The Shudder Lingers Page 9

  She found herself shaking uncontrollably and had to sit on her hands to stop them from knocking over anything in sight. She whispered to herself, “One more battle going my way Daniella. I will endure and be victorious in this war over evil.” Despite Daniella’s threats, she felt totally at peace. She sat in silence and finished her coffee, which by now was rather cold.

  She headed off to find Slade and share the news with him. She found Daniella and Jackie in a deep whispered conversation with each other. She said to Slade, “It’s been such a quiet morning, shall we get some fresh air and a quick sandwich?”

  He nodded, “Sure thing, Boss.” She deliberately smiled at Daniella, gloating inside at the deception, playing her at her own game.

  Lunch was relaxed and enjoyable. They both felt a huge burden lifted. She thought about the elderly couple from her earlier run. She shut Daniella out of her mind and enjoyed the moment with Slade.

  Chapter Twenty

  The shackles seemed to have been lifted from WKJD, or at least that is how Stacey perceived it. The business was securing new contracts serving numerous clients and steadily broadening their digital and technology business. Within a few weeks, she had grasped the key essentials of managing the business, supported by regular coaching sessions with Clyde. Emily of course was a huge asset in the first few weeks and would politely steer her on selected issues or priorities. She realised that she was made for leadership, and fully enjoyed many aspects of it. Her schedule also allowed her to be intricately involved in shaping solutions and frameworks to complex projects, an asset which many of her project teams came to treasure. It had been almost a month since the warehouse had burnt down and the last of the smugglers killed. Larney and his cronies had all since been sentenced and would spend many years in prison for their crimes. Daniella and Cheung had been relatively quiet, and were seldom seen at the office, much to her relief.

  She heard a soft knock at the door and was pleasantly surprised to see Lizzie standing in the doorway. She jumped up and they warmly embraced each other. “So good to see you Lizzie.”

  She replied, “Likewise Stacey. You really are looking great, and dare I say, happy too.” They chatted away for a while over a cup of coffee.

  Stacey sensed an underlying excitement in Lizzie’s voice and knew there was something she wanted to share. She teased her, “There is something you are not telling me. Out with it.”

  She beamed, “Well yes. I have met the most amazing guy. He is divinely handsome, a foreigner and extremely wealthy. We met at a conference recently, and in the few dates since, he has swept me off my feet.”

  Stacey jumped up and hugged her again, “After everything you have been through, I am so happy for you. When do I get to meet him?”

  She smiled, “Thanks, I am hugely happy too. Actually, you get to meet him tonight. He asked me to invite Gavin, Slade and you for dinner. I have told him all about you. He has made a special dinner reservation for us.”

  Stacey nodded excitedly, “Awesome. I look forward to meeting this guy.”

  Lizzie smiled again, “By the way, wear something smart,” and headed back out of the door.

  Stacey wore a beautiful red dress, which complemented her athletic body. Slade gasped and pretended to faint, “You look gorgeous!” With that a text message came through from a driver who would take them to dinner. The driver opened the door to the Mercedes and they both jumped in. Arriving at the Victoria & Alfred Marina, they got out of the car to the most stunning, balmy evening in Cape Town, with pastel colours brushing the horizon. The driver parked and led them to a private pier, where a large catamaran was moored. Lizzie and Gavin were already on board. Lizzie hugged them both and introduced them to Elon Smith. He was tall, handsome (as Lizzie had mentioned) with neatly cut dark hair. He smiled broadly as he was introduced to them. It normally took time for Stacey to decide on someone, but she instantly took a liking to Elon. She recognised instantly that the two of them were meant for each other. Gavin came across and gave Stacey a big hug. She realised how close she had grown to the siblings.

  Elon waved them to a seat at a table that had been set up on the small deck at the back. It was elegantly laid out, without appearing ostentatious. The driver had now switched roles and offered them all a drink. Stacey became aware of the aroma coming from a gas barbeque at the end of the catamaran deck. Several good-sized lobsters were slowly cooking on the fire, and she was instantly hungry.

