Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 06:01:54 -0700 (PDT) From: Orrin Rush Subject: The Lifeguard, Chapter 16 (beginnings) Disclaimer: The following story is a work of fiction. If you are offended by descriptions of homosexual acts or man/man relations, please exit this page. THE LIFEGUARD Copyright c 2000 by Orrin C. Rush. All rights reserved. Neither this story nor any parts of it may be distributed electronically or in any other manner without the express, written consent of the author. All rights are retained. Chapter 16 We speculated on what might be going on, but soon gave that up as an exercise in futility. It was maddening, but there was no point in getting pissed off at anybody. We'd just have to wait. Making love that night was entirely out of the question. Neither Eric nor I were the least bit interested. Sleep was also difficult and fitful. Around 4:00 AM, we gave up, got up, and started the coffee pot. There wasn't much to talk about. We were both absorbed in our thoughts about what we would be learning in a few hours. Annie joined us, alert and as anxious as we were. "I need to do something," Eric announced. "Let's swim a few laps and get rid of some of this tension." We all hit the pool. I only intended to swim a little, but found the stress melting away so continued. Annie and Eric were going at it like they were racing. Finally, I had enough and got out. It was cool, but with a towel around me wasn't so bad. "I feel a whole lot better," Eric said as he pulled himself out and sat beside me. "How about you?" "A little," I admitted, "but I'm freezing my ass off." "Me too," Annie said as she sat there shivering. We headed for the house and warm showers. I scrubbed Eric and he scrubbed me. He took my dick in his hand and grinned at me. I just shook my head, and he nodded in understanding. We dressed and just toyed with the breakfast Mary prepared. Annie came in as we were finishing and told us that she was taking her own car. Eric was taking the day off from school. We drove to the office together. Bill was already there when we arrived. "I'm really sorry about this," he said. "I think you'll understand when it all unfolds." I wasn't very talkative, and would decide on that later. The meeting was to be in my office attended only by department heads who were filing in. When everyone was seated and the doors closed, John, our CFO spoke. "I've been chosen spokesman," he said. "First, we're going to hear from Bob who has some background information." I'm going to fill you in on the Milton family," our Chief of Security said. "That might help explain why some of the things that are happening got started. Milton Manufacturing was started by Edward and John's great grandfather, a 'Yankee' entrepreneur. The company has been passed down through the generations. Edward and John's father ran it with an iron fist. He was a rather intolerant, puritanical man. He had three children, Edward, John and Sarah." He paused then continued "Sarah was the oldest by several years, the brothers barely a year apart. While the boys were at Princeton, something happened that enraged their father. We weren't able to find out exactly what it was, but our best guess is that it had something to do with his puritanical nature. He literally threw them out of the family, disinheriting them and never allowing them in his presence for the rest of his life. "He died a few years later, and left his 80% interest in the Company to Sarah. The other 20% was owned by cousins. "Sarah, not interested in the business, brought her brothers back to run it for her, giving each of them a five percent interest. Now, I'm going to let John go on from here." John continued "The brothers did a great job of building the company. Somewhere along the line, and with whatever motives, things changed. We only had time to go back through the last six years of their records, but they started looting the company sometime before that." He paused, and there were a lot of sharp intakes of breath around the table, mine included. I glanced at Eric and his eyes were wide. "We don't know when it started, but they have been methodically draining huge amounts of money out of the company, possibly the largest theft ever. They did it in two ways: dummy payroll and phony purchases. "So far, we have been able to identify 461 employees that don't exist, all of whom are being paid an average of $175,000 per year. That adds up to more than 80 million dollars each year. The money is being moved to offshore accounts in the Bahamas, then transferred around the world, but we have definitely traced it back to John and Edward. "The phony purchases were harder to find. Steel is their primary raw material, and they buy most of it from Japanese mills, but they paid for almost double the amount that actually was delivered to their factories. Receiving reports and paid invoices don't match, not even close. "Legitimate payments were made to one supplier account, and phony invoices were paid to another account at the same company, so obviously there's collusion involved. We were, however, able to trace transfers