Hostile Takeover

Off the Rails

"Oh my God, Joy is dead!" I screamed into my cellphone in disbelief.  "What happened?" It was probably a silly question in light of the fact that Joy Preston was ninety-seven years old. I was listening to Joy's personal assistant Cedric telling me how the fashion billionaire had quietly passed away in her sleep, when I heard my taxi driver let out a small sigh.

"Oh, Honey, that's terrible," she said in a very slow southern drawl, "I am so sorry for your loss." I paused the phone call and leaned forward.

"It's okay Bunny," I said, trying to let her know I barely knew the woman. I decided I needed to get to work as soon as I could. "I'll tell you what: Bunny, if you could get me to the Marshall building as fast as possible, I would be very grateful." I held out a folded one-hundred-dollar bill to the fifty-year-old blonde cab driver. I had ridden in Bunny Sinclair's cab several times over the last twelve years and I had always known her to be a sweet and sensible driver. Bunny stared at the hundred for a few seconds like a lion staring at wounded antelope. Then she snapped it out of my hand and slammed on the gas. It turned out Bunny was broke, and offering her extra money to go really fast turned out to be a horrible mistake.

"So, are you saying you want me to break the news to Jeff?" I said into the phone. Cedric stuttered a bit as he said,
"Uh...Uh, no we have already informed Mr. Barron's office of Mrs. Preston's sudden passing. Jeff Baron was my boss and a pretty good friend. He was a self-made billionaire whose internet company, Disco Tech, had taken off twenty-seven years earlier. I tried to ask Cedric what this meant to her partnership with my boss but as I tried to speak the taxi bounced off of a curb and slammed back down again.

"Oops, sorry dear!" came the lilting Georgian accent from the front seat. I ignored Bunny and continued asking questions as the cab raced forward.

"What aren't you telling me, Cedric?" I said, buckling my seat belt as the car swerved to the right.  "I can tell that you are hiding something from me." Cedric fumbled for the right words to break the bad news.
             "It's about her son, Miles,"He paused, "Now that she is gone, he is the new owner of the Tiger Sharks and as I am sure your aware he's not much of a football fan..." I swallowed hard and prayed he wasn't about say what I thought he was. "Grace, he's going to sell the team."

"Okay, no big deal," I said, knowing Jeff would pay whatever it took to gain sole ownership of the Sharks," How much does Junior want for his half of the team?" I could hear the nervous personal assistant squirming on the other end of the phone.

"Well... that's just the thing, Grace.  It seems that young Mr. Preston has already found a buyer." My body started shaking, and not just because Bunny was furiously weaving in and out of the rush hour traffic.

"Now that was fast," I said mockingly.  "She died last night and he has already found a buyer." Cedric explained how Mrs. Preston had been ravaged by cancer over the last several months and it was clear to everyone that she did not have much longer to live. As it turned out Miles had actually sold the team over a month ago. I knew Jeff would be crushed. He and Joy had co-owned the Honolulu Tiger sharks, an NFL team, for six successful seasons. In fact, his football team was the powerful billionaire's most prized possession.

"So, why are you telling this to me and not Jeff?" Cedric cleared his throat.

"Because now that I have told you," the sniveling coward muttered, "you're the one who has to tell your boss that he has a new co-owner." I was so mad I could have slapped Cedric had we been in the same room. "Oh, and Grace, that isn't the worst part. Miles's pick to replace himself is meant to be a personal insult to Mr. Baron." I was speechless. Miles had always been jealous that his mother had treated Jeff as a favorite son and chose him as her business partner and co-owner of the team.