Chapter 25
ISAAC
Ihad postponed my trip to Chicago. Being with Jasmine had made my life confusing, and I wasn’t sure which direction was up anymore. So I stuck around Egypt and worked on polishing up the presentation Joseph and I would show the GlobalStar board of directors.
Now the big day was here, and we stood in the GlobalStar conference room, giving our pitch. So far, things had gone well. Basel seemed pleased, although the other board members were a little more difficult to read.
As Joseph clicked on the final slide of our presentation, my mouth went completely dry, but I managed to force out the final sentence of my closing remarks without sounding like I was about to have a heart attack.
“That concludes our proposal for Phase One of the GlobalStar Industrial Complex. Thank you.”
The rendering filled the enormous screen behind us, complete with shaded arcades, Mashrabiya-inspired facades woven into steel frameworks, and towers that would help cool the working spaces naturally.
It was everything we’d wanted it to be, incorporating industrial efficiency into architecture that wouldn’t turn that part of Sharm into an eyesore.
Silence fell over the conference room as the board members considered the design on the screen. Joseph shifted beside me and I clasped my hands behind my back to keep from fidgeting. Our nerves were frayed, but we’d done our very best.
He and I had spent two weeks in Sharm El-Sheikh, measuring every inch of Basel’s proposed industrial development and perfecting our plans for every single one of them.
This was a masterpiece, but since I was a contractor and not a GlobalStar employee, I was technically only tossing my hat into the ring to be considered for this project.
It should’ve been an automatic win, but even with Basel’s support, the board could still decide to go in a different direction. That was what today was about. And why I felt the air whoosh out of me when the doors opened and David fucking Maher walked in.
He wore a charcoal suit with that smug smirk on his lips that never seemed to leave them when I was in the room, and unfortunately, a small army came in behind him.
They were equally polished, and since they were carrying blueprint tubes and laptops, I could only assume that he would be entering a competing proposal.
I glanced at Basel but his expression hadn’t changed. It was still completely unreadable as David greeted several of the other board members by name. He shook hands with the rest before taking a seat along the opposite wall, evidently waiting for his turn to present.
Joseph leaned toward me and whispered, “I don’t like this.”
I gave him a nod I hoped was imperceptible to everyone else, then turned my attention to one of the directors who was adjusting his glasses, his gaze suddenly on us. “Mr. Thayer, thank you for coming in today.”
“Of course.”
“Your presentation was enlightening but ambitious,” he said, which was corporate speak for impressive but expensive.
Fuck.
We’d stayed within the upper band of the budget Basel had mentioned, but there were a hell of a lot of ways to get this done cheaper and everyone in this room knew it.
“It is ambitious. However, Mr. Osman and I both believe that the long-term benefit of the energy solutions we’ve introduced will offset some of the difference in the initial outlay.
There’s also the economic benefit to the city as a whole if we don’t ruin the landscape of an area where the city is expanding. ”
Another director shook his head. “That area was chosen specifically because it is earmarked for industrial development. Your projected construction costs exceed our preliminary estimates for this phase of the project.”
“They do, but they’re within range, and the preliminary estimates didn’t account for incorporating as many energy-saving elements as we already have, which means we’ve eliminated costs further down the line.”
“Yes, that’s true,” he said, but his tone indicated there was a big old but coming.
“But function must come first, and as pretty as some of these decorative features are, we don’t strictly need them to keep the place cool.
We could achieve that without all the fancy bits and still incorporate solar panels and whatnot. ”
“They’re not only decorative features,” I said, then cleared my throat when I caught a warning look from Joseph about my tone.
“What I mean to say is that they act as passive cooling systems, reducing direct solar exposure and minimizing heat gain. It just so happened that beauty and efficiency could be the same thing for this project.”
“I support the proposal,” Basel said crisply. “I brought him on because I wanted someone willing to challenge conventional design and to build us something GlobalStar will be renowned for in the future. That is exactly what he’s done. It’s not all about the money, gentlemen.”
For a moment, I thought that might settle it, but then they really started in on me, asking question after question. I answered every one and so did Joseph, but by the end, I couldn’t tell if we’d managed to convince them.
Finally, the chairman dismissed us and I walked out after nodding at Basel, not feeling particularly confident that I’d be building this thing after all. Basel wanted it. I knew that. He had the same vision as Joseph and me, but his board hadn’t appeared nearly as enthusiastic.
“I feel like we just took an oral exam,” I muttered to Joseph as we walked out. “Seriously, that was intense.”
“Do you think we’ll pass?”
“No.”
“Same,” he said, sighing as he glanced back at the doors swinging shut behind us. “You can be sure David will present a stock standard industrial complex. Gray blocks. Steel. The cost will be considerably lower.”
“Yeah, I know. I was really hoping we’d skip the surprise competitor part, but no such luck, huh?”
“I suspected there might be someone else. It’s a profitable opportunity for any company and it guarantees hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs over the next few years.
” He shook his head slowly. “I just didn’t expect our main competitor to be the Mahers.
