Dry Powder by Sarah Burgess

Author:Sarah Burgess [Burgess, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780802189813
Publisher: Grove Atlantic
Published: 2017-02-08T05:00:00+00:00

5

THAT EVENING.

The same hotel bar.

Jeff drinks seltzer water out of a nice glass. He emails someone on his phone.

Seth enters.

JEFF Hey man.

SETH There you are. How’s it going?

JEFF You gonna grab a drink?

SETH No, I’m good. I read over that addendum on the way over.

JEFF It doesn’t commit you guys to anything.

SETH It commits us to the goal of avoiding job loss.

JEFF But there’s nothing measureable.

SETH Legal won’t let us sign a binding agreement about our management plan / at this stage

JEFF / Ok yeah, yeah I’ve heard that like ten times / today man

SETH / And Jeff, hold on. I want you to understand something: The guarantee you’re looking for—it’s unnecessary. After you left, Rick confirmed, again, that he’s going with our plan. Ok?

JEFF Ok. But, I have to ask …

SETH Please, ask me anything. I want you to be comfortable.

JEFF Who’s John Kim?

SETH What?

JEFF Does a dude named John Kim work for you guys?

SETH Yeah, he’s one of Jenny’s analysts. Why?

JEFF Dana’s friend Lynn called me this morning. Lynn’s a commercial broker at Collier’s Real Estate. She said a guy named John Kim called her office twice yesterday evening. Real fast talker, she said she had to ask him to slow down.

SETH Uh-huh.

JEFF She said he asked about large-scale properties downtown, and he specifically asked what the price point would be if the Landmark building were available for lease.

SETH That’s so silly.

JEFF We gave you the numbers on that property months ago.

SETH I know, maybe he was vetting the numbers.

JEFF Weird way to vet the numbers.

SETH That’s Jenny, she makes her analysts triangulate.

JEFF But why would it be framed that way?

SETH Jeff, I’ve been through lots of buyouts. I can tell you, honestly, you have no reason to be worried here.

JEFF Last night sitting right here in this bar, you asked me how I’d feel if Rick departed from our plan.

SETH That was just a question.

JEFF Shit like that is never just a question.

SETH In this case, it was. Look, I know this step can be scary. You’ve been at the controls because Stu has been effectively retired, vacationing with Julie all the damn time. This is normal.

JEFF I want to be in business with you.

SETH Me too. I think your questions are great—it shows you’re serious, you can get granular. That’s what makes you a great CEO.

JEFF It just bothers me. Everything you and I mapped out, at no point did we talk about vacating that building.

SETH Rick is gonna do what you and I want him to do.

JEFF But the addendum doesn’t obligate him to that.

SETH Ok, you’re right: he has the ultimate say. But he’s on our side.

JEFF Have other plans been discussed?

SETH Nothing that’s actually serious.

JEFF But other plans have been discussed.

SETH Yes, in hypothetical terms. That’s Rick’s MO.

JEFF Were you going to tell me about that?

SETH No, because it wasn’t serious.

JEFF I mean, obviously it’s serious enough that this John guy called Collier’s twice.

SETH Rick’s MO is: Let me look at an organization

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