The Deal (32 page)

Tommy took a slurp of his coffee.

“It seems, Jonah, that the roof contractors you have working on your deal decided not to honor their confidentiality agreement.”

“I don’t understand.” I said.

“Well then let me spell it out for you. Contractors talk, Jonah. And the ones working for you apparently spilled the beans to some workers inspecting the Slevins’s roofs for Jake. Apparently they had no problem whatsoever disclosing who they were doing the inspection for.”

“Captain,” I started, “I specifically explained—”

“Jonah, you were supposed to make it absolutely clear to all inspection teams that the confidentiality agreements in this case were of the utmost importance. That superiors were to make sure this message worked itself all the way down the line.”

“This isn’t my first time running a deal, Tommy,” I reminded him, thrilled to have a reason to go to my happy place and unload a little steam. “I handled everyone exactly as I have always done in the past. Explicitly and professionally. I told them that I needed secrecy, and they signed the agreements claiming that I, we, had the privacy we needed. Need I remind you, Tommy, that the roof contractors I am using are a firm you introduced me to? I take personal offense to you attacking me and blaming me for the unprofessional conduct of someone else who can’t keep their fucking mouths shut.”

“Oh, fuck,” Jake pushed out.

“Oh, fuck is right,” Tommy went on, passing over my comments. “Ray Slevin called me this morning to say he was under the impression Jake had not been totally honest with him as well as his sons. He said he wanted to know if there was any truth to the fact that we were negotiating with others also.”

“What did you say?” I asked.

“He already knew that you were looking to acquire the Madisons, Jonah. I told him the truth. I told him there were others, but that there was more to it than appeared. I figured it was already out there and would only put us in a deeper hole if I was to lie to him. Let me say, he was not happy.”

“How did you explain the ‘more to it than appeared’?” I asked.

“Thankfully I didn’t have to. But that’s why we’re now sitting here.”

“Oh, fuck,” Jake squeezed out again.

“Can’t we just put the fire out before it begins to get fanned?” asked Perry.

“The way I see it,” Tommy started right in, “had he asked me, my instinct would have been to tell him that the new sellers had just come into the picture. That we hadn’t mentioned them because we weren’t even sure they were real until now. It’s workable, but it changes the whole strategy.”

“But that doesn’t have to be so terrible, Tommy,” Perry responded. “After all, playing the portfolios off of one another was an approach we discussed taking in the first place.”

“But if you remember, Per,” I added, “this approach often makes it harder to get what you want quickly.”

Changing the rules in the middle of the game can be a serious risk, especially when it means adding unforeseen competition. For the seller, the skepticism and potential separation anxiety that goes with losing property in the first place gets compounded by the fact that the price is going down. People become so concerned they’re getting snowed they unknowingly end up severely slowing down the process.

“It’s the reason we decided to throw them all a premium and see if they’d ante up. Fuck, we didn’t even force them to negotiate with themselves let alone anyone else.”

“Pitting these sellers against one another definitely makes our lives harder,” Tommy conceded.

“Well, do we even have a choice now?” continued Perry.

“No,” Tommy said. “We don’t. So here’s my suggestion. It’s already Friday, which probably means anyone whose opinion we even care about is already stuck in traffic on their way to the Hamptons. If anyone asks throughout the course of today, you simply say we aren’t discussing anything with anyone aside from those involved in the deal. Period. If the principals involved call looking for answers, you tell them that it hadn’t been mentioned because until today these other participants hadn’t been deemed one hundred percent valid. When they want to know more, you tell them you’re not at liberty to say because you haven’t been handling the others, which, in each case, will be true since you’ve all spearheaded the deals individually. Then you simply get them refocused on their deal. We don’t yet discuss how any of this may affect pricing until Jonah has a conversation with Prevkos and can determine which portfolio is the preference, and which is second choice.”

Tommy turned to me.

“Your objectives with Andreu are pretty clear-cut, Jonah. Understood?”

“Understood, captain.”

