Executive Affair

by Ber Carroll

  ‘Let’s say nine, then.’

  ‘Okay, goodnight. See you in the morning,’ she said, giving him a little wave as she got into the lift.

  The combination of the journey, the heat and the late hour were taking their toll. She yawned. As she walked into the darkness of her room, she noticed the red light flashing on her phone. Turning on the lights, she picked it up.

  You have one message, taken at 8.15 pm. Press one to listen to the message or two to delete.

  She followed the directions but the caller had hung up without speaking.

  Jimmy Yu was the services manager for Amtech Hong Kong. He was impeccably dressed, his trouser creases dangerously sharp. His English had a faint American accent, suggesting that he had been educated in the US. Tony left Claire in Jimmy’s hands. He was passionate in his welcoming and made very detailed enquiries about her journey and her hotel.

  ‘This is the engine,’ he said as he led her into a stuffy room that had three others in it. The bid team hardly noticed her – they were totally engrossed in their work. She could see why the room had been called ‘the engine’. It was stifling, the airconditioning struggling to circulate sufficient cool air. Jimmy prised each team member away from their job to make leisurely introductions. Claire was starting to understand why the tender was running close to the wire on time.

  ‘We have set up some desktops for our visitors over here … Brian is using this one … you may have your choice of the other two.’

  There was no sign of Brian. Or Robert.

  ‘There will be a lot of people coming and going. I hope they will not distract you too much.’

  When Jimmy finally left, Claire sat down at her chosen desktop and logged into her email. Brian came in about two hours later, pale and unshaven. Robert followed him shortly afterwards.

  ‘Tony said he met you for dinner last night.’ It was a reprimand.

  ‘Yes, we had a nice time.’

  ‘I presume he updated you on where we are at?’

  ‘Not in any detail.’

  Robert frowned. He looked different, almost foreign, fitting in with the foreign city. ‘Cathair extended the scope last week, with no notice. Whilst we’re happy with the increased scope of work, we need a miracle if we’re going to get the pricing done by Friday.’

  She didn’t often see this abrupt side to him. She supposed he was tired and had only a gruelling week to look forward to.

  ‘Okay, what can I do to help?’

  ‘The due diligence must be done by tomorrow – we can’t let it drag on further than that. Have you read the guidelines?’

  ‘Yes, I read them while I was waiting for you this morning.’ Her response to his sharp question was calm.

  ‘Good, you know what to do then. I’ll take you over to Cathair’s offices tomorrow morning.’ He seemed to relax a little.

  ‘What do you want me to do for the rest of today?’

  ‘How are your spreadsheeting skills?’

  ‘Pretty good, I think.’

  ‘You can do some of the financial modelling for Brian.’

  She kept her head down for the rest of the day, working silently through the tender’s worksheets, updating the changes for Brian and running some sensitivity tests. Robert was locked away in Tony’s office but she was still unsettled by his presence.

  The next morning she met Robert in the hotel lobby.

  ‘We’ll catch the train,’ he said. ‘It’s the quickest way at rush hour.’

  The station was a short walk and a train pulled in to greet them. They squeezed into the packed carriage.

  ‘The main thing I want you to look at today is the software maintenance contracts.’ His hand touched hers as they both held onto the post to keep their balance.

  ‘Is there a particular risk with them?’ Her voice was weak – his proximity was making her heart skip beats.

  ‘Software maintenance is always something to watch for in deals like this. They have given us a register of the contracts, we need to ensure nothing has been left off the list. This deal has already got tight margins and we can’t afford any material errors.’

  He was only talking business but the depth of his experience and knowledge made him even more attractive to her.

  ‘Do you want me to get copies of the contracts?’

  He nodded, looking down at her, his eyes penetrating.

  ‘Is there anything else you want me to pay close attention to?’ she asked quickly, trapped by his gaze.

  ‘No, just one last piece of advice: always remember that we’re selling a solution to Cathair. Even though we need to perform this due diligence, I don’t want it to be painful for them. I want them to be impressed by our professionalism … It will be another reason to choose Amtech over the competitors.’

