Page 31 of Enemy Boss

“Thank you, Lucy,” I reply.

It feels weird calling her Lucy, something I only do in front of clients and other members of staff. She nods her head to me and then she gestures for Derek to step into my office.

I stand up and go towards Derek and we meet in the middle of my office and shake hands.

“Would you like any refreshments sent in?” Max says.

I look questioningly at Derek, and he shakes his head.

“Not for me thanks,” he says.

“No thank you,” I tell Max and she nods her head again and leaves the office, closing the door quietly behind her.

“Take a seat,” I say to Derek, gesturing to the chair opposite mine. “How have you been?”

“Good thanks,” Derek says as he sits down. “How about you? It’s been a while since we’ve talked, hasn’t it?”

“Too long. I’m good too thanks. The firm is doing well and that’s half of the battle, isn’t it?” I say.

“Indeed,” Derek says.

He doesn’t elaborate further, and he seems to be waiting for me to say something more. I don’t really know what to say except for to find out why he is here. We were never really ones for making small talk between each other and it seems like that hasn’t changed.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of a personal visit then?” I finally say.

“I don’t know if you heard, but I changed companies several years ago and I now work as an accountant for McPherson Financial Solutions,” Derek says.

I hadn’t heard that he had changed firms and I raise an eyebrow. McPherson Financial Solutions is one of the biggest and most prestigious finance companies in the city and they only take the best of the best to work for them, meaning Derek must be damned good at what he does. His working for such a company is news to me, but I’m not certain why he has come to tell me this now if it happened several years ago. Obviously, there must be more to it.

“You’re wondering what that has to do with you,” Derek says with a smile, and I nod my head. “I’m sure you can imagine the level of cyber security a company like ours requires.”

I nod my head again. With all of the personal details they hold about their clients plus the actual money side of things, they are likely to need to be more secure than the FBI and the CIA put together.

“They’ve always done their own in-house cyber security,” Derek continues. “But they’ve decided that it’s become too much of a hassle to keep doing that and so they’ve decided to outsource it.”

And that’s where I come in and why he is here, I guess. Winning that contract would take this company to another level and we both know it.

“I recommended you to Mr McPherson and he told me to set up a meeting with the two of you,” Derek says. “He’s free tomorrow at ten or Thursday at three. Will either of those work for you?”

“Tomorrow is great,” I say.

I have no idea off the top of my head what’s going on then, but if there is something scheduled in, whatever it is, it can’t be as big as this. If I do have something scheduled, I will either reschedule it or get my VP to deal with it. Either way, I am not missing out on this opportunity and the sooner I can get in to see the CEO, the better.

“Ok, give me a sec,” Derek says.

He pulls a cellphone out and taps on it and waits for a moment until it pings and then he smiles up at me.

“That meeting is set,” he says. “You must be wondering why I came here in person instead of just calling you.”

“I am a little bit,” I admit. “At first I thought it was because you didn’t want the boss to know you were giving me a head’s up but if he told you to arrange a meeting with me then obviously that can’t be the case.”

“We’ve always gotten on professionally and I liked the way you worked when you did work for my old firm,” Derek says. “If this is going to be entrusted to someone on the outside, I can’t think of anyone better than you for the job. And that’s the honest truth. But I’m sure you know how much everyone in the industry is going to want this business.” I nod again. Of course I know that. “Mr McPherson will take recommendations seriously – he likes to know that the people he works with are reputable – but ultimately, the bottom line is always the bottom line.”

“The cost,” I say and it’s Derek’s turn to nod his head.

“Got it in one,” he says. “You need to not only give a competitive price compared to your competition, but you either need a good price compared to doing the services in house, or at the very least a solid pitch as to why the extra money spent will be worth it.”

None of this is news to me. I know this industry and I know what I need to do to secure large contracts. And this still isn’t explaining why Derek couldn’t say that over the phone. His boss would hardly be angry at him asking me for a good price for him.

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