Corporate Conditioning by Pearl O'Leslie

Author:Pearl O'Leslie [O'Leslie, Pearl]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2021-05-01T00:00:00+00:00

Friday Morning: In Pursuit of the Bottom Line

She woke up to an alarm that was followed by compulsively checking on her file to see if he was still sleeping. Then, pulling herself upright in the dark, Eudoxia made herself presentable for a meeting even if she felt somewhat the opposite, and very out of order. She only realized she was still absent mindedly carting about the small creature that lived in her bed to cuddle while her call was dialing. She quickly hid it, just as her screen connected her to the Negotiator, and two representatives from the company that had requested the file in the first place. They were technically the clients, but they were asking her to do something out of scope of the contract, possibly significant extra work, which meant new terms and more money.

“Good morning, I have to apologize if the speech quality is choppy, I’m calling from the other side of the planet and it’s raining buckets down here.” The Negotiator made the rounds of introduction despite a slight buzz and stutter from the monsoon.

The senior of the two clients nodded. “So, we’ll cut to the chase, we’re willing to do an exchange for leaving him either uncracked past the necessary particulars, or having anything the interrogator scoured off deleted before we get him back.”

“Uh-huh, that’s possible.”

“But the trick is leverage. We think the asset is about to become a lot more valuable. But it’s, you know, the usual.” The Negotiator stayed sunny and cheerful while Eudoxia watched them spin around not telling her why. The babble of non-communication continued with segues into small talk about the weather matching in each of their cities, despite their separate geography.

She let them circle a bit and then brought out her now-we-are-done-here tone of voice. “Ok, you don’t want him cracked, and you don’t want him bought out, but you do want us to convey you want something to his employer?”

Eudoxia waited for them to cough up what.

More hemming and hawing. Then, “We decided them knowing it is us is all the leverage we need. We want them to stand down on the Jakarta project.”

This project title did not provide any insight to her, but she didn't particularly care. The bloodiest battle her company had mediated in with hostages was between two childcare staffing agencies, and after that point she learned to uncouple the real stakes from how serious the people involved were taking it. "I take it you don’t want to make a direct threat on their position, but nonetheless you want the extra effect conveyed. What is your bid for extras?"

Numbers. There were a couple of times the Negotiator was clearly asking for more authority on their keyboard, while trying to hide it, but by their third offer Eudoxia figured she had an amount Bel would be happy with and recorded her signature.

With the call done, she retrieved the small creature that lived in her bed from the stash space under her chair and smoothed its slightly worn-down fur, nuzzling the top of its head, fussing over it.

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