Mr Joossen followed his assistants to the airport departure gate. He was trying to work out what to do next. He had such high hopes that Chandler Enterprises would be the business that would take his company forward and in the right way. Now… now he was going to have to sell off the company to his biggest rivals or leave it to be broken up by the greed of his relatives when he died.

Brooke Chandler had called to cancel the meeting early this morning. She had asked for a postponement, but she clearly didn't know how tight a deadline he was on. She said there had been a medical emergency. Curious, Mr Joossen had got his contacts to investigate. As the word from the kitchen and cleaning crews involved tales of drugs, assault and a police raid, maybe he had had a lucky escape after all.

Mr Joossen was patting his breast pocket, checking for his ticket when he heard the sound of running feet behind him. He turned quickly out of instinct.

"Mr Joossen, Mr Joossen, wait!" cried the young man running up to him. It was Scott Chandler; the quietest member of the Chandler's negotiating committee. The young man looked as white as a sheet and was clearly in no state to run. He spent a moment leaning forward, hands braced against his knees, as he tried to catch his breath while Mr Joossen was forced to wait until he had was able to speak.

"Thank you." Scott gasped, finally straightening up. "I hoped I would catch you. You have to give us another chance."

"Young man my schedule is very tight. If you can't even make a meeting, what does that mean for the future of my company if I left it in your hands?"

"A colleague almost died last night." said Scott. "Marissa… our lawyer. She was quite prepared to stay up all night amending the contract in your favour before the… incident. I should probably still be in hospital! But this is too important! Surely this shows how dedicated we are to this deal. We want to do this right. We just need more time."

"There is no more time." said Mr Joossen.

"There is always more time!" said Scott, a hint of irritation in his voice. "There should never be a deadline on making a good decision."

"And you're a good decision." said Mr Joossen. "I've done my research since the meeting. You have a criminal record and in the nine months you have been managing director of Chandler Industries you have made losses of fourteen million…"

"… And I have laid off almost six hundred workers and closed down eight facilities. I am well aware of the dreadful decisions that I have had to make. And they were dreadful and the decisions still haunt me. I don't want to sign off any more redundancy notices or factory closures. Your business will be our saviour. I'll admit maybe I wasn't made to run multinational media company… but your business Mr Joossen… hardware… Your business I understand. I know the market. I know the customer. You are looking at man who built a home for his family with his own two hands. I know I can make your company great. I know Chandler can make your company great! We just need more time!"

"… The twelfth." said Mr Joossen.

"What?"

"I'll give you 'til the twelfth of November. I don't know why, young man, but I like you. Maybe because you remind me of my son; you have his drive to do the right thing. You meet this deadline and then we'll talk."

"Thank you, thank you!" said Scott enthusiastically shaking his hand

Mr Joossen's assistant gave a discrete cough. They were now causing a hold up at the gate.

"I hope I'll to hearing from you soon. Now get yourself back to the hospital before you fall down." said Mr Joossen before turning and heading for his flight.

"I will." said Scott, a sense of relief washing over him. "Thank you Mr Joossen."

"If we are making this deal," Mr Joossen called back, "Maybe you should start calling me Guus."

…