Roth took a seat on a lounge sofa after he grabbed a Time magazine from the coffee table. He had seen Michael Korsakov walk away from their departure point and looked back at him through his peripheral vision before entering the office. He tried to fixate on Michael’s body language or gestures to identify if he had become suspicious of him, but he gave no signs. Michael looked back, that was enough for Roth to know that he had at least caught his attention.
Roth was anxious but he tried to disguise it and even walked around the hallways lingering around the restroom before his scheduled meeting. He looked at himself in the mirrors around the elevators and couldn’t help but to laugh, the beard and the clothes were a daring get up. In the limousine he had planted a chip on Michael’s messenger bag when he reached over to shake his hand under his frock coat. It never would have crossed Michael’s mind that he had done that. Modern culture has taught us to respect men of the cloth, and at that moment Roth resembled a rabbi.
While in the restroom he checked to see if the chip had been activated―it had. And now there was no way to renounce from the clandestine plan he put into effect, he had to see it through to the very end. He had a meeting with the CFO of the Kansas City Rail Project to discuss real estate opportunities. He was a leading potential investor and already popular with the other business leaders of the emerging monopoly of railroads, private toll roads, real estate, and certain public officials, amongst others.
He represented capital and investment as the business development manager of the Roth Trust, a family-oriented company from Florida. He was known for his ruthlessness in striking difficult business deals and his commitment to eloquent philosophy, he had a well-respected reputation. The CFO had left a message with a receptionist saying that he would be delayed about fifteen minutes. It gave Roth time to clear his mind of the plans he had for Michael. He had been introduced to Paul Dumont, the CFO of the Kansas City Rail Project at a non-profit benefit a few months ago―Jay Jacobs had been the liaison.