  When everyone had a glass of wine, Elon raised his glass and proposed a toast, “To good health, and even healthier relationships,” as he stood with one hand gently resting on Lizzie’s shoulder. The chemistry between them was tangibly positive. Stacey noticed a glow in her, which was beyond anything she had seen. Elon spent time focused on each of them, enquiring about them, seeming more interested in who they were as individuals rather than what they did. Conversation dropped off as the tantalising starters arrived. Everyone nodded their approval at the fried pears and cranberries, done in phyllo pastry.

  After their glasses were topped up, Lizzie asked Elon to share a bit about himself. Almost embarrassingly he started, “Well not much to tell really. I was one of four children born to an American father and a South African mother. My father started a small grocery shop, paying careful attention to customer service and providing a value-for-money deli option in his shop. Demand grew and he opened a second, and then a third store. My mother guided the finance and business decisions, while my father ran the food business. My mother rather shrewdly invested into the initial store properties, and then later the surrounding properties. As children, we were pulled into the company at an early age, and over time we were exposed to all aspects of the business. I now run the property side, under my mother’s watchful eye. Given my mother’s South African origins, we decided to explore growth in Cape Town, and this is where I met Lizzie.” With that he gave her a kiss on the cheek, “Anyway enough about me. Stacey, please tell me about WKJD and your drone application that Lizzie keeps telling me about.”

  Stacey blushed slightly, but Elon’s encouraging smile soon had her talking, sharing the collective vision for their business, including Slade, Lizzie and Gavin in her summary.

  The lobster main course was served, which ended any further attempt at conversation. The great food was accompanied by some excellent Cape Sauvignon Blanc, which drew compliments from Elon. Gavin was highly amused by the frequent tourists walking past on the jetty, taking photos of them all having dinner, especially some of the attractive young ladies, trying to catch his attention. Slade made the most of the opportunity to chirp, “Should I get their contact details for you?” Gavin just laughed, clearly enjoying the moment.

  Leaning forward Elon said to Stacey, “I have a potential business proposition for you. As mentioned, my mother is South African, and has a deep love for the African bush. As a family we already support a charity for underprivileged children. My mother would dearly love to contribute towards the prevention of rhino poaching, particularly in the Kruger Park. Given what you have told me about your business and the drone application, it appears to be a good fit.”

  Stacey’s mind was already racing, imagining how she could take the lessons from the perlemoen smuggling, and translate that into an anti-poaching solution. She responded, “Sounds like a fantastic opportunity Elon, and I agree a great fit with what we do.” She then turned to Gavin, “I recall a conversation a while ago, about you wanting to do a shark detection drone for your friends. Best you start applying your mind to rhino poaching.”

  Gavin was speechless but grinning from ear to ear. He reached out and gave her a high five.

  Lizzie raised her glass, “To saving the rhino.”

  Everyone raised their glasses, as Elon said, “Fantastic. I will confirm with my mother and we can meet this week to sort out contractual formalities.”

  Slade had been quiet for a while but added “I really feel that this will provide added purpose to our business. I think our colleagues will be so ex
cited!” Conversation then drifted to lighter matters, and it was well after midnight before dinner was over.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The day of the long-awaited directors’ meeting had arrived. After the late night out, Stacey was certainly not in the mood for a challenging meeting with Daniella and Cheung opposite the boardroom table. Lizzie and Gavin appeared equally tired and disinterested. As chairman, Clyde seemed to be in a positive mood and happily called the meeting to order. Stacey provided them with a status update on the business, and the financial manager came in to report on the positive numbers. Clyde nodded in approval at the results, before stating “Clearly, Stacey’s appointment as managing director was a good call.”

  At this Daniella let out a laboured grunt, while rolling her eyes. “Nonsense. It is clearly my indirect leadership that is responsible.”

