Scorpio Series Boxed Set

by Monique Domovitch

  Leonora continued with barely controlled irritation. “With all due respect, this is not funny, sir. He says he won’t unlock them unless you agree to grant him a five minute interview.”

  “I’m coming right over,” Alex answered, suppressing his amusement. The sight of Leonora Hart handcuffed was one he did not want to miss. He slammed down the receiver and strode purposefully down the long carpeted hall to the reception area.

  Behind the elegant reception desk, Leonora sat stiffly in her fashionable black Chanel suit, an expression of fury on her impeccably made-up face. She was flanked on her right by a handsome and well-dressed young man. Except for the anger on the secretary’s face, one would never have guessed that anything was amiss.

  “What the hell is going on here?” asked Alex, his anger resurfacing at the sight of the young man who had been hounding him for weeks.

  “Sir,” came the lawyer’s nervous reply. “I’m sorry that I’ve had to resort to such lengths to get your attention, but I had no other choice. I tried everything else I could think of.”

  “You know I could have you arrested for this?”

  The young man continued earnestly. “I-I know sir, but if you’ll only give me five minutes. After that, if you still wish to have me arrested, go ahead. Five minutes, that’s all, and I’ll never bother you again.”

  Alex paused for a moment and looked at him. He was hardly more than a boy. There was nothing sinister about him. If anything, he seemed to be the pleasant, well-mannered type. Alex’s eyes quickly swept over him and took in the well-tailored clothes, the conservatively-styled black hair over the strongly chiseled features, and the bright, intelligent clear blue eyes. For some reason, there was something hauntingly familiar about him.

  “What’s your name?” asked Alex, wondering briefly whom he reminded him of.

  “Richard Conrad, sir,” Richard answered nervously.

  Next to him, Leonora was fuming. “Sir, can you please make him release me?”

  Alex ignored his secretary’s outburst and addressed her captor. “You have a lot of nerve, Richard Conrad,” he said. “Five minutes. That’s all.”

  Those were the words Richard Conrad had waited to hear. He beamed as he pulled out a key from his pocket and quickly unlocked the handcuffs.

  As they came off her wrist, Leonora pulled away abruptly and picked up the telephone. “I’ll have security here in two seconds, sir,” she said as she began to dial.

  Alex put up a restraining hand. “Hold on Leonora. I promised the man five minutes, and he’ll get them.” Without another word, he strode back to his office. Richard Conrad hesitated for a moment, and then hurried after him.

  As soon as the door had closed behind them, Alex spoke quietly but fiercely. “I have no idea what you think you were doing out there, but let me tell you this. As far as I’m concerned, you have been harassing my staff for months, and now this. Are you aware, Mr. Conrad, that handcuffing yourself to Mrs. Hart is tantamount to taking a hostage? That is a criminal action and you—if you really are a lawyer—should know damn well better than to do something as stupid as that.”

  Richard Conrad blanched. “I-I understand what you’re saying, sir, and yes, I am a lawyer. I graduated from Harvard two years ago and passed my board exams. I worked hard for my certification and, believe me, I would not have acted as I did if I could have thought of any other way to get your attention.” He seemed to struggle for words. “Your secretary was never in any danger from me. I am not a violent man. I apologize if I frightened her.”

  Alex sank into the chair behind his desk. He nodded toward the seat across from his. “Have a seat. Your five minutes started,” he glanced at his watch, “two minutes ago.”

  Richard Conrad pulled a chair forward and set his briefcase on the smooth surface of the desk. “Sir,” he said, “let me start by saying that for the past few years, I have taken an interest in Power Properties and I have studied this company thoroughly. I have read every article and every financial report. I have followed its progress and made my own analysis of your situation.” He paused for a moment, looked Alex straight in the eye, and continued, “I am fully aware of all your financial problems, sir.”

  Alex forced himself to remain calm. If this is some extortion attempt…

  “And I have, what I believe, sir, to be a solution to your problems.”

  Alex chuckled. “Not that I’m admitting to any problems, but do you really expect me to believe that some hot-shot snivel-nosed lawyer can come up with a solution that our board of directors, with their years of combined experience, could not?”

  “Let me explain.” Richard opened his briefcase and pulled out a thin folder. He leaned forward eagerly in his seat, no longer a nervous young man, but a calm and confident lawyer. “According to my analysis, the company is dangerously overextended. Every single property you have has been overvalued by as much as fifty percent and is mortgaged by as much as seventy percent. Technically speaking, sir, you are bankrupt.” He let his words sink in before continuing. “It is only a question of time before the banks catch on and start their actions against you. Oddly enough, your greatest advantage is the fact that your debts are so enormous that, rather that seize and find themselves with no other choice than to write off your loans, the banks will be willing to do just about anything to give you a chance to pay them back.”

  Alex sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. To his surprise, this kid was right about every detail of his assessment. How the hell did he get his information? Alex wondered.

  “And what exactly is the solution you propose?” he asked quietly.

  “Take Power Properties public,” Richard answered with a triumphant smile.

