Johnstone City, the West.
In a meeting room inside Orion Pharmaceuticals Tower.
The Chairman of Orion and the de facto leader of the Yalemans, Quintus Yaleman, sat at the head of the conference table. While the rest of Orion's senior management sat uneasily on both sides.
Quintus was flicking through a business magazine when one of his secretaries leaned towards his ear and muttered, "Mr. Yaleman, everyone is here."
Having heard his secretary, he put down the opened magazine. On the center spread, was an exclusive interview with the President of Cross Group, Penny Smith. Beside it, was a pretty picture of her.
After scanning the audience, Quintus remarked, "Now that everyone is here, let's begin!"
"Harry has failed in his mission and got himself and his followers beaten up badly." "On top of that, the Cross Group warned us to stay away from their vaccine after sending Harry and his men back to the Yaleman family."
Pausing to let his words sink in, Quintus looked at his subordinates. He then tapped in fingers on the magazine with Penny's face on top and declared, "I want the vaccine and I also want Penny Smith."
"More importantly, I have never failed to get whatever I wanted."
"The reason I called all of you here today is to ask you if you have any ideas?"
Everyone in the room looked at each other when they realized that the boss was undeterred by the fact that Harry was crippled.
Deputy general manager Lance Thornton remonstrated, "Boss, the Cross Group are formidable foes, why don't we just leave them alone?"
The other members of the management largely agreed. "That's right. Even Harry was crippled by them. We should forget this!"
The next moment, Quintus stoop up and walked towards Lance. Bending over to put his hands on Lance's shoulders, he insisted, "I just said that I want both the liver cancer vaccine and Penny Smith. I have also never failed to get whatever I want."
"I am asking all of you for ideas so don't just tell me to give up. Am I clear?"
Lance replied in fear, "I..."
Before he could finish, Quintus had grabbed a pen from the table and stabbed it into his chest.
Gaping, Lance's face grimaced in horror.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Salute to the General