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the bank’s
monolith. The café was large with plenty of tall windows.
    We sat down for coffee and I apologized
again, “I am sorry for my inelegance, I hope you will excuse me.”
    “That is OK, I hope you are freed from the
pain that you may be feeling and I wish you all the best. Now, you wanted to
see me?” he straightened his back, like when one reaches the end-point that a
conversation is meant to arrive upon.
    “Yes, it is about the receivables that have
been outstanding, almost four million dollars. I simply want to understand the
situation and assess for myself the timeframe by when the payment will be
received,” I was pointing to the screen of my tablet, on which were an
assortment of scans, mostly purchase orders and invoices.
    “Well, we cannot make a payment in the
absence of a contract; and the contract itself, our respective legal teams are
still negotiating. Between you and me, they are deadlocked and I don’t see them
resolving their differences anytime soon,” he said, brushing aside the tablet
and its contents.
    In the stream of sunlight, I noticed a
lizard sunning itself, indoors, in the cool of conditioned air.
    “But, you are using the equipment that BMI
supplied, are you not?” I asked, genuinely wanting to get a fair appraisal of
the situation.
    “They supplied the equipment, in their
eagerness to recognize their billings, for their business to look
good in their Quarter, almost nine months ago. We did not even put a
purchase order in place when they supplied the equipment and sent the
invoices,” he looked at me, knowing well that I was taken by surprise. “And, to
answer your question, yes we are using the equipment,” he added.
    “So, in short the question of payment does
not arise till the contracts are mutually agreed upon and accepted by both
parties, which in your opinion will take a lot of time and doing,” I concluded,
clearly wanting him to elaborate a bit more.
    “Look, it is very simple; BMI went ahead
with the supply, hoping they would clean all the paper-work up quickly, within
weeks if not days from the supply. This has weakened their position, since now
the bargaining power is with us, and our lawyers are extracting to the last
penny what they can from BMI. This is their job you know. In some sense we will
keep using the equipment while the negotiations drag tiresomely on. In our
landscape, months, even years can go by, leaving a dead lock profitable,” he
said, being matter of fact.
    “Thank you Mr. Ortega, I have my
assessment, and the information that I was seeking. I have just one more
question. How does one resolve a situation like this?” I asked.
    “Simple,” he was smiling “Use forklifts,
after sending a notice informing us that you are wheeling the equipment out,
which would be well within BMI’s rights since the contract is still under
negotiation. That would hasten things because the applications that we run on
those servers keep our economy ticking, including the stock exchanges and all
other banking transactions,” he was still smiling, as we stood and shook hands.
    “Promise me, you will take care of yourself,”
he said in a kind melting way, and then turned away, showing me out.
    On the plane back home I prepared my
assessment, which was due on the following day.
    I had to recommend a write down of the four
million dollars worth of revenue that BMI had falsely accounted for more than
six months ago. There was no outlook of getting that payment in a reasonable
timeframe, given what I had heard from Ortega. I knew this would open up a
completely new stream of work, with paper and e-mail trail, revealing dubious sales
and accounting practices. Billings in the absence of contracts, purchase orders
dated post supply, installation inconsistencies etc., each pointing to
individuals who may have acted in complicity with greed, from bonus payouts
linked with the revenue and profitability that the deal brought in. This trail
would implicate key