Dominique took a while before responding. "It's a ridiculously good deal. Beyond any of our wildest dreams. Why on Earth would we refuse it?"

"Because it doesn't make sense. Think about it. If you joined CompCert, we'd end our deal with you. CompCert has to know that. I don't mean to insult you, but as you've said yourself, it's a ridiculously good deal. EconGrind is not worth 5 billion without Everyman's technology. Something else is going on."

"They might be luring you into a trap. I did some digging, and it turns out Daniel betrayed you under orders from CompCert. They are our enemies. They're trying to pull some scheme."

"What are they going to do? The meeting will be public knowledge! They can't just attack us there, everybody would know it was them!"

"People wouldn't necessarily know it was them. There are methods they could use to cover their tracks. They may even be aiming to take out some of their own in the process to divert suspicion."

"This is ridiculous! You're saying CompCert is going to attack their own meeting to get at us? Why would they do that?"

"I don't know. But it is quite clear they have some hidden motive. Why are they making such a massive move on such short notice? The only reason to make a deal that big within a single day is because you're hoping the other company will miss something. Even if they're not planning any kind of tricks or violence, even if the deal is real and you get the money, do you really want to give CompCert something it's willing to pay 5 billion for without even understanding why they value it that highly?"

That gave Dominique pause. "You're right that it is suspicious. This isn't how I envisioned making my fortune. But I'm not sure if that's reason enough to give up an opportunity like this. Besides, how would I explain the decision to our shareholders and the board of directors?"

I had to make an offer that could convince him. Problem was, I had nowhere near $5 billion in assets on hand, and CompCert most certainly did. I would have to convince him that my idea was worth more in the long run.

"Dominique, I know you well enough to know that you are a free spirit. You are not the type to bow your head to someone more powerful, and you aren't afraid to take a risk. I partnered with EconGrind not only for the use of your severs, but also because I see the value in your leadership. You built EconGrind from nothing, and I believe if EconGrind had both my technological skills and your strong leadership, we could become bigger than even CompCert. $5 billion is nothing compared to that. We could be titans among the titans of industry!"

"Bigger than CompCert? I know we've been growing quite quickly, but that's quite a tall claim."

"Think about it! Everyman can do anything. We can beat CompCert at their own game and beat every other software company at their own game at the same time! CompCert knows how valuable this technology is, and that's why they're trying to buy you out! They know I'd never sell out to them, so they're trying to run us into the ground by using their influence to stop everyone from doing business with us.

"Listen. I'm willing to cede Everyman to EconGrind completely, and all I want in return is a 30% share in the company, a position on the board of directors, and a promise not to sell the company unless it tanks. You can lead us to heights never dreamt of before. We can of course negotiate the exact terms."

"I recognize that you're making some good points, but that's too big of a decision to make right now. I'll tell you what: you come to our meeting and we can discuss it there. Trade offers, ask the CompCert people about their reasoning."

I thought about that idea for a while. What would I do if he accepted the offer? There wasn't much I could do. CompCert would have leverage over my entire future. If they dissolved EconGrind, that would be that. The worst possible outcome. There would be nothing left for me to do to gain value. If that happened... I'd make good on promises I made beforehand, and then stop running.

At that meeting, everything would be on the line. It would all be dependant on Dominique's decision, and I had no way to be certain what he would decide beforehand. At this point, he seemed to be favoring CompCert. I had to do something about this. But what could I do?

I got an idea. It was risky, but it was hardly riskier than the position I was already in.

================================================================================================

Friday, October 4, 2047

Dominique shifted around in his chair. As I watched him from the camera I had hidden on Stefan, I noted that he did not look much like a headstrong leader. Instead, he looked nervous, as though he wished he were somewhere else, or was hoping people wouldn't notice he was there. Ryan Graham, the head of CompCert's acquisitions team, stared at him as he squirmed.

"As we've said, we are prepared to offer 5 billion dollars for the ownership of your company. This seems to me like an extremely generous deal, but it has been approved at the highest level. Surely you're prepared to accept such an offer? Needless to say, each of you executives will recieve either a generous severance package or a high-level position within the new branch of CompCert, as you prefer."