  The rest of the journey passed in silence and she was able to savour his closeness: the smell of his aftershave, sandalwood and musk; the whiter skin on the underside of his wrist; the razor nick on the curve of his jaw; the small things that amalgamated to make him who he was.

  ‘Let’s get some dinner,’ said Robert.

  Claire hesitated. Dinner sounded far too intimate but it was a reasonable suggestion given that they had not eaten all day.

  ‘I’ll take those for you,’ he offered, pointing to the carrier bag that she had filled with the contract copies. She gave him the bag and they crossed the street to a traditional Chinese restaurant. She was relieved by the glaring lights and the noise. It was hardly a romantic venue.

  ‘Cathair want to interview Tony and Jimmy tomorrow. I hope they survive the scrutiny.’ Robert’s face was creased in a frown as he poured two glasses of water, sliding one across the table to her.

  ‘Tony should come across well.’ She hesitated to comment on Jimmy.

  ‘It’s not Tony I’m worried about. I don’t think Jimmy is up to it. He’s technically good but he talks too much.’

  The waitress put a selection of steaming dishes on the table.

  ‘Why don’t you send Brian instead of Jimmy?’ Claire suggested as she spooned some rice into her bowl.

  Robert was pensive for a few moments before saying, ‘That’s an excellent idea. Cathair aren’t very interested in Amtech HK. They’re more interested in Amtech the multinational. They keep pushing for reassurance that the worldwide infrastructure will be able to adequately support them should anything happen to the HK office. I like the idea of a Sydney person being the interface – it sells the multinational aspect.’

  She felt her face go warm under his approval. The water was also warm when she drank from the glass he had poured her.

  It was raining when they went outside after dinner.

  ‘Do you want to catch a cab?’ he asked, stopping to assess the rain from the shelter of the restaurant’s canopy.

  ‘Is the hotel far?’

  ‘No, it’s only a short distance away – we can walk if you don’t mind the rain.’

  She didn’t mind the rain. She walked out from the shelter of the canopy, turning her face up to meet the warm drops.

  ‘I forgot for a moment that you’re Irish! You’re used to rain,’ he laughed at her.

  He was right: it was a disappointingly brief walk to the hotel. They paused inside the entrance.

  ‘Which floor is your room on?’ He ran his hand through his wet hair, the shaken beads of water landing on the tan of his forehead.

  ‘Nine. You?’

  ‘Ten … Look, Claire, I’m going to have a drink in the bar. Would you like one?’

  She could tell from the intensity of his expression that it wasn’t a casual invitation. They were on dangerous territory. This was where she had to say no. But it was so hard. After a day of closeness, she wanted more. It went against the grain to walk away, to take the lift to the impersonality of her room, when she could be in the bar basking in everything about him.

  ‘Thanks … but I need an early night. Goodnight.’

  ‘Goodnight.’

  She had walke
d a few steps when she heard him call her name.

  ‘I forgot to give you these.’ It was the carrier bag of contracts she had given him earlier. ‘I have an appointment with Cathair first thing in the morning – you’ll need to look at the contracts when you get in.’ He looked as if he wanted to say something else.

  She took the bag from him, flustered. ‘Okay … Goodnight … again.’

  She didn’t see Robert the next day – he didn’t come back from Cathair. He called her several times, looking for an update on the progress of the due diligence report. She had read through most of the contracts and there didn’t appear to be anything serious enough to cause concern.

  She went out at lunchtime so she could get some photos of the city in the daylight. Last night’s rain lingered and a lot of the city viewing spots were redundant due to the low-lying cloud. Even though she usually hated rain, it suited Hong Kong. The sky was black, the mountains and harbour angry shades of grey, and the streets slick.

  It was late afternoon before Brian returned from his interview.

  ‘How did it go?’ she asked him as he took off his wet jacket.

  ‘It went quite well. I had a few tricky questions but I’m pretty pleased overall. Robert is happy too. He’s a lot more optimistic about our chances now.’

