Ross was about to go to bed on Thursday night, when his home office phone rang. It was 11 pm at night, and the caller ID said "Steve" so Ross knew something had to be wrong.
"Steve, are you okay? Is Mister P okay?" Ross said, in a very concerned tone as he answered the phone.
"Ross, please let me talk. Mister P is physically okay, and I am physically okay. I have a suspicion, I just hope, that Mister John Fish is not screwing around again. " Steve said.
Ross sat in his chair. "Uh Oh, that sounds ominous. What do you think is the matter?" Ross asked.
"I suspect, I cant prove it. I just suspect that Fish has a silent advisor who he has not told any of us about,. and that said advisor is telling Fish to make side deals with people that go against the written agreement which the four of us, you, I, John, and Mister P, have written and on contract regarding RFS" Steve said.
Ross's head felt like it hit his feet. "Oh,. My Fucking God!"
Steve and Ross both sat silently, until Ross finally said.
"What do you want to do? As we both know, Fish does not have very much to do with the OKC office. Fish mainly focuses on the Canadian parts of deals, and anything we have in Alaska. Still, we both know that we do not want to get into an all out war with Fish to end up breaking apart from RFS Canada and or Alaska. Doing such would not only be very aggravating, but it would also cause RFS to change drastically. We would survive of course, but things would look very different" Ross said.
"While it might be different, and it is two different things, it would almost be like when Tazzio took the old RossShell away from you, you ended up with the smaller company RossCo, and the company you had until you got RossShell back from Tazzio, RossCo, was a shadow of what you used to have with the old RossShell" Steve said.
"Steve, since you know more people in both the energy business, and who specialize in energy law than I do, would there be any way to get someone you know to snoop around RFS Canada without Fish knowing about it, and without having to subpeona any records that might get Fish suspicious, and cause a free for all between the four of us, that would not be beneficial for any of us, any future projects with RFS Canada, and so forth?" Ross asked.
Steve sighed. "Let me think about it, and you and I will talk. With this development, I almost feel like just putting together two or three small shows for investors this week, do them myself, and not even have you come down, and you can just watch via Zoom or we can do a conference call. I know that you are not feeling great anyway" Steve said.
"I'll tell you what.. Let's talk again, and on Sunday we can decide if we want to do any shows at all, or whether I should come down. Maybe I will just come for two full days and overnight, and do one or two shows, so that you and I can sit either in the office, or at lunch or dinner, and talk about things face to face. Let's talk tomorrow" Ross said.
"That's fine. Take care" Steve said.
"You too, Steve,. We will somehow get to the bottom of this" Ross said.
Ross walked back to the bedroom looking very somber. Kayley had dim lights on and was half up, but she could see from Ross's sullen face and hear from his sigh that something was terribly wrong
"Okay, buddy. Who was that, and why do you look like that?" Kayley said.
Ross climbed into bed, and lied on his back, then went on his side, and faced Kayley.
"Steve called me about what might be a very serious problem. Steve said that he suspects that John Fish is making side deals with people, whether they be suppliers or other investors, so that Fish will reap all benefits from said moves all for himself, or for himself and whoever these people are, and to cut out, and fuck over Steve, Fritz, and I. Steve said that he is going to have an attorney he knows check this out very , very quietly. Kale, this might be very, very bad news. If we do find out that Fish fucked us in any way, and parted ways from him, we then would lose the entire RFS Canada and Alaska connections, and reserves, The three of us, Steve, Fritz and I will survive, do deals, and explore for energy reserves, but, to compare, the RFS that the three of us would be left with, would be similar to what happened to me when Tazzio took the old RossShell away from me, and I just had RossCo. It would not be like a nuclear energy hit, to use a dramatic term, but it would be very, very bad. I'm not going to OKC. Everything is on hold until we figure this out" Ross said.
"Ross, I'm really sorry. Try to sleep, and tomorrow morning, decide if you want to go into the office. I know that this is like a hard punch in the stomach for you. You have survived things like this before, just see how it goes" Kayley said.
"I have no choice but to do that" Ross said.
Ross slept at intervals.
As Kayley was dressing in the morning, she said. "If you want to go in, fine. Any sign of trouble, leave , okay?"
Ross saluted Kayley. "Yes, Madam" and kissed her.
Ross dressed in a blazer, slacks, white shirt with a tie in his pocket, and headed to the office.
Ross did something he almost never did. There was a sparsely decorated office at the end of the floor which RossShell ocuupied with a phone, computer, desk, etc. Ross used it through the years to focus more without being "So close to the action" with all of the clutter in his office.
