safely to his family in California.
Two weeks after Jeff Schilling escaped, Sabaya called
Benjie:
“Have you been promoted yet?” he asked. “If not, you
should have been.”
“Why?” Benjie asked.
“I was going to hurt Jeffrey,” Sabaya said. “I don’t know
what you did to keep me from doing that, but whatever it
was, it worked.”
In June 2002 Sabaya was killed in a shoot-out with
Philippine military units.
In the heat of negotiations for a man’s life, I didn’t
appreciate the value of those two words: “That’s right.” But
when I studied the transcripts and reconstructed the
trajectory of the negotiations, I realized that Sabaya had
changed course when he uttered those words. Benjie had
used some fundamental techniques that we had developed
over many years. He had reflected Sabaya’s vision. He had
stepped back from confrontation. He had allowed Sabaya to
speak freely and exhaust his version of events.
“That’s right” signaled that negotiations could proceed
from deadlock. It broke down a barrier that was impeding
progress. It created a realization point with our adversary
where he actually agreed on a point without the feeling of
having given in.
It was a stealth victory.
When your adversaries say, “That’s right,” they feel they