“Thanks again Sir, I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Good, you do that. I’m sorry but I also have to leave. I’ll quickly say goodbye to Zach and be on my way.”
Tom and Lela spent the next hour chatting to their friends and discovering that their lateness was due to the arrival of the Vice President at the airport. The plane from The Academy had been instructed to wait until the Vice President had landed and disembarked before they could land.
The executives from Alba continued to hover. Tom had avoided them all afternoon and to be fair to them, they had given him some space. However, they clearly needed to speak to him and Jonathan, the Head of Legal, eventually approached him. Tom was not looking forward to the conversation, he had read the reports in the papers, Alba was not doing well.
“Hi, Tom, I’m so sorry about everything that’s happened. Is there is anything I can help you with?”
“No, thank you. And I’m sorry that I haven’t called you back…”
“Don’t even think about. You’ve got more to worry about than speaking to us.”
“How are things, I’ve seen the headlines, is it really bad?”
“It’s fine, don’t worry. The guys will keep things ticking over until you know what you want to do,” said Jonathan.
“Thanks but Alan has been calling and leaving messages about having to decide what I want to do quickly because offers are being made which may not last?”
“He’s what?!” exclaimed Jonathan, genuinely shocked. He knew that Alan was a nightmare but this was just too much.
“It’s OK,” said Tom. “I think perhaps it’s time that I should start getting more involved anyway. I can’t let my dad’s baby just fall apart, he wouldn’t want that,” said Tom, realising that he had to accept the situation and that it was time to move on.
“What about school?” asked Jonathan. “Your parents would expect you to finish your education.”
“Of course. But not yet. Maybe next week. There’s a trip to Machu Picchu in Peru. Maybe we’ll join them there, we’re not sure yet,” replied Tom, looking across at Lela. She had calmed down and in the company of old friends was beginning to look like her old self.
“OK, sounds good,” said Jonathan. “But seriously, don’t worry about the company, it’s fine.”
“No, I need to face up to it, he’s not coming back. I’ll be in tomorrow at 8.00 a.m. Could you please call a board meeting?”
“Of course,” replied Jonathan who left to tell his fellow executives to be in at 8.00 a.m. for a special board meeting.
Tom returned to his friends, Daniel seemed very keen to talk to him.
“Hi Tom, how are you doing?” he asked.
“Been better, I have to say.”
“Understandable. If there’s anything I can do, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Thanks.”
“Any ideas or clues as to who’s really behind the assassinations?” Daniel lowered his voice as he asked the question.
“Yes, I think perhaps it was my dad afterall.”
“What?!” exclaimed Daniel almost dropping his glass. “How can you say that?! You know someone was trying to kill him. What’s come over you?”
“We don’t know for sure that someone was trying to kill him. You relayed a message to me and we saw a heavily guarded prison. It doesn’t prove anything. I’ve also received this,” said Tom pulling out his phone from his pocket. He showed Daniel the text he had received.
Daniel read the screen. It said “NOTHING IS AS IT SEEMS — TRUST NO ONE — I ONLY PRAY YOU CAN FORGIVE US XXX- 9315502302225.”
“Who’s it from?” he asked.
“My dad.”
“When?”
“The time tallies with just before Alba One crashed.”
“Bloody hell!” said Daniel.
“Yep. Why would he ask for forgiveness if he hadn’t done anything wrong?”
“What are those numbers at the end?”
“Just gibberish. I think he must have lost control as his plane was about to crash into the Ocean. It’s amazing that he managed to press the Send button.”
“Come on, Tom. You can’t think like that. The guys in our group are still working through their contacts. Something will come up, you’ll see.”
Daniel tried to cheer Tom up but it wasn’t working. In fact, reading the message again had stirred up a lot of emotion in Tom. He just wanted to scream WHY????? But he couldn’t. The room was full of people. Tom and Lela agreed that they needed some space, they were becoming overwhelmed. Tom’s grandparents sensed this and thanked the guests for attending but asked if they wouldn’t mind, finishing their drinks as Tom and Lela needed some rest. Everybody quickly and quietly put their drinks down and left, except for Alan, the CFO, who made a beeline for Tom.
“Tom, can I have a quick word?”
Tom looked at him coldly.
“What do you want Alan?”
“Just two minutes?”
“You’ll have it tomorrow, not now. Please leave Alan.”
“But?”
Lela stepped in. This guy really was a pain in the neck.
“Not now,” she said firmly, stepping in front of Tom.
Alan backed off.
Chapter 54
The US President was fuming. He had never experienced such a wilful act of betrayal. He could understand why General Powers had attended the funeral but as for the Vice President, that was unforgivable.
Beaumont had woken him up to tell him the news, holding the phone away from his ear as the President let rip.
Beaumont was summoned to the Oval office thirty minutes later. The President had needed time to calm down before making the call to the VP. They discussed the options and how to handle the call, the VP was no fool. He was always out to win brownie points and that was why his actions seemed so strange. Why would he go out of his way to attend the funeral of a public hate figure, in direct contravention of the President’s instructions?
