Chapter 16

"What do you know about Luella Dawson?" I asked Patricia over two plastic tubs filled with babies and splashing water.

She was bathing Artemis while I did my best to get Atea to hold still for his bath.

"You mean the bitch who crashed our wedding reception?" she laughed, "She's a vindictive witch with a mean streak a mile wide, why?"

"What grudge is she holding against you?" I asked. I wasn't avoiding her question, I just wanted more context before I answered.

"She used to run SyncComp - not very well, but it was hers." Patricia said, "When I saw its potential for P2P integration, I started buying stock. I didn't even have to file for a hostile takeover. When her board found out I was interested, they practically begged me to take over the company. She made a killing on her stock options, and she had a pretty good golden parachute, too, but she's never forgiven me for firing her from the CEO position."

"Ah." I said, "Perhaps that explains why she's gotten into bed, literally, with Erikson over this takeover bid. She recently bought a sizeable chunk of SyncComp stock on her own, and I, not knowing which way the wind blew, went to see her, to see what she would do if it came down to brass tacks."

"So, what will she do?" Patricia asked.

"Well, that's not the real story." I rinsed Atea's body with a pitcher full of warm water, and he squealed happily, kicking his chubby legs with glee. "I could tell, almost as soon as she opened her mouth, that she was following a personal agenda. On a hunch, I asked a few questions that she wasn't expecting, and she as good as told me she was in cahoots with Lenny. I asked Gloria to do a little digging, and she found out that they've been sleeping together on nights when he 'works late'."

"So what was her 'personal' agenda?" Patricia jumped, laughing, as 'Little 'Mis' suddenly discovered the joy of splashing water, "Hey! You little imp! I wasn't planning to shower for a couple of hours yet!"

Our daughter gurgled happily, slapping at the water in her tub with both hands and showering the vicinity with wetness.

"I'm not certain, but I believe she wanted to break us up, while ruining you." I said. Atea came eagerly into the warm, fluffy towel I used to gather him from the bath, "She told me that if I would spend the night with her and do whatever she wanted, she would vote against a takeover."

"So what did she say when you turned her down?" Patricia asked casually.

"I didn't." As a joke, I intended to let her sweat it out a little, but the devastation that swept across her face kept me from taking it any further, "I left her with 'I'll keep it in mind... ' I hope that will keep her from abandoning her current plan in favor of another, at least for now."

I carried little Atea over to his mom and sister and gave Patricia a heartfelt kiss. "She tried to make it a choice between sleeping with her and losing the company. What she doesn't realize is that she and Lenny, in acquiring so much SyncComp stock may have given us a third option."

"Which is... ?" Patricia asked.

I told her about my plans and got a kiss and a grin in return.

"You deserve more than that, but I need to get these guys fed! Keep Rachel in the loop, okay?" she said, bouncing 'Missy to hear her laugh, "She's got some experience with this sort of thing."

"I am," I replied, "and Gloria's been a big help, too. She's been through this with other CEO's and has some amazing channels for gathering information."

"All right, dear!" she said, "I wanted you in that job for a reason, and I'm not going to start second-guessing you now. But please remember, Collins Industries is Carmen's only source of income, okay? I don't worry about us. We'll find a way to survive, but if Carmen ever decides to leave the Islands, she'll need that money."

"I appreciate your confidence, sweetheart." I said, "I may need to lean on your experience as we go along, and I never forget that CI is the major source of income for you as well as for Carmen. If it's possible to head this off, we'll do it. At the moment, it looks like we may even be able to prevent future takeover attempts for a while."

"I still think you should go public with it!" Gloria said.

"I know how you feel, Gloria." I said, "but it's not illegal, and the man has a family. While they're eventually going to have to deal with this amongst themselves, I won't be the instrument of the family's destruction. It's bad enough that I'm going to try to destroy his hold over his business!"

"But, damnit, he DESERVES it after what he did to HumanSoft!" she ranted.

"I don't disagree," I said, "but his wife and daughter don't. It's going to be bad enough when they find out on their own. To pile it on top of what I'm about to do to him would just be too much, and I like being able to sleep at night!"

"Well, do you mind if I slip it to the tabloids or something?"

Gloria had had friends at HumanSoft when Seer took the company over and dismantled it, putting a lot of good people on the street. I could understand her desire for revenge.

"It's going to be bad enough for him when this is over," I said, "without us going public with his affair with Luella Dawson. Besides, that could backfire on us, and hurt us in the public eye. No. I don't give you many orders, Gloria, but this one you need to follow. Do not leak this information to the public! I don't have a problem with letting him THINK I will, but I'll only do it as a last resort!"

"You're the boss, boss." she grumbled, just as the phone rang.

She picked it up and spoke to the person on the other end, then turned to me.

"It's Rachel's assistant." she whispered, even though she had the call on hold, "She's got Lenny Erikson on the line!"

"Okay, put it on speaker, but don't let them know you're here." I instructed Gloria.

"Put him on, Kathy." I told the girl on the other end.

"Yes, sir!" she replied.

"Hello, Lenny!" I said into the speakerphone after the click that told me she had connected the call.

"Who am I speaking to?" the voice on the other end asked.

"This is Gary Travis, Lenny." I replied, "CEO of Collins Industries."

"Strange that I should wind up speaking to you when I called Rachel Hancock." He didn't sound surprised.