from those phony accounts back to John and Edward. "There's undoubtedly more that we didn't uncover, but we believe we've found the major leaks. Now, the question is: What do we do with this information." "Only those of us here know the whole story," he added. "When we realized what was happening, and the possible legal implications, we kept our groups separated." Bill spoke for the first time. "There's only one problem. We can prove WHAT is happening, that the thefts or embezzlements are occurring, but we can't prove who's doing it." "But you said..." I stuttered, looking at John, then it hit me. We had used less than legal means to obtain this information and we couldn't admit that. I looked around the table, all eyes were on me. Even Eric understood. Our hackers were good. "We know, but we can't prove it," I said. "Am I correct?" "That's about it," John said. "We know, without a doubt that they're behind it, but we can't make any accusations without opening ourselves up to enormous liabilities. Nothing we have would stand up in court." "A major crime has been committed against all the other stockholders. Don't we have a moral obligation to let them know about it?" I asked. "Moral, maybe," Bill said, "legal, no. A few clerks would go to jail for embezzlement, but nobody can touch the Milton brothers. Even the Justice Department would have an impossible time tracing the funds they stole. The money's outside their jurisdiction now, and the foreign banks would stonewall them, invoking all of the bank secrecy laws that apply in their countries. It's been tried before, never successfully." "Do we have a legal opinion on all this?" I asked. "Yes, we do," John said. "I took the liberty of consulting an outside attorney, and his immediate response was to 'drop it'. I didn't want to involve our in-house legal department." "OK, then," I said, "what do we do now?" "I think I speak for everyone," Bill said. "We go ahead and buy it. We plug the leaks, and have a very viable company that'll pay back our investment in six or seven years." "How fast can we plug the leaks?" Eric asked. "We can have control over their bank accounts before the ink's dry on the contracts," John said. "We know where to go and how to put a stop to any more bogus payroll checks being issued and the same for accounts payable." "Do you think they'll have the balls to keep sending in phony invoices?" Eric asked. "It wouldn't surprise me," John said, which got a chuckle from everyone. "In view of what we know, how much should we offer them?" I asked. "Let's wait until we see their year-end statements," John suggested. "It wouldn't surprise me to see a dramatic increase in profits. They'll want it to look good to us." "It's supposed to be ready this week, isn't it?" I asked. "By Friday," John said. "Do we have financing lined up?" I asked. "Ready to go," Bill said. "We can move really fast." "Let me think about this," I said. "In the meantime, how about preparing some projections on what the company'll do with all the leaks plugged?" "We'll have them on your desk tomorrow," John answered. The meeting was over. Whew! A lot to think about! When we were alone, Eric grinned at me. "Power, again," he said, and it was pretty obvious what he was talking about. "Shall I lock the door?" he asked, leering. "I don't think I can concentrate," I told him. He ignored me, walking over to lock the outer door, then went into the bathroom. He came back with a towel and went over to one of the sofas. "Come here," he said. I obeyed. He had his suit coat off by the time I got there, and took me into his arms, kissing me and pulling my now hard dick against his. "You need this," he said. "We both need this." I helped him get my coat off, and he wasted no time undoing my pants and pulling my dick out. "Sit," he ordered, as he pulled my pants and shorts down to my ankles. He dropped his own and settled between my knees, taking me into his mouth. Thoughts of the Miltons evaporated as I watched that beautiful blond head bob between my legs. He was almost possessed, sucking with a frenzy. I was a lot more aroused than I realized, my back arched and I shot a major load into his mouth. He continued sucking until I went soft. He stood, his beautiful dick waving in front of my face. I leaned forward to swallow it. He unloaded before I could even work up a good rhythm. As usual, he was delicious. Slumping down beside me, he asked, playfully, "feel better?" "I'm still coming down," I admitted. It had been fast and unexpected, but completely draining. The whole thing was over in a matter of minutes. "We'd better get presentable," he said, gently wiping my leaking dick with the towel. "You up for a 'Power Lunch'," I asked when the evidence had been cleared away. "Sure," he said. "I'd love to be seen with 'my man' with that freshly fucked glow you're wearing right now." "Does it show?" I asked, surprised. "It does to me," he giggled. "I love it!" - - - - - Sitting around discussing the day's events that evening with Eric and Annie, she dryly commented "Most of what was said this morning went way over my head, like the