  Nobody responded, and even Cheung seemed to be unmoved. This irked her, “Clearly, it is also not appreciated by my fellow directors.” The tense moment was broken as Emily opened the door and brought in a tray of coffee and homemade biscuits.

  After a brief break, the meeting continued, with Clyde announcing the next agenda item, “We now need to discuss the request to appoint Cheung as deputy managing director and the related requests to change the existing delegations of authority. Cheung, as this involves you, I request that you please recuse yourself.” Cheung reluctantly looked at Daniella, who nodded, without looking at him. Clyde turned to Daniella, and asked, “Would you like to add anything to the proposal that you tabled?”

  Realising that she held the floor, she stood and slowly paced the length of the room. “Well the proposal does speak for itself, but perhaps two key points can be added. From my discussions with Cheung, it is clear that he brings access to foreign markets for my business and critically brings diversity to the thinking at WKJD. I think bringing him into decision making is a no brainer. I have nothing further to add.”

  It was not lost on those present how she referred to it as ‘my business’, but Clyde continued, “Any questions or objections?” Stacey had braced herself to object, but somehow could not find her voice. She silently cursed herself for staying up so late the night before. Unable to disguise his surprise, it also took Clyde a few moments to speak, “Well in that case, it looks like Cheung is appointed.” Looking up, Stacey felt her heart sink, the smirk on Daniella’s face was telling.

  Clyde appreciated that his experience was now required, as he cleared his throat, “As regards the changing of the delegations of authority, I have had a look at them, and fundamentally disagree with the recommendations. As far as I am concerned, the existing delegations stand. Any questions or objections?” Stacey was thankful for the intervention.

  Lizzie and Gavin, replied simultaneously, “None.”

  Stacey concurred, and then looked at Daniella. It appeared that getting her way with Cheung’s nomination had distracted her. Clyde jumped in, “Settled then. No changes are approved.” Clyde rose rapidly, and called Cheung back into the board room, “Congratulations, you have been appointed, but there are no changes to the delegations of authority. Cheung nodded slightly and remained silent. He showed no visible emotion.

  Clyde turned to Stacey, “As usual, please can you give us an update on business development and new opportunities.”

  She obliged, providing feedback on some of the strategy projects which they had sold, and then elaborated on some new applications that the team were developing for improving safety in manufacturing environments. Only Clyde seemed vaguely interested. She then said, “Finally, we have started initial discussions with a client who wants to fund a project using some of our drone technology to assist in combatting rhino poaching.”

  As if rehearsed, Daniella and Cheung sat up simultaneously and shifted in their seats. Desperate to divert attention, Daniella said, “Sounds interesting. Carry on.”

  Stacey glanced around, nobody appeared to have noticed the reaction. She felt the familiar shudder run down her back. She limply replied, “If anything comes of it, I will give feedback at the next meeting.”

  Keen to bring the meeting to a close, Clyde dealt with the last formalities and the minor resolutions that had to be signed off, and then closed the meeting. Everyone filed out, leaving him alone with Stacey. He stated, “I was a bit surprised about you not making some statement against Cheung. Is everything all right?”

  Stacey replied, “I suppose I could have objected, but that would just have caused more stress around here. Besides, he has been rather passive over the last month. It is far more important that we did not give him some of the requested joint-decision rights. I’ll just have to live with him and make it work.”

  Clyde sensed that there was more, but as it was not forthcoming, and added, “As always, I am just a phone call away.” They shook hands, and he headed for the door, before turning back, “Good luck with this rhino project, it sounds challenging.”

  He was well out of the door when she said softly, “You are probably right, it will be challenging.”

  Emily appeared at the board room door, “Stacey, I have a Mr Smith waiting in reception for you. Shall I bring him in here?” She had not expected him but nodded in agreement. While Emily went to fetch him, she tried clearing the directors meeting from her thoughts. Elon was shown in and rather formally extended a hand in greeting. She shook his hand and immediately felt at peace about doing business with him.

