The next morning, I arrived at the Royal Oak just before 09:00. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Casey was waiting for me. She looked much better than she had when I dropped her off, the previous lunchtime.

“Good morning, Casey.”

“Hello, Mr Beatty.”

“Did you sleep well?”

“I did thank you. I also had a good meal. This place is a lot quieter than the place at the airport so thanks for that.”

She climbed into my car after putting her briefcase in the back.

“I took your advice and ditched the heels. Again, thanks for that. The company has instigated a pretty strict dress code back in Austin. Female salaried employees are to wear dresses or skirts and heels at least four inches in height. The CEO thinks that this will deter any male to female transgendered on the staff from coming out.”

“As well as making you all look like eye candy and entertaining the lecherous male chauvinistic and decidedly geriatric old sods who occupy the C-Level suites?”

“Oh my, you really don’t like them, do you?”

“Would you if you were sitting at my desk? Besides, I’m not exactly an old white male, am I?”

“Give it time,” she muttered under her breath.

“Not if I can help I won’t.”

I failed miserably and laughed at my own joke. I quashed it when I saw her grip on the door handle get considerably tighter.

“What is your plan to convince me that this relic from the dark ages should not be closed down right away,” asked Casey when we arrived in my office.

“As I said yesterday, I will open the books to you. I have engaged the services of an accountant to assist you. Our accounting methods differ from those used in your part of the world. Your GAAP rules do not apply here. How does that sound for today?”

“How independent is this accountant?”

“Oh, very independent in that they are not involved and have never been involved with doing the books for this business.”

“How can you be sure of that?”

“I can be 100% certain of that. She… She is my ex-wife. We were divorced before I started working at the Mill.”

“Your former wife?”

“It is ok, she does not bite. We parted on good terms. It was a teenage mistake for us to get married. She has since re-married and has two delightful terrors aged two and four.”

Then I added,
“She is already at the Mill and is familiarising herself with the books. As I said, she has never seen them before today.”

“Oh?” came her simple reply.

“Sandra, this is Casey,” I said as a way of introducing the two women.
“All the accounts and tax returns including VAT for the last five years are there. If you have any questions then Debbie, in the next room will be able to help you out. I’m needed down on the production floor for the next few hours, but any of the office staff will know how to contact me.”

The two women looked at each other. They were sizing each other up. I hoped that the day would not end in a 'cat fight'. I'd seen two strong-willed women get physical with each other but knowing Sandra as I did, I hoped any combat would be limited to verbal jousting.

I left them to it and after giving Debbie Ramsden, my chief bookkeeper, the lowdown, I headed downstairs and onto the manufacturing floor.

This was the beating heart of the organisation. Thanks to some very diligent planning and a good deal of luck, we managed to keep some production going all through the COVID pandemic. Now we were back in full production and thanks to two top-notch buyers, we had not suffered any of the supply chain issues that had plagued and were still affecting so many sectors of both the UK and Worldwide industries.

I chatted with some of the workers on the line. I knew each of them by name and a good deal about their lives outside the confines of the Mill. I'd learned very early on that this hands-on approach to management helped morale in a company the size of ours. I could also do their jobs albeit, not as rapidly as them but it helped when there were problems on the line. When I joined the company, the management at the time had stressed how lean and mean the place was when it came to staffing levels and that as production manager, I'd be expected to pitch in and help out when needed. I'd maintained that ethos even through the tough times following the last round of redundancies in 2019. After that ‘clear out’ of all the old management team, I’d been made the boss. I’d hardly gotten my feet under the table when COVID had hit us. While it was bad that we lost three staff to the pandemic, we used the slowdown to plan for the future. That future was right now.

I had to answer the inevitable questions about Casey and the reason for her sudden appearance. I turned it around by saying ‘What do you think?

That answered most of their questions. All I could do was reassure them that any concrete developments would be communicated to everyone at the same time. While it wasn’t the answer they wanted, they all knew the plans we had put in place for this very situation.

The principal object of my visit to production that morning was not to avoid Casey and Sandra but to speak with the people working on the final assembly. We'd just changed suppliers of the plastic moulding we used for the main body of our 'smart thermostat' and I wanted to check if there had been any problems with the changeover.

It turned out that there had been a small problem with fitting the main circuit board, but after five seconds with a sharp knife, the problem was history. I took a couple of photos of the before and after and made a mental note to inform the supplier. I knew from their reaction to me that my visit was helpful. I was also sure that ‘she’ was the main topic of conversation behind my back. That was only to be expected.

The last time we’d had a visit from across the ‘pond’, they went home leaving us with a very diminished workforce, a new boss who felt like a fish out of water and although we didn’t know it at the time, a pandemic just over the horizon.

Since then, we, as in the entire workforce, had worked long and hard to make our operation profitable, but also to plan for the day when the numpties in Texas decided that we were superfluous to requirements. Little did they know what the impact on their bottom line would be should they close us down, but that was my secret weapon. Only three people on my staff, plus our local accountants and lawyers knew about that weapon. I hoped that it would not be needed. It all depended upon Casey and how much influence she had over in Austin.

I arrived back at my office just before midday. From the sounds of some slightly animated conversation, I could tell that Casey and Sandra were hard at it. I’d just sat down when Debbie came into my office.

“Is it ok if I send out for some lunch for our two gladiators?”

It took me half a second to grasp that she meant Casey and Sandra when she referred to them as gladiators.

“That bad, eh?”

“I get the distinct impression that someone somewhere that isn’t here, has been cooking the books,” said Debbie.

She was a master of understatement. It was exactly as I’d suspected. I’d had a few phone calls from the Accounts department in the US in recent months about the figures that we were reporting. Individually, they didn’t amount to much, but put them all together and add in a dose of Casey Burbank, and I could almost smell the odour coming from Texas in my office.

“Get them whatever they want,” I replied as I reached for my wallet.

I handed Debbie a £20 note.
“That should keep the wolves from the door for at least a while,” I remarked.

Debbie just smiled and left me alone.

For several minutes, I debated joining them, but in the end, I decided against it when the sandwich van came around. Those things are a blessing for us and thousands of other businesses all over the country. We get two visits from the van each day. The first one is around breakfast time as some other companies that are based in the nearby mills have early shifts, and the second one is in the late morning for the office workers and the ‘day shift’ staff.

I went down to the curb and bought my favourite, ‘ham, cheese and onion' half baguette. With a fresh mug of tea, I settled in for a spell of email answering and the bi-weekly production switch around. We moved most production workers to different workstations every two weeks. It kept the motivation up. Some jobs were hard on morale, but according to the psychologists, if there was light at the end of that tunnel then the staff would stay motivated longer. It also helped us cover for when someone was ill or on holiday.

That kept me busy until almost 3 pm. I knew that my former spouse would want to be away very soon so that she could pick up her eldest child from kindergarten.

With nothing left to occupy me that could not be put off until another day, I went into the boardroom. As I expected, Sandra was packing up her things. Casey sat quietly. That surprised me.

“Well ladies, how did it go?”

Both of them attempted to speak. Sandra stopped.

“Why don’t you say it, Casey?”

“Either these books are a fake or someone in Austin has been altering the figures that you send over. As I have the tax records to back up your books, then I’m inclined to point the finger given one side of the story, at Texas and in particular at Doug Freeman, the CFO. Until I see the books that the people in Austin are using, I can’t make up my mind one way or the other… Sorry, but that is how I see it.”

“Sandra, do you agree with that conclusion?”

“I do. I have to say that I never expected to see a set of books as well put together as these. I seem to remember you having real trouble with your tax returns and your male pride stopped you from asking me for help?”

I laughed.
“That is very true… about both things. I’m not the person who put the accounts together. That was all down to the efforts of Debbie. She is good at that sort of thing.”

Then I turned to Casey.
“Well Casey, where do you go from here? As it is Friday today, do you want to sleep on it over the weekend?”

“I think that might be the correct thing to do although I have had Doug Freeman on the phone twice this afternoon demanding to know when this place is going to stop operations.”

“Casey was very adept at putting him off,” added Sandra.

“That was all down to Sandra. She pointed out something that you hinted at yesterday, the contracts that everyone is on. I told Doug that I needed to look at them first as there are financial implications if we shut this place down today. He seemed to accept that but I know it won’t put him off for long.”

Sandra had put on her coat and was ready to leave.
“Is 8 am too early for you tomorrow?” she asked Casey.

“It will be fine.”

“Good, I’ll see you then,” said Sandra.

Then she turned to me.
“My bill will be in the post tomorrow.”

“Thanks for today. I’ll make sure that it is settled by the end of the month.”

She smiled at me.
“That’s what we agreed, so we are good.”

Then she was gone.

She left a silence between Casey and myself.

“I take it that today was useful?”

“It was and I now have a little more understanding of the differences between the accounting practices of the USA or GAAP, and those in operation here. Even so, it was clear to me that something happened to your figures after they were sent to Austin, especially during COVID. The money that you received from your government is clearly shown in your accounts. We received over six million dollars in PPP loans that have been forgiven. The employees there never saw any of that. Most were laid off very early on. Things were different here.”

She looked at the stack of papers in front of her for several seconds before saying,
“I need to think carefully about my next move.”

I decided to change the subject.
“Where is Sandra taking you tomorrow?”

“She was very coy but it has something to do with shoes. I told her about what I was wearing when I turned up yesterday and your reaction. It seems that she has a thing about shoes like me.”

She’d never said that she had a shoe fetish… no… that is the wrong word. Sandra certainly has a fetish. Casey must like shoes, and expensive ones at that… Intriguing.

“I’m sure that Sandra will look after you very well.”

“You still have the hots for her, don’t you?”

Her question surprised me.

“Once upon a time, I did. Then we were married. It didn’t take us long to realise that we’d made a mistake. We found after a couple of months of marriage that we could not live together. We ended up rowing about almost everything. That was almost ten years ago and we have both moved on with life since then. We parted by mutual agreement and divorced two years later. We’d both made a mistake but thankfully, we were both adult enough to admit it.”

Her body language told me that she didn’t believe a word I’d just said. What I’d said was true but for entirely different reasons.

I dropped Casey off at the Royal Oak a bit later.
“Thanks for setting things up with an accountant today. I am beginning to see things differently from what I was briefed about in Austin.”

“I’m glad that you are coming around to my way of thinking.”

“I wouldn’t say that just yet,” replied Casey with a small smile on her face.

I opened my mouth to say something but my brain warned me off of it.

“Have a good evening and enjoy your trip to the wilds tomorrow.”

“The wilds?”

“If Sandra is going to take you where I think she is then you will see a wilder bit of the country than you have so far.”

“Where is this place?”

I just smiled.
“That would spoil the surprise wouldn’t it.”
“Enjoy tomorrow.”

I put the car into gear and left her standing in front of the pub. I wasn’t happy about not arranging something for Sunday but being the chicken that I am, I didn’t. Part of me wanted desperately to get to know her better but I kept repeating to myself, ‘there will be time for that later’ if my master plan worked out.

[to be continued]

Any worries I might have had about Casey and her weekend trip to the wilds of North Yorkshire were dispelled by her smiling face when she came out of the 'Royal Oak' to begin another day of work towards what I hoped would be the saving of what I'd begun referring to as my company.

“Can I infer from your smiling face that your weekend was a good one?”

“You may. Saturday, as you knew all along, your former wife took me to some out-of-the-way place called Richmond and visited a small workshop which was absolute heaven for a shoe lover like me, as well as Sandra.”

“And?” I asked smiling.

“I bought three pairs of shoes.”

“They had your size then?”

"No… They are being made for me. For the first time in my life, I will have shoes that will fit me properly."

“I bet they’ll cost you an arm and a leg?”

“I’ll sell those heels that I wore on the first day and a few others that I bought on a whim. That should cover the costs of the new ones.”

“I sense a downside?”

“They won’t be ready until the new year.”

“That means you will have to come back after you have closed us down?”

“Luke,” said Casey with a definite sigh.
“I have come to the conclusion that closing you down would be a big mistake. I had my ear bent for most of yesterday by the CFO on Zoom when I told him what we had found. He ordered me onto the first available plane home and to pack up my desk. They would be sending someone who could carry out orders to replace me.”

Her words sent my mind into freefall or overdrive. For a moment I was in a bit of a mess which was not good when trying to drive a car. I pulled over and prayed to my god that I hadn’t crashed.

“Sorry about that sudden stop. I was not expecting to hear that you are out of a job.”

“No, it is all my fault. I didn’t think about the implications… Sorry.”

“There is no need to be sorry. These things happen but it does change things though.”

“I know. I think that we should get to the Mill and then we can talk with less danger of me crashing my car. Agreed?”

“Yes, sorry. I didn’t think.”

I wondered if ‘I didn’t think’ was becoming her catchphrase.

I didn't reply. It was time for me to have a big rethink. In all my planning sessions, I had never considered the option where the original bringer of doom was 'let go' in mid-operation. I needed to think things out and fast.

By the time we arrived at the old Mill, I had gotten at least some of my thoughts into line.

“I think that we should use the table in my office today,” I suggested as Casey went to head into the conference room.

“Ok, I’m open to all suggestions at the moment after the call yesterday.”

“Please feel free to use the table. I’ll rustle up some tea.”

“Could I have some coffee? Strong if possible. The Royal Oak’s food is fantastic but they can’t make coffee if their lives depended upon it.”

“I’m afraid that in these parts, tea is the drink and preferably strong. We Lancastrians have fought at least one war against our neighbours to the east but they do make one thing that we don’t and that is Yorkshire Tea.”

"I've never really acquired a taste for tea I'm afraid."

I smiled.
“I’ll get Debbie to put the percolator on. Then we can get down to business.”

I was back two minutes later.
“The coffee is on. It will only be a few minutes.”

“Then I’d better start at the beginning.”

I grinned.
“Only if you want to.”

“I spent yesterday morning going over your employee contracts. While I’m not a lawyer, I have to say they are masterpieces. Putting all of your workers on a staff contract was a smart move. From your records, the company already had a good staff contract. One month severance for every year worked is way beyond what we pay in the US plus three months’ pay in lieu of notice is a very good move.”

“Those terms are pretty standard here but putting everyone on the same terms and conditions is good for morale. It eliminates the 'us and them'. It also means that everyone knows what I make."

Casey grinned.
“Yeah, about that. Do you know what equivalent plant managers in the US make? If I look at two plants, one in New York State that makes, sorry assembles doorbells, you know the ones with cameras. Their plant manager makes over two hundred thousand dollars. The other plant that I know about is in New Mexico. There they make Carbon Monoxide sensors. The boss there makes almost three hundred thousand a year. Their salary packages have almost doubled in the past three years.”

“I had sort of guessed that. Any budgets that we submitted that showed any increases in staff pay were rejected out of hand.”

“But honestly? Luke, sixty-five thousand pounds before taxes?”

“Casey, my name is Lucas, not Luke.”

“I keep forgetting… Sorry.”

“Apology accepted.”

“But?”

“When I took over, I was production manager. That paid me sixty grand including a company car. I bought my own car and my salary went up to sixty-five. When we got going again in September 2020, I proposed that we had a blanket 5% raise. It was dismissed out of hand. I did the same last year and again it was dismissed. The same thing happened this year.”