Blue Angels, but I didn't want to show my ignorance and kept my mouth shut. What's really going on?" "I really don't know, and I don't want to know," I told her, "but I can guess." I told her the story about the hackers, and how I assumed that they were responsible for breaking into the bank computers around the world to get the information. I also explained that I didn't know who they were or where they worked, but I was pretty sure they were still on the payroll. I believed that they worked under our Security department, but didn't ask questions. It was one of those things we did that was really hush-hush. No doubt, many companies did the same thing, but kept it quiet the same as we did. "Why didn't they break into Milton's computers?" she asked. "I'm sure they did," I answered, "but we had complete access anyway." "I'll bet that's how they got all the dirt on Gunter," she speculated out loud. "I wouldn't know," I answered, smiling. "Power," Eric growled as we climbed into bed that night. "Today was great, but nowhere near enough." He put my hand on his bicep and flexed. My dick sprang to attention. "Stop that," I told him, "or I'll cum." "Can't have that," he said, kissing me passionately. He wanted to ride my dick, and I had no objections. "I'm going to try to wait for you," he said as he lowered himself on me, "but no guarantees. You're so fucking hot tonight!" He did all the work, raising and lowering himself, giving the most stimulation possible to his prostate. I watched his blue eyes roll, sharing in his enjoyment, and heating up fast myself with the sensations that his tight ass were giving my own cock. I didn't touch his cock which was waving and pulsing in front of me. He put my hand on his arm again, and that set us both off. I blasted inside of him while he writhed, moaned and spurted above me. It was a really long orgasm for both of us. Wave after wave swept over me, and he just continued shooting all over my chest. "Ummm, better and better," he said as he collapsed on top of me. - - - - - Annie had made several trips to Palm Springs to see Tina. It was now my turn to go. I didn't know what to expect or how to act, but decided to just be myself, whatever that was. Actually, I dreaded the meeting, something Eric picked up on, and he gave me a lot of moral support. When she was ushered in, she gave me a cheery "Hi, Dad," and a perfunctory hug. "How's everything going?" I asked. "I'm making a lot of progress, they tell me, really I'm not so sure," she said. "I'm completely off all the drugs, and, as you can see, have put on a few pounds." She did look much better than the last time I'd seen her, and her "up" attitude was pleasant. "I hear you've been real busy, buying another company, Annie told me," she said. "Yes, that has taken a lot of my time," I answered, "but let's talk about you." "Well, they're treating me really well here, and Ingrid has been wonderful. We're lucky to have someone like that 'almost' in the family," she said. I noticed the "we", which gave me a little hope. "I'm learning a lot," she continued, "about myself, and I'm not real happy with what I'm finding out. I got into the drugs so easily because of other, real, problems that I didn't want to face. It was an easy way out, and I took it." "How do you feel about all that?" I asked. "I can't completely blame Gunter," she said. "I allowed him to get me started on them. He was one of the first people in my life that I thought really loved me, but now I realize he was using me, thinking he could get to your money through me. He controlled me with the drugs, and I didn't really care what happened, but I felt safe and secure with him. How wrong I was!" "He's part of the past, let's forget him," I suggested. "I have to deal with the 'wreckage of my past' before I can deal with the future," she said. "That's what I'm doing now, getting rid of it, and it's not easy dealing with things I never wanted to face." "I can understand that," I said, moving over to give her a hug. "There's another thing, Dad," she said. "I owe you a huge 'amends' for the things I've done and said to you." "What's an 'amends'?" I asked. "An apology, I guess," she said, "as much for me as for you. I've said a lot of awful things to you. They were words put into my mouth by Mom, but nobody held a gun to my head and forced me to say them. I take full responsibility. Can you forgive me?" "Of course," I said, "I knew the source and didn't take you that seriously." "I'm still truly sorry," she said. "I really don't know you that well, but from what Annie's been telling me, you're nothing like what Mom said you were. That's another thing, Mom. Someday I might be able to forgive her for the way she treated me when I needed her. You were right there for me which I'll never forget." "You know I won't comment on your Mother," I said. "I'm just now seeing how she lived vicariously through us, me in particular," she said. "She's a poor pathetic woman who doesn't have a life." I just nodded. No comment. "Now, tell me about Eric," she said. "Are you comfortable with the gay issue?" I asked. "I've had some long