Be Careful What You Wish For: The Clifton Chronicles 4 by Jeffrey Archer Read Free Book Online Page B

us who presently serve the company.’
    It was clear that several directors were taken by surprise by Buchanan’s opening remarks, and they began to whisper among themselves. Ross had tossed a hand grenade into the middle of the
boardroom table, with the implicit threat that if he didn’t win the vote, he would resign as chairman.
    Emma’s problem was that she didn’t have a hand grenade to lob back. She couldn’t threaten to resign herself, for several reasons, not least because no other member of the
family had any desire to take her place on the board. Sebastian had already advised her that if she didn’t win the vote, she could always step down from the board and she and Giles could sell
their shares, which would have the double advantage of making the family a handsome profit, while at the same time out-manoeuvring Martinez.
    Emma looked up at the portrait of Sir Walter Barrington. She could hear Gramps saying, ‘Don’t do anything you’ll live to regret, child.’
    ‘By all means, let us have a robust and no-holds-barred discussion,’ continued Ross Buchanan. ‘One in which I hope all directors will express their opinions without fear or
favour.’ He then lobbed his second grenade. ‘With that in mind, I suggest that Mrs Clifton should open the debate, not only because she is opposed to my plan of building a new liner at
the present time, but we must not forget she represents twenty-two per cent of the company’s stock, and it was her illustrious forebear, Sir Joshua Barrington, who founded this company over a
hundred years ago.’
    Emma had rather hoped to be among the last to contribute to the discussion, as she was well aware that the chairman would be summing up, and her words might have lost some of their impact by the
time he spoke. Nevertheless, she was determined to put her arguments as forcefully as she could.
    ‘Thank you, Mr Chairman,’ she said, looking down at her notes. ‘May I begin by saying that whatever the outcome of today’s discussion, I know we all hope that you will
continue to lead this company for many years to come.’
    Loud ‘Hear, hears’ followed this statement, and Emma felt she had at least placed the pin back into one of the grenades.
    ‘As the chairman reminded us, my great-grandfather founded this company more than a hundred years ago. He was a man who had the uncanny knack of spotting an opportunity while at the same
time being able to side-step a pothole, both with equal skill. I only wish I had Sir Joshua’s vision, because then I would be able tell you,’ she said, pointing at the architect’s
plan, ‘whether this is an opportunity or a pothole. My serious reservation about this project is the all-your-eggs-in-one-basket issue. To risk such a large percentage of the company’s
reserves on a single venture could well turn out to be a decision we will all live to regret. After all, the very future of the luxury liner business appears to be in a state of flux. Two major
shipping companies have already declared a loss this year, citing the boom in the passenger aircraft industry as the reason for their difficulties. And it is no coincidence that the drop in the
numbers of our own transatlantic passengers correlates almost exactly with the rise in the number of air passengers during the same period. The facts are simple. Businessmen want to get to their
meetings as quickly as possible, and then return home just as quickly. That is perfectly understandable. We might not like the public’s change of allegiance, but we would be foolish to ignore
its long-term consequences. I believe we should stick to the business which has rightly given Barrington’s a worldwide reputation: the transport of coal, cars, heavy service vehicles, steel,
food and other commodities, and leave others to be dependent on passengers. I’m confident that if we continue with our core business of cargo vessels that have cabins for only a dozen or so
passengers, the company