peripherals that will allow users to take full advantage of the
Internet.
Everyone’s been floundering, trying to figure out how to make it all
work. CyberCom has accomplished that. It’s why there’s been such a
furious bidding war for the company. We are now in a position to close
that war out. We have to unless we want to be an also-ran.”
“I don’t like them looking at our records. Period. We’re a privately
held company of which I’m, by far, the largest stockholder.
And cash is cash.” Gamble stared hard between Sidney and Rowe.
“They’re going to be your partners, Nathan,” Sidney said.
“They’re not taking your money and walking like the other acquisitions
you’ve done. They want to know what they’re getting into.
Triton isn’t publicly traded, so they can’t go to the SEC and get the
information they want. This is reasonable due diligence. They
requested the same things from the other bidders.”
“You presented my last cash offer?”
Sidney nodded. “We did.”
“And?”
“And they were duly impressed and reiterated their request for financial
and operational records on the company. If we give it to them, sweeten
the purchase price some and load the back-end with better incentives, I
think we’ve got a deal.”
Gamble’s face reddened and he lurched to his feet. “There’s not a
company out there that can touch us and this chickenshit CyberCom wants
to check up on me?”
Rowe sighed deeply. “Nathan, it’s merely perfunctory. They’re not
going to have any problems with Triton, we both know that.
Let’s just get it done. It’s not like the records are unavailable.
They’re in the best shape they’ve ever been in,” he said, visibly
frustrated.
“In fact, Jason Archer recently completed that reorganization and did a
superb job. A warehouse full of paper with no rhyme or reason to it. I
still can’t believe that.” He looked at Gamble with contempt.
“In case you forgot, I was too busy making money to piss around with a
bunch of paper, Rowe. The only paper I happen to care about is the
green kind.”
Rowe ignored Gamble’s response. “Because of Jason’s work the due
diligence can be completed very soon.” He waved cigar smoke away from
his face.
Gamble glared at Rowe. “Really?” Then he scowled at Sidney.
“Well, would someone care to tell me why Archer isn’t at this meeting,
then?”
Sidney paled and for the first time all day she mentally shut down.
“Um–”
Rowe stepped in. “Jason took a few days off.”
Gamble rubbed his temples. “Well, let’s get him on the phone and see
where we stand. Maybe we have to give CyberCom some of it, maybe we
don’t, but what I don’t want is us giving them stuff we don’t have to.
What if the deal doesn’t go through? What then?”
His fierce eyes swept the table.
Sidney’s tone was calm. “Nathan, we’ll have a team of attorneys check
every document before they are turned over to CyberCom.”
“Fine, but is there anybody who knows the records better than her
husband?” Gamble looked at Rowe for an answer.
The young man shrugged. “No, not right now.”
“Then let’s get him on the line.”
“Nathan–”
Gamble cut Rowe off. “Jesus Christ, you’d think that the chairman of
the company would be able to get a status report from an employee,
wouldn’t you? And why is he taking time off anyway with the CyberCom
deal heating up?” He jerked his head in Sidney’s direction. “I can’t
say that I much like the idea of having husband and wife involved in the
same acquisition, but you happen to be the best deal attorney that I
know of.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, because this deal isn’t done yet.” Gamble sat down and
took a long puff on his cigar. “Let’s call your husband. He home?”
Sidney blinked rapidly and sat back down. “Well, actually he’s not
right now.”
Gamble looked at his watch. “Well, when will he be?”
Sidney distractedly rubbing at her brow. “I’m not exactly sure. I mean,
I tried him during our last break and he wasn’t. In, I mean.”
“Well, let’s try him again.”
Sidney stared at the man. She seemed suddenly all alone in the massive