America 1982-Chapter 154 - 56: The last person to do this was myself

Jim, cigar in hand, pointed at the lawyer Robert Molley sitting across from him, "I don’t give a damn about the method you use! Just make those cheap whores disappear immediately!"

"I’m still investigating through which channels those prostitutes are getting paid by Actor Corporation, Jim. You can’t just brashly drive them away at times like these. It’ll only make Lotus’s public image even worse. You should understand that big companies need to care about their image, so..."

"I don’t need your fucking lessons on how to run a company! Robert! Stop fucking changing the subject. I’m not interested in discussing business insights with you; make those prostitutes disappear! Some newspapers in Massachusetts are already treating this matter like local news. Mitch and Jonathan are so frightened by those vulgar and shameless prostitutes that they need psychological counseling, did you know that? Yesterday, a prostitute who claimed to have AIDS rushed to a spot only three meters from Mitch! Though it later turned out that the woman didn’t have AIDS, Mitch was so scared that he contacted the best private hospital in Boston to arrange a full health check-up at a high price!" Jim said, his gaze sharply fixed on Robert:

"Stop fucking investigating how the prostitutes are getting their money. If I were the one hiring those prostitutes, I could think of ten thousand methods you’d never discover! By the time your people find out, maybe the Soviet Union will have already planted their flag on top of the White House. I don’t need process; I need results, and the result I fucking need right now is for those prostitutes to disappear! And the words I expect to hear from you next had better not be an argument, or else the next thing I’ll be saying to you is that you’re fucking fired. You’ve already made one mistake, did you know that? You fucking told me Actor Corporation hired a nobody law firm, but the reality is that I have the partner of this country’s sixteenth-ranked white-shoe law firm appearing before me, nearly scaring my fucking balls to retract the moment I saw that white-haired chick!"

Seeing Jim’s serious and fierce expression, Robert finally lowered his head, no longer daring to talk back, and after a silence of several seconds, he dialed a phone number, "Leonard, there are about a dozen prostitutes protesting outside Lotus Corporation. I want you to resolve this swiftly. I don’t want the public to associate their expulsion with Lotus Corporation."

The person on the other end of the phone seemed to ponder for a few dozen seconds before saying a few words, and eventually, Robert nodded, "... you can’t just check on the other party’s... Of course, we can’t use prostitutes to do the same thing. Actor Corporation is situated within Stanford University. That’s private property, understand? No need to call the police; Stanford campus police can easily expel the people we find from their turf. And if you gather a bunch of prostitutes to protest in San Francisco, it seems more like helping Actor Corporation gain visibility. Are you still in Warwick City? Got any leads? Okay then, I’ll explain again to the other side."

After hanging up the phone, Robert looked towards Jim Manzi, who was waiting for the outcome, "Jim, it’s best not to drive away those prostitutes."

"I fucking pay a high price to hire you to tell me it’s best not to? Best not to!" Jim loosened his tie, his neck slightly stiffened, looking like he was preparing to harm someone.

"Leonard has experience with these kinds of things, and the other side also has investigators active. The more you do, the more mistakes you make. There are surely their investigators near the prostitutes, ready to record the process of us driving them away in detail. By the time we’re in court, it’s all trouble. I mean, this isn’t something you can simply explain to a judge or jury in a few words. It requires countless witnesses, testimonies, to prove that we had no part in driving away the prostitutes, or that expelling them was fully justified. In other words, this disgusting tactic is intended to provoke you into driving away those women, and if you really do it, you’ll be first to lose a huge number of impression points with the jury," Robert said sincerely to Jim:

"The best option is to have your two bosses take a leave and rest away from the company for a while."

Jim, frustrated, turned around and cursed. At that moment, the phone on Robert’s desk rang again. He glanced at the number, chose not to pick up, and pressed the speakerphone button, "Leonard?"

"The investigator we sent to California has sent back news. It seems there is a disagreement between Tommy Hawk and his lawyer Delia Case. They met at the Four Seasons Hotel café, and although our investigator couldn’t hear their conversation, by observing from a distance and then talking with the café wait staff and other patrons, it seems there is a dispute. Delia returned a check to Tommy Hawk, but he gave it back to her, and then Delia left with a gloomy face. Through the airport connections, we found out that Delia has returned to Washington," Leonard, responsible for Robert’s evidence gathering and investigation, said with a steady voice:

"With the fragmentary information obtained, I suspect that Tommy Hawk or Actor Corporation is planning to change their legal team."

Hearing the voice coming from the phone, Jim immediately stepped forward and asked, "What other characteristics reinforce your suspicion?"

