Miriam straightened her skirt and listened smugly as Peter related the tale of his luncheon with Moira.

"You were right, I must admit. She seems very interested in how the company reacts to any merger attempts. I never thought Moira was interested at all."

"And what did you resolve?"

"To pay closer attention to the sage advice of Miriam Spenser-Forbin."

"I'm talking about Moira, Peter." She absently twisted the phone cord in her fingers.

"If you insist. Really, she just wants to be kept in the loop about what the rest of us are doing or going to do."

"I really think the time is ripe for you to meet Arnold Chang. Just listen to what he has to say. No commitments."

"What exactly is your interest in all this, Miriam?"

"The same as any interested business person, Peter, security of my investments."

"You mean your husband's five percent?" He mocked. There was no reply. "Sorry," he finally said, "that was unfair. Uhmm, can you arrange this get together with Chang?"

"Consider it done. I'm pretty sure you'll be hearing from him very soon and if rumours seem to pick up, remember that Arnold's not above floating his own balloons given the opportunity. Anyway, as I said, I think you'll be hearing from him soon."

"I await his approach."

"Me too. Keep me posted, dear."

•••

The first formal step in the proposal of a WesCat merger happened quickly, as Miriam predicted. A confidential dinner meeting between Peter and Arnold Chang, was arranged within two days. After a long, very interesting conversation with Miriam at the cocktail party, Arnold had been waiting for the contact but didn't expect to be the instigator. He understood that it was simply a cursory probe but from experience, he prepared himself by ordering an overly lavish setting designed to impress and intimidate.

Cybrus Corporation owned the top five floors of the office building in which they were housed and to anyone visiting the premises it seemed like the chrome and cherry red décor capital of the world. Asian themed from the logo sculpted into the entry carpet to the paper lantern light fixtures to the stylized Cheongsam outfit worn by the petite Cybrus hostess Peter followed down a sea of slate grey carpet.

They swished silently past the row of equally spaced pedestals supporting ancient Chinese figurines to the arched entrance of double, polished metal doors with red Chinese symbols surrounding each huge handle.

The hostess pushed open the door with ease and stepped back, bowing as Peter was ushered inside. It took all his effort not to be visibly impressed, an advantage he did not want to cede to his host who watched from a tapestry upholstered armchair beside a gas fireplace in the shape of a dragon's head.

"Welcome Mister Delacourte. Please share my humble offices." The voice was soft and very English. "We can wave the tradition of removing our shoes tonight; this is a western business meeting."

Peter bowed his head and crossed the large room taking a seat beside his host. "I think humble may be a little understated, Mister Chang. Your offices are truly magnificent."

Arnold slid his eyes shut and nodded slowly, raising one finger. Immediately, a different woman appeared with a small tray and two crystal wine glasses. He waited as she smoothly dispensed the garnet coloured contents from a matching crystal decanter.

"I hope you enjoy Australian wine," Arnold Chang said apologetically. "It is a weakness I permit myself with great enthusiasm."

Peter almost laughed, nodding and raising his glass in the gesture of a toast. "I certainly do."

"May I offer a toast to the prospect of a successful discussion on the merger of my company with WesCat Alliance."

"I'm all ears," Peter smiled, sipping the wine with pleasure. Miriam you devil you.

•••

Brian, Myles and Peter huddled together in Peter's office. The door was closed and instructions left not to be disturbed unless it was Barton.

"Do you guys realize what this could do for our stock?" Brian asked eagerly, after hearing about Peter's meeting. This must have been what Miriam was talking about. He wondered how Brian got together with Chang without the rest of them knowing but didn't want to rock the boat by asking.

"Barton will never go for a merger." Myles plucked at the razor crease in his pants and laced his fingers together on his lap. As the firm's lawyer he always tried to maintain a balanced position between the partners. Once again he entertained the discomforting idea that while a merger might thrust him into the limelight for a while, once the deal was done he could find himself unneeded or even unwanted by the new board. Prudence dictated caution.

"Forget merger, think buyout." Peter watched the two men react.

"You mean complete absorption into Cybrus? Barton? Never!" Myles suddenly wondered how prudent he should be.

"Yep. And he won't have a choice if we do this right. Chang has all his people on side and ready to jump the minute we give the signal. Jesus, you should see that company's set up. If what I saw was any indication, I mean I thought we were big. What we need now is a solid count on who we can get onside-besides us." Peter said pointedly, eyes on Myles.

"Brian has the largest share here," Myles noted. "You and I only count for five percent each. The minority shares are just fifteen if we get them all. Add it all up and we only make forty five, Barton will just vote us down."

"Actually, Brian said, "Moira owns fifteen percent of Barton's. You should know that, Myles. With hers we could win easily."

"She'll never do it. Moira would never go against Barton." Myles felt his moustache begin to sweat as he harkened back to Miriam's words.

"Well that's our challenge then." Peter looked at the two men. "We need to convince her."

"We? I heard you two were already discussing 'bits of business' over lunch." Myles instantly regretted his words. Not everything he knew should go public.

"When was this?" Brian asked, archly.

"She came in one day and ah, wanted to discuss the business... how things were doing."

"And that required a lunch?"

"Hey, Brian. She's the boss's wife you know. As a matter of fact I heard she asked for you first." Peter knew this from his casual grilling of the receptionist.

Brian sat back and replayed Miriam's phone call in his head. Did she go to Peter when he didn't respond? Is that how he met Chang? She does know him. Just what the hell was her game? A little chat with Mrs. Spenser-Forbin might well be in order, and a closer watch on his associates wouldn't hurt either. "Okay, so where does this all leave us?"

"Up the goddamn creek if we don't act." Peter shoved his chair away from the table and stood up. "I'm exposed to Chang now and I don't want to be left swinging in the wind as a possible traitor to the company."

Myles shook his head. "I will not involve myself in any unethical maneuvering, Peter." Miriam's voice rang in his head again. "You would still need the majority of the outside shares anyway."

"Those I can almost guarantee with the help of Chang. He'll provide buyout money with options to repurchase Cybrus stock at a discount after the sale."

Myles and Brian looked at one another. "We are in this as a group, right?"

"Of course," Peter sighed. "But somebody has to be liaison, we all can't go around in lock-step for Christ's sake."

"Okay, you stick with Chang." Brian stood as well and grinned harshly at Myles, "Then Moira is our target."