Higgins took a sip from the bottle of water he was holding and sat down heavily on the large leather sofa, moving his head to work out the kink in his neck, and take a look around the now well-lit study of the sprawling ranch house.
He could still feel the pressure from David’s boot where it had pressed down across his throat, and it wasn’t a feeling he particularly enjoyed. Higgins wasn’t used to people getting the drop on him like that, and he’d spend the last 20 minutes since it happened analysing where David had come from and how he’d attacked him. He’d trained with Shand many many times; David sometimes liked to have someone to work as a pacer. He knew his boss was in incredible physical condition, strong as an ox, and possessed of incredible speed and balance for someone his size. But even so, how had he managed to be quite so silent. That was something he’d not been able to work out.
Higgins was only being given the chance to consider this question because he wasn’t the only one in the room. Sitting at the other end of the sofa was McIntyre, a briefcase open on the large wooden chest which served as a coffee table, papers strewn further across it, and a laptop already set up. For the last ten minutes the lawyer had been under intense pressure, responding hurriedly to a seemingly never-ending barrage of rapid-fire questions David was firing at him about the way in which the business had been run for the past three months. Much like Higgins was more than an estate manager, McIntyre was a lot more than a lawyer. He was David’s eyes and ears at Shand Holdings, a man with a wide watching brief and absolute authority to ask questions on David’s behalf. The company may have its vice presidents and managers, but when David wasn’t around for whatever reason, the buck stopped at McIntyre. When David started to take it easy a couple of years ago, Neil had taken on a larger role, and as he’d been absent for three months, that meant Neil had been very involved of late. Now David apparently wanted to catch up. Shand wanted to know details, he wanted figures, he wanted intelligence, and woe-betide McIntyre if he wasn’t able to deliver them all at the click of his boss’ fingers.
Higgins was somewhat surprised that this meeting was happening now. But then he’d been surprised by everything in the last 20 minutes. For a start, when David had finally let him up, Higgins had beamed at him and welcomed him back, telling him it was good to see him and that they had all been worried about him. Shand had not returned the smile or the greeting, and had merely commented in clipped tones that he was also glad he was back. He had then simply walked away, heading towards his study as though he had just walked back into the house after being out for a jog.
Higgins had followed him, switching on lights as he went. He’d also sent a quick text to McIntyre. For some reason he hadn’t mentioned David. He’d just put that everything was OK, but that Neil should keep Rachel and Luke up there until he’d checked everything and had a chance to clear up. He couldn’t explain it, but he just felt like he should hold them back for a few seconds.
Higgins had walked into the study and found David sitting in one of the wing-back armchairs, an iPad in his hand as he scanned the business pages of some website. His calmness and matter-of-factness were baffling. Higgins had – of course – asked where he had been and what was going on, but David had not responded to either question. Higgins had made to probe again but Shand had cut him off before he could ask – his tone clipped and brooking no argument.
“No questions, Higgins, if you please. Now, where are my family?”
He’d told David about the trip to Great Falls and how they were waiting up on the hill with McIntyre. David had betrayed no trace of emotion or recognition at any of the details. However, at the mention of his lawyer’s name, David had looked up at last. Higgins had thought he detected the ghost of a smile
“Neil’s here?...Good, that will save some time”
David had asked Higgins to bring his family to the house, and he had done so. The reunion in the now brightly lit lounge area had been dramatic, but also puzzling. From Rachel there had been the obvious joy at David being back, the tears of relief and frustration, and of course the anger that he went away in the first place. Quite reasonably, once she had kissed and hugged her husband for several minutes, she had remembered how apocalyptically mad any wife should be at a husband who deserts her for three months without a word.
From Luke, something different. The joy, the tears, just as much, and the anger as well. Higgins had observed that Luke wasn’t a child anymore. He was a young man, and a young man angry at the way his father treated him and Rachel. He had a right to that anger.
And from David? Well that had been the puzzling bit. He was obviously pleased to see his family. He had hugged them both deeply, and smiled broadly, but he had offered neither explanation nor apology for his actions. What’s more Higgins had been astounded when, after just five minutes, David had moved away from Rachel and asked her and Luke to wait in the dining room while he spoke to both McIntyre and Higgins. After three months away from his family, it had been Higgins’ view that catching up on business could probably have waited.
Rachel and Luke had seemed puzzled too, but they’d done as David had asked, and so the three men had walked back to the study. Shand had asked them to sit on the sofa, and had then poured himself a whisky from the crystal decanter which sat on a side table. Higgins had noted the fact that neither he nor McIntyre had been offered a drink. David had then walked in front of the fireplace, and begun firing questions.
That brought us pretty much back to the current moment, where McIntyre was attempting to explain why a deal with a Spanish company had yet to be finalised in the way David had been expecting. McIntyre flustered and trying to give a pretty good reason for the delay, but Shand was having none of it. As he stalked back and forth in front of the fire now, he was giving his lawyer no room at all.
“Save me the excuses McIntyre. What it boils down to is that you dropped the ball and failed to do as I expected”
McIntyre loosened the knot in his tie slightly
“Well now, David, I don’t think that’s quite fair. There were a number of unforeseen difficulties which arose and….”
“Why unforeseen?”
“Pardon”
“Why unforeseen. Don’t I pay you and my vice presidents a ridiculous amount of money precisely to eliminate the possibility of unforeseen difficulties arising, isn’t that your job?”
“With all due respect, we don’t have crystal balls”
The stare David shot McIntyre visibly shrivelled him in his seat.
