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We arrived at the company all wearing our fancy suits, including Franz, who wore the same outfit he did on his date with me, but no suit in the world could hide the nerd in it. Tarek Rachidy and Sami Hafez themselves received us. I felt a little nervous before we got off the car. I was sure my disguise was perfect, but these two must have reserved a special area in their brain for my picture, but once we shook hands, I felt a little more comfortable. Maybe, It was not my disguise that blinded them, but the billions I represented.
The building was renovated, but it was still organized the same way I remembered. I tried to be as casual as possible when we passed through the floor where I used to work. I looked around to see if I could recognize any of the new faces around. I couldn't recognize many. Most of the employees were much younger, anyway. I thought either some people with me got promoted or they must have left the company. I didn't think I was the only unhappy fellow back then.
The journey continued to the other departments. I could see how Franz had his full focus on when they showed us their infrastructure department and the server rooms. I was waiting to see the nerdy smile on Franz's face when he saw the equipment they were using. Everyone spoke English for my sake and Franz's, but Mustafa would say a few words in Arabic here and there to break the ice, which I gave a big phony stupid smile pretending not to understand a word from what he was saying.
The meeting afterward was the most painful part of the day when they presented their projects to us, and we had to take all their bullshit projects with a big smile on our faces to make them feel we were interested. I was sure if it were any other company, Mustafa would have interrupted the first presentation and left and dared to tell the company their work was shit, but he kept playing along as we planned.
One thing I noticed never changed in the company was the top model level of beauty of the secretaries, especially those who worked with Tarek. I was bound to think the apple did not fall far from the tree. After the tiresome presentations were over, we were all invited to lunch in a five-star restaurant. I rode with Tarek and Mustafa and Franz went with Sami. I noticed Tarek had some serious security all around him. The cars with black tinted glass and the giants they fit inside. There were also some policemen and a couple of soldiers. If I didn't know who I was riding with, I'd think I was riding with at least a president, but that was home, why would I be surprised?
I was as friendly as I could on the way to the restaurant, and Tarek was the same. He was still the guy I remembered from my days back in the company, an idiot, but a funny one. I didn't want to break all codes of formality the first day, but I didn't want the ice to hold for so long, either, so a couple of jokes from a German who's trying to pull it in English did the trick.
At lunch, there were these casual talks we had to listen to, but I couldn't help but notice that Tarek and Sami never said one word to each other. Each of them sat at a different side of the table, and Tarek kept talking to me all the time while Sami kept talking to Mustafa. It could have been a strategy, or it could mean something but it was still too early to jump to conclusions.
The long day was over, and we headed back to the hotel. One hour later, we were all sitting around the table in the room discussing our options, but the critical detail we were waiting to hear was Franz's opinion.
"I can easily install my virus while I'm inspecting their equipment tomorrow as I agreed with their technical director, but it will take some time for me to hack into their systems. I can do it faster with brute force, but it might be detectable."
"How long do you think you need?" I asked.
"It depends on their security system, but with the equipment we got here, it shouldn't take more than two days." Franz went back to his room as he said he still needed to add some finishing touches to his masterpiece based on the specifications he saw today.
"What are we supposed to do with them in the next couple of days?" Mustafa asked
"We must play along. It's the only thing we can do. You can do what you do best, talk business to them and discuss terms for this partnership we will have with them."
"And what about you?"
"I have another kind of conversation to have with Tarek. I have invited him to dinner tomorrow. I will take him to a special place. I suggest you do the same with Sami. See if you can get close to him."
"Did you notice how they seem to hate each other?"
"That's what I will try to find out from Tarek tomorrow. You try to do the same, but don't raise his alarms. Sami seems much more cunning than Tarek."
"I didn't know I would be that good of an actor. I'm impressed with myself." Mustafa was so happy with himself, and he should be. I had never seen him do business from a close range before, but I am sure now my brains alone would have never gotten us this far.
"I am impressed, too, but listen, I dealt with men like Sami before in the camp. These men like to feel they have the upper hand and that they are the ones fooling others. Put him in this position, and he'll be off his guard."
"And it worked for you back in the camp just fine, did it?"
"Don't start now. I made one terrible mistake trusting that piece of shit Samer, but I had no choice. If not for his stupidity, they would never know."
"Don't get mad. I'm just saying."
"Just be careful, my friend. That's all I'm saying."
"We haven't come this far. It's just I'm worried we won't find anything. What will we do then?" Mustafa's way of thinking was too rational. At times, one might want to believe in luck and hope, but not this man. However, not that it never occurred to me. The man had a point.
"Then we must focus on John and Elsa, try to take them to Germany, and leave this bloody country."
"Are you telling Pam about all this?"
"Are you mad? If I hadn't, she would be here with a knife at my throat ready to slice by now. Why do you think we're on the phone for almost two hours every night?" Mustafa yielded faster than usual and went to bed. I had to close the door between our rooms to save myself from his incessant snoring. How could he ever get to sleep so fast with all these things on his mind? But I figured that would be the way a man with a clear conscience would sleep.
The next day we had a series of meetings with different people presenting to us the various projects they were working on. Franz attended the first presentation with us and went with the technical director to do this test of his. I could barely hear or pay attention to anything in the presentations, not like Mustafa who was attentive and meticulous in his questions after the presentations. I was anxious to see Franz's face when he returned, but that attitude also fit my role as Herr Heinrich, the man with the money and people running the whole show for him while he only got to enjoy the perks of the business. I kept looking at Tarek who was not doing much better. He yawned a thousand times before he dozed off two or three times.
We had lunch in the company. There was an exceptional dining room on the executive floor near Tarek's office. The quality was much better than the five-star restaurant we went to the day before. I preferred any restaurant to all this because Franz would have come with us and I would be able to get a hint if he could plant the virus. I trusted Franz's abilities, but I was a little worried about him. There was still a slim chance he could be caught doing this. What if they had a Franz of their own? That kid was like a son to me.
After lunch, I had to wait for two more hours before Franz finally showed his face and came back to join us in the conference room. Franz came in with a formal look on his face; Franz, who never cared about crashing any meeting whoever may be in it when he had an idea, was too polite. I looked at him, and he still held this serious face of his. I got nervous, but that son of a bitch was playing me. When he saw me like this, he looked at the screen where one manager was still presenting the same bullshit and stretched his face into a big smile. I knew this fellow had gotten what he wanted.
Back in the hotel, Mustafa and I were both preparing to go out, but to different places as we planned the day before. Franz told us he planted the virus and tested the connection back in his room. His little hacking station was open for business. I told him we would excuse him for the next two days saying he was sick to give him more time to work. But he said it shouldn't take as much as he thought. He said their security system was lousier than he thought.