A/N: I don't think I've put the disclaimer yet – oh well. I own nothing! Hope you enjoy.
The entrance lobby of the Sylvester building was a grandiose, airy, lighted room, with a high ceiling, large windows and a peacefully trickling fountain. If one was looking out at the city from inside the lobby, it would seem bright and sunny outside, and as such, the lobby betrayed itself in its artificiality. One only had to exit through the large entrance doors to see that the outside was the same smoggy, dirty, noisy city it had been when they had entered.
Charlotte was not fooled by the coolness of the lobby: the trying-too-hard shine and marble were prime examples of how the business district tried to pretend that things were the same as they had always been. The cleanliness of the building compared to the muck outside its own doors was laughable.
She stood now in the oppressive sheen of the lobby alongside Nadir and Alex, waiting for to be brought to the GeneCo offices, which were located on the 71st through 74th floors. She was dressed impeccably in a black suit jacket, pencil skirt and heels. Her hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail. She was all business. She was Anna Freir now.
Next to her stood Nadir as Union President Charles Davenport dressed in a crisp gray suit, his dark hair combed back across his head, and Alex as Financial Secretary Robert Moore, dressed in a black suit to match Charlotte's. Alex, or rather Robert, was typing on his phone, while Nadir/Charles looked around the lobby, as if tickled by its charms. Above all, he looked happiest to be here, while Robert and Anna simply looked expectant, and ready to spring into business. They were all very much in character.
"Mr. Davenport!" A reedy voice called from behind them, and all three turned to see two men approaching them from the elevators on the other side of the lobby. "So pleased to see you here," the man spoke, a wide smile stretching his leathery face. He reached the group and shook hands with Nadir.
"Mr. Truxis," Nadir smiled warmly, speaking with the artificial lite-English accent they had decided was appropriate for Mr. Davenport. He greeted the man, Truxis, who Charlotte knew was GeneCo's liaison to the union. "Good to be here."
Truxis then turned to Alex and Charlotte. "And you must be Mr. Moore and Ms. Freir," he said, shaking their hands. The man's palms felt as worn as his face looked. "A pleasure, a pleasure to finally meet you. May I introduce my colleague: this is Arthur Fahy, a representative from GeneCo's Board of Trustees."
Truxis gestured to the man next to him. He could only have been a few years younger than Truxis, but Arthur Fahy had obviously been made young again through several successful plastic surgeries. He had a stretched look about his face, with high cheekbones, a perfectly slender nose, and zero wrinkles. The effect was effective, artificial, and a tiny bit frightening. Fahy greeted Nadir, Charlotte and Alex in turn.
"Please, follow me upstairs," Truxis gestured back to the elevators, and the company followed him. They exchanged a few comments of idle chatter, the weather, the traffic, how lovely the building looked, as they rose to the 74th floor. Charlotte knew it was a rapid rise, but she could hardly feel a thing. They had arrived in less than a minute.
The doors opened to reveal a large, luxurious antechamber. The walls were a deep mahogany, and soft light illuminated several works of Renaissance-imitation art that hung on the walls. Plush red couches and chairs lined the room. Truxis led the group through a large pair of wooden doors into another room with several other doors. Charlotte was looking around discreetly, taking note of plaques on the doors, anything that might be worthwhile. She felt and knew her team members were doing the same. Still, they all felt caught off guard when one of the doors to their left opened, and Rotti Largo stalked out, a trail of associates following him. They had clearly been in the middle of a discussion, but fell silent when they realized their company had arrived.
"Right on time," Rotti Largo's face barely registered surprise before it was a happy, polite countenance. The professional, restrained smile that they all knew from his well-publicized social and philanthropic appearances had appeared on his face, leaving no trace of whatever he might have been feeling or thinking seconds ago.
"Ah, Mr. Largo!" Truxis turned to face his employer. "I hope we weren't keeping you waiting."
"Not at all," Rotti replied. "We were just on our way to the meeting." He still appeared friendly, but his eyes were flitting over the union representatives in an analytical way. Charlotte thought his eyes paused over her for a moment, but no, he was pausing at Alex and Nadir as well.
