Eleven hours later he awoke feeling sluggish. Shaving and showering were onerous. He took a cab to his office. No sooner did he walk in than he was inundated with questions about the bruises on his face. “It’s not as bad as it looks,” he repeated too many times.
Then he paused and shook his head. The old furniture remained. The desks, chairs, and file cabinets now stood upright. Some work had been done to repair the damage to the walls. But it was not what had been promised.
Reluctantly, he approached the boardroom. The torn books, gathered off the floor and piled on the table, had not been replaced.
Blair walked back to his office and took a seat. He picked up a stack of messages that were held together by a paper clip. The majority were from John Dalton.
He leaned forward and shut his eyes. He desperately wanted his life to return to normal. The government agent had crossed the line more than once. He no longer wanted to deal with him.
Lunch was a quick bite at a burger joint down the street. To his dismay, upon his return to the office, he found John Dalton waiting for him, seated in the chair opposite his desk.
Blair’s secretary whispered an apology as he walked past her.
He waved her worry away.
“How was Israel?” Dalton asked the minute he closed his office door.
Blair observed the agent for a moment. And he wondered if the man had even one redeeming feature. “Who invited you here, John?” he asked.
“I invited myself. We paid for your trip, remember? The least we’d expect is a concise report.”
“Concise report?” Blair remained on his feet. “There is nothing at all to tell you.”
“Oh? You can start with the bombing.”
“What bombing?”
“Blair, Blair, Blair. Sit down, would you? I don’t like you hovering above me. It makes me nervous.”
The thought of something making Dalton nervous didn’t compute. But Blair took his seat.
“Now, tell me about your meeting with Jeremy Samson.”
Blair noticed that the bombing incident had already been forgotten about. “Where are the replacement books?” he asked.
“My budget’s been cut. If you’re patient, I’ll find a way to make it up to you.”
“Uh-uh. I want them now. Like you promised.”
“I can’t do it now. Didn’t you hear what I just said?”
Blair paused. “Our meeting was uneventful,” he said.
“And that’s it?” The agent’s voice took on a noticeable hardness. “No other details?”
Blair hesitated, then decided there was no harm in telling the truth. “Jeremy took me on a tour of both factories,” he said. “SDF was professional and outstanding, way above average. Your suggested replacement, On Time Electronics, paled in comparison. Shoddy workmanship and even shoddier workers. It was laughable. Jeremy refused my suggestion outright. And I can’t say that I blame him.”
“Didn’t you try to convince him?”
A caustic remark came to mind, but Blair let it pass. “Of course, I tried. Used every argument I could think of. Even told him that my account manager at the bank was insisting on a change.”
Dalton sneezed, was reaching a hand into his pants pocket for a tissue or handkerchief, when he winced in pain.
Blair could see his arm going into spasm. “Is something wrong?” he asked, expressing more sympathy than he intended.
Dalton’s look darkened. “Nothing’s wrong. But you’ll have to go back there.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You’ll have to visit Jeremy again.”
Blair was incredulous. “I can’t do that.”
“It’s necessary, I’m afraid.”
“Necessary?” he said. And the anger he’d been suppressing finally came out. “John, I don’t know who authorizes your operation, or makes you act the way you do. But I have to tell you, it really sucks.”
“We are sanctioned by the Federal Government, my friend.”
My friend? Now he was his friend, Blair thought. “Look, I hate to be rude, John. But I need you out of my life. I can’t put it in simpler terms. I want you to stop bothering me.”
Dalton stood and calmly said, “We need you to go back to Israel. Let me know once your travel arrangements have been made.”
“I won’t be going,” Blair told him.
The man’s hands tightened into fists. “You have forty-eight hours. If I haven’t heard from you by then, I will not be responsible for the consequences.”