Frederick Ramsay_Botswana Mystery 01 (14 page)

Chapter 30

Travis arrived at Leo’s door precisely at eight o’clock. Leo let him in and offered him a drink. Travis waved him off, scanned the room, seemed to notice the disorder, and raised an eyebrow.

“Monkeys. They came in through my slider and almost wrecked the place.”

“Monkeys?”

“Yes, monkeys. I saw that sign over the door but thought they were being over the top on their warnings. Look out for the crocodiles, beware the man-eating lion, keep a sharp eye out for monkeys. I guess they were serious about the last one.”

The two men sat across from each other in two wicker chairs. They could have been two lions sizing each other up. The faint aroma of cigar hung in the air. Leo smiled, a little smile, a confident smile, like the crocodile lurking in the river just beyond the deck.

“Do you know how I spent my afternoon, Travis?” Leo didn’t wait for an answer. “I spent it poring over phone records, yours for one. That would be records for your office phone and your Blackberry.” He paused waiting to see if Travis would react. “You have been a busy little beaver, Travis. Do you have something to tell me?”

Travis narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment before answering. Getting his ducks in a row, Leo assumed. He hoped Travis would be careful in answering. Not jump too quickly.

“You are playing me, Leo. Why don’t you just say what’s on your mind.”

“Very well.” Leo paused and scrutinized his COO. It’s in the eyes. The eyes never lie, even when the tongue does. “Did you know that I had planned to turn the company over to you when I thought the time was right? I thought we’d have a conversation about that on this trip, after we were finished with the official business. But, as I said, you’ve been busy, it appears. It seems you are ahead of me and are convinced you’ve managed to corral enough votes to push me out of the company all by yourself. Have I got that approximately correct?” Travis opened his mouth and closed it.

“I know some of those people you’ve called…most of them, in fact. Tell me, exactly what made you want the job now rather than, say, in a year or two?”

Travis shifted in his chair. “Very well, since you know what I planned and since, as you indicated, I have the means to do it, I’ll tell you. With respect for what you have accomplished in the past, I think you have fallen behind the times. Hell, you’ve spent your life building the company, and it’s become a habit. So much so, you are missing things.”

Leo smiled and circled his hand, inviting Travis to continue.

“I think it’s time for a change. You, it seems to me, are like the man standing on the platform waiting for a train that’s already come and gone. You’re missing the thrust of the future, Leo. It’s in energy, not minerals and real estate.”

“The thrust? Mercy. And what do you propose to do about this missed thrust, if I may ask?”

“I intend to sell off the less profitable subsidiaries, concentrate on high-margin projects, and make the company smaller and more nimble.”

“Did you say nimble? Gracious, what a description. Nimble. Is that the new hip business buzzword? What happened to robust? Never mind, I don’t want to know.

“Travis, ballerinas are nimble. Jack jumping over the candle stick needed to be nimble. Professional football players, on the other hand, are not nimble, although you might say they are robust. No, footballers are quick. They move to the ball and smother their competition. There’s an important difference. Business is a tough, in-your-face undertaking. Business is football, not ballet. I won’t let you pull this company down because of your addiction to the banality of MBA double-speak.”

Travis’ face reddened. “It’s not for you to say anymore, Leo. May I remind you that you did this to Harry Reilly. Did you really think the same thing couldn’t happen to you?”

“What do you believe I did to Harry Reilly?”

“Shoved him under the bus, dumped the daughter, and took over.”

“You are repeating water-cooler gossip.” Leo let out a sigh and shook his head. “Let me tell you what really happened. It may help you understand what I have to say later. Harry Reilly was an old-fashioned oil man. He grew up in the Texas oil fields working for his old man, Jack—Black Jack Reilly—who made his fortune and started the company as a wildcatter. Harry worked as a roustabout, manager, even briefly with Red Adair putting out wellhead fires. He took options on real estate as part of his desire to drill new oil wells. The mining turned out to be an accident. If the minerals were there, he might or might not dig them up. That’s all. I couldn’t get him to see the future as, I suppose, you don’t think I can.

