The Term Sheet: A Startup Thriller Novel (6 page)

“
B
ig day
, huh?” said Belinda. She rolled lazily to her side so she could see Heather lying across the room. The nurses hadn’t come around to help Belinda get dressed yet. Heather could dress herself, but never liked to do it until Belinda was dressed first. Lately, though, Heather didn’t mind the extra minutes in bed.

“Yeah. I haven’t seen my brother in a while. I bet his beard has grown a lot.”

“He has a beard now?” asked Belinda. “Yuck. I don’t understand why guys grow beards. Doesn’t stuff get stuck in there when they eat?”

“I know, right?” said Heather.

“I bet he still looks hot though. I’d still do him.”

“Shut up.”

“You excited?”

“Yeah, I guess,” said Heather. “I mean yes, but seeing people is such a hassle lately.”

“Hey, I’d be happy if I just had as many visitors as you. What’s up with you? You don’t sound like your Happy Heather self.”

“You’re right, I should be happy. I just don’t want to be a burden on anyone.”

“I’ll give you my copy of
I, Zombie
. I’ve already read it like three times. It really gives you perspective on life. At least you’re not eating people. Hell, you’re not even in a wheelchair like me yet. You worrying about money again?”

Heather blushed and turned away.

“How do you afford a place like this, anyhow? Your folks rich?”

Heather was silent.

“You don’t have to tell me.”

“My mom.”

“Rich?” asked Belinda.

“Died.”

“I’m sorry, Heather.”

“It’s okay, it was a few years ago. She had a life insurance policy though. But it’s running out now.”

“Can’t you just move in with your brother?”

“He doesn’t know the money is almost out. And I want to keep it that way, okay? Don’t tell him anything. I’ll tell him when I’m ready. Promise?”

“Fine, but I don’t see what the big deal is.”

Nurse Haley walked in. “Rise and shine. Ready for the day, Belinda?”

“You know it.”

“Heather, I think your brother’s here. Did he grow a beard lately? It looks great. Very mountain man.”

Heather blushed again and pulled herself out of bed. She slowly and carefully got dressed before David walked in.

“Hey sis, you look great.” David came up and gave her a big hug. “I’ve missed you. I’m so sorry it’s been a bit since I’ve been by.”

“Six months, by my count,” said Belinda.

“Hi, Belinda.”

“Hi, sex kitten.”

Heather hardly recognized her brother. He seemed different. Older than she remembered, but not just because of the beard.

A
t the pancake house
, David brought a tray full of food to a small booth. Heather had only ordered a small bowl of fruit, but David ordered the works. He sat down and poured a slop of ketchup next to his giant omelet and mountain of hash browns. Breakfast at the Original Hotcake House was a tradition their dad had started before he left, but for some reason David still loved the place. It was an old pancake house that was busiest between two and four a.m. after the bars closed in Portland. The plates were huge and the food was even bigger.

The omelet must have used a dozen eggs and filled half the plate. But next to the hash browns, the eggs looked small. The hotcakes came on a separate plate because there was no room with the eggs and hash browns. An intimidating inch thick, the hotcakes didn’t have any reason to taste good, but they were always a little bit of heaven.

David stuffed his mouth with a big bite of hotcake.

“So how’s the halfway house?”

“You know I hate it when you call it that, David. It’s nice. They treat me great. But I don’t know why they insist on keeping me there. I’ve been fine for over a year now.”

“I’m sure they have their reasons.” David smiled as he asked: “You got any boyfriends yet?”

“Well, there’s this male nurse who keeps bringing me tea, but I’m not that into his crumpets.”

They both laughed as David cut out another slab of hotcake.

“Still think of Mom?” said David.

“All the time. You?”

“Yeah.”

Heather and David looked down at their food to avoid eye contact. Neither wanted the other to see the sadness the question brought them.

Heather broke the silence. “Tell me about work, how’s startup life treating you?”

“Well, the jellyfish blog is picking up traction, finally. I’ve been putting out posts pretty regularly. At first, it didn’t seem to make any difference, but my last post got fifty-four views. But Megan and Andrew keep nagging me to work on an encrypted chat idea I came up with. I don’t know if I should walk away from the investment I already made to try something new or not.”