  There was a moment of tense silence before Alex began to laugh. “That is your solution? I’m afraid it is not very original, and certainly not plausible. Even supposing you were right about our financial problems, do you have any idea how long and how complicated it is to take a company public? If Power Properties really was in trouble, we would need a fast solution, not one that would take years before it brought about any results.”

  Richard Conrad’s smile did not waver. “Sir, have you ever heard of a reverse takeover? For the next few minutes, he quickly outlined the plan.

  * * *

  As soon as Richard Conrad left, Alex called Natalia into his office. Natalia arrived, huffing and puffing. Alex swiftly closed the door. He waited until she eased her weight into the cushions of the long leather couch before he began. “I want you to look into something for me, and I don’t want anybody else to know about this.” For the next fifteen minutes he gave her all of the information he had.

  At the end of his briefing, Natalia shook her head. “I don’t understand. This Richard Conrad must have spent years working on this. He couldn’t possibly have learned the specific details about Power Properties without having access to privileged information. Who the hell is he? And what does he really want from you?”

  “That, my dear,” replied Alex, “is what I’d like you to find out for me. You still have more connections than anyone I know.”

  Natalia smiled and fluttered her false eyelashes at the compliment. “Except for you,” she said. “But I suppose you don’t want your name mixed up in this. Am I right?”

  Alex nodded. “Oh. And by the way, would you look up some company by the name of Better Tools and Dies, while you’re at it?”

  “What the hell does it have to do with Richard Conrad?”

  “Again, that’s what I’d like to find out. Also, I know this is a long shot, but find out if there is any relation between Richard Conrad and Andrew.”

  Natalia seemed stunned. “Our Andrew?”

  Alex looked uncomfortable for a moment. “Andrew and I seem to be having problems lately.”

  “Still, Alex! You can’t possibly imagine…”

  “One thing I’ve learned, my dear, is never imagine anyone to be above greed and malice. Human nature is a bitch.”r />
  Natalia was silent. “I feel sorry for you, Alex.” She struggled to heft herself out of her seat. At the door she turned around. “I’ll get the information for you by Friday.”

  * * *

  Four blocks away, Richard Conrad walked into the coffee shop of the San Moritz Hotel and looked around for a moment. Across the room, he spotted the familiar head of blond hair and hurried over.

  Anne waited until he gave her the perfunctory kiss on the cheek. “So, how did it go?” she asked as soon as he was seated.

  Richard kept his face impassive. “Where’s the menu? I’m starving.”

  “How can you think of food at a time like this? Tell me how it went,” she ordered, almost shrieking.

  Richard leaned back in his seat, pulled a Camel from his mother’s package on the table in front of him, lit it, and took a long drag. “I got his attention.”

  Anne Turner hesitated for a moment, not daring to believe it could have been so easy, and then she laughed.

  Richard exhaled slowly. “From here on, it’s a walk in the park.”

  * * *

  Chapter 22

  The report Natalia compiled was impressive. She gave Alex a quick overview a few days later in his office. “Richard Conrad graduated summa cum laude, the youngest in the history of Harvard’s faculty of law. He passed his board exams the following year while working as an assistant to the D.A. in New York. In his two years as a prosecuting attorney, he won six of his seven cases. His hobbies are tennis and women. He is quite a playboy and his name has been linked to—”

  Alex interrupted sharply. “I’m not interested in his sex life. What I want to know is who is he? Where does he come from? What is his financial situation? His family might be connected. Who are they and who do they know?”

  “I was coming to all of that,” replied Natalia, and she continued her briefing. “And by the way, I found no link whatsoever between him and Andrew.”

  Alex had the grace to look embarrassed.

  Natalia continued. “His father was Harold Conrad. Conrad made money in the clothing business and retired very comfortably after marrying Richard’s mother. He passed away, broke, a few years ago. His widow had to sell the house, her car, and all of her jewelry to send Richard to Harvard.” Natalia closed the file and shrugged. “From what I could gather, Richard’s mother led somewhat of a wild life until she met her husband. It seems she had a number of wealthy lovers, but nobody I could identify. As for Richard, he is reputed to be a bright, determined, and ambitious lawyer.” Natalia stopped.

  Alex drummed his fingers on the leather pad of his desk. “He sounds almost too good to be true, doesn’t he?” he asked. “What about Better Tools and Dies?”

  “From what I could gather, the company is legitimate and Richard Conrad is not associated with it in any way. It was founded thirty-three years ago by Melville Hammer, and he took it public ten years later. For years it did very well, but lately the stock has fallen to a fraction of what it used to be worth. It seems that Melville Hammer tried to regain control of the company and bought back most of the stock. Unfortunately, he nearly ruined himself in the attempt. He has no more capital to invest in his tool production and the company is tottering on the edge of bankruptcy.” She paused for a moment, waiting for Alex to react. “What are you going to do?” she asked.

  Alex hesitated, and then shrugged. “I’ve looked into Conrad’s idea, and it seems that it could work. Maybe, just maybe, Richard Conrad is a blessing in disguise. I don’t see how I have any choice but to go with his plan and hope to hell we pull it off.”

  * * *

  “So?” said Richard Conrad a few hours later in Alex’s office. “Have you thought over my proposal?”

