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1 Several years ago

The phone was disconnected during the day. Maxim did not immediately understand the reason, he thought it was just a problem with the connection. But then everything became clear. The phone was a corporate phone, and it was turned off intentionally to take Maxim out of the game. He was fired at the most crucial moment, fired meanly on the eve of the deal. Maxim had been working on this deal for almost two years: he worked for a penny on the result, went on business trips, leaving his young wife alone, planted more than one liver in negotiations with people who were not even a match for him. But what was to be done? At that time, he was twenty-five years old. He worked as a sales representative in the Moscow office of an international company, selling transformers for thermal power plants. Transformers were reliable, but very expensive, and often Russian enterprises needed them very much, but experienced difficulties with their purchase. At that time, loans were rare, and leasing sounded like an obscene word. Therefore, all sorts of tricks were used, based on the personal contractual relationship between the seller’s representative and the buyer’s representative. In this case, the kickback was half a million Euros and was cut between the buyer’s representatives and the top of the Russian representative office of the company where Maxim worked. At this time, he was a tempting angel: he had a presentable appearance and a loose tongue, wore an expensive suit, and was able to win over anyone who could make a decision. In general, he was not a bad manager, and if not for the difficult economic situation in the country, he would have risen up the career ladder long ago, having made a couple of excellent deals.

He finally got lucky. Maxim knocked out certification for compliance with Russian analogues, received the go-ahead from the chief engineer, reached out to the right people, collected all the documents and won the fake tender. But at some point, he made the mistake of bringing his useful contacts directly to his boss, behaved boldly and confidently during all these negotiations, and, in doing so, made it clear that he was not a bad guy and should also be shared with him. He never thought that he could be so simply dumped, fired in one day without an explanation. Now it all explained why there was a huge turnover in this company, and the authorities drove around in expensive foreign cars.

«Well, then! War is war! «thought Maxim, and burst into the director’s office.

Maxim was young and hot, unable to control his anger. It seemed to him that he brought the light of justice to this world and it was impossible to retreat. The director was old and cunning. He waited for him with a smile on his face, knowing that Maxim could not do anything, that the contract had already been signed and the prepayment made. The director had some trump cards in his hands, some fabricated evidence that the employee was incompetent, deserved to be fired, and that he should even be grateful to the company for the love and trust that they had shown him over the years. But that wasn’t the case. Then Maxim, emotionally offended by his position, said directly to his eyes that the central office in Zurich would find out about this shady part of the deal, that they had already compiled a competent letter with dirty details in English, ready to go to their destination at any time. Of course, when the insolent faces that glistened from an easy, well-to-do life began to gather around him, the dismissed employee almost escaped. He was too young then to appreciate the real threat they posed. These various scoundrels and other people’s henchmen, looking forward to the greasy pie that he brought them on a platter, were ready to do anything to reason with an upstart who dared to challenge them alone. They openly threatened him with consequences, cursed and shouted, said that he would go straight to prison for blackmail or not leave this room at all, but Maxim did not flinch, insisted on his own. As a result, the parties agreed that he resigns at his own request, and yesterday’s date, that the company after the transfer of cases gives him a work record and has no complaints against him. In exchange for silence and, so to speak, moral compensation, he was given a thousand Euros, although Maxim asked for ten. But he figured it was better to gain a little than lose everything. It was too much for one person to deal with the cunning and experienced thieves, in whose eyes he was just another whipping boy. He had already played his bluff, his emotions, and when he got home in the late afternoon, he was very relieved that everything had more or less ended well for him.

He gave the money he had received in blood and sweat to his young wife, or rather threw it carelessly to her, and she took it as if it were ordinary money that he brought almost every day, and put it in her purse.

«I haven’t been able to reach you all day,» she said, a little hurt.

«You can throw this number in the trash. I got fired, «he snapped, setting three bottles of beer on the table in front of him.

«Again?» She wasn’t surprised at all. — That’s to be expected. You have an obnoxious temper.

Maxim said nothing, already thinking about his new resume for applicants. He didn’t like being idle, and his wife wouldn’t let him relax. Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, he will have new adventures, a new career, new opportunities. He’ll definitely get lucky, he’ll definitely…

He glanced at his new wife. She was going to go out and put