Universally Challenged

by Anna Bell

  ‘I don’t want you to ruin the deal. Take your stuff, get back on the plane and go back to the London office. I do not want to see you in here again.’

  Jess was shocked. The Roger of last night, all schmooze and flirtations, was well and truly gone. Jess was no longer part of the imagined dream team. She wondered if she’d have better luck phoning her UK boss, but she didn’t even know who he was. She’d never even spoken to him and wouldn’t know where to start.

  Jess got out of her chair and walked out of the office, with her tail between her legs.

  She looked over at Jake’s empty desk and walked over to it. She knew he must be due in at any moment. She couldn’t face having a confrontation with him now, not after what had happened with Roger.

  She took her phone out of her bag and rang Jake. Predictably it went through to voicemail. She couldn’t leave another message. She hung up and had to go to the last resort, leaving an old-fashioned note.

  She took out the deeds from her bag. They had scribbled annotations on the bits in question from Professor Zhang. She scribbled a note for Jake.

  Jake,

  I’ve tried to tell this to Roger but he won’t listen to me. These deeds have been mistranslated by SinoDam, I had them retranslated at NYU. They’re not for the dams, they are for small factories. The dams have not been built. They don’t exist in reality, they’re not on Google Maps and I checked with a family I know who live in one of the provinces and not only is there not a dam, but there’s never been one and they don’t plan to have one. I believe the only dam that exists is the one I supposedly visited outside Shanghai.

  Don’t let Roger sign the investment.

  Jess.

  Jess had to stop herself from writing anything about what she felt for him or about Elodie. Right now her priority was to stop the SinoDam deal, as she needed to save her professional reputation.

  Chapter 37 Jessica Anderson

  Jessica wasn’t paying attention to where she was going. She just knew that she had to put some distance between herself and Benjy. The fight that she’d had with him was going round and round in her mind. She couldn’t believe that he would risk his whole future for the dream of making it big in the band. She’d clearly supported the dream for the last seven years. If it was going to happen, surely it would have happened by now. He was going to have to face facts sooner or later.

  She wondered what she was going to do. She never in a million years thought this would have happened if she’d married Benjy. She thought he’d get a job like normal people and forget about wanting to be a rock star. She’d never thought he’d still be trying to make it happen.

  She wondered if she was being selfish, too. After all she was his wife, she was supposed to be his biggest cheerleader and support him in what he chose to do.

  She sighed loudly, causing the business men and women to give her a wide berth on the pavement. She looked up at them, realising for the first time where she was. She recognised that she was in the financial district and that she was probably only a few blocks away from LMG Global. Typical, she thought.

  She remembered for the first time since seeing Benjy about the SinoDam deal and Jake. She knew she’d told herself hours earlier that she wasn’t going to see Jake again, but she still felt she owed it to him to tell him about the lack of dams on Google maps. After all, Jake had done a lot to help her over the last few days.

  She looked at her watch; it was almost 2pm. The SinoDam meeting was at 3pm. If she hurried she should just be able to catch him.

  She couldn’t believe the irony that she and Benjy had apparently been to the very province in China where one of these dams was supposed to have been built.

  Jessica thought back to what Benjy had said in the restaurant the night before about their visit to China, and how that had spurred him to say they should visit Eric Wen in Wisconsin. She hadn’t given it a second thought at the time. Eric was one of Benjy’s good friends from college. He was from China, and as far as Jessica remembered he used to visit family in China. Jessica wondered if it was his relatives she’d seen in the photos in the photo album.

  Jessica hadn’t really known him very well. They’d met on a few occasions, but she wasn’t friends with him on Facebook or anything.

  Benjy and Eric were clearly still friends with each other, as he’d mentioned visiting him soon. Jessica pulled out her mobile phone and went through the contacts hoping that she was friends with him, too. Then she saw his name: Eric Wen.

  Jessica didn’t hesitate before selecting his number and pressing call. It wasn’t until she heard the ring tone that she wondered what she was going to say.

  ‘Hi, Jess,’ said Eric answering the phone.

  ‘Hi, Eric, how are you?’ asked Jessica, suddenly wondering what she’d done.

  ‘Good, thanks. Is everything ok with you? Benjy ok?’

  ‘Yes, yes, everything’s fine with us,’ she said, lying. ‘Um, this will come a little out of left field. I’ve been helping a friend with a business investment and they’re making a big deal with a Chinese company. It’s just that they say that they’ve built all these dams, and I can’t see them on Google Maps. And I wondered if maybe your family knew of it? As I think it was the same province where Benjy and I visited.’

  Jessica hoped she’d got the story right, and it was Eric’s relatives in the picture, or else this would have been the world’s most random conversation.

  ‘Ok, where was the dam supposed to be?’

  ‘On the lake at Poyang .’

  Jessica waited as Eric was clearly mulling it over.

  ‘Hmm, I don’t think so, Jess. I was there last summer with Julie and the kids, and something like that would have been huge to the community. Is it important?’

  ‘Fairly.’

  ‘Ok, I’ll Skype my uncle tomorrow morning.’