  Elon did not waste any time in getting to the matter at hand, “Great news. After dinner last night, I received a call from my mother, on some arbitrary family news. I then shared our discussion about funding an anti-poaching project for rhinos in the Kruger Park. She normally mulls over key decisions over for a few days, but surprisingly she agreed to it straight away.”

  Stacey was elated, this was to be the first significant deal she had concluded since taking over. Her excitement was visible, “That is great news. I cannot wait to get a project team working on it. I suppose I need to get you a proposal to approve.”

  Her expression showed that she had several questions, which he pre-empted, “I have taken the liberty of preparing a short note on the project expectations and expected project outcomes.” He gently pushed across a single sheet of paper, “As long as you keep the proposal brief, and include those points, I will come past tomorrow and sign the contract. I look forward to our joint success.” He got up and headed for the door.

  The extraordinary morning had caught her by surprise. She needed some fresh air. As she got up, she scanned the one pager, and rapidly dropped back into her chair. The proposal value was for ten million dollars! Stacey sat in silence, staring. She looked upwards, and said aloud, “Thank you.”

  Unable to hide her excitement about the rhino project and the size of the proposed value, she rushed out to find Slade. She found him in a project room with several colleagues, with Jackie sitting next to him. She felt a nagging jealousy and turned from the room, walking briskly back to her office.

  Slade followed shortly behind, oblivious to her thoughts, “How did the directors’ meeting go?”

  She replied, “Fine,” and shoved Elon’s one pager at him.

  He swiftly read it, and whistled out loud, “My word, this is amazing,” before glancing up and seeing her face. He cautiously came and stood next to her, and holding up the document, “Why the sad face? What’s wrong?”

  Realising that she was probably overreacting about Jackie, she replied, “I know, this deal is amazing. It’s just when I saw Jackie sitting next to you in the project room, I got irritated, without any valid reason. I’m sorry.”

  He hugged her and whispered, “Stacey, you are the love of my life. You have nothing to worry about, especially not Jackie.”

  She looked him in the eye, “Thanks. Just being silly I guess.”

  Slade stepped back, “I’ll get a project team together to brainstorm the proposal. We should have something in a few days.”

  She had recovered from her frustratio
ns over Jackie, “I’m afraid we need something by tomorrow. Elon will come past to sign as soon as we are ready.”

  He saluted, and with a broad grin, chirped, “Yes Boss. Consider it done.”

  She replied, “Invite Gavin to the brainstorm as well please.” She turned to her laptop and started drafting the framework for the proposal to Elon. Her concerns over Jackie would have to wait for another day.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Stacey joined the project team early the next morning to discuss the rhino project and how they could potentially respond to Elon’s request for a proposal. Slade had pulled together a small team, including some of the newer staff members and had also included Gavin. As they were working through the details, a shy young woman entered the room, and she nodded at Slade. Stacey was intrigued but kept quiet. The young woman plugged her laptop in and linked up to a screen, and then gave a short presentation that had been animated into a short video, which left a powerful impression on all those present. Slade responded, “Lucy that is absolutely amazing. I have no doubt our client will be delighted.”

  Stacey said, “I fully support that comment. Awesome work.” Lucy offered no response, but she was beaming.

  The proposal meeting was interrupted when Emily entered, “Stacey, I have Mr Smith here again.”

  She looked up, glanced around at the project team, and said, “Please bring him through.”

  The project team appeared confused, before Lucy said, “We are not ready, besides Wilson would never let us speak directly to clients.”

  Stacey just smiled, by which time Elon had been shown into the project office. She shook hands with him and welcomed him. Slade then introduced Elon to the broader team. After Elon had been introduced to everyone, he replied, “Great meeting you all. I look forward to seeing the results this team can deliver. I have a good feeling about WKJD.”