Eddie told him, “You just ask them for it. And after what you just pulled together last night, I can’t see how any company in their right mind could turn you down. So you simply give them an offer that they can’t refuse.” He said, “But honesty is the best policy.”

Ivan thought it over and nodded. “Thanks, man. That’s exactly what I need to do. The time is now.”

MOVING ON from a position of employment that Ivan had held over the past six years of his life was not an easy thing to do.

What if they tell me no? he pondered at his Hutch & Mitchell desk that Monday morning. Then I’ll be out on my own with no big name protection behind me…But if I’m really ready to take my company seriously, then my own name should mean something.

He then looked around at his surroundings and realized, Here I am, sitting at a damn cubicle, when I just brought together billions of dollars all in one room. What the hell am I doing here?

He continued to daydream at his desk as the executive secretary passed behind him. Ivan was so deep in thought that he never noticed the older white woman spying on him that morning. Once she witnessed the evidence she needed, she walked right up to John Hutch’s closed office door and knocked before he responded to her.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Edith.”

“Come on in.”

When she walked in, Barry Mitchell was already in the room, discussing the pressing issue with his partner.

“So, what does Ivan look like today?” John asked her.

Edith took a breath and said, “He looks like he’s on cloud nine. He’s definitely thinking about something other than tax laws this morning.”

John nodded to her. “Thank you very much, Edith. Can you close the door on your way back out?”

“Oh, certainly.”

As soon as she left the room, John suggested to Barry, “So, we both take him out to dinner, and we get everything out in the open.”

Barry took a breath of his own. He said, “I still think we’re jumping the gun a bit, but I guess we don’t have a choice now, do we?”

John said, “All it is, is a conversation. And if you’re right, you’re right. But if I’m right, then we need to have a plan ready.”

IVAN MET with his bosses for dinner at a sushi restaurant in Poway, a far northeast section of San Diego. They sat in a dark booth near the back of the restaurant to limit the amount of noise and traffic around them. Ivan sat on one side of the booth, and his two bosses sat on the other.