  Jessica’s heart sank. She needed to know now. ‘Um, the deal is in an hour.’

  ‘An hour? Jess, it’s 3am in China at the moment, they’ll be fast asleep.’

  ‘Ok, well thanks. What you’ve said has been really helpful,’ said Jessica.

  ‘Hang on. I’ll see if I can text my brother. He’s living over in Beijing, but he’ll be able to look online. That’s if we’re lucky and he is still up. He’s a bit of a gamer, so there’s a chance.’

  ‘Thanks, Eric. That would be amazing.’

  ‘No worries. I’ll call you back in a bit.’

  Jessica couldn’t contain her sudden nervousness. She couldn’t believe in all her research that she’d taken the existence of the dams on trust. She was always so thorough.

  She walked slowly to the LMG Global building. She couldn’t risk calling Jake and telling him what was going on in case she missed Eric’s call. When she got to the plaza outside the building she took refuge on the shady concrete tree pot where she’d sat five days earlier, when she was trying to work out what the hell was going on with her life. She couldn’t believe it was only five days ago, it seemed like years.

  After what seemed like an eternity, but according to her phone clock was only ten minutes, her phone rang.

  ‘Hi, Eric.’

  ‘Hey, Jessica, now you are one lucky woman. My brother was up and he, like me, knew nothing of the deal. He did a quick search online looking at local news reports and the local party office and there is no information about the dam. I think you’re friend can be pretty certain that there is no dam in Jiangxi province.’

  ‘I really appreciate that, Eric, thank you so much for taking the time.’

  ‘No problem, Jess. Well, give my love to Benjy, and you two have to promise you’ll head out and see us soon. I know Julie would love to have you.’

  ‘And we’d love to see you all, too. Give your family my love.’

  Jessica heard Eric click his end of the receiver down. She couldn’t believe it. Months of working on that deal and it was about to unravel after a thirty-second phone call.

  She tried Jake on the phone again but it went s
traight through to answer phone. She looked up a the LMG Global building and decided all she could do was try and speak to him face to face.

  The nerves hit her as soon as she went through the revolving doors. She felt the eyes of the security guard and the receptionist on her immediately. At least she was in a less revealing dress and a bra, which was more than she’d been wearing on her previous trip to the building.

  She walked up to the receptionist, who had one hand on her earpiece and held her finger up to Jessica to signal for her to wait, while she continued to connect calls. After a suitably long wait, the receptionist spoke. ‘And what can I do for you today?’

  Jessica knew the receptionist had recognised her from earlier in the week.

  ‘I wanted to see Jake Harrington, please.’

  ‘And is he expecting you?’ she asked, in her frosty tone.

  ‘No, but he’ll see me. Tell him it is Jessica Anderson, and it’s urgent.’

  ‘Ok Mrs Anderson, I’ll try him.’

  That sounded wrong, it was either Miss Anderson or Mrs Burns.

  ‘He’s not picking up his phone. Guess he’s busy.’

  ‘Can you try another line? Check where he is? It is really urgent.’

  The receptionist sighed loudly and tapped heavily at the keys of the phone.

  ‘Hi, Charlie, it’s Anouska from the front desk... yes, I’m well, yes... yes.’

  Jessica rolled her eyes as Anouska flirted with whoever Charlie was. Jessica cleared her throat and wondered if that might remind Anouska why she was on the phone to Charlie in the first place. ‘Listen, Charlie, I’ve got someone at reception wanting to speak to Jake. Is he in? Aha... oh... yeah, yeah. Ok. Thanks... yes, you, too.’

  When she finally hung up the phone Jessica looked at her slightly opened mouthed as she didn’t appear to be very forthcoming with relaying the information from the conversation.

  ‘Right, Jake isn’t in.’

  ‘Ok, well did he say when he’d be back or is he back in today?’

  ‘Apparently he’ll be coming in a bit later.’

  ‘Right, can I leave him a message? Do you have a pen and paper I could write on?’

  Anouska gave Jessica a look which made her wonder what she’d asked for. The look on her face was if Jessica had asked her to part with an arm. Anouska bent down underneath the desk and bought up a pad of paper. She almost threw it at Jessica.

  ‘Thanks,’ said Jessica.

  Dear Jake,

  I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think the SinoDam investment is a bad deal. I know that you don’t know me very well, but you should trust me on this. I’ve been studying SinoDam for months, and on paper they look fabulous. But when you go on Google Maps only the little dam just south of Shanghai is built, the rest in the five locations in the provinces are not. I’ve checked with a friend whose relatives live near the lake in one of the provinces and he says there isn’t a dam there.

  I just want to stop you from making a terrible mistake with the deal.

  Please phone me. I’ll be at the coffee shop across the road if you need me.

  Jessica Anderson.

  Jessica read over the letter. She knew if she was in Jake’s position and she received the same letter she’d crumple it up and throw it in the bin. She hoped unlike her that he’d go with his gut. Jessica was always too sensible and followed what the figures told her.

  ‘Right, have you got an envelope for this to go in?’

  The receptionist looked at her again with a death stare, before bending down and retrieving an envelope.