“Well, I pleaded with him, begged in fact. He threatened to fire me; would have, too, if I hadn’t been married to his daughter. So, I met with some stockholders, told them what we were missing, and they asked him to step aside. I wanted him to stay on as chairman of the board, but his pride wouldn’t let him, and he left with a black Irish curse. The daughter followed. She dumped me, not the other way around.”

“Are you asking me for the chairmanship?”

Leo lit a cigar and poured himself a drink. He was enjoying himself. “Sure you won’t have one?” Travis shook his head. “No, Travis, I am not asking you for anything. I don’t have to, because I am not going anywhere.”

“You plan to fight me on this? Leo, don’t make this hard on yourself. I have the votes. You know I do.”

“I don’t know. Show me.”

Travis shook his head as he might if he had to instruct a recalcitrant child in his ABCs. “Very well, I have my personal holdings to which I have added Robert Griswold’s. I have commitments from three board members to vote their shares for me, and…” He paused for effect, “I have the Reilly family shares committed as well.”

“Do you now? The Reilly shares, well, well. That’s very interesting. I knew about Bobby’s foolishness, of course, and the board members are the same ones Farrah talked into the IPO, greedy bastards, looking for a quick payout instead of long-term profits. Oh, well.” Leo fished in his briefcase and pulled some papers which he handed to Travis.

“Have a look at these two documents. The first is an agreement by which you surrender Robert’s shares to him on the payment of a certain sum. He has that option, as we both know.” He reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew another slip of paper. “Here is a check drawn on a local bank for that amount. I can ask the boy to come in here and see to the transaction, but you’ll agree that would be a waste of your time and mine.”

Travis swallowed. “His wife declares he will vote them for me anyway.”

“Brenda? Oh no, no, no, Brenda is not part of this equation. Look at this second document, please. It’s a similar agreement but transfers ownership of those same shares to me.”

Travis mopped his brow.

“Problems, Travis? I assure you the documents are all in order or, if you decide to push, can be made public and very airtight. It is not in your best interest to do that, I don’t think.”

“Okay, I wondered what you and Griswold were up to. Now I know, but I don’t need his shares except as insurance. As I said, the Reilly people will vote as I direct them.”

“Will they now? You’re sure of that, son? You have the commitments from all the share holders?”

“I do.”

“You’re sure, absolutely sure?”

“Absolutely sure.” Travis didn’t look so sure.

“Alas, Travis, you don’t. One more piece of paperwork.” Leo handed him the fax from Sheridan Baker.

“The Reilly grandchildren now hold those shares in unequal amounts. They have steadfastly refused to sell them to me. However, a significant number of the Reilly shares are held by my son the majority, to be precise. He is very ill and may not live long enough to see the New Year. The man who holds his power of attorney, for remuneration specified elsewhere, has given me his proxy as well as the right to buy them all, if that becomes necessary. You have that engineer Polanski’s shares and are counting on his assurance he can swing the rest. He might have been able to do so in the past. He can’t now. So, you do not have all the Reilly shares.”

Travis stared at the man across from him and shook his head.

“It seems you’ve been busy, too. So now what? Am I fired?”

“Not so fast. Let me tell you a story. When I was young, before I went to work for Reilly, I worked construction downstate. Well, we hit one of those recessions that come along every couple of years, and business just dried up. I urged the owner to lay off the crews and cut back on inventory, ride it out. You see, I had in mind to create some job security for myself. And that would be the prudent thing to do, I thought. You would probably agree, but do you know what he did?”

Travis shook his head.

“He kept them all on the payroll and bid the little business still out there. Bid at cost or below. Took big losses. I asked him what he was thinking. He said he wanted to keep the crews working and the subs happy against the time when the economy turned around. Well, it did turn, as it always does, and the jobs started to flow. While all his competitors scrambled around looking to rehire workers and reassemble the gangs they’d just fired, he was able to grab off nearly all of the building contracts in the Springfield area. Made a fortune.”

