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dealt with Geist regularly at the time, and the two had shared a cordial respect despite Sergei’s certainty that Geist’s clients were crooks.
    “Are you doing any work involving Bjornsen Pharmaceuticals?” Geist asked.
    “You know I can’t tell you that. Why do you ask?”
    “And I can’t tell you that. All I can say is that if you’re working on something related to that company, I suggest you be careful.”
    Sergei sat in stunned silence for a moment. “Alex, are you threatening me?”
    “Of course not. In fact, I don’t think your investigation—if you’re conducting one—will bring you into contact with anyone who will threaten you. However, you may meet people who don’t bother to threaten.”

C HAPTER F OUR
    S PLIT THE B ABY
    “This is Bjornsen,” Gunnar’s voice announced from Ben’s speakerphone.
    Ben picked up the receiver. “Hello, Gunnar. It’s Ben Corbin. I just got an interesting call from Karl’s lawyers.”
    “What did they have to say?”
    “They’re offering you a deal. If you will tell them how to make the Neurostim product, they’ll drop the lawsuit and pay you a two-percent royalty on all gross sales. You would also have to drop your countersuit. If not, they start a full-court press—reams of discovery requests, motions, and so on. Basically, anything they can think of to drive up your legal bills and pressure you to settle.”
    “I’m not interested,” replied Gunnar without hesitation. “I want my company back. I’m not interested in anything less.”
    “That’s what I figured,” said Ben. “Do you want to make a counteroffer?”
    Gunnar thought for a moment. “Tell them . . . tell them that if Karl resigns as president and agrees never to be active in Bjornsen Pharmaceuticals again, I’ll make as much of the drug as the company needs. I’ll also drop my countersuit. I’ll even give him a two-percent royalty on the drug to keep him comfortable in his retirement.”
    “That’s actually more generous than I expected you to be.”
    A low chuckle rumbled across the phone line. “If I thought there was any chance he’d accept, I’d take a harder line.”
    “Since the negotiations are likely to be short, I’d like to wait a few days before delivering your response. There are some things I’ll need to do first.”

    The courtrooms at the Daley Center courthouse are strictly functional. They have none of the marble and polished brass of the federal courts, nor the ornate dark-wood elegance of old county-seat courthouses. They are windowless boxes decorated in various shades of easy-to-maintain brown and gray. Low-pile, durable carpet covers the floors, and utilitarian wood benches stand in rows behind the bar, a metal railing that separates the spectator gallery from the rest of the courtroom. In front of the bar sit two benches for witnesses and support personnel, and in front of those are two plain oak counsel tables, one for the plaintiff’s attorneys and one for the defendant’s. The jury box is along one of the sidewalls. The judge’s bench, at the far end of the courtroom, is a massive and complex wood structure that contains a raised desk for the judge, slightly lower workstations for the court reporter and the clerk, and the witness stand, which is on the side of the bench nearest the jury box. The bailiff sits off to one side, though the task of keeping order is usually less demanding in civil courtrooms than in their criminal counterparts.
    Ben sat at the back of the gallery in one such courtroom, watching the emergency-motion call of the Honorable Anthony J. Reilly, the judge who had been assigned Bjornsen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Bjornsen . Judge Reilly was in the Chancery Division, the section of the Cook County Circuit Court that handled all requests for “equitable relief,” including Bjornsen Pharmaceuticals’ request for an injunction that would force Gunnar to turn over the Neurostim formula.
    The judge had been on the bench for less