October 22, 2001
"For Marquesa - Takeover"
I've been privileged to make a gift of my previous story, Aunt Celeste to Goddess Marquesa.
This one has been written specially for Her.
There were too many attorneys to fit. The partners accompanied their client to the top of the tower while the associates cooled their heels in the lobby waiting for the elevator to return to the plaza and retrieve them.
Riders to the top of Marquesa Enterprises headquarters enjoyed a beautify view of the city spread out beneath them through the elevators glass walls. On this trip, however, no one was sightseeing. Instead the attorneys were being peppered with questions by their client. To say that an acquisition of this magnitude had a thousand details would be to understate the subject by a factor of at least ten. Even in circumstances like this, where the competition obviously had no choice but to play ball, there were so many factors to be considered, so many contingencies to be evaluated. The proposal for the takeover was the size of a metropolitan phonebook. To the layman it was just as interesting to read. Adam Rose had read every word of it. He had practically committed it to memory. It was, after all, his money. So, as they ascended high above the city, he questioned his well paid, well heeled attorneys to make sure none of them screwed it up. There had to be at least 500 years of combined legal experience in the tiny box. Two former judges, a former senator, several corporate litigators with half a billion dollars worth of jury verdicts under their belts. More legal experience than would be found in the chambers of the Supreme Court. They would not have tolerated being quizzed like half-addled schoolboys by anyone else. For him, however, they tolerated it with good humor by focusing on the tiny percentage of this deal which would be theirs and would allow them to leave behind ostentatious wealth in favor of the truly obscene.
The elevator doors opened onto Marquesa Enterprises' corporate boardroom. A long mahogany table dominated the room with chairs running down the length of either side. At the far end of the table was a wall of windows through which the city and the sea beyond could be seen. Rose stepped confidently from the elevator with his attorneys in tow.
Marquesa was waiting for them, as planned. Adam Rose was not impressed by other people. By himself, very much so, but by others not at all. His rivals accused him of arrogance. He had never given the matter a moment's consideration. His rivals opinions were irrelevant to him. The only aspect of his rivals which interested him were their weaknesses. Those he could use.
Had Rose been impressed by people, he would have been interested, or at least curious, to meet Marquesa. She was his last rival, and his greatest, yet he had never seen her. Few had seen Marquesa. The Wonder of Wall Street they called her. Forbes had featured only a silhouette on its cover when it christened her the Mistress of Manhattan. Reclusive did not begin to do her justice. She was a tangible myth. A legend even. To Rose she was a victory. A final, culminating triumph. Marquesa Enterprises would be the crown jewel in his financial empire once the takeover was complete. He had left The Wonder with no options.
Some things are so unexpected that they go unnoticed initially, even when they are glaringly obvious. Rose, with his phalanx of lawyers, did not realize for a moment that Marquesa was alone. None of her corporate officers, no staff and, most amazing of all, no attorneys. Marquesa approached them, her hand extended. Adam found himself looking into her eyes. They were deep and penetrating. Like the eyes in a painting that follow you, but with infinitely more spark and life. Rose mechanically extended his hand to shake hers. Only when they touched did he realize that he had not been breathing.
The attorneys watched with growing discomfort as Rose and Marquesa shook hands, their eyes locked, neither saying a word. Finally, the senior partner cleared his throat. Nothing. Rose and Marquesa might have been behind a glass wall.
"Shall we get started?" the senior partner asked, anxious to have his money.
Marquesa turned to him and smiled.
"Of course. Please take your seats gentlemen."
Marquesa slipped her hand from Adam's and walked to the large leather chair at the center of one side of the table. Adam stared after her, unmoving until his lead attorney put a hand on his shoulder. After a moment, Adam nodded and started walking unsurely toward the chair opposite her. The attorneys opened their briefcases and place their copies of the proposal on the table before them. Extra copies were placed before Adam and Marquesa.
As the lead attorney began taking them, page by page through the takeover proposal, Adam found himself staring at Marquesa. She fingered a crystal at the end of her necklace, turning it this way and that so that it caught the light. Adam was unable to look away from it as the light dazzled his eyes. It seemed to grow, filling his field of vision until he felt as though it enclosed him.
"Gentlemen," Marquesa interrupted as the attorneys led them through page 84 of the proposal.
"I think Mr. Rose and I could settle things quite amiably ourselves without taking up any more of your time . Perhaps a long meeting this afternoon to work out the particulars and then we could put the finishing touches on an agreement this evening... Over dinner perhaps. Don't you agree, Mr. Rose?"
Adam saw only the flickering light of the crystal as the light reflected from its facets.
"Yes," he heard himself say, though he was far away at the time, "Thank you, gentlemen, you may go."
There was stunned silence around the table. The lead attorney, the senior partner, the closest thing Adam Rose had to a friend and mentor leaned in and said, "Adam? What are you doing? You can't just..."
"The will be all Walter. Ms. Marquesa and I will handle it from here. Go."
With a heavy sigh, Walter nodded. The other attorneys packed their briefcases and filed to the elevator.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Adam." Walter whispered before he too snapped his briefcase shut and departed.
"We're finally alone, Mr. Rose... Adam."
Marquesa's voice was soothing... Rhythmic. The flashes of light from the crystal seemed to pulse with her words.
"You are very relaxed, Adam. Very calm. You are focused solely on the sound of my voice."
"You yearn for the sound of my voice, Adam. It fills you. You have no past.. No future... You exist solely in the moment."
"Your mind, Adam... It empties... My words are your thoughts... Do you understand."
"I... Yes... Yes, I understand."
"That is very good, Adam. Very, very good. You are doing very well."