talks with my therapist about that," she said. "I don't really have any problem with two guys together, it's just the resentment I had toward you that made it seem so wrong. Mom pounded that idea into me, and she's totally wrong about that, too. I've met him, of course, and even though I was in a fog, he seemed like a real nice guy." "He is," I said, "and I love him a great deal." "I'm happy for you both," she said, "at least you have the guts to live the life you want." We talked and talked. I kept the conversation focused on her as much as possible but answered any questions she had about me. Our time together was running out. The Clinic only allowed her an hour with me. "I'll be ready to leave here in another few weeks," she said. "I don't know where I want to go. Not back to Mom, that's for sure." "Tina," I said, "you always have a home with me if that's what you want. We'd all love to have you come live with us. Give it a try, and if you like us, you're welcome to stay forever." "Thanks, Dad," she said. "I needed to hear that - from you. I think I'd love it. It'd give me a chance to put my life back together and decide what I want to do with it." Before I left, she insisted I meet her therapist and some of the friends she'd made there. All in all, I felt really good about seeing her. She was willing to give me a chance. My little girl was coming home. - - - - - The Milton's year-end statement arrived on Friday. As predicted, profits had shown an upswing. After Eric had looked it over, his comment, shaking his head, was "I just can't believe the arrogance of those bastards. They've gotta know that you know what's going on. If they're so naive as to think you don't know, they'll damn sure find out in a hurry when the sale closes." "They're smug," I agreed, "and you know what? They're going to get away with it." "That's the sad part," he said. "It's ironic," I said. "It's a win-win situation. They get away with one of the biggest thefts of the century, and we get a helluva bargain. They're pretty sure we'll never rock the boat, and we won't. I sure as hell don't want another scandal like that mess in Las Vegas." "There's bound to be publicity," he said. "Yes, but this time it'll be favorable, I hope," I said. "How much are you planning on offering?" he asked. "Three billion even," I answered. "I think they'll jump at it." "When?" "Next week, I think, Want to go with me?" I asked. "Earn some of that fat fee you're going to collect?" I kidded. "I DON"T want a fee," he said. "But yes, I'd love to go. I'd like to see what those schmucks look like. How about Friday? I only have one class, and I can miss it." "That sounds good," I said. "We can leave Thursday afternoon and if we feel like it, spend the weekend in New York. Oh, and as to your fee, that's out of your hands. Relax and enjoy it." He just shook his head at me. There were a lot of last-minute preparations. In essence, it was a rather simple transaction. We were buying all of the stock of Milton Manufacturing, just a bunch of paper, but it represented ownership of all of the assets of the company. The first step was for Milton to execute a corporate resolution accepting our offer. Then the stockholders had to approve it, and have their attorneys approve all the documents. Funds would be transferred from our account to their account, and it was a done deal. Sounds simple enough, but there were all sorts of potential snags. Their attorneys would, no doubt, want to make changes in the agreements to justify their own existence, and their demands might be unreasonable. The rest of the stockholders might not agree. Hell, maybe they wouldn't even accept our offer. At least, all the legal wrangling would be between their lawyers and ours. Unless they wanted material changes, I wouldn't even be involved. We wanted to close the deal at the end of February, Tuesday the 29th. They wanted to move fast, and we were ready. By Thursday, I had a briefcase full of documents. The offer itself was only one page, but the agreements were a lot heftier. The Miltons expected us, and the offer. Perversely, I wondered if they were sweating. At exactly 9:30 AM on Friday, Eric and I walked into the main office of Milton Manufacturing. We were immediately ushered into the inner sanctum. I introduced Eric, and got directly down to business. It was about all I could do not to sneer at these supercilious assholes who were probably the biggest thieves on earth. I knew, from their manner, that they considered us uncouth "Westerners", far beneath them on the evolutionary scale, and it made me happy to know that in a few weeks I'd be throwing their starched asses out of this very building. I handed the offer to Edward. He took one look at it and handed it to John. "I'm afraid that we'll have to consider this," he said. "It's not for the amount we asked, and our stockholders will have to be consulted." "Fine," is said, dropping the cultivated tone. "This offer's good for 10 days only. We wanna close by the 29th, so you'd better get to work. Call us when you have an answer." I took the agreements out of my briefcase and put