Trading Reality (32 page)

We sipped our coffee in silence for a moment. ‘Why is he so keen to sell?’ I wondered aloud. ‘He seemed positively to be smiling this morning.’

‘I think he sees he has a good future in this company if it’s taken over,’ said Rachel. ‘He’d get your job.’

‘A buyer could always put their own man in,’ I said. ‘It would be the natural thing to do.’

‘What’s to stop him doing some sort of deal beforehand?’

‘What, you mean he delivers FairSystems to a buyer and in return the buyer makes him MD?’

‘Maybe.’

It would be just the sort of thing David would do, I thought. I would have to watch him very carefully. ‘So who’s he done a deal with?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Rachel. ‘Who’s the buyer that Wagner has lined up?’

‘Wagner Phillips is broker to a whole range of Californian high-tech companies. It could be any one of them.’

‘Including Jenson Computer?’

‘I don’t know.’ I followed Rachel’s logic. ‘But it’s a thought. Jenson might have frozen our payment in the hope of forcing us to sell out cheaply to him. And he’s using David Baker to help him, to provide an inside track.’

‘Maybe. If Carl Jenson wants something, he gets it.’

‘Why doesn’t he just offer to buy us directly?’

Rachel shrugged. ‘You’re the investment banker. Perhaps he thinks he can get us cheaper this way.’

‘If he can close a deal quickly, then Project Platform continues, and he owns the technology as well as manufacturing the product,’ I said. It made sense. It made a lot of sense. ‘See what you can find out when you get to California.’

I called Karen quickly. She looked up Jenson Computer on her Bloomberg screen. Their broker was Wagner Phillips.

It looked as though my marketing director, my most important customer and my broker were ganging up against me. This was not going to be easy.

Rachel flew out to California the next day, Wednesday. It would be a quick visit, she would be back on Saturday morning. I hoped she would be able to change Jenson’s mind. She stood a better chance than I did.

I decided to tell as few people as possible that I had reversed my decision to sell. Telling David had been a mistake. I would stall Sorenson and the board, let them think that I was trying to do a deal.

The phone rang. It was Steve Schwartz.

‘Mark, you know you asked me to find out who’s buying your stock?’

‘Yes.’

‘The rumour is it’s Frank Hartman.’

‘Frank Hartman? Who’s he?’

‘I’ve never met him, but I’ve heard of him. He’s an Ivan Boesky lookalike. He runs a hedge fund out of New York. Or at least it’s called a hedge fund, because that’s the fashionable name for these things. In the old days he would have been called an “arb”. He buys stocks, and miraculously a little while later they go up when the company is taken over. Investors in his fund do very well.’

‘Is he a crook?’ I asked.

‘You know there isn’t black and white in this business. Only shades of grey.’

‘And what shade is Hartman?’

Steve laughed. ‘Charcoal.’

A question popped into my mind. ‘Does he have any connection with Jenson Computer?’

‘None that I know of. Why?’

‘Oh, I don’t know. I was just wondering. Thanks a lot, Steve. If you hear anything else, let me know.’

I called Karen to ask her what she knew about Hartman. Sally answered her phone and said she was out, but she would be back at lunchtime. I didn’t leave a message. I’d call her that night.

I checked in with Ed. The Italian trade was half a point in the money, and moving up steadily. There had been no signs of interference from Etienne. Ed said Bob had spent half an hour with him, looking at Bondscape. He was almost convinced.

It was interesting to see how much Ed’s self-confidence had developed in the last few weeks as he had been left by himself. I was surprised to feel myself threatened. He was clever and he learned very quickly. How long would it be until he learned all I knew? One year? Two years? It was a sobering thought.

There was a knock at my door. It was Keith and Andy. They looked agitated. Trouble, I thought.

‘You got a second, Mark?’ asked Keith.

‘Of course.’ They sat down. They made a strange couple, the loquacious, gangly chip designer, and the cherubic programmer, who looked half the former’s height and half his age. They both appeared worried. ‘What’s up?’

‘There’s a lot of talk around the factory,’ Keith began.

‘Oh yes? What about?’

‘The rumour is we only have enough cash to see us through till July. Is that true?’

I couldn’t lie to these people. Yes.

‘And is it also true that you’re trying to sell the company?’

