Clicking his key fob to unlock the Tesla, Gabe slid into the drivers’ seat. As he exited the parking garage, he called his assistant Jessica to get a complete suit delivered to his office from his tailor. There was little point in ordering just a blazer and tie because they wouldn’t match the slacks he was wearing so a full suit was needed for the board meeting.
Driving through traffic, Gabe pulled into the parking garage of Ramesly Hospital and Medical Corporation’s head office building which was located on the campus of Mercy Hospital. It was a separate building but shared the land with the hospital which was part of the chain of hospitals which the family owned and operated. Since James’ retirement Gabe had been in charge of the daily operations of ensuring the company was profitable. Not that James didn’t expect a weekly report from Gabe, even though he only gave suggestions now.
Gabe parked in his regular spot, heading into the building. He bypassed the coffee and snack cart in the lobby, heading for the stairs. It was faster to take the stairs rather than squeeze in on the elevators with others, stopping at each level to let people on and off. Besides, Gabe counted it as part of his exercise routine.
Once at his office, he greeted Jessica who handed him a couple of small message slips.
“The board meeting has been moved up to first thing this morning,” warned Jessica, looking over his less than perfect appearance. “Something about a conflict for half the members for an emergency meeting with Ramesly Pharmaceuticals.”
“Noah’s pulling rank again,” sighed Gabe as he looked at the messages. “What’s the emergency meeting about?”
Jessica trailed him into his office. “You didn’t hear it from me, but the FBI has frozen the company’s accounts for their investigation. The cash flow has dried up and your cousin needs to figure out how to keep the business afloat.”
Stopping, Gabe looked at his secretary in shock. “How did I not know this?”
“I found out this morning,” shrugged Jessica. “I put in a couple of calls with the secretaries at the other family businesses. The insurance and the hotel accounts are frozen as well. They’ve even frozen Noah, Jake, Dillon, Nate, Gerrit, and Adison’s accounts. I guess the others were cleared of wrong doing in the investigation so they are using their money to help prop up the businesses but at some point, even they are going to run out if the revenue stream is inaccessible.”
“Agent Kepler is going to run our businesses into the ground,” a stunned Gabe murmured.
Jessica cocked her head to the side. “Why hasn’t Ramesly Hospital and Medical Corporation been under scrutiny?”
“We have,” Gabe said shortly. “My father was investigated.”
“Yet our accounts are fine,” she gaged his reaction.
“Father paid his fines for his initial involvement,” reluctantly admitted Gabe. He trusted Jessica to be circumspect with the information. She was a fiend when it came to holding secrets but getting the gossip from others. More than once, Jessica had proved her worth. “However, he pulled out of David’s schemes years ago. The courts were more lenient and the matter was settled privately.”
Even as much as he trusted his secretary, he wasn’t about to tell her James had instigated the entire investigation by confessing his part in the illegal drug operation and money laundering scheme. It was bad enough all of Gabe’s uncles were now in prison awaiting trial for their criminal behavior.
“There is a problem,” noted Jessica. It was obvious she knew there was more to the story but wasn’t about to press her boss for details at this time. “Your tailor had a minor fire last night. A coffee machine sparked and the smoke set off the sprinklers. Everything is soaked.”
Gabe felt a flicker of annoyance. He could go home and change but Britney was there. He set his briefcase down on the desk. “I’ll tell the board I spilled coffee on myself.”
“Dryson wants to push a motion to stop the pro bono surgeries again,” warned Jessica as she stepped out of the office back towards her station. “The meeting is at ten, boardroom D.”
Dryson always wanted to stop any charity work they did, citing it was draining the company’s balance sheet. What Dryson really meant was the skintflint felt the charity work was taking money from the investors pockets, including his own. Truth was, the charity work brought in extra funds through the fundraising process and paid for itself. Once again, Gabe would be forced to prove it through the numbers. It was a waste of his time, but Gabe would do it.
Most of his job was keeping the company profitable, dealing with any emergencies, press relations, and calming the board and investors. While he took pride in upholding a tradition of family business practices, Gabe sometimes found it a little tedious. However, he had no idea what else he would do. This was what he had been born into and what was expected of him. It was what he expected of himself.
Pulling out his laptop and hooking it up to his monitor, Gabe realized in his haste to leave the condo, he had forgotten the USB stick containing the reports he needed for the meeting. It was okay, he reasoned. The USB was just a copy so he could work from home. The real data was in the data storage device Ben had rigged up for him. Gabe didn’t trust backing up his items to some random space on the internet, he preferred to have it in physical form.
It was gone.
“Jessica,” pressing the intercom on the phone, Gabe talked to his secretary. “Where is the backup storage device for my computer?”
“Ben has it for a scheduled maintenance. He will return it just before lunch,” she reminded him. “We talked about this on Friday. All you need for the board meeting is the USB copy of the reports anyways.”
The USB stick which he had left at home. Checking his watch, Gabe had less than twenty minutes until the meeting. There wasn’t time to get to the condo and get back before the start of the meeting. The only possible solution to his problems was one he didn’t like at all.
The worst part was, he didn’t have Britney’s phone number. If she wasn’t at the condo, then he had no way to get in contact with her. Pulling out his cellphone, Gabe called his security system phone number, patching himself through to the screen system. He could see by video on his phone Britney was happily searching through his kitchen, humming under her breath as she looked through what he had on hand for food. Faced with empty cupboards and a fridge which contained only basic condiments and a few drinks, she huffed as she looked into a freezer which had only ice.
Gabe rolled his eyes and pressed the call button. He waited while Britney was startled at the chiming of the security screen. There was one in the kitchen and she peered at the screen before pressing the button to accept the call.
“I told you I have a meal service,” he reminded her.
“You have nothing in your kitchen,” complained Britney. “What do you do for snacks?”
“I’m rarely home before seven,” explained Gabe. “I eat my preordered dinner, go through whatever reports I need to, and go to bed. I get any snacks from the cart service at the office. It’s convenient. Now, I need you to do something for me.”