“Good. Once we have a full understanding of our direction on behalf of the client, we can regroup early Monday and blast into the week guns blazing.”

“Hello.”

“Good morning, Pop.”

“Jonah, you really don’t have to check up on me every—”

We went through the same routine each day and routine had to remain the same at all costs.

“You’re a guy who’s already had a heart attack and isn’t getting any younger,” I cut him off. “I don’t do it just for you.”

Only on this particular morning my call had a second objective.

“What’s the story? Everything all right?” I went on.

“The story? I had to take a fucking yellow cab to work this morning, that’s the story,” he went on, chuckling. “Must be ten years since the last time I got in one of those.”

“How come?”

“Mattheau showed up this morning with the limo’s rear window blown out.”

“You’re kidding?”

“I’m not. He was stopped at a light and a truck’s tire kicked up a rock that came crashing through. He called the body shop early, before I even came downstairs, and they told him to try and drop it off early before they got busy. They’re farther uptown in the complete opposite direction of the office and I’m playing golf this afternoon with Alex Spencer. If I wanted to get to the office at a decent hour I didn’t have time to wait around for a car service.”

I paid unusually close attention to the intonation in his voice.

I wanted to ask him about the note. Or did I?

“Unbelievable,” I said dryly, keeping my desired question at bay. “Anyway, it’s good for you to take a yellow cab once in a while and remember how we commoners live. It builds character.”

Mattheau was free and clear of my father.

“You got a lot on your plate today?” Pop asked.

“You might say that. You?”

“This and that, the usual bullshit.”

His speech was even. I felt vulnerable, uncertain.

“So as you know I’m heading out to Connecticut early Saturday morning to play golf with Gary Halper,” Pop continued, his voice carefree. “He’s been begging me to see the new—”

I decided that it wasn’t time. I knew more than anyone how sly my father could be. But I also knew he had never come close to trying to wrong me in my entire life.

I needed more answers.

At nine forty I was in Jake’s office standing in front of his desk. Jake was standing behind it flipping a quarter into the air. We were on speakerphone with Jagger Slevin.

“I’m serious, Jake. Leo and I don’t appreciate any of this one bit. We won’t forget it.”

“Jagger, don’t be such a drama queen,” Jake said. “You have to understand the position I’m in. I have a buyer that wants to move fast. While I respect that you and Leo are the two basically steering the ship over there,” Jake said with a smirk, simulating the act of jerking off in midair with his right hand, “the fact remains today that your father and his brother are the ones who can pull the trigger on a sale. If this was strictly about having a triple A-rated tenant on the hook for a large block of space, you would be our guy.”

“Then tell me. Why did you approach me in the first place?”

“I confess, Jag, that I was acting in a self-serving manner. You see, I understand that the older generation can be a bit stingy and unrealistic about certain things. You know, I get it that they like to think they still have a complete understanding of where the market is at all times. It makes them feel young. But the simple fact is that they don’t. I know you and your cousin are both very market savvy, and that you guys understand the economic environment as well as anyone. My hunch was that you two would be able to see how ridiculously in your favor the deal we were offering was, and you’d get the ball rolling with your father and uncle before we even approached them. You are a smart man, Jag. I’m sure you can see my dilemma given the time constraints put on me.”

“It’s Jagger. Not Jag.”

Jake fought not to laugh.

“And what’s this about Jonah working on a deal to buy the Madisons?”

My ears perked up.

“According to my father, the two deals would fall into the same general price range. Is this a competing deal for us? Is he working for the buyer also?”

“It is a competing seller. But beyond that I really don’t have too many specifics since Jonah’s been handling them. To tell you the truth, they just officially stepped into the arena. That’s why they hadn’t previously been mentioned.”

“Well none of us like what’s going on here, and you can pass that on to your teammates.”

“Duly noted.”

“First you tell us we’re dealing with a buyer that wants to remain anonymous then you guys pull this shit.”

