“I’ll try and be patient.”
“You? Never!”
“I said ‘try.’ ”
“I’ll be in touch,” she said, and they both hung up.
Stone called Joan in New York.
“Hi, boss. Coming home anytime soon?”
“Tomorrow, I think. Listen. Did that guy, Kronk, leave a number with you?”
“Yes.”
“Call him and see if you can make me a date with him in my office, the day after tomorrow. Tell him I may have a solution to our problem.”
“Will do. Ten am or two pm?”
“Ten. Let’s get it over with.” He hung up.
Five minutes later, Joan called back. “You’re on with Kronk for ten am the day after tomorrow.”
“Good.” As he hung up, he heard people come in the front door. Shep and Rod entered the study.
“What did you think of the house?”
“I loved it. I offered them nine million, furnished, and they accepted.”
“When do you want to close?”
“As soon as possible.”
“I’m going back to New York tomorrow morning, and I have a meeting with Kronk the following day. Let’s wait until after that to set a closing. I’ll get the Woodman & Weld office to have an attorney in the L.A. office to close for you.”
“When will we be able to leave here?”
“Let’s see how the meeting with Kronk goes, then we’ll have a better idea.”
“All right.”
“The pool next door is available now, if you’d like a swim.”
“Great idea.”
“There are swimsuits in your chests of drawers in your rooms.”
“Join us?”
“I’m in the middle of a good book,” Stone said. “I’ll stick with that.”
They went to change, and Stone’s phone rang. “Yes?”
“It’s Joan. I just wanted to say that the gentleman, Kronk, sounded very happy about meeting with you. I was surprised, since he looks like such an unhappy man.”
“Thanks for letting me know,” Stone said. He hung up and wondered if Kronk being happy was good or bad for him.
Forty-Five
Stone arrived back at Teterboro late the following afternoon, and Fred met him in the hangar and drove him home. On the way in, Stone called Dino.
“Bacchetti.”
“I’m nearly home. Do you still get hungry in the evenings?”
“I do, and the wife is abroad. Patroon at seven?”
“You’re on.”
Over their first drink, Stone brought Dino up to date on the Kronk situation.
“You think that will work?” Dino asked.
“I think he’s probably as weary as we are by now. It just might work.”
“The more I hear about Kronk, the more worried I get,” Dino said.
“You hear about Kronk?”
“I didn’t, until I started paying attention and asking questions. One thing I learned is that our Italian-American mob friends are scared shitless of him.”
“What are their reasons?”
“They’ve had a couple of deals go wrong. Kronk reacted badly. They lost some people, and painfully.”
“Just what I wanted to hear when I’m about to start dealing with him.”
“Explain ‘dealing.’ ”
“We’re going to offer to sell him the patents.”
“The only problem with that is,” Dino pointed out, “that he believes he already owns them.”
“Well, there is that.”
“I believe that he could take an offer to sell them to him as an affront, so you’d better be very, very careful.”
“Oh, I’ll just be my usual, affable self.”
“I’m not sure charm will be enough.”
“We’ll have to see.”
“All right,” Dino said. “Let’s write ourselves a little scene. I’ll start.”
“Okay.”
They pretended to negotiate for a moment, but got nowhere. “You’re being intractable,” Stone said.
“That’s right,” Dino said, “I am. Do you think Kronk is going to be more tractable?”
“You have a point,” Stone said.
“I think you need to let him know, right off the bat, that you’re not going to be a pushover.”
“I’ll think about that,” Stone said, and they ordered dinner.
The following morning, promptly at ten, Joan showed Kronk into Stone’s office. He didn’t even look at Stone. “All right, Barrington, you asked for this meeting, what’s on your mind?”
“I thought we might try and reach an accommodation that would be beneficial to both you and my client.”
“I’ll tell you what will be beneficiaclass="underline" give me the patents and a release.”
“And what would you give us?”
“Your balls, to keep.”
“That’s not an accommodation, that’s a threat.”
“I’m glad you recognize it for what it is.”
“If you persist in this manner, I’ll tell you what we’ll give you, if there’s no accommodation.”
“You? Give me?”
“My client will sit down at any computer in the world, enter a series of codes, and shut down every factory you are operating. The coded machinery will become nothing more than a rusting pile of scrap metal, and that will be its only value. Now, from that position, calculate the loss of your investment and of all the income you would have derived from it, if you had been more tractable.”
“Tractable? What does this mean?”
“Cooperative. Nicer, even.”
Kronk glowered at him. Then Stone thought his shoulders slumped just a bit. “What number would your client deem ‘tractable’?”
“My client feels that the value of the patents and the software is equal to that of the factories.”
“You’re saying he wants another two hundred fifty million dollars?”
“I think I might be able to persuade him to be tractable.”
“I’ll offer him another hundred fifty million,” Kronk said.
Stone shrugged. “I can’t promise an outcome, but I’ll put your offer to him today.”
“I know you have his authority to make a deal. I want your answer now.”
Stone buzzed Joan. “Print a copy of the patent transfer, and insert the figure of one hundred fifty million dollars.”
“I won’t be a moment,” Joan said.
Stone and Kronk sat and stared at each other for three or four minutes.
Suddenly, Kronk spoke, “What do you think of an Italian restaurant called Mama Leoni’s?” he asked. “It has been recommended to me.”
“I think it closed many years ago,” Stone said. “Instead, try Caravaggio, on East Seventy-Fourth Street.”
“Like the painter?”
“Exactly.”
“Is it very good?”
“Yes, and it has the charm of being open.”
Joan bustled in with the contract and handed them each a copy.
“You may wish to consult your attorney,” Stone said.
“I am an attorney,” Kronk said. “In my spare time.” He signed the contracts and handed them to Stone. Stone signed both copies and handed him back one.
“Now,” Stone said. “Let’s close this meeting as we began it, with a threat: if any move is made against my client, his properties, or me and mine, he retains the ability to shut you down.”
“And he expects me to trust him?”
“He trusted you not to burn down his properties. Would you like to make an offer for the land?”
“I would not,” Kronk said. “I will be happy with these.” He held up the contract. “And the patents, if you please.”
Stone buzzed Joan. “Bring me the patents, please.”
Joan entered Stone’s office, crossed it, went into the back room and returned shortly with the leather envelope. “There you are, sir.”