Awakening, 2nd edition (3 page)

And now, after lengthy meetings with the legal department, after several consultations with a star like Becker, after heated arguments and doubtful looks, she had made it.

She had made it by playing partially blindfolded, questioning her own assumptions until the very end, longing for success and yet being skeptical about it. And she had won. They gritted their teeth, but chose to sit through this humiliation instead of slamming the door on her. This could mean only one thing: s he had been right about the whole situation. She had been right ever since that moment when she smelled something fishy in these documents that ended up on her desk by chance.

It’s better to schedule the next meeting in two weeks. Granted, they will try to meet sooner, but they should learn their new place. Although, come to think of it, that week won ’t work. Barnett was clear about this : “If the meeting goes the way you predict, please don ’t plan anything for the week of the twentieth—we might have plans for you. But only in case it goes the way you predict.” And then gave her that polite smile of his that was worth many words.

But she was right, she was right, she was right . . . And people involuntary looked about as they heard the ringing steps of a slender short-haired young woman who, as if not noticing anyone around her, was walking towards a goal invisible to anybody but her.

Brandon

“I still disagree.”

“Brandon, I now think you’re doing this on principle.”

“Of course I am. I happen to have some principles and they don’t allow me to go along with this nonsense. This project is absurd! It looks fine on paper, but if we try to implement it, my people will work day and night and still won’t get it done on time. Forget my team ; your entire group will end up in the same mess.”

“But it’s kind of late. The project has been approved. You know whose support they’ve got.”

“I know and I couldn’t care less. They’re full of it and can easily brainwash anybody, a VP included.”

“How about choosing your words more carefully? Full of it, brainwash . . .”

“I’m not a spin doctor. Talk to them if you want to hear carefully chosen words. If you thought about the effort and money we’re about to throw into this hole, you’d see that I’m being too nice already.”

“Brandon, I hear you, but even if I were to agree—”

“And you don’t?”

“All right. A lthough I do agree with you ; there’s nothing, literally nothing we can do about it. For crying out loud, we were supposed to implement the damn thing, not question it. Even I can’t change anything about it. Who would’ve thought that you’d start a full-blown investigation?”

“So if tomorrow we’re told to send our engineers to dig holes, they would dig holes?”

“I see no connection. Nobody’s asking you to do unskilled labor.”

“I’m being asked to do stupid labor. This is much worse! And I just don’t understand what my role is supposed to be here. Or yours, actually. I wasn’t put in charge of a hundred people to pass down the orders without thinking. Last time I checked, I was supposed to add some value.”

“Fine. What do you propose? Talking to them?”

“You can talk to them only through a megaphone. From a tank. We have to go higher. If Moor wants to agree with this nonsense we’ve got to talk to his management.”

“And?”

“And tell them what this project will really cost us.”

“Do you understand what kind of enemies you will create for yourself by doing that?”

“They’re not too fond of me anyway.”

“They may not be too fond of you, but Moor doesn’t even know you exist.”

“Good. He will now.”

“And what exactly will happen once Winter himself tells you to shut up and cooperate?”

“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. I hear the job market is good these days.”

“The job market , huh?”

“Yes. The job market.”

“All right . . . You want to give it a try? Go for it. Just remember—I didn’t authorize this action.”

“But you didn’t prohibit it either, right?”

“No. Say . . . we’ve discussed this issue and I found your concerns to be at least somewhat valid. So we’ve agreed that you would look into this. And then all of a sudden, you on your own decided to take a risk and go three . . . no, four levels up.”

“Works for me.”

“Good. Then let me tell you a few interesting facts. May come in handy . . .”

“Listen, what’s the story with the Chilean contr act ? The buzz is up.”

“What's the word on the street?”

“The word is, you killed it. Also, rumor has it you guys got somebody close to Winter involved and that the sky isn’t so bright anymore for Mr. Curtman and his people. So what is it? Come on, you’ve got to tell.”

“You should stop listening to rumors. They got it all wrong.”

“All wrong? I thought so.”

“Well, maybe there's some truth to it, but not much. First, it wasn’t somebody close to Winter; it was Winter himself. Two, there’s no such thing as Curtman’s people anymore. His group is being disbanded. Reorg’d into other places. Third, it’s not you guys ; it’s me.”

“Whew! You’ve got to be kidding. Talk about executive exposure . . . So how do you pull off a stunt like this?”

“I didn’t like this whole thing from the moment I heard about it. Didn’t smell right, you know? So I put Brandon on it, told him to go dig around, see what comes up.”

“Brandon? That bulky fellow with a mustache?”

“Yep, that’s him. So he goes, looks into it, digs up a few funny facts . . . a nd I look at what he brings back to me and I’m like, crap ! What am I supposed to do in my position? Just pass down the orders without t hinking? Last I checked I was supposed to add some value. And you know that Moor had been kind of behind it. So we went straight to Winter. Brandon got cold feet, but I told him, ‘Hey you know what ? The job market is good these days.’ We’ve got to do what we believe is right for the company.”
“Have you even tried talking to these guys?”

“Nah . . . You can talk to this bunch only through a megaphone. From the top of a tank.”

“So what happened when you got to see Winter? Was he good?”

“I tell you, he’s in his position for a good reason. Took him twenty minutes to get it, then he acted immediately. Took care of these spin doctors in a day. Sent Brendon to some management training, told him he needs to improve.”

“Sounds like you’re having a blast over there.”

“Tell me about it.”