  Jessica folded the letter neatly inside, and addressed the envelope. Marking the outside with the words URGENT in bold and underlining it three times just to make sure he got the point.

  ‘I’ll give that to him when he gets in then. He’s just dropping his girlfriend Elodie off.’

  Jessica looked up at the receptionist, who suddenly had a small, smug smile on her face replacing her frosty pout.

  ‘His girlfriend?’ Jessica hadn’t really meant to say it out loud. She didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of looking any more smug.

  ‘Yes, Elodie, his long-term girlfriend.’

  ‘Right, well, can you make sure he gets that? It’s business related and very important.’

  ‘Yes,’ she purred. ‘I see that, it does after all have urgent written on the outside of it. I may be a receptionist, but I reckon I can read that.’

  It took all of Jessica’s inner strength not to be rude, but she needed the receptionist to deliver the note. It was the last chance for the deal to be stopped.

  ‘Thanks,’ said Jessica.

  ‘You’re welcome,’ said Anouska, before she went back to her flashing switchboard.

  Jessica walked out of the lobby and tried to process the new information. Surely it shouldn’t hurt her that much to find out that he had a girlfriend? Two hours ago she was swearing off never seeing him again, and now here she was feeling like her heart was breaking in two.

  She walked out through the revolving doors and wondered just how everything had gone wrong. Yesterday she was trying to choose between two men, and now she didn’t feel that she had either.

  Chapter 38 - Jess Burns

  Jess looked at her watch. It was after 3pm: the meeting would have already started. She wondered whether Roger had had a last minute change of heart or whether Jake had read the note and acted on it. Either way it would be happening right now.

  She wished she hadn’t appealed to Roger the second time. She could have been in the meeting right now, disrupting it for herself. Instead, she was walking aimlessly back to her hotel, where she’d remain all by herself until her flight tomorrow night.

  She didn’t want to think of that, not yet. She couldn’t quite accept that she had to go back to a life in London that she didn’t know. It was far too scary and real for her liking.

  She reached into her bag to check her phone for messages. She knew it was probably too early to see one from Jake, but she was desperate to find out what had happened with the deal. She dug deeper into the bag, but she couldn’t find it. She racked her brains, trying to work out when she’d last had it, and then she remembered she’d used it just before she’d written Jake the note. She must have left it on his desk.

  She’d obviously got so distracted and flustered from Roger that she hadn’t noticed it when she’d hurried away to the lifts.

  She wondered if Jake would bring it back to her unprompted. Surely if he found it on his desk he would? But then that could take hours, and if the meeting ran long he might go straight home. Or what if they went ahead with the deal and went out to celebrate after? She thought with her flight the next day she had to make sure she got her Blackberry back today.

  Which left her no option other then to go back to get it. She could just sneak upstairs and make sure she was in and out before Roger spotted her.

  She didn’t think she could face walking all the way back to LMG in the oppressive heat and instead stuck her hand out and flagged down a cab.

  Jess wondered if the meeting would still be going on as she waltzed into the revolving doors as she pushed herself round. She realised that Jake was going round the doors in the opposite direction.

  Jess watched him walking out in to the plaza and she pushed the bar in front of her harder to catch up.

  ‘Jake,’ she shouted when she got outdoors. He turned round slowly. His face looked furious.

  Jess stared at the box. Instinctively, Jess knew he’d been fired. People didn’t walk around at 3pm in the afternoon with a large brown box for any other reason.

  Jake didn’t say anything. He looked to be gritting his teeth. Jess noticed his tie had been loosened and his brow was lightly glistening with sweat. She tried to fight the instinct she had to run up and hug him; he did after all have a girlfriend.

  ‘I think I left my phone upstairs,’ said Jess, feebly.

  She watched as Jake supported the box with one hand and dug in the box w
ith the other. He pulled out Jess’ Blackberry and threw it at her.

  She caught it and looked at him. He wasn’t moving away from her, yet he obviously was not going to initiate this conversation, either.

  ‘Did you get my message?’

  Jake laughed out loud with some kind of scary laugh that made Jess jump. ‘Did I get your message? Yes, Jess, I got your message. And you know what, as much as you have been crazy like a coconut this entire week, I did act on your advice.’

  Jess stared at the cardboard box and saw what had come from taking her advice.

  ‘So they didn’t believe you?’

  Jake sighed. ‘Well, let’s see. We sat down at the conference table and the SinoDam representatives came along. I asked them a few questions and then I pulled out the land deeds and started asking them about it. I mentioned Clarity and I saw them visibly tense. I actually thought from their reactions that they were going to crumble and confess to being fraudsters, they looked that shifty.’

  ‘So what happened? Did Roger get mad?’

  Jake shook his head. ‘Not at first. I mean he didn’t look like he was going to crack open the champagne, but he didn’t look like he was going to kill me, either. But before he got a chance to jump in, the head SinoDam guy, Ling, got up and announced that they didn’t need to sit around and be talked to like that. They then all stood up and Ling told us that they didn’t need our investment as they’d had an offer from PRT and they decided to sign with them.’