Page 69 of The Facilitator: Part 2
“I bet it’s exhausting.” I smiled at him and then sipped mywine.
“The tiredness I’ve seen of late, the pinching of the bridge of your nose, in concentration, or to stave off yet another tension headache, is that because of the share thing?” Iasked.
“I guess so,” hereplied.
“See, exhausting. If it were someone other than her father, would you feel the same? You own that business, Mackenzie, what can anyone do to you, in real terms, if they buy a load of shares?” Iasked.
“If it’s him, believe me, Lauren, he can cause me problems. He paid off the police, remember? He thinks he has something on me and he’ll useit.”
“Then how about you make one last effort to rid him, and her, from your life. Make your peace with yourself over your father, and then let it all go, for good. What do I need to do tohelp?”
I expected him to be snarky with me. What I was suggesting was for him to change tens of years of pent-up anger over what happened to him. Instead I got a smile that melted myheart.
“Just stand by my side,always.”
I raised my glass to him. “Always. Unless you kill someone. I might not want to be beside you for that,” Iteased.
* * *
Iwas woken by a shout.At first I just lay still, listening. When I realised Mackenzie wasn’t in the bed beside me, I swung my legs over the side. I reached for one of his shirts and pulled it over my head. As I walked to the bedroom door, I heard himcuss.
“Fucking…” He didn’t finish the rest of his words, and I suspected the creak of the floorboard alerted him I wasup.
I crossed the hallway and walked down the stairs to the open-plan living and dining space below. Mackenzie sat at the dining table with his laptopopen.
“Are you okay?” Iasked.
“I’m sorry. I woke you, didn’tI?”
“You did. What are you shoutingat?”
“You know I said someone was buying those shares? I know who. Three peopleare.”
“Addison’sdad?”
“Jerry, Addison, andDaniel.”
I blinked a few times. “How do you knowthat?”
“Two reasons. I asked someone to check out who owned the accounts in the Bank of Grand Cayman, and Jerry has emailed me his top secret project. He said he had been told of some shares in a company supplying military intelligence equipment that is about to be awarded a huge contract, and did I want in onit.”
He rested back on the chair and placed his hands around the back of his head. “Jerry has invested over a million dollars. I don’t know what he tells you, Lauren, but he isn’t cash rich. That could very well be most of what hehad.”
“But if you’re about to be awarded this contract, it’s okay, where Jerry is concerned, isn’t it?” Iasked.
“There is no contract. I’m about to lose the one I have, by choice. That’s what I was meeting the MP for. I have other military contracts, and it’s felt by those in government there could be a conflict of interest. I don’t manufacture military intelligence equipment; it’s simple navigation stuff that could be fitted to any aircraft. He’s been duped, forsure.”
“Why would they say that tohim?”
Mackenzie sighed. “I guess this is where it gets complicated. I leaked there was a new contract when I started to see those blocks of shares being bought. Obviously, I had no idea Jerry was involved but suspected Frank. I knew that once the company announced it had lost the government contract, those share values would plummet. They will all lose all their money, or most of it,anyway.”
“Oh, shit. I don’t care about Addison or Daniel, but I do care about Jerry. What can Ido?”
“Not much, really. I’ll go back and tell him I’ve investigated this company and that what he believes isn’t true. Hopefully, he can sell what he’s bought and at least get his moneyback.”
“Can’t you tell him you made the storyup?”
“No, and I’d appreciate if you didn’t, either. Although, I can’t demand that of you, of course. It’s not good business practice to leak a story that involves a share buying boost, in fact, it’s probablyillegal.”