I hit a few keys and the printer by my desk whirred into action.

“These are the emails that I sent and received from your CFO with the CEO copied in on their replies.”

“Former CFO. I’m out of a job if you remember?”

“Have you received a formal notification of your termination yet?”

“No why?”

“Until you do, you are still employed. Do you fancy doing a bit of sleuthing?”

Casey thought for several seconds. Then, a smile slowly appeared on her face.
“You mean industrial espionage?”

“I’m not suggesting that. For starters, I would suggest that you download all the important emails from them so that you have a copy for safekeeping. Plus, anything else just happens to fall into your lap that might be useful if you know what I mean?”

Casey smiled.
“Can I access the WiFi?”

“Do you have a VPN installed on your PC?”

“A VPN? Why?”

“To hide where you are accessing from.”

“I get you now. No, I don’t or at least I don’t think so.”

“That should be your first call. Get one installed and then log in to Austin but it should be before the IT people get in for the day and block your access.”

“I’ll get onto it right now.”

I wrote down the WiFi password and gave it to Casey.
“Is that a company laptop?”

“Oh? I see.”

“Then we should get you a new device. They’ll want it back. It will need to be security wiped before they get it.”

“Are you a spook or something?”

I chuckled.
“No, I’m not but amongst other things I do, I look after our IT systems. That’s what I was doing when you arrived remember? I estimate that I spend a day a week on the IT stuff here in the offices and down on the shop floor.”

“Shouldn’t you have someone to do it for you?”

“We did… Then we didn’t and Austin would not let us get someone in even part-time.”

“I am beginning to see a pattern developing here?”

“Really? Well, Sherlock, it was obvious to us three years ago.”

I sat for a few seconds with my eyes closed. Then I said,

“Things have changed for this place and us since your call yesterday. Please get your emails and anything else. Then may I suggest that you write a letter of resignation. Then after security wiping your laptop, we can think about FedEx’ing it back to Austin.”

“What then?”

“We talk about a contract for you.”

Casey laughed.
“The people in Austin will see that and fire you on the spot.”

“I can’t say much other than remember what I said about having time to prepare for all this. Just think what you would do if you were in my place. That answer may or may not be what we have prepared but we have prepared for a few eventualities.”

Casey looked at me and shook her head.
“Do you know what the CFO said to me on my way out of Austin?”

I shook my head.

“The MD over there, Luke something or other is a spineless ponce. Get in, fire everyone and get back over here.”

“Am I? A spinless ponce that is?”

“No, you aren’t. More like a dark horse.”

Her words caused me to laugh.

“I’ll get on with getting the emails.”

I left her to get on with that while I went downstairs to the loading dock to make a phone call.

“Hi Stefan, Lucas Beatty.”

“Yes, something has arisen a bit earlier than we thought. I need a watertight employment contract ASAP.”

“Yes, that sort of watertight.”

“Yes, for the new company.”

“Thanks, Stefan. Text me when it is ready.”

“Yes, I am still annoyed at you for missing that double top a week last Friday. You owe me a pint at the next match.”

I chuckled at his joke.
“See you, Stefan. Bye.”

I stood in the cold air thinking hard. Had I made a horrible mistake? Was I doing the right thing? I wasn't sure if I was being a fool or not, but I had to hope that I wasn't. At least I was covering all bases, or as many as I could think of at the time.

I returned to my office where Casey was crouched over her laptop.
“Problems?”

“No. I’ve got all the emails and documents I need. This wasn’t there when I logged on before breakfast today.”

She turned the laptop around so that I could read the screen.

“That makes it official then. You are out of a job in two weeks.”

“It certainly looks that way, doesn’t it? At least they are giving me five weeks’ severance pay.”
Then she added,
“You must be psychic. The second email wants their laptop and phone back.”

“Not psychic, but I do know corporate procedures. Someone will be responsible for all the kit that they dish out and they’ll need it back to tick the relevant boxes to keep a junior bean counter happy.”

While Casey busied herself copying the files that she had downloaded onto a USB memory stick, I looked through my inventory of laptops.

None of the ones we had left were anywhere near as powerful as hers. They were only fit for scrap and had lain unused for three years. They weren't state of the art then and now? They were next to useless. I imagined a trip to the laptop store within the next few days.

Over coffee, I asked Casey,
“What sort of place do you live in in Austin?”

“I rent a one-bed condo in Sparks, not far from the new Tesla plant. I’ll need to vacate it soon because the landlord just hiked the rent again because Tesla is hiring for this ugly CyberTruck monstrosity. Now that I'm out of a job, I can't afford the $1500 per month he wants for rent. He thinks that because Tesla set up shop almost next door, it is a license to print money.”

"That is a bummer. In light of you being let go, you need to get back to the US, sooner rather than later.”

“I think so too. But what about this place? It is clear to me that you are holding several aces very close to your chest… Am I correct?”

I smiled.
“100% correct. If you formally resign then we can begin to talk turkey.”

“Eh? Why? Aren’t I the enemy? Could I be a sheep in wolf’s clothing?”

“That’s why you need to quit, get yourself sorted out back in Texas. Once you are free of those… those crooks we can talk business.”

“I still don’t understand why you want me involved. It seems to me and based upon the evidence I see before me, that you have a plan or a series of plans and are going to execute them regardless?”

“I do have some plans as I have said, but things got a bit complicated the moment that you walked into my life."

A smile slowly began to appear on her face.

“I do seem to have that effect on a lot of people.”

There was a ‘matter of fact’ tone to her voice tinged with a bit of regret.

“You will soon forget us here in this old cotton mill when you get back to Texas so, I’m sorry for saying what I just did. You will have a pick of jobs in almost any industry you want thanks to that pinky ring.”

As I said it, I glanced at her hand. Her class ring was missing.

“Sorry,” I said once more.
“I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“No Lucas, it is me that should be sorry. You have opened my eyes to a very different world. For some strange reason, my view of this country has been formed by TV and the Movies. It is very different. You are most certainly not like the image that was given to me before I flew over.”

“Oh?”

“Can you answer me one question honestly?”

I had a feeling of dread spread through my body.

“I’ll try.”

“Just how did you know that my ring was from Harvard?”

The feeling of relief was palpable. She hadn't asked me if I fancied her, which I did, but... At the moment, she was untouchable.

"That is easy to answer. It is because I also have an MBA. I got mine from one of the top schools in London. One of the lecturers in corporate law had a ring just like it."

My reply seemed to stun her for a moment.
“But you are so unlike any MBA that I have ever met?”

“That is because I grew up less than 20 miles from here. My father and his father before him for three generations all worked on the railways. My mother used to teach to what you call ‘first graders’. That background would not sit very well in the halls of Harvard or any of your Ivy League schools. I know because I tried. None of them would give me the time of day let alone an interview even though I have a double first in Economics and Law from Cambridge.”

I took another breath before continuing.
“It seemed to me at the time that I was rejected because I would not bring the kind of money that those schools need to keep on getting richer. That was all wrong in my opinion. Instead of concentrating on potential ability, most of the questions I had to answer had to do with my financial situation and that of my parents who have no money. The result was ‘Thanks but no thanks.”

After another breath I said,
“After all that rejection, I took stock and changed tack. I went down to London after finishing at Cambridge. During the day, I worked in a massive bakery and went to school evenings and weekends to get my MBA. After graduating, I worked in a car plant in the midlands for three years, in their production engineering department before coming here.”

“You are a dark horse, aren’t you?”

“Not in the slightest. You never asked until now. I just don’t go around broadcasting to the world that I have an MBA. That is not me.”

“That I have come to realise only too well.”

I decided to change the subject.

“Are you going to resign?”

“Yes. I want to get my say in first, not that it will do me any good but it will make me feel better.”

I’ll leave you to get that done. Then I’ll take you to lunch to celebrate.”

“Celebrate? Deciding to quit my job is not generally a cause for celebration.”

“Freedom. Isn’t that worth a lunch?”

Casey smiled.
“Yes, I guess it is.”

I left her alone and once again I went outside looking for a punchbag to hit into next week. I had come so close to telling her how I felt but as I had done with all the other women who had come into my life, I chickened out.

A blast of cold air coming down off the dales to the north was more than enough to bring my thoughts back to reality.

I wanted Casey in my life, but she had so much going for her, that I felt that I had little hope of making that happen. As I went back into the mill, I decided to make one more play. If she ignored it, then it would be time to move on.

I returned to my office. Casey was busy on her laptop, so I went to my desk and sat down. I tried to concentrate on a production report. The figures just didn't make sense. It wasn't that they were wrong, but my brain was just unable to process them at that moment in time.

Casey came to my rescue.

“There, it is done”, she proclaimed.”

I looked up and over at her.
“You have resigned then?”

“Yes, and with immediate effect from when I return to the USA.”

It took me a second to process what she had just said.

“Oh, that is good. That way, they can’t get out of paying your expenses for the trip.”

Casey smiled.
“That’s what I thought.”

“Now that you have sent off the email, you should re-arrange your flight home.”

“Do you want to get rid of me that quickly?”

“No, I don’t but you need to get back to Texas and tell them what you think of them. Not that it will make any difference, but for your own personal mental state.”

After a slight hesitation, she smiled.
“No sense in bottling it up then?”

“Correct and then you can walk out with your head held high.”

She nodded her agreement and returned to her laptop. I let her work on sorting out her flights home.

“How can I get to London Heathrow from here? Is there a flight from Manchester?”

"There is. What time is there a flight to Texas from London?"

“12:25 pm.”

I did the mental conversion. For once, it was easy.

“There should be a flight down. Let me check.”

I opened my phone, and within a few minutes, I had the answer.

“There is a British Airways flight at 09:55.”

Casey’s face lit up.
“That’s who operates the direct flight to Austin.”

I shook my head.
“Probably American Airlines as they codeshare.”

“I’ll book it now.”

She pounded away at her laptop, and a few minutes later, I saw her get a credit card from her purse.

The dinging of her phone told me that her e-tickets had arrived.

“That’s all done. I found that my original flight could not be rebooked here and I’d have to go through the travel agent that we use in Austin so I used my company credit card and bought a new ticket. They can pay the bill when it comes.”

“Good for you. I’ll get you to the airport in the morning. Now, shall we go to lunch?”

“I think that would be good.”

I took Casey to a pub near Ramsbottom. I knew that the place served an excellent lunch with locally sourced ingredients, and the place was big enough for us to talk without being overheard.

Sadly, our conversation over lunch was a bit subdued. I had so much that I wanted to say but was afraid to do so. I was also sure that Casey had similar thoughts.

We talked about the view, and life and anything other than 'us’.

The following morning, I picked Casey up at the Royal Oak just before 07:00. I paid her very reasonable bill.

“You didn’t have to do that?”

“In the end, the bill gets paid by Austin so in the big mix, it does not matter.”

“True.”

As I drove us out of the car park, I said,
"The roads down to Manchester Aiport can be a nightmare at this time so we are taking the train from Preston. That's fifteen minutes from here. There is a train direct to the airport at ten to eight.”

“You don’t like leaving anything to chance, do you?”

I shook my head.
“Not when making the flight to London is so critical then…? Just better to be safe, eh?”

“You like being in control, don’t you?”

“Control? If making sure that you get home today is being in control then yes, I do.”

“Thanks… for looking after me. I do appreciate it.”

We were in good time to catch the train. While we waited, one bound for London came into the adjoining platform.
“Could I have taken that?”

“You could but then you would have to lug that monstrosity of a case from Euston Station to Paddington before taking another train to the airport. You can check your case right through to Austin once we get to the Airport. That is a lot easier in my stupid opinion.”

Casey laughed.
“None of your opinions are stupid. I came to understand that very early on in my trip when you lectured me about the people in Austin almost as soon as I walked through the door. I think that was when I realised that as you so eloquently put it, I had been sold a ‘pig in a poke’.”

“Touché.”

Casey’s first train ride in the UK was one that commuters experienced every day. The fast service to the Airport was crowded but not overly so. Passenger numbers had still not fully recovered from pre-COVID times.

Once Casey had checked in and her bag disappeared down into the depths of the airport hopefully never to be seen again until Casey was in Austin, we had a few minutes before she needed to go through security. We stood on the concourse unsure about what to say to each other. Finally, I stepped closer to her and kissed her.

Casey responded immediately.

When we broke apart, Casey had tears in her eyes. She mumbled something and almost ran to the security checkpoint leaving me standing there. I also had tears in my eyes. I could not look at her, so I turned around and walked towards the escalator that would take me to my train home.

I didn’t see a tearful Casey stop and wave at me.

[to be continued]

It was early afternoon when I returned to the office. Debbie greeted me with a smile.

“She’s gone then?”

“I think so. Her flight to Austin is scheduled to leave in an hour or so.”

Debbie smiled at me. She was old enough to be my mother and had more or less taken me under her wing when she found out that I was estranged from my real ones. I never did get to the bottom of how she'd found that out, but…

“You fancy her, don’t you?”

“I do, but…”

“Long distance relationships rarely work. You should know that?”

Debbie’s daughter had fallen for a German student while in Spain as part of her degree in Spanish. Their relationship had foundered a little over two months after they returned to their respective countries.

“True, but there was just a vibe that you two gave off right from the start. Besides, any woman who looks that comfortable in those monster heels has my blessing. When I was about her age, I could not manage them anywhere near as well as her.”

That statement I could agree with. I felt something for her the moment she arrived, but her mission made it impossible to get close to her until the very end.

Even thinking about how I’d embarrassed myself at the airport caused goosebumps to appear on my arms. I went into my office and closed the door. That was not normal. I prided myself on being available to everyone at all times unless I was meeting with someone. Being alone in my office with the door closed was not me. Debbie was right. Casey had got to me in a way that no woman since my divorce from Angie had ever done.

I didn’t get much work done that afternoon. No matter what I did, I could not get Casey out of my mind. I finally went home, hoping that her flight across the Atlantic was going well.

I woke up the following morning to find a text waiting for me. It was from Casey.

“Home safely. I’ll call you after I’ve been to the office to drop off my laptop. I just started the wipe procedure, as you showed me how. Thank you for so much. Casey xxx”

The words ‘thank you for so much’ seemed so final.

Those words sank into insignificance when I read the email from ‘head office’.

“An enforcer by the name of Gabe Raskovic will be flying into Manchester tomorrow morning to manage an orderly shutdown of your operation before the end of the year. We expect full cooperation with Gabe for the entire duration of his mission.”

The email was not signed, but the sender was the CFO, Mark Billingham. He was the one who controlled the company. To him, everything was about maximising the bottom line.

The name ‘Gabe Raskovic’ was new to me. I sent a text to Casey asking about him. While I waited for a reply, I called Debbie into my office.

“Debbie, we need to prepare for hostiles.”

She giggled for a moment. Casey had not been a ‘hostile’.

“Sorry, Lucas.”

“That’s ok. Now that we have a warning of the enemy attack, we need to be prepared. Can you get the closedown costings updated and on my desk before you go home tonight?”

“Already done. I do it every morning. I have a spreadsheet that does all the work.”

I grinned.
“You are a marvel with numbers, Debbie.”

“I know. Just as long as you don’t forget it.”

“How could I ever do that? You would never let me forget it. If I did, I’d be a dead man before the day was out!”