Ross walked out into the main area of the office.
"Ashley, please hold everything. I am dealing with something which cannot wait and which takes top priority today. I will come back to my usual office if I can get started on trying to solve this" Ross said.
"Yes, Ross" Ashley said.
Ross called Alan Hell. Alan answered, the two of them started talking. Ross started to tell Alan the problem, but Ross was so upset that Ross started stuttering , something Ross did when he was very upset. Alan tried to talk to Ross and calm him down. "Ross, I'm just in the office today. No mediation, no court, no partner meetings., I am here for you. Please email me exactly what the problem is. I will text you when I get it, and let you know how long I need to think about it and give you detailed advice" Alan said.
"Thanks, Alan. You are a gentleman, and great lawyer, and a great friend" Ross said, as the men hung up.
Ross went to the computer, and typed out in detail what Steve had told Ross about Steve finding evidence that Fish might be screwing around and making side deals with people against the agreement which Ross, Fritz Steve, and John had on RFS. Ross also told Alan that Ross and Steve had to be very careful how this was handled, because if they lost the Alaska and Canada connections which Fish had, RFS , while it would not cease to exist, would become a shadow of what it currently was, like when Ross lost RossShell to Tazzio, and had only RossCo.
Alan studied Ross's email, felt very troubled for Ross as Ross's attorney, Ross's friend, Ross's client, and an investor in RFS.
"Ross, I wont lie to you. If even any of this is true, this is very troubling, major news. We also have to wait to see what any attorney in OKC who Steve talks to will find out. I dont know what to tell you to do. With the way you guys, especially Steve and you, do deals in OKC every month, Fish could become suspicious if suddenly deals are slowed up, or put on hold. You could use your health as an excuse, but Fish knows that you can talk to everyone via conference call and or Zoom, or email. I need some time to research, think about this, and give you my opinion, as both an attorney and your friend. My advice would be to call Fish and tell him that you had a bad episode with your migraines and epilepsy, and have to stop everything for one to two weeks. This will buy me some time. Do you think you can pull that off?" Alan asked.
"I dont know. Fish is such a hardass, but I can try" Ross said.
"I promise I will work on this as quickly and in as detailed of a manner as possible. In the meantime, stall Fish with whatever you have to do" Alan said.
"Okay, I will" Ross said, hanging up.
Ross texted Steve with all of what Alan had told Ross. Steve called Ross. "We will put any moves off, shows, anything for 7 to 14 days. I suggest you email Fish now, tell him you had an episode, and have to stay out of the RossShell office, off planes, and near the apartment and bed. I will tell the OKC lawyer to continue to search quietly, tell him about Alan Hell, and what you did, and see what we can come up with. We will definitely get to the bottom of this" Steve said.
"Okay, we just have to go through the process. We will keep in close touch" Ross said, as he hung up.
Ross then emailed Fish saying what Ross had discussed with Alan Hell and Steve. Fish wrote back a civil email saying that Fish hoped Ross felt better, and that Fish understood if Ross needed time and had to put things on hold due to Ross's health. Ross told this to Steve, and Ross, Steve, and now Alan Hell, had bought time to find out information about this situation
Ross went back to his usual office, piddled on paperwork half of the day, and left at 2.
"I have to leave. I'm not feeling well" Ross said, walking out of the office.
"Feel better, Ross:" Vic said.
"Thanks, Vic:" Ross said.
Ross got into an Uber, went home, threw off his clothes, got into bed, and waited foir Kayley.
Kayley arrived home about four, to see Ross lying on his back, half sleeping.
Kayley lightly kissed Ross.
"You look sick" Kayley said.
"It might be minor, moderate, or very bad, Kale. Steve talked to a lawyer who is going to quietly snoop around. I called the person one would expect I would call with a situation like this, Alan Hell. Alan said he needs up to 14 days. Alan told me to stall Fish with any deals, contracts, moves, etc. I hope to God that something major is not going to happen in a negative way, Kale. We all worked so hard to build this energy company into the powerhouse it is. If anything happens, it will only be because Fish is a greedy bastard who has to have everything his own way, play hardball with everyone,. and everything, and be a hard ass:" Ross said.
Ross and Kayley ate a light dinner, and Ross drifted off into a not so good sleep, a feeling of dread over him.
Ross slept a few hours.
Around 6 am in the morning, Ross awakened to more bad news on his cell phone. The message said. "Read detailed email in your RossC personal business account email. "Big Trouble"
Ross staggered into the den, logged into said email, read the email, and more dread came over him.
