For the last two weeks, my team and I had been working out of a temporary office that I'd established in Paris to discover who might be surreptitiously buying our company's stock. Our concern was that given that the purchases over the last two months were acquired in the broker's "street name," the identity of the actual purchasers was hidden. We had three companies on our 'suspects list' and each had done something in the last six months that could be construed as 'qualifying' them as a potential suitor.
I had dispatched our two management trainees to profile each company and I was pleased with their excellent work. They had accessed some research reports issued by stock brokers who followed the industry but had also gotten some real-time information from bar talk and a couple of disgruntled former employees who were willing to tell everything that they knew in return for some modest financial incentive. I now believed that I knew as much about each firm and its key managers as anyone outside of the companies themselves.
However, our big break didn't come from any of the traditional approaches, instead, it was ferreted out by Vic, our chief pilot. Two days ago while he was awaiting my return to the airport from an appointment that I had in Munich, he fell into a casual conversation in the crew's lounge with another pilot, who upon recognizing Vic as an American, said that a few weeks ago he had made a trans-Atlantic flight to the United States for a Swiss company. He mentioned that three of their stops had been Tulsa, Oklahoma, Oakland, California, and Nashville, Tennessee. Those exact three cities were the locations of brokers that we knew were acquiring our stock. When Vic asked who the Swiss company was, he was unsurprised to learn that it was the very one that was on our suspect list.
I had included Vic and his co-pilot Don in all of our update meetings and as such they were aware of the kinds of clues we were seeking. I congratulated myself for the foresight to include them since I doubted that most people wouldn't have thought to do so.
Pete, our CFO, had been with us for most of the past two weeks but had returned home yesterday, so I had to wake him up in the middle of the night with the news that we had a 'smoking gun.' Actually, both he and I had begun to develop a 'gut feel' about the Swiss company, but Vic's information was the clencher. Pete told me that he'd convene the Executive Committee the next day and get back to me tomorrow.
I knew that finding out the identity of whoever was buying our stock was only the first step. Now we had to decide what to do about it.
Generally, a hostile takeover may start with a stealthy acquisition of the target company's shares as we suspected was happening, but not always. The next step would be for the acquirer to make a public offering for enough additional shares to get a controlling interest. We had to be ready for that, almost certain event.
One defense we had already employed was written into the company's charter. It specified that an acquisition of the company required a supermajority. Acceptance of a takeover offer required Two-thirds of the voting shares and two-thirds of the corporate directors to vote yes. That was a big plus for us as courts generally looked askance on such charter amendments that were effected after a public offering was initiated.
A second defense that I knew existed was that all management stock options, of which I had a few, were automatically triggered by an unwanted acquisition attempt. This would result in quite a few additional shares on the books and it would increase the company's equity by about fifteen percent.
I knew there were another half-dozen defenses we could use, but Pete was responsible for those. My role, if any, was yet to be determined. I convened my team and told them that we now had a singular focus on the Swiss company. I sent both Joe and Matt back to Geneva and I had Meridith track down the company that had just bought a subsidiary of the Swiss company, a move that we thought was to create a war chest for the run at us. I wanted to see what they might know. Things were about to get interesting.
The last week had been exhausting for me, I had appointments almost every day that required an early morning rise, a one to two-hour flight, and a late-night return. Several times Lily got home to find a cold and lonely bed, but it couldn't be helped.
The next afternoon I got a conference call from Pete and the entire Executive Committee of the board. I'd had Meridith fax the consolidated research report we'd assembled on our potential acquirer and I spent the better part of two hours briefing them on our findings.
Pete told me they had identified the tail numbers of the Swiss flight and confirmed the itinerary that had been told to Vic with a couple of added stops we hadn't known about. It seemed that over 79,000 shares had now been purchased and two more brokers were added to our list of known buyers.
The entire Board of Directors was scheduled to be briefed tomorrow, but Pete and David, our CEO, didn't think I needed to fly all night to be there since it was unlikely that it would generate any questions that Pete couldn't handle. They told me to just keep digging and they'd keep me informed of anything new that was discovered on their end. I was relieved and since it was a Friday, I decided to see if Lily was in the mood to take a short vacation.
As I said, the past week had not been kind to Lily and my blossoming romance, but as I lay in her bed awaiting her return from her shift working as a hostess at the Paris Freyja Club, my eyes looked at her lovely portrait that hung on the wall across from the foot of her bed and I remembered the last time we'd been together in this room.
My evolving relationship with Lily had been characterized by an easy sexual tension that I had found with no other woman. Four nights ago I suggested that we might introduce sex games into our relationship. Of course, Lily was familiar with the concept, since at the Freyja Club it was a popular post on the "Board." The one that I saw most often was "Master and Slave." In the game whoever was the slave had no choice but to comply with whatever sexual act the Master demanded. I had played this with both Jennifer and Karen and it could get interesting, but my personal favorite was the game of "Consent."
In consent, it was just the opposite; One had to ask permission at each step in the seduction process.
It had been a Sunday evening and one of Lily's days off, so we had all the time we needed. Of course "Consent" was most erotic when it was assumed that seduction was the objective. With that in mind, I set the stage by telling Lily to imagine that we had just recently met and I had lured her to my hotel. We were both still dressed, but that was an important aspect of the game. Lily's eyes sparkled, and I knew that many women fantasize about being seduced by a handsome, powerful man, so I began by holding her hand and brushing my lips over her knuckles. I turned her hand over and kissed my way up her forearm. My head came level with hers, and our eyes met. "Can I kiss you?"
In our real relationship, I wouldn't ask, but Lily knew that under the rules of the game, I had to.
"Yes."
My lips brushed over hers. Then pressed down, pulling her lips open. A little tongue, the same as always, sweet. But this kiss was different. I moved a little slower and lingered a little bit longer.
My fingers rubbed the silky material of her blouse between them. I pulled from the kiss. "Can I kiss your neck?"
Lily tipped her head and my mouth touched her neck. I skated over her skin, with a nip and a suck. "Tell me if there is anything you don't like."
Lily nodded. "I need to hear you say yes."
"Yes. I like you kissing me."
"You arouse me. Do I arouse you?"
Lily bit her bottom lip and looked down. Her face reddened as if she had never been asked so boldly.
"Yes."
I kissed her again. My tongue stroked hers and I felt her just sort of melt in my arms.
"Can I touch your breasts?"
Was she surprised by the boldness of the question? She paused for a moment before looking into my eyes. There was an almost imperceptible nod.
"Yes.
Lily seemed to want me to hurry. Perhaps part of her wanted to see how far I'd take these questions of consent.
We kissed again, this time I caressed her breast over her clothes. My fingers found the soft mounds and kneaded first one, then the other.
"Will you take your blouse off for me?"