The President hit the speed dial and the phone’s speaker began to buzz.
“Hello, Mr President,” replied the VP.
“Mr Vice President, may I ask what the hell you think you’re doing in Glasgow?”
The VP had been expecting the call.
“I was paying my respects to a former business colleague,” he replied cheerily.
“He’s responsible for assassinating half the world’s leaders,” screamed the President.
“Bullshit. That man probably never even killed a fly. I know it and you know it. Half the damn scumbags who didn’t show up at the funeral know it,” said the VP calmly.
The President suddenly became wary. Afterall, the VP had spent the day with General Powers.
“Do you know something we don’t?”
“Of course not. If I did, you’d know about it.”
“So what the hell are you doing sullying your name and our country at the funeral?”
“Trust me, the only people sullied and who will rue today, are those who didn’t attend. I can’t imagine the world’s richest and largest company is going to forget those who didn’t honour its founder and father,” said the VP, choosing his words carefully. “I never let you down Mr President. Good press will come from this, trust me.”
The President didn’t know what to say. The VP had put up a very good response and ultimately he was right. Donald Kennedy was going to be proven innocent soon, the final round of assassinations was not far away. But the VP was not aware of this and so he could not let the point go, the VP would smell a rat if he did.
“I don’t care what you think. The point was that you were asked not to attend the funeral. Your attendance is going to embarrass me, particularly amongst the world leaders to whom I suggested they not attend. The UK Prime Minister has already called.” He picked up the message from his desk and read it out.
“ Can you get the hypocritical bastard to call me back asap. And I’m expecting quite a few more like this,” said the President.
>
“That’s all very well but nobody informed my office that the funeral was a no go area,” said the VP.
The President snapped his head towards Beaumont who could only shrug, he hadn’t thought for a second he’d need to tell the VP.
“Well you should have been. I’ll call you back. I’ve got another call coming in,” said the President, hitting the button to end the call.
“That went well,” he said sarcastically.
“I’m sorry but I never thought he’d want to go,” said Beaumont.
“To be fair, neither did I,” replied the President more rationally. “But actually, he’s right. And he’ll benefit from this when we finish off the other leaders. I can hear him now, I always knew the stories were garbage, ” mocked the President.
“Yes but maybe he is right. Perhaps we can gain from this. I could start a rumour that you asked him to attend,” offered Beaumont.
“That depends. What’s the timing for the next assassinations?”
“Two weeks. My men are preparing for them now.”
“OK, wait a week and start feeding the story. By the time the assassinations hit, we’ll look as though we always privately doubted Mr Kennedy’s guilt.”
“Excellent idea,” said Beaumont.
“So have your guys recovered from the mission?” asked the President changing the subject.
“Yes, most of those with superficial wounds are fine now. It was an expensive mission though. Over fifty men died and thirty are wounded and that doesn’t take into account Smith. What a shame, he was a good man.”
“Hmm I can’t help thinking that that was a very opportune death, you never liked the guy,” replied the President sceptically. “Just as well your guy fixed the Kennedys’ plane or The Chairman may not have overlooked the very high cost of the Guinean mission.”
Beaumont mumbled his agreement and began to leave the office.
“Oh I nearly forgot,” said Beaumont. “We should hear tomorrow whether our offer to buy Alba has been accepted.”
The President perked up,
“What does your man think?”
“Not a problem.”
“Excellent, let me know as soon as you do.”
“Will do,” said Beaumont closing the door behind him.
Chapter 55
The helicopter arrived at 7.30 to take Tom to the Alba Headquarters in Glasgow. It was his first trip to the office since his parents’ death. He was not looking forward to it. Kisho was with him as Papa would not let him go anywhere on his own.
The chopper ride was over before they knew it. Tom was met on the helipad on the roof of the Alba building, by his father’s PA. She was in tears, just what Tom needed. She gave him a pack of papers and showed him straight into the boardroom. The executives were all seated and passed on their condolences as he walked towards the seat his father would normally have occupied. Tom took the seat next to it.
The meeting began with a quick update of how business was doing. In short, it wasn’t doing well. The business was suffering badly from the reaction to Donald’s involvement in the assassinations.
They continued to run through the rest of the agenda. Everything was fairly mundane, Tom could not help but think that the Execs had broken him in gently. It was not until they reached the ‘AOB’ item (Any Other Business) that things went sour. Alan announced that he had something to discuss. Tom watched as the others whispered to Alan that this really wasn’t the time.
“What is it Alan?” asked Tom as nonchalantly as he could. The man irritated him but he was determined not to let it show.
“My colleagues,” he announced with a hint of disdain, “don’t believe we should discuss this but I believe we should, in the interests of Alba’s employees.”
“Interesting, Alan. Go on,” replied Tom, inwardly seething at his CFO’s condescending tone.
“It’s quite simple really. If the current downturn in business continues, we have a big problem. In fact, we will have a major crisis. Within a month, our cash reserves, exacerbated by our recent cash purchase of Global Media, will have dried up. Within two months, our credit lines will run out and within three months, we will be staring bankruptcy in the face. If that happens, we risk plunging three million people into unemployment.”