“And quite right, too.”

While she prepared the financial documents that I’d present to this ‘Gabe’ character, I called our company lawyer to get copies of a document he'd prepared for us that covered all the legal issues that have to be taken into consideration when shutting down a business. If this 'boarder' was going to come in with all guns blazing, then I had to be prepared to fight fire with fire.

I got the feeling that this attack would be a lot more intense than the softly-softly approach that Casey had employed.

I had to be prepared to fight fire with fire.

With at least some of my troops mobilised, I returned to my office and opened the safe. I pulled a folder out and took it to my desk. I sat down and went through the contents. While I was familiar with them, I used the rest of the day to refresh my memory of the weapon that should throw a few spanners in their plan to close us down.

As I read the contents, my mind kept going back to the hints that I'd given Casey that we had a secret weapon. I hadn't told her what it was, but I had to wonder if she had tipped her boss off that I had something. I was sure that she could have no idea what it was… or that was what I hoped would be the case.

Once I had refreshed my memory with the contents of the file, I returned it to the safe and left the mill. I walked a short distance to an almost identical mill building and went inside.

I climbed the stairs to the first floor and went through an unmarked door into a room that was very familiar to me. It should be as when the creeps in Austin closed down the research & development department in 2019, the two department lead engineers purchased their equipment and set up shop next door.

They worked on improving the product all through COVID and were almost ready to put a new and vastly superior model into production. Only, this time, it would be done through a new company.

“Hi, Bruce.”

“Lucas? What do we owe the honour of your esteemed presence today?”

“We need to prepare to repel boarders.”

“Is it time for the axe?”

I nodded.
“They are sending someone to wield it before the end of the year.”

Bruce Clarke, the former chief engineer, sighed.
“It is to be expected, and to be honest, I am surprised that it has taken them so long.”

“Me too.”

“What do you need from me?”

“I just came to give you a heads up and that your presence might be needed at short notice next door.”

“Just give me a call, and I’ll be there.”

“Thanks. Now, how is the final testing going?”

"Very well. Rob put the app up on Test Flight and got his son, who is in Sydney, to use it. We received all the messages within seven minutes. That solution of yours was brilliant. Rob and I want to include you in the next Patent Submission. How about it?"

I had never considered being named as an inventor on a patent.

“Nah. It is yours and Rob’s baby.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I am. The two of you have worked here developing all sorts of products for the past three years. It is long past the time that you two got some reward for all your efforts."

“You have played your part as well. Making us appear as third-party contract workers was brilliant. It helped keep some money coming in and, with no formal ties to the company, has kept the wolves from the door.”

“That could come to an end very shortly if this particular wielder of the axe is an accountancy expert.”

“The last one didn’t, did she?” asked Bruce.

“No, she didn’t, but… just in case… You both know what to do.”

“We do, so don’t worry.”

I managed a smile.

“Just be ready for my call, ok?”

"We have been ready for the past two years. Now get yourself back next door, and think of that lovely American woman."

“Eh?”

“We saw you taking her to the Royal Oak. She is sure a looker.”

I left them alone with a smile on my face. Nothing seemed to slip past those two.

I walked back to where my car was parked, deep in thought. The next few days would be key to securing the future of everything that I held dearly.

My email inbox was full to bursting the next morning. Some days, I'd get five or six new emails. Today, there were more than thirty waiting for my attention.

Thankfully, twelve of them were from Casey. She had used a new email address. It was pure luck that my spam filter had not sent them off to oblivion, but it hadn't, and I had a wealth of information to work through and ponder about.

Her third email was marked ‘READ ME FIRST’. Naturally, I did as I was told after deleting all the other dross from companies trying to sell me their wonder product for male impotency.

The email contained a biography of my next visitor, 'Gabe Raskovic'. It didn't make for easy reading. It appeared that he was a professional axe man when it came to closing down businesses. Casey said that he'd been engaged just for this assignment. By training, he was a corporate lawyer but had been involved with or close to several public scandals all his working life.

I read the bio twice and sat back in my chair. This was not all that unexpected. At least he could not start threatening me here. His legal credentials would not allow him to practice here, but I needed a safeguard.

I looked at the clock. It said 08:25. I probably had half an hour to get things organised.

I called our lawyer.
“Hi Stefan, Lucas Beatty.”

“Sorry to disturb you at this early hour. I need you here today.”

“The US is sending a corporate hitman to execute us. He is a corporate lawyer by profession, but his bio paints a picture of a nasty piece of work. I need your UK employment law knowledge to go up against him.”

“You can? Good. I’ll be waiting for you.”

I hung up feeling better, but I was not done yet. I went into the conference room and got one of those almost obsolete Laptops out of a storage cupboard. I prayed that it worked. I plugged it in and saw the little light showing that it was charging coming on. I left it for a minute before opening it up and switching it on. I waited and waited, and… the Windows Logo appeared as it booted up.

I logged on and made a few changes to a system setting. I started the voice recorder app. Then, I switched off the screen in the software. I was ready for my visitor.

I didn’t have long to wait. He arrived at 09:10. There was no sign of Stefan, but I knew that he could not be far away.

“I’m Gabriel Raskovic. I think that you may be expecting me?”

The man was a huge. If you think of an NFL Linebacker, then you have some idea of just how large a man he was.

“Ah, Mr Raskovic. Please come into the conference room. I’m just waiting for our company lawyer, and then we can begin.”

It was clear from his reaction that he wanted to get the first punch in, and I’d hit him with a jab.

“Please take a seat, Mr Raskovic. Can I get you some tea or coffee?”

“Nothing for me. We really do need to get down to business without delay…”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not going to engage you in any conversation unless our company lawyer is present. I know that you have a job to do, but it has to be done according to UK law. Our laws relating to employment are very different to the ones you have in the USA. I am sure that you would not want your employers to be sued into oblivion for violating UK law. I am also sure that our lawyer will only be too happy to brief you on those laws. Besides, as far as I know, you cannot practice law here just like our corporate lawyer would not be able to practice in your country.”

My salvo seemed to have some effect, so I left him to stew for a moment.

Stefan Moore, our Lawyer, arrived a few minutes later. I took him into my office and gave him a printout of our visitors' bio. I also told him how much of an imposing figure he cut.

“A bully then?” said Stefan after briefly scanning the sheet of paper.

“From his bio, I would say that he is.”

After a brief moment of thought, he said,
“Shall we go into the lion’s den then?”

I smiled and held the door open for him.

“Mr Raskovic, this is Stefan Moore, our company lawyer. He will be party to all discussions. He is an expert in UK Employment Law and also drew up the contracts that all of our employees are on.”

“Thank you for the introductions, but you will not be needed, Mr Moore. My instructions are perfectly clear. At 5 pm today, a firm of locksmiths will come and change all the locks on the building. Then, in two days, a firm of valuers will come and do their thing. I expect everything to be sold at auction within three weeks. I find that selling the company assets out from under the workers makes winding up a company so much easier…”

This time, his salvo hit me hard.

“In that case, Mr Raskovic, I will escort you to the door. You are not to step foot on these premises again,” said Stefan.

“Didn’t you hear what I just said?”

“I heard what you threatened very well. There are some things that you don’t know. If you would sit down, I will enlighten you as to the real facts about the operation here.”

I could see a vein start to throb on his 30-inch neck. He was not a happy man.

Slowly, he sat down. Stefan sat opposite him and opened his briefcase. Stefan deliberately slowed down the whole thing just to make it clear that he was in charge.

"This is the lease arrangement for these premises. As you can see, the parts of the mill that are sublet to Masterson-Adams Controls Limited are owned by Rogers Developments Plc. If you change the locks, then you and your agents will be committing an offence. Only a High Court Writ can order a lock out a tenant. A tenant, who I might add, has paid their rent for the next six months only two weeks ago. There would be no grounds for even an application to the court for an eviction."

Stefan was glowing. He was clearly in his element. He passed over a copy of the lease and the record of lease payments to Mr Raskovic. The vein in his neck started throbbing again.

Stefan carried on,
“Then there is the question of the assets of the operation here. Here is a copy of the sale agreement that covers the purchase by your employers. If you look at page 17, section 9.”

Mr Raskovic turned to the relevant page.

“The book value of all the assets at the time of the sale is clearly marked at zero. They are worthless. It says so in the sale agreement. Do you agree?”

The vein told me that he didn’t like the news and the way it was going.

“Here is an agreement between the UK company and the employees that is dated and timed at 09:25 GMT on the day that the company sale was signed in Austin at 12:15 pm local. The employees bought all the assets on the books for the princely sum of £1.00, which the then MD donated to Charity. That means Mr Raskovic that the valuers will not only be trespassing but could be viewed by some as attempting to rob the legal owners of their property.”

Stefan looked at me and nodded his head.

“I have in my filing cabinet a copy of every requisition I have made since I took over in 2019 to Austin to invest in new production equipment. Every one of those requests was summarily rejected out of hand. That makes it simple. Nothing here belongs to your employers, and I know because I know my employees own it all. These documents prove that beyond all doubt."

“Now, Mr Raskovic, what is your next move?”

“How? How did you know that this would happen?”

“I know because, during the takeover of this company, a threat was made by your current CEO during the negotiations to sell this place out from under everyone. I looked at the possibility of Austin closing us down. I used this funny thing called the internet to research how the US Organisation had handled this in other places and found an instance in New Jersey where this had indeed been done. The employees were locked out, and the movers came in and emptied the plant of everything of value on a Sunday. Thanks to the then Management Team that was here at the time, they managed to get the sale signed with a zero-book value for the equipment and on the same day, they sold those zero-value assets to the employees for a nominal sum,” said Stefan.

“Which means Mr Raskovic, the only things on these premises that you can seize are the work in progress and completed goods. We will only be too happy for you to remove them at the appropriate time,” I added.

“Appropriate time? That time is now!”
The vein in his neck was working overtime.

“First things first, Mr Raskovic,” said Stefan.
“We have to inform you of the terms upon which every single one of the staff is employed under. Those terms include the amount of notice that must be given on both sides and, in the case of redundancy or, as you call it, a lay-off, the amount of compensation for the act of losing their jobs."

I pulled out two sheets of paper from the folder that was on the desk in front of me. I pushed them over to the ‘enemy’.

"Those sheets detail each employee, how long their service has been and how much money they are due to receive when they are made redundant or, as you call it, ‘let go’. As you can see, the totals are not inconsiderable. Then, Mr Raskovic, I would like you to read section forty-two, clause twelve of the sale agreement of this company to your employers," said Stefan.

When he read the terms stipulated in the contract, his eyes bulged.
“We’ll sue you for this…”

“If you do, section 13 stipulates that any court proceedings relating to the terms in the sale must be handled by the UK courts as the contract was drawn up under UK contract law and not the laws of the USA,” said Stefan.

“To put it bluntly, Mr Raskovic, you are screwed. You can close us down, but it is going to cost your employers a heck of a lot more than they had envisaged,” I said.

“And to add to that, Mr Raskovic, the terms of the sale also include a condition that requires the parent company to fully fund the redundancy payments in the event of the parent company wishing to close down the operations here. As that is the case… you can see the implications. For your information, section 19, clause six details that particular condition. And again, if your employers want to challenge this clause, it has to be done in a UK Court, and as someone who deals with the Courts on an almost daily basis, they take a dim view of organisations that are based outside this country trying to run roughshod over UK citizens and especially UK laws,” said Stefan.

I let that stew for nearly a minute. The already tight collar of Mr Raskovic's shirt seemed about to explode.

"May I humbly suggest, Mr Raskovic, that you leave these premises and call off the locksmiths and valuers as soon as possible? Then, when Austin wakes up, you get on the phone with your boss and inform them of the reality of the situation on the ground,” I said matter-of-factly.

I removed a USB drive from the folder that was in front of me on the desk.

“This thumb drive contains all the relevant bits of documentation that you should forward to the CFO. It includes the email history of all the rejected plans for investment that we put forward. Please explain to him and his colleagues that we are willing to wind down the business in an orderly manner by the end of the year only if the company is willing to pay in full, as is required by UK law. The redundancy that is due to my staff. If not, then we will hold all shipments of completed devices until those payments are made. Outside in our yard, there are four 40ft containers, I believe you call them ‘Connex’s’, full of completed products just waiting to be shipped. The retail value of that product is around two million dollars, given the current exchange rates. As the total sum due to us for the redundancy payments is almost that value, I see it as a little bit of quid pro quo. You play ball, and we return the favour.”

“Oh, and the SEC may like to know that the profit figures for this site have been falsely presented to the stockholders and the board. Someone in Austin has been fiddling the books. A lawsuit for, say… a hundred million, for starters, might get the right people in Austin to do the right thing. As we are both stockholders of the company, Lucas and I would be prepared to start a stockholder class action against the company.”

He looked at both of us and was about to say something but thought better of it.

“Yes, Mr Raskovic, both of us own twenty shares. It was all part of our defence against what you are trying to do. The company bondholders might not like some of the questions we could raise at the next AGM.”

“You… you won’t get away with this!” exclaimed Mr Raskovic.

“Just like you won’t get away with changing the locks on this place, then?”

He stood up and almost filled the room. After grabbing the papers and the USB drive, he beat a hasty exit.

I breathed a sigh of relief.
“That went well then,” said Stefan.

“It is just as well that we spent god knows how many hours in rehearsal over the past two years preparing for this very eventuality,” I replied, feeling relieved that it was over.

“That man was… huge. I guess that is part of why he was employed for this job compared to the delightful young lady that came before him… or so I’m told,” said Stefan with a sarcastic grin on his face.

I felt myself go a bit red in the face.
“If the lass had that effect on you, then you are clearly smitten. When are you seeing her again?” said Stefan, who was clearly on a roll.

“Button it, Stefan. She’s in Texas, and I’m here. That’s all there is to it…”

He raised one eyebrow. For a member of the second most loathed profession on earth, after Estate Agents, he was a good person. It must be because he dealt with corporate and contract law, he was spared the quagmire that conveyancing or criminal law or even worse, divorce law, could bring.

“She came, and she went, and we got that man-mountain in return. The sooner we can get rid of their grip on us, the better.”

Stefan nodded his head.

“When do you think that round three will begin?”

I smiled.
“Hopefully not until the new year. Are the Attorneys in Marshall[1] all lined up?”

“Yes. I spoke with them last night. They are relishing suing the pants off a company that only moved to Texas for the tax breaks. Zero income tax is a huge carrot, which is probably one of the reasons why Tesla relocated their HQ to Texas and is rumoured to want to move their domicile from Delaware to Texas. If our corporate bosses had a manufacturing plant in the state, then it would be a different matter, but with almost all their production in China or out of state, they are chomping at the bit to get their teeth into the gold-diggers at Head Office.”

“Good. Let’s hope that we can settle this amicably.”

“Thanks to my firm, we managed to get all those horrible conditions written into the contract.”

“And you got a good wad of money for it, don’t forget. How much is today going to cost me?”

Stefan laughed.
“I’ll put the bill in the post tonight.”

Then, with a smile on his face,
“Don’t be in a hurry to settle it unless you can be sure that the numbskulls in Austin will foot the bill.”

