Ch. 04 - The Meeting

Just a short one, but it is the reason why Alice is in Australia!

As the hotel door closed behind her, Carys' voice resonated in Alice's ears. She leaned against it, clutching her laptop bag, and took several deep, trembling breaths. "What a night!" she thought, a blush spreading from her neck to her cheeks. Sex had never, ever been so good with anyone before. She felt as if she could conquer the world and win! She was sorely tempted to fling the hotel door open again and rush back inside; the need for her new lover was so intense that she was almost prepared to throw her entire career away... "Whoah, Alexandra Zoe Elizabeth Morgaine, come ON, don't be a complete idiot, the operative word there is ALMOST!"

After another couple of shuddering breaths, she pushed herself upright and tottered towards the lift. She had regained her composure by the time the lift reached the lobby, and it was the ice-cool executive who stepped out, not the flustered, love-sick schoolgirl who had staggered in. She glanced at her watch, just after half past eight. "Good," she thought, "Maybe 15 minutes to get a taxi, another 20-30 minutes across town, plenty of time to see how the land lies."

She asked the receptionist to order her a taxi, which arrived very quickly, pulling up in the taxi rank outside the hotel's main door. "Grosvenor Place Business Centre, George Street, The Rocks, please," she instructed. She was grateful that she'd had the foresight to leave an hour for the relatively short journey; even on Christmas Eve, the traffic was heavy, grinding to a complete halt four or five times before she arrived in the business district just after a quarter past nine.

She stood in the shade of one of the modern-looking skyscrapers and gazed up at its curved glass and concrete frontage. It was similar in design to all the others around it, although some had a great deal more glass than concrete, which she assumed meant they were probably a little more modern.

She noted the little café and the open-air seating close to the main entrance and glanced at her watch. It was a bit late to have a coffee and still too early to arrive for a 9.30 meeting, but she was acutely aware that she hadn't eaten breakfast or even had her morning coffee.

She giggled inwardly, blushing slightly as she admitted to herself that two hours ago, she had been lying in the arms of the most beautiful girl in the world! Her heart lurched... that certainly had been worth missing breakfast for! She shivered a little in the warm summer morning air, the resulting goosebumps definitely not cold-related, and checked her watch again. Time to go!

She crossed the road, smiling at the raucous wolf whistle that had been directed at her, and walked up the wide steps. She went through the revolving glass doors and paused in the busy foyer of the building to check the occupant list for the floor she needed.

As the lift doors opened, she took two steps out of the lift and stopped, carefully inspecting her surroundings. The soft hum of the air-conditioning, the muted tapping of computer keyboards and the odd snippet of quiet conversation. It could be any corporate reception area, anywhere in the world, only the brown and gold sign over the reception desk made it unique: "Brighstone Holdings Pty." "Pty.," she mused, "Proprietary Company; privately owned; peculiar to South Africa, Namibia and Australia. Hmph... not for much longer."

As she walked up to the reception desk, the young receptionist looked up and smiled a greeting... "Hmmm. All the way to her eyes," thought Alice and smiled back warmly, noting that the pretty blonde's name was Jo, according to her name badge: "Good morning, I'm Alexandra Morgaine from Gruber Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftungem. I have a meeting with Mr Humbert and your Management Board at 9.30."

"Yes, of course, Madam," said the receptionist. "Please take a seat, and I'll call him." She picked up the receiver of her desk phone and pressed a button. After a moment, she said: "Sir, there is a Ms Morgan here in reception for your 9.30 appointment." As she listened, Alice almost ground her teeth in frustration: "NOT a Ms, I'm a MISS, and it's NOT Morgan... ARGH!"

Not a trace of her inner feelings reached her face as the receptionist replaced the receiver and said to her: "He'll be along straight away." Alice nodded her thanks. He'd keep her waiting; she knew that; it was "The Way". Senior management always tried to stamp their authority by being late or keeping you waiting. It mattered not a jot to her; she was in charge here, and Humbert knew that. It was a last-ditch attempt to salvage a little corporate pride, which, of course, she would peel off and throw in the bin.

Elsewhere on the floor, the man called Humbert replaced the receiver carefully in its cradle before looking up at the other four men in the room. "Gentlemen," he said carefully, "we are up shit creek without a paddle." The others looked at him in shock. Humbert was known to never use any form of profanity, and to hear him express himself in that way was extraordinary!

