Game Player

9 - Cal

"Maggie can you please arrange a meeting with Alex for me today? Here's her business card." Cal handed over Alex's card to his PA.

"No problems Cal." She smiled up at him sweetly and put her hands to the collar of her blouse which was inappropriately unbuttoned and showing more than a professional amount of cleavage. She batted her lashes at him and asked suggestively, "anything else?"

"Only that if you don't get one booked in today or you get no response then please let me know. I really need to have this meeting today if possible."

"Okaayyy," she sing-songed then licked her lips suggestively and shifted in her seat so he could get a better view of her exposed thighs.

How on earth had Mario, his predecessor, worked with her? She was outrageous! He was not surprised though given the various reasons why Mario's exit had been speedy and hushed - change in direction, wanted to spend time with his family - was the official word. If Maggie is the type and caliber of Mario's hires then Cal will have problems on his hands. He didn't debate that she was a looker and maybe, in a different scenario, he may have found those legs wrapped around him and going at her like a bunny rabbit. However, in this setting, she was highly inappropriate and he needed to remove her.

After two weeks she was already driving him crazy with all her sexual innuendos. It was exhausting and like dodging bullets. He had to admit that she did do her job very well but she made him feel uncomfortable and he was going to speak to HR about it.

Returning back to his desk, he decided that he would do some research into his competition. Cal looked up Alex's profile on LinkedIn, it was impressive. Computer Science graduate from MIT where, according to her blurb, the brainchild for Datamix was born. She'd done a few stints in tech companies in the US then finally headed back to Australia and partnered with David to start up Datamix, which now dominated the Australasian market. He wondered what the relationship there was. They seemed professional but very familiar with each other when he met them. Going by the timelines it would mean she was about three years his junior and very smart.

According to David's profile, he was no dimwit either. MBA from Cambridge and had been in highfalutin management roles in both the UK and Sydney. He concluded that these two were going to be formidable and to not underestimate them.

Cal knew that they must realise that their key selling point is their price and their agility. According to Geoff, their software fundamentally did the same thing as xByte but with some key features that would seem to suit Serkos' requirements more. This means that his team will need to add these capabilities into their offerings as quickly as possible and keep an even closer eye on Datamix software releases over the coming months. It will be a game of technology chess. If he was to gamble, he'd hedge his bets and say Serkos would have gone for Datamix outright if they weren't so much of an unknown to the European market.

Next, he Googled her and David to see what he could find. A few articles and press pictures, some of her at events with David and some with the guy she was talking to at the restaurant launch. Other than that, Alex was still a mystery. Well, he did know that she was feisty. He wondered if she played as dirty outside the sheets as in.

Smirking, he was about to send an email to Geoff when Maggie burst through his door unannounced. "Don't you knock Maggie?" He looked up surprised.

"Oh I thought you wouldn't mind....," she said coyly.

"Well I do mind so next time always knock." Curiously he asked, "didn't you knock when Mario was here?"

"Oh, Mario never minded what I did. He was always happy to see me - I always made him happier by the time I left." She gave him a suggestive look. "I could make you happy too?" She batted her eyelashes and, reaching down, started to lift the hem of her skirt.

"STOP!" He roared, "What the fuck is going on?!" He looked at her with disgust. "Get the fuck out of my office right now and you can pack your things and leave." He buzzed security. "Please come up and escort Maggie Shore out of here in fifteen minutes!" He was fuming.

"Asshole!" She glared at him and stomped off.

Great! Now he had no PA. Cal dialed Geoff's number.

"Hi, Cal!"

"Geoff have you ever had issues with Maggie?"

"What kind of issues?"

"The, 'I'm going jump your bones' type."

"Oh....she's tried it on you too?"

"So she's tried it on you? And why didn't you stop it?"

"Well she was Mario's PA and it was only a flirtatious comment which I just brushed off. I never heard of any other complaints so assumed it was a one-off," Geoff paused. "Was it a lot more serious for you?"

"Serious enough that I fired her on the spot - she was about to show me the contents under her skirt. Which is why I'm calling as I need Celia to help me while I get HR to find at least a temp replacement."

"No problems, she can split her duties and we'll just have to get by for a while.....Also, have you caught up with either Alex or David yet? We need to nail out some of the details and get the MSA started." Geoff asked.

"I asked Maggie to make arrangements today but fired her before I knew if she'd completed the task or not." He sighed.

"Ok, I'll get Celia to make arrangements for us." Geoff offered.

"No!" Cal interjected too quickly. "I'd rather meet up with her...and David, first on my own.....to gauge what they're like and see if we can truly work together." Cal attempted to justify his reasoning.

"Cal...." Geoff warned.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"I'm your best friend and I've known you since our Harvard days - you don't think I'm aware of your appetite for beautiful women? But you need to leave this one alone.....you can't fuck this up by thinking with your dick! If you don't screw this up then the top dog position could be yours in a year. Not to forget the shit you had to go through and the upheaval you had to make to get to London! I shouldn't even need to be telling you this!" He sounded pissed off.

"You don't need to worry and I won't fuck it up! And you're right - you don't need to be telling me this. I know full well what's at stake." He said annoyed but determining that the events that took place with Alex were before he knew who she was and there was no need to worry Geoff about it.

"Good to hear. I'll get Celia to arrange it then. Also, are you up for a drink after work?"

"Sure, where?"

"New pub around the corner called Birds & Bees, quite appropriate for our conversation don't you think?" Geoff chuckled. "A few of us are heading down around six."

"Ok, see you there later," Cal confirmed.

'Oh hold on one second...I just got an invite from Alex's PA to meet with her tomorrow at 3 p.m. I'll forward you the invite and you can tag along?"

"No, she obviously wants to meet you by yourself for some reason. Get Celia to carry on with arrangements....actually, I'll just do it myself. Catch you later." Cal hung up and dialed Alex's number but it went to voicemail so he texted her instead.

Hi Alex,
It's Cal. I'd like to meet
you to discuss how this
partnership might work
on this deal. Are you free
tomorrow morning at 10?
Talk soon.
C

He waited patiently for a reply and got one thirty minutes later.

Dave's PA will be in touch.

She needs to learn a thing or two about politeness he thought and wondered if she's also trying to avoid him. Going back to his screen, he hammered at the keys in frustration and couldn't wait for 6 p.m. to roll around fast enough.

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