MICHAEL EMBARKS ON A GOOD CRUSADE

Well I like to tell you that Michael is embarking on a crusade to save his relationship with his beloved wife, but the evidence doesn’t support that, him and Ann have been married since college, over seven years now, they hardly sleep together, he cheats on her, she has had a couple of affairs herself, though to her credit of greater intimacy, but in truth, they have sex once a month almost, and they go out to dinners and social gatherings a lot, their families are so right for each other, and the families think that they are so right for each other, and all the business partners thinks this is the perfect couple that they have to oblige if only for the sake of civilization, only Michael is in it for his career, Michael loves power more than he loves sex, more than he loves his good looks, Michael will someday be a fat slouch somewhere with lots of money in the bank and lots of friends to talk about all that money. Ann on the other hand just never knew what to do with herself, being with Michael made Ann somebody, Ann never really knew who she was or what she wanted to do in life, she had a nice job selling real state, it was an aggressive business, but Ann was not aggressive, she didn’t want to sell one more house at the end of the month, she cared for her customers, saved all the money that she could on the loans, made sure that somehow everyone got the best deal, and when things didn’t work out and a house didn’t sell, well it was just another day. Ann just had no goals, she went to church, liked it a lot, had no other hobbies or activities, she had been and continued to be a true friend to many, and she was certainly a true friend for Michael. If he needed his ego padded or if he wanted to conquer the world, he could always go to her for strength and contrast! She was passive and he was a happening, and he thought that she envied him; in all truth, she just did not know what to make of him, he was a comet, always going at high speed in some direction, beyond that, the sex was painless and the chocolate house had all the amenities, they didn’t have children he thought she didn’t want any, she thought she didn’t want any with him.

But again, Ann was not the reason Michael was trying to save his marriage, it was his career he was fighting for, he somehow believed that Ann would always be there, he even went as far as to believe that their marriage would survive every catastrophe, this he thought because they had been together since college, it just did not make sense for two good friend to separate! There was no tension, sure no passion, but it was all so convenient and comfortable, a golf course couldn’t possibly look neater.

Michael calls his boss, Rochester Allen, or as he was known to his friends and business partners, no difference there, “Roch”, Roch was a jolly fellow, happy as could be about anything and everything, “never had a bad day in my life,” liked everyone, had no opinions about anything except he had a very commanding personality and knew well who moved the chess pieces and why, and he did not quiver to stay up front with whom ever was ahead of the game. His claim to fame was that he knew how to lead a case, get the right people on it, and win it! Michael was his protégée, every egotistical Washington insider needed to have one, he had nurtured Michael from the get go, and he was proud of him and knew that he could always count on him to protect his back and to lead a bloody charge, so that Roch could sit it out on the sidelines while managing it.

The one thing that was most beautiful about them was their mutual honesty. There were no secrets between the two men, they told each other everything, their crooked deals, their wives sex habits, their mistresses, their mutually hated peers, their secret objectives, so when you hear Michael telling it like it is, please don’t act surprise.

Michael enters Roch’s office, grand old styled green carpet, oak desk, mahogany bookshelves, undoubtedly covered with books that had never been read, a stack of paper work here and there, and an illuminated darkness. Behind the desk, a man wearing a noticeable belly, balding, white hair what was left, a set of spectacles that made one imagine a printing master, a ruffled tie, loosened shirt neck, and a pin stripe suit, with a vest, a silver vest at that. On his desk a martini glass with a partial load of the proper contents, you don’t tell this man not to drink his martini wherever he wants to have one.

Michael sits down without shaking Roch’s hand, solemn, “I got some shit mucking things down river,” Roch replies, “well tell it like it is.” “This bitch at the 44th precinct is using me, and has the goods on me, set me up last night, has pictures promising to show Ann, very compromising situation internally, well I need not tell you more.” Roch sits back, he has heard this things before from every imaginable angle, no surprise here, “Why is she doing this to you.” Michael rubs his temple, “I was helping her with case, you know that Internet company case, Antoinette, you gave the go ahead to make something of it…” Michael was no dummy, by saying you gave me the go ahead meant that he was marrying Roch to the case and hence the problem, but then Roch was less of a dummy, “Hold on their son you told me you were working on something big and headline grabbing, but I don’t know what that is yet, so don’t embark on any steamroller yet that you aren’t going to be able to drive.” Well I did say that they were good and serious buddies, but remember the old Ambrose Bierce saying, “friendship is a ship that holds two in good times and one in bad times;” we were getting on the bad times ship now. Michael took a few paces back, “yes, I am sorry I took some liberty there, did not mean it to sound like that.” Continuing, “Lauren wanted this woman behind bars for some murder wrap, only problem is we dug up some investment irregularities which implicate the CEO of her company and could, once we release it to the press breakdown many lives, now Lauren has thrown me a curve and wants me to drop the charges but there are already three departments involved, and frankly we are the least important. But if I don’t throw the case and drop the charges Lauren is going to show some compromising photos to Ann, and I don’t thinik, knowing Lauren, that she would stop there.” Roch grabbing his martini confort zone, “and so you want me to stop the investigation?” Michael not wanting to say what he was saying, “yes.”

