Chapter 4: Executive Privileges

Tom arrived at the Palmer Street Plant in a rare good mood. The Sunday had ended with him and Iris setting their bed on fire. It was as if the years of resentment were forgotten and the old Iris was showing herself again. For the first time in their married life, Iris had given him an awkward but well meant blowjob to get him ready for their third round of lovemaking. She even purred with excitement when he played with her anus that was slick with their combined juices.

This very morning, she had dragged him into the bathroom. In the shower she washed his penis and balls until he was hard again against all probability. He then fucked her standing in the shower with Iris holding on to his neck and with her legs around his hips. Yes, his married life was looking up.

They had driven Cor to school together riding in his ancient Saab, and afterwards Tom dropped off the President of Villier Pharmaceuticals Inc. at the steel-and-glass administrative building. This caused some raised eyebrows from the onlookers, even more so when Iris turned around one more time, walked around the car and gave her husband a kiss through the open driver side window.

Now he parked his venerable car in the manager’s spot ignoring the reserved sign and alighted with his notebook satchel. He was wearing blue jeans, a light blue shirt without tie, and a blue sports coat. Excel Boy would have a coronary seeing him like this while receiving the buyers. Thinking of that made him grin.

The manager, Royce Pelham, was still not in when the buyers arrived not fifteen minutes later. The dark blue BMW 745 disgorged four men, all of them dressed casually just like Tom himself. Peter Salieri had tipped him off correctly Tom noticed.

“Mr. Verkade?” a rather young man spoke up. Tom recognised him from the newspapers as Felix Di Rosa, the grandson of Vincent Di Rosa, but also the rumored Nº1 hammer of the Di Rosa family...

“That’s me. Mr. Di Rosa?”

They shook hands. Di Rosa introduced his team.

“Mario Pietro, our lead counsel. Luca Breggia, CFO of the Di Rosa group. Anthony Recci, our architect.”

Tom shook hands with the men.

“Welcome, gentlemen. Should I give you a tour first or would you like to start with specific questions?”

“Let’s start with the tour to get an impression,” Di Rosa nodded.

Tom started with the supply bunkers and their safety features and then led his visitors to the control room that overlooked the heart of the production facility. He explained the different production lines and the products that were currently being processed. He pointed out the few large equipment items that would need replacement in the near future. Next he showed the packaging hall with its maze of conveyor belts and blister pack machines, still from the monitoring gallery since the hall itself was a clean room.

The next stop was the large storage hall where the finished products sat on palettes waiting to be shipped. Tom pointed out that he would like to see less inventory, something that could be achieved with better planning. Interestingly, the visitors also wanted to see the staff locker rooms and the cafeteria, and they asked pointed questions about the current staff. Tom answered to his best knowledge, admitting that he was not in charge of the facility but mentioning that he had prepared a reorganisation plan. At this point, Felix Di Rosa grinned.

“Yeah, Peter told us. He also said that you’re the man to run this place should we buy it. Who is running the plant right now?”

Tom smirked. “Royce Pelham. He’s not in yet.”

“Not in, huh? So who’s in charge when he’s not in?”

Tom felt bad, but he would not lie. “Dana Porter, but she called in sick last week. Appendicitis, I hear.”

“So again, who is running this show?”

“The line managers. Terry Sounders is the senior line manager. Should I have him meet us?”

“No, I just want to get a picture of this place. So, if this was your place, what would you change?”

For an answer, Tom pulled his reorganisation plan from his satchel bag and handed it to Di Rosa.

“I prepared this over the last weeks under the assumption that we would keep this plant. I only learned about your interest this last Friday.”

Di Rosa nodded. “Thanks. Much appreciated. Say, Peter tells me you might be willing to run the production floor for him?”

Tom hesitated only briefly. The last weekend did not change the fact that he had the name “Villier” coming out of his ears. Even Iris had conceded that a fresh start outside the company might just be what he needed.

“I might be interested. It depends on a few things though. I get to select the people who work for me, and I get a defined budget. I’ve had it working with some moron another division wants to get rid of, and I’m sick and tired of some numbers cruncher nixing urgent equipment purchases.”

“In other words, you want carte blanche for your bailiwick,” Felix Di Rosa stated with a nod. “That sounds only reasonable. My grandfather’s companies all operate on the principle of simple decision making. One guy, one call, but also one responsibility.”

“That’s only fair,” Tom acknowledged readily. “I’d want to hear it straight and to my face if I screw up.”

“Listen, Tom — may I call you Tom? Great. Why don’t you, Peter, and a few people from headquarters have dinner some time? May I hold on to your reorganization plan?”

Tom shrugged. “I prepared it in my free time at home. I offered it to the management, and it was shot down. Be my guest.”

“Okay, thanks. So, let me show this to the money people and the legal eagles. I’d say we’ll need two weeks tops to make an offer to your wife’s company. Once we have a deal I’ll contact you and we can sit and discuss possibilities. Does that sound right?”

“I’ll be waiting for your call,” Tom said with another nod. Two weeks would give him the time to find out if there would be any future for him at Villier. “Call me if you need any information about this plant. As long as it’s not confidential, I’ll be happy to answer.”

They shook hands then and Tom showed his visitors to the entrance. There he found a steaming plant manager.

“Verkade, you’re standing in my spot!” he charged before Tom was able to make the introductions.

“Sorry, it looked like you weren’t using it today. By the way, these gentlemen are the potential buyers. Weren’t you advised of their visit?”

“What buyers?” Pelham asked, clearly surprised.

“Did Mr. Moran not advise you of the plans to divest Villier of this plant? Strange. But perhaps you weren’t in when the call came,” Tom said with fake understanding. The man grated him. “How many holes did you manage this morning?”