To my knowledge, they’ve never done anything like this before. ”
“Well, as you said, it’s a profitable opportunity for any company, including theirs. If they get this project, it might just be the cash injection they need to stay afloat.”
Joseph grimaced. “Yes, but it also means they will compromise quality to cut costs wherever they can. This does not bode well for us, Isaac.”
“No, it really doesn’t.” We reached the coffee shop at the base of the GlobalStar tower and placed our orders.
Then we sat down and waited nervously for the verdict to come in.
While we were doing that though, I figured this was probably the time to say what I’d been thinking.
“Thank you for everything, Joseph. If we don’t get this bid, it definitely won’t be your fault. You are a true genius.”
He inclined his chin. “Likewise. It’s been a great pleasure, Isaac. I’ve truly enjoyed working with you.”
“Same here. I kind of wish we’d get this project just so we can keep working as a team, but I guess there’s not much chance of that happening.”
He chuckled, leaned back in his chair, and swept his dark brown eyes across my face like he was considering something.
I didn’t push him to tell me what, though.
Over the last few weeks, I’d gotten to know the guy pretty well, and whenever he got that look on his face, it usually meant he was coming up with something brilliant.
I would just have to wait him out, so I lifted my coffee to my mouth and left him to it, looking around at the modern epitome of success that was the GlobalStar Tower.
As could be expected, the lobby was all sleek steel and glass, the space as cavernous as a shopping mall with rows upon rows of elevators along the far walls and a few little cafes and restaurants taking up the front.
Behind a low security wall that allowed turnstile access with keycards only, a massive reception desk spanned a few yards with no fewer than five receptionists occupying it.
When dealing with Basel personally, it was often easy to forget who he was, but sitting here, looking at all this and knowing it belonged to him, I was reminded that GlobalStar was much, much bigger than one man’s vision.
Even if that man was the one right at the top of the food chain.
“We should start our own firm,” Joseph said suddenly. “If this project doesn’t work out, I mean. We can still go into business together anyway.”
I blinked hard, sure I’d misheard him as I refocused on his face. The guy had become a friend during the time I’d spent in Egypt, but I honestly hadn’t expected something like this. “You want us to do what now?”
“We work well together,” he said, folding his arms on the table, his expression completely serious. “We think the same way and we see each other’s blind spots. Where I flounder, you have a plan and vice versa. Just think about it, at least. It could work.”
I stared back at him. “You’re part of Basel’s team.”
“For now.” He shrugged. “Besides, I could still be on his team. I’d just be doing it with you. Our firm could be the contractor competing for the next bid. What do you think?”
I dropped my gaze to his hand when he extended it toward me, hope shining like a beacon in his eyes. So slowly that I was barely even aware I was doing it, I reached toward him and gripped his palm before I even realized what I was shaking on.
“If this falls through, I’ll think about it,” I said, and even though I hadn’t even considered it for so much as thirty seconds, I knew the moment I said it that this was the right move. “It’ll be fun.”
While I had a one-way ticket back to Chicago sitting in my inbox, I already knew I wasn’t going back. Well, not back back, anyway.
No matter what happened with this project, I would never be able to go back to the way things had been before. Not after all this and especially not after Jasmine.
Logistically, I would probably have to return to the States if the board decided to go with David’s proposal.
Basel had mentioned having some other projects, but I had no idea what they were or when they would be starting.
I also didn’t know if it would simply mean starting this whole process all over again, only to be undercut by another proposal at the last minute.
I couldn’t trust Basel’s sales pitch of having enough work to keep me busy for the rest of my life.
But Joseph was from a middle-class family here in Cairo.
While that meant neither of us had a ton of capital to push into our own firm right off the bat, we’d been managing just fine working out of coffee shops and my apartment so far, and more importantly, we both had the drive and the ambition to make it work.
With or without Basel Saad’s board of directors backing us.
Joseph beamed at me as he released my hand. “Very well. I’m excited. We can do great things together, Isaac.”
“You bet,” I said, but I was also already thinking about Jasmine again.
God, I’d been so close to just staying at her apartment that night, falling asleep with her in my arms and completely ignoring the fact that her father might just be in the process of arranging her marriage to another man.
A sharp stab of jealousy cut through me at the thought, slicing at my insides and twisting them into an ugly mess of anger and regret. I should’ve stayed.
I had barely even finished thinking it when David and his posse of suits stepped off the elevator across the lobby. They were laughing, looking a whole hell of a lot more confident than either Joseph or myself at the moment.
As they passed the coffee shop, he caught my eye and fucking winked, his smile widening to insufferable proportions.
I shook my head at him. Something about that guy really gave me the creeps.
I couldn’t quite put my finger on it just yet.
I simply had this unshakable feeling that he was bad news.
And not only because he was suddenly competing for a bid in an industry he hadn’t even been part of last week.
This went deeper than that. It went deeper than even the idea that he might be trying to convince Basel to arrange Jasmine’s marriage to him. One way or another, that guy was going to cause trouble for me.
Big trouble.
The kind that could make or break a guy depending on how I handled it when the time came, and I had a feeling this was going to be unlike anything I’d ever had to handle before.