“One has nothing to do with the other, Jagger. We have showed you all of their necessary credit information and pertinent internal numbers, and they are coming to you with all cash. Since when does it matter who hands you a mountain of cash? They understand that the time parameters, along with their anonymity, is a bit out of the norm and they have offered a very generous premium in acknowledgment. I assure you that you have nothing to be wary of here. Your family’s deal remains on the top of the pile.”

“Well I may just have to suggest to my father that we pull it off that pile.”

Thankfully there wasn’t any real cause for alarm since we knew where the important Slevins stood on all of this.

“I can’t tell you what to do,” Jake said, perfectly poised. “But I will say that I really think it would be a foolish move. There is a deal to be made here, Jagger. Your father and his brother, annoyed as they may be, understand this. You are being pursued by one of the most prominent companies in the world. They are very ethical and they are very fair when it comes to business terms. We stay focused here and your family makes out as well as they do. Remember, the timing’s nice for your family. We both know this market still has a ways to go.”

“Unfortunately the buyer isn’t my concern when it comes to ethics. Your team, especially Jonah, has a reputation for bending the rules.”

“The only reputation I’m aware of, Jagger, is the one that we know how to close deals. We always play by the rules. We just usually tend to find, as our statistics show, that the competition isn’t up for the challenge.”

“You just better not be screwing around here, Jake. I mean that. My father smells trouble. Just hope for your sake that his message was Tommy’s wake-up call.”

“Easy with the threats, young man. It appears you’re getting all worked up over nothing.”

“You just make sure everyone’s playing by the rules over there, Jake. Otherwise you guys better watch your asses.”

I walked back into my office staring at the caller ID on my ringing cell phone. Krissy was still on the prowl. Carolyn’s voice came through the intercom.

“Line two, Jonah.”

“Who is it?” I said as I rounded my desk.

“Andreu Zhamovsky.”

I pulled my eyes from the cell phone.

“Put him through.”

I only had one second to channel my energy correctly, and focus.

“How are we today, Jonah?”

I had to continue to show Andreu that he had my full attention, that I had no reason whatsoever to deviate from our mutual goal. I had worked too hard to get where I was. I wasn’t about to piss away the biggest opportunity of my professional life because someone was looking to frame me. I definitely had some questions for my old friend, but I was still too short on answers. All a desperate interrogation would have done at this point was possibly cause a problem where there wasn’t one. For all I knew, Andreu could have been the one being set up. I just didn’t know. The stars were beginning to align. I just couldn’t yet see in which direction.

“I can only speak for myself, Andreu. And I’m well.”

The initial words were the toughest.

“Good, Jonah. Good. I just wanted to check in before the weekend. I’ll be on the yacht until the early afternoon tomorrow and the reception can be quite poor.”

I had a job to do.

Numerous jobs to do.

React.

“Everything seems to be going as well as we could have hoped for. You can go out onto that ocean without a worry.”

“Is that so?”

All he needed to know was that I was busting my ass and focused on the prize.

“It is. Our third and final inspection team should be in place by the end of the day. Now, insurance.”

“Insurance. What do you mean insurance?”

“I mean there are a number of insurance issues. Liability insurance, property insurance, workmen’s comp—the city even wants owners carrying terrorism insurance because of those fucking cowards in the airplanes. I have one of PCBL’s risk consultants evaluating each potential portfolio in order to make an assessment of what type of coverage we need to have in place. Now once his recommendation is established, he will forward them to—”

In his mind I shouldn’t have had any reason to deviate from the importance of the deal, so I didn’t. I rolled right into a sermon about each aspect of where we were, and dove into the topic of insurance as if I were a professor on the subject. Why, as a commercial property owner, you have insurance. When you have insurance. When you don’t have insurance. How insurance works. Why insurance works. The number of different areas of coverage offered. The reasons for so many different areas of coverage. The reasons some of those areas are essential while some are complete bullshit. Why dealing with insurance firms usually sucks. What insurance costs. What those costs entail. I probably bored the shit out of him, but business talk served two very important purposes. Momentarily, it kept me in a safe place and kept any suspicions at bay. Time would eventually run out.