam looked steely into the corporate suit’s eyes and asked Smith if he was as worried about his HR guy and two young men being held hostage as he was about his sacred networks.
Sam brushed past Smith and collared Agent Ramos who was huddled with a small group of people near the communication center desk. “Well, Dean, Bernie’s getting antsy in there. I assume you’ve been listening. He needs answers. What’s up,” he asked.
“They’re dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s as we speak, They’ll be sending it to Bernie before they give it to the media. Should be able to make it for the 11 o’clock news,” Agent Dean assured. “You can call him and tell him that. Don’t make a mistake with what you tell him, ok.”
“Got it. He’s waiting on his line for a response so your guys will hear it,” Sam advised. “Do you have a live headset I can use?”
Agent Ramos ordered a staffer to get Sam a live headset. Sam slipped it over his head and heard it click to Bernie who he overheard talking to Ishaan about corporate America started to go downhill when they changed personnel departments to human resources groups. He rambled on that HR along with corporate lawyers were destroying executive creativity in business.
Sam had heard Bernie’s thoughts on the subject before. He broke in on their conversation with, “Bernie, you holding court, again? You know, you’re corrupting Mikal and Chang with that crap.”
Bernie growled back, “Well, it’s nice to know beside being a traitor you’re an eavesdropper, too. You got anything important to say?”
“Treat me nice, Bernie. I’m just the messenger, here,” replied Sam. “Maybe, as we speak, you’re going to get M-Mtek’s statement on the plant shutdown. Probably by email. Be ready. If it’s good to go, they’ll be able to release it and get it on the 11 o’clock news.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Bernie sarcastically threw back. “Hey, Sam. Give me your odds on whether you think they’ll play ball or not?”
“You know I don’t gamble, Bernie. However I will make a special exception just for you. Three to one in your favor,” Sam predicted. “That’s my call.”
“We’ll see, Sam. We’ll see,” Bernie quietly said.
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American Shutdown by Benjamin F. Campanelli
Copyright © 2018 All rights reserved
