with it, and now it’s about to sink like a stone.”
“You’ve each got different reports drawn up by Bayliss, but the bottom line’s the same. Father bought these companies not long before he took ill, and they seem to have gotten lost in the shuffle”
“Yeah,” Zach said, “well, when this Triad outfit goes down for the third time, it’s going to take lots of Landon dough with it.”
“The same for Gordon Oil,” Cade said. “Landon’s gonna take a nasty hit when it dies.”
Grant’s expression grew even more grim. “Terrific,” he snarled. “Landon went into the two firms to bail them out. Instead, we seem to have made them worse.”
Cade’s brows rose. “What do you mean, ‘we’, big brother?”
“Exactly what I said. As of yesterday, we are Landon Enterprises. And we will be, until we find a buyer.”
Zach looked at Grant, then at the papers he’d dumped on the table.
“Hell,” he muttered, as he gathered them up.
There was no point in arguing with Grant’s assessment. He was right, and the three of them knew it. If the Hollywood outfit and that Dallas company went belly up, they’d leave a blotch of red ink on Landon Enterprises’ ledgers big enough to scare off any potential buyer.
Something had to be done, and quickly.
“Okay,” Cade said, “tell Bayliss——”
“Bayliss retired, as of this morning.” Grant smiled at the looks on his brothers’ faces. “He said he was too old to face another Colorado winter. He bought himself a house in the Virgin Islands. He’s going to spend the rest of his days on the beach, sipping pina coladas.”
Zach cleared his throat. “I’ll phone Goodwin, then. Bayliss’s second in command. He can——”
“Goodwin’s tied up with a dozen other things.”
Cade tossed the Gordon Oil report onto the table. “Terrific,” he snapped. “What are we supposed to do now?”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” The men swung around. Kyra was glaring at them as if she couldn’t believe what she’d been hearing. “What’s the matter with you guys? Are you dumb, or what?” She shook her head. “And don’t waste your breath telling me I don’t know what I’m talking about. A child could figure this mess out!”
“Kyra,” Zach said gently, “baby——”
“You’re the financial whiz in this family,” Kyra said, stabbing a finger in his direction. “You could fly out to the coast, take a look at Triad’s books and decide what can be done to help it.”
“Me? Don’t be silly. I’ve got people waiting for me in Boston. I can’t just——”
“And you,” she said to Cade, “the genius who knows all about oil…Would it be too much to hope that maybe, just maybe, you might be the one to check things out in Dallas?”
“Impossible! I’ve business in London. I can’t——”
“She’s right,” Grant said. “You two could get a handle on things faster than anybody else.”
There was a moment’s silence. Cade and Zach looked at each other, and then Zach threw up his arms in defeat.
“Two days,” he snapped, “and not a second more.”
Cade blew out his breath. “Yeah. Two days, and then…Wait just a minute.” He swung toward Grant. “What about you? Don’t tell me you’re the only one of us who gets to walk away from this mess?”
Color rose in Grant’s cheeks. “Not exactly. It seems a friend of Father’s named him guardian of his kid a couple of years ago.”
Zach and Cade began to smile. “Don’t tell me,” Cade said.
“Listen, we can change jobs, if you want. The twelve-year-old for the oil company or the Hollywood studio…?”
“No,” Zach said quickly, “no, that’s okay, pal. I’ll deal with Hollywood, Cade’ll handle Dallas” His lips twitched. “And I bet you’re going to make one hell of a terrific baby-sitter.”
Cade tried not to laugh, but a sound burst from his lips. Grant swung toward him.
“This is not funny,” he choked.
But it was, and they all knew it. The brothers began to laugh, and then they moved into a tight circle, clapped each other on the back and joined right hands as they had when they were boys.
“To the Deadeye Defenders,” they said solemnly. They grinned happily at each other, and then Cade sighed.
“Time to get started.”
Zach nodded. “Yeah. I’ll see you guys before I leave.”
He punched Grant lightly in the shoulder, snapped an imaginary right hook at Cade’s chin, blew a kiss to Kyra and made his way to his room to pack.
It was going on ten o’clock. If he was going to make that eleven o’clock flight to Boston…
Actually, it made more sense to fly straight out to California. He was halfway there already; besides, if he went to Boston, he’d only get tied up in a dozen things. And this mess the old man had created had to be dealt with now, not next week or next month.
With a sigh, he sank down on the edge of his bed and scanned the report again. Triad had been privately owned by a man named Tolland. It had never made any real money, although it had at least been able to keep its head above water. About three years ago, its puny profits had finally turned to losses.
Charles had bought the company some months ago. As for who was running it for him…Zach frowned. It was a woman named Eve Palmer, and she had to be doing a piss-poor job because Triad was in its death struggles.
Zach stuffed the report into his suitcase, locked it and reached for the phone. He’d call the office, ask for more detailed info to be delivered by courier to the airport.
While he was at it, he’d make a couple of other calls, including one to Howell telling him to pack something besides those damned dark blue suits and express them to L.A. as soon as he had his hotel arrangements squared away. And his portable computer—he’d need that, too. It was obvious, now that he’d read the report more carefully, that two days on the coast was optimistic.
But five days would surely do it. Triad was dying, and he had dealt with dying companies before, back in the early days when he’d made fast money by moving in and administering the coup de grace.
Zach picked up his suitcase, walked briskly to the door and stepped out into the hallway.
By this time next week, Triad Productions would be history.
