Outside the terminal, a black sedan idled at the curb. His attorney, Nolan Webb, 41, sharp jaw, wire-rimmed glasses, the kind of lawyer who slept 4 hours a night and billed for six of the remaining 20, stepped out and opened the rear door.
"Everything's ready," Nolan said. "Final signatures by midnight. Full acquisition, every outstanding share."
Marshall got in the car. He set the book on the seat beside him, spine up, pages still bent from the fall. He didn't speak for a long time. Nolan watched him in the rearview mirror. He'd worked with Marshall for 9 years. He'd seen him negotiate billion-dollar contracts without raising his pulse, walk away from boardrooms where Fortune 100 CEOs tried to strongarm him into bad terms. And Marshall hadn't even loosened his collar.
But tonight was different. Tonight, Marshall's hands were still, too still. The way a man's hands go still when he's holding something down, something heavy, something hot, something that would burn if he let it move.
"What happened on the flight?" Nolan asked.
Marshall looked out the window. Manhattan's skyline was a wall of gold light against the dark water. Somewhere in that wall, on the 42nd floor of a building on Park Avenue, the legal team was printing the final acquisition documents for Skyane Airways.
"Exactly what I expected," Marshall said. He pulled out his phone, opened the folder his team had compiled over the past 3 months. 14 formal discrimination complaints filed against Skyane Airways in the last 3 years. He'd read them all before, but tonight he read them differently.
Complaint one. A black mother flying with her infant son. She asked for a blanket. The flight attendant, Gretchen Harlo, told her that first class amenities were reserved for passengers who purchased full fare tickets. The woman had purchased a full fare ticket. The baby cried for 2 hours in a cold cabin without a blanket.
Complaint four. A Nigerian-born businessman, CEO of a tech startup in Lagos flying Skyane's Atlanta to London route. Gretchen requested additional security screening for him three separate times during a single flight. He was detained at the gate for 45 minutes upon landing. No explanation, no apology.