Conor stopped and talked briefly with captain Evelynn before heading down to his car. on his drive home, he called Mr. Nuri.
"Ah, Mr. Brantley. How are you this evening. I was planning to meet with you in the morning. is everything alright?"
"Well, I was wondering if you planned to tell me about Kerrigan before or after I walked in on her."
"I. Oh, I see. I guess that means you were at the office."
"Yes, and had a rather awkward encounter with her in my suite. You could have warned me she was there. Actually, you could have asked me!"
"I am sorry sir. I was contacted this morning and lost track of time with the preparations. There are many things in motion."
"What is going on Nuri? Why is Miss Lokir here of all places?"
"This is better discussed in person. Can it wait for tomorrow? I promise to tell you what I can when we meet in the morning."
"Tell me this then, is her presence her a threat to me and mine?"
"Possibly. But likely not any more so than Celia's own existence. You two in the same spot does have its risks as the president of Dragon Corporation certainly does have a target on her. However, I believe her team did a good job of keeping her exit from Velyki a secret so no one should know she has even left Targu province, if they even know she is alive."
"I mean her, as head of Dragon Corporation. Is SHE a threat?"
"Miss Lokir? No." the statement was simple and finite. Conor digested Nuri's certainty and felt nothing from Celia to refute the statement.
"Fine. She can stay for now. Have the team relocate my files to one of the other offices first thing. Make it painfully clear access to the executive wing is on extremely limited access from now on. only our core personnel. We will use the other conference room as often as we can for now. Liam."
"Yes, Sir?"
"I know you likely have more eyes and ears that I will ever know about. Set them lose on Benedict. Use whatever resources you have to find every detail about him and their company. I want executive conference room B to turn into intel HQ for all things Benedict. I want everything from his wine selection to the last ten girls he was with."
"Yes, sir. It will be done."
"Very good. See you in the morning. Please make sure Colonel Eli and Parker are there."
***
Monday morning in Jinstain was bright and crisp. Conor arrived to Vokrizin under a cloudless blue sky that begged for one to be outside. When he got to the conference room, he smiled when he saw Anna sitting with Jarad and Abby. They locked eyes for a moment but kept things as professional as they could while on the clock. Mr. Nuri walked in with Colonel Eli and Parker in tow.
Conor began, "Good morning everyone. We will have a few new people join us shortly. Before they do, let's get a quick recap of where things stand."
Cara and Peter walked in just then, "Sorry we are late."
Conor pointed to two seats at the end, "You are fine. Peter, do you want to start the recap of company business?"
"Sure." Peter stood and tapped a few keys on his laptop, connecting to a large screen behind Conor. "Business has been good. Our joint work on the promotion for the new community center has meant that we have added a plethora of new photos to the database. In conjunction with that, we have been working with Miss Anna Brooks and her real estate agents so all in all the business is growing steadily. Cara here has taken up leadership on the new division we are calling OnMarket Advertising. We are showing first quarter numbers to be projected at around 315 million dragons or just shy of 63 million total value increase."
Conor and the team gave a light round of applause. "Very good, both of you. Keep up the good work. I love that you are continuing to find ways for our brands to integrate. Ok, Anna?"
Anna Brooks stood, and displayed a map of Jinstain. "Over the last four months I have recruited 76 seasoned real estate agents. 30 residential agents work here in Bayan Province, 30 in the south of Targu Province, and I also have 8 commercial agents working out of each office. These are all veterans in the sales field and are excited to work with us. Most already had a client base and just needed some better tools and incentives to switch to working with us. The residential agents on average are selling between 3-4 units per month each. The commercial agents it is hard to give a figure but their commission is significant. You can see in this map the large tracts of buildings that have been shifting ownership. We are tracking several major players that are acquiring commercial property, here." She pointed to the community center. "I am afraid they could start doing something any day and we would be hard pressed to stop them."
Mr. Nuri looked a the map, "We own 5 units in there correct?"
"Yes, these three here and these two here. Dragon Corporation also has been active and owns several of the outlying areas, but Benedict Corporation owns these ten." She indicated several in very close proximity to the community center. "If he were to put a plant there it could be toxic to anyone playing in the area."
Conor nodded, "This will be an issue for sure but perhaps we can come back to that when we have our other guests join us. They have a vested interest in that area."
Mr. Nuri nodded in agreement and pointed to Jarad who stood. "I can bring everyone up to speed on some of our smaller ventures. The recent acquisition of the Home Emporium has been very successful and the new ad campaigns designed by Miss Cara have been very well received. First quarter numbers are showing a 5% increase over last years numbers for that business with a 15 decrease in overall expenses since our take over reduced the interest rate on the debt held. I project that the store will be debt free ahead of schedule, likely by the end of the fourth quarter of this year. As for the Spice Emporium, sales from that venture have also increased 30% this quarter with the opening of the franchise in Velyki. There has been some issues from the spice merchants guilds we can discuss later, but overall sales are good. Future expansion there will depend on our ability to negotiate with the trade consortium and right now they are not very friendly toward our business."
Conor nodded. "Well, we can deal with that when the time comes. For now, we can maintain what we have. Has anyone heard anything from NewAge gaming?"
Mr. Nuri frowned. "They seem to be having difficulty getting some of the material they need for the new game system. Without the silver and other rare metals, its very hard to build the circuit boards. Its driving production costs up, and delaying the launch of the next round of systems by over three months."
"I thought we had a rather strict contract to prevent that?"
"We do, but thus far, the provider seems content to challenge us and keeps claiming every exemption they can thing of to delay. There are some things that legally just take more time that NewAge can afford to wait."
Conor looked around at the team, "Anyone have suggestion for a new provider?"
The room was silent until Colonel Eli raised his hand. "I am no expert in business, but you mentioned rare metals and silvers. I believe Dragon corporation operates several mines in the north of Bayan mountain range that focus on those sorts of things. Would they have the manufacturing for what you need?"
Conor grinned, "Well, we just so happen to have the right person to ask. Anna, would you mind going to my office and inviting our guests to come join us?"
When Anna stepped out, Conor looked hard at each person in the room, "The guests we are about to have join us are here as my guests. This means they have the protection of Celia while they are here and everything that implies. What it does not mean, no matter what it may seem to the contrary, is they do not have complete run of us or Vokrizin. They are in no way a part of our team, and are not in our confidence. This means, for starters, while they are joining this meeting and I do intend to partner with them for some projects, guard your words. I am not about to share our company secrets even if it seems like we are working closely together. This holds true no matter what news or media may come out, until I say otherwise. Clear?"
There was a resounding "Understood" from everyone.