[to be continued]
[1] Marshall, East Texas, is renowned for being a favourite place for Patent cases to be filed. The local judges are known to favour the ‘little guy’ in their verdicts and are a PITA for big business in the USA.

[Friday December 16th, Lancashire]

I was at my desk working on the final plan for the rundown of production and not getting anywhere. My mind was not on the task at hand. If I was perfectly honest with myself, the plan was good and didn’t need any revision.

The current plan was that by the Tuesday of the following week, we would be ready to ship the last of the current products to the USA. After that, everyone would be cleaning down and packing any remaining components, and all unused material into a container for shipment to the Head Office. They owned them and had made it clear that they wanted them back. A stream of emails from Austin kept reinforcing that demand. I replied with photos of the shipping containers that had arrived to take the unused components stateside. I included the container numbers and copies of the shipping details for those containers from Liverpool to Charlotte. Once those containers arrived in the USA and cleared customs, my job was done. It was then up to Austin to get them shipped to whichever landfill site they wanted to use. Several key components were missing from the shipment. That was because we had not ordered any more stock after the visit from Casey. It also ensured that the US could not make more products to our designs from those parts without some effort on their part.

What I didn't do was include details of the customs declarations. They'd come later. I was sorely tempted to make them a load of lies. Then the customs people would inspect every component, but I was keeping that bit of powder very dry for the time being.

In a fit of frustration, I tossed the plan onto the desk and looked out of the window. Dusk was falling, and it was only a little after 3 pm. I sighed.

I kept getting the feeling that the past three weeks were the calm before the storm and that the storm would be more like a tsunami than anything, but no matter what I tried, I could not come up with what it might be. Despite months and months of planning and brainstorming every possible outcome, I could not help but feel that something unexpected was going to happen and it made me decidedly uncomfortable.

The few days following the meeting with Gabe Raskovic had been some of the most fraught of my life. It seemed that the people in Austin had an unlimited supply of lawyers on speed dial. They had to my knowledge already consulted at great expense, four very well-known law firms who all told them to pay up as it would be the cheapest solution once they’d briefed themselves on UK contract and employment law and the contracts that were freely entered into by both sides.

After a week, their current lawyers had to admit that their predecessors had screwed up big time when negotiating the contract to buy the UK Company. It was all the fault of the then-CEO who wanted to do the deal on the cheap before the end of the financial year in case it affected his bonus. He’d fled the coup as soon as COVID became hot news with a $5M golden parachute and a large bunch of stock options which were cashed in as soon as they vested.

It all came down to the 'Is a contract willingly entered into by both parties, legally enforceable?' Our lawyers said an emphatic yes. I had to assume that theirs did the same.

After an emergency board meeting where the current CTO and CFO were shown the door without a severance package, the new CFO accepted the deal that Stefan and I had cooked up in 2021. That was all down to two activist investors from a Venture Capital Firm in New York. They controlled 26% of the stock and that was enough to get two seats on the board. Once the fraud had been exposed, they wasted no time in cleaning house. That allowed the stock price to recover around 40% of its losses.

Once a new management team and corporate lawyers were in place, we were able to draw up plans to close down the UK business. We didn’t implement anything until all the money that would be used to pay the redundancies was deposited in an escrow account of a UK Solicitor. Once the last container had shipped from Liverpool, the money would be released in time for the staff to get it in their accounts before Christmas.

I had not heard from Casey since the day of the encounter with Gabe Raskovic. With every passing day, any hope I had of hearing from her became more remote. The phone number and email address that she’d given me were out of order. I had tried social media and LinkedIn but it was as if she had never existed. But she had existed. Her name and photo were there on a Harvard MBA Alumni website. It was as if when she left the company in Austin, she had ceased to exist. I had the memory of that kiss, and that was it.

The ringing of my phone stopped any more wallowing in pity that I might have done.

“Hello?” I said as I answered the call
I didn’t recognise the number.

“This is he. To whom am I speaking?”
I chuckled to myself for using the grammatically correct ‘whom’.

I listened to the voice on the other end of the call.

“I’m afraid that I am currently employed, Mr Pearson.”

“That is correct. The operations here are indeed winding down but I am concentrating on that, until the new year at the earliest. Any thoughts I might possibly have about finding a new position have been put on the back burner until after I have taken a long holiday. I’m sorry Mr Pearson, you are wasting your time at the moment. If you have a suitable position in say… the end of March then please feel free to give me a call in the new year to discuss a real job opportunity and I must emphasise, the word ‘real’. I have had far too many people in your line of work promising me the earth but did not have a job on their books that would interest me.”

I ended the call without waiting to hear more drivel from these so-called 'head-hunters’. Many of them were just trying to get me on their books and didn’t have a real job to offer. For the past two weeks, rarely a day would go by without another agency calling and offering me ‘the world’.

While I was brushing the likes of Mr Geoffrey Pearson off, I was struggling to work out how they’d got wind of the impending closure of the operation in Stuarts Mill. I hadn’t updated my profile on LinkedIn or used social media, in years, and I knew for sure that I hadn't posted anything that would give the game away. I tried to remember the last time I had actually posted anything on Facebook and failed miserably. It was just not my thing. In any event, it must have been at least a year before the axe fell on us. I made a mental note to delete all my social media accounts when all of this was over.

After that diversion, I decided to call it a day and go home. I needed a clear head to work on what would be the last but one set of production figures that I would send to Austin.

My home was what is called a 'two-up, two-down' terraced house in Accrington. I'd bought it at auction not long after I'd moved to the area. To say that it was cheap would be accurate. It had needed a lot of work on it including a new roof. With the help of a number of the people at the plant, I'd done it up and made it very liveable for a single man. It wasn't a 'man cave' or anything close but… it was home.

What I wasn’t expecting to find when I turned into what I called ‘my street’, was to find someone waiting for me. That someone was Casey. In a flash, my day had gone from awful to potentially brilliant but… there was always a risk of getting too close to the enemy.

I then mentally kicked myself. The company in Austin had issued a press release stating that Casey had been ‘terminated’ for gross misconduct. That was a lie but it told me that she was no longer the enemy.

The smile that appeared on her face when she saw that I’d seen her would stay in my mind for a long time. Then I saw what she was holding in her hands. She had bought me a bunch of flowers. That was a first!

Somehow, I managed to park my car without crashing into any of the other parked vehicles and went to meet her.

“This is a surprise,” I said as I walked up to my front door.

“Aren’t you pleased to see me?”

“To be honest Casey, I don’t know.”

The promised squally rain had arrived with a vengeance. The wind had a cold bite to it.
“Why don’t we go inside? This wind and rain, is only going to get worse before the night is out.”

“Thank you.”

I opened the front door to my tiny home.
“After you.”

Casey went inside. She wasn’t towing any luggage which added even more questions to an already very long list.

“Here, let me take your coat, it is already pretty damp.”

“Thanks.”

I hung her coat up near the small radiator that was supposed to heat the hallway. It failed but… it was the best that I could do.

“Please go through into the back room. I’ll turn the heating up.”
“The light switch is on the right just inside the door.”

Casey went into the back room. A small kitchen led off that room. In modern terms, my house was ancient and very small but it was home and didn’t have a mortgage attached.

I hung up my coat and followed her into what the locals call the ‘parlour’.

“Please take a seat. Can I get you something hot to drink or do you want something stronger?”

“Coffee would do fine as long as it is strong. I’m a bit jet-lagged.”

That told me that she probably didn’t have a hotel.

I filled the percolator and set it to brew.

“I tried and tried to get in contact with you but nothing. Why didn’t you at least email me?”

“I’m sorry but it all got very complicated when I returned to Austin.”

“Thanks for the heads up about the man mountain…”

Casey giggled as I unwrapped the flowers.

“I was escorted from the building that day, so I only heard very second-hand what happened when he came calling.”

“To use a US-centric saying, he got his ass handed to him on a plate,” I replied as I went in search of a vase. I found one in a rarely used kitchen cupboard.

“That’s what I heard, plus, I read that the CTO and CFO were thrown under the bus.”

I could tell that she wanted to say something else.

“Are you trying to ask me if that was what was in store for you?”

“Something like that.”

I shook my head as I trimmed the stems of the lilies.
“Not at all. I had enough time to dig a little into him and found out that he is a bully enforcer. So…”

“I heard that they caved in and you guys got what you wanted?”

I managed both a smile and a nod of the head.
“We are still closing up shop on the 23rd. Our last production run is underway. The last 4000 units will be on a ship bound for Charlotte, on the 24th.”

I finished putting the flowers in water and put them on the worktop near the backdoor. There was some light from outside in that part of the kitchen.

“Then what?”

I ignored her.

“Come on Lucas… I’m not the enemy you know?”

“Sorry, Casey. I’m under embargo until the 2nd of January. My notice period for the current company runs out on the 31st. The 1st is a public holiday so, until then I can’t say a word about what I’m doing in the future. Sorry, but that is all I can say on the matter of the future.”

“Ok. I understand.”

“What about you?”

Her shoulders visibly sagged.
“The bastards seem to have put the word out and none… and I made a lot… none of my calls were returned. I appear to have been blacklisted by the cabal of old white conservative men… You know, the ones who run the whole frigging country!”

“I saw the press release. Something about gross misconduct. That’s a load of BS if ever I saw some.”

She managed a smile.
“It was enough to get me blacklisted.”

“So, you came over here to try your luck?”

That got a smile out of Casey.

“No, I came for two reasons. Firstly, to see you and then to collect the shoes that I ordered on that shopping trip with your former wife.”

“I’m glad to see that I take precedence over a pair of shoes…? Only just mind you!”

“Not one pair… I bought three pairs.”

“But Casey, why did you go ‘off-grid’?” I said deliberately changing the subject.

“As I said, things got a little crazy back in Austin. Once I’d turned in my laptop and phone… Your idea of wiping it was brilliant. The people there didn’t like it one little bit. Once I’d turned in my things, I was marched out of the building. So, I went home and began to pack only to be interrupted by my landlord who said that he wanted me out by the end of the week. I told him to get lost or I’d report him to the IRS because he was renting out half the block to Tesla workers using Airbnb. He backed off and we agreed one more week.”

“How does that get complicated?”

“When I went down to Austin, I simply filled up my car with my things and drove down. Now, almost two years later, I discovered that no matter how I packed my car, my clothes and other stuff would simply not fit. There was a lot more pack and I was looking at a full car. There was nothing for it but to rent a ‘U-Haul’. The following Thursday, I set off driving the van with all my stuff inside and towing my useless heap of crap that I call a car.”

“Don’t tell me, you broke down?”

“Thankfully, I didn’t. It was worse. I got as far as the border with Arkansas and found a motel for the night. When I woke up in the morning, I found all my belongings spread over the car park and a bunch of cops searching the U-Haul van. Before I knew it, I was in handcuffs and being accused of drug smuggling. It turned out that the U-Haul van had been used for smuggling a load of weed last year and was still on the cop’s radar. By the time the lawyer that my parents engaged for me, had gotten me released, it was too late to go anywhere plus the cops were reluctant to let me have my stuff back. It took the lawyer three more days to get my things back. They’d been through everything with a fine tooth comb. Dad has sued the PD for wrongful arrest and for violating my 4th amendment rights. They didn’t have a search warrant. Those rednecks don’t like following the Constitution at the best of times. They’ll do whatever they want especially if the suspect is from out of state and with added vigour if that person happens to be a woman from ‘The North’. Down there, a lot of people think that the Civil War never ended.”

She sighed as the memory came back to her.
“Is that complicated enough?”

“Oh… you poor thing.”

“By the time I got home, it was Thanksgiving and before I knew it, my mother had wrapped me ten layers deep in cotton wool. Only my father saw that something was troubling me besides my little run-in with the cops.”

“Sometimes mothers can be overly protective. What did your dad do?”

“He took me out for the day down to Cape Cod. It was something that we used to do before I went to college so Mom let me go after some huffing and puffing. Dad took me down to the shore where we walked. I knew what was coming so… I told him everything.”

“About how your job ended?”

“That and a lot more besides. I told him about you and that you were complicated.”

I tried hard but failed to stop a laugh.
“Me complicated?”

“Yes, Lucas you are. Sandra told me all about your ‘dark side’. She’s still in love with you by the way… That’s why she told me in the hope of warning me off.”

“She knew what?”

“That you like to become your, alter-ego, Diana or at least that was your grand plan for the long term.”

That one word hit me for six and then six again.
“I never knew that she knew?”

“That’s what she said, but she found some of your posts under that name online.”

“And you told your father that I am what many of your fellow countrymen think of as a pervert and a child groomer and that we should be eradicated like vermin?”

Casey shook her head.

“Mom and Dad are as democratic as they come. He believes that everyone should be allowed to live the life they choose. He was cool.”

“Cool why?”

“He was cool that the person I fell in love with at first sight loves to dress up as a woman.”

If I had a punchbag, I would have hit it hard again and again.”

“Casey, it is not that I like to dress up. I do, but the rest of me just wants to be a woman, warts and all. The fact that I can’t do that hurts me every day. While I was married, I didn’t dress at all and I didn’t for over a year after we were divorced. I felt ashamed but since then I have been able to be me in the privacy of my own home.”

“And then?”

I knew what she was hinting at.

“And then you came into my office and screwed up my life big time.”

“In a good way, I hope?”

“Hell no. There you were here and then you weren’t. I had no idea what to think. Then I had to try to get on with closing down the factory not knowing if you were alive or dead and…”

“And not knowing how I’d react when you eventually told me that you were ‘T’?”

“Something like that.”

“Well, I’m here now and one day when you are ready, I’d like to meet her.”

I looked at Casey and shook my head.

“What’s wrong?”

“Casey, you are a stunningly beautiful woman with a very good brain. Let’s face it, Casey, you could have just about any man you want.”

“I know. I was propositioned three times while waiting for my flight from Boston last night.”

“I’ve seen how men can be total idiots when they see a beautiful woman with a not-so-beautiful woman as a partner. It can be horrible.”

“I know. I had such a relationship while I was at Harvard with my roommate. She was rather dowdy until I took her in tow. Now she runs an Ad-agency in Toronto with her wife as her No 2”.

Casey had shot down my arguments in one go. I didn’t know what to say next.

She took my hand in hers.
“Why not give us being a couple a try?”

“It is not as easy as that and you know it. I have never even been outside as ‘her’.”

“Then baby steps are the order of the day but there is one problem.”

“Only one?”

“This house is not big enough for the two of us.”

“But the town is?” I replied trying to make a joke.

“Very funny… While I waited for you, I had a chance to get a good look at the other houses in the street. There is one for sale near the end so I went onto the realtor’s website and looked at the plan. Two bedrooms and a bathroom that is beyond the tiny kitchen?”

“True. Very true but it is all mine and no mortgage.”

“Ok, then it is big enough for you but that is now. What about the future? This is not the place an aspiring CEO should live in.”

“Fuck that for a game of soldiers and besides, I’m out of a job in a week or had you forgotten that? As for being a CEO? Believe me, it is not all it is cracked up to be.”

“Yeah, and my name is Popeye and there is a can of spinach waiting for me. I think that I am quite a good judge of people and you would not have taken down the man mountain in the way you did if you did not have a plan for 2023. It seems to me that you had the closure plan all worked out and ready to go before I even set foot in the country. It wasn’t until I told my pop everything that it all fell into place. To get your ex to come in like that and the deal that you presented to the Man Mountain… It was all far too smooth and dare I say it, rehearsed?”

