Marine One

I was so pissed I couldn't even speak for a minute. This was exactly what we shouldn't do. 'This isn't coming from you, is it?'

'That doesn't matter.'

I stood. 'It does to me. Is this from you?'

'I agree with it.'

'It's London, isn't it? They're over there on Lime Street watching the legal experts on television and panicking. Did they call you at the end of this morning's session?'

'I talk to them at the end of every session, so, yes, they did call. But this is what we're going to do.'

I tossed my pen onto the table. 'Whatever you say.'

She could tell I was peeved. 'Well, do you have a plan, Mike? A plan to get us from here to the end of the trial with something to tell the jury?'

'Our experts are still busting their asses, and you know that. I expected to hear from Wayne Bradley this morning, but he's gone radio silent. I also expected to hear from Curtis, but I haven't yet. He's trying to find the witness Tinny was supposed to give me, but Tinny got murdered. So we're stuck. There's just lot of weird stuff going on right now, Kathryn, and I'm not really sure what's happening.'

'Well,' Kathryn said, still annoyed, 'if you don't start laying this out soon, then Mark will have to take the lead and finish the trial.'

I didn't even want to be having the conversation. 'I need to go prepare for this afternoon's witnesses.'

Kathryn wasn't about to let me sting her. 'The next two witnesses are Hackett's experts. Mark will be handling those.'

I thought Rachel was going to come out of her skin.

I turned toward Brightman reluctantly. He had a notebook perfectly prepared with outlines for each expert witness. He had his hands folded on top of it. I asked him, 'You need anything from me?'

'No, I prepared cross-examinations in case I was called on to do them.'

I stood up and Rachel followed me.

32

THE AFTERNOON DRAGGED on forever. When Brightman sat at the counsel table on the other side of Rachel, a lot of whispering and scratching of pencils came from the journalists. He had never appeared at any proceeding before, although his name was on the pleadings. The legal press wondered whether I was being elbowed out of the way in the middle of trial. They loved the reputation drama that surrounded every major trial. I sat there dutifully taking notes like a cub associate as Hackett put on two expert witnesses that afternoon: his economist, who testified about the president's likely career earnings, and his accident reconstructionist. Hackett was being smart. First build the sympathy with the widows, then show the jury the value, then you explain the liability. Easy stuff first. Brightman's cross-examinations were fine. The reconstructionist did as expected and essentially recited the preliminary NTSB report, adopting their conclusions and performing retests or identical analysis where necessary to be able to testify about it. He was polished and left the jury believing everything he said was correct.

We went back to our large conference room at the end of the day. The power had shifted to Brightman. He was fielding all the questions, telling everyone how he was going to handle the next day's witnesses.

I interjected into the discussion, 'Kathryn, one thing we might consider is a settlement offer.'

She was shocked. 'We're at the absolute nadir of our case; you think now's the time to approach them?'

I nodded. 'We need to get the conversation started.'

Brightman shook his head. 'I couldn't disagree more. I'd suggest we motor through this. If they want to try to come after us for punitive damages, maybe that would be the time to approach Hackett. Then we'll-'

'No, you don't get it. We found one of the tip weights.'

The room want completely silent. 'What?' Kathryn stared at me, looking betrayed. 'When? When were you going to tell me?'

'Couple of weeks ago. Went up in the tree. There was a tip weight embedded in the branch. Half of a tip weight. It had fractured.'

'Meaning it failed and caused the accident?'

Brightman was speechless. 'You started this trial knowing there was critical evidence against us… and didn't tell the other side or the court? Are you kidding me? Is that your fourth theory? It's all our fault and we're screwed?'

Kathryn looked pale. 'What are you doing, Mike? This could get you sanctioned. The court could enter judgment against WorldCopter for this alone.'

'I thought I'd hear from Bradley. I asked him to run some additional tests on it before we turned it over. Nothing destructive. I just can't get ahold of him. I'm afraid for him, with what happened to Tinny. So I thought we should approach Hackett now, with him thinking we just don't like the evidence. Once he gets wind of this broken tip weight, he'll never settle.'

