Millennium - 72. Chapter 72

March 27, 2000

 

“Mr. Schluter, don’t you find it unprecedented that Mr. Pfinster would resign as chairman of Triton’s board and then, two weeks later, take over as chairman of your biggest competitor, Omega?” the annoying reporter asked.

“Triton is thankful for all of Elliot Pfinster’s contributions in the past,” I said. “We wish him luck in his new venture.” She was a good reporter, and she knew that was just a standard line designed to deflect questions.

“Why would he change companies?”

“You should ask him that,” I said. I hated dealing with the press, and I was pissed that this job had landed on my shoulders. I personally thought it would have been much better for Jordan to do it, but since it was his father, he was reluctant. The reporter asked for me, saying that it made sense to have the new chairman of Triton talk about the former chairman of Triton. The only saving grace was that I was being interviewed in LA, and not in Connecticut.

“We did. He said that Triton has given up long-term innovation for short-term profitability. He blames that on you and your venture capital firm, alleging that you merely bought into Triton to make quick gains and leave the company as a shell of its former self.” She was baiting me, this reporter, even though that sounded like something Elliot would say.

“Triton has a history of innovation, and of thinking long-term. What we have done is to re-direct our corporation to focus on areas that we are good at, and where we can deliver top quality products.” Time for some hyperbole. “Most of our systems are defense-related, and any quality errors can result in the death or injury of our noble men and women who serve in uniform. Triton is committed to making sure our systems are top quality, and exceed six sigma criteria. To us, that’s much more important than diverting our resources into several different areas. We want our service members to see a gauge, or a switch, or an electronic system with the Triton name on it and know that they can trust it to work.”

“So you are suggesting that Omega does too much, and they do it in a shoddy fashion?”

“Recent senate hearings have shown that Omega’s systems are significantly inferior to Triton’s. The senate expressed concerns over the quality of Omega’s products, and as a result they awarded Triton sole possession of contracts both companies once shared.”

“Mr. Pfinster invested some $300,000,000 in Omega, which issued new stock at $40/share. Since that new issue, Omega’s stock has risen to $43/share. It seems the market likes this new direction for Omega.”

“You’re focusing on short-term results. If Omega uses that investment wisely, then the result will be a stronger competitor for Triton. We are not afraid of Omega now or a stronger Omega in the future. Besides,” I said with a smile, “the markets can be fickle.”

The reporter sensed she was hitting on a sensitive area, so moved in for the kill. “You have had a very contentious relationship with Alexandra Carmichael, the CEO of Omega. It’s also been reported that you have a bad relationship with Elliot Pfinster. Isn’t this personal?”

I ignored the reference to Alexandra. “Elliot Pfinster wanted Triton to pursue many projects, even if it meant doing them poorly as a result. He wasn’t matching what he wanted with Triton’s capabilities and resources. That put him into conflict with Triton’s management and Triton’s board, which takes a more realistic approach. He was like a shotgun, while we’re more of a rifle. Our conflict was over strategy; it wasn’t personal.”

“But Omega has the resources to do many things at once,” she asserted.

“Really? They do?” I asked, being a smartass.

“Are you saying that they don’t?” she asked.

“You made the statement,” I said, verbally sparring with her.

“I want to know your opinion.”

“Examine the facts before you. Omega is huge, but they have quality control problems, and their innovation has lagged. Now you tell me that they can do even more things, and do it with higher quality. I don’t see anything that backs up that assertion.”

“They now have more money,” she said, battling on gamely.

“Omega has never had issues with money before, yet those are the results they’ve achieved.”

“Mrs. Carmichael has told her employees that she and Omega will bury Triton,” she said.

“That must have been a wonderful pep talk,” I said sarcastically. “I’m sure it was similar to that given by the head coach of the Tennessee Titans at this year’s Super Bowl game.”

“So you’re a Rams fan?” she asked, lightening the tone.

“Of course,” I told her with a smile. That concluded the interview. Now that the cameras and recorders were off, she actually became human.

“Thank you for speaking with me. I hope you’ll give me another opportunity after Triton eclipses Omega.”

That surprised me. “I appreciate your confidence.”

“I’ve been doing this for a long time, Mr. Schluter. I’ve met with all parties now. My money is on Triton.”

“Thank you,” I told her.

“Do you think there’s any chance Stefan Schluter would be willing to talk to me?”

