Take a Chance on Me (15 page)

‘Change their whole business plan.'

‘That's what they told me, yes.'

Mac stared at Sadie, and she swallowed hard. Those azure-blue eyes gave her a flashback she knew definitely did not belong in a boardroom. She felt herself begin to glow. And not in a good way.

‘They had a plan for expansion, but only for building the bottling plant. When they discovered what I could do, everything changed.'

‘Everything changes when you come on the scene,' mused Mac. Sadie continued trying not to let him distract her.
Was he testing her
?

‘Well, I didn't know if any of it made sense, and to be honest I was going with the flow really, and it wasn't until I got back and emailed their original plan to Simon, along with the estimates from the university teams I know, that he thought it was even doable.'

‘And is it, then? “Doable”?' asked BJ, swigging on his whisky and wafting himself with one of the brochures. Alexis passed him a tissue, so he could dab his forehead. It was getting warm in here. She went to pass one to Mac, but he waved it away without looking up at the expectant beauty queen, so she got up and went to the thermostat on the wall by the door and began twiddling with it.
I wonder what her real role is
thought Sadie, realising most of the men in the room seemed to be watching Alexis's backside in her tight skirt as she played with the air-con. Except Mac.

‘I think, Mr McKowski,' interjected Simon with a cough, ‘that we can safely assume that to be the case, considering my involvement. I deduced the feasibility of this venture to be sufficiently … “doable”, to interrupt Mr Anderson's tight schedule and coordinate an update of the proposal with Ms Turner. Isn't that right, Sadie?'

Sadie nodded.

BJ looked confused at Simon's words, and as Alexis walked back past him, she simply patted him on the shoulder. He seemed satisfied. Sadie continued the explanation.

‘Plus, Bill Galloway, the CEO, said that if I could pull it off in that time then it would indicate how fast I can work. And prove that he was right about his instincts to trust me. Bill's the inventor … and, er,' she hesitated briefly.
In for a penny
, ‘Well, he told me he was a bit psychic.'

Simon coughed again, this time a tad more uncomfortably.

‘And he had a strong feeling,' Sadie went on, ‘that I was the one – the one who could make this happen.'

Mac looked blank. A couple of his entourage looked at each other.

‘He told me, and the rest of his team, that he knew I was the key to achieving great things with their product. His staff told me I'd struck lucky – right place, right time – because he often makes big decisions based on hunches like that. Apparently he's always been right.'

No one spoke. Sadie felt a flush creeping up her neck.

‘Well, anyway, I'm just telling you what he said. Plus they mentioned that if I didn't act fast, there was sure to be another party investing. Hence the timescale. So here we are now, thirty days and counting, well about twenty-four actually, to find the finance. Or they'd be forced to go elsewhere.'

No one said anything. Sadie looked at Mac and he didn't seem to be paying attention. He was just staring at her feet. She shuffled behind a nearby chair and suddenly felt very nervous.
Oh God, less about the intuition and more about the research labs,
Sadie chastised herself, wondering for the first time if she might have actually blown it. Damn being honest about psychic magic water inventors.

Then Simon spoke. ‘Derek, I believe you have something to add. Can you shed any more light on the situation, please?'

The young bespectacled Chinese man with sleek, trendy black hair and a garish red tie stood up for his moment of glory, cleared his throat theatrically and spoke with a perfect English accent.

‘Our due diligence has as usual revealed some extra information they've been trying to cover up. The timing is indeed due in part to their crippling shortage of cash. It seems they need an injection fast to continue building their new plant. Seems they've overstretched themselves. The new equipment works fine, but the plant is incomplete. Ultimately it could quadruple the output, and halve the staff. But it's become a race against time.' He paused to allow it to sink in then began walking round the table distributing a handout of his own, showing some charts and graphs.

Sadie took one and sat open-mouthed.
They've pulled this together in no time, where on earth do I fit in with a team like this
?

