Part 28 (1/2)
”But not much, right?”
”Enough. Plus, he's willing to double our salaries,” McGuire continued quickly. ”And, if we keep growing the company, our shares could be worth hundreds of millions a few years down the road.”
”How much is enough, Tom?” As Gillette said the words, he realized how ironic they sounded coming from him. He was worth seventy million and he was working eighty-hour weeks-and dealing with a.s.sa.s.sins. But he needed to put McGuire in a box, so he pressed. ”Isn't ten million guaranteed today pretty d.a.m.n good?”
”No, it isn't. After taxes it would be under five, and that wouldn't be enough for a life's work. Stupid as it sounds, five million doesn't go very far these days. I want more. This is my best shot at really really cas.h.i.+ng in. There won't be another opportunity like this.” McGuire spoke faster the more animated he became. ”I'm going to turn it back on you. Isn't $300 million enough? Why do you have to be a pig and go for five?” cas.h.i.+ng in. There won't be another opportunity like this.” McGuire spoke faster the more animated he became. ”I'm going to turn it back on you. Isn't $300 million enough? Why do you have to be a pig and go for five?”
”It's my duty to my limited partners.”
”Well, I have the same duty to myself.”
”I can't accept a $200 million discount, Tom. It's that simple.”
”After all Vince and I have done,” McGuire muttered. ”After the way we've slaved over the last three years for you and the rest of your d.a.m.n partners here at Everest. That's how your going to treat us?”
”It all comes down to the best deal. You know that.”
McGuire rose from his chair, glaring down at Gillette. ”Screw you and your best deal, Christian,” he hissed, turning and stalking from the office.
Gillette watched him go. Happy he'd hired Quentin Stiles.
”I heard about what happened this morning on Park Avenue,” Cohen said, sitting down in front of Gillette's desk. ”You all right?”
”Fine,” Gillette answered. ”Thanks to Stiles.” He checked Dominion's stock price quickly. It had dropped another two dollars in early trading. He clicked on the ”Company News” option, but there were no stories explaining the price drop. ”His guys saved my a.s.s.”
”Really?”
”They're very good.”
”I'm glad. Obviously.”
”Yeah, McGuire was p.i.s.sed that I called his guys off the job, but it was the right move.”
”I saw Tom walking out a few minutes ago. He didn't look very happy.”
”He wasn't. But when you saw him, I don't think he was ticked about Stiles taking over.”
”What was it then?” Cohen asked curiously.
”Tom and Vince want to buy McGuire & Company back from us.”
Cohen straightened up in his chair. ”Wow. That's interesting. Did he mention price?”
”Yeah.”
”How much?”
”Three hundred million.”
”But the investment bankers are talking five hundred.” Cohen had been in on the IPO discussions with the investment bankers. ”And we're close to signing the deal.”
”Which is why Tom's so p.i.s.sed. He thinks I ought to ignore the I-bankers and take his $300 million offer.”
”We couldn't do that. The limited partners would crucify us.”
”Which is exactly what I told him. But, of course, he wouldn't listen.” Gillette smiled thinly. ”He got pretty angry about the whole thing at the end of our meeting.”
Cohen took a deep breath. ”Maybe it's a good thing you did take his guys off your security detail.”
Gillette glanced up from the computer screen. ”Ben Cohen,” he said quietly. It was the first time he could ever remember Cohen saying something like that. Implying that someone's intent might be evil. ”I'm proud of you.”
A self-conscious smile played across Cohen's face. ”Why?”
”Maybe someday you could take over one of our companies after all. You're finally starting to a.n.a.lyze motivation, not just numbers.”
”What do you mean?”
”You think McGuire might be lax with my security because he's bitter that I won't sell him the company, right?”
”Yeah.” Cohen hesitated. ”You know, I've never really had faith in Tom and Vince.”
”Why not?”
Cohen pushed out his lower lip. ”I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's because the whole time we've been involved with them, I've thought they were angling toward this goal. You know, buying the company back from us on the cheap. For a while I was worried they might hold down profits so they could buy it more cheaply, but I don't think they've done that. Not that I can tell, anyway. Probably because you've ridden their a.s.ses about performance from the day we acquired the company.” Cohen gave Gillette a respectful nod. ”I don't think Donovan ever fully appreciated what a great job you've done with that company.”
Gillette stared at Cohen for a moment. ”Thanks.”
”I know Tom respects the h.e.l.l out of you, Christian,” Cohen continued. ”He doesn't like you, but he respects you. I overheard him say that to Donovan once.”
Starting with the day he'd graduated from Princeton, Gillette's father had urged him over and over never to completely trust anyone in business, but maybe Cohen had just earned it. Maybe he was the exception. They'd known each other for ten years, and Cohen had always been loyal, even after being pa.s.sed over for chairman. He'd been deeply disappointed, but he'd been able to control his emotions and still be supportive and helpful. Unlike Faraday and Mason, who'd been openly resentful.
”You said you had some information for me,” Gillette reminded Cohen.
Cohen cleared his throat. ”We heard back from the engineering firm about the seismic shoot in Canada.”
”And?”
”It's not good,” Cohen said glumly.
”Why?”
”There's oil on the option properties, but not much. Nothing to get excited about, nothing that would really turn the dial in terms of Laurel Energy's value. I spoke to a couple of a.n.a.lysts at the firm earlier this morning. After they gave me the bad news, they said most people are starting to think that there really aren't a lot of big undiscovered fields left up in Canada. That the exploration guys are looking more to fields offsh.o.r.e from Africa and South America. Canada's played, I guess.”
”That wasn't what they were telling us a few years ago when we got into this thing.”
”Things change. Unfortunately,” Cohen continued, ”I've got more bad news. Lefors got a call last night from the corporate development people at U.S. Petroleum. They're out. They've terminated the offer to purchase Laurel Energy. U.S. Petroleum's been paralyzed by Harris's death. n.o.body can do anything until a new CEO is named and that could take a couple of months.”
Gillette rubbed his eyes. A h.e.l.l of a day this was turning out to be.
”Sorry, Christian,” Cohen said gently. ”I know you wanted an early win. Selling Laurel to USP at the price they were offering would have been nice.”