Back to the ‘war room’, as Finn had come to call his office home over the last few weeks. And it certainly looked like a bomb had dropped, with the once-neat pile of boxes now spread, together with their contents, across every available surface in the room.
What was it someone once said about tidy desk, tidy mind?
Whatever. The room may have looked like a mess to anyone else, and had certainly raised a few eyebrows from other people in the business, but Finn didn’t mind. He was slowly but surely assimilating himself into this business, one record at a time, and even if the papers around looked haphazard, his mind certainly wasn’t – and neither were the detailed records and accounts he was logging into his laptop to make sense of it all.
He looked from his screen and around the room as he thought. Not about work, but about Mariana. Of course, this office wasn’t just where he’d worked hour after hour, day after day in order to make progress for his billionaire client; it was also where he’d spent so much time with Mariana recently.
He felt a pang of something in his stomach. No doubt, he’d been attracted to Mariana from the moment he’d first seen her, and his attraction had only grown as he’d got to know her and tried and tried to break through her tough exterior.
That had culminated in them spending the night together and him waking up in her bed that morning.
But it wasn’t the end of the chase for him, because he wasn’t embarrassed in the slightest to admit that he was smitten.
In fact, it felt strange just being in the war room without her. Though was it really just that she wasn’t there, bringing her energy and her magnetism that bothered him, or that while he was there, prepping for the meeting with Gonzalez, she was spending time with Victor?
‘Shit.’ He winced a little as he unclenched his fist. He hadn’t even realized he’d been doing it, and was left with four neat imprints of his fingernails on his palm.
He checked his watch. Two minutes. If Gonzalez was on time.
Finn set off for the conference room on the top floor.
Gonzalez arrived ten minutes late. Alone. Finn was pleased about that, though had hoped it’d be the case given the government minister was only in Cancun on a vacation with his family – supposedly.
‘Nice to finally meet you, Mr Gonzalez,’ Finn said, shaking the man’s hand and even giving a little bow to show his subservience. Stroke Gonzalez’s ego. Get the outcome Finn needed.
‘Please, you can call me Andre.’
‘Sure. Would you like anything to drink?’
Finn had already prepped the meeting room with a bottle each of still and sparkling water, and a Nespresso coffee machine sat on the sideboard in the corner.
‘The sparkling water’s fine.’
‘Please, take a seat,’ Finn said, pouring a glass of water for each of them before he sat down himself.
‘How are you enjoying your vacation?’ Finn asked.
Gonzalez squinted a little at the question, as though he wasn’t really interested in small talk. The look made him appear even more rat-like with his pointy little nose and strangely angular chin and mouth. Even if he was in Cancun on a holiday, he was dressed formally for the meeting in a neat dark-grey suit and open-necked shirt. Like most politicians, he likely had an image of himself he wanted to portray to others at all costs. Given this was their first in-person meeting, Finn had considered whether to invite Gonzalez out somewhere. A fancy restaurant, perhaps. But he’d decided to keep things formal first. If he got the sense that the man would be impressed by something more casual – more expensive – he’d make that his next step.
‘It’s very good, thank you,’ Gonzalez said. ‘I travel here regularly. My family come from the Yucatán region.’
His English carried an obvious Mexican twang to it, but was otherwise neat and clear. Well-educated or perhaps just well-travelled.
‘I didn’t know that,’ Finn said.
‘Why would you?’ Gonzalez said before sighing. ‘I’m surprised Mr Travers isn’t here himself today,’ Gonzalez said. ‘He’s been pestering me and my staff for several months now.’
‘He sends his apologies.’ A lie. The truth was Finn wanted to impress his new boss, and he felt he could do that better by taking the lead, rather than have the billionaire here talking about how good friends he was with blah blah blah. ‘As I explained on the phone, I’ve been brought in specifically to help to put in place all the necessary protocols, and get all the sign-offs needed to get the new—’
‘Stop right there,’ Gonzalez said, holding his hand up. ‘Please, you don’t need to give me any corporate bullshit. I know Victor Travers well enough by now. I know what he’s been doing here in Cancun and what his plans are for Mexico. You might be his new man, but Travers has been trying to get these licenses for a long time.’