"Actor Corporation recently added two members from the Stanford Law School Fraternity as legal assistants. Before them, Actor only had one part-time law student named Sophia O’Connor. Based on the fragmentary information we’ve collected on campus, Tommy Hawk held a party a few days ago, inviting members of the Law School Fraternity. I suspect it’s very likely ..."

"Very likely that Delia’s service fees are too high, and Actor Corporation can’t afford it financially, so they think that people from Stanford Law School can give them a free service or discount?" Robert Molley’s eyes lit up, he added.

On the phone, Leonard said, "It’s very likely, the check Delia gave to Tommy Hawk was returned to her by Tommy Hawk. I suspect that Tommy Hawk, although unable to continue working with the other party, hoped that Delia Case would keep her mouth shut. The second piece of news is that we’ve learned Actor Corporation seems to be selling their software in Florida and Mississippi. I’ve already arranged for people to go there and find out the specific sales situation. It looks like they’ve chosen to sell via television, without collaborating with chain stores."

"I’ll call you back. This information is very timely. As soon as you get the sales data, let me know immediately," Robert said to Leonard, and after hanging up the phone, he looked at Jim: "We’ve also finally got a new lead. I have a senior brother at the Davis Polk headquarters in New York. Maybe I can have him step in..."

Jim had just been wearing a gloomy and fierce expression, but now he was covering his mouth with his hand, his brows furrowed as he voiced his doubts to Robert: "Why didn’t Actor choose a Stanford Law School alumnus before? Shouldn’t they have known that after hearing Delia Case’s quote, they should’ve gone straight back, holding their pockets tight, to look for a cheaper deal?"

"You mean they are putting on a show for us? Perhaps someone from Stanford Law School noticed the lawsuit and offered help proactively..." Robert offered his opinion.

"Proactively offer help? Have you ever proactively helped someone for free, Robert?" Jim’s grey-blue eyes stared at Robert:

"Without benefit, you damn well wouldn’t help anyone, so I don’t believe the guys from Stanford Law School are any more noble in character than you. Think carefully, what benefits could those people be getting for helping Actor Corporation besides money? What benefit would make Delia prefer to return the money rather than keep it and leave with a frown after getting it?"

"Industry reputation...precedent," Robert said, his eyes lowering and then immediately lifting to meet Jim’s gaze: "Actor Corporation feels that this lawsuit might produce an industry precedent! And the proactive help from Stanford, Delia’s about-face departure, it’s all because of this potential precedent!"

Jim, biting on his cigar, looked at Robert, who seemed to have an epiphany: "That’s your expertise, tell me, does a small company stand a chance at getting a precedent?"

"Defendants and plaintiffs have no size difference, but in the public eye, there are distinctions between the weak and the strong, like United States Steel Corporation on its own, which appears strong. But when it becomes a plaintiff suing the United States Federal Government, it then becomes the weaker party. For the weaker party to get a precedent..." Robert didn’t finish speaking, as if something had struck him:

"Both those states are poor areas in America, full of country bumpkins. Every time there’s a movement in America, the idiots from those places respond stupidly, even if the result will only make their situation worse. But they revel in it. Leonard just mentioned, they use television direct sales to peddle the software; I suspect...Actor is bundling those ignorant people and has already pre-labeled themselves as the weaker party. Most American precedents are born out of beating the odds, the weak conquering the strong. In other words, a precedent is what most Americans want to see, seemingly related to the law, but not really, more like a collective frenzy, with everyone seizing the opportunity to grab the biggest profit possible."

"Sell software to paupers who’ve never even seen a damn computer?" Jim Manzi, with a headache, rubbed his forehead and then picked up his suit jacket: "This guy named Tommy Hawk is really a damn talent. How good must his sales pitch be to pull this off? Last time someone did something like this, it was damn me. I’m going to Florida personally; I have a few friends there."

"You used to sell software to paupers?" Robert asked curiously.

As Jim was putting on his suit jacket and walking out he said, "No, a few months after the successful Apollo 17 mission, I sold some land in Litro State, America, to a bunch of hicks from Montana to start a wheat farm, telling them they could start work at any time. Then we took the money we made to a nightclub."

"Litro State? Where’s that? Does America have that state?" Robert thought about it and had no recollection of such a name.

"On the Moon, it’s the name of a valley on the Moon." Jim walked to the office door, turned around to look at Robert, fastening the buttons of his suit, and said:

"The name isn’t important. What’s important is that the paupers still don’t think I tricked them; they believe the government is corrupt, deliberately delaying the big lunar agricultural development. If Tommy Hawk applies the same trick on those hicks in Florida, it means those rural paupers are turned into his endless cash machines. Anyway, I have to first figure out a way to wipe their advertisements off the televisions, see if there’s any possibility of exposing that guy’s plot and cutting off Actor Corporation’s financial source."