Heather looked at her big brother with gentle, loving eyes.

“David, are you happy?”

“Yeah. Sure. I guess. What do you mean?”

“I mean, I’ve known you since you were feeding me Gerber peas. You’ve never been into jellyfish. Not as a kid. I know you think it’ll make you easy money, but none of what you explain sounds easy. In many ways, you seem busier than ever. Do you even really care about jellyfish?”

“That’s not the point. Life doesn’t always pay you for your passions.”

“Yes, that’s fair. But I think Megan and Andrew see a spark in your eye. Even now when you said encrypted thingy, you lit up. When’s the last time you honestly got excited about jellyfish?”

“But what about the time and money I’ve invested in it already? It’s my life savings we're talking about.”

“What about changing the world for the better?”

David went from stunned to embarrassed in a nanosecond. He quickly chewed and swallowed his mouthful of eggs and ketchup and hot sauce.

“When did you get so grown up?”

Heather smiled and pushed aside her bowl of fruit. Heather felt weak, but David didn’t ask about it and she preferred it that way.

“Heather, you okay?”

“I’m fine, just a little light-headed.”

David continued eating. She could see his mind was somewhere else—lost in thought. Heather didn’t mind though, she could use a break from all the talk. She took a sip of water from a clear plastic cup like the ones they had in high school.

“So you think I should try the encrypted chat startup?”

Heather smiled. “Yes, David. Go for it.”

“
S
hit
,” said Gabriel. “What happened?”

“I’m fine,” said the man in the suit. “Just a stumble. Everything else went as well as we could have hoped, so I have nothing to complain about.”

A small man with a blue doctor’s mask stood over a larger man sitting on a metal desk. The man’s left leg was bound in bloody bandages. The small man didn’t look like a doctor. He was wearing overalls and worker boots. The larger man was wearing a tattered blue suit. The small man began unwrapping the bandage.

The leg was a mess. The wound stretched from the kneecap to the top of the hip. Although someone had apparently tried to stitch it back together, the stitches were loose and messy.

“He should really go to a hospital. This isn’t healing like it should,” said the man cleaning the wound.

“No hospitals,” said the man at the table. “It’s still too soon and this injury is too conspicuous. I’ll be fine.” The man winced as the cleaning continued. “If you hadn’t made that stupid suggestion of using an anonymous email group, we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place. We need to be more careful next time. You had to mention the ashcat, didn’t you?” He looked scornfully at the man in the dark black trench coat.

The guy playing nurse pulled away from the table and yelled: “You guys talked about us in public? Did you use my name? What is this? Amateur hour? I am definitely not getting paid enough for this bullshit.”

“Calm down,” barked the man in the trench coat. “No names. Just code names.”

“We’re going to need to figure out how to organize things better next time.”

The man in the suit reached over and grabbed a needle and a spool of black thread sitting next to him. He pulled a long piece of thread off the spool and pushed the needle through his skin as he began to re-stitch some of the loose flaps of flesh.

A
ndrew opened
the door to David’s apartment as if he lived there. David was alone at the dining table typing with one hand and eating a ham sandwich with the other. Though most people would get alarmed to have their front door opened out of the blue, David just kept typing. A gust of air blew in as Andrew closed the door.

“Dude, promise you won’t hate me,” Andrew said with glee. He walked over to the kitchen to help himself to a cup of coffee.

David interrupted: “Before you tell me about your latest nefarious plan, I need to apologize. You were right.”

“Hold on.” Andrew looked stunned. “What? Did you just say that out loud?”

Andrew reached into his pocket and grabbed his iPhone. “Wait a second, I need to record this. Say that again.”

“You were right,” said David. “What do I care about jellyfish? I think we should figure out if the encrypted email thing has legs.”

“Well, I’m glad you say that because when you were throwing your hissy fit at Palio the other day, I borrowed your laptop. I published the landing page and put a link on
Hacker News
. Your idea must have hit a nerve. It’s been on the homepage for the last twenty-four hours. As of this morning, you officially have 4,953 people signed up for Cryptobit.”

David stopped typing and dropped his sandwich.