“Should that not be ‘Olive Oil’?”

“Ok, but you do have something don’t you?”

I didn’t say anything.
“Ok, that tells me that you do but aren’t going to tell me. That does not matter. All that does matter is that you have thought about the future and a long time before I came and muddied the waters.”

She’d got me by the short and curlies.

“Look Lucas, I know that it is a big shock to find that there is someone who wants to be with you however you want to appear. Why don’t I come by early tomorrow morning and we can go out for the day? I have some shoes to collect. We can make a day of it. Are you game?”

“But… where are you staying tonight?”

“At the Royal Oak. I got the last room.”

That explained the lack of luggage.

My first thought was that there didn't seem any way out of going out for the day with her. Then I thought, why not? At least I'd see a bit more of her before she flew home again.

I sighed.
“Ok, but I’ll drive.”

Casey stood up and said,
“Good. I’ll expect you at what time?”

“Eight-thirty good enough?”

“That’s fine.”

I helped her put on her coat before opening the front door. The rain was still falling. It was painting a picture that Lowry would have loved to paint, in the light from the streetlights.

I was just about to say good night when Casey leaned into me and gave me a long kiss.

“Drive safely,” I said as she walked away into the darkness.

I shut the door and cried from the emotion of the moment.

It didn’t last long. I had things to do before the morning.

[Saturday Morning]

The clock on the dashboard of my car said 08:27 when I drew up outside the Royal Oak. Casey was waiting for me and looking a lot better than the previous evening.

“Where to Madam?”

“North to Richmond. The shop is on the far side of the town and up a steep hill.”

I feigned ignorance of the location. There was a company that had operated out of another unit on the site that supplied us with plastic moulded cases until COVID forced them out of business. The owners had started up again in the nearby town of Northallerton.

“Ok. We have a choice about which way to go. Motorway or cross country?”

Casey thought for a moment.
“Why don’t we get there ASAP, do our business and then see what the time is.”

“Fair enough.”

Just over two hours later, I pulled up in front of a pretty nondescript business unit in Richmond, North Yorkshire. A small sign in the window said, 'H Young, Purveyor of Fine Bespoke Footwear'. We were in the right place.

“Have you been here before?” asked Casey.
“You found the business park very easily?”

“Ok, I admit that I have been to the business park before. We had a supplier that operated out of another unit but they went bust due to COVID.”

“Why didn’t you say so?”

“What’s the fun in that eh?”

She gave me a dirty look. That was quickly replaced by a smile.

We entered the shop. Our arrival was announced by a bell.

“I’ll be out in a moment,” came a female voice from the back of the unit.

Less than a minute later, the owner of the voice appeared. She took me by surprise. From the leather apron that she was wearing, it appeared that she was the shoemaker.

“Can I help you?” she said as she took off a pair of glasses and replaced them with another pair from the top of her head.

“Ah yes. Ms Burbank. Your order is ready for you to try. Please take a seat and remove your shoes. I’ll get your order.”

Casey gave me a wry smile as she removed the pair of trainers that she’d worn for the day.

The shoemaker returned with three brown paper bags. Two were the size of supermarket carrier bags. The third was a lot larger.

“I’m Helena by the way,” she said as she moved the sort of stool that you used to find in shoe shops into place.

She opened one of the smaller bags and extracted a pair of black high-heeled shoes. On the surface, they looked much like the ones that Casey had worn on that fateful day that she came into my life.

Helena fitted a shoe to Casey’s left foot.
“How does that feel?”

“Like a glove.”

“As it should. Now for the right one.”

“Please walk around and let me know how they feel.”

Casey walked around the small area. The smile on her face told me that they were good.

“I think a little more padding on the inside of the foot near where the big toe joins it.”

Helena smiled.
“Good. I’ll fit them before you leave today. Please come with me and we can try the next pair.”

I was a little puzzled by this move. I had little choice but to let them go into a back room.

Nearly fifteen minutes passed before the two women returned. Casey was wearing a short leather skirt, black patterned fishnet tights and a pair of thigh-high boots that almost came up to the crotch. The heels were at least 5 inches in height but she walked around as if they were flats.

“Do you like them?” asked Casey.

“I think so. They are rather extreme, aren’t they?”

“So? I’ve always wanted a pair of boots like these.”
She lifted the hem of her skirt to reveal what looked like a pair of suspenders holding them up. Amazing.

“Right, Sir. Now for your pair,” said Helena.
I looked at Casey who was sniggering. I’d been well and truly suckered.

“Please take a seat. Don’t be afraid. Almost half my customers are men such as yourself,” said Helena.

Reluctantly, I sat down and removed my shoes. Thankfully, I’d had a shower and cut my toenails before I’d left home that morning.

Helena swiftly fitted a pair of shoes that looked identical to the ones that she'd made for Casey. For me, the heel was a lot lower. More like 3.5 inches. I guessed that my dear former wife had told the maker my foot size. They fitted perfectly which made my embarrassment all the worse. Two… make that three women had conspired together to do this.

I did my duty and walked around. It had been a long time since I’d worn heels of any size. The low doors of my home made it fraught with danger. Now I understood what Casey had been going on about the previous evening.

“How do they feel Darling?” asked Casey.

“Pretty good,” I replied trying to hide my embarrassment.

“I made the heel more like a Kitten one than a stiletto. I find that these work a lot better with my male wearers,” said Helena.

She was right. They were much more to my liking. Then I sighed.

“How much do I owe you for these?”

“Nothing. I was paid in advance for all three pairs.”

I glared at Casey. She’d done me over once more.

“Come on darling, can’t I buy the person I love, a present or two?” said Casey with a gleeful smile on her face.

At that moment, I could have strangled her on the spot after kissing her first…

Once we were back in the car I turned to Casey.
“I told you that my being trans is a very private thing?”

She didn’t say anything.
“I have a good mind to drop you off at the nearest station and let you make your own way back to Accrington.”

Those last words seemed to have some effect on her.

“Look Casey, it has been nice to see you again but we both know that you are going to have to return home very soon. Then what eh?”

She didn’t reply so I carried on.
“Both times you have come into my life, things have been turned upside down, inside out and cut into small pieces. I love being with you but… but you are like a veritable bull in a china shop. You know what you want and woe betide anyone getting in the way of you getting that. I am a person and I have feelings, opinions and desires. Can’t you see that or has your MBA 204, ‘getting what you want at any cost’ frazzled your brain?”

Casey didn’t answer right away.

“Ok, when I was with your ex-wife, I let my enthusiasm get away with me. It was only later that I began to feel that she’d played me, but I’d already paid for the shoes so I hoped that today might bring you out of your shell. I failed to read you correctly and for that, I am so sorry.”

I wasn’t going to forgive her that easily.

I didn’t answer but started the car and drove out of the business park.

Our journey back to Accrington was almost devoid of conversation. She only spoke once and that was to get me to stop at a service area on the A1 for a comfort break.

Things were a little tense that evening. As she was my guest, I had to play the host, but it was a strain. Having a beautiful but very headstrong woman in my home was a totally foreign experience for me.

“I’m sorry about today. I have been so stupid. At times like this, I get carried away by events. I did it with your former spouse and I did it again yesterday. I’m so sorry for abusing your kindness and hospitality.”

I was about to answer when she just left me alone in the kitchen. I went to the front door and tried to stop her.

“Casey please….?”

“Sorry Lucas, I have to go. I promised myself so many times that I needed to be cool, calm and collected but once again, I failed miserably. I came barging in unannounced and… I forgot all those promises I made to myself.”

“Please stay. I’m sure that we can work this out?”

“I have to go. You are far too nice a person to be screwed around by me.”
[to be continued]

The Christmas period was very quiet for me. That was a godsend as the last few days of the old company were pretty hectic, so a few days of chilling out in front of the TV, eating and sleeping was very welcome.

That was very much the calm before the storm. With the new year fast approaching and my batteries recharged, I packed my bags and headed for the airport on the 27th. A neighbour took me to Manchester Airport in good time for my flight to New York with a connection to Austin and a day later to Las Vegas.

It was time to launch the new company along with a new and improved home thermostat. The redundancies that Austin had imposed on us in late 2019 had been a blessing in disguise, but no one should tell the bozos in Austin that. Even if someone did shout it from the roof of the HQ building, they would never believe what had happened since then.

The people they selected to be ‘let go’ included the entire R&D team. Despite my protestations, they were not going to alter their decision.

The day before they all left the company, the R&D team, the trade union reps, myself, our local legal representatives and accountants held a meeting at one of those ‘rent an office by the day’ places not far from the M6 at Preston, to discuss a possible alternative future for us all.

All of us were clear from the outset that the future of the company, as it stood, was pretty bleak and that these redundancies were just the first step. I stood up and proposed a solution that could provide a long-term future for all of us.

The outcome of the meeting was that we formed a new company to develop a new product that the R&D team had been tossing around verbally for a few weeks. That was important. As nothing had been written down then, none of the ideas could be regarded as intellectual property of the Austin company.

One other decision was that because the R&D team owned the patents for the current range of devices that we were making, they would grant the Austin company a 3-year exclusive license to sell devices containing those patents that would run from the end of 2019. That would give the R&D team time to fully develop the new product using the income from the patents as part of their funding.

The arrival of COVID on the scene had proven to be very beneficial to the development effort. Thanks to the UK Government aid packages, we were able to keep everyone employed and receiving some income. Once COVID was over, we went back to full production and were making more profit than we had forecast to the people in Austin. Demand for our products remained high, and even after upping the profit forecasts that we sent to HQ in Austin, they refused to give us anything in return.

The works committee and I saw that as a sign that, in time, we were for the chop, so we decided to plan for that eventuality.

Things went on as usual until Austin decided to pull the plug on the entire UK operation from the end of 2022… The arrival of Casey had been the trigger that we'd been waiting for.

That very much forced our hand. Although the product development was done and the device was being prepared for volume production, we were still three to four months from being ready to sell. The last hurdles were the various product certifications.

There were four more products in various stages of development, which pleased me. We could not afford to be a one-product company in the future.

Once Casey had arrived on the scene and had shown us what Austin was planning, we decided to show the new system at the forthcoming CES show in Las Vegas. We were in luck when another company pulled out at the last minute. We had a booth. All that remained was for us to get the signage and everything else in place for the opening day.

Five of the team from the shop floor worked on the project every afternoon once we’d sent Gabe packing. Three days before we officially closed, we air-freighted all our signage and flyers to Vegas. Technically, the people in Austin were paying for it, but by the time they got the bill, the UK company would be defunct.

On my way to Vegas, it would be down to me to hand deliver a 'Cease and Desist' letter to the company HQ in Austin. The patent owners were formally revoking the license to sell devices with those patents. We'd engaged a firm of patent attorneys from Marshall, Texas, which is a renowned hot spot for patent violation cases, to handle the inevitable countersuit that Austin would file.

The R&D team had flown to Vegas the previous day to set up the booth and prepare for the show, which was due to start the following Monday.

While I waited for my flight to the USA, I mentally reviewed what had happened in the past few weeks. Casey was still there in my thoughts even if we had not parted on good terms. Apart from her wanting to dominate me, I had to resist telling her anything about the secret operation that was going on in the next Mill building to our old home and our plans for the future. While she suspected that we had a plan, I declined to confirm it before she went home. It had been hard but was necessary.

I had to put her out of my mind for the next ten to twelve days. Making an impact at the CES show was more important than my love life.

Casey had guessed from our preparedness that something was going on, but thankfully, she wasn't in the UK long enough to undertake any worthwhile investigation. Even if she did find out about our deception, legally, the people in Austin did not have a leg to stand on if they decided to challenge the ownership of the new device. It had been carried out by a separate company. All that secrecy was about to come to an end with the launch of our new device at the show in Vegas.

The flight to Kennedy was full to bursting with people going home after Christmas or travelling for New Year. I was seated near a family with four kids who made so much noise that even over-the-ear noise-cancelling headphones could not keep out. I tried dozing, but my thoughts kept returning to Casey. For the love of me, I could not decide what it was that she wanted from me. The many possible answers ranged from humiliation to industrial espionage to wanting to love me and everything in between.

The worst possibility was that she was still in the employ of the people from Austin, and they'd somehow gotten wind of our plans. We'd been lucky so far. I was certain that part of the media would love to rip our plans apart just for the hell of it. I had a responsibility to more than sixty families, and I was going to do my best to honour the commitment I'd made to them when we embarked on this enterprise in 2019. The products that we were going to show in Vegas had been funded by them even through COVID. Everyone in the company had pitched in a little cash every week to fund the product development. They all owned it, not me, not the two engineers who had their names on the patents that had been applied for the day after the closure notice was given to us. That responsibility made even connecting up with Casey before the CES show a very unwise thing.

JFK Airport was as scummy as usual. As I was seated near the rear of the Boeing 777, I was just about last to disembark, and the queues at Immigration were as slow as ever. I finally collected my bag from the carousel just over two hours after landing. I went to the nearby airline check-in desk and tried to get rid of it again.

After almost five minutes of frantic key tapping, the agent printed off a new bag tag. Despite already having a boarding card, she grabbed it from me and tore it up. A new one was printed, to which she stuck the receipt for the bag tag and gave me a plastic smile as she returned it to me.

I nearly swore at her. I’d been moved from seat 16C to 37H, right at the rear of the plane again. The joys of travelling alone in cattle class…

It was already dark when I took the shuttle bus from the airport terminal in Austin to the car rental lot. After another hour in the queue to get a car, I was feeling knackered. My body was screaming at me… go to sleep… now.

Somehow, I managed to avoid paying for all sorts of extras and, after half an hour, walked to my car. At least I would not have to do this again in Vegas. As we were exhibitors, we'd managed to secure rooms at the Holiday Inn, which is right next to the conference centre.

My hotel was about five miles from the airport and close to the company offices. I didn’t even bother to get undressed. I dumped my bag on the floor, took off my coat and shoes and went to bed.

I think that I experienced what is known as the ‘sleep of the dead’ that night. I slept for eleven hours solid, which was a record for me. After a shower and a change of clothes, I went in search of some food.

It didn’t take long to discover that I’d missed breakfast. Unless I ordered room service, there would be nothing available at the hotel until lunchtime. That would not do. So I headed back to my room and packed. That took all of one minute. Checking out took twenty minutes because the couple in front of me argued the toss over every item on their bill. Then, their credit card was declined.

After checking out of the hotel, I stopped at a nearby coffee shop for a latte and a Danish pastry. That would have to do until later. Then, I drove towards the head offices of the company that I worked for until the end of the working day in the UK. That would be at 11:00 local time.

My badge was examined by the security guard at the entrance to the parking lot. That was a new feature to me. The last time I visited Head Office, the lot was open to everyone.

“I’m the CEO of the UK Operation,” I said calmly.

He smiled and returned the badge to me.
“Do you know where you are going?”

“I do. I was last here in 2019.”

“That was before my time.”

He let me into the parking lot. Step one is completed. Only the ‘jobsworth’ on reception to go.