Marquesa's praise went to the core of him. He longed for her approval and receiving it was his ecstasy.
"Now, the crystal will fade. You can see again. You are here with me again. Do you see me?"
Adam nodded, "Yes, Marquesa, I can see you now."
"Very good. You are under my control now. It has always been. It will always be. You cannot conceive of anything else. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Marquesa."
Marquesa pressed a button under the table. A young woman, her assistant, entered.
"Now, Adam," she said with a smile, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to postpone our afternoon meeting. You see, I have a spa appointment that I simply can't cancel. You do understand, don't you?"
"Of course, Marquesa, please don't let me be a bother for you."
Marquesa laughed, "Oh, don't worry, darling. I won't. Now, if you'll accompany my assistant Angela, she will show you to a... Waiting room."
Angela took Adam's arm and led him from the room. She took him into an elevator and then down, many floors to the ground and then farther still to a subterranean level beneath Marquesa's headquarters. Their feet clumped against the metal grating floor. Angela opened a low metal door to reveal a metal-walled closet, a large locker. It was bare and featureless.
"Marquesa wants you to wait in here."
Adam nodded and stepped inside. The locker was barely wider than his shoulders. It was so shallow that when Angela closed the door behind him it pressed against his bottom as the tip of his nose touched the wall before him. Adam heard Angela turn the lock behind him. Then there was darkness, complete and total, as Angela switched off the light.
As Adam spent the afternoon in utter darkness dreaming of Marquesa, she was whisked by limousine to her spa for a day of pampering. A manicure and facial, a massage and time in the sauna. To the extent she thought of Adam at all, Marquesa was amused at the thought of him waiting patiently for her in the dark. She had enjoyed taking his mind. Emptying it and filling him with her will. He had been so arrogant during the negotiations leading up to their meeting. So sure of his power and the inevitability of his success. Perhaps, before it was over, she would bring him back toward awareness. Not all the way, certainly, but enough so she could enjoy the look on his face when he realized all that he had lost. So she could taunt him a bit. It was petty, perhaps, but it would be so delicious.
"Marquesa has returned."
Angela had come for him. After hours in the darkness, Adam blinked in the bright light as he stepped back out of the locker. Angela led him upstairs again, this time to Marquesa's penthouse. Again, she was waiting for him, looking refreshed from her day of relaxation.
"Good evening, Adam. I trust you found you were well cared for in my absence," Marquesa said with a smirk.
"Oh, yes, Marquesa, thank you. You look beautiful. I hope you enjoyed your time at the spa," Adam said enthusiastically.
Marquesa laughed, "I did, Adam, very much. Now, before dinner, we just need to take care of a few detail regarding the takeover. Please come here."
Adam joined Marquesa at her desk. She gestured to three documents which lay on the top.
"These first two have been drafted by my attorneys, Adam. I'm sure they meet with your approval."
Adam nodded, "Yes, of course, Marquesa."
"Now, this first one transfers all of your corporate assets to Marquesa Enterprises."
"May I sign it now, Marquesa?"
Marquesa winked at Angela who was watching with amusement.
"Such enthusiasm, Adam. Very well, you may sign it now."
Without hesitation, as if he were hurrying to take advantage of Marquesa's generous offer, Adam took a pen from the desk and signed his name to the paper. Marquesa then drew his attention to the second document.
"This one, Adam, is a personal agreement between the two of us. It gives me power of attorney to dispose of your personal assets as I see fit. Sign at the bottom."
"Yes, Marquesa," Adam said as he signed over his personal fortune.
"And now, Adam, I'm afraid this last is your suicide note. You see, without your wealth and power you became quite despondent. A tragedy really... You may sign that one as well.
Adam complied without a thought, endorsing his own death as Marquesa required. Having done so, he laid the pen down on the desk and looked lovingly at Marquesa.
"That's very good, Adam. You've done very well today."
"Thank you, Marquesa!"
"Shall we celebrate with dinner?" Marquesa asked, taking his arm and leading him toward the table which had been set for two. She allowed Adam to seat her but, as he was about to take his seat opposite her, Marquesa stopped him.
"Angela, would you care to join me for dinner?"
Smiling broadly, Angela answered, "I'd be delighted, Ma'am."
"Adam, seat my guest. Then you may kneel quietly beside us."
The two of them shared a lovely dinner, acknowledging Adam only when their wine glasses needed to be filled. Eventually, the hour grew late and Marquesa dismissed Angela for the day. Marquesa walked across to her desk. Opening the humidor, she took a cigar, lit it and settled into her chair. Leaning back, she enjoyed her cigar and looked out on the city. Her city. Adam continued to kneel quietly beside the now empty table.
"Adam... Fetch me an ashtray."
Adam hurried to bring her a crystal ashtray. At a gesture from her hand, Adam knelt beside Marquesa's chair, holding the ashtray up for her use. As she puffed her cigar Marquesa absentmindedly stroked Adam's hair.
"What shall I do with you," she murmured contentedly.
It would be a simple enough matter to have him dispose of himself. That was how she had handled vanquished foes in the past. Still, he was an amusement to her. So eager to please. He looked so adorable kneeling there in his rumpled business suit. It was pleasurable to see him broken before her. She had intended to torture him if he had resisted, but his little mind had fallen so easily it had not proved necessary. Perhaps she would keep him around for awhile. Enjoy her victory a little before dispatching him and moving on to her next takeover. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Adam looking up at her with utter devotion.
"Eyes down, boy," she said without harshness and she was gratified at how quickly he complied. Yes, she would keep him for now. After all, the suicide note wasn't dated.