Chapter 9
"Welcome back, everyone, to the View. I am one of your hosts, Joy Behar, and with us today is perhaps a woman who needs minimal introduction. She is the long-time spokesperson for Ezekiel Inc., a former Victoria's Secret Angel, and co-founder of Planet Green, and perhaps one of the most incredible models of our time, Miss Gisele Bündchen." Joy says as the crowd claps loudly for this extraordinary woman.
Raising her hand and waving to the crowd, Gisele says, "Thank you, Joy, it's a pleasure to be on the show as always."
"And it's a pleasure to have you here today, Gisele. So let's get right into it. It has now been what, 20 years since you first blasted on the scene at the 1998 Paris Fashion Week and met the one and only Isabel Cadaval." Whoopi says, but has to stop for one moment as the women in the audience clap. While her reputation around the world has seen its fair share of ups and downs, there was no denying that Isabel was one of the most extraordinary women of their time.
Nodding her head with a big and frankly stunning smile, Gisele says, "Yes…yes, it has been 20 years since I met the most eccentric woman I have ever met."
Everyone laughs at this.
"She really is strange, isn't she?" Joy states more than asks.
"Oh, the strangest. No doubt." Gisele says.
"Any regrets working with her?" Joy asks.
"None," Gisele says faltly.
"Really, none at all?" Whoopi asks in a bit of surprise. As everyone knew, what Isabel was like, or at least how she appeared on TV. To say she was a lot to deal with would be putting it nicely.
Taking a moment to think on how she wishes to phrase this, Gisele says, "Well, Whoopi, what can I say. From the moment I first met Isabel, I knew she was not your typical woman. She was and still is the most unapologetic, intellectual, sexual woman I have ever known. With a drive to succeed the likes I have never seen before."
"You met her at the 1998 Paris Fashion Week, right?" Elisabeth Hasselbeck asks.
"I did, and as well as perhaps the greatest designer of our time, and I am not just saying that because I am wearing one of her designs right now. My good friend Ayah Thomason." Gisele says, and again the crowd starts to clap.
When the crowd settles, Elisabeth asks, "Was that where Isabel hired you?"
"Yes, it was." Gisele's answer.
"Wow, that must have been a massive risk for you at the time. I mean, in 1998, Isabel and by extension Ezekiel Inc. weren't well known at the time." Joy says.
"You know, Joy, a lot of people have said that to me. Or have asked me how I was able to find it in me to take such a significant risk on such an unknown company at the time, and I have always been a bit hesitant to answer that. But only because it wasn't really a risk. You see, the very night I met her, Isabel, she offered me $250,000 a year for the first year to work for her. Now, at that time, I wasn't making that much. Maybe a couple of thousand dollars, for the whole week, so $250,000 was a bit of a jump from that. Especially seeing as I didn't know if I would be getting more offers down the line." Gisele says.
"Wait a moment, you didn't know if you would get more offers?" Whoopi asks.
Knowing where she is going with this, Gisele says, "Well, looking back now it seems so obvious I would become one of the world's top models, but at the time I was a nobody—just another pretty face among many who walk the catwalk at the Paris Fashion Week. I was making maybe a couple of thousand dollars per show with no knowledge that Victoria's Secret or anyone else would come knocking. So when she placed her offer, I jumped at the chance, and you know what, I don't regret it at all."
"I would say. I mean, your net worth is what, 1.5 billion now?" Elisabeth asks in jest.
"Which is nothing compared to what Isabel's is." Gisele follows up in jest as well.
"What was it like the first day you went to work for her?" Joy asks.
Taking a moment, Gisele says, "Exciting. I mean, everything at that point was still so new, and I was in that boardroom from day one."
Gisele says, remembering that day all too well. It was exactly as she said: exciting, but at the same time, so scary. Thinking about it now, she didn't know if she was ready to be in those meetings, but it hardly mattered as Isabel valued her input even back then and still does to this day.
