He scanned the paper and his eyebrows shot up. No doubt about it, the deal was terrible-another sneak attack from Lawson.
But wait a minute. She wrote a program? How many business students did that? And how many could write programs that produced clear, easy-to-read reports like this? Even his best programmers usually handed him complex messes that couldn't be deciphered without in-depth training. Who is this woman and what is she doing to me? He put the paper down and finished the wine. "Roadmover is obviously trying to pull a fast one."
Her grin widened. "Definitely. I say we play them back, and I've got an idea."
Dan leaned back in his chair and gazed at Kay. "I like it already." If anyone could play George Lawson, Kay could. He motioned for her to go on.
"We give them a counterproposal that's just as complicated as theirs, but with different equations."
"You're trying to out-math these guys?"
"Let's just say I'm going to throw a few extra figures at them, including my own." She spread her arms out and rocked from side to side, to show off the figure she had in mind. "I worked on it this morning and built an even more complicated formula. It keeps the price reasonable during the first few months and also at one-year intervals-places where they might spot-check. But the price is higher everywhere else. If I can distract them while they're checking it out, we may be able to get it past them. Here's what my formula works out to be." She handed him another piece of paper.
Dan scanned it and started to laugh. Kay, you devil. He continued to study the paper and when he got to the bottom, he chuckled. "I like your profit estimate for this deal. If you can sell this contract to them, you'll make ninety-five thousand dollars for yourself. Nice!" He nodded at her with a look of pride.
Dan set the paper aside. "And how do you propose to distract the people from Roadmover?"
"Doris figured that one out." Kay turned to look at Doris and so did Dan.
Doris smiled. "The 'Fitness Center' game."
Dan slapped the table and let his mouth widen. "Wonderful! I love the Fitness Center game-I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to use it." He was a little boy again, anxiously awaiting his best Christmas ever. He cherished each opportunity to play the game, it made his other activities at work pale by comparison. "This is great. Get contracts to draft your counterproposal."
"There's nothing to draft: I just changed the price formula, not the legal parts. This contract is ready to go."