Adrenaline by Bill Eidson Read Free Book Online Page A

said, “Did I hear we have one of those team-building outings of yours coming up?”
    “Hiking and rock climbing in the White Mountains around the end of the week. I hear that you both are quite experienced climbers. Something you’ve got in common, maybe you two should go off together sometime, get to know each other better. This thing, it’ll be senior staff, about a dozen of us, with the wives who can make it. I’m counting on the two of you being there.”
    Both of them nodded.
    Geoff said, “So, what’s up this morning?”
    “Breakfast,” Jansten said, curtly, and began to eat.
    Geoff and Steve followed suit. Steve noticed the old man glanced their way from time to time, apparently to see if they were enjoying the meal. Otherwise, he kept up the friendly but innocuous dialogue of before, talking about the Red Sox, asking about Lisa.
    About her he listened intently. “She’s a special one. Guess you know that.”
    “Certainly do.”
    He turned his attention to Geoff. “Did you ever marry that girl, Kelly?”
    Geoff shook his head. “We’ve gone separate ways.”
    “Big mistake.” Jansten looked over at Steve. “Absolutely breathtaking woman, this Kelly. Flirted with me once when I came into San Francisco. Did it just to help Geoff’s cause, but who was I to object?”
    Geoff smiled politely, but there was something behind his expression that Steve couldn’t catch.
    Jansten shoved his plate away. He winced as he adjusted himself in the chair to look at the two of them. “Okay, that’s done. I always hated small talk and socializing. But now that I’m seventy-one, I find I’m beginning to like it. Just like I now like making breakfasts, sailing a boat not much bigger than the lifeboat on my last yacht, and confusing the serious, ambitious young men who come to my home.”
    He grimaced. “The fact is, I’ve got this thing inside my gut. Malignant. Started in the colon. And so I’ll be starting the song and dance with doctors and hospitals that people in my position start.”
    Steve felt a quiet stab inside himself. He realized he knew something like this was coming. “I’m sorry to hear this,” he said, hating how inadequate the words sounded. He hesitated. “I really don’t know what else to say.”
    “Course you don’t.” Jansten shrugged. “I’ve done my share of swearing and stamping around, but I don’t know what to say either.” He glanced over at Geoff and cocked his thumb at him. “Geoff here doesn’t know what to say, so he’s not saying it. He’s thinking, ‘What does this mean for me?’ ”
    “And how would you know what I’m thinking?” Geoff said quietly.
    “Because that’s what I would’ve been thinking if I was your age and the old man told me he was about to cork off.”
    Geoff made a dismissive gesture. “That’s what anyone would think. You and I just admit it. So tell me why I’m sitting here.”
    “Partly what I told you on the phone. I wanted you two to come back and help me put together a plan that will keep Jansten Enterprises thriving for the next decade—whether I’m here or not. What I didn’t tell you is that when it comes to executive level management, you two are it. You two represent the future of this company. Rudden and Lerner have done some amazing things for me in the past twenty years. And they’ve done it just the way I wanted. They’ve ripped into other companies, gutted them, and drained every drop of financial blood out of them—at my request. Made both of them rich men in their own right, not to mention what they’ve done for me.”
    He looked at Geoff with an expression close to fondness … but not quite. “And Geoff, you represent the best example of that line of thought. You are the youngest, toughest Turk I’ve got. A year ago, you would have been my automatic choice to succeed me as president … if I ever became willing to let it go under normal circumstances. Who knows, maybe I would have in the course of the next