"Well, let me make the introductions," Truxis said, turning back to his guests. "Mr. Largo, these are the leaders of our employees' union. Mr. Charles Davenport is president of the union, and this is Mr. Robert Moore, Financial Secretary, and Ms. Anna Freir, VP of Employee Relations."
Rotti moved to shake hands with each person as they were introduced. His hands were large and warm. He wore a dark gray suit, with varying tones of deep red on his shirt, tie and lapel. Charlotte smiled in what she hoped was a winning way as she greeted him.
"Mr. Largo, it's a pleasure," Nadir spoke on behalf of the group. "Thank you for taking the trouble to meet with us today."
"Of course, of course," Rotti waved his hand nonchalantly, as if to say it was no trouble at all. "You were right of course – as GeneCo moves forward in its endeavors, it's imperative that we keep an open line of communication. I'm sorry that we haven't exactly done so before."
"Well, that's just something I'd like to do now that I'm president," Nadir replied as the entire group was ushered into a conference room through a door to their right. "I'd like to stay in touch with the management of every company that a union member of ours is employed by, but seeing as how so many of our workers are employed with your company, this is a primary concern."
"You were recently elected president of the union, correct?" Rotti asked as the group filed in and founds seats around the large table in the center of the room.
"Yes," Nadir said. "Yes, I'm afraid my predecessor was only president in title, just between us. Didn't really do very much." Alex chuckled to support the story as the group took its seats.
"Yes, well, I'm sure we can change all that," Rotti smiled as he sat down at one of the table's ends. Charlotte noticed the smile was not genuine – he was here purely because he had to be. She was certain he actually knew very few of the people he employed. She knew for a fact that Rotti Largo and Will had never met. She looked around as she sat down – she was the only woman in attendance.
"I suppose we should start then," Truxis began. "If everyone is ready?"
Rotti nodded, and Nadir said, "Yes, let's."
The meeting began with introductions. Charles Davenport, Anna Freir and Robert Moore were introduced to the GeneCo Board of Directors, and vice versa. Nadir spoke about the union's goals in opening communication between the two sides, and Truxis and his associates agreed with everything Nadir proposed. There didn't seem to be much to disagree about, Charlotte realized. GeneCo seemed completely willing to work with them, to keep the union happy. And Nadir was careful in how he asked about the company and its workforce. He never makes anything seem fishy on a job, Charlotte thought with admiration for Nadir in his subtle accumulation of information.
The group talked for several hours about the goals and problems, GeneCo workers faced, and had just decided that union representatives would visit the GeneCo factories regularly when Rotti Largo suggested the group take a quick break. It was evidently needed; many of the members of the Board of Directors were older and appeared to be losing interest, or at least found it harder to pay attention. Many rose from their chairs and left the room, chatting with each other about checking their messages and dinner reservations, while others struck up side conversations with their neighbors.
"Mr. Truxis," Charlotte leaned toward the older man. "Is there somewhere I can sneak off to for a quick smoke?"
"Of course, Ms. Freir," Truxus said, and he beckoned to a young male secretary who had been sitting off to the side taking notes. "Show Ms. Freir the balcony," he instructed. "I think you'll be very impressed with our balcony, Ms. Freir," he added to Charlotte with a smile.
"Thank you," she said, returning the smile. She grabbed her coat and purse and followed the secretary through and adjoining room, which was richly furnished and held a large mahogany desk. One half of the room was made up of walls papered in deep red, with antique gas lamps providing soft light. The other half of the room was walled entirely by windows that reached from the rich carpet to the ceiling, and let in the dull morning light. The view through these windows was of other skyscrapers, but it was impressive nonetheless. The secretary showed Charlotte to a set of sliding glass doors, where beyond, a stone balcony jutted out over the road far below.
