The Exchange: After The Firm

“All five went to trial and Lannak won them all. After the court orders were entered, the cases were settled.”

Darian nodded slightly as if he, too, knew the numbers. “My point exactly. You take them to trial, you win an award, they stall and stall, then you convince the court to impose sanctions. The Libyans don’t like the word ‘sanctions’ and they usually settle, right?”

“It’s not quite that simple,” Mitch said. “Some of the settlements were for a lot less than Lannak was entitled to. It’s hardball litigation.”

“Understood, but it’s the way of doing business over there. The Libyans have been through it many times and know the routine. Why would they suddenly decide to start killing people? So, to answer your question, we have ruled out, for the moment, any involvement by the regime. It’s too risky for them. They can’t survive if foreign companies get scared and run away.”

Darian was convincing and Mitch had nothing to argue.

He continued, “We have people on the ground in Tripoli and we’re digging. We have a couple of suspects, but I’m not prepared to discuss them remotely. One problem right now is that half the spies and double agents in the world are snooping around Libya, desperate for intelligence. The Brits, Turks, Italians, even the Libyans. And of course the Americans can’t wait to get in the middle of it. But we should have something to talk about by late afternoon. I can meet in our Manhattan office tomorrow at eight in the morning. Does that work?”

Everybody nodded and Jack said, “Yes, we’ll be there.”

It was raining when Mitch left the office that afternoon. Rain in the city usually made a mess of things, which was taken in stride by New Yorkers accustomed to surviving in all sorts of weather. Rain never bothered Mitch, except on game days. If the Bruisers had a game, then rain was catastrophic.

While he was on the subway, it had gone from a hard drizzle to a downpour, and there would be no chance of a game in Central Park. He entered their apartment at five-thirty and was met with the sad scene of Clark and Carter sitting side-by-side on the sofa, in full Bruiser uniforms, one holding a baseball, the other a glove, staring at the television. They were too deflated to say hello to their father.

“Rough bunch,” Mitch whispered to Abby as he pecked her on the cheek.

“I suppose it’s still raining out there.”

“Pouring. No chance of a game.”

“I really wanted to get them out of the house.”

Carter tossed the baseball into a chair and walked over to hug his father. He appeared to be near tears and said, “I was supposed to pitch, Dad.”

“I know, but that’s baseball. Even the Mets get rained out occasionally. The game will be made up this Saturday.”

“Promise?”

“I promise it will if it doesn’t rain again.”

“I guess you can take those uniforms off,” Abby said.

“I have a better idea,” Mitch said. “Leave the uniforms on. Let’s call the whole team, all the Bruisers, tell them to keep their uniforms on, and meet at Santo’s for pizza.”

Clark bounced off the sofa with a big smile.

“Great idea, Dad,” Carter said.

“Tell them to bring umbrellas,” Abby said.

Chapter 16

Giovanna was fourteen years old when her parents divorced. She loved them both and they adored her, their only daughter and youngest child, but when the marriage began to crack Luca and Anita thought it best to remove their children from the hostilities. They sent Sergio, their son, to a prep school in England and Giovanna to one in Switzerland, and when they were out of the way the parents fought some more, then grew weary of it and signed agreements. Anita moved out of the villa and gave up all claims to it. It had been in Luca’s family for decades and Italian matrimonial law leaned heavily in his favor.

Anita took some money and a vacation home on Sardinia, and left Rome to try to put things back together. By the time she left, Luca had already arranged for his girlfriend, and future wife number two, to move in. The transition was another good reason for Giovanna to stay away.

She watched this from afar, grateful to be in Switzerland. She still loved her father, but at the time she didn’t really like him. They had never been close, primarily because of his ambition to build the greatest law firm in Italy. His drive kept him at the office or on the road far too often. Her brother, Sergio, was so turned off by Luca’s routine that he vowed never to become professional at anything. Currently he was living in Guatemala, drifting and painting street scenes in the city of Antigua.

Nor had she been close to her mother, Anita, who was a beautiful woman and watched with growing envy as Giovanna became just as beautiful. She competed with her daughter in fashion, style, weight, height, almost everything. Anita could not accept the realities of aging and grew more resentful as her daughter blossomed and grew taller and thinner. They had great mother-daughter times together, but there was always the undercurrent of competition.