It Had Been Years by Michael Malflic Page A

of a jerk as Vincent was it was never to someone who was taking care of him. He worked particularly hard to take care of the everyday person, their lives were not luxurious, often unrewarding and unappreciated.  These were the people that he went out of his way to be polite and thankful to. 
    Chris responded “No sweat!  I’ll be here whenever you’re ready.” 
    “Thanks man” and with these words Vincent sat up reached for his case and began his egress from the car to the building.
     
    It was smiles and greetings as he entered, while he was professional he was objective and already detached.  The target company’s CEO, CFO, and entire Senior Sales and Development Team gathered in the Chardonnay Conference Room, waiting with much the same anticipation of a young child on Christmas ,  wanting to see if Santa really had come through again.  After all they had been good little boys and girls.  An excited energy fell over the room and the company’s CEO, Mitchell ,  began to speak.  He proceeded with a formal set of thank you’s and acknowledgements more commonly found at a ladies church luncheon or a Hollywood Awards show than a Silicon Valley conference room. 
    Now it was Vincent’s turn.  “I found the operation fascinating: and the market opportunity genuinely exciting, which is in fact, very rare for me. Understanding that we are firmly bound by our nondisclosure agreements I do have a few more technical questions that I would like to address in some detail.”
    “Of course,” Mitchell, a Michigan born and educated electrical engineer responded.  “Wonderful” the somberly dresses stranger continued, ties were not wore in the valley, no one stopped to notice, it was the first day he had one on.
    “Out of respect for everyone’s time I suggest that only the C Team, Senior Level Product Design and Corporate Council need to be present”  Ahh , he was suggesting, controlling the situation but allowing others to feel they were making the decisions.  Almost instantly an over worked Sales & Marketing, Operations and Manufacturing Planning Senior Team members excused themselves,  Vincent taking time to shake each members hand and thank them specifically and with detail for each contribution they had made during the process,  they were after all very good and talented people.  He wanted to be remembered fondly by them. 
     
    As the last one, left the smile faded from Mitchell’s face, he knew this wasn’t good and was expecting a shake down under the rouse of technical concerns.  An attempt to rework the terms while not unheard of was considered unprofessional once both parties attorney’s had agreed to the contract language.  Mitchell went from being a gracious host to interrogator in one question.  It was his money, it was his reputation, it was his dream that was about to be called into question and he didn’t like it at all.  With a sharp tone of in his voice “What is the nature of your “technical concerns?”” 
    Vincent just folded his hands on the table “I need to get some of the team on a call, just to review a few things.  They’re waiting on an audio bridge, I see no sense in dialing them in until Design and Engineering is here.  I also strongly suggest that your Corporate Council be present.”  He subtlety emphasized the last four words.  Mitch was no longer worried about this being a shake down, this wasn’t about price or terms. This was something much more serious.  “Is there anyone else who should be brought in?”  Vincent sitting calmly at his end of the table “You may want whoever handles your intellectual property rights, patents, and licensing agreements here.” He said sliding Mitchell the dial-in information for the audio bridge.  Mitchell excused himself. 
     
    The Chardonnay Room was decorated in soft golden yellow hues, earth tone brown leather chairs and wide tinted windows looking out to the California sunshine.  The room is full of