  Alex leaned forward and opened the folder on his desk. “I have taken the liberty of preparing a contract for you. If you want to take a look at it,” he handed the papers over to Richard, “I think you’ll find it very generous.”

  Richard read through the typewritten sheets quickly. Then, his expression inscrutable, he put them back on the desk. “I’m sorry,” he said. “But I can’t accept this.”

  “What?” Alex was aghast. “That is more than I’ve ever offered anyone to come and work for me. What exactly do you want?”

  “I want Vice-Presidency,” replied Richard calmly. “And you can’t afford not to give it to me.”

  Alex glared across his desk, quietly assessing the young man. In his experience, he had never come across such brash confidence before. That’s who he reminds me of, he thought with a shock, and smiled. He reminds me of myself when I was his age.

  “You have a lot of nerve, Richard Conrad,” he said. “A hell of a lot of nerve. I like that.”

  “Thank you, sir,” replied Richard Conrad. “I got that from my old man.”

  * * *

  A few days later, as the board of directors filed into the conference room, Gerald and Andrew stared with curiosity at the handsome young man sitting next to Alex. As soon as everyone was seated, Alex began the meeting.

  “I would like all of you to welcome Richard Conrad into our company. Richard is joining Power Properties as the newest member of this board. As of today, Richard is our Vice-President in charge of legal affairs.”

  There were gasps from Andrew and Gerald. For a moment they looked at Richard with suspicion.

  Alex continued. “Richard Conrad is a lawyer. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard. I have personally made a few inquiries about him, and even though his reputation is solid and his references impressive, those are not the reasons I have decided to hire his services. Richard seems to have come up with a solution to our problems.” Alex paused for a moment and turned to the young man. “Richard, why don’t you explain?”

  Richard cleared his throat and began. He talked about his long interest in Power Properties and his analysis of the company’s financial situation. He briefly outlined the different ways the company might have chosen to find new capital and the numerous reasons why those traditional methods would not have worked.

  From across the table, Andrew McGregor was growing impatient with Richard’s speech. “We already know about our financial problems,” he said. “And we also know what we can’t do, but we still haven’t heard anything that explains why Alex unilaterally decided to give you a Vice-Presidency.”

  Richard Conrad continued without pause. “The solution is to go public, but not in the traditional way. What I propose is a reverse takeover.” Richard seemed nervous and took a deep breath before he continued. “A reverse takeover is when a small company buys out a large company, rather than the other way around. And if that small company also happens to be public, the big company automatically becomes public also.

  “I have located a small tool and die company that has been registered on the New York stock exchange for a number of years, and because it has been showing steady losses for the past five years, trading has all but stopped and the stock has become relatively worthless. Worthless, that is, to anyone but us,” he added with a smile.

  Alex took over the rest of the explanation. “I have also taken the liberty of buying, in all of our personal names, the corporate shell of Better Tools and Dies. I have received permission from the bank to allow Power Properties to sell all of its assets to this public company for one dollar. The bank will of course, still hold the loans and mortgages on all of the properties, even though they will be under the new corporate shell.”

  Gerald looked stunned. “How in Heavens did you manage to get the bank to agree to that?” he asked.

  “As Richard very astutely pointed out to them,” explained Alex, “now that the price of real estate has plummeted, we owe them more money than our properties are worth. They can’t afford to see us go bankrupt. By allowing us to go public, they are protecting their own interests.”

  “Are you saying that from now on we’ll have to go under the name of Better Tools and Dies?” asked Andrew.

  “The name Power Properties now belon
gs to the new corporation. It is just a matter of a few legal maneuvers for Better Tools and Dies to legally adopt the title of Power Properties.”

  There was another long silence in the room. Natalia was the first to speak. “That,” she said, “is brilliant.”

  Suddenly everyone was speaking at once. “What about the existing shares of Better Tools and Dies?” asked Gerald.

  “There are probably thousands of people sitting on them all over the country. How can we expect to keep control of the company if we don’t know where all of those shares are?” continued Andrew.

  “Can you imagine the flurry of activity on the stock exchange when this goes public?”

  “We have to make sure word of this doesn’t get out. Everyone will be snapping up shares before we’re ready.”

  Alex held up his hands and everyone quieted down. “The beauty of this is that the shares of Better Tools and Dies were almost exclusively held by the owner of the company, and he has agreed to sell them to us along with the corporate shell. Granted, there are a few loose shares floating around, but the total doesn’t amount to more than thirty percent.”

  “How much did all of this cost us?” asked Gerald.

  Alex smiled with satisfaction. “Five-hundred-thousand dollars.”

  Andrew let out a low whistle. “How did you manage that?” he asked.

  “Richard handled the negotiations,” replied Alex.

  “And I was acting for an anonymous firm,” continued Richard with a bright smile. “The owner of Better Tools and Dies has no idea who I was negotiating for. If they’d had any idea Power Properties was behind this, they would have held out for millions.”

  Andrew chuckled. “I would love to be there when he finds out Richard was acting for us. Sounds like Richard has been taking private bluffing lessons from you, Alex.”