them on Edward's desk, said "See ya", turned and headed for the door. Eric followed. When we got into the car, Eric was shaking his head. "I didn't know snobs like that even existed," he said. "Perhaps a bit pompous," I answered in my godawful version of a British accent. Eric roared. "How can you joke around at a time like this?" he asked. "It's either laugh or get pissed off," I said. "I'd rather laugh at those assholes." We were both laughing by now. "Did you notice John?" he asked. "No, what?" "The only time he took his eyes off my crotch was when he read the offer," he said. "I gave him a pretty good show, too, and I thought the old fucker would faint!" "Maybe that's what Daddy got pissed about," I said. "Caught old John with a dick in his mouth, maybe Edward's." "Somehow, I can't picture that!" Eric said. "Too messy and uncultured. Seriously, what do you think'll happen?" "They're just posturing, even more than usual," I said. "They'll go for it, but with a lot of kicking and screaming for effect. Let's go to Greenwich Village and act queer," I added, lightening up. "Maybe Ron and Jason will join us, and we can raise some hell." "Let's do it!" he answered. The guys agreed to meet us for dinner and a night out. Eric and I had a long, leisurely lunch then returned to our suite. Both still in a playful mood, we made crazy love all afternoon even though the maid continually banged on the door for some unknown reason. After a nap, we put on tight jeans and were ready to go. Jason took one look at us and commented "you guys look like trouble!" "Ah, yes, darling," Eric said, grinding his crotch into Jason's. "What's with you guys?" Ron asked. "Must've been one hell of a meeting this morning." "Actually, nothing happened," I said. "A lot did this afternoon," Eric giggled. We had a mediocre Italian dinner in the Village, then headed for the clubs. Ron and Jason knew their way around, and we started at the tamer ones. As the evening went on, they got raunchier and raunchier. In the back room of one, a full blown orgy was in progress. It was crowded, and we got thoroughly groped. Some guy had his hand in Eric's jeans, and soon had his dick out, playing with it. I didn't waste any time and was on my knees in front of him deep throating it all. We had an audience, and I gave them a show. Ron and Jason were on the other side of the room doing their own thing, rather vigorously. On the way back to the hotel, we decided to go home the next day instead of waiting until Sunday. Back in our room, Eric was still horny. We took our time releiving that condition. "I can't believe we did that last night," he said as we were waking up. "What?" I mumbled, still groggy. "Your sucking me off in front of all those people," he said. "You liked it?" I asked, coming to. "It was wild! Really different," he said. "A lot of those guys couldn't believe that you could swallow all of me." "Just takes practice," I said, throwing back the covers and starting a repeat performance. - - - - - I didn't expect to hear from the Miltons until at least Wednesday. They had until Sunday to accept. They didn't call until Friday, late. "Mr Rush?" It was John for a change. "Our stockholders have agreed to your offer," he said. "However, we are having some difficulty with the terms of your purchase agreement." Here it comes, I thought. "Would you be more specific?" I asked. "First, there are a few mementos that Edward and I would like to remove from the premises," he said. They probably want to keep the old factory to play with, I mused, "I don't think that'll be a problem," I said. "Then there is the holdback clause," he continued. "We would like a clearer definition of 'material' and for the discovery period to be shortened to thirty days from ninety." They didn't want to give us a chance to really dig, but hell, we'd already done that. "I think we can work that out," I said. "There are also a myriad of other small details too numerous to mention that we require be changed," he added. They were going to be picky. "Why don't you have your lawyers contact mine on Monday, and let them thrash it out," I suggested. "In the meantime, how about sending us the signed acceptance and corporate resolution by FedEx. That way we'll have it on Monday." "Excellent, Mr. Rush," he said. "We'll send the papers by courier so that you will have them tomorrow." That was it. Just a few kinks to be ironed out and we'd bought ourselves another company. I alerted all the troops at the office, then went home for the weekend. Eric was excited when I told him the news. For me, it was kind of a ho-hum thing. "It's not over yet," I told him. "God only knows what they want to take with them, and they could pick away at non-issues for weeks." "What about the hold-back?" he asked. "My guess is that they don't want to give us a lot of time to find the leaks that we already know about," I said. "They evidently think we're so dumb that it'll take us months." "Here's something else," I added. "You didn't hear this, but the minute they said they'd accepted our offer, we tapped into their computers. We're downloading everything