The Associate

Bennie was in a suite on the third floor, where he’d been waiting for two hours because his "asset" couldn’t get away from the office.

But Bennie didn’t mind. His asset belonged at the office, and the more time he spent there, the quicker Bennie could get on with his work.

Regardless, though, Bennie opened up with a nasty "You’re two hours late."

"Sue me." Kyle stretched out on the bed. This was their fourth meeting in New York since Kyle had moved there, and he had yet to hand over anything that Bennie wasn’t supposed to have. His ethics were still intact. No laws had been broken.

So why did he feel like such a traitor?

Bennie was tapping a large white poster board mounted on an easel. "If I could have your attention, please," he said. "This won’t take long. I have some coffee if you’d like."

Kyle wasn’t about to concede an inch. He jumped to his feet, poured coffee in a paper cup, and sat on the edge of the bed. "Go."

"This is the Trylon team as it is now assembled. At the top here is Wilson Rush, and below him are eight litigation partners  –  Mason, Bradley, Weems, Cochran, Green, Abbott, Etheridge, and Wittenberg. How many have you met?"

Kyle studied the eight squares with the names scrawled inside them, and thought for a second. "Wilson Rush spoke to us during orientation, but I haven’t seen him since. I did a memo for Abbott on a securities case, met him briefly, and I had lunch one day in the cafeteria with Wittenberg. I’ve seen Bradley, Weems, maybe Etheridge, but I can’t say I’ve met them. It’s a big firm." Kyle was still amazed at the unknown faces he encountered every day in the halls and elevators, the cafeteria and libraries and coffee rooms. He tried to socialize and at least say hello, but the clock was always ticking and billing was much more important.

His supervising partner was Doug Peckham, and he was relieved Peckham’s name was not on the board.

There were a bunch of smaller squares under the partners. Bennie tapped an index finger near them. "There are sixteen senior associates, and under them another sixteen younger ones. The names are in that binder over there. You need to memorize them."

"Sure, Bennie." Kyle glanced at the binder, this one a two-inch blue one. The last three were black and thicker. Then he studied the names on the board.

"How many of these associates have you worked with?"

"Five, six, maybe seven," he said with no effort at being accurate. How would Bennie know whom he’d worked with? And how Bennie knew the names of all forty-one lawyers assigned to the Trylon case was a question Kyle didn’t even want to consider. A few of the names would appear in the court file, but only the big boys. How many sources did he have?

He pointed to a smaller box. "This is a senior associate named Sherry Abney. You met her?"

"No."

"A rising star, fast track to partnership. Two degrees from Harvard and a federal clerkship. She reports to Partner Mason, who’s in charge of discovery. Under her is a second-year associate by the name of Jack McDougle. McDougle has a cocaine problem. No one at the firm knows it, but he’s about to get busted, so everybody will know it. His departure will be quick."

Kyle stared at the box with McDougle’s name and thought of so many questions he didn’t know where to start. How did Bennie know this?

"And you want me to take his place?"

"I want you to schmooze it up with Sherry Abney. Check her out, get to know her. She’s thirty years old, single but committed to an investment banker at Chase who works as many hours as she does, so they have no time for any fun. No wedding date, as of now, at least nothing that has been announced. She likes to play squash, when she can find the time, and as you know, the firm has two courts on the fortieth floor beside the gym. You play squash?"

"I guess I do now." Kyle had played several times at Yale. "Not sure when I’ll find the time."

"You figure it out. She just might be your entree onto the Trylon team."

Go, team, go. Kyle planned to avoid Trylon and its litigation team as diligently as possible. "Small problem here, Bennie," Kyle said. "Nice homework, but you’re missing the obvious. There are no first-year grunts anywhere near this case. A couple of reasons. First, we don’t know anything  –  five months ago we were still in law school  –  and, second, the smart boys at Trylon probably told their lawyers to keep the rookies away from this case. That happens, you know. Not all of our clients are stupid enough to pay $300 an hour for a bunch of kids to stick it to them. So, Bennie, where is plan B?"

"It takes patience, Kyle. And politics. You start angling for the Trylon case, networking with the upper associates, kissing the right asses, and we might get a lucky break."

Kyle wasn’t finished with the discussion about McDougle. He was determined to pursue it, when another man suddenly appeared from the sitting room adjacent to the bedroom. Kyle was so startled he almost dropped the half-filled cup of coffee. "This is Nigel," Bennie was saying. "He’ll spend a few minutes on systems." Nigel was in his face, thrusting forward a hand to shake. "A pleasure," he sang in a cheery British way. He then moved to the tripod and mounted his own display.

The sitting room was twelve by twelve. Kyle looked through the open double doors into it. Nigel had been hiding in there and listening to every word.

"Scully & Pershing uses a litigation support system called Jury Box," he began quickly. All movements were rapid and precise.

British, but with a strange accent. Forty years old. Five feet ten inches, 150 pounds. Short dark hair, half gray. Eyes, brown. No remarkable features but slightly elevated cheekbones. Thin lips. No eyeglasses.

"How much have they taught you about Jury Box?" Nigel wanted to know.

"The basics. I’ve used it on several occasions." Kyle was still reeling from Nigel’s unexpected appearance.

"It’s your typical litigation support system. All discovery is scanned into a virtual library that can be accessed by all lawyers working on the case. Quick retrieval of documents. Super-quick search of keywords, phrases, contract language, anything, really. You’re up to speed?"

"Yes."

"It’s fairly secure, pretty standard stuff these days. And like all smart law firms, Scully also uses a more secure system for sensitive files and cases. It’s called Barrister. You in on this one?"

"No."

"Not surprised. They keep it quiet. Works pretty much like Jury Box, but much harder to access, or to hack into. Keep your ears open for it."

Kyle nodded as if he would do precisely as he was being told. Since February, on that awful night when he’d been ambushed after a youth-league basketball game on the cold streets of New Haven, he had met only with Bennie Wright. Or whoever he really was. He had assumed, without really thinking about it, that Bennie, as his handler, would be the only face of the operation. There were other faces, to be sure; in particular, a couple of the street pounders who followed him night and day and who’d made enough mistakes so that Kyle could now spot them. But it had not occurred to him that he would actually be introduced to someone else with a bogus name who worked for the operation.

And why was he? Bennie was certainly capable of handling Nigel’s little presentation.

"And then you have the Trylon case," Nigel was singing. "A completely different matter, I’m afraid. Much more complicated and secure. Whole different batch of software, really. Probably written just for this one lawsuit. Got the docs locked up in a warehouse down south with Uzis at every door. But we’ve made progress." He stopped long enough to allow himself a quick approving smile at Bennie.