The meeting had gone well. Better, in fact, than Gus had expected. He’d spent much of the previous night memorizing facts and figures, studying company history and trying to game a strategy for dealing with a roomful of skeptical executives.

But to start with, the room hadn’t been full. There had only been two people sitting at the conference table. One of them was Armitage, of course. He’d been Gus’ contact all through this, and he was exactly as Gus had envisioned him during their multiple phone calls. Maybe the suit was a little more expensive than Gus had imagined, but that was only because his imagination had trouble picturing anyone spending that much money on clothes. His hair was white, but the lines of his face looked like the kind that come from lots of outdoor living, not decay. He had a firm handshake and a broad smile that matched the one Gus had always heard in his voice.

The other man was young enough to be Armitage’s grandson, and he was dressed like he’d stopped in to cadge a free lunch out of gramps on the way to a Hacky Sack tournament in the marina. His bright pink polo was wrinkled, his chinos stained at the cuffs by grease from a bicycle chain. While Gus did his best to answer Armitage’s questions without sounding like he’d stayed up late rehearsing them, the kid barely looked up from his smartphone, except for one moment when he let out a loud “boo-yah!” that seemed to have more to do with whatever was on his screen than Gus’ frank confession that he often put his work obligations over his personal life, even to his own detriment.