I hesitated. I had decided to keep my strategy to myself. But these two had invested so much of their lives in FairSystems. They had a right to know.

Before I had a chance to speak, Keith was talking. ‘Because if that’s what you want to do, you’re wrong, man.’

I tried to interrupt, but he waved me to be quiet.

‘If you’d been here the last three years, you wouldn’t want to give up now. I mean, I’ve worked for big successful companies before, but this is different. We’ve got a great team here. The work we’ve done over the last few years, the problems we’ve overcome, the solutions we’ve found, it’s been amazing. We eat sleep and dream this stuff.’

He leaned forward, eager to explain more. ‘Take FairRender. Two years ago, I had an idea of how we could build this revolutionary new graphics chip. I told Richard. At first it seemed like it would take two more generations of chip design before it would be practical. So we put it on one side and tried something else. But I couldn’t let it go. I was determined to find a way of fitting this system on one of today’s chips.’

His hands were waving about now as he demonstrated what a big idea it was and what a tiny piece of silicon it had to fit on. ‘I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Eating, sleeping, watching TV, the problem was always there, you know, somewhere in my head. Then it came to me. I was on the bog. I stayed there over an hour.’

He leaned back triumphantly. ‘And now FairRender is ready for production.’

I couldn’t help smiling. ‘But if we sell out, FairRender will still be produced, just by a bigger company,’ I said.

‘That’s not the same thing,’ said Andy. ‘We’re Richard’s team. We’re going to get Project Platform out his way. Or not at all.’ ‘You could lose your jobs.’

‘We can get other jobs,’ said Andy. ‘But we can’t recreate what we’ve got here.’

‘What do the others think?’

‘They’re all with us,’ insisted Keith.

‘It’ll be more difficult for some of them to find new work,’ admitted Andy. ‘But they’d hate to sell out now, believe me.’

Keith cleared his throat. ‘Me and Andy have four thousand quid we can put up if it’ll help.’

I smiled. ‘We need a lot more than that. But I appreciate the gesture. You should keep your savings in the bank, you may need them.’

They both watched me in silence.

Eventually, I spoke. ‘I’ve been impressed by the dedication ‘I’ve seen in everyone in the factory. It’s taken this company a long way. You’ve all worked hard to make FairSystems into something more than just a dream, and ‘I’m not going to be the one to sell out just before we get to wherever we’re going.’

‘So you’re not going to sell?’ asked Keith, holding his breath.

‘I’m not going to sell,’ I said smiling.

‘Hey!’ said Keith, and he turned to Andy and grinned.

‘It’s a big risk ‘I’m taking,’ I said. ‘And it’s your jobs ‘I’m risking.’

‘That’s fine with me,’ said Andy.

‘Yeah,’ Keith grinned. ‘We’re nearly there. Let’s not quit now.’

‘Thanks for all your help.’

‘No problem,’ said Keith, ‘Thank you for being straight with us. We’ll make it. You’ll see.’ They both got up to leave.

As the door closed behind them, I looked at the photographs on Richard’s wall. They were the first VR machines he had rigged up. They were strange contraptions. What was now a compact pair of virtual glasses, was then a massive helmet, hooked up to a metal arm, linked to a mini-computer. That was how Richard had tracked the movement of the head before electromagnetic sensors had been developed. For some highly accurate applications, the old method was still used.

The company had come a long way since then. It represented so many different things. As Rachel and my father had said, it was all that was left of Richard. It was the manifestation of his dreams, and his achievements. It was also an opportunity to make or lose millions of pounds. And it was the livelihood of sixty people. I was risking sixty pay cheques.

But talking to Keith and Andy, I realised that FairSystems was more than a job to them, too. They hadn’t put in all those hours just for a pay cheque. It was an adventure, an attempt to achieve what no one had ever achieved before, and for them, too, a chance to do something for Richard.

I wasn’t going to let them down.

I called Karen that evening. I wanted to talk to her, and I was eager to find out about Hartman. She wasn’t in. I tried later. Still no answer. I had one last go at a quarter to twelve. Nothing.

The next morning I called her at six fifteen. It should have been a good time to get hold of her. Her alarm clock was permanently set at six fifteen.

No reply.

OK. I admit it. It wasn’t strictly necessary to ring her that early. I just wanted to see whether she had spent the night at home.