Derek continued. ‘So far they've sold off big parts of the family's empire in Hawaii – the local hotel, the helicopter taxi firm. Bill Galloway was reluctant, but the son – Peter Galloway – appears to have pushed it through. There's a chance they'll stall, and they won't be able to keep up with demand for free samples, which the son appears to be handing out to major sporting stars. Top sports teams have begun relying on their performance-enhancing water, and the word of mouth tipping point is within reach. But the freebies – without sales to back them up – well, they're just not sustainable. As the word spreads, and more and more sportsmen are demanding their product, they're – if you'll pardon the pun – drowning in their success. They're going to be on borrowed time before too long, I'm afraid.'

The room went silent for a moment. Sadie swallowed hard.

‘They didn't say anything about this in Hawaii,' Sadie said. She felt a bit silly, going on about her unique attributes and a clairvoyant Hawaiian when really the company were in need of financial help as much as she was.

‘Don't worry, Miss Turner,' Derek explained. ‘They wouldn't have told you. But there's more,' he said. ‘Graham has the details.'

‘Yes, indeed,' said the similarly bespectacled young man with spiky ginger hair and a very nearly identical tie, standing up and passing Mac and BJ a memo. ‘W-we've just heard this morning about who is behind these new d-developments – it may mean a fly in the ointment. A s-spanner in the works, if you will.'

‘Please continue, Graham,' said Simon.

‘It is our belief that, as of O-two hundred hours, a f-final offer was on its way from another source. An offer that apparently includes a – shall we say – f-financial i-incentive.'

‘A cash advance?' said BJ. ‘A bribe?'

‘I have a bad feeling about this,' said Mac.

‘Who is it from, Graham?' asked Simon.

Graham practically glowed. ‘We just had it c-confirmed by our operatives just before the meeting. I'm afraid it's the T-Tremain Group, sir.'

‘Tremain!' Mac said, incredulously. He sat back in his chair, clenched his fists and looked up at the ceiling.

Sadie was trying hard to keep up with the information flooding back and forth, but she could tell by Mac's face that this Tremain was bad news. She began to feel a little panic in her stomach.
What if Tremain's appearance meant Mac would back away from the deal?

Mac was glaring at BJ, who was looking out of the window and shuffling slightly in his chair.

‘What else do you know?' asked Simon.

‘Our West Coast sources tell us that behind the scenes Tremain Group have been putting the p-pressure on. But Bill Galloway hasn't given in yet – he'd rather remain independent of Tremain's demands. But there's a w-weak link – the son, Peter Galloway. He'd sign with Tremain tomorrow, apparently.'

‘He's the one in charge of the new plant, and of the complimentary sample programme,' added Derek. ‘He's stopping at nothing to get the new machinery operational urgently. Then he can keep signing up every top sports star that comes knocking on their door.'

‘Peter Galloway is a bit of a star-chaser then,' said Mac.

‘Yes. So n-now that they've had to put the next phase on hold, Tremain's argument is gaining m-mom-momen-m … pace,' Graham continued, standing up to open his briefcase.

Sadie's mouth dropped further and further open at the wealth of information this team had gleaned – certainly not from the Internet – she'd tried. They must have contacts everywhere to gather this many facts, all done in a couple of days.

Just when she realised her jaw was gaping like a guppy, she caught Mac's eye and snapped her mouth closed immediately. He just looked away, turning his back towards BJ slightly.

Now she really couldn't tell whether it was all going terribly well, or really, really badly. She took a swig of water from one of the cut crystal glasses on the table and waited while the latest sheet of charts and graphs was passed across the table for BJ and Mac. Her iPad pinged – everyone had been sent it wirelessly, and it instantly appeared on the projector on the wall too at the next button press.

Mac took the document and frowned. ‘Tremain Group – again.'

‘But how come they're even involved?' BJ asked, going slightly red-faced.

‘Look at this i-inside information. Last week they took a large stake in the biggest health food distributor on the west coast,' Graham replied, ‘whose strategy has been w-working. Any product they wish to promote, they assign an aggressive local rep who spends hours p-persuading local stockists to take big supplies of it, then t-talking to customers in-store.'

‘Word of mouth,' said Sadie. ‘Oh-oh.'