I did know where I was going. I’d been in the office of the Chief Counsel when I was told the extent of the lay-offs in the UK. The receptionist checked something and found my name on the list of employees. I nearly told her that her list would be useless in an hour or so, but I resisted the temptation.

I took the lift up to the 4th floor and walked along the corridor to the office. I had to hope that he wasn't off for the holidays. His allocated parking space was occupied by a top-of-the-range Mercedes S Class. I had hopes, but…

I opened the door to the outer office. It was empty, but I could hear a male voice coming from the inner office. It sounded like the owner was on the phone.

After taking a deep breath, I pulled the envelope containing the legal ‘cease and desist’ letter and walked into the inner sanctum.

He saw me and looked surprised but carried on talking to someone on the phone. It was about a problem at the production facility in China.

Finally, he said,
“I have to go. There is someone here to see me. Get the problems resolved by the second, or else!”

“How can I help you, and who are you?”

“I’m Lucas Beatty.”
I looked at my watch.
“For the next few minutes, I am still employed as the boss of the UK production operation.”

“I remember you now. What are you doing here?”

“I am here to give you this legal document.”

I put the envelope down on his desk and swiftly took a photo of him with the envelope.

“Does that photo mean that I have been served?”

“It does.”
The alarm on my watch went off. It was 11:00.

"As I am now officially not employed by your company, I am informing you that the documents contained in that envelope are related to the patents that are held by the former UK Design Team that you laid off in 2019. They granted you, as in this company, the rights to sell the devices that contained that patented technology until the last working day of 2022. This is that very day, and as the license was signed under UK law, you, sir, are out of time, but I'm not here to quibble about a few hours. You are hereby prohibited from shipping and selling any more devices that contain that technology. If you do, a firm of patent attorneys based in Marshall, in this fine state of Texas, will haul your fat ass into court and take you to the cleaners.”

I took a breath and continued.
“Furthermore, the owners of those patents have instructed me to inform you that because your company decided to close the profitable UK site that I was the MD of until just now, they will not negotiate any extension to the license for all the tea in China. Do I make myself clear?”

“Perfectly. I will have to get my legal people to go through these documents.”

“As is your right. They were prepared by an Attorney in DC who has spent 20 years dealing with patent contracts. They will be in order. His contact details are in the envelope, as are the details of our Patent Lawyers in Marshall.”

He fingered the envelope as if it contained something very delicate.
“Please answer my question?”

“If I can, I will.”

“Why not just send a process server to do this?”

I smiled.
“Call it personal vanity if you like. You and your overpaid fuckwits here on the ‘C’ level screwed us over in 2019 by firing the whole of our R&D Team. Then you screwed all the workers last November by closing us down despite us making record profits. Was it so that you could buy a new yacht or something? Anyway, we, as in the former employees, are starting again with a brand-new line of thermostats. These have been developed by the same R&D team that you told to fuck off in 2019. If it interests you, you can come to Vegas and the CES show next week to see the world premiere of the new devices. These have been entirely developed by the people you laid off in 2019. Ironic, isn't it? If you and your ilk had not fucked us up, then they could have been your brand-new product line."

I didn’t wait for an answer but left him to fume if his reddening face was anything to go by.

Once I’d handed my car back, I went into the terminal only to find that my flight from Austin to Vegas was cancelled. For some reason, the travel agent had booked me on Southwest Airlines and due to the weather and an almost total IT Systems failure, their operation was in chaos. No, make that total chaos. Hundreds of people were milling around trying to find out when they could get a flight to somewhere or anywhere that would eventually allow them to get home before Presidents Day, 2024.

None of the rental companies had a car, so I was more or less trapped in Austin for god knows how long.

More out of frustration than anything, I took the bus downtown. As we passed several used car lots, I had an idea. I would try to buy a car, but first, I needed cash and lots of it. Thankfully, my travel credit card had a lot of dollars in the account. This was supposed to be used to pay for our hotel rooms in Vegas. The words… 'needs must' came into my mind.

As the bus slowed for the next stop, I made the decision… I would buy a car.

I found a bank and drew almost all of the credit on the card as cash. Then I hailed a Taxi. If anyone in this city knew where I could obtain a car that would get me to Vegas, then it would be a Taxi driver.

I lucked out with the first driver. He could hardly speak any English, so I switched cabs. This driver was more helpful. Less than ten minutes later, my cad arrived at ‘Mort’s Used Car Lot’.

“Mort will give you a good deal. If he does not, call me, and I’ll sort him out as I’m his older brother.”
“Thanks, Dave. Will you hang around while he tries to rip me off?”

“Sure. Why not. I’m due a break.”

Together, we went into the office.
“Bro! shouted a man who was probably Mort.”

“This guy needs to get to Vegas for the CES show. He needs a car that will get him there. I thought of you. Southwest has canned all their flights, so…?”

Half an hour later, I drove off the lot in an aged Toyota Camry and a thousand dollars lighter. Mort, at the insistence of his brother, had essentially rented me the car. I had a copy of the title and Mort's insurance details, so I was legal. All I had to do was return it after the CES show. I gritted my teeth and put Las Vegas, NV, into my phone.
“How far?” I exclaimed when I saw the mileage. 1300 miles each way!”

I shook my head and headed for the nearest Gas Station. Before leaving Austin, I found a supermarket. I would need some supplies, and from previous experiences of driving long distances in the USA, I knew that gas station food was not going to cut it. I included a good supply of water in my provisions and set off on my trip. The route to Vegas was not hard. I-10 all the way to Phoenix and then Route 93 via Kingman to Vegas. Sounded so simple but daunting.

I made it to El Paso that night, and luckily, I found a motel with a free room on my second attempt. There was a Tex-Mex fast food place next door, which filled my stomach without draining my wallet. My team were understanding about the travel problems. Thankfully, they had everything under control and ready for the press day on Sunday. I reminded them to keep the new devices under lock and key until the opening. The last thing that we needed was for the devices to be stolen before the show.

I made an early start the next morning. I’d covered less than half the distance, but I felt confident that I would make it to Vegas that evening.

What I hadn’t thought about was the lunchtime traffic in Phoenix and a series of construction delays. Nevertheless, I made it to Vegas just before 8:30 pm. I'd been on the road for 12 hours and was knackered.

After checking in, I headed for the bar, where I found my team. Instead of being happy to see me, they immediately took me to a quiet place near the entrance to the exhibition centre.

“Boss,” said Dave Mace, the software designer.
“She’s here.”

“Who?”
“The woman who came to close us down in November. I saw her going into the ladies this afternoon.”

I felt as if all the blood had been drained out of my body.

“Fuck,” I said under my breath.

“Some people from Austin have been poking around. They have a stand in the next hall to us,” said his brother Tony, who was the test engineer.
“I did some snooping, and I think that they are or were going to show a new version of the old device.”

My day had just gone from bad to worse.

“We could make a scene when they announce? You know, claim patent violations?” suggested Tony.

“We’ll do no such thing,” I said sternly.
“We have no proof. The main objective is to promote our baby, not to slag off the competition.”

I added.
“Understood? While we will not make a scene, we will visit their stand, and if they are doing what we think they are, we will gather evidence for our attorneys in Texas. Softly, softly is the order of the day. When you do visit them, have your phones out and ready. A photo is worth a thousand words and all that.”

No one disagreed with my plan.

"Good. Tomorrow, half of you should take the morning off and half the afternoon. See the sights if you want to, that is?"

“What will you be doing, Boss?” asked Dave.
He was the only one who called me ‘boss’.

“I will be getting the lie of the land and doing a bit of management-level snooping, so keep up the good work, and we’ll come out on top.”

No one had anything else to say, so I said,
“I’m going to bed. Driving the thirteen hundred miles from Austin is not my idea of fun. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
I dropped a $50 bill on the table. I hoped that it would pay for at least some of their drinks that night.

I don't know what time it was that I finally dropped off to sleep, but it was well past midnight. The fact that she was here and probably still working for the old company made my decision easy. Even so, that woman had gotten to me big-time.

Just before 8 am, I got myself a table for breakfast. I was famished, so I had ‘the works’. The stack of pancakes and syrup defeated me, but I was ready for the day ahead. Feeling good about myself and the world didn't last long.

I'd just finished eating when I smelt her. Her perfume was… was both alluring and very distinctive.

“Hello, Casey. Not nice to see you again!” I said without even looking up.
[to be continued]

“Can I sit down?” asked Casey.

“Please do. I’m finished here, and I have a team to brief. In case you have not noticed, the show opens in…?”
I looked at my watch.

“In 23 hours and 40 minutes. I have work to do. Not nice to see you, Casey.”

With that, I left her standing by an empty table.

Almost immediately, I felt a pang of regret for dissing her like that.

I put that to the back of my mind as I headed to the Exhibition Center with my team. I didn’t need to motivate them as they were busy finishing off setting up the stand. Our all-important product samples were sitting on the floor in three large yellow ‘Peli’ flight cases.

“Dave, do we need the samples out here today?”
I was speaking to Dave Mace, one of my best employees.

He smiled at me.
“Afraid of the competition getting a sneak preview?”

“Or worse. There is at least one company here who would love to get their hands on one of these right now.”

“But without the software, they are not much use to anyone?”

“There are, as we all know, some nifty bits of hardware under the skin of them. Those are worth a lot in the right hands, but yes, it is the software that makes our thing unique.”

Dave could see that he wasn’t going to get anywhere with me.
“Where do you want me to stow them?”

“In your room. Mine is a nice fat target, especially with ‘her’ on the prowl.”

“She found you then?” asked Dave, grinning broadly.

“Yeah. I’d just finished having breakfast when she collared me. I just walked away.”

“Oh boy, you have it bad,” joked Dave.

I glared at him.

“Ok, ok, I get the message. You can give me a hand moving them then?”

“No problem, Dave.”

We’d just returned from stowing the cases in Dave’s room when she made an appearance.

“Get lost, Casey. Why don’t you go and report to whoever that you are working for these days that we are here, and if they as much as hint at showing one of the old Thermostats, they will be hit with a patent infringement lawsuit within the day? I have a local patent lawyer on speed dial.”

She smiled back at me.
“That bunch of crooks in Austin can get lost as far as I’m concerned. They are scam artists, and I hate myself for not seeing it before you opened my eyes.”

“So?”

“I’m here with my older brother. He has a stand in the next hall. He would love to see your new devices. Our family owns a chain of specialized building supply outlets. Not the big-box stores but where the small construction companies go to source the hard-to-find items that their customers want. If we don’t have it, we probably know someone who could make it.”
To reinforce her words, she showed me her ‘Exhibitor Pass’. It had the name of a very different company on it, plus the stand location, which was, as she had said, in the next hall.

She let that sink in for a second.
“That bunch of crooks in Austin screwed up my credit rating so badly, I could not borrow even a dollar without paying 100% interest. They made out that I falsified my expenses and embezzled over ten grand on my visit to you. They have fake bills from the hotel at the airport that I never stayed at. How they came to ten grand, which by some coincidence is what they paid Gabe Raskovic for his brief trip to your part of the world, is still being worked on by our family accountants. It gets worse…”

“Our accountants have discovered that the company is nothing more than a front for a gang of criminals from Hong Kong. Well, they were from there but left in 1997 before the Chinese takeover and left a network behind. After my falling out with them, my father called in a few favors and discovered all sorts of nasty stuff about them, including how, in 2016, they set out to take over and steal all the technology of at least a dozen companies. All are legal, of course, but they failed with your company. They made a mistake in laying off the patent holders, which meant that they lost control of the technology that went into your product. They sell a range of products in the USA, but most are now crap knockoffs of the real thing. Your devices were the last real product that they were selling. Their new ‘improved’ device has only around 40% of the functionality of your old one. If your new one is any good, then the people in Austin will have a lot of serious egg on their faces.”

“So?”

Casey’s body language said ‘frustration’ all over it.

“I’m not the enemy. Drop by our booth tomorrow, and I will introduce you to my brother.”

“Perhaps. I may be very busy from now until the end of the show. We do have a new product to show, you know?”

I knew that if Casey had been a nine-year-old, she would have stomped her foot loudly before storming off in a huff. Fortunately, she resisted that temptation but left us alone.

“Wow!” said Dave Mace, who had witnessed the entire encounter.

“Shut it, Dave! And that is not open for question,” I said sternly.

He grinned and went off to do something out of my gaze.
I couldn’t get Casey’s little speech out of my mind. I wondered if spending an hour folding flyers from an A4-sized sheet into three would do the job.

By mid-afternoon, we were all set for the grand opening the next morning.

“Ok, guys. We are done. Take the rest of the day off and enjoy Vegas, but don’t lose too much in the casinos or get drunk.”

The three of them looked relieved.
“Here, don’t squander it on the roulette table.”

I gave each of them two $50 bills.
“Remember, we have a week of hard work ahead of us. Relax, have a good meal and be here at 08:30 in the morning. Now get lost…”

They didn’t need to be reminded, and within a couple of minutes, I was alone at our booth. All around me, there were still sounds of preparation, but we were done well ahead of time.

I headed back to my room and changed into my running gear. I’d run out of excuses for not doing it.

I ran from the Holiday Inn south for three blocks before turning around and going to the landmark that is the Stratosphere Casino and Hotel. Then, back to the hotel just before it began to get dark.

Darkness was not easy to come by in Vegas. I estimated that the power consumption of the 'strip' was more than the entire needs of some countries, and much of it was powered by the already very critical water level of Lake Mead. From the local news, it seemed that Vegas was giving an impression of the band playing while the Titanic sank underneath them. The operators of the bright lights didn’t give a flying ‘F’ about the level of Lake Mead as long as the punters were piling into the city and spending, spending and spending money that more than a few didn’t have.

I knew right there and then that I had to get out of the city for a few hours at least. I returned to my room, took a quick shower and left, grabbing the keys to the Camry that I’d driven from Austin.

After picking up a burger and fries from a local restaurant that was well away from the ‘strip’, I headed east along I-15 until I passed over a crest, and Vegas was out of sight. I found a side road and, pulled off the interstate and stopped. The only sounds were the passing traffic some two hundred yards away and the cooling of the exhaust system of the Camry. Then, a freight train rattled past my location in a nearby cutting. It seemed to be around two miles long. It wasn't only the food that came in mega-sized portions in this part of the world.

It didn’t matter that the burger was almost cold, but to be out of that den of iniquity, if only for a few hours, was liberating. I could have stayed there longer, but the call of nature beckoned. I headed back to Vegas and went to bed.

The first two days of the CES event were very hectic for everyone. We were run off our feet with enquiries. A lot of those were for direct retail sales, which we were not planning on doing for six to nine months in North America. The reason for that was the need for UL and CSA [1] approvals. As we'd been working off the grid, so to speak, until the CES show, we could not sell anything until we had those approvals. We did get the details of several agents who, for a fee, would take our product through the work needed to get tested and approved. I would review them when we returned to the UK with the help of our DC Lawyer.

On the third day, the crowds were noticeably thinner. I’d been told that they’d pick up again towards the weekend.

I’d just returned from a comfort break when I was approached by a grey-haired man. I knew in an instant who he was.

“Hello, Lucas. I gather you are responsible for driving my daughter mad with frustration. I’m Corey Burbank.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Burbank.”