  She called Fiona when she got back to the hotel that night.

  ‘What’s happening up there? Why haven’t you called me until now?’

  ‘I’ve been run off my feet.’ She yawned as she spoke. ‘I had to work on Sunday and it was late when I got home yesterday … and I think the hours will get longer as the week goes on.’

  ‘I’m glad that you’ve got a good excuse. I was worried that you were falling for Robert’s charms.’

  Claire laughed as she lay back on the bed. ‘I’m tempted, Fi, I really am. I just hope nothing happens that will put what little resolve I have to the test.’

  Fiona didn’t share her amusement. ‘It isn’t funny, Claire. If you can’t trust yourself around him, then keep out of his way!’

  ‘Don’t be so cross!’

  Fiona softened. ‘I don’t mean to be cross. I’m all for you having a passionate love affair. But not with your boss. There are very few rules in my book, and that’s one of them.’

  ‘I know, I know. I just wish I could remember the rules when I’m around him.’ Claire yawned again. ‘Did you try to call me on Saturday night?’

  ‘How could I call you when I didn’t have your number?’

  ‘Good point … Somebody hung up without leaving a message. I wonder who it was.’

  ‘It was probably Robert. Asking you to jump into bed with him.’

  The tension melted when they burst into laughter.

  Robert didn’t use the provisional office that Tony had reserved for him. When he wasn’t in Cathair, he sat in the engine with the rest of the team. Claire was the only nonsmoker in the group. Every hour or so the team would trickle out to have a smoke in the humidity outside. It was on one of those occasions, on Wednesday afternoon, that Claire was left with Robert on her own.

  ‘Have you given up?’ she asked when he didn’t join the others.

  ‘Not exactly. I’m cutting back. On bids like this, when it gets tense, it’s too easy to chain-smoke.’

  She went back to the due diligence report. It was nearly complete. A clean bill of health. There were some minor points that the pricing could be easily adjusted to accommodate.

  She saw him turn his head in her direction before he asked, ‘Any news from Mark on the upgrade?’

  ‘Not since last week. Emma downloaded the data and sent it on to Michael. I’m planning to call him when I get back next week.’

  ‘Good, it sounds as if everything is on track. Ireland’s role in all this will be critical in the future.’

  She waited for a few moments to see if he would elaborate. When he didn’t, she stopped typing.

  ‘I wanted to ask you about that. You mentioned something before about centralising Finance and IT in Ireland.’

  ‘Yes, that’s still the grand plan. All transactional Finance and IT would be delivered out of Dublin. Payables would be the first function to move.’ It was hard to read his thoughts from his brown eyes.

  ‘Does that mean you’ll be reducing head count in Sydney?’

  ‘Not necessarily. If the natural attrition rate would not solve the problem, we would redeploy the people across the organisation.’

  ‘How can a centralisation plan work with the time difference between Ireland and Australia?’ She couldn’t help being defensive.

  ‘We haven’t worked out the details yet … we might put Dublin on twenty-four hours.’ His response was infuriatingly offhand.

  ‘That can’t be cost effective.’

  ‘Do I detect a note of resistance?’ There was something like amusement in his brown eyes now.

  ‘Yes, you do. We have only one Payables person – James. How can you possibly save costs by moving the function to Ireland? Especially when you’ll have to pay shift allowance over there!’

  Their conversation was cut off with the return of the smokers. She didn’t look in his direction again as she concentrated on finishing her report.

  It was late when they finished. After ten. There was only the Sydney contingent of the bid team remaining. The others had departed an hour earlier to return to their neglected families for the night.

  ‘I’m going to have a beer back in the hotel,’ Brian announced, stretching as he waited for his PC to log out.

  ‘I’ll join you … Claire?’ Robert was looking at her.

  ‘I think I’ll pass … I’m very tired from looking at that report all day.’

  She didn’t even venture a glance in his direction.

