Michael walked into the conference room that adjoined his office. Instead of sitting down at the oblong table, he made a detour to the bar, which lined one end of the massive room. Flicking a glance at the person who occupied a seat at the table, he poured himself a glass of brandy. When he had completed the task, he leisurely walked to the head of the table and sat down. Without lifting his eyes from his glass, he asked, “What can I do for you?”

Joe leaned back against the chair and folded his arms. He knew Michael was a smart and competent business man, a worthy adversary. At times, Joe admired Michael and his ways of handling things. But the world isn’t big enough for the two of them to co-exist. Joe knew that and so did Michael. Only Joe intended to do something about it. “I’ve come to talk about our territories.”

Michael laughed, a mocking sound, “You mean MY territories. You only have a handful of them whereas I practically own everything.”

Joe’s face tightened at the reminder but the anger had gone as quickly as it came. In a cajoling voice, he said, “You may have more properties but I have more men. And my men need to make a living too. Why hog all these territories when you don’t have the manpower to oversee them.”

Michael’s eyes turned to Joe abruptly and all civility vanished from his face. In a low voice, he ordered, “What do you want?”

Joe smiled as he surveyed his enemy. “You know me. I am a fair person.” He brought his hand inside his coat pocket and withdrew a wad of paper which he unfolded to reveal a large map of the city. Placing the map carefully onto the table, he then took out a red marker and made a circle on it. “I want everything here,” he said pointing to the circle.

Without looking at the map, Michael took a sip of his brandy. “Joe, no need to play these games with me. What is it that you really want?”

Joe broke out in laughter, taking the map and once again folding it until it was a small wad of paper. “That’s what I like about dealing with you, you are always so straightforward.” Relaxing in his chair, Joe continued to look at Michael, “I want us to work together on your next shipment.”

Chuckling, Michael regarded Joe with a light smile, “Is that all? You should have said so from the beginning. There’s more than enough money to be made for all of us.” He stood up and walked to the window with its ceiling to floor glass. Staring at the view before him Michael said, “I’ll have Raymond make arrangements.”

Joe snickered but didn’t say anything.

A brief knock on the door interrupted their discussion as Raymond and Ron walked in. Seeing Joe, Raymond could feel his fury build but reined it in. He disliked Joe immensely since their initial meeting and sees him as a vile and manipulative man. Joe, however, started his agenda against Raymond ever since he lost a woman to Raymond about a year ago. A woman whom Raymond couldn’t even remembered the name or face of. It was insufficient to him but to Joe, it was like a slap in the face. Not that Joe actually cared for the woman, Raymond was sure that Joe probably didn’t even remember the face or name either. It was more like a contest to see who was the better man and the winner was Raymond. From that time on, Joe had gone out of his way to mess with Raymond, even resorting to using underhanded means. Michael would intervene every now and then but Raymond wanted to fight his own battles and in not as so much words told Michael to keep his nose out of his personal business. Michael relented knowing that Raymond could take care of himself.

Joe stared at Raymond as he and Ron made their way to the table and took seats opposite of him. Once they were seated, Joe spoke, “You guys are late. I hope you didn’t encounter some sort of accident on your way over.”

Ron made a movement but Raymond was quick. He held onto Ron’s arm, silently telling him not to mention the prior incident. In a casual voice, Raymond said, “We were stuck in traffic. We apologize for being late but who can predict things like that.”

Joe smiled, “Only traffic? The next time you may not be as fortunate.” The subtle meaning was clear to all in the room. Michael looked over at Raymond to see his reaction.

Raymond was not affected by the underlying threat. He turned to Ron and joked, “We like living dangerously don’t we?” When Ron nodded in response, Raymond turned his eyes on Joe, “And we’re also up for whatever challenges are thrown our way.”

Joe laughed and stood up. “Well it has been nice chatting with you all but I have plans for the night.” He walked over and shook Michael’s hand, “I will wait for your call.” When he was at the door, he turned and took out an envelope. “I almost forgot about these,” he said and walked back to hand the envelope to Michael. “Council Benz Hui is having a ball next week for charity. I took it upon myself to buy some tickets. After all, it’s for charity. I hope you guys could make it. I certainly will be there.”

Michael politely accepted the tickets, “I will of course be there. Charity is something that we should do more often, especially given our line of work.” He turned to Raymond and Ron whose gaze remained fixated at Joe. “Are the two of you interested in attending the charity event?”

Without removing his eyes from Joe, Raymond said, “Sure. I’ll go.”

“Count me in also,” Ron added.

“Great!” Joe announced. Then with another taunting smile at Raymond, he walked through the door.

Raymond drew a long breath and exhaled slowly, “God, I hate that man.”