“Corey, please. Only my bank manager calls me ‘Mr’, and only then when he wants to give me bad news.”

“Ok, Corey, what can I do for you?”

“I’d like to take you to dinner tonight. I have a business proposition to put to you.”

He saw a look of concern cross my face. He smiled.

“Don’t worry, my scatter-brained daughter won’t be there. Are you game?”

“Ok, what time and where?”

“My car will pick you up at seven. There is no need to dress up or anything. Casual. I am not a man to stand on ceremony when I want to talk business.”

“Fair enough.”

I stuck my hand out and got a good handshake in return.

“I’ll see you later.”

He smiled at me before walking off.

One of my team, Tony Mace, came over to me.
“Was that who I think it was?”

I nodded.
“Yep. Her father. The resemblance is striking.”

“And?”

“And that, Tony, is that I’m going to dinner with him and only him tonight. He has a proposition he wants to discuss with me.”

I could see a look of concern on his face.

“Don’t worry, Tony. I would not dream of agreeing to anything unless I have the approval of the board.”

“Don’t forget it, boss. There are far too many lives depending on these sorts of decisions.”

“I know that, but haven’t I looked after everyone so far?”

“True, but ‘Sin City’ is well known for having a maddening effect on people. Crazy is the norm here, isn’t it?”

“Yep, and I’m not going crazy just yet.”

A stretch limo was waiting for me when I came out of the hotel
“Mr. Beatty?” asked the uniformed driver.

“That’s me.”

“Please, get in and buckle up,” said the driver.

I got inside the limo. The plush velour reminded me of the sofa that my parents once had and was not my preference. I guessed that this was rented for the evening to impress me. So far, I was seeing beyond the bling.

“Where are we going?” I asked once we’d left the Hotel.

“The private aviation part of the airport. Mr. Burbank is waiting there for you.”

Suddenly, I had visions of flying somewhere, never to return.

Corey Burbank was waiting for me at the bottom of the steps of a private jet. Even if it was rented, the renter would need deep pockets.

“Welcome, Lucas. Please come aboard.”

He saw my concern.
“Don’t worry, we aren’t going anywhere. It is hard to find private places to dine this week. I took the trouble of ordering from the company that caters for most of the jets that operate out of here. The owner is an old friend of mine and was open to letting me borrow it for a few hours. I had the ingredients flown down here earlier today.”

I climbed on board. Now, this was a different sort of luxury and opulence.

A table was set for dinner for two. I sat down in one of the leather-covered seats.

“I gather from my daughter that you are more of an ale person?”

“I am.”

“Good. I had my driver scour the city, and to my surprise, they found four cans of this. I remember it from my one visit to your part of the world.”

He handed over a can of ‘Old Speckled Hen’. I could not help but smile.

“I take it that you approve?”

“So far, I do.”

“Please pour us both a glass while I get the starter.”

As I did what he wanted, I began to form an opinion of him. He didn’t have the approach that the scumbags from Austin had clearly shown. He was treating me more as an equal.

Corey came back with a plate of antipasti.
“Please tuck in. I know two of the farms that produce the salami personally. They have been customers of our family business for over half a century.”

“What business is that exactly?” I had a good idea about what it was, but I wanted to hear it from him.

“I don’t know what my daughter has told you, but we are the ‘go to’ company in New England for the sort of building supplies that the likes of Lowe’s, Home Depot and the rest won’t supply. Those places are all about shifting volume. We are all about sourcing the things that make a development come alive. We work directly with architects and selected developers. I’m here to look for new product ideas and then to go on the road in the hope of expanding our base of partners and customers.”

“That’s almost the same as the company that she said her brother runs.”

Corey smiled.
“It is the same company. I’m the CEO, but my son is my appointed successor. Sadly, he has a lot to learn about the softly-softly way of doing business. For him, it is take it or leave it. Many of our oldest customers prefer the less pressure is the best way.”

“Families are sometimes the bane of our lives…” I commented.

“I’ll drink to that.”

We chinked glasses. I watched as Corey tasted the beer.

“This has a lot of depth of flavor. It makes a lot of our craft beers seem thin. Thank you.”

The meal was wonderful. We didn’t talk business until we’d eaten, which suited me perfectly.

“Thank you for an excellent meal. That is the best that I’ve had since I came over here. I’m sure that there are some decent places to eat, but I haven’t found them. I guess that those places are reserved for the high-rollers.”

Corey laughed.
“You are an astute observer of our society where appearances mean more than substance.”

“Thanks, but given the treatment we were given by the crooks in Austin, I think that it is fair.”

“I agree. Casey was, as you say, led up the garden path by them and then thrown under the bus. She wants blood, but we aren’t here to talk about the two of you. But I will just say this… sort it out with her one way or the other. If you can get her out of the country for a while, then we can try to repair her reputation.”

“Anyway, I’m glad that you enjoyed dinner. Time for a little chat about a possible business relationship if you are agreeable?”

“I am. After all, that is what you brought me here for?”

“Good.”

He reached into a file that was on the shelf at the side of his seat and pulled out one of our brochures.

“I like the idea of this thermostat. Everything the competition seems to be pushing on us is cloud-connected and needs a subscription. To me, all this subscription malarkey sucks big time. The vendor goes bust or gets taken over or simply decides to close the service, and all the customers are left with is more landfill, or the company supplying the service raises their prices so much that they go to landfill. That is not good. So far, we as a company have not stocked or sold any so-called smart thermostats or doorbells or any of the other crap that is on show all over the city this week for this very reason. Do you agree?”

“You could have been reading from that very brochure.”

“And when I read it, I thought that I had to meet you. I have some customers who you might not have thought about when designing this product. Interested?”

“I think so,” I replied.

“The group of customers are those who are building off-grid homes. Gone are the days of a simple log cabin. Many of the ones being built today are luxurious, including underfloor heating, indoor pools, saunas and hot tubs. Some are even powered by geothermal energy. This is a growing sector of our business. Covid caused a lot of people to rethink their life, and moving to an off-grid property in the middle of nowhere is proving attractive. One of my college classmates has just done this very thing. He sold his apartment in NYC that he’d owned since the before last property crash of ‘07/’08. He has more than enough after paying off the bank to buy 150 acres in the mountains about 10 miles from Aspen and build a dream house for himself and his family. The cost of that house is more than $2 million. That is the market that we and a number of our partners are going after.”

His words were music to my ears.

“By their very nature, they need a decent thermostat and one that is not selling the customer’s habits to the likes of… well, you don’t need me to say who I’m talking about. From the description of the device, I can sell probably… three to five thousand a year at sixty-five to seventy bucks a pop all over the US and even Canada. Once we start pushing them, I’d expect a lot of retrofit sales. These would be to the people who hate big business as much as they hate Uncle Sam.”

I deliberately had not mentioned a price. The old device had sold for $29.99 + tax in the US. We received what I’d always thought to be a miserly $16.50 each. That allowed us to make about $3.00 profit on each sale after all costs and the exchange rate at the time. If he could sell them for sixty bucks each, he should give us between $40 and $50 each. Our manufacturing costs would be a lot higher at first with these devices, but… It sounded tempting.
“That sounds interesting,” I replied, trying not to be too enthusiastic.

To my surprise, Corey pulled out a checkbook.
“What will it take to buy one of your demo units at the end of the show?”

“I don’t quite understand the urgency?”

He smiled.
“That is a good question. Let me explain why I want one right now.”

He took a drink from his class of wine.
“As I hinted at earlier, after the show ends, my assistant and I are going to tour around all the construction companies that have bought from us in the past… as in before COVID screwed everything up big time. I’m also going to visit some of the more well-known ‘off grid’ builders in the Rockies, the North West and then up to Alaska. I have a converted RV that is set up as a small product demo lab. That RV is being driven from New England as I speak and will be here in a couple of days.”

For a moment, he looked sad.
“We lost touch with a good number of customers because of COVID, so despite the objection of my son, I decided to embark on this trip to try to reconnect with the people who once bought from us before but have not since COVID. I have a few really cool new products, such as a solar-powered water purifier that is half the size and cost of those that they used to use and… hopefully, your device. Am I mad? My son thinks I am, but I don’t want to lose them as customers.”

“You know Corey, I think that you are a good guy. You do seem to care about your customers. So many suppliers these days could not give a toss about them. All they are interested in is the mullah.”

“Thanks for the comment. Sad as it may seem, I think that you described my son perfectly.”

“My problem is that we don’t have UL or CSA approval for these units yet.”

“That’s fine. I’m looking at sales for the summer. In a build, wiring in the Thermostat is a job that comes after what you guys call a second fix. As long as we have the wiring information upfront, then the place can be cabled up correctly in advance. For a lot of off-gridders, there are just two seasons: construction and winter. It is winter now, but plans are being made for the construction season.”

I smiled at him.
“The good news is that the new device was designed from the outset as a plug-in replacement for the old one. The absence of needing an internet connection to function is our USP.”

“Son, you are one smart cookie. “

“Thanks, Corey. I think we can let you have one on loan for, say, six months once the legal people draw up an agreement.”

“I can see why you drive my dear daughter crazy. You are not like all the other businessmen she has met. I’m in total agreement with her on that.”

It was my turn to smile.
“That was my one big lesson to come out from my MBA course.”

Corey seemed to be surprised.
“Casey didn’t tell you then?”

“No, she didn’t.”
Then he added.

“Son, if you can find it in your heart to make peace with Casey, then you two could be a powerful force together. No one would dare take you on.”

“And not to get her out from under your feet now that she does not have a job?” I replied slightly snarkily.

Corey laughed.

“I’d be proud to have you in the family if you can get it together with Casey.”

I thought to myself,
‘No pressure then’

But Corey came to my rescue.
“Even if you don’t, I want us to do business. From the half hour I spent going over your product yesterday, it is exactly the sort of thing that my clients will be wanting to have by the hundred. I’m not one to let personal difficulties get in the way of making customers happy.”

[To be continued]

[1] UL = Underwriters Labs. CSA = Canadian Standards Authority.

I returned to my hotel with a lot to think about. Corey had shown me a picture of the ‘RV’ that he was going to travel around in. It wasn’t anything like the bog standard white ‘box on wheels’ that you see almost everywhere clogging up the roads.

I’d seen an RV park on the outskirts of the city when I took my little escape from ‘sin city’ that was full of these monstrosities. This vehicle was nothing like them. It was more like an expedition vehicle than anything else. The numerous large tyres lashed to the roof proved that.

Corey told me that it had started life as a US Army truck with six-wheel drive. He’d bought it at a US Army Surplus Auction more than a year earlier. He described with some glee how a team of engineers and mechanics had stripped it down to bare metal and lovingly rebuilt it to his specifications. He was especially proud of the new diesel engine that they’d installed. It ran on bio-diesel or used cooking oil. The extra-large fuel tanks underneath the chassis could take it more than 400 miles over rough terrain. Twin superchargers boosted the power to more than 900hp. Much of his glowing description was beyond me, but it looked like a true go-anywhere vehicle to me.

“Those who go off-grid go for a reason. Most of the time, it is to get away from places like this and people in general. Those places are hard to get to, but this thing can or will most of the time,” he’d said proudly.
“It is a bit like the old saying: if Cletus won’t come to the store, then the store must go to Cletus. Many of the companies we do business with base themselves at the construction site for the duration of the build simply to avoid long commutes. So we go to them and can help them face to face with their requirements.”

I didn’t doubt that claim, but I did wonder about the ride. Army vehicles are not renowned for their creature comforts. They are designed for ruggedness, not a soft, smooth ride.

The canvas top that these vehicles normally carried was long gone. In its place was, if the photos were anything to go by, a pretty luxurious six-berth home with a large wheeled trailer that housed the product displays and demonstration units. Heavy duty winches at the front and rear, plus a 'snorkel' type air intake and exhaust system, convinced me that Corey was right about his ability to take the product to the customer. Solar Panels covered much of the truck and trailer.

“There is always space for a third person?” said Corey.
“At the moment, it is just me and my driver-mechanic Tony. He maintained these vehicles in the Army.”

“What would I do?”

“Speak to the same people that I do. You can start by teaching us how best to demonstrate your device, and at the same time, you might get some ideas for future products from those conversations. From what Casey has told me about your existing operation, you appear to have the sort of adaptability that many larger companies simply do not have. Then, to have a team developing a new product all through the pandemic was, in my mind, brilliant, if not pure genius. So many of our suppliers just closed up shop, took the government money and laid off the staff, thus pocketing the money which was later forgiven. Talk about a fraud… but there you go. We kept our staff on the payroll using federal money, for which they were eternally thankful. We are in the process of paying off our PPE loans, hence the need to expand our product lines.”

“I see that you like to do things properly, but I do worry about your successor?”

Corey nodded his head, and after a few seconds, he said.

“My son has not proven himself one way or the other yet. Casey is not interested in taking over the business, but I know of someone who would do a great job.”

He smiled at me as he said that.

“No way, Corey. I’m sorry, but managing a small plant is tough going. The next six months are going to be tough for us if we don’t get all the requisite approvals to be able to sell our device both here and in Europe.”

“Then you need a viable product line in development. Spend a week with me, and you may get some ideas for the next knock ’em-dead product. How about it?”

“As long as you never, ever mention taking over from you to me or anyone?”

“I’m not talking about taking over from me next week. I think long-term. I think that I’ll be ready to hand over the reins of my company to someone I can trust in around five years. How about it?”

I shook my head.
“That is far too distant for me to consider at the moment. I have to worry about where the salary for my staff after the end of March is coming from.”

He sighed.
“I can see that your heart is with the people back home, so I agree. I had to at least try, didn’t I?”

He said the last part, smiling.

We ended the evening with a firm handshake.

I had until the end of the show to let him know about going on the trip.

Lying in bed that night, I wondered if he had a spy in my camp, so to speak. Then, I began to understand just how observant Casey had been during her time with us in November. She had picked up a few things and was intelligent enough to fill in a few of the missing blanks. Seeing her and Corey here made me understand that she was on his side at the moment.

My last job at the old place had been to update the staff on what was happening. I gave them their redundancy letters. The money due to them had already been deposited into their bank accounts. Then I’d said,
“As you know, we are starting up shop next door. The production floor is nearly ready, but because of the holidays and whatnot, it won’t be ready for real work until the start of the third week in January. Enjoy some time with your families and get ready for some long days as we start to make the new devices. There will be hiccups, but if we are all prepared to work at ironing them out, we should be able to start serious production after two to three weeks of work.”

It was almost as if he knew that I was not needed back home for another week. I’d not discussed our manufacturing plans with Casey. All I could do was discuss it with my team in the morning.

I need not have worried about problems with the team. They all agreed that a little fact-finding would not do anyone any harm. They were all heading home via a variety of routes on Monday or Tuesday once the booth was packed up and could handle things in the new operation until I returned. All that remained was for me to take Tony to one side.

“I have a car that needs to be returned to Austin. It is a two-day drive, at least. Are you up for a drive? It is over a thousand miles, and that’s the short route…”

“What do I need to do when I get there?”

“You give the car back to the dealer I hired it from and collect some money from him. I sort of bought it on a sale or return basis. We do not need a car after the end of the show, so if we get a few hundred bucks back, then great.”

“You own it?”

