Cascade (17 page)

“
Okay.”

~~~~~~~~

Saturday morning — 8:30
A.M.

Jacob sat down at the head of the table. Aden
sat at his right and Sam sat at his left. Valerie took the chair
next to Sam and Blane took the chair next to Aden. Tres sat next to
Blane. There were four laptops set up, one for each venture
capitalist. The venture capitalists called Lipson construction and
were available via their webcams.

“
I bring this meeting to order,”
Jacob said. “Please say your names.”

Even though this was a moment Jacob had seen
in a premonition, his heart raced with anxiety. Today, they would
finalize the plans for the sale of Lipson Construction to its
employees. Or not. The last barrier, the injunction set in place by
the lawsuit brought by the last board members, was lifted yesterday
at four o’clock.

“
We have one agenda item,” Jacob
said.

“
Why do you look so dour?” His
mother’s venture capitalist friend asked from Hawaii. “You got the
injunction lifted, didn’t you?”

“
Yes,” Jacob said.

“
What’s the problem, Jake?” The
woman from New York City asked.

“
Good question,” Jacob said. “Any
problems or issues we need to talk about?”

“
I have one,” Valerie said. “I
don’t think our employees are ready to become owners. I mean, I can
barely keep up in these meetings – financial this, contract that,
this other thing, SOP, whatever.”

“
I’m glad you brought that up,
Val,” the venture capitalist from Wisconsin who had a crush on Val
said. “Oh, you don’t mind if I call you Val, do you? I can call you
Valerie or Miss Lipson or Mrs. Roper or…”

“
Val’s fine.” Valerie smiled to
calm the man. “Why is it good that I brought up…?”

“
Oh right,” he said. “We agree
with you, Val. We think you need to train the employees to be
owners. Anything else is suicide.”

“
How are we going to do that?” Sam
asked. “And when?”

“
Saturdays through the month of
January and into February if you need to,” Celia’s friend said.
“Tres can run a class on spreadsheets. Jake can run a class on
company management. Sam can run one on company culture and employee
practices. Val should do customer service.”

“
It’s a good idea,” Sam said. “A
really good idea. We don’t work on Saturdays in the
winter.”

“
We can’t afford to pay them to
not work,” Tres said. “Four days and more than four thousand
employees? No way we can do that.”

“
I don’t think you’ll need to pay
them,” the last venture capitalist piped up from New Orleans. “In
some ways, it’s a test. Who do you want to own the company? Really
motivated people. What’s a day to them? They’re not working
anyway.”

“
I am uncomfortable asking
people…” Jacob started.

“
You’re giving people a chance of
a lifetime,” the woman from New York said. “When will these people
ever get a chance to profit from their labor like this? It’s all
right to ask for something in return.”

“
I put it to a vote,” Tres said.
“I move we set up a training schedule for Lipson employees. They
must take the classes prior to being able to purchase stake in
Lipson construction.”

“
What if we give them shares in
the company as payment for the classes?” Jacob asked.

Valerie, Sam, Blane and Tres
groaned.

“
We are not giving away this
company,” his mother’s friend said. “Steady as she goes, Jacob.
We’re on course. Let’s stay the course.”

“
I second Tres’s motion,” Valerie
said. “I think we should set up a training schedule. Really, how
many companies have tried to sell to employees then fallen on their
faces? We want the company to be successful, really
successful.”

“
Strong leadership,” the man who
had a crush on Valerie said. “You have strong leadership. We need
strong share holders.”

“
Aden?” Jacob asked.

“
Honestly? It sounds like a great
idea to me,” Aden said. “I learned a lot by going to school. And
the MBA? It’s helped me make decisions in every area of my life.
Cost Risk analysis kind of thing. What’s your hold up?”

“
I don’t want to take advantage of
people,” Jacob said.

Everyone laughed.

“
Why is that funny?” Jacob
asked.

“
You’re giving the employees a
chance to own their company while you hold all the risk,” Tres
said. “That’s a generous gift.”

“
We have a vote,” Jacob said.
“Employees must attend training courses prior to
purchase.”

“
Aye,” the board said.

“
Jacob?” Sam asked.

“
I guess so.”

“
There’s only one more issue
then…” Celia’s friend said from Hawaii.

“
What’s that?” Jacob
asked.

“
I move to begin the sale of
Lipson Construction to her employees based on the plan we’ve worked
through, including the new requirement for education.”

“
I second that motion,” the woman
from New York said. ”Jake?”

Jacob took a breath. Everyone looked at him.
Letting out his breath, he said:

“
We need a hundred percent
consensus. Members of the Lipson Construction board, shall we begin
selling Lipson Construction to the employees based on the plan we
finalized?”

~~~~~~~~

Saturday morning — 9:30
A.M.

Seth pulled off Sixth Avenue at Kipling. He
turned into the Federal Center and stopped at the guard station.
They waited only a moment before the guard let them
through.

“
They’re waiting for you,” the
guard said. “Have a nice day.”

Sandy was so nervous she was sure she must be
shaking. Flipping down the sunshade, she checked herself in the
mirror. She didn’t look as terrified as she felt. As Seth pulled
into a parking spot, she wiped away the last of her tear-mussed
mascara. When she pushed the sunshade back, she saw MJ standing in
front of the car. He smiled at her. Getting out of the car, she
hugged MJ.

“
Do you work here?” she
asked.

“
Hi Seth,” MJ shook Seth’s hand.
“Yep, I work here sometimes. I’m stationed at Buckley but we keep
an office here.”

“
Where do we go?” Seth
asked.

“
I can show you,” MJ said. “Come
with me.”