“I’m flying up to Palo Alto this afternoon. I’ll ask him. He’s much more charming than I am,” I said with a grin.

“I doubt that,” she said, flirting. “Why are all the handsome guys gay?”

“I’m not complaining,” I joked. “You didn’t explore that angle at all. Why?”

“Well, Mrs. Carmichael’s son and right hand man is gay, so it takes away the ‘us’ versus ‘them’ angle. Besides, this is about money, not who you sleep with.”

“Yes it is.” I led her out of the house and felt relieved that it was over, and hoped that I hadn’t fucked up royally. I wouldn’t know until she actually published her story. I packed up my things and headed to the airport. I called Robbie on the way.

“Hey,” he said cheerfully. “How did it go?”

“It went as well as can be expected. I think I did OK.”

“Hopefully you won’t be exposed as a religious zealot this time around,” he joked.

“I doubt it. Besides, that story ended up with a really happy ending.”

“It did.”

“So what are you working on?”

“I’m diving into fantasy films,” he said, joking. “We’re working on that Harry Potter film I told you about, and we’re going to jump into Lord of the Rings as a junior partner.”

“You were really smart to tie up Harry Potter,” I said. “Still, I don’t see you as a fantasy guy.”

“Wait until we’re in bed,” he joked.

“Good point,” I said, laughing.

“I love you,” he told me.

“I love you too. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I drove up to the G-V and strode confidently on board. I really liked these planes, and I knew this was the one I wanted, but chartering them seemed so much easier at this point than actually buying one. I’d left the house at 10am, so I missed the morning LA traffic. Evidently my timing was lucky, because we missed the LA air traffic too. It was a smooth flight to Paly, and then an easy drive to our offices. I got there with time to spare for our 2pm strategy session.

I decided to spend that extra time by going over to Stef’s office to check in. His face lit up when he saw me, and he gave me an effusive greeting.

“The reporter I met with this morning wants to interview you,” I said. “I told her you would be happy to do it.”

“You did what?” he asked, irritated. I laughed.

“She seemed like a nice enough lady, and told me off camera that her money was on us in this battle. If her story is fair, I think you should consider it.”

“We will see,” he said skeptically. We gossiped for a while, and I filled him in on our confrontation with Miram Barnes. “I had to restrain Greg from trying to punch his lights out once.”

I laughed. “I made fun of his small penis.”

“How do you know he has a small penis?”

“It was an educated guess,” I told him. I got more serious then. “I figured out one of the things I’ve been doing wrong with Robbie."

“Oh?”

“I haven’t been supportive enough. I haven’t given him enough kudos, and told him how well he does. It’s so obvious that he needs that, but I’m so blind I missed it.”

“All men need that. What made you come to this realization?”

“I thought back to when he was with Neil, and how he talked about how Neil made him feel good about things. He intimated the same things when he talked about Carson.”

“I think it is a sign of your maturity that you are thinking about these things logically. I also think it is a sign of how much you love him that you are constantly trying to think of ways to be a better partner.”

“Thanks Stef. I haven’t always done that in the past.”

“So you will do better,” he assured me. I nodded and went to the conference room for my meeting with the team. They were all assembled, and the gloomy looks on their faces mirrored the gloomy atmosphere in the room.

“So have you finished your analysis?” I asked.

Cal looked at me with a depressed expression. “I ran the numbers. When we go at them on April 17, we’ll put enormous pressure on them. The way we’d planned it, there’s no way they could have survived our onslaught without making radical changes. In fact, I almost thought a bankruptcy restructure was their only option.”

“But not now?”

“No,” he shook his head sadly. “With that influx of cash, they have a cushion. I’m worried it will be like Pearl Harbor, where we hit them just enough to piss them off and get them to focus on blowing us out of the water.”

“I think you underestimate our staying power,” I said firmly. “They aren’t going to blow us out of the water one way or another, they just might make it tougher for us to get and keep contracts.”

“$300 million shouldn’t be enough to make up for all the money they’re going to lose,” Randi observed.

“No, but it’s enough to give their creditors confidence,” Cal told her. “So with that money, plus what they can get from banks and other investors, they’ll be able to weather the firestorm we have aimed at them.”

“We need another masterstroke,” Ethan said. He was deep in thought. He couldn’t think of one, and that disturbed all of us, since he was such a master strategist.