Jonathan, the Head of Legal, and Mark, the Chief Operating Officer, tried to speak but Tom stopped them. He could see they were obviously agitated by what had just been said.
“Oh my God! I didn’t realise it was that bad!” exclaimed Tom. “What can we do?”
“We’ve received an offer, a very significant sum despite the current downturn. Of course, it’s less than we would have anticipated a month ago but in the current climate, I believe it’s an offer we should seriously consider.”
“Who’s the offer from and how much?”
“It appears the buyer wishes to remain anonymous. The approach has been made through a lawyer. As to how much, they’ve offered today’s market value minus 10 %.”
“OK, so just I understand this properly, you suggest we sell to an anonymous bidder for today’s value minus 10 %? What does that equate to, compared to the company’s value a month ago?”
“Hmm that’s a very difficult comparison to make.”
“You used the comparison. Give me the number, what’s the differential?” pushed Tom.
Alan paused, looked at his papers.
“About 40 % less, the company has taken a massive hit.”
“OK, so, as Chief Financial Officer of Alba International, do you believe we should accept the offer?” asked Tom putting Alan under the spotlight.
Alan didn’t even think about what was being said before answering.
“Yes, I believe it’s in the best interest of the company and its employees.”
“OK,” Tom said evenly. “Ladies and Gentlemen, I think we should have a vote. Those in favour of the bid, please raise your hands.”
Tom watched as each of the executives looked at each other tentatively. Alan raised his hand high emphasising his point that the company should be sold. Just as Tom was about to call the vote, other hands began to move. The Marketing Director, The Director of Communications and the IT Director, raised their hands.
“Anyone else or is that all?” asked Tom. Jonathan and Mark cringed in their seats. They knew Tom very well, better than anybody else in the room and they knew he was playing.
“OK, we have four for a sale. Are there any undecideds or abstentions?”
Again, the group looked at each other as the question burned at those yet to answer. With no hands being raised, Tom said, “OK it appears we have 4 votes for the sale and 5 votes against,” he indicated to those who had failed to vote on his two questions, each of the five nodded affirmatively.
“With only me left to decide and my casting vote on the tie I suppose it’s down to me, do I want to sell or not?”
Tom pressed the intercom button.
“Can you come in please?”
Kisho stepped into the room, taking up position at Tom’s side.
“Can those of you who voted yes, please stand up,” he asked. The four did so without question. Tom turned to Kisho.
“Kisho, could you please escort these people to the front door of the building and remove their passes. They’re no longer welcome at Alba International.”
Kisho immediately began to move towards the sacked executives.
“You can’t do this, you do not have the authority to sack me!” shouted Alan. “I can’t be sacked by a kid! That’s ridiculous!”
“He just doesn’t get it, does he, Jonathan. For a clever man, he is very stupid,” said Tom and turning to Alan, he shouted,
“I OWN THIS COMPANY.!!! I’ve been involved in it since the day I was born. I know the financials better than you do. And by the way, I’ll be reporting you for attempted fraud. Everything is on tape and I’m sure we’ll link you to the anonymous bid.”
Alan flew at Tom who had played him like a chump. Getting him
to categorically state that the sale was in the company’s best interests would probably cost Alan a few years in prison. Kisho, of course, was in the way and having heard what Alan had just tried to do, used a little more force than necessary to eject him from the room. As Alan had approached Tom, he was swiftly propelled through the doors and into the foyer outside the boardroom.
Tom listened to the other three directors who had voted in favour of selling Alba. They vehemently protested their innocence and said that they had just reacted to the CFO’s advice and his very worrying update. Until the meeting, they had had no idea about the possibility of bankruptcy. And they certainly did not know that it was a plot to frighten Tom into selling.
“Gentlemen. You voted to sell Alba to an anonymous bidder for 40 % less than she was worth a mere month ago. Whether you were involved in the fraud or not, is irrelevant. Now get out of my sight, you disgust me.”
“But…” shrieked one of the directors trying to save their job.
“But nothing. Get out! Kisho please do the honours.” Kisho’s assistance was not needed, the three men ran out of the room and stepped over Alan who was still on the foyer floor.
As Kisho escorted the sacked executives out of the building, Tom turned to the remainder of the group.
“Any other business?”
He was as surprised as the rest of the group when somebody spoke.
“Just one thing,” said the Human Resources Director, “I take it we need to fill these vacancies?”
Chapter 56
Alan couldn’t believe it. His charmed life had just fallen apart. He was supposed to have become the CFO of the company buying Alba. With a promised 5 % stake in the business, he would have been rich beyond his wildest dreams. Seven months ago, he was a chartered accountant who was doing time in one of the big consulting firms. Out of the blue, he was head-hunted for the position of CFO at Alba International, the job every accountant aspired to. As Chief Financial Officer of the world’s largest company, his salary increased ten-fold overnight and the bonuses were legendary.
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