“It’s Grant. Walter’s son?”
“Yes, I know who you are, Grant. What can I help you with?”
“I… um…” He could feel Jack’s annoyance through the phone. “I’m supposed to be starting some sort of initiative—”
“Yes, what you promised on the talk shows. I’m aware. I’ve started outlining a plan.”
“Oh, okay.” There was a long pause. Grant didn’t know what to say next.
“I’m working from New Cardiff. I didn’t go into the city today,” Jack told him. “We can meet if you’d like to go over it.”
“Great. That works.”
“I’ll see you in an hour.”
“Okay, that—” Jack had already hung up, and Grant was left talking to a dead connection.
“This is going to be bad, Gus,” he said to his dog.
Jack arrived an hour later on the dot. Stefan had set them up in a room he called the boardroom. There was a table, several large screens, and a whiteboard.
“A little history on the foundation,” Jack said, sitting down. “It was Nancy’s idea. She didn’t want Walter and me to burn money on planes and cars. She thought we needed to use the knowledge we had gained with Holbrook Enterprises to help make the world a better place. She is very involved in the foundation, from fundraising to setting the vision for the charitable activities.”
“What kind of work do you all do exactly?”
“Normally, we look at distribution and logistical systems and apply them to problems the private sector doesn’t want to solve—for example, bringing food, electricity, and shelter to people in disaster zones. While the veterans-and-strays thing you announced is a bit simplistic, everyone loves veterans and dogs, so it should be a fairly easy problem to solve.”
“It’s not that easy,” Grant protested.
Jack gave him a mocking smile. “It’s getting animals from a few select developed areas in the United States to other educated, literate people in the United States. Compare that to moving medical supplies after a devastating earthquake to isolated regions in Nepal that have never been mapped.”
“Yeah, I see your point,” Grant conceded.
“The fact that we can just drive the dogs makes this an easy problem.” Jack laid out some papers with diagrams.
“I’ve already got a team together building a database and a website. We’ll partner with the VA and with other organizations that serve veterans. I believe the team has already been in contact with the animal rescue groups around the various military bases in the US. The dogs in Hawaii will be a little trickier, but it won’t be too bad of a problem. The project is already funding itself. Several GoFundMe campaigns have already popped up, and people are dumping money in them. There’s going to be a surplus.”
“Sounds great!” Grant said. “So what should I be doing? I can call some of my buddies—”
“Not necessary,” Jack said. “You only have to be the face of the initiative. The work is already being done.”
“Oh,” Grant said. He had thought he would be more involved. Did Jack really think he was that incompetent? Jack had basically just done all the work.
“I know we had talked about you starting at the foundation then transitioning into Holbrook Enterprises,” Jack told him, “but your father has taken your idea of being a sales associate and run with it. He has grand visions of you being in charge of the sales strategy for the whole company.”
“I don’t know if I’m going to be that good,” Grant admitted.
“Maybe, maybe not, but sales is hard work. You won’t have time for foundation particulars, only the most superficial of tasks,” Jack said, gathering up his things.
“Yeah, I have to win fifty million a year,” Grant said, rubbing his neck.
Jack smirked. “That’s nothing. That’s the test to make sure you have the connections you claim you have.”
“I don’t think I have them,” Grant said quietly.
Jack leveled his gaze at Grant.
“It’s sink or swim. You better make something happen.”