“And this is related to me, how?”

“Ah. You believe there is no money to be made in mining, is that right?”

“Very poor margins, Leo.”

“There is an important difference between a poor margin and no margin. Do you think the world is finished with copper, or nickel, or molybdenum, or any of the stuff we dig out of the ground? You know it isn’t. I want to keep the crews working, and I am even willing to run the mines as a not-for-profit or at a reasonable, tax-deductible loss in order to grab the market when it rebounds. And, if you factor in a possible license for ActiVox, assuming we can get it, we clean up. As for the real estate, you know the old saying, God isn’t making any more land. That’s not true on Hawaii, of course, but you get the point. We are drilling on that land, Travis, but not for the oil that Reilly hoped to find. We’re looking for water. It will pay out. Do you understand what I am offering you?”

Travis shrugged. “Is this the wisdom that comes with age?”

“Crap. Wisdom is overrated. Every old fart in a rocking chair thinks he’s a font of wisdom. Usually it’s just mellowed prejudice. Old people invented revisionist history, by the way, not academicians. We remember selectively and sometimes foolishly, making our lives more heroic, or more meaningful. No, what we really get from living a long time, if we’re honest with ourselves, is not wisdom, but perspective. We can measure things and place them in space and time. Remember that, the next time some old guy wearing a dorky tee shirt offers you advice.”

“And me? What advice do you have for me?”

“Well now, what shall I do with you? I meant it when I said I wanted you to take over the reins. You must learn patience, Travis. You’re good, but you’re in too much of a hurry. That could spell trouble for the company. I’ve worked too hard and too long to see it crash and burn because you couldn’t hold your water.”

Travis leaned forward.

“That said, you will stay on. Beginning July 1, you will be named president and CEO of Earth Global. At that time, I will assume the chairmanship of the board. Do not be deceived. You will feel my heavy hand on your shoulder every day until I’m sure you’re ready to run it on your own or I drop dead, whichever comes first. If you’re smart, you will not pray too hard for the latter.”

“You’re serious?”

“Serious as a heart attack. Oops, bad figure of speech. But there is one condition.”

“Name it.”

“I want to develop some small projects, here and there, through the real-estate division. Principally, I want to build a lodge-casino on the Chobe. I think I can persuade the government to let me build the lodge. I’m not so sure about the casino. But, I’m a patient man. That’s why I brought in the Russian wheeler-dealer. He knows people.”

“I’m overwhelmed.”

“And you should be. Now go back to your room and kick that tramp out of your bed. Get some sleep. We will be meeting with Yuri Greshenko first thing in the morning to help set up the deal locally.

Chapter 31

Leo ushered Travis to the door. It closed behind him and Leo sat down. It was time to call Farrah. That conversation would not take as long. He called Henry on his Blackberry and got his voice mail. He tried his room and had no luck there, either. He finally tracked down his errant legal advisor in the main bar.

“Henry, I need to speak to you on a matter of some urgency. Please come to my room as soon as you can.” He hung up before Farrah could make his excuses and sat back to wait. The phone rang.

“Henry…oh, sorry it’s you, Robert. What do you want?”

“I need to talk to you about something pretty important, Leo.”

“I can’t talk now, sorry. Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”

“No, like, it’s about the shares.”

“That’s all taken care of. If you want the money I promised, it will have to wait until we return to Chicago. Besides, you don’t want that on your books until after you divorce Brenda.”

“Well, I’m not too sure that’s what I should do. Brenda is, like, okay in her way.”

“We’ve been over this already. You think about it some more.” There was a knock at the door. “I have to hang up now, there’s someone here I need to speak with more than I need to talk to you.”

“Listen, this is really important. Can you meet me at the Sedudu Bar?”

“The what?”

“It’s that bar where we went for a sundowner. You walk out that path away from your room past the campgrounds. They’re empty now, and the bar is, like, this little building on the river.”