on them as we speak." "You're diabolical," he chuckled. "Afraid I can't take credit for this one," I said, "but I agree with the idea. It's better to take precautions." "By the way," he said, "I've already made arrangements so that I can miss school on the 28th and 29th. And the first of March, too, if necessary. I'm hoping that you'll invite me to go with you." "Let's get a few things straight," I said sternly, sitting down across from him. "You're my partner. In Life. That means everything, business included. I would like to have you by my side, 24 hours a day, every day if that were possible, but I know it's not. You're included in everything I do. Not only are you my best friend, and my lover, but you're the most insightful advisor that I've ever had. If you think you have to wait for an invitation to join me, in ANYTHING, you're dead wrong." "I wasn't sure, and I certainly didn't mean to upset you by asking," he said. "It upsets me to think that you don't understand how I feel. I hope I've made myself clear on that," I said. "Abundantly," he said. "I understand that with this buyout, you're moving into the really big leagues, and I wasn't sure where I fit in." "You're my partner, and if you want the whole world to know that, we'll tell 'em. You stand by my side, not in my shadow," I said. "I love you, and more importantly, I respect you." He moved over to sit on my lap. The first time he'd ever done that. "I knew we had a good thing going," he said, "I just didn't realize how good." The serious moment was over. "There's another thing," he said. "I don't want you to pay me for the little suggestions I make." I stayed calm. "Let me explain that," I said. "Your 'little' suggestion has saved us an enormous amount of money, and more importantly, time. It was something so obvious none of us could see it. If we'd followed the conventional route, this Milton deal would still be months away from closing. Not only are we saving on the acquisition process, but we're getting the company sooner, and will be making money all those months that we would otherwise have spent waiting. We're not paying you nearly enough, and it wouldn't surprise me to see a lot of other takeovers following the same route. You may very well have started a trend, and you definitely deserve the credit." "If you really feel that way..." he said. "I do," I said. "Case closed." On Monday, we learned more about what the Miltons wanted. The first item, which they evidently felt was very important, was their office at Headquarters. They wanted use of that office for six months, then the right to remove it, all the furnishings and even the wood paneling and ceiling. My response to this, when our Attorney explained it was "Hell yes, they can have the office, but they can't stick around for six months. I want them out of there the minute the contracts are signed. Get some antique outfit in there to take everything out and re-assemble it anyplace they want. We'll even pay for it. Just get them the hell out!" On this, I was adamant. I wanted it to be clear, from the top to the bottom of the company who was in charge. This had to be clear cut and obvious. If the Miltons had any plans to continue their little games, they would have to play them from a distance, not from the heart of the operation. We didn't need to have to deal with that distraction. The holdback clause was a little more complicated. It protected us against surprises such as "material" changes in the company's financial condition that we were unaware of. In the agreement we had presented to them, this had called for $300 million to be held by a bank for 90 days while we checked everything out. If nothing was found, the money would go to the Miltons, but we would be paid for anything that hadn't been disclosed. Bill called me aside on this one. 'We know they're crooks," he said, "and they may have the balls to pull some last minute surprises." "I know," I said, "but we're monitoring them pretty closely, aren't we?" "From our downloads over the weekend, we were able to pull a trial balance. Our guys are analyzing it right now," he said. "We'll continue to track cash and paybles daily until this thing closes. I think we have a pretty good handle on everything." "How about a compromise," I suggested. "We'll play dumb and request a trial balance as of today, and if everything's OK, that will be the benchmark, and we can agree to shorten the impound period to 45 days, even 30 if we have to." Bill agreed. We went back to our Lawyers and gave them our decision. Even though they were on our side, we couldn't let them know how much we really knew. The rest was inconsequential, picky shit. Milton's attorneys, left out of the preliminaries, obviously were trying to make up for it by wanting to change a word here, a word there, and bill a lot of hours. We gave our attorneys the go-ahead to agree to anything that didn't erode our position. After they left, Bill and I went over some of the other details. A consortium of banks had agreed to lend us the money we needed, actually more than we needed. Hell, it was easier to borrow a couple