-1998-
"Ah, it was nice to be back home," I thought to myself as I sat in the boardroom and looked at the grouchy face of Doug, who was not at all amused by my latest antics. Which I will maintain weren't that bad. Okay, sure, I went ahead and, without consulting him, hired Gisele to be our company's spokesperson for $ 250,000, but really, it wasn't like we had to pay her a lump sum. Besides, the company was doing just fine.
We were about to move to a new building, our government contracts were secured, and Smog No More was entering its final test phase. Everything was turning up roses. There were, of course, a few little hiccups, such as the US government breaking into my house and the ongoing investigation by the CIA and Department of Homeland Security. Maybe that was why I felt like my neck was on a chopping block and Doug was holding the ax.
Taking a few deep breaths, Doug finally says, " Can you repeat that last part again?"
"Sure, I'm pretty sure the US government broke into my home while I was away," I say with a smile.
Rubbing the bridge of his nose as everyone else looked more than a bit worried, Doug says, "Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure," I say as I look at Gisele, who looks more than a bit uncomfortable right now.
Not that I blame her. I mean, she was hired to be a spokesmodel after all. This conversation was well above her pay grade, but I always wanted my own board of directors, and frankly, I bought way too many chairs. I needed to fill up space, and she was so excited to be invited that I didn't have the heart to tell her what it would be about. My girlfriend, on the other hand, knew all too well what this meeting was about and looked very pissed off at me. Though that could be because she was already practically living with me. So someone breaking into our home pissed her off, and the fact that the main suspect was our government made her blame me.
"How?" Doug asks/demands an answer. He was already well aware of what had happened in the UK with that professor, which prompted the CIA and Homeland Security to initiate an investigation into their company. So he didn't need this shit on top of things.
"Well, the wires and mics I found around the house were the first clue, but someone had foolishly tried to hack my CPU at home. Idiots had no clue that Buzzsaw would log any attempt and then send it to Starlight home base and log it. I knew they were in my house before they even left." I said with a smile.
"I didn't know Buzzsaw could do that," Ted says.
"Of course you didn't, Ted. I mean, did you really think I would share everything it could do?" I ask with a too-sweet smile that bordered on evil.
"No, I guess not," Ted says with a nervous smile.
"Okay, but that doesn't prove the government broke in." Mike, one of our other IT guys, says.
"True, but seeing as everyone else is still playing nice for the time being, and it happened around the same time, that professor claimed he broke Buzzsaw, it's a good bet," I responded.
"Speaking of which, did that guy really hank Buzzsaw? I haven't seen any tampering or changes in its code when I ran a full diagnostic." Ted says.
I laugh at this and say, "Of course he didn't. I already checked when I cleaned my house of those bugs. That old man has done nothing more than take the first step towards creating something like Buzzsaw."
"That is still a big deal, however, right?'' Gisele asks.
Sure, she knew nothing about Buzzsaw other than what she had read about after Isabel had hired her, but she knew enough that no one over the last 2 years had come close to hacking it.
"Yes and no. While impressive in its own way, all he did was reduce the time it would take for others to catch up to Buzzsaw from 10 years to 8, and that is only assuming we don't do any updates in between." I say in a confident voice.
"That may be so, Isabel, but it still has the Army on high alert and questioning our security measures," Doug says in an angry voice.
"Of course it does, but let's not worry about that. Worried or not, there is nothing they can do about it. We have the technology and the know-how, and they don't; besides, it's not like we have updated their software yet. If anything, this news will most likely lead to them throwing more money at us." I say, but what I didn't say was that I was counting on it. After all, that is why I initially leaked the information in the first place. To secure additional funding for my other projects and increase competition.
Looking at me for a bit longer, Doug sighs and says, "Fine, let's move on."
He was not happy about it, but Doug couldn't fixate on it for too long. There were other business matters to address, so for now, they would have to let their lawyers handle any issues that arose.
"Good, now Smog No More is about to enter its final testing phase…." I start to say, but I'm interrupted by my oh-so-loving girlfriend.