“So what’s our plan?” Rashid asked from the phone. Even he sounded glum.

The defeatist attitude I could sense and hear from them really pissed me off. “Look, you guys are acting like we’ve already lost this battle. I’m not willing to believe that. We have to pull our heads out of our asses and come up with a game changer, one that will truly bring Omega to its knees.”

“We can try,” Jacob said morosely. I glared at him. “I’m sure we’ll come up with something.” Now he was just trying to placate me.

“Our plans for the 17^th go ahead,” I said, throwing down the gauntlet. “Make sure it’s set up.”

“Even if we fail?” Randi asked, being very daring.

“We won’t. I have confidence that we’ll be able to pull this off. We’re not out of cards to play. You guys just make sure our existing plans are ready to fly, and I’ll work on the coup de grâce.”

“You have something?” Ethan asked.

“Maybe,” I lied. “When it’s in place, I’ll let you know.” That cheered them up considerably, and I told myself that even if I couldn’t pull that off, their renewed confidence may save the day in the end. I went back up to see Stef and brief him.

“So they do not think we can pull this off?” Stef asked.

“They think that Elliot’s money has given Omega staying power, enough to overcome our attack.”

“That is what we were afraid of. What will you do?”

“I told them I had another card to play, just to prop them up. I don’t.” He could tell how down I was about that.

“You have a few weeks to figure that out, and I am sure that you will.”

“I appreciate your confidence. I’m worried that it’s misplaced.”

“It is not,” he said firmly. “You seem to think that this should be easy. That you would create a plan, launch it, and that Omega would simply sink into the ocean. Real life, real business is not like that. It is a combination of planning and strategy, and then followed up by the ability to think on your feet.”

“We don’t even have a viable plan and strategy at this point,” I said morosely. I saw him get pissed at me, just as I’d gotten pissed at my team when they shot me this attitude.

“You will put the ball in play on April 17. They will react. You cannot know what they will do, but every counter-move they make can also be an opportunity for us. You are smart enough to exploit that.”

I nodded, gave him a hug, and wandered back to my office where I told Grace that I had to spend the afternoon meeting with some people. I made it sound like I had some great scheme in mind, and then I left. If I would have stayed there, everyone would have seen that I was just as despondent as they were. I called the plane and told them I’d be flying back tonight, and then headed over to see Claire.

I was lucky to find her at home. “What a pleasant surprise!” she said.

“I’m having a crappy day, so I came over so you could cheer me up,” I told her. She laughed. I told her all about the issues with Omega, and while she didn’t have any interesting insights, just having her listen to me was therapeutic.

“Brad, you will find a way to win this one. You will.” I smiled to thank her, even though there was no basis for her confidence. I changed the subject to an issue which impacted her much more directly.

“I caught Darius and Ella having sex when they were in LA.”

“You caught them?” she asked, her eyebrows raised.

“Well, I saw them. I couldn’t sleep, so I went down to the beach and they were there. They didn’t see me.” I saw her expression, saw her struggling to ask me about it without making Darius seem like a cad. She had that same stereotype in her mind that Robbie had had, of the horny high school boy who would do anything to get in her pants. I decided to end that succinctly. “Ella initiated it.”

“She did?”

I told Claire about the whole vignette, and she nodded as I went. “Darius was quite the gentleman,” she allowed.

“It’s a shame I can’t tell him you said that, since he can’t know I told you.”

She laughed. “Well, I think she’s old enough and mature enough to handle it.”

“The condom broke,” I told her, dropping that bombshell on her.

“Oh no,” she said, now really upset. “I’ll have to try to reach out to her.”

“You’ll have to do that without telling her what we talked about,” I cautioned.

“I know how to do that,” she snapped.

“You know, the older you get, the more like Dad you sound,” I said, teasing her. She rolled her eyes.

“What’s the deal with Will, Zach, and John?” she asked, changing the subject again.

It was kind of a relief that she didn’t know either. “I haven’t got a clue, and I can’t get anything out of him.”

“Neither can I. I gave John the third degree, but he just closed up on me.” She got an evil look. “I even tried a different tactic. I waited a day, and then told him I was going down to LA for the weekend and asked him if he wanted to come along and hang out with Will.”

“What did he say?” In the past, either Will or John would have jumped at the chance to hang out for the weekend.

