Mr. Big Deal (Mr. Big 4)

CHAPTER19

Luke

* * *

For the restof the week, I waited with my cell in hand for some more news from either Ken Hanson or Brian George but received word from neither.

I assumed that the deal with Hanson was finished, and merely expected that we would hear no more about it, since being swallowed up by Hanson Inc., was a deal breaker for me, not to mention moving to Houston.

When John called on Thursday afternoon while Leif and Alexa were both snoozing, I expected he had the same notion, but instead, he dropped a bombshell on me.

“He really wants the deal,” John said. “He’s come back with a different offer. This time, both your objections are taken care of.”

“What?” I frowned. “He doesn’t want us or Seneca to merge with Hanson Inc.?”

“No. That’s no longer in the agreement. He agreed that we will set up a separate entity, and each of us contributes to that entity our share of the project. Independently run from Hanson Inc., Seneca and Astra. Also, the head office could be located in Houston, as he wished, and you and Adam would appoint someone as co-CEO of the new venture, he would appoint someone from Hanson. You could each stay in your respective coasts. Adam on the West, you on the East and Hanson in Texas.”

“Wow,” I said and took in a deep breath, rubbing my forehead as I considered. “He must really want to work with us.”

“He must really,” John replied. “Does this satisfy your main objections?”

“I guess. What about other funders? Would they come in as minor players? With Hanson’s money, we really don’t need anyone else.”

“No, you wouldn’t. Hanson’s the whale to your and Seneca’s dolphins. Even Campbell is small potatoes compared to Hanson.”

“I prefer to be seen as a killer whale, actually,” I said with a laugh, a weight taken off my shoulders now that Hanson had decided to cooperate instead of co-opt Astra.

“Hanson said he was testing Astra’s and Seneca’s resolve to see how committed you both were to staying at the head of your companies. If you really didn’t have the vision and drive to stay at the helm, he would be happy to take Astra and Seneca over in a buy-out. Otherwise, he would be happy to do a joint venture.”

“That’s great,” I said, nodding in understanding. “He wanted to know how committed we were to the vision and whether he could buy us, in other words.”

“Yes,” John replied. “Either way, he gets to work with Astra and Seneca either as the new majority owner or as a co-founder of the joint venture.”

“He likes us,” I said, feeling silly, but repeating the gif of Sally Field when accepting the Oscar for her performance. “He really likes us.”

“He does,” John said, sounding amused. “He really likes us.”

We both laughed.

“Don’t tell him I said that,” I added.

“No way,” John replied. “Come on — it’s a classic response. I have to use it in the staff meeting to announce the joint venture.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” I said, unable to keep from smiling.

“Okay, I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna send a gif around with your face superimposed on Sally Field’s.”

“You do and I will retaliate.”

“I can’t wait,” John said with a good-natured laugh.

We discussed meeting the next day to go over the paperwork that Hanson promised to provide.

“We’ll meet with Hanson, Adam, Frank and Jack on Saturday night for a celebratory meal. Hanson insisted.”

“I guess we should start calling him Ken if we’re going to enter into a joint venture. What does Adam think of this? He’s happy, right?”

“He is, as is Jack Tate and Frank Campbell. They want to be part of the consortium and not sell to Hanson.”

“Good, good,” I said and leaned back in my chair, running a hand through my hair with relief. “Wow. This is really more than I hoped for. I wanted to see several big players create a consortium to go to the asteroid belt. It’ll take something really big and really rich to fund such a venture. There is no way Astra could do it on our own, so this is what we need.”

“He’s going to want to have a big part in it,” John said.

“As he should, given he’s the whale. Who else do you think will get involved?”

“Hanson — Ken — has some ideas and contacts in the industry. He’ll be the one to arrange that.”

“Great,” I said. “I’ll come into the city tomorrow for the morning and we can meet and go over everything. Get ready for Saturday.”

“You two will be able to come into the city for the night?”

“Yes, we can get the Dixons to come out and stay with Leif. No problem.”

“Great. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” I replied and ended the call.