"I can't believe you are still calling it that. You really need to develop a better sense of naming." Ayah says.
"I can always change it, love, to NoNo Smog if you prefer. All in favor?" I ask with a sweet smile, and see everyone look disgusted by such a childish name. So, of course, no one raises their hands.
"No? Okay then, as I was saying, Smog No More is entering its final testing phase. Once proof of concept is shown, I want marketing to start coming up with strategies on how to get it out to the general public." I say while looking at Bill.
Leaning forward, Bill says, "That won't be a problem. I already have some ideas on how to sell it. So long as it does what you say it will."
"Oh, it will," I say in complete confidence.
Raising her hand, Gisele asks, "Excuse me, but what is Smog No More?"
Looking at our new spokesmodel, I answer, "I am glad you asked, Gisele Smog No More…."
"It's a filter that will reduce air pollution to next to zero," Ayah interrupts me.
"Hey, I wanted to say that," I say in a whining voice.
Giving me an annoyed look, Ayah says, "No, you wanted to go on a tangent. Explaining to everyone that your brilliance will single-handedly change the world for the better, blah blah blah. I am just sparing us the long speech."
I respond to this by blowing a raspberry at my girlfriend, and she responds by flicking me off.
"Children," Dong says in an annoyed voice.
"Fine, whatever. Bernie, how are our finances for this last quarter? Please tell me we can no longer afford to start my so-called girlfriend's fashion business." I say, but with no real heat, as nothing would stop me from making sure that happened.
Bernie, a balding older man whom I was unsure of how he was hired, stands up and says, "Sady, I can not. The sudden influx of cash from the government contracts and further increases in subscriptions to Starlight have made sure we have enough assets to cover our costs and then some."
"We have had another increase?" I ask, slightly surprised, as I hadn't thought our numbers would increase anymore, at least not before the end of the year.
"Yes, ma'am. We now have over 21,000 users, and that number is only growing. If this keeps up, we will reach our limit by early next year." Bernie says.
I have to hold back a whistle at hearing that. Twenty-one thousand uses at $15 a month was $315,000 a month and $3,780,000 a year. And the number of uses was only growing. Ya, we could definitely afford my other projects.
Somehow, I am able to keep calm and say, "Hmmm, Ted, make sure the boys in IT know to put a rush job on getting the next server online."
"That will require hiring more people if we don't wish to slow down production in other areas," Ted says.
"Then hire them. Just make sure the boys from the government are aware of it. I have a feeling they will be more than happy to vet people for us. So long as they can slip one or two of their own into our business." I say to him.
"Would they really go that far?" Ayah asks.
"This is the US government we are talking about Ayah. The same guys who beat the Soviet Union in the Cold War and toppled fellow democracies when they didn't play ball. Them placing spies within our own company would be the least of our worries." Doug answers for me.
US vet or not, Doug was no fool. Being part of the special forces showed him precisely what the US government was capable of. Call it a wake-up call that transformed the naïve boy that he was in to the realist he was now. That said, he was still a gun-ho, blue-blooded American, but one who was now running an advanced technological company. It was simply inevitable that he and his country would cross paths in this way.
"Then wouldn't it be better to wait on hiring people or vet them ourselves?" Ayah asks.
"If they don't get in through the front door, they will use the back. The best we can do is let them in and find out who they are after the fact, then use that information to our advantage." I say especially as this was only the start. The other nations would follow soon enough.
Speaking to our advantage.
"Doug, Steve Jobs is back in charge of Apple, right?" I ask him.
"He is," Doug answers.
"Good, give him a call. With Apple falling apart as it is, I am sure he is looking for new business opportunities. Let's see if he is interested in working with us." I say with another evil smile.
I may have no plans to put Microsoft out of business with better and faster software systems. But that doesn't mean I can't help Apple bounce back. After all, it was their computer that my grandfather got me that brought us so close together. I owned them at least a little bit of help for that.