The Dinosaur Club
Page 38
“That’s good, Chadie. Because I’d hate like hell to end twenty-three years by laughing in your face.”
Waters’s jaw tightened, and his color turned a deeper red. “Carter has the buyout agreements ready for your signatures,” he snapped. “As agreed, each of you will receive three years’ annual salary, plus fully paid-up pensions, just as if you had all worked until age sixty-five. The company, as stipulated, agrees to make your contributions as well as its own.”
“And Jim Malloy?” Fallon asked.
Waters’s eyes grew even harder. “Carter has checks covering each of your demands concerning Malloy. His pension is paid up to age sixty-five, and will be paid to his widow. She also gets a check for all death-benefit coverages, totaling triple indemnity. And she receives an additional check for his pre-dated buyout agreement totaling three years’ salary.” He paused, glared at Fallon again. “Is that satisfactory?”
Fallon grinned. “As long as Lester Gavin isn’t working here anymore.”
Waters ground his teeth. Bennett studied the carpet. “He is no longer employed here,” Waters said. “Neither is Willis Chambers. Nor will Mr. Bennett be, once this matter is concluded.”
“Strube Industries will be disappointed,” Fallon said. “I think they liked Carter’s style.”
Bennett’s eyes shot toward Fallon. “Don’t worry about me, Fallon,” he snapped. “People of my class always survive.”
Fallon nodded. “That’s true, Carter. Pity though, isn’t it?”
Waters seemed disturbed by the exchange. “I’m afraid the deal with Strube won’t be going through,” he said.
“That’s a pity, too.” Fallon said. “I guess all the other people here will just have to go on working for you.”
Waters glared at him. “Why don’t you all sign your agreements and pick up your checks,” he said. “And of course you’ll then turn certain documents over to me. Correct?”
“Right on the money, Charlie.” Wally Green spoke the words, and grinned at Waters. He had never before called the man Charlie. He rather liked the sound of it.
Samantha removed the documents from her bag and held them up. “We’ll review and sign the agreements first, of course,” she said. “And take possession of the checks.”
Waters turned his glare on her. “Of course,” he said.
* * *
The high fives started in the elevator and continued out on the street. The dinosaurs beamed, laughed like schoolboys, and hugged each other. Samantha gave Wally a particularly hard squeeze, and he grinned in appreciation.
“We gotta have a reunion at the cabin,” he said. “We could even kidnap Carter again, and run him around the woods one more time.”
Samantha smiled. “I don’t think so, Wally. I think this was a one-shot deal.”
George Valasquez came up to Fallon and took his hand. “I’m sorry I doubted you, Jack. I feel like a jerk.”
“Don’t,” Fallon said. “I had a lot of doubts myself.”
They stood on the sidewalk and watched the others leave. Samantha slipped her hand into Fallon’s, looked up at him and smiled. “So what does the mighty Jack Fallon do with the rest of his life?” she asked.
Fallon gave a small shrug. “First I get this check to a bank,” he said. “Then?” Another shrug. “I don’t know. With the buyout check, I’ve got enough to live on for a while.” He winked at her. “Especially if I hook up with a talented lawyer who can bring in an extra paycheck.”
Samantha inclined her head. “That has possibilities,” she said.
He grinned at her. “Well, then I just might buy a charter fishing boat in Florida, take people out on nice balmy days to chase sailfish. It’s an old fantasy my Dad and I had when I was a kid, and according to my daughter, I’m definitely suffering from midlife crisis. You think you could practice law someplace where there are palm trees?”
“It could happen,” she said. “But what about right now?”
“Right now?” He glanced at his watch. “Well, in about an hour, I’ve got an appointment with a guy at the SEC.” He reached into his pocket and removed a copy of the microcassette that held Carter’s confession.
Samantha raised her eyebrows. “That’s dirty pool, Jack.”
“Yeah, it is. And it gets worse. I’m meeting a couple of our board members for dinner. I’d like you to come along.” He smiled at her. “Something tells me old Charlie may still try to salvage his deal with Strube. And that could put a lot of people out of work. And then, of course, there’s Carter. He’s been a naughty little boy, and he just might decide he should continue being naughty.”
Samantha slipped her arm around him and they started down the street. “When the board realizes what’s been going on, and that you’re the one who stopped it, they just may decide they want you back to run the company.”
Fallon grinned at her. “I can’t say the idea hasn’t crossed my mind.”
“Would you ask the others to come back, too?”
“In a flash. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s keep that fishing boat in mind. It sounds awfully good to me right now.”
Samantha lowered her eyes and smiled at the sidewalk. “I still can’t believe it worked,” she said. She raised her eyes. “But it did.” She tightened her arm around Fallon’s waist. “I don’t think I really understood. I didn’t realize how much all of you needed to show Carter you could beat him. Beat him in every way. But when I saw the look on everyone’s face today, I finally did.”
Fallon nodded. “The money wasn’t enough. I don’t think the money alone would have done it.”
“Done what?”
“Saved us,” Fallon said. He started to laugh. “I think I’ll start sending Carter a card every time his birthday rolls around.”
Samantha hugged his waist again. “What will it say?” she asked.
“Just three words,” Fallon said. “Beware of Dinosaurs.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank the many people who helped make this book possible. Liza Dawson and James O’Shea Wade, for their extraordinary editing talents and faith. Debra Weaver, for guiding me through the legal quagmire of case law. Peter Fleischman, for his equally valuable help in understanding pension abuses. Gloria Loomis, agent and friend, the woman who stirs the pot. And especially Dominic and Sue Mara, and all the dinosaurs, who took the time to share their own often painful experiences.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
WILLIAM HEFFERNAN won the 1996 Edgar Allan Poe Award for his novel Tarnished Blue. He is the author of eleven novels, including the international best-sellers The Corsican, Ritual, Blood Rose, and Corsican Honor. A former reporter for the New York Daily News, he now lives in Vermont with his wife and three sons.
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Books by William Heffernan
BRODERICK
CAGING THE RAVEN
THE CORSICAN
ACTS OF CONTRITION
RITUAL
BLOOD ROSE
CORSICAN HONOR
SCARRED
TARNISHED BLUE
WINTER’S GOLD
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 by Daisychain Productions, Inc.
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EPub Edition © OCTOBER 2010 ISBN: 978-0-062-02871-6
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Heffernan, William, 1940—
The dinosaur club: a novel / William Heffernan.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-688-14988-X
1. Title.
PS3558.E4143D5 1997
813’.54—dc21 96-46637
CIP
FIRST EDITION
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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