"Why..." Dominique began, stuttering uncharacteristically a little, "Why are you offering so much money?"

"CompCert has determined that your company has quite a bit of potential if restructured and integrated into our other operations. In any case, this is an extremely good deal for you." The man seemed almost bored.

"We're sorry, but... I've discussed this with the board, and... we've come to agree that we won't be taking your deal. We believe we have a good thing going with our Everyman partnership, and we plan to merge with them." A few of the board members grumbled and shook their heads a little. He'd had a hard time getting them on board with this idea, but Dominique was nothing if not persuasive when he needed to be.

Ryan stared at him, but this time, he was not bored, but rather shocked. "You're rejecting our deal?" It seemed he could hardly believe it.

"We're still happy to do business with you, of course," Dominique replied, with a bit more confidence this time. "We have just decided we will remain independant. Perhaps a partnership, or-"

"This meeting is useless, then. We might as well leave. I don't know what possessed you to cross us when we were so generous with you, but you'll regret this. Go ahead and stay here, discuss your merger with your friend there."

The CompCert representatives quickly began filing out of the room. Something was wrong. They were too quick to leave, and something had been off about how Ryan had said "you'll regret this". Maybe I was paranoid, but I thought it was better not to leave our people alone in a room where the CompCert people weren't.

"Stefan, something's up. We need to leave, now. Follow them out of the building."

Stefan stood from his chair. "I don't think there's much we need to discuss here."

"Are you sure?" Ryan seemed skeptical. "This meeting is scheduled for several hours. You don't want to make use of that time?"

"He wants us to stay while he leaves. Something is wrong. Get out of there. Be prepared for the worst." Stefan tensed.

"I don't think so. We've got our own meeting rooms."

"Alright, if you say so," sighed Ryan. He tapped his earpiece. "Yes? What? Yeah, I'll be right there. I've got important business to attend to."

He hurried out of the room, far too quickly.

"Let's go now!" said Stefan to the rest, briskly walking towards the door. He froze as he heard footsteps of someone... no, several people, running down the hall. He looked out the door briefly, then quickly pulled his head back inside the room.

"GET DOWN!" he yelled, reaching into a hidden pocket in his shirt. I'd suspected something like this was possible, so I'd equipped him with the best weapons I could find that he would know how to use.

Too many things happened in quick succession. Yells of "CAPITALIST PIGS!" rang out from the hallway, along with the sound of gunfire. Stefan dropped to the ground, burying his face in his arms. A flashbang grenade detonated, and everyone was blinded except Stefan, who had thrown it. He scrambled to his feet, fished out a tranquilizer gun from another hidden pocket, then leaned out of the door and fired frantically into the hallway, aiming roughly for the vague figures he could see with his impaired vision.

Stefan tried to blink the spots out of his eyes. The room was filled with screaming, and he smelled blood. Too much blood. Several people had left the room, running blindly down the hallway. As his vision began to return, he saw that he had successfully taken out all three of the men that he could see. He'd never thought of himself as a brave man, but in that moment he made a snap decision. There could be more of them, but he had to get the guns away from these three before they could do any more damage. He ran up to them as quickly as he could, gathered the guns, and ran back into the room.

Stefan sank to his knees as he got a better look at what had happened. Dominique and two of the other EconGrind executives were dead. Two of the CompCert representatives were dead as well. Many of the others were injured. Stefan had been terrified to come here after his AI told him he needed to bring weapons, but he had mostly thought it was being paranoid about CompCert. It had turned out that he was horribly wrong. He called the emergency line and hoped that the building security would get here before long.

Stefan didn't have any first-aid training, but he tried to do what he could for the injured, along with the few other uninjured people, tearing strips off their clothing and packing them against their wounds like he had seen in the movies. He couldn't do enough.

He knew CompCert would say that this was a random terrorist attack. The attackers had acted like communists, but whether they were really communists or not, he knew they must have been led here by CompCert. It was too much of a coincidence. He decided that he would not let them get away with this.