I rang her at work, at about ten.

‘Hi, Mark, how are you?’

‘I’m OK,’ I said. ‘I tried to ring you last night.’

There was the briefest of pauses at the other end of the line. ‘Well, you missed me then. I had a late-afternoon meeting in Amsterdam, and it went on a bit. I missed the last flight home, and had to stay at a hotel at the airport. But I got the first plane to London, and I was only a few minutes late for work.’

‘Oh, I see,’ I said. ‘Steve called me yesterday. He said that FairSystems’ shares are being accumulated by someone called Frank Hartman. Do you know him?’

‘No,’ said Karen. ‘I mean I’ve heard of him. But Harrison Brothers won’t deal with him. He’s supposed to be a bit dodgy.’

‘He must be very dodgy if Harrison Brothers won’t deal with him.’ Our employers were not very particular about whom they dealt with, as long as it brought in a quick buck. ‘Can you find out a bit more about him? You know, ask around?’

Karen hesitated. ‘I’d rather not. I mean, I wouldn’t like to be seen to have anything to do with him, even if it is only asking questions.’

‘Can’t you just make a few discreet enquiries?’

She hesitated. ‘OK, Mark. I’ll see what I can do. I’ve got to go now. There’s someone on the other line.’

I put the phone down and thought.

So Karen had been stuck in Amsterdam. But hadn’t Sally said that she would be back at her desk in London at lunchtime? Could she have left her desk after lunch, and got to a late-afternoon meeting in Amsterdam? Possibly. Possibly not.

I shook my head. I was probably just imagining things. Being away from Karen had made me more sensitive than usual.

It was good to see Rachel striding through the small crowd at the arrivals gate at Edinburgh airport. She smiled broadly when she saw me. Despite her protests, I took the shapeless black canvas bag off her.

‘It’s not heavy,’ she said.

It was.

‘Sorry I’m so late. Did you get my message? We took off three hours late from San Francisco, so I missed the connection at Heathrow.’

As I walked towards the black BMW lurking in the car park, I felt a touch of embarrassment. I looked across to Rachel as she opened the door. Did I imagine a slight wrinkling of her nose as she stepped in? The moment passed as I switched on the engine and pointed the car north towards Fife.

I asked Rachel about Jenson.

‘I told him that we had suspended work on Project Platform, and we wouldn’t start again until he paid us,’ she said. ‘He said we were fools, but it was our choice. I asked him why he wasn’t paying us. I said this business about testing us sounded like crap to me.’

‘Subtle.’ I smiled. ‘What did he say?’

‘Same thing. He’d been burned before by suppliers letting him down, and he didn’t want it to happen again.’

‘Did you believe him?’

‘No. I think it’s bullshit. I think he’s trying something on.’

‘Did he mention anything about buying us?’ I asked.

‘No, he didn’t. Nothing at all.’

‘And he won’t pay us?’

‘Definitely not.’

‘Damn!’ I slammed my hand down on the steering wheel. ‘It’s obvious what’s happening. Jenson’s going to wait till we’re desperate, and then buy us cheaply. If we go into receivership, then he’ll put an offer in to the receiver the next day. The closer we are to bankruptcy when we give up, the lower the price will be. Once he’s bought us, he’ll be both the Microsoft and the IBM of the virtual reality business. He’s got us by the balls.’

I shook my head. ‘No wonder Hartman’s buying a stake.’ I told Rachel what Steve Schwartz had discovered. ‘He probably knows what Jenson’s up to, and wants to get in first.’

We slowed down at the tollbooth for the Forth Road Bridge, and crossed the estuary into Fife.

‘Did you find out anything about the motorbike accident?’ I asked.

’Yes, I did,’ said Rachel. ‘It was very interesting.’

‘Tell me.’

She pulled out a cigarette. ‘Do you mind if I smoke’ she asked.

‘I’d rather you didn’t.’

‘You’d rather I didn’t? But you wouldn’t mind too much if I did?’ She was smiling.

‘I would a bit,’ I said, trying to hold firm, but not really succeeding.

‘Only a bit? Well, I need a cigarette a lot. A lot a lot,’ said Rachel lighting up. She took a deep drag. ‘Oh, that’s much better,’ she said. ‘Thank you for being so understanding.’