‘Oh-oh? What's with the oh-oh, Miss Turner? You can't just say oh-oh, you have to explain oh-oh.' BJ was getting flustered and Mac touched his arm.

Alexis was giving Sadie what appeared to be daggers. Sadie shifted in her seat.

‘Elucidate, please, Sadie,' said Simon.

‘The advertising authorities don't like it. You fall foul of them, and it's a nightmare to recover from. If there's nothing written, it makes it harder to prove if they've been making claims they had no right to. And twice as annoying for the authorities – which means you're put on their watch list. Hence Bill's sudden change of plan when he heard about my connection with getting proper studies done,' Sadie replied. ‘But there's no denying it can result in fast sales. Just not sustainable, credible ones.'

‘Ahh, I see what ya mean,' said BJ, looking a bit more comfortable now. ‘A bit like the old days when the travelling salesmen would shout from a soapbox that their potions could cure baldness or cancer, but it was really just snake oil.'

‘Exactly that,' said Sadie. BJ looked pleased with himself. Alexis didn't look pleased with Sadie.

‘N-nonetheless their sales have as a result been stratospheric,' Graham said. ‘Our contact says it's given Tremain reason to be b-bullish about obtaining the contract.'

‘More “b-bullish” than usual,' sneered BJ. ‘The man's raw beef as it is. Albeit stringy, skinny runt type beef.'

‘They're very aware of how weak the Galloways' position is,' said Derek. ‘Our sources suspect Peter is sharing more of the patented information than his father would like him to. That's why Tremain Group are pushing forward with this brave new approach.'

‘Brave?' BJ sneered.

‘Er – enterprising,' said Derek. ‘Unethical, but somewhat enterprising.'

‘And who would be the recipient of this “financial incentive”, this chunk of change?' asked BJ.

‘It seems some would be for off-the-record payments to contractors to speed up the new build,' Derek replied. ‘And some to the family itself. Young master Peter has a penchant, it seems, for fast cars.'

‘And this is the company you're wanting me to invest in?' said Mac, drily.

Sadie gulped. Her mouth was like sandpaper and her mind was racing overtime.
What if, what if, what if …
She had to speak up.

‘Mac, Mr Anderson, listen. All I know is that this product works wonders. Nothing else in the world has produced such results. When I was in Hawaii I did some preliminary studies, all promising. What's more, my colleagues at the uni's – the top three UK sports research departments – are keen to get their hands on it. And Simon seemed to think you liked the product too as you love innovation.'

‘Or else we were the first available money men.'

Sadie blushed. They were.

‘But tell me, Sadie,' Mac asked, lowering his voice. Everyone around the table leaned in a little nearer. ‘What do you really get out of this?'

‘Commission – pure and simple,' she replied in a flash.

‘Commission is never pure and simple.' Equally as fast.

‘Well, in my case, it will be,' she said to him. ‘Tranche one for bringing the investment to the table from someone who can help put the plant back on its feet and fund the studies up front, and tranche two when the studies are completed. If there's ever a tranche three it won't come out of your coffers, but from business expansion once the new claims can be made. It should ramp up sales astronomically. And we can follow-up with more studies on hydration and reversion of plasma levels to—'

‘Okay, I get it. I've heard enough. Thank you. That's all assuming Tremain doesn't steal this deal out from under our noses – and from what I've heard, and from what I know about Tremain's cronies, they don't see the need for studies so they won't need you. So unless they cut a deal with
us
you're out of the picture.'

Sadie swallowed, hard. The lump refused to budge and she felt a bit sick.

Alexis came round and began whispering to BJ.

Mac leaned forward onto his elbows and pressed his fingers into his temples. She watched him, and still felt torn. But she quashed the urge to go over to rub his shoulders. After all, she wasn't in a Hollywood romance movie.

Right now, however, she wasn't entirely sure that she hadn't stepped straight into a TV drama – it certainly felt that way. With a perfectly chosen cast – all except her. In fact, most of the last month had felt like she'd been living on borrowed time. Sadie wondered what would happen next. She certainly couldn't tell from Mac's stony face.