The Dolos Conspiracy

by Frank Perry

accident; maybe a hit and run by some juvenile driver?”

  He licked his lips. “I guess it could have been, but you’re not here because you think it was accidental. And, I don’t remember seeing any other cars near me. Best I can figure it, someone in a pickup was behind me without any lights. I always look around when I drive, and there were no lights behind me. I’m sure of that. Whoever did this had his lights off until the last few seconds.” John closed his eyes and rocked to one side away, facing away.

  He was tired or doped, so she left at that point. She would get a copy of the local police report and ask for the car to be examined forensically at their station.

  Later that evening, Charlie Ritter visited, bringing flowers. John thought it was odd getting flowers but appreciated the gesture. Charlie hadn’t been able to see Kelly, but told John that she was getting good care. The visit was cut short by a nurse. John needed to rest; but after Charlie left, John pressed the call button and asked about Kelly. The nurse had a kind face. “John, she’s in critical condition.”

  He was agitated and sat partially upright. “What does that mean? I hear it all the time on the news; but, what exactly does it mean. What about Kelly?”

  “She’s in the ICU and unconscious. Her vital signs are weak and outside normal range.”

  “So, is she going to be all right?” He was panicky.

  “The doctors don’t know yet, John. She’s young and appears to have been in good health before the accident, so she’s got a good chance.”

  A good chance? The words resonated all night as his eyes closed. Sometime during the night, the medications took over, and he slept.

  Mary

  She thought about her new friends in Baltimore often, but now that the fall/winter holiday season was nearer, she was consumed by schoolwork and dreading going home again. After only a short time, John and Kelly had influenced her. She now had a plan to get off the island, and it didn’t culminate behind a counter in some obscure New England diner. She wanted to be more like her new friends. She’d always been good at math, but had ignored the urgings of her teachers to pursue engineering or science. It just wasn’t part of the culture where she’d been raised. In her world, she could be a lobster fisherman or his wife. But now, John and Kelly had showed her that anything was possible. Kelly was a doctor and a scientist, yet she was a real person, someone Mary could talk to like anyone else. She could envision being someone like Kelly; all it took was studying hard and getting the right degrees. Her parents never really mentioned it, but now she could see that it could happen for her. Kelly was a woman, a girl, just like her.

  Mary had started asking her teachers about college. Where did they go? Could she get in? Is one college better than another? How to pay for it? The answers swirled around in her mind. She would need to work on her grades, and her counsellor said she would help her with the rest. She would take the SAT in May. School was now exciting for her. She’d never applied herself before, but now it was different. She would study hard for the SAT and improve her grades. She was a junior and now determined to have perfect grades for her last two years. She would go back to Baltimore over the winter break and tell John and Kelly – they would be excited for her.

  Due Diligence

  “Jules … Okay, I got the Saudis on line for tomorrow. Can you support this? They’re actually in Washington now, so they’ll drive up in the morning. I can catch a plane to BWI and be at your place before they get there, say nine o’clock?”

  “Sure Jim, we’re ready. If they want to move out on this, so do we.” Jules wasn’t sure if Hanson would be ready; but screw it, one way or the other Jules would be ready.

  “Okay, that’s great. I’ll tell them it’s a go for ten tomorrow. I’ll see you then.”

  “You bet, Jim. We’re ready.” They ended the call and he yelled though his open doorway … “Marie, get Hanson in here!”

  Matt showed up a few minutes after Marie paged him on the intercom. He wasn’t too energetic. “Yeah, Jules?”

  “Matt, the buyers will be here in the morning. How’re you doing on the financials?”

  “Like I said before, Jules, it takes time to get everything in the right format.”

  He didn’t like the way the CFO was asserting himself. “Matt, close the door.” He did. “You’re a stockholder, and we have a chance to make some real money with this deal. It might be our only chance if that shipment of virus you sent gets discovered. If that happens, if your buddies screw up somehow, this whole deal could tank instantly and we could all go to prison. Time’s short, and we need to get the sale done quickly. It’s important to you, too!”

