Part 71 (1/2)

”Kind of stick it to the boss man.” He paused.

”Think of it as insurance. Just to make sure you come out of this play whole. Tell you a secret about Noda. With that guy, you know you've got a deal when the check clears.”

”He's a crafty f.u.c.ker, grant you.”

”You might want to give it some thought. But if you're going to make a move, it's probably now or never. Be the early bird or forget it.”

All this time Tam was looking at me as if I'd gone over the edge. I began to deeply regret not having filled her in on the fallback scenario.

The door to Noda's office was now closed, his two guards posted outside. Guess even a samurai needs some rest and tranquility after flying halfway around the globe in a chartered Concorde.

”Well, gotta admit it's an idea.” Jim Bob continued to weave unsteadily. His motor mechanisms were now on automatic, along with his venal corn-pone brain.

”Matt, what in h.e.l.l are you doing?” Tam was pulling me back into the office.

”Stay cool. Swordsmans.h.i.+p is like Zen. You can't ever let your mind get attached to anything. Do that and you're stuck; your mind stays with the past and makes you neglect what lies ahead. So I figure the best thing to do here is to adjust to the new 'prevailing conditions.'” I glanced out at Jim Bob, now just beyond the door and absently humming some Waylon Jennings tune as he swayed solo.

”Well, I want to know what you're up to.”

”Okay, here's the play. While you were setting up your sell-off scheme, I did some fiddling on my own. Remember back when we started out, I fast-talked Noda into giving me power of attorney? Well, it finally paid off. Last week I convened an instant shareholders' meeting for every company where DNI owns a majority of the stock and personally voted through a new set of resolutions.”

”Mind filling me in on what they were?”

Before I could reply, Jim Bob came dancing in, licking his pale lips.

”Walton, tell you what. Think I'm gonna go for it.”

”What?” I looked up.

”That options play. Comes a time you gotta look out for yourself and f.u.c.k everybody.”

”That's the kind of thinking made this country what it is today, Jim Bob. Right on.”

”f.u.c.kin' A, baby.” He did a quick dance step. ”Go for the gold.”

”You know, as long as we're at it, how about a little piece of the action for me too? Nothing big. Just a couple of bucks for old times'

sake.”

”Why the h.e.l.l not!” He let out a whoop as he turned and headed for a terminal. ”Give you sloppy seconds on this one, ace. Just long as I get first pop.”

”Matt, I don't know what you're up to, but I'll kill you if you start helping him.” She looked like she would too.

”You know, you once said you wanted to drive a stake into DNI's heart.”

I turned back. ”Well, this is your chance. But we've got to get moving and do it before Noda catches on.”

Whereupon we joined Jim Bob in front of his monitor. He was now busy pulling up quotes for March calls on the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the CBOE. He checked them over, then got on the phone directly to the market makers on the floor. When you're operating in hyperdrive, you don't dawdle around with brokers.

”Jim Bob, while you're doing that, I think I'll just start setting up the buy orders for the stock. If we want to move prices, we've got to have coordination.”

”Yahoo. Let's kick some a.s.s.” He'd just entered a wholly new dimension of exuberance. ”s.h.i.+t fire and save your matches; f.u.c.k a duck and see what hatches.”