Charlotte thanked her escort, and he left her. She rummaged in her purse and brought out her cell phone, her pack of cigarettes and a lighter. While she lit the cigarette and put it to her mouth, she turned on the cell phone. It had been shut off during the meeting. Now however, while she was on her own, would be the perfect opportunity to activate the phone's scanner, which would work in silence for several minutes and then provide her with a blueprint of the entire building floor. She started the activation and watched as the invisible scan began.
A noise from behind her made her start in surprise, and she turned quickly to see Rotti Largo stepping through another set of sliding glass doors, to the area of the balcony farthest from her. She gave him a smile and a small wave, and, noticing her, he walked toward her. Charlotte surreptitiously held the phone at her side while she smoked.
"Ms. Freir," Rotti smiled when he reached her. "I think we've come a long way this morning, don't you?"
"Yes, absolutely," she replied. "It is really such a relief to see you all so happy to work with us. It makes for the best result all around."
While she was speaking Rotti had pulled out a cigar. She offered her lighter, which he accepted with a smile.
"I didn't realize we were celebrating," she said, taking the lighter back and nodding at his cigar.
"I'm afraid I smoke them a bit too often," he said. "They are a great pleasure of mine, and I enjoy them. And," he added with a laugh, "We've just spent the morning going over GeneCo's success. I think they are a luxury I can afford at the moment."
Charlotte chuckled in agreement. Not afraid to show off the fact that he's loaded, she thought. Does this work on all the girls, Rotti? It occurred to her that it might have been no accident that she was ushered to this balcony, or that Rotti followed shortly after. But she brushed the thought away to focus on the man before her.
"Well, at any rate, I think congratulations are in order," she said. "I know we only mentioned this briefly at the meeting, but I was reading about GeneCo's new contract with the army – quite an achievement."
"Thank you," Rotti said, taking a puff on his cigar. "General Williams is a good friend of mine, and he put in the good word for us. But yes, it's an exciting moment for us."
"You'll be working with supplying medical supplies and replacement tissue, yes?" Charlotte asked.
"Yes – initially. We'll hopefully be expanding our research departments as well, even embedding our scientists with units who are fighting abroad," Rotti explained. "That way we should be able to develop our medical technology as the same rate as war technology. Or at least keep up with war technology."
"Kind of scary to think that weapons can only get worse," said Charlotte, blowing smoke away from him.
"Yes," Rotti acknowledged. "Yes it is indeed. But GeneCo has pledged to support our boys no matter what horrors the enemy concocts next. And we will do just that."
Charlotte could not help but notice that he was certainly looking her over as he spoke, but he made no mention of anything beside their casual talk about GeneCo. She was surprised – and slightly unsettled – by how withdrawn and polite he was. It was easy to speak to him. Given his womanizing reputation, she supposed she was expecting him to come right out and try something. He was acting completely normal, and so was she. For now, they were just two professional adults, who had taken notice of each other but had not acted on anything yet. And here she was, talking to him about GeneCo, which was the goal. Charlotte dropped her cigarette on the ground and crushed it beneath the sole of her heel.
"So, Mr. Largo," she began, but he interrupted her.
"Please," he said with another smile. "Just call me Rotti."
Charlotte grinned happily back at him. "Ok, Rotti." She could not help but be affected by his charm and easy manner. "So much going on with GeneCo," she said, taking a breath as if in wonder of his company's prowess. "What's next?"
Rotti returned her smile.
"Let me just say that our employees will be very busy over the next several weeks," he answered, his smile playing up to his eyes as her watched her react to his vague statement.
"Oh?" Charlotte said. She raised her eyebrow in mock curiosity, playing his game, but on the inside, her heart raced. This could be it. "Do tell."
"I'm afraid I can't say any more just yet," he smiled. "Not just yet." And he too left the remainder of his cigar on the stone balcony ledge and walked back inside the building with a last smile at her.
Charlotte waited a moment, and then followed him. She was sure the team would learn much about GeneCo through the continuing meeting. But what Rotti had teased her about… what could it mean?
It seemed that Senator Hammond's desire for an inquiry was warranted – perhaps GeneCo had something to hide after all.