‘And trust me, I’ve spent weeks poring over all of the company files and the previous applications, the accounting records of the current and predecessor businesses, the legal records, and I can assure you that everything is in order and—’
‘No, Mr Delaney, everything is not in order.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘You’ve read all the correspondence between my office and Travers International?’
‘Absolutely, plus—’
That hand again, as though he were a king ordering a subject. Finn bottled his growing irritation.
‘Then you’ll know exactly why we’ve had to refuse the previous applications,’ Gonzalez said. ‘And it has nothing to do with the history of the companies that Mr Travers has acquired and tried to rebrand.’
‘I understand. There’ve been issues with some of the construction projects, the new factory building in Guadalajara—’
‘The one where fifteen workers died because of a partial collapse?’
‘A terrible accident.’
‘You really believe that?’
‘You’re suggesting something else?’
‘Clearly you really don’t know Travers as well as you think you do. And that tells me everything I need to know about you.’
Finn pushed the comment to the back of his mind. Push on, he tried to convince himself, even despite the gnawing doubts.
‘Regardless, putting aside such issues, I believe from our previous correspondence that the hold-up for the licenses is because you’re unhappy about the information provided on some of the ownership structures—’
‘Unhappy? No, it makes me neither happy nor sad. I’m the minister for trade but that doesn’t mean approving licenses is my job, although in this case I am fully aware of the circumstances. And it’s a simple fact that for all of the paperwork sent to the licensing department it is still impossible to determine who sits behind some of the entities for which export and import licenses have been requested.’
‘But I—’
‘But nothing, Mr Delaney. You do realize who I am, don’t you?’
Finn bristled at the way he said that. How had he even got his ego inside this room?
‘I’m an elected minister,’ Gonzalez said, when Finn decided not to answer. ‘A part of this country’s government. My job is not to handhold private businesses and rich businessmen with their applications for trade licenses… Yet here we are. That alone should show you that I am willing to be reasonable. I understand how influential Victor Travers is and, yes, I understand exactly how beneficial these operations could be for this country, if good decisions are made. But that doesn’t mean I am willing or able to let him bypass very clear guidelines, and I’m disappointed that you seemed to think that would be the case.’
The room fell silent. Finn’s mind whirred. Perhaps he should have gone with an expensive dinner after all. Is that what it would take? Or something even more indulgent?
In reality, he had more than one possible route to take from here, some more extreme than others…
‘Do you know?’ Gonzalez asked.
‘Know what?’
‘ABC Partners and Helda Venture Capital are two that come to mind from my recollection.’
Finn knew the names. Holding companies that sat above the brand name of Travers International in Mexico and South America.
‘I’d suggest that before you come back to me again,’ Gonzalez said, ‘and I’m sure Mr Travers will send you after me again because that’s what he does, that you go and ask your boss for a clear explanation of the corporate structure, and who all the beneficial parties are. Perhaps it’ll help enlighten you as to who you’re really working for.’
Gonzalez stood and smoothed down his suit jacket.
‘I’ll be here for another two weeks before I return to Mexico City,’ he added. ‘It’d be good for all of us if we were to find a resolution before then.’
Finn rose. ‘Absolutely. I’m sure we can get over the line with this. And… if there’s anything at all that you can think of that could help ease your mind over these matters, please let me know. Perhaps there’s a solution here that all parties could benefit from.’
Gonzalez raised an eyebrow. Had Finn been direct enough? Money. Is that what would cause this guy to bend? He certainly wouldn’t be the first politician Finn had come across who was happy for a backhander in exchange for favors.
‘I think you know what I mean,’ Finn said. ‘Mr Travers has sufficient resources to make this work for us all.’
‘Please stop talking before you say something really stupid,’ Gonzalez said. ‘Good day, Mr Delaney.’
With that he walked out.