“
I’m sorry about your hair cut,”
Sandy said. “I can squeeze you in later this week.”

“
Oh, no big deal,” MJ said. “I
have to work anyway.”

“
How do you know this guy, Sandy?”
Seth asked.

“
He lives in Jill’s house. He’s
married to Jake’s step-sister,” Sandy said. “Plus, we went to high
school together.”

“
That will make things easier,”
Seth said.

“
Easier?”

MJ held the door open for Sandy. Entering the
building, they showed their IDs to the front desk.

“
See you later, MJ,” Sandy said.
“And let me know when you can make it.”

MJ’s eyes puzzled at Sandy. He looked at
Seth.

“
Sandy, honey, Sergeant Scully is
a part of the team I was telling you about,” Seth said.

“
What?!” Sandy gasped with horror.
“How long have you known… about me?”

MJ’s brow furrowed, his eyes expressed
concern, when he opened his mouth, he stuttered.

“
S-S-Sandy, i-i-i-t… w-w-w-e
thought you’d w-w-want a f-f-friendly f-f-f-ace.”

Alex Hargreaves touched Sandy’s arm. Seeing
her, Sandy threw herself into Alex’s arms.

“
It’s all right, Sandy. You’re all
right.”

~~~~~~~~

Saturday morning —– 9:30
A.M.

Lipson Construction

“
We’ve sent a case of champagne to
each of the sites. The boxes have your name on it, Jake. You’ll
have to get out there and tell your staff yourself,” the man from
Wisconsin said.

The entire board was giddy with excitement.
They’d been laughing since they took the vote.

“
We’re on our way,” Aden said.
“We’ll go as a team.”

“
Congratulations, gentlemen and
Valerie,” the woman from New York said. “You’re making history!
We’ll talk next week about the classes.”

“
Great. Thanks!” Jacob
said.

“
Son, you have to call the
meeting,” Sam said.

“
Oh right. Sorry. This meeting is
adjourned.”

~~~~~~~~
Saturday morning — 10:25 A.M.
Colorado Federal Center, Denver

“
Now I
know
what you are thinking,” Tanesha said
to the security guard at the front desk. “One little black woman?
What could she do? But I tell you, my friend is being held hostage
here. And if I don’t see her soon, I’m going to have this place
crawling with reporters and worse – more black
people.”

“
Ma’am, you can see that I’m
black,” the security guard said.

“
Only on the outside,” Tanesha
sniffed. “Right now, you are keeping me from my friend. That makes
you all kinds of evil.”

The security guard’s face was set somewhere
between amused and annoyed.

“
You don’t believe me?” Tanesha continued. “I
will
call my family. They
will
come out here
and then we’ll see how black you are!”

“
It’s really not necessary to pull
the black card, ma’am,” the security guard said. “Why don’t you
wait over there?”

“
I will not be pushed around,”
Tanesha said. “You’ll just shuffle me over there and forget all
about me.”

“
No ma’am, I think it’s going to
take a bit more than space to forget about you,” the security guard
said. “My great-grandmother was a slave!”

“
My
great-grandmother
and
great-grandfather were slaves!”
Tanesha sniffed.

When the security guard laughed, Tanesha
laughed.

“
I’m really worried about my
friend,” Tanesha said. “Jill is stuck in the mountains without a
car…”

“
And Heather’s husband got sick
after the big meeting. Yes, you’ve said that already. Twice.” The
security guard answered a phone on his desk. Setting down the
receiver, he said, “They’re coming down to get you.”

“
Oh,” Tanesha blushed.
“Really?”

“
Yes,” the security guard said.
“They expected you. That’s why you got through the
gate.”

“
Oh, I thought it was because I
was so charming.”

The security guard laughed.

“
What’s your name?” Tanesha
said.

“
Mason. Mason Dixon,” the security
guard said.

“
That is
not
your name.”

“
It’s not,” he said. “You’re
Tanesha Smith. Yes?”

Tanesha nodded.

“
Why did they make Sandy come
here?”

“
I don’t have any idea,” the
security guard said. “I know she’s all right though.”

“
How did they know to expect
me?”

“
All telephone calls are monitored
here.”

“
Oh,” Tanesha said. Looking up at
the video monitor, she waved, then said, “Sorry about calling
you…uh.. names.”

The security guard laughed.

“
I’ll go sit over there,” Tanesha
said.

“
Good idea.”

CHAPTER
SIXTY-SIX

One or two plans

Saturday evening

Jill set a pepperoni, olive and artichoke
heart pizza from Enzo’s End on a footrest in the middle of the
sitting area of her loft apartment. Following Jill, Heather brought
a stack of plates and napkins. Tanesha set down sparkling water for
Heather and a six pack of Wild Raspberry Great Divide Ale for the
rest. They looked up when Sandy came out of the guest bedroom in a
fluffy robe with a towel on her head.

“
This is perfect,” Sandy said.
“Nothing like a girls’ night after such an awful day.”

“
We wouldn’t miss it,” Heather
said. “I wish I’d gotten there sooner. It seemed
horrible.”

“
How is Blane?” Jill
asked.

“
Sick,” Heather said. “He still
has three months on that awful drug.”

“
He seemed fine last night,”
Tanesha said. “Maybe it’s food poisoning.”

“
Nah, that’s what this treatment
is like,” Heather said. “Fine one minute, sick the next. He was
anxious about the Lipson meeting this morning. I think that did him
in. He’s asleep downstairs.”

“
Sorry you’re missing the party,
Jill,” Sandy said. “Everyone’s really excited about the
sale.”