What was it "This!" time?
That would be seen.
"Steve, are you okay? Is Mister P okay?" Ross said, in a very concerned tone as he answered the phone.
"Ross, please let me talk. Mister P is physically okay, and I am physically okay. I have a suspicion, I just hope, that Mister John Fish is not screwing around again. " Steve said.
Ross sat in his chair. "Uh Oh, that sounds ominous. What do you think is the matter?" Ross asked.
"I suspect, I cant prove it. I just suspect that Fish has a silent advisor who he has not told any of us about,. and that said advisor is telling Fish to make side deals with people that go against the written agreement which the four of us, you, I, John, and Mister P, have written and on contract regarding RFS" Steve said.
Ross's head felt like it hit his feet. "Oh,. My Fucking God!"
Steve and Ross both sat silently, until Ross finally said.
"What do you want to do? As we both know, Fish does not have very much to do with the OKC office. Fish mainly focuses on the Canadian parts of deals, and anything we have in Alaska. Still, we both know that we do not want to get into an all out war with Fish to end up breaking apart from RFS Canada and or Alaska. Doing such would not only be very aggravating, but it would also cause RFS to change drastically. We would survive of course, but things would look very different" Ross said.
"While it might be different, and it is two different things, it would almost be like when Tazzio took the old RossShell away from you, you ended up with the smaller company RossCo, and the company you had until you got RossShell back from Tazzio, RossCo, was a shadow of what you used to have with the old RossShell" Steve said.
"Steve, since you know more people in both the energy business, and who specialize in energy law than I do, would there be any way to get someone you know to snoop around RFS Canada without Fish knowing about it, and without having to subpeona any records that might get Fish suspicious, and cause a free for all between the four of us, that would not be beneficial for any of us, any future projects with RFS Canada, and so forth?" Ross asked.
Steve sighed. "Let me think about it, and you and I will talk. With this development, I almost feel like just putting together two or three small shows for investors this week, do them myself, and not even have you come down, and you can just watch via Zoom or we can do a conference call. I know that you are not feeling great anyway" Steve said.
"I'll tell you what.. Let's talk again, and on Sunday we can decide if we want to do any shows at all, or whether I should come down. Maybe I will just come for two full days and overnight, and do one or two shows, so that you and I can sit either in the office, or at lunch or dinner, and talk about things face to face. Let's talk tomorrow" Ross said.
"That's fine. Take care" Steve said.
"You too, Steve,. We will somehow get to the bottom of this" Ross said.
Ross walked back to the bedroom looking very somber. Kayley had dim lights on and was half up, but she could see from Ross's sullen face and hear from his sigh that something was terribly wrong
"Okay, buddy. Who was that, and why do you look like that?" Kayley said.
Ross climbed into bed, and lied on his back, then went on his side, and faced Kayley.
"Steve called me about what might be a very serious problem. Steve said that he suspects that John Fish is making side deals with people, whether they be suppliers or other investors, so that Fish will reap all benefits from said moves all for himself, or for himself and whoever these people are, and to cut out, and fuck over Steve, Fritz, and I. Steve said that he is going to have an attorney he knows check this out very , very quietly. Kale, this might be very, very bad news. If we do find out that Fish fucked us in any way, and parted ways from him, we then would lose the entire RFS Canada and Alaska connections, and reserves, The three of us, Steve, Fritz and I will survive, do deals, and explore for energy reserves, but, to compare, the RFS that the three of us would be left with, would be similar to what happened to me when Tazzio took the old RossShell away from me, and I just had RossCo. It would not be like a nuclear energy hit, to use a dramatic term, but it would be very, very bad. I'm not going to OKC. Everything is on hold until we figure this out" Ross said.
"Ross, I'm really sorry. Try to sleep, and tomorrow morning, decide if you want to go into the office. I know that this is like a hard punch in the stomach for you. You have survived things like this before, just see how it goes" Kayley said.
"I have no choice but to do that" Ross said.
Ross slept at intervals.
As Kayley was dressing in the morning, she said. "If you want to go in, fine. Any sign of trouble, leave , okay?"
Ross saluted Kayley. "Yes, Madam" and kissed her.
Ross dressed in a blazer, slacks, white shirt with a tie in his pocket, and headed to the office.
Ross did something he almost never did. There was a sparsely decorated office at the end of the floor which RossShell ocuupied with a phone, computer, desk, etc. Ross used it through the years to focus more without being "So close to the action" with all of the clutter in his office.
Ross walked out into the main area of the office.
