He got in the car, and drove to Drake's office.
It was not until he had parked his car and was walking in the front door to the office that he noticed the blue Prius parked at the end of the block, with two men sitting inside it.
Watching him.
BEVERLY HILLS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5
4:45 P. M.
"No, no,no! " Nicholas Drake stood in the NERF media room, surrounded by a half-dozen stunned-looking graphic designers. On the walls and tables were posters, banners, flyers, coffee mugs, and stacks of press releases, and media kits. All were emblazoned with a banner that went from green to red, with the superimposed words: "Abrupt Climate Change: The Dangers Ahead."
"I hate it," Drake said. "I just fuckinghate it."
"Why?"
"Because it'sboring. It sounds like a damn PBS special. We need some punch here, some pizzazz."
"Well, sir," one of the designers said, "if you remember, you originally wanted to avoid anything that looked like overstatement."
"I did? No, I didn't. Henley wanted to avoid overstatement. Henley thought it should be made to look exactly like a normal academic conference. But if we do that, the media will tune us out. I mean, shit, do you know how many climate change conferences there are every year? All around the world?"
"No sir, how many?"
"Well, um, forty-seven. Anyway, that's not the point." Drake rapped the banner with his knuckles. "I mean look at this, 'Dangers.' It's so vague; it could refer to anything."
"I thought that's what you wanted--that it could refer to anything."
"No, I want 'Crisis' or 'Catastrophe.' 'The Crisis Ahead.' 'The Catastrophe Ahead.' That's better. 'Catastrophe' is much better."
"You used 'Catastrophe' for the last conference, the one on species extinction."
"I don't care. We use it because it works. This conference must point to a catastrophe."
"Uh, sir," one said, "with all due respect, is it really accurate that abrupt climate change will lead to catastrophe? Because the background materials we were given--"
"Yes, God damn it," Drake snapped, "it'll lead to a catastrophe. Believe me, it will! Now make the damn changes!"
The graphic artists surveyed the assembled materials on the table. "Mr. Drake, the conference starts in four days."
"You think I don't know it?" Drake said. "You think I fucking don't know it?"
"I'm not sure how much we can accomplish--"
"Catastrophe! Lose 'Danger,' add 'Catastrophe'! That's all I'm asking for. How difficult can it be?"
"Mr. Drake, we can redo the visual materials and the banners for the media kits, but the coffee mugs are a problem."
"Why are they a problem?"
"They're made for us in China, and--"
"Made in China?Land of pollution? Whose idea was that?"
"We always have the coffee mugs made in China for--"
"Well, we definitely can't use them. This is NERF, for Christ's sake. How many cups do we have?"
"Three hundred. They're given to the media in attendance, along with the press kit."
"Well get some damn eco-acceptable mugs," Drake said. "Doesn't Canada make mugs? Nobody ever complains about anything Canada does. Get some Canadian mugs and print 'Catastrophe' on them. That's all."
The artists were looking at one another. One said, "There's that supply house in Vancouver..."
"But their mugs are cream-colored..."
"I don't care if they're chartreuse," Drake said, his voice rising. "Just do it! Now what about the press releases?"
Another designer held up a sheet. "They're four-color banners printed in biodegradable inks on recycled bond paper."
Drake picked up a sheet. "This is recycled? It looks damn good."
"Actually, it's fresh paper." The designer looked nervous. "But no one will know."
"You didn't tell me that," Drake said. "It's essential that recycled materials look good."
"And they do, sir. Don't worry."
"Then let's move on." He turned to the PR people. "What's the time-line of the campaign?"
"It's a standard starburst launch to bring public awareness to abrupt climate change," the first rep said, standing up. "We have our initial press break on Sunday-morning talk shows and in the Sunday newspaper supplements. They'll be talking about the start of the conference Wednesday and interviewing major photogenic principals. Stanford, Levine, the other people who show well on TV. We've given enough lead time to get into all the major weekly newsbooks around the world,Time, Newsweek, Der Spiegel, Paris Match, Oggi, The Economist. All together, fifty news magazines to inform lead opinion makers. We've asked for cover stories, accepting banner folds with a graphic. Anything less and they didn't get us. We expect covers on at least twenty."
"Okay," Drake said, nodding.