“He said he had plans with some of his friends, and he couldn’t go.” We both sat there in silence, unsure of what we could do to repair the rift that had grown between our two sons who had once been inseparable. I left there and went to the airport in a really depressed mood. I was depressed about business, depressed that Darius’ condom broke, and depressed that all of these cousins weren’t getting along. As if to mirror my depression, the trip back was just the opposite of my trip up there. It was marred with delays, first at the airport, and then in traffic. I didn’t actually make it back home until almost 10pm.

I walked into the house and it was worse still, since there didn’t appear to be anyone at home. I wandered over to see if Jeanine, Tiffany, and the boys were around, but they’d all retreated to their rooms. Darius was chatting online with Ella; he’d bought her a computer so they could interact that way. JJ and Will were both studying, and neither one of them was willing to talk to me. I checked the garage and saw Robbie’s car there, but he didn’t seem to be anywhere in the house. I went up to our room and didn’t find him there, but then I remembered our love den.

I walked up to it and put my hand on the panel. The door popped open and I walked in, greeted by the sounds of him moaning. I grinned and wandered through the rooms until I got to the dungeon. I found him there on the bed, moaning like crazy. He was holding a box with wires coming out of it, and the wires were attached to bands that were wrapped around his dick: one right below the head, and the other one lower, around his balls. His cock was huge, really engorged, and spitting out pre-cum like it was a sprinkler. I walked over and looked down at him until he finally noticed me. He turned a dial on the machine, presumably turning it down, and became coherent.

“Hey baby,” he said. “I figured I’d try out this e-stim machine.”

“It looks like fun,” I said as I kissed him.

“It’s fucking amazing. I just found a new way to get off when you’re not around.” I laughed.

“So how does it work?” I asked. He handed me the box and I turned the dial slowly, ramping up the power.

“Ahh!” he moaned, and thrust his dick into the air. More pre-cum flew out.

“You like that baby?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he panted. “Yeah. So good.”

I ran my fingers across his chest, tweaking his nipples gently, then down his abdomen to his balls. I played with them, just barely touching them, and he moaned even louder. “What happens if I turn this higher?”

“Cum, you’ll make me cum,” he panted.

“You think so?” I teased.

“Yeah,” he panted. I turned the dial a little higher and he let out a huge roar, one that might have been loud enough to penetrate the sound proof walls, and then his dick started spewing cum, not in spurts, but in a torrent. He squirmed and squirmed while he blasted his load, and then when he was finally done, I gradually turned the dial and got it back to zero. I got a towel and cleaned him off, while he pulled off the electrodes. “That was amazing. Thanks.”

“All I did was turn a dial,” I said.

“I tried it earlier, and it was cool, but having you here, having you do that, made it so fucking hot,” he said. “Try it.”

“You want me to do this?” I wasn’t sure about that, about having electrodes hooked up to my dick.

“Yeah. Come on. It’s fun. I won’t hurt you. You trust me don’t you?”

It dawned on me that I was cornered, and that if I didn’t do this, he’d think I wasn’t willing to trust him. I thought about it, and it looked like fun. He’d never do anything to hurt me. I started pulling off my clothes, and got a big smile from him. “Of course I trust you.”

He got up and I took his place on the bed. My cock was so hard I was worried those electrode bands wouldn’t fit around my dick. Then I got inspired. “Here, shackle me,” I said, putting my wrists in the manacles.

“Brad, I don’t want to do that. You hate that,” he said.

“Shackle me,” I ordered. He shrugged and did what I said. “The legs too.” He put me in the leg braces and secured them as well. It was amazing. I wasn’t uncomfortable at all. When I’d done this before, it had really bothered me, but not now.

“You OK?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” I said calmly. “Show me how this thing works.”

He attached the electrodes, using plenty of lubricant. He put one band around my dick, just below the head, and another near the base of my dick, just like he’d done. He turned the knob on the box just slightly. I felt the current running from one band, from the head of my dick, to my balls. It was like a wave, gently flowing back and forth. I moaned and thrust into the air, my arms and legs straining against the manacles that held them in place. I was totally at his mercy, and it didn’t scare me a bit; it just excited me more. I had absolutely no control over anything, had electrodes hooked up to my dick, and it was erotic as hell. Incredible.

