The Game (9 page)

She also didn’t understand why she was reacting like this, to someone like him, her biggest detractor.  He intimidated her and belittled her work, even her presence.  She must have a masochistic streak she didn’t know about.  She certainly didn’t believe in being attracted to men who
demeaned.  She liked men with boyish charm, who loved to laugh and whose eyes just lit up when they saw her.  Ok, she had actually never met someone like that.  Her ex had been sullen; an expert at whatever xBox game was hot, and maybe even mediocre in bed.  She didn’t have a great deal of experience to judge by as she had been with him since her last year of university, and the drunken late night fumble with the odd university boy prior to that did now make her an expert by any means.

She flatly
forbid herself from thinking about a mental comparison with what Damon D’Arth would be like.  She would not think about it.  She wondered if he was the same as he was in all other aspects of his life, taking what he wants, refusing to compromize and confronting any challenges.  And he didn’t have girlfriends.  She dreaded to think what he called them in his mind.  What kind of girl would put up with that?  She had to shake this wildly inappropriate attraction.

Once they got out of the confined space of the taxi, she put as much distance between them as possible.  She took a breather and ordered a coffee from the Starbucks at the base of the building.  She’d already had a coffee, but she needed an excuse.

Damon
closed his eyes in despair as he read the email he’d been dreading.  He’d hoped it wouldn’t come, but he had felt that something was up in his gut, and here it was.   A last minute amendment to the bid requirements, and not just a small amendment, a significant one and they had less than two days.  It would take up every waking second for the next two days, and there would be no sleep.

It also meant that he didn’t have time for other things.  He still refused to accept Clarion as a
partner; he knew in his gut that it would be a mistake.  Carmichael had worked with Clarion before and the old couth was too loyal.  Clarion may deliver, but they didn’t have the hunger or the focus to make a great partner.  They were too big, too comfortable and spread entirely too thin.  He needed someone agile, who could move with the requirements as he needed, not someone who he would have to fit around.

Problem was
, he had to focus on the amendment if they were going to have this bid in on time, and they might as well go home now if they couldn’t.

“Jane,” he roared, making the girl jump in her seat.  “Let’s talk, now.
  You others, read through this amendment.  I want ideas when I get back.”

He strode out of the room and he could hear the soft padding of he
r heels on the carpet behind him.  He walked into a small meeting room. 

“Close the door,” he ordered.  He didn’t bother sitting down.  She did as she was told and came to stand in front of him.  She had her hair up in a tight litt
le bun.  It made the features of her face look bare and unobstructed.  She clear blue eyes looked large and apprehensive.  She was actually biting her lip.  For some reason, her conservative look had the exact opposite effect.  It just made her look beddable.  He briefly acknowledged the impulse before dismissing it.  Now was not the time for such indulgences.

“I need to move on that financing,” he said.

“It’s coming along,”

“I need it to be established today, and I need it to be for a proposal with the Australians.”

“But the funding is tied to Clarion,” Jane said with confusion.

“We’re not using Clarion.”

“We’d have to start again if we change the partner.  We’ll never get it on time.”

“You will have to make that happen, Jane. I am not going ahead with Clarion, so I need you to renegotiate the funding.  I don’t have time to do it; I am going to have to depend on you.  You will do this for me.”

He watched her trying to work through the implications of what he was pushing on her.  It was a monumental task and he wasn’t sure she could pull it off.  He didn’t have a choice, the amendment meant he simply didn’t have time to set up funding; he would have to work off the funding Carmichael had set up for Clarion.  If it fell to pieces, he would have to accept Clarion as a partner, but he still had this card to play.  The Jane card.  He wasn’t entirely sure what she was capable of, but she did have guts, he’d seen it, and at this point he had nothing to lose.

“Go to the bank and sort it,” he said and left.

Jane just stared at the empty space where Damon had stood.  He’d just asked her to climb a mountain.  It’d take a couple of weeks to set up funding and she was expected to have it in place in the next two days.  It was an impossible task.

She ran downstairs and hailed a taxi, while phoning Carmichael. 

“Jane dear, how are
things going?”

“Damon has ordered me to set up financing for the Australians,” she said in a rush as a taxi pulled over in front of her.

There was quiet down the phone for a minute.  Jane wondered if the connection had failed.  Not now, she screamed in her head.

“That man is the most pig headed
arrivist in the world,” Carmichael said.  She could clearly hear the annoyance in his voice.  It wasn’t often that Carmichael showed any type of annoyance and displeasure.  He didn’t show such displays. 

“He is adamant on not using Clarion,” Jane continued.

“It will be impossible to arrange financing in two days.  I’m not sure this bank has any relationship with the Australians at all.  I can’t see how he expects to pull this off.”

“No, he expects me to pull it off,” Jane said with a hint of despair.

“Don’t fret Jane.  You will do the best you can and when it doesn’t work out, I will protect you.”  Edmund had never been so forthright in stating that he protected her, which was scary because it meant that she actually needed protection.  How did she, Jane Burrows, recent team member of the council parking allocation unit, end up needing protection within the Board of a major infrastructure company?  She felt her gut clench in anguish.  “Just do your best, it will be fine.”

She hung up the phone and tucked her arms around her.  “I’m dead,” she said to the taxi driver’s confusion.

The two young men who were Jane’s main contacts at the bank stared at her in quiet incredulity when she told them what she wanted,
then they had an impromptu meeting between themselves as she watched.

“We can try,” one of them finally said, “but you must
realize that this is an extreme request.  We really can’t promise anything.”

