Disclosure: A Novel by Michael Crichton Page A

those guys are going to be running this company," he said. "I did a briefing this morning, and let me tell you, they don't know anything. It's scary."

    As the group reached the end of the hallway, Meredith Johnson looked back over her shoulder at Sanders. She mouthed, "I'll call you." And she smiled radiantly. Then she was gone.

    Lewyn sighed. "I'd say," he said, "that you have an in with top management there, Tom."

    "Maybe so."

    "I just wish I knew why Garvin thinks she's so great."

    Sanders said, "Well, she certainly looks great."

    Lewyn turned away. "We'll see," he said. "We'll see."

    A twenty past twelve, Sanders left his office on the fourth floor and headed toward the stairs to go down to the main conference room for lunch. He passed a nurse in a starched white uniform. She was looking in one office after another. "Where is he? He was just here a minute ago." She shook her head.

    "Who?" Sanders said.

    "The professor," she replied, blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes. "I can't leave him alone for a minute."

    "What professor?" Sanders said. But by then he heard the female giggles coming from a room farther down the hall, and he already knew the answer. "Professor Dorfman?"

    "Yes. Professor Dorfman," the nurse said, nodding grimly, and she headed toward the source of the giggles.

    Sanders trailed after her. Max Dorfman was a German management consultant, now very elderly. At one time or another, he had been a visiting professor at every major business school in America, and he had gained a particular reputation as a guru to high-tech companies. During most of the 1980s, he had served on the board of directors of DigiCom, lending prestige to Garvin's upstart company. And during that time, he had been a mentor to Sanders. In fact, it was Dorfman who had convinced Sanders to leave Cupertino eight years earlier and take the job in Seattle.

    Sanders said, "I didn't know he was still alive."

    "Very much so," the nurse said.

    "He must be ninety."

    "Well, he doesn't act a day over eighty-five."

    As they approached the room, he saw Mary Anne Hunter coming out. She had changed into a skirt and blouse, and she was smiling broadly, as if she had just left her lover.
    "Tom, you'll never guess who's here."

    "Max," he said.

    "That's right. Oh, Tom, you should see him: he's exactly the same." "I'll bet he is,"
    Sanders said. Even from outside the room, he could smell the cigarette smoke.

    The nurse said, "Now, Professor," in a severe tone, and strode into the room. Sanders looked in; it was one of the employee lounges. Max Dorfman's wheelchair was pulled up to the table in the center of the room. He was surrounded by pretty assistants. The women were making a fuss over him, and in their midst Dorfman, with his shock of white hair, was grinning happily, smoking a cigarette in a long holder.

    "What's he doing here?" Sanders said.

    "Garvin brought him in, to consult on the merger. Aren't you going to say hello?" Hunter said.

    "Oh, Christ," Sanders said. "You know Max. He can drive you crazy." Dorfman liked to challenge conventional wisdom, but his method was indirect. He had an ironic way of speaking that was provocative and mocking at the same moment. He was fond of contradictions, and he did not hesitate to lie. If you caught him in a lie, he would immediately say, "Yes, that's true. I don't know what I was thinking of," and then resume talking in the same maddening, elliptical way. He never really said what he meant; he left it for you to put it together. His rambling sessions left executives confused and exhausted.

    "But you were such friends," Hunter said, looking at him. "I'm sure he'd like you to say hello."

    "He's busy now. Maybe later." Sanders looked at his watch. "Anyway, we're going to be late for lunch."

    He started back down the hallway. Hunter fell into step with him, frowning. "He always got under your skin, didn't he?"

    "He got under everybody's skin. It was what he did best."

    She looked at