In his corner office, Mark Thompson slowly lowered his desk phone back onto its receiver, his heart pounding against his ribs like a sledgehammer.
For nearly thirty seconds, he simply stared at the blank, reflective screen of his terminal, letting the sheer weight of the call settle into his chest. One hundred and forty-three million US dollars in total transaction volume. Two ultra-long-range intercontinental jets acquired instantly on the private market, paired with a brand-new factory order placed straight with Gulfstream. A strict forty-eight-hour deadline that promised a full one percent performance bonus paid straight to him on top of the standard three percent brokerage fee.
Mark leaned back into the worn leather of his chair, a deep, trembling exhale escaping his lungs. The math was staggering. At an exchange rate of 1 USD to 10 marks, the $143 million deal represented 1.43 billion marks in raw purchasing power.
