Chapter 2
“Caitlin, stop worrying. You’re bringing him good news.”
“You’re one to talk. You’ve worked here for longer than anyone
else. Duncan’s never had anything bad to
say about you.”
“I’m
his son. He’s had more bad to say about
me than anyone else in the office.”
Caitlin slumped against the wall
of the elevator. A meeting with Duncan
might be nothing to Malcolm, but to her it was terrifying. Not that Duncan himself was a terrifying man,
far from it, but he was the founder and CEO of Forres and Scone and Caitlin was
hoping to make partner someday. It had
been a long day on the floor and she questioned whether the news that MacDonald
had left to work with their rival firm, Sweno, was really good news.
The
elevator dinged 57, the highest floor Forres and Scone occupied. As the two got off, Caitlin looked around in
awe. This was the richly decorated
fortress of the executives. The offices
of the partners ringed the main hallway, facing out over the city through
floor-to-ceiling, plate-glass windows.
The inner ring was comprised of four meeting rooms, all named after
properties Duncan’s family held in their homeland of Scotland, as well as
Duncan’s own office – the one he lovingly called Dunsinane – which only his
sons and the oldest, most favored partners were ever allowed to enter. As they passed each office, working their
way towards the Lennox room, Malcolm greeted every secretary and executive
alike; Caitlin couldn’t help but wonder how he knew everyone so well. Finally, they reached the great, oak double
doors of the meeting room.
“Hey
Marion, I’ve brought Caitlin. Will he
mind if we interrupt?”
“Not at all. He’s just finished talking about our
strategies for the new quarter.”
“Perfect timing then!” Malcolm
said as he opened the door.
Every head turned towards the
intruders. Stopped mid sentence, Duncan
too turned to look at Caitlin and Malcolm.
Caitlin was stunned. This was the
first time she had seen the man outside of his portrait in the lobby. His well-kept, white beard testified to his
experience with the firm, but the look in his eyes belied the idea that his
experience had taught him to judge a situation.
He seemed surprised at the intrusion but welcomed his son to sit by his
left side, his right being already occupied by the older son Donald.
“Welcome
Malcolm, glad you could join us. Who’s
the girl in red?”
“Dad, this is Caitlin. She’s got good news from the floor. Caitlin – god, don’t look so scared – just
tell him what you told me.”
“Right,
um, ok. Sweno gave us a run for it, for
a while it was pretty back and forth.
But MacDonald – you know him I’m sure, he’s in mortgage securities –
seemed to have joined up with Buckley and his guys and was making a killing. Lucky guy on the floor, you’ve always said
that sir. Anyway, MacBeth called him out
on the floor, called him a traitor to our group and everything, and,
masterfully, sold him out, totally devaluing every purchase MacDonald had made
on behalf of Sweno.”
“Good
on him. And that’s the end of it, we can
be proud to report profits –“
“You’d
think right? But listen to this. No sooner had MacDonald started to loose
money than Buckley and the other Sweno guys cut him loose on the spot and
started working their own magic.”
“So…
we’ve lost money to those bastards?”
“I’m not done. MacBeth and Banquo doubled their efforts and
eviscerated the Sweno reps. It was as if
they had a personal vendetta, not just a professional rivalry. That’s how it stood when I left the
floor. Who knows, they may have made
even more than they had when I left.”
“You have brought good news
indeed. Go, go home. You’ve earned rest.”
Caitlin breathed a sigh of relief
and backed out of the room. As the door closed, Duncan smiled and the board
broke out in cheers of joy. Through the
jubilations, the ping of a Blackberry sounded. Ross, startled, grabbed his
phone from his jacket and read the BBM.
“Ross,
I thought I said phones off at the beginning of this meeting.”
“That
you did sir, but you’ll like this, it’s from one of the underlings. Sweno began the battle again – the idiots let
MacDonald work with them again – and MacBeth’s nearly bankrupted them. We’ve won. Oh, new one, from Banquo now. He says MacDonald’s planning on coming back
here – he thinks we don’t know about his betrayal – and that Sweno’s looking to
make a deal with us. They’ll take some
of the worse mortgage bonds off our hands in exchange for a truce.”
“Well,
we’ll see about Sweno. Lenox, get your
boys on that. As for MacDonald,
deactivate his ID and tell Marion to meet him with a cardboard box
tomorrow. He won’t trouble us
anymore. And Ross, tell MacBeth
MacDonald’s old job is his if he wants it.”
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