“Wait for me there. I’ll be along when I can.”

Leo hung up and promptly forgot the conversation. He had Farrah at the door, and his heart was not behaving. He slipped a nitro under his tongue and answered the door. Henry Farrah swayed in the entryway and then stumbled into the room.

“Henry, you’re drunk. I asked you to stay sober at least long enough to have a meeting.”

“I am unsteady, Leo, but not drunk. There is a difference.”

“I see. Well, sit down. I won’t offer you another drink, however.”

Farrah collapsed in a chair and looked balefully at his employer. “So, what’s so important we have to meet in the middle of the night?”

“Nine-thirty scarcely qualifies as the middle of the night, and you
are
drunk. Very well, I will ask you a question. Why did you refuse the retirement package I offered you three months ago?”

“I thought I should be treated better than to be unceremoniously shoved out the door without so much as a fare-thee-well.” Farrah waved his hand vaguely in the air and looked smug.

“It was a very generous package and as for the ‘fare-thee-well?’ We don’t do that.” Leo withdrew the sheets of phone calls. You’ve been very discreet in your attempts to cash out on the IPO, but not quite enough, I’m afraid. Your friends on the board were able to force the decision to create it, but the landscape has changed lately. I offer you the same package as before, but this time it is a final offer, Henry.”

“You can’t stop the IPO, Leo.”

“There will be no IPO, at least not right away. Final offer, take it or leave it. As of this moment you are fired.”

“You can’t fire me. The board won’t permit it. They want the IPO and they will support me.”

“There will be some significant changes in the board’s make-up when we return to Chicago. I have recently come into sufficient voting shares to replace some key members, your friends, to be precise. So I
can
fire you and I just did.”

Farrah blinked. His mouth fell open. Any thoughts he may have had about a financial windfall evaporated. He was suddenly very sober.

“Leo, you can’t. We go back…help me out here.”

“Game’s up, Henry. Some disloyalty I can abide, if it is in the company’s interest to do so. In your case…well, you have not been earning out of late, and you had your chance to exit with some measure of grace earlier. Now, you’re out of chances.”

Farrah stood and walked to the door.

“I gather there is a bar down near the river. Why don’t you go there and have a think. Not a drink, Henry, a think. We’ll talk again in the morning.”

Henry left without a word. Leo slouched back in his chair and took some deep breaths. His angina seemed a bit more painful. He popped another nitro and closed his eyes. He would rest for a while and then, when the pain subsided, he’d get to bed.

***

Sanderson had her talk with the pretty David Mmusi and then another with her daughter. David assured her he was not that sort of man, an affirmation which she doubted, and Mpitle said she wasn’t that sort of girl; one which she hoped was true.

“So, Michel, What must I do about these two young people?”

“Mma, you must trust Mpitle. She sees how it is with me. She saw our father waste away. She will be very careful. David? Well, I don’t know about that boy, but Mpitle will be careful.”

“I wish she would be more than careful. She says to me, ‘Mma I am not that sort of girl,’ but I don’t know.”

“You will never know. It is the hormones, I think. They sometimes will muddy up the river of your mind.”

Sanderson thought back to the time when she was her daughter’s age and nodded. “Yes, that is so. If it were not so, there might not have been a Michael for me to weep over this night.”

Michael smiled. “It is not weeping I wish to have. I made a mistake and that is that. I cannot take it back.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “I am ready to die, Mma. I have done what I can and,” he attempted a grin, “and now you have your
bakkie.
It is enough.”

“It is not enough, Michael. I would give a hundred trucks to have you back and healthy. I pray to the Lord God every night. I ask this of him, ‘Jesus, you say, ask and it shall be given, and I want to know why this is not being given to me.’”

“And I ask him, ‘Please let me go so my mother may not cry so much.’ You see, we are at odds. How can God answer both of us? I think He has decided to listen to me.”

Sanderson wiped her eyes. “You must not ask Jesus for that any more, Michael.”

“It is too late to change it now, Mma. So be at peace.