"Hungry for Success" by English Professionals. EPISODE 9 : The Fifth Column

Why are Macrosoft interested in Lightning Systems?
What is James hiding?

Tim, with the help of Rebecca, aims to find out.

Transcript

Hungry for success 

by English Professionals

9. The fifth column

TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

As you may remember, Rebecca, Tim’s wife, has a small but flourishing legal practice. When you hear the description “legal practice” maybe you think of respectable middle-aged lawyers dealing with divorce, house purchases, wills and all the traditional bread and butter legal work that lawyers of small practices tend to undertake. Well Rebecca’s practice was a little different.

Tim and Rebecca met at university. Tim, naturally, was studying Finance. Rebecca, however, was following a slightly different route. Yes, she was reading law but with a major in Forensic Accounting. After leaving university Rebecca had not wanted to take a traditional route of working for one of the big law or consultancy firms… burning the midnight oil with the hope of making partner by the age of 40. She had always wanted to be her own boss. Hence, despite zero real world experience,  she had wasted no time in starting as a one-man-band touting for business as a legal consultant specialising in corporate fraud. Now she was no longer alone, having recruited several like-minded individuals along the way - her firm was a sort of cooperative or partnership - even if not in the legal sense. Yes she controlled the purse strings but all other business  decisions were taken jointly as a team. 

Rebecca and her associates were at long last starting to build a reputation as shrewd operators in the sometimes murky world of corporate fraud. A few big household names had started to discreetly employ her services to combat fraud within their ranks as well as to defend themselves against threats from the wider world. Her client list was growing steadily although clients names were never publicised - for reasons of confidentiality. Suffice to say, you would recognise many of them. 

Rebecca sat watching Tim intently as he explained what had happened so far with Macrosoft. Tim noticed as he was speaking that she had gone into what he called “full on professional mode”. In previous years he would tease her about this as she sat hunched over her laptop late into the evening. He smiled despite himself. Rebecca waited until he had finished speaking.

“Who exactly is coming from Macrosoft?” she asked

Tim managed to remember the first names of at least some of the people who he had seen on the video conference call but was hazy on the details. 

“OK” said Rebecca. “Tonight we’ll take a  look at the main characters and see who you recognise. Put names to faces as it were and, more importantly, names to job titles. In the meantime I think I know someone who can perhaps give us the inside track on Macrosoft.

I suggest that you see whether you can get anything more out of James. I would bet money that he knows a lot more than he’s letting on.”

For once I agree with your buddy Steve.  What on earth could Macrosoft possibly want with Lightning Systems. I smell a rat somewhere in all this”

Tim gazed at Rebecca admiringly. When he had first met Rebecca at university, whilst he had certainly not failed to notice that she was physically strikingly attractive, the thing that really drew him to her was her obvious intelligence. She was, he had to admit, unlike anyone he had encountered before. 

Rebecca noticed Tim’s gaze fixed upon her. “It’s a long time since you looked at me like that” she remarked. 

Back in the office some time later, Tim reflected on his lunch with Rebecca. They had talked all the way through the meal and, for once, not argued. In fact, it had been a real pleasure to share the time with her. He found himself looking forward to seeing her tonight at home. 

At that moment Tim noticed that the light was now on in James’ office, and,deciding to strike while the iron was hot, quickly rose and made his way over.

“How’s life at the top?”  He said as nonchalantly as he could 

James grunted something unintelligible

“I was wondering”  he continued “what plans do you think Macrosoft have for us? Have they given you any hint?”

James looked somewhat suspiciously at Tim and then quickly changed his expression to a kind of half smile. 

Too late. Tim had noticed the initial suspicion.

“So you do know something. Rebecca was right! But what are you hiding? And why?”

COMMENTARY

So Tim looks to his wife for advice. Rebecca fortunately is not an ordinary lawyer. Her practice does not undertake the traditional bread and butter work of most small legal practices. Bread and butter refers to the regular standard work which pays for most of the bills - it may not make huge profits but can be relied upon to give a steady income. Lightning Systems might say 

“Maintenance contracts are our bread and butter”

This means that this is the basic service that they provide and it gives them a good steady regular income. 

Rebecca specialised in Forensic Accounting at university where she read Law. When talking about what you studied at university we sometimes use the verb “read”.  Forensic accounting is a combination of accounting and investigative techniques used to discover financial crimes.

Rebecca didn’t want to burn the midnight oil at a large firm. To burn the midnight oil means to work very late into the night. She was not interested in doing so in order to become a partner by the age of 40. Instead she wanted to be her own boss which is another way of saying that she wanted to own her own business. 

She began as a one-man-band - which means she worked entirely alone with no employees or partners. She then touted for business . This phrase implies that she actively went out to try and find clients. If you tout for business it means you aggressively try and persuade potential clients to buy your products or services. She now has several associates but she controls the purse strings. Someone who controls or  holds the purse strings makes all financial decisions. 

Tim unfortunately is not as sharp as his wife. When asked about the make-up of the Macrosoft team, he is hazy on the details. If you are hazy on the details it means that, although you remember the general basic facts, you only remember some of the details. Rebecca wants to put names to faces. She is hoping that if presumably Tim remembers their faces, with probably the help of photos published on the internet - perhaps on Macrosoft’s own website or on social media, they will be able to discover people’s names and subsequently their job titles. She does think however that she knows someone who can give her some information about Macrosoft from the inside - possibly someone who actually works for them - therefore can give them the inside track - the view from inside the company. Rebecca is obviously very experienced with such things and therefore smells a rat - this expression means that she senses that something is not quite as it should be or that somebody is not telling the truth - she senses some kind of deception. 

Tim takes Rebecca’s advice to see if he can get any further information from James. He decides to strike while the iron is hot. This expression means to take advantage of a favourable opportunity while it lasts and therefore act immediately. James is in his office alone and Tim therefore sees the opportunity to talk to him alone - hoping to extract some useful information.

So in this episode we are left with more questions rather than answers. What do Macrosoft want from Lightning Systems?

What does James know?

In the next episode we’ll see what Rebecca can do..

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