“But you’ll give it a shot?” Jane pleaded.

“Why not,” one of them said.  “I wasn’t planning anything this evening.”

Jane could have kissed them, she was so relieved, but her relief didn’t last long as they had tons to do.  They had to move into a smaller room where they sat working with their laptops around a small round table for hours.  Jane felt the tension constantly and it only got worse every time she looked up and noticed that another hour was gone.  She was more than grateful when someone brought her a sandwich at one point.

She started making mistakes at around three in the morning and they decided to call it a night, with the intention that they would resume at seven the next morning. 

It was actually a bit cool outside, well relatively.  Her eyes were burning and her brain felt a bit foggy.  It didn’t take long for her taxi to arrive.  The world was asleep as she passed by and there was only one young man at the lobby of the otherwise deserted hotel.
  Obviously a casualty of jet lag.

She felt like she’d just closed her eyes for one minute before the alarm rung.  She wasn’t sure if she felt rested,
she felt groggy as she dressed.  She didn’t have time for breakfast and just nodded as she walked past her guys in the lobby coffee shop.  She could feel Damon’s eyes on her as she walked to the door.  It made her skin break out in goose bumps and made her self-conscious of every move she made.

He made no secret of the fact that he was suspicious of her, and she dreaded to see the look in his eyes when she came back and told him that she
’d failed.  Somehow she didn’t want to disappoint him, maybe because he would then feel justified in his disregard of her.  She would also be known around the office as the one that failed to deliver the financing for the deal, and if they lost the bid, some would blame her.  It was completely unfair, but fairness didn’t always count in the aftermath, particularly when people would be looking to dish out the blame.  She hated being put in this position, but she had little choice.  All she could do was try her best.

The two bankers also looked worse for wear
.  They all had large coffees delivered as they churned through the required documentation and quick meetings with general managers that needed to be involved.  Damon called, but she had nothing to tell him other than they were working on it.  He was a bit brusque, but conceded there was nothing more she could tell him.

They’d done everything they could and had submitted it to
the bank president shortly after dinner time that night.  She offered to buy them both dinner, but they declined as they preferred sleep.  The bank president would now read through the proposal and make a decision.

Jane was famished and she couldn’t go back to her room, she’d fall asleep and maybe miss the call that told her that her financing had been approved.  Feeling exhausted and nervous, she walked around the block to a fast food restaurant.  It wasn’t the kind of food she normally ate, but there was a certain comfort in its salty, greasy decadence.  She also didn’t have to contend with any attentive waiters.  She sat down at a table outside and called Damon.

“I’ve done all I can,” she said when she heard his deep voice answer the phone.  “It’s with the president now, for his approval.  We should find out in a few hours.”

“Good, let me know when you find out.  Where are you?”

“I am still at the bank.  I’m just having a bite to eat.”

“Go get some sleep,” he said.  “I want you here at the office at 3 am.  Can you do that?”

“Sure,” she said and was about to hang up.

“Good work, Jane,” he said before hanging up.  She had gotten recognition from Damon
D’Arth, the world must have changed in some way while she was entombed in a small meeting room in the bank.  Then again, she had pulled out all the stops and made this happen, she deserved it.  Damned right, she’d done a good job.

She
got the call from the bank president around ten.  He had grudgingly approved it with some conditions.  She knew they were conditions they could live with.  She thanked him and did a little dance in the hotel room.  In truth, she was too tired to celebrate.  She had been struggling to keep her eyes open.  She made a quick call to Damon who was still at the office and told him the good news.  Then she hung up and was asleep within the minute.

Jane stood outside a dark and deserted office building at three.  She could see light up on the tenth floor as she waited for someone to come down and let her in. 

It was
Stephen who came down.  He looked awful, his shirt was crumpled and sleeves were rolled up.  He had dark bags under his eyes.  She could only smile at him in sympathy; she knew exactly how he was feeling.

“How’s it going?” she asked.

“Good,” he said.  “We’re just finishing off the documentation.  We have to have it at the printers at seven for delivery at 9am.  Then there is apparently life after this bid, but I’m not entirely sure what that consists of at this point.”

“Food maybe.”

“Ahh, one misses food.”

Damon was standing by the table when she got
there; he looked serious and focused as he was reading something over Frank’s shoulders.  He’d obviously been there all night too.  He looked up as she walked in the room and he gave her a nod.

Jane set her laptop up by one of the empty seats.  Even working all night didn’t make him any less attractive.  It might even make him look a little more human.  He was similarly informal as Stephen
, with his sleeves rolled up over his strong tanned arms.  He didn’t look rumpled, he looked comfortable and natural.  Maybe that was the crux of expensive tailoring; it stood up to demanding situations. 

Jane got the task of pulling the appendices together and making sure there was consistency across them.  It wasn’t difficult work, just
fiddly and time consuming.  She took a few minutes around dawn to have a look out the window, before she had to return to her task.

The document came together a few minutes before seven when one of the boys was tasked with running a flash drive down to a waiting taxi.  The mood shift in the room was immediate.  A great weight had been lifted off them.

“Who’s up for breakfast?” Damon asked with a smile.  He looked pleased and relaxed, confident in the proposal they were putting in.  Jane couldn’t help feeling the joy of achievement as well.  It was an exhilarating feeling.  The rest was just logistics, making sure the proposal was printed and delivered by the 9 am deadline.  She wondered if Damon would deliver it in person or if one of the boys would do it.