The Birthday Girl by Stephen Leather

Author:Stephen Leather [Leather, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2010-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

'Are you okay?' Freeman said, concerned. He'd expected a bit more enthusiasm from his financial director.

'I'm fine. Just fine.’

Freeman tilted his head to one side, frowning. Anderson looked bone tired. There were bags under his eyes and his hands were trembling. He kept sniffing as if he was starting a cold. 'You should be at home, in bed,' Freeman said, sitting down on the edge of his desk. 'Take the rest of the day off. I'll follow up on this and I can look after anything else that crops up.’

Anderson shook his head. 'I'll be okay. Really.’

'Well, you look like shit.’

'Thanks. Thanks a million.’

Freeman waved the fax in his face. 'And you don't seem especially thrilled about this, either.’

Anderson sighed. 'It's only one order, Tony.’

'Come on, man. Get a grip on yourself. It's a lifeline and we're going to grab it with both hands.’

'Yeah, you're right.’

'I know I'm right. Now you go home and get rid of that cold.’

'Have you got time for a chat?’

'Sure. What's on your mind?' Freemen went over to one of the over-stuffed sofas and dropped down on to it. It enveloped him like a cloud.

Anderson picked up a pencil and tapped it on the desktop.

'The guys from Ventura Investments have been on to me about increasing the size of their investment.’

'Yeah, so you said.’

'No, they wanna put even more into the company.' The tapping intensified, like a woodpecker attacking a tree. 'They wanna make an outright bid.’

Freeman wasn't sure that he'd heard correctly, so he leaned forward. 'What?’

'They want to buy out the existing shareholders.’

Freeman sat stunned. What he was hearing didn't make any sense. 'Ventura Investments? The venture capital company?’

'That's the guys. They're prepared to offer two million dollars for the entire stock, plus they'll take on all CRW's bank loans. They'll run the company as a wholly owned subsidiary.’

'Maury, what the hell does a venture capital company know about running a defence contractor?’

Anderson gripped the ends of the pencil with both hands as if preparing to snap it. 'They're businessmen. They'll knock the business into shape, sell off non-producing assets, they'll...’

'Whoa,' Freeman interrupted, holding up his hand. 'Stop right there. You mean they'll close us down. That's what you're saying.' / 'They'll do what they have to do,' Anderson said, choosing his words carefully.

'If this company needs knocking into shape, we'll do it. You and I. We're the ones who are running CRW, not a bunch of bean-counters.’

'They're not bean-counters, they're professional managers.' Anderson's knuckles whitened as he gripped the pencil tighter. 'You were the one who said we should listen to Nelson and his plans for the company. What's wrong with letting the Ventura guys sort it out?’

Freeman stared at Anderson, shaking his head slowly. 'Listen to yourself, Maury. You're not suggesting we bring in outside advice, you're telling me that you want to sell the company to outsiders. This is my life, for God's sake. Yours too.’

'I'm not saying I want to do this. I'm saying that they're willing to buy, and it seems a fair price to me considering the state this company's in.

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