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CHAPTER 34
Austra Headquarters —Mike’s Office.Mike’s phone buzzed on his desk with Gregory Lawson’s name flashing on the screen. A wide grin spread across Mike’s face as he answered and placed it on speaker.“Gregory. Tell me you are calling with good news about our digital ghost.”Gregory’s rich laugh boomed through the office. “Patience, Mike. Even ghosts take time to materialize. I am on it. No, I am calling because I just had the most entertaining meeting of my entire career.”“Oh?” Mike leaned back and propped his feet on his desk. “Do tell.”“You will not believe who just showed up at Arthur Ginger’s office, with tails between their legs, begging for an audience.”Mike’s smile widened. “No.”“Yes,” Gregory confirmed with glee. “Charles Stewart and his attack dog, Simeon. I wish you could have seen it, Mike. The sheer, unadulterated desperation. Stewart actually tried to pitch an alliance. ‘For old times’ sake.’”Mike burst out laughing. “He did not! What did Ginger say?”“He gave him ten
CHAPTER 33
Sawdust Industries - Arthur Ginger’s Office.The reception area of Sawdust Industries was going according to its name…rustic, solid and functional, with the rich scent of polished wood and parchment hanging in the air. It was a stark contrast to the cold glass and steel of Bio- tech or Austra.Charles Stewart stood there impatiently, feeling every ounce of that contrast, every second of the humiliating silence as the receptionist made them wait. Simeon stood beside him, like a statue with tension and worry etched on his face.Finally, the woman nodded. “Mr. Ginger will see you now.”Ginger’s office was an enormous space adorned with bookshelves of rare timber and framed blueprints of historical buildings. But Stewart’s eyes weren’t on the decorations. They were locked on the two men seated in the deep leather armchairs opposite Ginger’s desk.Arthur Ginger sat behind the desk, like a king in a throne room. And lounging casually in one of the chairs, swirling a glass of bourbon, was Gr
CHAPTER 32
Austra Headquarters - Executive Conference Room.The mood in Austra’s conference room was a huge contrast from the funeral atmosphere at Bio-tech. Sunlight streamed through the floor to ceiling windows, shining on a table where Mike, Mr Austin, Mr Liam and a few other core investors sat, not in crisis, but in confident anticipation.“The momentum is undeniable,” Mr Liam was saying, with a satisfied smile on his face. “Every headline, every ticker symbol, is telling the same story…Austra is the future. Bio-tech is the past.”Mr Austin nodded. “The past has a nasty habit of fighting back, Liam. We have all seen it before. Stewart won’t go quietly, you know that.”Mike leaned back in his chair and folded his fingers together. “He does not have to go quietly. He just has to go.”The door to the conference room burst open and Carter stood there, breathless with a tablet clutched in his hand. His usual happy composure was shattered and it’s being replaced by pure unadulterated shock.“Sir,”
CHAPTER 31
Bio - Tech Headquarters - Boardroom.The boardroom was filled with discontentment. Aground the huge, polished mahogany table, Bio - Tech’s most influential investors sat like judges in a court case, ready to to deliver a guilty charge. The air was thick with the scent of expensive perfume, bland coffee and pure fear.Charles Stewart stood at the head of the table, his knuckles white as he gripped the table, trying to look unshaken in the face of the storm.“Gentlemen, ladies, I assure you,” he began, with his voice an imitation of its former boom. “This is a temporary setback. A blip. Robinson’s alliance with Lawson is a facade built on sand. The SEC is already launching a full investigation into his finances. His house of cards will collapse by the end of the week.”A silver haired investor called Pierce, his face etched with skepticism, didn’t bother to hide his disgust. “A blip, Charles? My portfolio has lost eighteen percent of its value since this ‘blip’ began. The market isn’t r
CHAPTER 30
Austra Headquarters - The War Room.The air in Austra’s secure conference room, named “The War Room,” was a huge contrast to the toxic atmosphere all over Bio - Tech’s headquarters. Here, the air was cool and buzzed with the quiet energy of upcoming victory. The huge screen displayed a complex drawing of Bio - tech’s stock holdings. Mike sat at the head of the table, like a king in his court. To his right was Gregory Lawson, his new ally, who was looking more relaxed and ruthless than Mike had ever seen him. To his left was Mr Ginger, owner of sawdust industries…a man who had made his fortune in lumber and construction, and harbored a legendary, decades old grudge against Charles Stewart.“The problem is not buying the shares,” Mike said. “The problem is buying them quietly. Stewart’s inner circle is panicked. They are watching every trade, every movement. If they see combined buy-up of their stock, they will administer poison pill protocols before we can blink.”Mr Ginger chuckled.
CHAPTER 29
Bio-Tech Headquarters —Mr Stewart’s Office.The air in Mr Stewart’s office was thick enough to choke on. It smelled of expensive whisky and failure. News of the Lawson - Austra merger played on the large screen TV, where the financial analysts voices slick with praises for Mike Robinson’s “strategic masterstroke.” Each word was a needle driving deeper under Mr Stewart’s skin.He stood with his back to the room, staring out at the city skyline…a skyline that now felt like it belonged to someone else. His knuckles were white as he gripped his gold walking stick.“A merger,” he spat the word out like it was poison. “They didn’t just sell him the tower. They gave him the keys to the goddam kingdom and invited him to move in.”Behind him, Richard stood nearly invisible behind the bookcase, with as he stared blankly at the moving pictures on the screen. Simeon paced slowly near the desk, his mind visibly racing through the wreckage, calculating angles, looking for a foothold in the sinking
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