“Neil if you want to hold on to any sort of balls, you should avoid being so flippant with me”
McIntyre’s tone changed immediately “David, I’m sorry. Look, it was an error, and we accept responsibility for it. But the deal is being done now and we haven’t lost on it. Its still happening. Not as quickly as it might have done, but its OK”
Shand’s tone hadn’t changed. His voice was still calm and even. And yet he carried more menace than if he’d been standing there with an armoured division behind him.
“It is not OK, you imbecile. If the deal had been done on time our competitors would have had no word of it until such time as it was already completed. As it is, your incompetence has allowed interests in Dubai and Japan to sniff what was going on and get a jump on positioning themselves against it. That DOES cost me money in the long term. Are you saying you don’t see that?”
“No….I mean, yes…I mean, I see what you are saying. But I have to say, you just taking off like that….”
Shand rounded on him again.
“So this is my fault?”
“No, I’m not saying…”
“The eight figure salary package you get paid isn’t enough for you to work unsupervised?”
“No, its just that we were a bit unsure of what was happening”
“Why? I stepped back from day to day running of Shand Holdings over two years ago. I did so in the expectation that the people I had left in charge were competent and could run the place without any hand-holding. My physical presence shouldn’t make any difference. Now I see I was wrong.
“Again, if you want someone to blame, I suppose I accept responsibility.”
“Good, I shall hold you to that”
At the other end of the sofa, Higgins couldn’t resist a small smile. A moment later, he wished he hadn’t as Shand turned his attention to him.
“And as for you, Higgins, you can wipe that smile off your face, for you have been just as ineffectual as McIntyre has”
Higgins looked affronted “What do you mean?”
“Your job is to act as my estate manager, and to ensure the safety and welfare of my family. And yet this evening when the house looks to have been broken into, you allow yourself to be overcome in a matter of seconds by a single intruder. As if that were not bad enough, by your own admission yesterday you were ready to abandon those duties and leave them here while you went on a wild goose chase to Great Falls”
“I was going to Great Falls to help you!” Higgins exclaimed
“As is perfectly evident from my presence here this evening, Higgins, I neither desired your assistance, or was in need of it. I gave you very specific instructions when I left, and they did not include making bungled attempts at tracking me, placing local police forces on alert, hiring private detectives, and raking up a number of my old contacts in some desperate attempt to locate my whereabouts”
“I was acting in your best interests – and your family’s for that matter!”
David’s voice remained calm and yet was ominously cold as he took a step forward
“Don’t you dare to presume you can sit there and lecture me on what is in the best interest of my family. And don’t you dare to presume you have any authority whatsoever to make decisions on my welfare. The fact is, Higgins, that you failed”
Ever the manouverer, Mcintyre stepped in at this point in an attempt to defuse the situation.
“David, look, its been a long day for everyone and maybe this isn’t the best time to discuss any of this. You’ve just got back, you want to see Luke and Rachel and spend some time with them. Why don’t we all eat, get some sleep, and we can go over things in the morning when everything isn’t quite so emotional.”
Shand smiled “Neil, don’t try to patronise me. There is no emotion involved in any of this – there is only clear and logical thinking. And no, we won’t be talking about this in the morning. We’ll be handling it now. As you have admitted yourself, delays on your part have cost me enough already.
“You see gentlemen, I’ve had some time on my hands recently, and I’ve done an awful lot of thinking over the last three months. I’ve looked at the decisions I’ve taken over the past couple of years, and the way I have gone about things, and I’m not happy. I reached the conclusion that I stepped off the gas a bit too far. I became too reliant on other people – Neil, you to run the business, and Higgins you to take care of my family. I sat back and let other people take decisions and control my life, fooling myself into believing that it was what I really wanted. In short, I became soft, lost my edge. A good friend of mind said it best when I became the ember of the man I used to be.
“And what was my reward? My company being handled by incompetent yes men with no more understanding of the world of business than a pre-schooler has an idea of quantum physics, and my estate being managed by a man who believes he can make decisions for my family
“Well let me assure both of you that all that ends right now. I am done being reliant on others to handle matters on my behalf. I am done with taking a step back, going for the easy life. I am done being “contented”. That edge I was talking about, is going to get sharpened up again. Some things are going to change around here and people are going to start realising again just who they are dealing with, starting first with you two”
McIntyre wasn’t quite sure he was following all of this
“Us?”
“Yes. As of this moment you are both terminated from my employment.”
Both men leapt to their feet. Higgin’s voice was loudest
“You can’t do that?”
“On the contrary, I can and I have. Now, McIntyre, I have your termination documentation on my desk which I will require you to sign to remove your control within the company. You will of course forfeit your agreed termination package on the grounds of professional misconduct.”
McIntyre was aghast
“What misconduct??”
“You just sat there and admitted your incompetence was to blame for the Spanish deal not being completed. By your own words it was your fault and I should hold you responsible. So I have.”
“I’ll sue your ass off”
“No you won’t. You have no grounds, and you know it.”
Now it was Higgins turn
“And what about me?”
“You don’t have a formal contract, John. So I will expect a letter of resignation on my desk in the next 20 minutes, and your stuff packed and ready to go inside the hour. You’ll find stationery on the desk – but please don’t use my best headed notepaper. I’m not ungenerous, so you can take Luke’s pick-up – give Neil here a lift if you like. Just leave the keys for the Range Rover.”
“This is ridiculous. You are out of line, David”
Shand simply smiled and walked to the study door.
“Neither of you work here anymore, you are trespassing on my property. You have an hour to leave before I call the police. Thank you for your previous service. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to spend some time with my family”.
And with that, Shand was gone.
Subject: 1 December (Part 2) 
Thu Jan 06, 2011 5:00 am