"Ashley, please hold everything. I am dealing with something which cannot wait and which takes top priority today. I will come back to my usual office if I can get started on trying to solve this" Ross said.
"Yes, Ross" Ashley said.
Ross called Alan Hell. Alan answered, the two of them started talking. Ross started to tell Alan the problem, but Ross was so upset that Ross started stuttering , something Ross did when he was very upset. Alan tried to talk to Ross and calm him down. "Ross, I'm just in the office today. No mediation, no court, no partner meetings., I am here for you. Please email me exactly what the problem is. I will text you when I get it, and let you know how long I need to think about it and give you detailed advice" Alan said.
"Thanks, Alan. You are a gentleman, and great lawyer, and a great friend" Ross said, as the men hung up.
Ross went to the computer, and typed out in detail what Steve had told Ross about Steve finding evidence that Fish might be screwing around and making side deals with people against the agreement which Ross, Fritz Steve, and John had on RFS. Ross also told Alan that Ross and Steve had to be very careful how this was handled, because if they lost the Alaska and Canada connections which Fish had, RFS , while it would not cease to exist, would become a shadow of what it currently was, like when Ross lost RossShell to Tazzio, and had only RossCo.
Alan studied Ross's email, felt very troubled for Ross as Ross's attorney, Ross's friend, Ross's client, and an investor in RFS.
"Ross, I wont lie to you. If even any of this is true, this is very troubling, major news. We also have to wait to see what any attorney in OKC who Steve talks to will find out. I dont know what to tell you to do. With the way you guys, especially Steve and you, do deals in OKC every month, Fish could become suspicious if suddenly deals are slowed up, or put on hold. You could use your health as an excuse, but Fish knows that you can talk to everyone via conference call and or Zoom, or email. I need some time to research, think about this, and give you my opinion, as both an attorney and your friend. My advice would be to call Fish and tell him that you had a bad episode with your migraines and epilepsy, and have to stop everything for one to two weeks. This will buy me some time. Do you think you can pull that off?" Alan asked.
"I dont know. Fish is such a hardass, but I can try" Ross said.
"I promise I will work on this as quickly and in as detailed of a manner as possible. In the meantime, stall Fish with whatever you have to do" Alan said.
"Okay, I will" Ross said, hanging up.
Ross texted Steve with all of what Alan had told Ross. Steve called Ross. "We will put any moves off, shows, anything for 7 to 14 days. I suggest you email Fish now, tell him you had an episode, and have to stay out of the RossShell office, off planes, and near the apartment and bed. I will tell the OKC lawyer to continue to search quietly, tell him about Alan Hell, and what you did, and see what we can come up with. We will definitely get to the bottom of this" Steve said.
"Okay, we just have to go through the process. We will keep in close touch" Ross said, as he hung up.
Ross then emailed Fish saying what Ross had discussed with Alan Hell and Steve. Fish wrote back a civil email saying that Fish hoped Ross felt better, and that Fish understood if Ross needed time and had to put things on hold due to Ross's health. Ross told this to Steve, and Ross, Steve, and now Alan Hell, had bought time to find out information about this situation
Ross went back to his usual office, piddled on paperwork half of the day, and left at 2.
"I have to leave. I'm not feeling well" Ross said, walking out of the office.
"Feel better, Ross:" Vic said.
"Thanks, Vic:" Ross said.
Ross got into an Uber, went home, threw off his clothes, got into bed, and waited foir Kayley.
Kayley arrived home about four, to see Ross lying on his back, half sleeping.
Kayley lightly kissed Ross.
"You look sick" Kayley said.
"It might be minor, moderate, or very bad, Kale. Steve talked to a lawyer who is going to quietly snoop around. I called the person one would expect I would call with a situation like this, Alan Hell. Alan said he needs up to 14 days. Alan told me to stall Fish with any deals, contracts, moves, etc. I hope to God that something major is not going to happen in a negative way, Kale. We all worked so hard to build this energy company into the powerhouse it is. If anything happens, it will only be because Fish is a greedy bastard who has to have everything his own way, play hardball with everyone,. and everything, and be a hard ass:" Ross said.
Ross and Kayley ate a light dinner, and Ross drifted off into a not so good sleep, a feeling of dread over him.
Ross slept a few hours.
Around 6 am in the morning, Ross awakened to more bad news on his cell phone. The message said. "Read detailed email in your RossC personal business account email. "Big Trouble"
Ross staggered into the den, logged into said email, read the email, and more dread came over him.
What was it "This!" time?
That would be seen.