He continued: "Out in our reception area is sitting one of Scotland's finest Corporate Lawyers. Graduated from Stirling University in Scotland as a Batchelor of Law with first class honours seven years ago at the age of 18, has worked with the Legal Department of Morgaine Conglomerates since then... as far as I knew... known as Duke Alexander Morgaine's Terminator, for the number of companies she has led takeovers on... now apparently working in the same role for Gruber GmbH... the Duke's niece and heir. Alexandra. Zoe. Elizabeth. Morgaine." He enunciated each name carefully and precisely, even pronouncing the surname correctly.

"As I said, gentlemen, we are going to get nothing that we had hoped to be able to bargain for... we are up that creek, and the boat has a hole in it, and we are surrounded by saltwater crocs."

He lowered his head into his hands for a moment, then stood up and squared his shoulders. "Shall we go and meet our Nemesis, gentlemen?"

The four other men had never seen their normally buoyant Chief Executive look so crushed, and they silently fell in behind him as he led the way out of his office and down the corridor towards the reception area.

As they reached it, Humbert stopped suddenly. The area seemed empty apart from the reception staff; he glanced at the receptionist, who saw his confusion and raised her voice slightly: "Ms Morgan, Mr Humbert is here."

From the other side of the counter, a tiny redhead stood up, and Colin Humbert realised that he hadn't been able to see her because she was so small. She was stunningly pretty, the heavy-framed glasses accentuating her ethereal beauty, the chignon on the back of her head added very little to her height, and she carried herself with incredible poise and dignity. He noted the self-assurance in her bearing, realising that she didn't even feel the need to give herself a couple more inches in height by wearing high-heeled shoes. This was clearly a very powerful and commanding personality, and he quailed inwardly at the thought of having to figuratively cross swords with her.

The two closed the distance between them, and Humbert stuck out his hand in greeting. "He's going to try and crush mine!" thought Alice gleefully as she, too, extended her hand. Humbert engulfed her small hand in his, as she straightened her hand in his, making it rigid and almost uncrushable.

Humbert's eyes widened almost imperceptibly as he failed to dominate, and he rapidly released Alice's hand and turned to the other men to introduce them to her. She quickly memorised their names and a feature about them that would cause them to stick in her memory as she shook hands with each, a technique she had learned from somewhere, probably Uncle Alex! "Brian Cullen, bit overweight, wet shaver -- cut himself shaving this morning; Tony Soper, balding, grey hair, looks like a monk; Jeff Broadhurst, youngest of the five, blue eyes... but not as blue as Carys'... CONCENTRATE WOMAN; Jack Pitman, the oldest, looked like a vulture, probably should have retired years ago."

Humbert said, "Perhaps we should make a start. The board room is just this way, Miss Morgaine. There is coffee and tea, should you wish, and other refreshments."

He turned to lead the way, and at that precise moment, Alice's phone chimed discreetly, indicating that a very high-priority call was coming through. Only one person had the authority to break through her "Do Not Disturb" setting. Uncle Alex! "He knows what I'm doing and why and when," she thought. "It has to be of near earth-shattering importance for him to call now!"

Marshalling all her reserves of control to ensure that she didn't react excessively, she said to the men in front of her: "Gentlemen, my apologies, I must take this call. It is extremely likely that it will have something to do with the matters we are discussing today."

Without waiting for an answer, she took three rapid steps away from the group of men, keyed the "Respond" button, and said: "Fàilt ort, a Thighearna." The Gaelic phrase of respectful greeting to a Clan chief immediately told the man at the other end that she was with company and could be overheard.

"Alexandra," her uncle's familiar and much-loved voice came back with the counter-phrase, indicating that he had understood. He never called her Alexandra in everyday conversation unless she was in trouble, which hadn't happened since she was six or seven, or to let her know he had understood. "The nut is cracked wide open, thanks to your superb work in Frankfurt." Alice's eyes widened in surprise, and she was glad she had her back to the management board. "Wow! That quickly?" she thought.

"Now, listen very carefully. It does not matter if you can be heard. I need you to set up a link with Brighstone's comms systems so that I can talk to the management board. Because of what has happened, the takeover bid that you are there to steamroll through will not happen, and they need to know that immediately and that I am standing by to offer any help they may need. (They would be a very useful asset to have, but they needn't know that right now.) The rest can wait until we have the means to discuss the situation all together. When you are ready, call me. Secure network, as always... I will wait for your call."

There was a laugh in the Scottish lilt as he continued: "But don't take too long seud rionnag latha, my daystar jewel, it's getting past my bedtime!"

Alice grinned from ear to ear as he broke the connection, and, her eyes sparkling, she turned back to face the five men from Brighstone's senior management and took off the plain-lensed glasses. Closing the gap between them, she said: "Gentlemen, I do apologise for the interruption, but when I finish explaining what the call was about, I think you will agree that it will have been worthwhile. Shall we continue to your boardroom, and I will explain?"