read part one, two “Any other news we need to cover, Tangiers?” “Let me see,” Tangiers said, shuffling papers, “Porter is selling off the design division.” “Story?” said the stocky man sitting near the middle of the long conference table. “Officially, the division is simply unprofitable in the long term. Unofficially, there’s been bad blood ever since we got a seat on the board. We’ve been pushing for cutbacks in the middle ranks. The pushback has been especially hard on top at that division—lots of lifers.” “Should we worry about it?” said another man, further up the table. “I don’t see why. The manufacturing divisions are what we are interested in. It might even help cut the fat,” replied the stocky man. “I’ll keep an eye on it,” said Tangiers, “Bob, anything else?” Bob, a skinny man sitting at the far end of the table, shook his head. “Chairman?” said Tangiers, directing his attention to the end of the table. The Chairman wrinkled his worn face. The meeting was over. Tangiers stood up first. Besides the phones being silenced for meeting, the room was soundproof. The Chairman insisted on no interruptions. He leaned down to un-silence the phone. It rang immediately. He picked it up calmly. “Yes?” The voice on the other line spoke excitedly. The other men, already walking out of the boardroom, stopped to look at Tangiers. “Yes, understood. Now, you’re absolutely certain?” Tangiers motioned to the men to stay put. “Yes, alert the authorities. Evacuate the building and have Paul get ready to fly us out. You may leave after you do so.” Tangiers hung up the phone. “Bob, you’re the one who drives the red Mercedes parked in the plaza?” “Yes,” said Bob puzzled, “what happened?” “It just exploded,” said Tangiers dryly. “It fucking what?” shouted Bob. “It exploded—without you in it, I might add. Does anybody else park their car out front?” The men shook their heads. Bob stared at Tangiers, amazed at how coolly he was treating the whole thing. “You make a lot of money, gentlemen. These things happen.” Tangiers said, looking at Bob specifically, “At the very least, I’m almost certain nobody is trying to kill you, Bob.” read part four...