Frederick Ramsay_Botswana Mystery 01 Read Online Free Page A

eyebrow. Leo spun around and gestured dismissively. “I didn’t tell you about him sooner because a certain amount of, shall we say, discretion is required here.”
    Travis didn’t like this. Whenever Leo said he needed discretion, things usually moved into areas that ultimately required the combined skills of the company’s legal department and possibly another handful of private operatives to straighten out.
    “If Mrs. Painter isn’t going, we should be okay.”
    “I’d leave the two kids behind if I could,” Leo continued, “but, as I said, I promised Griswold’s late mother I’d look after him. She couldn’t see the weasel she’d raised. She once said…do you believe this…‘he’s a lot like you.’ He’s as much like me as Paris Hilton is like Mother Theresa.”
    In some ways, Travis thought, but wouldn’t articulate, she’d been right. Bobby Griswold presented just as self-centered, arrogant, and lacking in conscience as, he thought, Leo. Unlike Leo, however, he had not acquired any of his stepfather’s ruthlessness or drive. Had he, he might be in position to head the company, if and when Leo died. Travis had witnessed Leo’s will the previous February and that possibility existed, at least as an option if shrewdly executed. Travis could make that happen if he wanted to. It stood second on his list as Plan B. Plan A centered on his own elevation to the presidency—a plan that would be monkey-wrenched if the company went public too soon. Time. He needed time. And that, after Leo’s three major cardiac arrests and a quadruple by-pass, seemed increasingly uncertain.
    Travis didn’t press about this new advisor, Greshenko. He guessed Leo was up to something that he did not want to know about but, in his need to stay alive in the sea of sharks in which he swam, he’d better find out. He tapped his papers back into a neat stack and stowed them in his briefcase. “There are papers to be signed to move the IPO forward. Are you sure you want them dated after you return from Botswana? If something happened to you—”
    “Like what?”
    “Not to put too fine a point on it, but your heart, Leo. It’s not too reliable, and if you should…well, it could lead to certain complications.”
    Leo laughed.
    As it currently stood, Travis’ only hope for the future did not rest exclusively with the event that Leo would die or retire soon, leaving him a clear shot at the board of directors, most of whom he had carefully cultivated over the last decade. Travis had an alternative that he could put into effect, but not now. Later. With Bobby Griswold’s shares, the right combination of Board members, and other interested parties, he…well. If Earth Global were to function in the absence of Leo Painter, it would be with Travis at the helm.
    “One last thing…”
    “What?”
    “Your will, is it in order?” Travis asked as a formality. “Henry tells me you haven’t done anything since the last one after—”
    “Margaret died? After the company goes public, I will see about a new one that covers all the changes. For now, let it be. Hell, if I die, I won’t be around to care, will I?”
    “It’s a stretch, I know, but, you realize that might put Bobby…”
    “Then it’s in everybody’s best interest to keep me alive. Everybody’s,” he repeated, and smiled. Like a wolf eyeing an injured deer.
    Travis’ expression did not alter. Not quite, boss man, he thought. He finished his briefing and snapped his case shut. Leo returned to the window. “It’s a good thing we’re heading out. It looks like a bitch of a winter is on the way.”
    “Yes, sir. We leave Friday at six AM , from Signature Flight Support, that’s at Midway—”
    “I know, I know. Just tell it to the driver. Oh, and make sure Rose calls everyone to confirm the time and have her send a car for the boy and the bimbo. They’re liable to oversleep.”

Chapter 5
    Mr. Pako, her supervisor, did not like Sanderson. It was nothing