Makers

“That’s amazing, Tjan. I hope you’ll keep in touch with me—I’d love to follow your story.”

“Count on it,” he said. He laughed. “I’m getting a week off every eight weeks to scout Russia. They’ve got an incredible culture of entrepreneurship.”

“Plus you’ll get to see your kids,” Suza

“Plus, I’ll get to see my kids,” he admitted.

“How much money is Westinghouse putting into the project?” she asked, replacing her notional notebook with a real one, pulled from her purse.

“I don’t have numbers, but they’ve shut down the whole appliances division to clear the budget for it.” She nodded—she’d seen news of the layoffs on the wires. Mass demonstrations, people out of work after twenty years’ service. “So it’s a big budget.”

“They must have been impressed with the quarterlies from Kodacell.”

Tjan folded down the flaps on his box and drummed his fingers on it, squinting at her. “You’re joking, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“Suza

She shook her head. “That’s very flattering, Tjan, but—”

He waved her off and then, surprisingly, came around the desk and hugged her. “But nothing, Suza

Suza

“In ten years’ time, they’ll remember you and not us,” Tjan said. “You should get Kettlewell to put you on the payroll.”

Kettlewell himself turned up the next day. Suza

“Private jet,” he said, and had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. “Kodak had eight of them and Duracell had five. We’ve been trying to sell them all off but no one wants a used jet these days, not even Saudi princes or Columbian drug-lords.”

“So, basically, it was going to waste.”

He smiled and looked eighteen—she really did feel like the only grownup sometimes—and said, “Zackly—it’s practically environmental. Where’s Tjan?”

“Downstairs saying goodbye to the guys, I think.”

“OK,” he said. “Are you coming?”

She grabbed her notebook and a pen and beat him out the door of her rented condo.

“What’s this all about,” Tjan said, looking wary. The guys were hang-dog and curious looking, slightly in awe of Kettlewell, who did little to put them at their ease—he was staring intensely at Tjan.

“Exit interview,” he said. “Company policy.”

Tjan rolled his eyes. “Come on,” he said. “I’ve got a flight to catch in an hour.”

“I could give you a lift,” Kettlewell said.

“You want to do the exit interview between here and the airport?”

“I could give you a lift to JFK. I’ve got the jet warmed up and waiting.”

Sometimes, Suza

“Come on,” he said, “we’ll make a day of it. We can stop on the way and pick up some barbecue to eat on the plane. I’ll even let you keep your seat in the reclining position during take-off and landing. Hell, you can turn your cell-phone on—just don’t tell the Transport Security Administration!”

Tjan looked cornered, then resigned. “Sounds good to me,” he said and Kettlewell shouldered one of the two huge duffel-bags that were sitting by the door.

“Hi, Kettlewell,” Perry said.

Kettlewell set down the duffel. “Sorry, sorry. Lester, Perry, it’s really good to see you. I’ll bring Suza

Suza

“I sure hope so,” Kettlewell said.

Perry and Lester accompanied them down in the elevator.

“Private jet, huh?” Perry said. “Never been in one of those.”

Kettlewell told them about his adventures trying to sell off Kodacell’s private air force.

“Send one of them our way, then,” Lester said.

“Do you fly?” Kettlewell said.

“No,” Perry said. “Lester wants to take it apart. Right, Les?”

Lester nodded. “Lots of cool junk in a private jet.”

“These things are worth millions, guys,” Kettlewell said.

“No, someone paid millions for them,” Perry said. “They’re worth whatever you can sell them for.”

Kettlewell laughed. “You’ve had an influence around here, Tjan,” he said. Tjan managed a small, tight smile.

Kettlewell had a driver waiting outside of the building who loaded the duffels into the spacious trunk of a spotless dark town-car whose doors chunked shut with an expensive sound.

“I want you to know that I’m really not angry at all, OK?” Kettlewell said.

Tjan nodded. He had the look of a man who was steeling himself for a turn in an interrogation chamber. He’d barely said a word since Kettlewell arrived. For his part, Kettlewell appeared oblivious to all of this, though Suza

“The thing is, six months ago, nearly everyone was convinced that I was a fucking moron, that I was about to piss away ten billion dollars of other people’s money on a stupid doomed idea. Now they’re copying me and poaching my best people. So this is good news for me, though I’m going to have to find a new business manager for those two before they get picked up for turning planes into component pieces.”

Suza

It had started to buzz that morning and the pitch had increased steadily until it was actually uncomfortable in her pocket. Irritated, she yanked it out and was about to switch it off when the lead article caught her eye.

KODACELL LOSES TJAN TO WESTINGHOUSE

The by-line was Freddy. Feeling like a character in a horror movie who can’t resist the compulsion to look under the bed, Suza

:: Kodacell business-manager Tjan Lee Tang, whose adventures we’ve

:: followed through Suza

She looked away and reflexively reached toward the delete button. The i

Combine that with Rat-Toothed Freddy’s sneering tone and she was instantly sent into heart-thundering rage. She deleted the post and looked out the window. Her pager buzzed some more and she looked down. The same article, being picked up on blogs, on some of the bigger diggdots, and an AP wire.