He turned the knob, pushing the power up, and now I felt stronger currents flowing back and forth, only now they were stimulating my prostate as well. I felt my dick throbbing, and my sphincter contracting, in time to the waves. All I could do was moan and writhe in pleasure. Robbie put the box down and moved his mouth all over my body, sucking on my nipples, licking my belly button, and lapping up the pre-cum that I was spewing onto my stomach. I looked down and saw that my dick was huge, and that the head was bigger than I’d ever seen. It looked like it might actually burst, it was so engorged.

Robbie would rotate the knob a bit, sending waves of stimulation through my groin, and just when I felt like I might get close enough to cum, he’d back it off and spend time worshiping my body. I had no idea how much time passed, but it seemed to go either quickly or slowly, depending on how he stimulated me.

“You want to cum, baby?” he asked me.

“Yeah, cum, want to cum,” I heard myself mutter. He turned the knob higher and I felt the waves increase. It felt like someone was jacking me off from inside my body. My balls tingled in a way that made it seem like someone was squeezing them in a milking type of motion. I struggled against the restraints, not to get free, but because I was so excited I couldn’t lie still.

And then I came. Without anyone touching my dick, I felt my balls rise, felt all those tell tale signs, and then I exploded. Cum literally poured out of my dick, but I was riding such a wave of bliss I could only look at it in little snapshot segments. I felt my body wrack itself in pleasure as I flailed around, just letting myself enjoy the orgasm that seemed like it would never end. It went on and on and on. I noticed that my sphincter and prostate spasmed along with my dick, as if my body had directed every last bit of energy into ejaculating. When I was finally finished, I just lay there, totally drained, totally spent.

Robbie chuckled as he moved his mouth over my body, cleaning up the gallons of cum I’d shot. “You liked that?” he asked with a grin.

“Fuck yeah,” I said.

He leaned in and kissed me, and I responded enthusiastically. He pulled away and stared at me. “You want me to untie you?”

“Whenever you’re ready,” I said.

He unlocked the manacles one by one, and I actually felt disappointed when I was free. “Better?”
“No, not really. I liked it,” I told him.

“Last time we tried that you freaked out.”

“Yeah, but a lot has changed since then. I trusted you before, but now I trust you completely. I know you’d never hurt me.” I watched as a tear rolled down his cheek, and then he started crying. “What?”

“I just love you so much,” he said. We took a shower and went to bed, with me snuggled up to him in my favorite position. Despite all of my worries about Omega, I slept soundly.

March 28, 2000

 

“I hear you’re getting out of here tomorrow,” I said to Elizabeth Danfield. “You really look terrific.”

“Why thank you,” she said politely. “I am ready to go home.”

“Really?”

“Well, at first I was just ready to get out of here, but now I’m actually ready to go back home. I have a lot of things to straighten out, a lot of things I have to do to get on a better track. I’m anxious to get started.”

I smiled. “You just seem so strong. It’s like you’re Popeye and you just ate your spinach.”

She laughed, a glorious laugh, and I remembered how the first time I’d met her I thought it was slightly sinister. Not anymore. Now it was genuine. “So tell me what’s going on with your plan.”

“We have a problem. Elliot Pfinster funneled $300 million into Omega, and that’s enough to keep them afloat even when we put the screws to them. My team is worried that it will end up being a Pearl Harbor, where we win a victory but lose the war.”

“So you need a knock-out punch, something that will push them over the edge?”

“I do,” I told her honestly.

“And you’re hoping I’ll have some ideas on that?” she asked, teasing me.

“If anyone would, it’s you,” I said honestly. She looked at me, trying to determine if I was sincere or sucking up, but she seemed to get that I really meant it.

“I have a few thoughts,” she said cagily. “You go ahead and launch your plans on April 17. I’ll come up with a clincher.”

“You will?”

“You’re nervous, because you’ll have to trust me on this one,” she said as she tilted her head and grinned at me knowingly.

“I don’t know if it’s a lack of trust. I feel as if we’ve become friends through this whole thing, and I have no reason to doubt you. I’m just not the kind of person who handles being in the dark real well.”

That made her laugh again. “You share that trait with Wade. It’s maddening to him not to know what’s going on.” She mellowed. “I understand where you’re coming from, but I can’t go into details. You really will have to trust me this time around.”

It’s not like I had a lot of choices, but in the end, I found I wasn’t all that uncomfortable relying on her. She was as motivated to bring Alexandra down as I was, maybe even more so. “Then I will.”

“Good.”