“You did what?”

“Oh shit, if you don’t like that part, you are definitely not going to like this next part.”

David stood up and walked over to Andrew.

“What did you do?”

“Well, last night I was watching TV when
Pitch Deck
came on.”

“I don’t have a TV. What’s
Pitch Deck
?”

“Have you been living under a rock? You ever heard of Tom Lewis and Atlas Vanguard? They, and other multi-millionaires, have people pitch them business ideas and if they like the pitch, they fund the idea. Usually the people pitching are half-wits with no talent selling brownies or bacon beer. So I sent them an email that explained Cryptobit and the progress we’ve made with it so far.”

“Andrew, I haven’t written any code for it. It’s just an idea.”

“Details, David, details. Anyhow, I got a reply this morning. They want us to make a video explaining it. Tom Lewis does a ton of high-tech investments and loves the encryption startup space ever since the Edward Snowden revelations. Atlas Vanguard founded a high-tech background checks company. They’ve been looking for high-tech encryption businesses like ours. At least that’s what the producer told me.”

David’s throat went dry.

“What do you mean, businesses like ours? This isn’t a business…”

“It is now. And potentially a profitable one, if you can write the code, that is.”

His palms were drenched in sweat. David had put so much work into his passive income idea for a year, constantly struggling to get attention. Now in just a day everything was happening so fast. David was confused and excited all at once. He didn’t know whether to slap Andrew in the face or give him a hug.

“Oh, I can code the hell out of it. But what exactly do you mean by ‘we’? And when did I ever agree to call this Cryptobit? That’s gotta change.”

“You’re the brains, I am the brawn. You build it, I’ll do all the rest. Fifty-fifty.”

“David poured himself another cup of coffee and picked up the last bite of his sandwich. “Fine, but I’m CEO.”

Andrew waved his finger in the air. “Oh no, buddy. Sorry. First come, first served. I’m CEO. You’re CTO. I’m going to be setting up the bank accounts and dealing with accountants and lawyers and shit.”

“No, I’m CEO. You can be COO. The COO can still set up bank accounts.”

Megan walked in the back door. Her hair was windswept and she was carrying two bags of groceries, one in each arm. She started unpacking groceries.

David came over and gave Megan a kiss on the forehead. “Hey honey, did you have lunch yet or can I make you something?”

“I just had lunch with Heather.” Megan put a gallon of milk in the fridge. “Have you seen her lately? I’m worried about her. She seems more fragile.”

“I just had breakfast with her the other day. She didn’t mention that? She’s a strong girl. She’ll be fine. Anyhow, I decided to finally listen to you and Andrew and Heather and to give up the jellyfish stuff and start a new company.”

Megan dropped a handful of Greek yogurts on the floor. She looked over at David coldly. “Don’t you think you’re being a little rash? What exactly are we supposed to do with the credit card debt? How are you going to fund this new idea? Loan sharks?”

“I thought you wanted me to dump the jellyfish and go for the encryption idea.”

Andrew walked to the front door. “Hey Meg, good to see you, but I’ve got to get going. I’ve got some…errands.” He looked over to David with sad puppy eyes. “See ya, buddy.”

David began to yell: “Why can’t you support me? You didn’t like my first idea, and now you don’t like this one.”

“I didn’t say anything about the idea. Hell, for all I know you’re selling whales now. All I asked about was how you planned to keep us from going bankrupt. We have bills, you know.” Megan picked up a tomato and shook it in David’s face. “These groceries cost something. Wasn’t your first idea supposed to pay itself off by now? How many sales have you had in the last six months?”

“That’s not fair, I told you up front that it would take time. I thought this was what you wanted me to do.”

“Up front? You fucking bought the website weeks before you grew the balls to tell me about it. You weren’t up front about your last harebrained idea, and you barely finish squandering money before now giving up and trying something new on a whim.” Megan turned around and picked up the yogurt from the floor. She continued, “Let me guess, now you’re selling flea circuses online and you and Andrew spent a hundred thousand dollars on a flea circus website that won’t make money for another year. But it’ll do great with just a little tender loving care, right? Am I warm?”

