Part 34 (1/2)

”They will,” John said. ”Paquelli is grasping at straws and the city thing will be cleared up next week.”

”But orders are down,” Visgrath said. ”And time is short for you.”

”Are you interested or not?” John asked.

”We are.”

”On what terms?”

”For fifty-five percent of the stock of the company, we will give you capital of two million dollars,” Visgrath said.

Two million!

”Hold on,” John said. He set the phone down on the back of the couch and motioned Grace and Henry over. ”He's offering two million for fifty-five percent of the company.”

”That's a majority,” Henry said loudly.

John shushed him. ”But two million is huge!”

”We could do everything we wanted,” Grace said.

”But we're giving up owners.h.i.+p.”

John realized Henry was right. He picked up the phone.

”We don't want to give up owners.h.i.+p,” John said.

”That's not negotiable,” Visgrath said.

”Why not?”

”Look at it from our perspective,” he said. ”We are investing a huge amount of cash in a company run by three teens without college degrees. We must maintain control of the company in case the situation deteriorates.”

It made sense, but John was reluctant.

”I don't know.”

”We have no interest in running the day-to-day aspects of the corporation,” Visgrath said. ”You have shown remarkable capability so far, but we must have a.s.surances, and a minority share for us is not any a.s.surance.”

”We'll want more cash,” John said.

”We're willing to raise our offer to four million, but no more.”

John raised his eyebrows. ”We'll have to think about it.”

”Of course. I'd expect no less.” Visgrath cleared his throat. He seemed suddenly distracted. ”You have my number. Of course, the sooner the better, for you as well as me. Money makes a lot of problems disappear. Good-bye.”

John hung up the phone.

”Who was that?” Grace demanded.

”You spoke with him,” John said. ”Visgrath. Ermanaric Visgrath. He was at one of the tournaments. You sent him my way, and he gave me his card.”

”Yeah, just to get rid of him,” Grace said.

”What kind of name is that?” Henry muttered. ”Visgrath.”

”We're not taking any offer!” John shouted. ”We're just looking at options. We can walk away, we can fight city hall on a shoestring budget, or we can take their four million and hire the big guns.”

”Four million!”

”It was just two million,” Grace said.

”The fifty-five percent is nonnegotiable,” John said. ”But the cash part wasn't.”

Grace sat down on the couch heavily. Her shoulders sagged. ”This is all too much in one day. Too much.” Her eyes were still bloodshot. John almost went over to her, but he recalled suddenly the drunken revelation of her feelings. And before he did, Henry took a step, stopped, then stepped toward her to place a hand on her shoulder. Grace suddenly sobbed and grabbed his hand.

”What should we do?” she said, her voice breaking.

John shrugged heavy shoulders. ”I dunno.”

Henry just shook his head.

”I don't-,” John started to say. He stopped, swallowing. ”I don't want to lose it all. And if that means asking for help from, from... professionals, so be it. We're just kids. We don't know how to run a company. Ermanaric Visgrath does. So they want something in return. So be it. But we've gone from nothing to four million dollars in four months.”

”So you want to do it,” Grace said.

”I don't want to lose it.”

”I don't either!” Grace cried. ”But... but...”

They were silent for a while. Finally, Henry said, ”Let's do it.”

”What?” Grace said.

”How often does a chance like this come along?” he said. Grace shook off his hand. A stricken look pa.s.sed across Henry's face, but he continued, ”Four million dollars to build a company. We can do... everything we want to do.”