billion than it was to get a car loan! Our people were working on the logistics of the transfer. Since we didn't trust the Miltons, and didn't know which of their minions were in cahoots with them, we had to take control fast. From what Bill told me, that would happen in a matter of hours rather than days or weeks. Our people would be moving in at the same time the final papers were being signed. The detailed planning that had been going on was an enormous task, and our people had risen to it. "You know, we've been in 'crisis mode' around here ever since we decided to expand," Bill commented, smiling. "I think our guys love it. We're going to have to look for some new worlds to conquer." "Not until we digest this one!" I said. "Do you think we've bitten off more than we can chew?" I asked, admitting my doubts. "Are we moving too fast?" "Hell no," he answered. "The Chateau deal was a piece of cake. Annie's running it now, and doing a helluva job, I might add. This one's a challenge, and I know we're up to it." "I hope so," I said. "There's a lot on the line." "Give us a year, and you won't recognize Milton," he said. "We'll make that baby sing! I feel really good about it." "Now," he said, "how about YOU? How're you doing?" "Never been happier in my life," I told him. "A few family problems, but they'll get taken care of." "Eric's the best thing that ever happened to you," he observed. "I just wish he'd get more involved in the business." "He's his own man," I chuckled. "Actually, he's more involved than you think. We talk everything over, and half of the great ideas I come up with are his. Maybe someday he'll get directly involved, but that's up to him, and I'm not going to push." "Well, I am," he said. "We could use his brains around here." - - - - - The Miltons did a great deal of kicking and screaming about the "office" issue. They took it as a personal affront that we wanted them out of there. Even their own attorneys couldn't understand their stand on this petty issue. I refused to back down, and after several days of bickering, they finally agreed. I loved Eric's suggestion that we send a couple of "Call Boys" over to improve their humor. They had provided us with a trial balance, and it matched the one we already had. It appeared that everything was going along OK, no surprises, but we continued to monitor them. It looked like we would close as scheduled. Our troops were poised to pounce. Even the press releases had been approved by everyone concerned. Then, on the Friday before the planned close on the following Tuesday, John and Bill came into my office with worried looks. "We may have a problem," John said. "Over the past 24 hours, they've entered enough Accounts Payable to cover a couple months' worth of purchases." "Are they real or bogus?" I asked. "Since we can't see the actual invoices, it's impossible to tell," Bill answered. "What did they buy?" I asked. "About $800 million worth of steel," John said, "a lot more than we're holding back." "Surely they don't expect us to pay for something we never got," I said. "It's not that simple," John answered. "The bills are from Japanese mills, and if they're as deeply involved with the Milton's scheme as I think they are, there'd be a helluva mess if we refused to pay, probably cause an international incident that could go on for years." "I don't believe this," I said. "I'll bet that it's deferred billing for goods they supposedly received months ago," John said. 'It'd take us months to sort out what's legitimate and what's bogus. Their records aren't that good and by now, the stuff is unidentifiable." "The big thing," Bill added, "is that we can't even admit we know about it." "I realize that," I said. "We won't know about it, 'officially', until we take over on Wednesday." "What's the bottom line on this, gentlemen?" I asked. "We'd have to prove, conclusively, that the invoices are bogus before we could even touch the impound account, and then we'd have to go after the Japanese. That could take years, and we'd probably have to put up the whole amount we supposedly owe while it goes through the courts. I'm afraid we might end up stuck with most of it," John said. "How much will it cost us to back out?" I asked. "We'd forfeit the $100 million we put up in good faith," Bill said. "That's a lot of money down the drain," I said. "I have a suggestion. We have until Tuesday to make a decision. Get all your best people together, tell them everything, and see what they can come up with. I WANT that company, and I'm not going to let those slick fuckers get away with this." I paused for a breath. "Let's meet back here Sunday and see if we can find a way to get out of this with our asses intact." "It's worth a try," Bill said. "We'll be burning the midnight oil, but I agree, we can't let them get away with this." To be continued. AUTHOR'S NOTE: I enjoy hearing from my readers, and answer all Email. Let me know what you like or don't like, and suggestions are always welcome. If you'd like to be on my "alert" list, let me know at orrinrush@yahoo.com and I'll let you know when each chapter is posted.