“He found a camera,” Dan replied knowing that it was Louis’ crew who had installed the surveillance equipment in the first place so the blame couldn’t be easily shifted to Dan.
“Options?” Louis asked probing to see what Dan was going to come up with to try to rectify the situation.
“He wants to meet,” Dan said. “He held up a message to the cameras. Meet or he calls the police.”
Since Louis wasn’t aware of this Andrew Slate’s real background, he couldn’t possibly know that this would be the last possible thing Slate would ever do.
“You?” Louis asked.
“Us,” Dan answered, realizing that somehow he had to talk Louis into going to Slate’s house with him despite what he perceived to be the big man’s reluctance to get personally involved. “He wants the top people. I go alone, he makes a request, I have to wait to report to you for a decision. Then he knows something is fishy and we might lose him. You and I go together; we hear what he wants; you make the decision whether to give in or move on. You have a more forceful personality. You can’t send somebody in your place because that person wouldn’t have your authority. You are the only one who knows what’s the best deal. It’s a big ocean of money, so I’m sure you can negotiate for a small part for him if that becomes necessary. Or maybe you have other options.”
Dan was hoping he was making a strong enough case for Louis to be there, but there was a pause on the other end of the call that was starting to worry him.
“Even if we make a deal,” Louis said; “won’t that compromise his use to us. I mean we’ve tapped into his natural choices without pressure. If he knows, doesn’t that slant his decision-making?”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Dan said running a bluff. “That’s why I need you there because you can read people so well. You’ll be able to tell if he’s conning us.”
Dan was piling on the flattery trying to make Louis seem indispensable to the outcome; he wasn’t sure it was working. Finally, after a thirty second pause, Louis spoke.
“When does he want to meet?”
“Tonight at 11:00,” Dan said breathing a sigh of relief. “At his place. I’ll meet you outside at 10:55. You know his address?”
“10:55,” Louis answered then hung up.
If everything went according to plan, Louis would arrive alone; at worst, his body guard or driver would be with him. If that happened, Dan had to be sure to make sure the other person was left behind with the car. The trick was to create such an intolerable scene inside Slate’s home that Louis would snap and do something to Andrew. Roughing him up would do no good since that would destroy Slate’s effectiveness as a tester of commercial content. Walking away also wasn’t an option since Louis knew the police were searching for Dan and his brother; if either of them were picked up, Louis knew they’d spill the beans and implicate him in some way. Although he was now a legitimate businessman, his past deeds would still warrant a major prison term. No, if Slate didn’t cooperate, then Louis only had one choice: eliminate him permanently. Of course, there was always the possibility that he wouldn’t stop there and would eliminate Dan as well, but he’d deal with that when and if he was threatened. He was hoping that he could convince Louis that he had another lucrative scheme to make money to make himself too valuable to kill. Ideally Slate and Louis would eliminate each other; but if one had to survive, Dan hoped it would be Louis since he had been able to manipulate him in the past.
Going to the computer that was used to insert the test commercials, Dan typed a message and sent it to Slate’s screen. It didn’t matter any more that by doing this Slate would realized that he had been played, because that was no longer important. The Mr. Average American plan was dead and couldn’t ever be resurrected with Slate, so there was no need for excessive secrecy.
When MEETING SET FOR 11:00 appeared on the television screen, Slate was surprised. He actually looked around the room to see if anyone were there, then he just sat back and clicked off the set. He got up, walked awkwardly to the stairs holding onto furniture for support, clicked off the downstairs lights, and went up the stairs trying to keep his bad leg straight and not putting much weight on it. When he finally reached the top, he clicked off the stairway light and went into his bedroom and sat at the small desk in the corner. The room was lit by two lights, one on the nightstand next to the bed and the other a small lamp on the desk. Slate just sat there in the chair looking over some papers, his back to the door acting as the bait that he hoped would lure his victim to him. He figured that there were cameras everywhere; and if he acted relaxed, the man identified as Dan would be unprepared for what Slate was actually planning.
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