Michael

Michael never liked demagogues. And demagogues at work were the worst. He always sensed either hypocrisy or hopeless stupidity behind an endless flow of polished politically correct statements. And it wasn ’t his idea of fun to work with people who possessed either one of these qualities in excessive amounts. Now, listening to Gerald, he had to make an effort not to smile and say, “Thank you, that ’ll be enough for now. We already know how deeply you care about the company and its success.”

But saying something like this would not be wise, since Gerald was directing his rhetoric at the management. The m anagement—represented by Michael ’s own boss, Todd—listened to Gerald ’s speech with the utmost attention and seemed very pleased. Occasional , “That ’s good, that ’s good . . .” comments on Todd ’s part only supported this assumption. At last, Gerald wrapped up his excruciatingly dull vocal exercise, once again emphasized his participation in the new initiative, and left the office with a solemn expression on his face.

Todd slowly rocked in his chair.

“What an interesting idea, ” he said thoughtfully.

Something in his tone suggested that he, too , knew what this speech was really worth but preferred to keep his opinion to himself. The topics that Gerald had touched upon in his monologue were rather sensitive.

Not now
, Michael thought.
Bad moment . Ever since cautious, perpetually calculating Todd had taken over the department a year ago, Michael was occasionally finding himself tempted to spice up the conversation with his boss. Otherwise , it was just too dull. He had done this a few times, knowing perfectly well that it wasn ’
t the smartest thing to do, and yet going with it just to keep things a bit more interesting.

“Sorry,” he said, politely. “But all I heard was a bunch of generalities.”

Todd stiffened, though nearly unnoticeably.

“Well, he might have been a bit generic, ” he said , “b ut at least, he is excited about the subject.”

“And this makes it worse.”

“How come?”

“These things don ’t mix well. When I find myself listening to excited generalities , I know that I ’m either dealing with a brainwashed or am being brainwashed. Can ’t say I ’m thrilled either way. I prefer to deal with people who get excited about specifics.”

Todd visibly relaxed.

“Are
you excited about the specifics?
” he asked with a smile.

“Absolutely, ” confirmed Michael. “Shouldn ’t we all be?”

Todd nodded.

“Of course. I expect everyone to support the company ’s strategy.”

“Precisely. So is that why you wanted to see me?”

“That?” Todd appeared surprised for a second. “Ah, that . No, no. He just stopped by.”

And despite all his efforts, the sound of this “No, no ” clearly signaled that he knew how cheap that smooth “I-just-love-my-company ’s-initiatives!” speech really was.

“I wanted to see you because somebody asked about you, ” Todd said solemnly. “Somebody at the very top.” His finger rose and pointed at the ceiling. “They ’d like you to take a class.”

“A class,” Michael echoed with polite astonishment. “What kind of a class?”

“The kind where they make a true leader out of you.”

Michael nodded.

“Of course. It ’s about time for me to grow up.”

“All right, all right, I ’m kidding, ” Todd rolled his eyes. “You are a real leader, I give you that. But this is something special. Here ’s the deal: Norman heard something interesting about it from one of his CEO buddies. Now he ’s very much into sending somebody over there, to help us keep our competitive edge. Don ’t ask me how sending you to that place would make the company more competitive, but that ’s the story I ’ve been given.”

“Norman?” clarified Michael. “Norman Storm?”

“Yes. You look surprised.”

“Shouldn’t I be? I had no idea the CEO even knew my name. There must be at least a few hundred managers like me, not to mention four org levels between the two of us.”

“Don’t worry.” For some reason Todd seemed to be pleased. “He still doesn ’t know your name. But you fit the bill.”

He took a piece of paper from his spacious desk.

“Less than five years with the company—you. Manages work of at least one hundred people—you. Initially was hired as an individual contributor—you again. You came in as an engineer, right? A bright manager with strong potential and solid people management skills; once again—you. Hey, don ’t get too modest, it ’s all right. So it ’s you, no matter what part of this thing I pick. It ’s a pity there ’s no reward for capturing you dead or alive. So are you in?”

Michael looked at the colorful calendar that hung behind Todd. From the calendar, this year ’s Mercedes Cabriolet model was staring at him rapaciously with its round headlights. Todd had a thing for luxury cars.

“When? And for how long? You know where we ’re at with the project. I ’m not thrilled about leaving when we ’re only days away from the finish line.”

Todd leaned back in his chair and filled the office with a loud gurgling laugh.

“You’re something, you know , ” he said, once he spent enough time expressing his amusement. “You get an invitation personally from Storm and you ’re thinking about some project? You don ’t really expect me to buy that, do you?”

“If we end up not finishing on time, Storm will be the first one to ask about it, ” Michael said firmly .

“I doubt it. There will be enough people asking these questions way before he would lift his finger. Unless you guys screw up in some fantastic way, he won ’t even know about it. But, ” Todd paused, “a bright manager with strong potential would never allow that to happen, would he?”

Michael only smiled back.

“Don’t sweat it, ” Todd advised soothingly. “The workshop is in two weeks. And you ’re supposed to be done next Tuesday, which means you ’ve got time. It ’s somewhere up in the mountains, so consider it a free post-project getaway. So, what do you say?”

“Then it’s a no-brainer.”

“It sure is, ” agreed Todd. “If I were in your place, I wouldn ’t be too concerned about the project to begin with.”

That’s why you ’re not in my place , Michael thought. Although I ’m not in yours , either. Though if I cared I could ’ve been there easily. But alas, I don ’t.

“Here’re the papers, ” Todd extracted a lime-colored envelope from his desk. “Where, when, why, and so forth. You need to sign one paper, a standard NDA of sorts. If something isn ’t clear, call them directly. I wouldn ’t expect anybody around here to have an answer anyway. Oh, and the whole thing has already been paid for.”