  ‘Just come along for one, Claire,’ Brian smiled persuasively. ‘We haven’t had a social drink all week and it will be very late when we get out of here tomorrow night.’

  She was always bad at saying no.

  ‘You guys go ahead. I’ll follow you,’ Robert said, waving them away. ‘I need to make a call.’

  ‘How well do you know Robert?’ Claire asked Brian as they sat alone in the enormous but empty bar. She couldn’t curb her curiosity, hoping for some insight from someone who knew him as a colleague.

  ‘I do lunch with him every so often. He adds a lot of value – very knowledgeable about the business. Apparently he’s a close friend of the president, Donald Skates – they social-ise together.’ Brian delivered his limited knowledge in bullet points, his male bluntness having little regard for the detail that Claire craved. ‘Robert told me that he’s divorcing his wife – he says they have irreconcilable differences.’

  ‘She’s in San Jose, isn’t she?’ Claire took a sip of her wine as she spoke so that her question would appear to be casual.

  ‘Yes. It’s a peculiar arrangement with him here and her over there … but I guess it doesn’t matter when they’re getting a divorce.’

  She couldn’t relax, drinking faster than normal, waiting for Robert to arrive with an equal mix of dread and anticipation. Brian didn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. He talked more to make up for her preoccupation and drank his beer quickly to keep up with her nervous pace. At eleven, she finally acknowledged that Robert wasn’t going to turn up. She struggled to hide her disappointment from Brian.

  When she got back to her room, the red light was flashing on her phone. A message.

  Hello, Claire. It’s Robert. Sorry I didn’t make it tonight. My call to San Jose went on for longer than I expected. It was after eleven when I finished and I figured you guys would be gone by then. Okay, I guess I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight.

  Who had he phoned in San Jose? Donald Skates, the president of Amtech and, according to Brian, his close friend? Or the wife he was divorcing? She wondered if Robert had been the one who phoned her Saturday night. It hadn’t been Fiona. It was unlikely to be Brian. So that left either Robert or someone who had dialled the
wrong number. She lay in bed awake, upset that he hadn’t turned up, happy that he had at least called her, chiding herself for reading too much into everything he did.

  Chapter 16

  Thursday was a nightmare. The pressure got so bad that by midday both Robert and Claire had joined the smokers. They stood outside in the heat, kept dry from the teeming rain by the shelter outside the foyer.

  ‘So, tell us, Tony, are you feeling bullish about the deal?’ Brian asked, his eyes squinting as he inhaled.

  ‘I don’t know what to think right now. When I’m rational, I believe we have a good chance,’ Tony replied, offering Claire a cigarette. She declined.

  ‘All our sources inside Cathair are giving positive vibes,’ Robert said. ‘But if it doesn’t come off, the Asia Pacific region will have a very poor quarter.’

  There was a tense silence. Losing the deal after the huge investment of time and cost would be soul-destroying.

  ‘I guess missing out on the Queensland government deal doesn’t help the results for the quarter,’ Claire commented, to keep the conversation alive.

  Robert frowned at her. ‘What do you mean? Nobody told me that we lost it.’

  ‘Oh,’ Claire faltered, ‘Digicom won it … I know someone who works there.’ She looked at Brian to assess his reaction to the news.

  ‘I hadn’t heard either,’ Brian snapped. ‘Why the hell didn’t Frank tell us before he went on holiday?’

  Both Brian and Robert were glaring at her, waiting for an answer.

  ‘Maybe Frank didn’t know before he went.’

  ‘Bullshit! It’s his job to know!’ Brian was furious.

  ‘There is absolutely no good reason for losing that deal. Digicom would have come in above our price. Of that, I’m certain.’ Robert put his cigarette out and went inside alone.

  It was six in the evening. They had spent the whole day running sensitivity analyses on the pricing so that Donald could get a feeling for the risk. Claire was cross-eyed from the model. She went outside to get some air. There was no air – a wave of heat hit her firmly in the face. The rain had temporarily eased and it was a balmy evening but prematurely dark because of the black clouds.