Kathryn slouched in her chair, rested her head against the wall with her eyes closed, and said, 'Call Hackett.'

I dialed the hotel where Hackett was staying, where he had leased one of the ballrooms as his 'war room.' It was probably as much square footage as my whole office building. I asked for Hackett's ballroom. One of Hackett's associates picked up the phone.

'Hi, this is Mike Nolan. Is Tom Hackett there please?'

'Mike Nolan?'

'Right.'

'Um, yeah. Hold on one second.' I heard his hand go over the receiver. Kathryn indicated to me to put it on speakerphone, which I did. Hackett came on the line.

'This is Tom Hackett, is that you, Mike?'

'Good evening, Tom, yes, it is.'

There was a pause. 'You've got me on the speakerphone. Is there anyone else in the room listening to this?'

'Yes. That's why you're on speakerphone. I want them to hear you.'

'Please tell me the name of everybody in the room or this conversation is over.'

I rolled my eyes, then went around the room and told him everyone who was there.

He said, 'An august group. I am honored. What can I do for you?'

'When you and I last spoke on the telephone, we had discussed settlement. I wondered if you had any interest in further discussions.'

'Are you serious?'

'Quite.'

'So let me get this right. I made a settlement demand at the outset of this case for one billion dollars. You rejected that and essentially told me I was out of my mind. That's fine. I can live with that. But now, after you've had your head handed to you in jury selection, the first few witnesses, and the experts, you come asking to talk settlement?'

'Look, before we get all the way through this trial and send this case to the jury, we wanted to call and see if you've come to your senses yet and are prepared to discuss settlement.'

'My senses? I made a settlement demand to you a long time ago, and I am not about to discuss settlement over the phone. But if you and Kathryn come over here right now, we can discuss our positions and see if there is any point in negotiations. But you must be here within fifteen minutes. I have work to do and a case to try.'

I glanced at Kathryn, who shrugged, then nodded reluctantly. 'We'll be right there.'

I drove Kathryn to the hotel. Neither of us said a word. We parked in the hotel parking lot, went in through the lobby, and back to the ballroom, where I had attended numerous bar receptions and balls. A security guard standing at the door recognized us and opened the door. When we walked into the room, I was stunned. It was the most impressive high-tech legal setup I had ever seen. Desks with oversize flat-screen monitors were everywhere. A big-screen TV in the middle in the back-had to be seventy-two inches-had been split into four quadrants to see four networks that were following the trial, including Court TV, CNN, MSNBC, and FOX. They were all giving it essentially twenty-four-hour coverage. Hackett undoubtedly had a PR person feeding the media theories and information all the time. That person was probably sitting in the ballroom as we entered.

A huge white screen on the right side with an ELMO set up was probably used to practice the use of the trial exhibits to make sure they projected well across a large room like the courtroom. A PowerPoint projector sat next to the ELMO and a DVD player. In this mini-court, Hackett and others could practice witness examination and evidence presentation. All his associates and paralegals had their own desks and computers and were busily working. In the middle was a square conference table with six chairs set up around it. We stood there waiting for someone to recognize us. Finally, Greg Bass came over and greeted us. He pointed us to the conference table. We walked to it and stood by it. Presently, Hackett came out from behind a large black curtain or screen that I had not previously noticed but which undoubtedly constituted his office. The aluminum framing had high-quality black curtains that set up a square-walled office that took up an eighth of the ballroom in the corner. Bright lights could be seen shining from behind the curtain. Hackett had his coat off and his tie loosened. He looked more fit than I thought he was. He walked over to the conference table and extended his hand to Kathryn. 'Good evening, Ms. Galbraith. I'm glad you could come over.'

She shook his hand. 'My pleasure.'

He turned to me and shook my hand. 'Mike, good to see you.'

'Evening.'

'Please, sit down,' he said. 'Would you like some coffee or tea?'

Kathryn and I both shook our heads.

'All right, then let's get down to business. You called me about settlement. What do you have in mind?'

Kathryn glanced at me, leaned forward on the table with her hands folded, and said, 'We're not stupid. I realize that so far the evidence has not gone our way.'

Hackett tried not to smile.