“Not really. The title is still with the dealer, but given the meltdown that Southwest Airlines was having at the time, I had to think fast, and I needed to get here ASAP.

“What then? In Austin, I mean?”

“The dealer agreed to buy it back from me for $600. Buy a plane ticket back here and go home as normal.”

“Could I stop off at the Grand Canyon on the way there? It is one of the places on my bucket list, and as I’m going so close, it would be a shame to miss it.”

I smiled.
“Of course, you can, provided that you can re-arrange your flights.”

“Then I’ll do it.”

“In that case, use whatever money you get back from the dealer to fund your little side trip and motels. The money we used to pay for this trip came from what Austin failed to let us invest, so it isn’t really our money, but unless they go over our closing books with a forensic accountant, they won’t find it. Debbie made sure of that. She was putting a little aside each month for the last two years.”

After lunch that day, I went in search of Corey and gave him the good news.

“Good. I knew that you’d come through. We plan to leave here at six on Monday morning.”

“Where are we going first?” I enquired almost without thinking.

“I know that I said the North West, but our first stop is at a place called Chama. It is close to the border between New Mexico and Colorado. A lot of off-gridders live in that area, so we are going to put on a little show for them at the Railroad Yard. From their yard webcam, it appears that they had a dump of snow last night. 3 ft fell in one go, but according to one of the guys at the Railroad, they’ll have the yard clear by late on Monday. We can park there overnight.”

I was none the wiser. I could visualise the map of the USA and knew that where we were going was quite a long way east of Vegas.

“Ok, I’ll drop by later in the week to get the details. I have to let my team know where I’m going at this critical point in our move to new premises.”

That was a lie but was close enough to the truth to be believable. That left the small problem of Casey.

She'd avoided our stand, but as long as there was the potential of a business deal with her father, I could not dodge the issue much longer.

I spent the day on the stand dealing with half a dozen potential business deals. They all depended upon the UL/CSA approval of our device. I added all the companies to the list of maybe prospects that I would forward to our lawyers back east.

“Not having those approvals is costing us, isn’t it?” asked Dave as another delegation left the stand in the late afternoon.

I managed a smile.
“In some ways, not at all. Would you want to see a new device and sign up to sell a whole load of them at a scrum like this?”

“If you put it that way, no, I would not unless there was some sort of cooling-off clause.”

“Good answer. When we get the approvals, then our lawyers can negotiate a deal with the most promising resellers in the various areas of the country. Our people back east estimate that UL approval will be done by the second week of February, and the Canadians will be signing their approval within a couple of weeks.”

“But where does that leave Casey’s father? I don’t quite get his business model.”

“His company sells to specialist developers and end users. He does not run a retail store operation, unlike most of those who have signed up for a call-back once we get the approvals. His operation is more like a specialist wholesaler. He has a lot of builders who use him as the go-to guy when a customer wants something different from what the main high street stores stock. Thinks about what the likes of B&Q and Homebase sell. Then go online, and you will soon see many other suppliers of the same sort of thing but different enough to make a difference. I know that seems out of place for a simple thermostat, but those guys at the coal face don’t want to be faffing around over simple stuff. With more and more devices going subscription only, we decided early on to go a different way. These off-grinders are going a different way. I don’t see any conflict, but that is for the lawyers to argue over. This is all new to us. With the old company, after their takeover of us, we had to sell everything to the people in Austin, which protected us from end-user sales. Now, it is up to us to sort out sales deals both here and back home. Corey’s operation seems to be a very good fit for us at this stage of the game. We have all seen the interest in our prototype app. Not needing a server or a cloud system to work is our unique selling point.”

I smiled and said,
“Here endeth my sermon for the week.”

Everyone laughed, but I could tell there was some underlying nervousness amongst my team. That was natural. These next few months would make or break us as a company.

We had a plan for the UK and European markets that was ready to go once we had the safety certificates all sorted out. Because our device was not directly powered by 240V or 120V, the risks of electrocution were minimal, but we still needed the approvals.

At the end of the day, I left the team to clear up and went in search of Casey. I had to face her directly and at least try to get our relationship sorted out one way or the other.

The problem was that she was nowhere to be found. Her brother had no idea where she’d gone. As far as he knew, she’d gone to lunch and had not returned. That left me at a loose end, so I headed for the bar and a pre-dinner beer.

I’d hardly set foot in the hotel bar when I saw her sitting in a booth with a man I’d seen earlier in the day when he’d come to the stand. I racked my mind for his name. Then it came to me. Nathaniel Jackson the 3rd. He was only memorable because of his Harvard class ring, which he made sure that I knew all about within a minute of starting to talk to me. He talked a mixture of platitudes and promised you the earth. Dave had taken his card, and after five minutes, he’d given me the ‘cut it now’ sign. He was another bullshitter/snake oil salesman.

I looked at him again. The class ring was missing. I wondered if it was like his tan, fake. I decided to interrupt.

“Ah, there you are, Casey. I wondered where you had gone?”

Nathaniel looked at me as if I didn’t exist. That was confirmed when he said,
“Casey darling, do you know this loser?”

“I do know him, and we are in business together. So, if you don’t mind, get lost!”

Nathaniel gave me a really dirty look and left without further argument. I slid into the booth where he had been sitting.

A smiling Casey said,
“Thanks for rescuing me. I was not happy to see him in the show earlier. Then he followed me to Lunch, and I have been dodging him ever since.”

“He came by the stand earlier. Nothing but bullshit came out of his mouth.”

“Let me guess… He was promising the earth and that joining up with him would bring untold riches?”

I nodded my head.
“Pretty close. He had a Harvard class ring on earlier. I saw that it was missing when I saw you two together.”

Casey laughed.
“That’s because he was kicked out for cheating. I guess that the ring belonged to his Pa, who did graduate in 1984.”

“A faker then?”

“More like a grifter who is out to make a fast buck and to hell with who he hurts in the process, so thanks again for seeing him off.”

I looked at Casey for several seconds before saying,
“Are we more than business partners?”

Almost immediately, I regretted asking an open-ended question like that.

“I tried to talk to you about what went wrong, but you gave me the brush off… and for good reason, although I didn’t quite grasp why that was at the time.”

“And? Things are different now?”

Casey smiled.
“The ear-bending that I received from my Pa the other night was enough to make me think things through.”

She looked down at her now empty glass for several seconds before saying,
“I screwed up big time, didn’t I? For that, I am sorry. Trying to run before I could walk is the story of my life. I would like to try again if you will let me?”

Then she looked up and smiled.
At that moment, I could have been putty in her hands, but I spied her brother entering the bar. On his arm was a very ‘plastic’ blonde. I could tell, even at this distance, that she was not a natural GG busted woman.

“Your brother has arrived with some very fake arm candy. If you want to duck out and meet me outside the entrance to the Casino in a few minutes, then now is your chance.”

She mouthed ‘thank you’ and slid out of the booth and headed for the other exit to the bar.

I sat there for almost four long minutes before I followed her. Casey’s brother had disappeared. I looked for him in the hotel reception but could not see him.

I walked over to the entrance to the Casino and could not see Casey. I went inside the Casino and saw her brother over by the craps table. The blonde was at his side, egging him on. I guessed that Casey had gone somewhere, but where?

With a small shrug, I left the Casino and went out of the hotel. Almost immediately, I smelt her perfume. I turned to find her smiling at me.

“I saw your brother in the Casino. If I was a betting man, he’s going to lose big in one way or another. That woman seems like a Femme Fatale to me.”

“Yeah, he almost ran right into me, but I ducked out of sight and hoped that you would come out here.”

“Well, here I am, and I need something to eat and drink, preferably well away from the strip. There are far too many people around who are after a story to make a quick buck.”

Casey smiled back at me.
“I know of a bar in North Vegas that serves pretty decent food and beer. Shall we go?”

“Yeah, and we’d better make it soon, as that jerk from the Bar has just spotted us and is heading our way.”

Casey turned to see ‘the jerk’.
“Let’s get out of here right now.”

We jumped into one of the lines of yellow cabs that were waiting outside the hotel for a fare. Casey gave the driver the name of a bar, and the driver took off.

“Thank you for taking me to this place,” I said as we paid the bill a couple of hours later.
“Getting away from the Strip and everything to do with the show was just what both we needed.”

Casey smiled.
“I’m glad that you like the place. I discovered it during a hen weekend when I was in my first year at Harvard. We stayed just down the street after the organiser messed up the hotel booking. The girls dunked that person into the fountain outside one of the hotels on the strip and moved there. I didn’t have the funds to be able to do that, so I slummed it here.”

“That kinda sucks. It wasn’t right for your friends to leave you here.”

“It sucked even more when I was blamed for the mix-up when we got back east. I had to actually file suit against the person who fucked up before they grew some balls and admitted that I had nothing to do with the booking. Then, I got hauled up before the dean and charged with bringing the school into disrepute. The father of the girl who fucked up contributed a million dollars to the alumni fund to make it all go away for her.”

“How did you get out of that?”

Casey smiled.
“I had the email from her giving details of the bookings. I showed it to the dean and said, ‘Shall I add you to the case for defaming me?’. This law school has taught me to have irrefutable evidence before making a case. I’ve shown you the evidence which will make my case no matter how much money the other side has.”

“Ouch!”

“They caved in and paid my fees for the remainder of my time at the school. I also received a written apology.”

“What happened to the one who messed up?”

“The last time I heard of her was that she was working on a Cruise Ship out of Miami as an entertainer. Her Pa’s money was not enough to save her from failing her exams… twice.”

The time that we'd been in the bar had given us time to talk things through about us and our stop-start relationship. It had been hard going, and both of us had a lot to think about.

“Where do we go from here?” I asked after a cab had taken us back to the hotel.

“We finish the show, I go home, and you spend a week with my Da.”

“I meant after that!”

“Could I come over to you? I know that you will be busy with the plant, but if we can live together for a few weeks without going mad at each other, then we might have a chance of making a go at it.”

“What will you do while I’m at work?”

“I am a complete idiot about what makes your bit of the world tick. From my short time there, it is very different from anything I know. If we are to be a couple, then I need to at least have some understanding of the area. I’ll also look at possible jobs. I know that I need a different visa to get a job, but there is no harm in looking, is there?”

“January and February are hardly the most welcoming of months in Lancashire. Grey skies and damp weather are the norm, I’m afraid.”

Casey smiled at me.

“Isn’t it good that I experience the dark days of winter upfront? If I end up working for you, that is?”

“True, but you can only stay for a short period on a tourist visa.”

“Three months, or I think that was what the guy at Heathrow told me the last time.”

“Ok, what then?”

Casey looked at me and smiled.
“We get married. If we can survive for two months together in your small home, then I think that we can make a go of it. Don’t you?”

I wasn’t so sure.
“Look, Casey…”

She took my hands in hers.
“Lucas, I know that you are reluctant after your last failure to take the plunge again. Add to that our strong characters… that’s why I’d like to try living together for at least a couple of months.”

I smiled at her.
“That wasn’t what I was going to talk about.”

“Oh, that other thing.”

“Yes, that other thing.”

“When the time is right, I’ll be there for you. I had a long talk with Mom over the holidays. She knows about my impulsiveness and how to tell me not to be an idiot. I got a real talking too. I know that I tried to rush things before and… I will try to curb my enthusiasm in future. You have my permission to bawl me out if I get to… what is the word I heard on that first day in your plant… Ah, yes, uppity. If I get too uppity, then you can tell me off.”

I didn’t know what to say, so Casey continued.

“I knew after that first day that I’d met my match, at least as far as business goes. You were so prepared for anything I might throw at you. Then you gave me direction for when I came back here and faced my bosses. I was letting you order me around, and I didn’t mind it one bit, but it was business. I need to be the same in my personal life. All the time on that flight home after my return, I castigated myself for screwing up so badly with those shoes. I will never… or at least hope to never repeat that absolute disaster for me.”

It was the first time in my life that a woman had ever opened up like that to me. I felt slightly unnerved but pleased that it wasn’t all my fault that we’d had that bust-up.

“Are you willing to take a risk with this woman who is deeply in love with you?”

This time, she didn’t wait for an invitation. She kissed me, and it was a long one.

When we broke apart, we heard some clapping from behind us. It was my team.

“You guys should get a room!” said Dave.
“And make an honest woman of her before we go home!”

That caused a lot of laughter.

I looked Casey in the eyes.
“Shall we?”

“You mean get hitched?”

“This is the perfect place to do it in a hurry. Why not?”

[The following Monday, 2 pm, Las Vegas]

“Do you, Casey Sienna Burbank, take Lucas Richard Beatty to be your lawful wedded husband?”

We were all gathered in one of the many 'Wedding Chapels' that offer quickie ceremonies to visitors to 'Sin City'. Casey's Mom had flown in the previous afternoon and made sure that she was dressed in her very own white dress. It was a bit short, but there was no time to get it altered. OTOH, it did expose her shapely ankles and those towering heels that she'd worn on the day that she came into my life. I did insist that at least one of us wore heels to get married. If I couldn’t, then… It didn’t take much persuasion.

Our honeymoon was to spend a week travelling with Corey's truck with us in a rented Jeep. We'd declined the offer to stay on the truck and were able to find semi-decent lodging every night. We were both surprised to find that we hadn't argued over anything other than which side of the bed to sleep on in that first week. The business side of things went well, which was a bonus. Casey and I managed a week together without rowing or one of us trying to take control of the other. We both knew that there was a long way to go. Our short honeymoon period had gone well, but the jury was out on how long it would last.

At the end of the week, Casey and I left Corey to continue his sales trip. We’d made it to Southern Oregon. We returned the Jeep to the rental company in a place called ‘Bend’. Then, we took the California Zephyr Amtrak service north to Seattle as a way of doing something different. Besides, the suspension of the Jeep left a lot to be desired. After a night in Seattle, we flew to Boston, where I spent a few days with Casey's family.

On my last full day in the USA, we went shopping at a mall. At first, I was not aware of what Casey was doing. Then I twigged.
“Darling, are you trying to buy a dress for me?”

“You got me there. Yes. Can’t I buy the person I love a nice pretty dress as a going away present?”
She had me there.
“As long as you don’t broadcast that, it is for me.”
She kissed me right in the middle of the mall.

The watertight contract that I’d had drawn up what seemed ages ago now came in useful. The job offer it contained also had a salary that exceeded the limits laid down by our useless government for spouses and visas. I had a copy emailed to us, and Casey signed on the dotted line. I was now not only her husband but her boss. She would be handling the marketing of our products, leaving me free to run the factory.

I left Casey in Boston to sort out her visa and returned to the grey skies of January in Lancashire. I had to hope that I was not stopped in Customs. I’d have to explain who the dress was for, and I’m hopeless at lying where Casey was involved. If that is what love is, then I’m all for it.

My company had not been for sale, but the jury was out on my own sale to Casey.

[the end]
[authors note]
I you that you the reader found this alternative to the 'made for TV, christmas romance thing' entertaining and different. They don't all have to take place in a small town with snow and all that stuff. Come on Hollywood, think outside the box for a change. You can provide some escapism yet have the tale set in real life. Here, the failure of Southwest Airlines computer system happened while I was writing this. Perfect! Better than a snowstorm.

Thanks for reading my musings and for all the comments on this and other tales.

Samantha