  Matt shrugged, just to irritate Jules. He was pissed that the boss characterized him as a “stockholder” with his puny options. He would be a real partner-level holder soon enough if Irina was right. “I’ll have it ready by tomorrow, Jules. You may not see it before they get here, but it won’t be anything new.” It was maddening, listening to the little man, but Jules chose to say nothing more to the accountant.

  The following morning, Jim Osborne arrived about nine-thirty, driving a rented oversized Cadillac SUV. He was escorted by Marie to the executive conference room where Jules was making final preparations and adjusting the overhead projector. He still did not have the updated financial presentation from Hanson. He greeted the Hawk partner with a firm handshake, to which Osborne responded, “Remember, Jules, soft handshakes.”

  “Yeah, I know, but you’re not from Saudi, so man up.” Jules loved an audience and was excited to have a serious buyer coming. “Marie … get Hanson in here and tell him to bring the financials. Sorry, Jim, I’m a little distracted. Would you like some coffee?”

  The CFO arrived ten minutes before ten with a memory stick. He introduced himself to the investment banker while Jules loaded the data into the computer. Jules hadn’t invited Matt to stay for the meeting, but it didn’t stop the younger man from taking a seat at the table. Jules glanced distrustfully at him while fumbling to get the slides in the right sequence but didn’t say anything, probably because Osborne was present.

  Moments later, Charlie Ritter joined them, saying: “Marie just went to get our guests in the lobby.”

  Without waiting to meet Charlie, Osborne left to intercept Marie and greet his clients in the lobby. It was the proper protocol, which none of the GHI executives understood. They’d never sold a business before and weren’t accustomed to having guests that could literally put a billion dollars on the table.

  By lunchtime, Jules had mesmerized the investors and offered to have lunch catered before touring the facility. They declined, citing necessity to be back in the Capitol region for another meeting. They were totally non-committal, which left Jules deflated. Osborne walked with them to the entrance, returning in fifteen minutes. It had seemed like an eternity to the GHI men who were trading critical comments to each other about: “you should have said this; we could have emphasized that; etc., etc.”

  When Osborne returned, he had a grin on his face and shook Jules’ hand. “You did it! They’re on their cells right now formulating an offer. I think you’ll have it on the table by the end of the day or first thing tomorrow.”

  The GHI executives shared glances of bewilderment, then euphoria. Charlie spoke first. “You coulda fooled me, Jim. They hardly smiled and didn’t ask anything significant. It looked like a big bust to me.”

  Osborne, smiled, addressing all of them. “That’s the way they are. They do this kind of stuff day after day. It’s kind of a negotiating ploy. Don’t expect their best offer to be the first one. They like to negotiate. The first offer will be a red herring to test your resolve, to lower your expectations. Now; I represent them, so I can’t really advise you, except to say they want the Institute. They want it bad. You guys just need to decide exactly how much it will take. Think in terms of a cash sale.”

  Worried

  They tr
ied to kill us – twice. John couldn’t get the thought out of his mind. It was a miracle they were still alive. He needed to be with Kelly. They’d try again; they’d failed and would try again. A third attempt wouldn’t fail. He was sure of that. He was badly bruised and had some cuts, but would be cleared to leave the hospital in a few hours. Hospital security wasn’t perfect, and Kelly was defenseless. The night nurse had said Kelly was still critical, bleeding internally with some yet-to-be diagnosed injuries and would be in surgery in the morning. Her parents had come to Baltimore to be nearby but had had little chance to actually see her. She was still in a coma.

  It was nearly ten in the morning when John was released. He went immediately to the ICU unit where Kelly’s parents were waiting. They hadn’t met John before the accident, but Kelly had told them about him and their relationship. It was comforting to all be together, waiting for post-op news. The wait seemed endless. The surgeon finally met them in the waiting area in the early afternoon, explaining that Kelly had lost her spleen and ruptured a blood vessel that was now