"Not strange at all!" I said, "I asked Rachel to have her assistant transfer any calls from you to my phone."

"Okay," Lenny was not one to be sidetracked easily, as his track record showed, "I guess you'll do. Have you seen my latest offer for SyncComp?"

"Why, yes, I was just looking at it, and I wanted to thank you!"

"You're welcome... for what?" he answered, perplexed.

"For the best laugh I've had in a couple of weeks, Lenny!" I said, "I know you're not serious about this offer, so what DID you call about?"

"Just to let you know that I WILL have SyncComp." He replied, "No matter what you do. And when I get it, I'll dismantle it, piece by piece. Without SyncComp, that whole house of cards you and Patricia Collins have built will come tumbling down! That's what happens when you play in the big leagues, rookie!"

"Well that's awfully nice of you, Lenny," I said, "to give us fair warning like that, but you might want to check your 'In' box. I couriered over my offer for Seer this morning. As you will see, it's a serious offer, not one of the jokes you like to call offers."

"You WHAT!" He roared, "You can't do that! That's - that's anti-competitive! I can get away with buying SyncComp because I don't have competing products! As Collins Industries, you have products in your subsidiaries that compete with some of Seer's!"

"Actually," I said, "we've been all through this with our legal staff, the SEC and the FTC, and as long as we make certain guarantees to those agencies, we'll have no trouble getting approved. After the acquisition we'll spin off and sell those applications that compete with any of our companies, and keep the core database business."

"It doesn't matter, anyway!" he said, "You'll never get enough shares to control my board, and I've got THEM in my pocket!"

"I hate to break it to you, Lenny," I said, "Some of your board members seem to like the way we do business better than your way, and have already expressed willingness to support our offer. Meanwhile, remember how you and Luella got the cash to purchase so much SyncComp stock? Well, guess who bought the Seer shares you sold?"

That was the problem with working with someone outside your control. You could never be sure what the other was going to do. In this instance, between the two of them they had sold enough stock, most of which we had picked up, to give us a compelling advantage in a proxy battle.

"What do you intend to do?" he asked, shaken.

"Well, for one thing, I've already filed for an injunction to halt any major acquisitions or sales of assets on Seer's part while our bid is being considered." I said, "That means that by tomorrow your stake in SyncComp will be frozen in its current legal state. You are still an investor, but until CI's bid for Seer is resolved, you can't actually acquire it."

Gloria was covering her mouth and shaking with suppressed laughter.

"My lawyers will bury you with paper!" he almost screamed, "They'll file so many motions and lawsuits against you personally and CI in general, that it will take years to dig out from under them!"

"I'm sure they'd be happy to do that for you, Lenny!" I said, "But are you sure it's wise? I mean, we'll have to fight each and every one of them. My wife has assured me that I can have full use of her family's resources, if need be, and you're already short on cash. Even if you can afford a lengthy court battle, that could take years, and the injunction will still be there. You'll be holding a pile of stock that you can't sell, for a company you can't acquire. And then there's all that public testimony about how you and Dawson came to work together on this scheme..."

My assistant's eyes went wide when she heard what I was saying, and suddenly, she understood. She gave me two thumbs up and waited with bated breath for Erikson's response.

"What do you mean?" he was suddenly cautious, "We haven't done anything illegal!"

"Oh, I'm sure you haven't." I said, "But that won't matter to your family when they show the pictures in court, will it? That would be an awfully messy divorce!"

"You son of a bitch!" he screamed, "You breathe a word of this to my wife, and I'll, I'll... !"

Gloria had to clap both hands over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud!

"Now, is that what I said, Lenny?" I asked mildly, "I have no desire to break up your family, but during an investigation like the ones that will come out of all those lawsuits, well, it's bound to come out!"

"You... you... !" for the first time since I had met him, Lenny Erikson couldn't think of anything to say!

"Well, thanks for the call, Lenny!" I said cheerfully, "Have a nice day!"

As soon as I punched the button to turn off the phone, Gloria practically launched herself at me, nearly bowling me over in her eagerness to hug me!

"Gloria, please!" I laughed, "Let's have a little decorum here!"

"Boss," she said, wiping away tears of laughter "You have just made my day! That son of a bitch is stuck between a rock and a hard place, now! Not bad for a 'rookie'!"

"Well," I smiled, "let's not gloat yet. It's still going to be a long, hard battle."

The phone rang again. Rachel had stayed on the call and listened in, too. I had suggested as much when I asked her to forward Erikson's calls to me. SyncComp was, after all, her responsibility.

"You sneaky devil!" she laughed, "I wondered what you were up to! Have you really got that much Seer stock locked up?"

"CI does, and we've got backing from other Seer investors." I replied, "I wanted to play this close to my vest until I was sure, but now, even if it came down to a proxy battle for Seer, we'd win. Of course, if Lenny can get enough of his board to vote with him, he could still activate a poison pill and issue enough stock to cancel our majority. I don't think that's going to happen though. I've held closed-door meetings with each of his board members and most of them would be in favor of a CI buyout, especially at the terms we're offering."

Seer's lawyers contested the injunction against their company taking any action on SyncComp, but that was expected. They lost, since Seer's board was seriously considering our generous offer, and it was a reasonable request during an acquisition. The promised flood of lawsuits never materialized. I guess Lenny took my implied threat seriously.