David’s voice was frantic and high pitched. “It was wrong of me to buy the business without having asked you first, okay? But I was scared. I was terrified that you would react just like you’re reacting right now. I know it’s not a good excuse, but it’s the truth. You mean the world to me, but I just can’t stand living in the world others live in.”

Under her breath, Megan whispered, “You got that right.”

“I want to do something important with my life. I don’t want to just work at a coffee shop or wait tables. I want to be someone. I want to give us a life worth living. I want more out of life. And no, I am not quite sure how to get it yet. And yes, I am fucking it all up. And also, yes, I said this very thing about the jellyfish website. So yeah. You can rub it in my face, I probably deserve that. But I am trying. Can’t you see I’m trying to do this for us?”

Megan turned and looked at David. David’s voice had calmed down and his eyes were glassy. He looked like a little boy whose toy had broken.

“All I see is that you are doing this for you, David. This clearly has more to do with your ego than it has to do with us. You have not included me in any of your decisions. I am always the last to know when things happen. You say you’re going to help your sister, but in the meantime you barely see her. What kind of brother do you think you are? What kind of man do you think you are?”

David’s phone rang. He picked it up and ran out of the front door. It was twilight and in the center of Ladd’s Circle, there was a bluegrass band playing music and a few families sitting on blankets and a few kids running around chasing a Saint Bernard puppy.

David answered his phone: “Hello?”

“Hi, is this David Alexander?”

“Yes.” David’s voice cracked. He coughed and tried to regain his composure. “Who is this?”

“David, this is Mark Baxter, a producer with
Pitch Deck
. I’ve been looking over your startup pitch, and I have to tell you, I think it’s pretty unique. It’s certainly timely.”

“How’d you get my phone number?”

“I’m sorry, you’re Cryptobit’s CTO, right?”

David instinctively headed away from the music, but without any purpose or direction. As he walked away from Ladd’s Circle, the night breeze settled in and he cupped the phone with his hand to minimize the effect of the wind on the phone.

“Um, yes, I mean no. CEO.”

“Oh sure, okay. Well, the company name is a concern, but we can talk about that later. I was just impressed with how much traction you’ve gotten in just the last few days. Those numbers are impressive and I like impressive numbers. I’d like my colleagues to see it. Can you make a short video pitch, outlining the big idea? We’ll need it by this Friday to have a chance at the next round of applications.”

“Um, sure.”

“Great, I’ll send you an email with more details and a contract. Just to be explicit here, the video is merely an audition. There are no guarantees you’ll get on the show. This is a long process, and if my colleagues don’t like the pitch, that’s the end of the line. Do you understand?”

“Yes, no guarantees, got it.”

“Right, good. But I like you, David, just from our brief conversation. And I like the concept of Cryptobit a lot. Hate the name, but this is something people need to see. People are skittish about the NSA. Your little program could be just what they didn’t know they needed. Okay, well, I’m sure you’re busy, so I will let you get back at it. Check your email for instructions. If you can find a professional videographer to help make your video, it wouldn’t hurt.”

“Okay.”

“Good luck, talk to you later.”

“Bye.”

David stopped walking. Twilight had turned to darkness in what felt like a few fleeting moments. David was emotionally and physically exhausted. The day felt heavy, but full of promise. He wanted to tell someone. He wanted to run back and tell Megan, but didn’t think she would understand. He wanted to call Andrew, but didn’t want to have to explain what had just happened with Megan. He wanted to call Heather, but she was probably already asleep. He lingered on the thought of his sister. He wondered how she was really doing. Yes, she was strong, always had been. But something did seem off when he saw her last.

David walked back toward the music. A night breeze began to blow, but David didn’t notice. A world of possibilities flooded his head. He wondered what Tom Lewis was really like. Would he be able to hang out with him afterwards? What was he going to do with the money from
Pitch Deck
? Or would someone see him on TV and buy his company instead?

Maybe it would all just fall apart. What if people just laughed at him? What if Megan broke up with him? What if this ruined his friendship with Andrew?

David was lost, not only in his thoughts, but on the street. The music had long since faded away. He looked around at the quiet street, trying to get his bearings. An owl hooted, but he could swear it was asking “now what?” instead of “who?”