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whole island will sit empty.”
    I laughed. “You don’t know our investors very well. They’re certainly nervous, as all high-stakes investors should be, but they’re behind the space port a hundred percent, and a minor complaint that was easily dismissed in court years ago by the time the space port opens will be long forgotten by both the investors and the public. You all have a stake in this, of course, but your stake is much smaller than the truly big money that stands behind this project. Simply put, you are no match for them.”
    The second man spoke now, clearly the more confident of the men—I had pegged them accurately. “Intimidation tactics won’t get you very far,” he said, leaning forward and smiling the same way I was—the smile of one who knows she is in control. But he was mistaken. “You can come in here and pretend that nothing any of the previous attorneys said was true, but it’s going to take a lot more than a confident face to convince us we have no leverage. You think we’re underestimating you, but I have to inform you it’s the opposite. I happen to know some of Mr. Sterling’s investors personally, and to say that they are behind the space port a hundred percent is, to put it mildly, an exaggeration. They’re not thrilled with it, and neither are we. And our price, since you want us to name it, is that the space port be scrapped altogether. And we’re not going to settle until you agree to our terms.”
    I knew their price was no space port, but I had expected the Chinese woman to be the one to finally come out and say it. Was she not the big gun after all? Or was it possible that I was, indeed, the one doing the underestimating at this table?
    “I happen to have met many of my client’s investors as well,” I said. “And I don’t know what they may have said to you in the past, or what my client’s previous counsel may have implied about them. But I’ve worked with high-stakes investors in the past, and there’s one thing I’ve found never changes: money talks. Investors can say whatever they like to whomever they like, but at the end of the day, their dollars do the talking. And their dollars are now, and have always been, behind my client’s vision. Since these proceedings began, which I remind you was over a month ago, not a single investor has pulled a single dollar of support from the space port. So you may believe you know these investors personally, but the question is, how well do you know their money?”
    The confident man said nothing. He was hiding very well how flustered he must have been.
    “Nobody cares about the investors,” the Chinese woman said. Her eyes stayed fixed on the paper in front of her. “Scrap the space port, or we take you to court.”
    “Great. Then we’re done here,” I said. “Have a good afternoon.” I stood up and left the room.
    “A moment please, before you go,” Sterling said to the others. He jumped up from his chair, followed me out of the room and closed the door behind him.
    “What the fuck are you doing?” he said. “If we go to court, my investors are out.”
    “We’re not going to court. I’m calling their bluff,” I said. “Their case will never hold up in court and they know it. If we do go, we may lose investors, but they get nothing. I’ve read every word of their claims and contracts over and over again, and all of the relevant laws. They don’t have a case. This whole thing is a waiting game they’ve been playing, hoping you’ll crack under the stress. And from the look on your face right now, I can see why they expected it. They’re counting on you to not take my advice, to not risk losing your investors. They were counting on you, Victor Sterling, to not let your lawyers call their bluff. And up until now, that’s exactly what you’ve been doing. You’ve been playing right into their hands.”
    “And what if you’re wrong? What if you’ve missed something? I know that woman, the one who never