“Well you’ve really gotten yourself into a hot one now, but let me see how I can help here.” Picks up the phone, requests all the pertinent information on the case. Lawyer Perry a deep hooded intellectual with zero pretensions for dressware enters the office. Both men greet him, Roch speaks, “Perry what’s the low down on the girl and her boss.” Well it seems that she was only involved from the perspective of approving signatory, she probably doesn’t know anything about the insider trading, and if I were to conclude this before a jury or just a judge I would bet that she would come out of it with only a reprimand, but her boss will burn for sure, she is guilty of negligence but he is guilty of a premeditated case of misinformation wholly fashioned to rob investors.” Roch speaks, “can we drop the investigation on the girl?” Perry replies without trying to make sense of the request, “not without halting the entire investigation, Antoinette leads to the CEO, she has to be charged so that we can guarantee her cooperation through a plea bargain.” Roch has won many large battles, another large battle lost inst going to be noticeable in his life, Roch knows that he is where he wants to be in life, if he doesn’t move one more step up he is ok with that, “Perry, can we drop the entire case.” Again Perry is just an academic intellect he just replies, “There is no reason why we can’t drop the investigation right now, we can say that there is not sufficient evidence to bring it to trial, we can even note for emphasis that only 26 percent of these types of fraud cases ever go to trial and of those only 7 percent end in conviction; if we don’t pursue this case we are saving the tax payer money.” While all that sounded good and fine Roch had been in this business far too long, he knew that the academics argued semantics, so when Michael self servingly remarked “That’s wonderful! Lets just drop the case and stop wasting good tax payers money.” Roch interjected, “Perry, what consequences can we expect if we cancel it.” “Well sir, if we cancel the investigation we can’t guarantee that the other investigative departments will do so, I would risk saying that they wont, there are careers to be made from this case, its an Internet company, the players are arrogant, the crime has been committed and should be fairly easy to prove, someone out there, some future major or senator isn’t going to let this go by, this is their case.” Roch knows he has to get more specific and personal, “And if they don’t Mr. Perry?” “Well sir if they don’t let it go we might be investigated for dropping the case. And if we are investigated for that we might be investigated for how we adopted the case in the first place, and my intelligence tells me that there are some serious ethical violations there.” Roch sits back, turns on one of those Cuban revolution blazing cigars, Perry looks on having never sat down, Roch remarks, “Well Mr. Perry as usual you’ve earned your keep, please leave us alone now.” The permissive Mr. Perry, bows his head for both of the men and walks out with sternly puritan grace.

“Michael, let me think about this, I will let you know my position in the morning.” Michael respectfully acknowledges the necessary time lag, and leaves terribly insecure with himself. It just wasn’t all that he expected.

The next day Michael gets to his office, the 24 hour notice is almost up, on his desk is an envelop. “Dear Sir, your services are no longer required, we recommend that you hand in your resignation. Your current case load will either be distributed to your peers or canceled, based on relevance and urgency.” Mr. Allen regrets any inconvenience that this might cause you, and hopes that the separation of services may be amicable, but he expresses his understanding for any feelings which you may express on this matter. The letter was signed, “Department of Human Resources”

Michael called the head office, he had slept with Roch’s secretary and she was rather grateful and still thought that it could mean marriage and subconsciously a change of class status, and so she told him that Roch was indeed in, but had remarked that no calls or visits were to be accepted from Michael. He then called human resources but all they would give him was the accounting clerk so he could make the necessary final payment arrangements. He then went to Perry’s office, Perry welcomed anyone he had no office politics, when he saw Michael arrive he looked from underneath his glasses as one looks at a man that one has secretly condemned to death. Perry did not say a thing, Michael clenching his teeth, “Perry what did the old man say.” Perry was not amused at the lack of greeting, he had never gotten used to the forbidding casualness that Michael often displayed for the lower ranks, “Squeeze me Michael, what are you talking about?” “Well about the case yesterday, the Antoinette case!” Why he was bothering to remind Perry was part of the condescension that was unrelenting in Michael, Perry made it a point again to look from underneath his spectacles as if saying I don’t need this eyeglasses to see right through you, and noted in academic and official defiance, “Michael you know the regulations I can’t talk to you, according to our morning memo your no longer with the organization, and you wouldn’t now ask me to violate regulation by asking me to give you information that is legally within the confines of this department?” Michael rested his hand on the back of the chair as if trying not to punch Mr. Perry, and with his mind all over the place, he responded, “No Mr. Perry there is not a point in us talking, none at all, sorry to have imposed upon you.” With that said both men disregarded each others presence sufficiently to make leaving unnecessary or redundant, still Michael walked out of that building, or should I tell you, he was escorted out with all his belongings in a box and his official badge removed.

Within the hour of Michael’s very strange walkout, Captain Ogle received a call from SEC, it was no other than Roch, the men knew each other, Captain Ogle was not pleased to get the call, he was sure he was going to get yelled at for whatever impropriety, instead he was pleasantly surprise, “Listen I think your holding someone there for us, we have decided to drop the case, it was an irregularities investigation that has hit a dead end, you receive a cease and desist order within the hour, if you could please start the release process, don’t want to keep an innocent person sequestered!” The call ended almost immediately, Captain Ogle felt that his guardian angel was being awful supportive, and he breathed some mighty fresh air.