One by One(23)

“Is it safe for beginners?” Carl says, still looking anxious.

“The cut-through? Absolutely. It’s the equivalent of a green run. Have you skied at all?”

“Yeah, but not for years.” He looks over his shoulder. Topher and the others have gone through into the den to begin the meeting, and we are alone. “Strictly entre nous,” he says, rather bitterly, lowering his voice, “I’d rather have poked my fucking eyes with cocktail sticks than gone on a skiing holiday. But this is what you get for working for a company like Snoop. Topher’s a snowboarding nut, Eva’s practically a pro skier, and what they say goes. The rest of us have to lump it.”

I nod, as if he’s making small talk, but in truth this insight into Snoop’s inner workings is weirdly fascinating. There may be five shareholders, but in day-to-day life it seems that Topher and Eva call the shots pretty autocratically.

It makes it all the more interesting that for once, the balance of power is out of their hands. One of them is not going to get their way over this buyout. The question is, which one?





LIZ


Snoop ID: ANON101

Listening to: Offline

Snoopers: 0

Snoopscribers: 0

“Okay,” Rik says. He clicks off the PowerPoint slide and turns on the lights. “That’s it. I think everyone can go and get into their ski gear now.”

I rub my eyes, feeling the sudden brightness searing the back of my skull. My headache is back again. I stand up, pulling my tights straight. Around me there is the rustle of beanbags and the noise of sofa springs as everyone else gets to their feet.

“Just a second,” Topher puts in. His voice is smooth. “Can the shareholders stay back for a sec?”

I feel something in my stomach drop away. There is a murmur of assent. Ani, Inigo, Carl, Miranda, and Tiger rise and begin to file out.

Within a few seconds it’s just Topher, Eva, Rik, Elliot… and me.

Oh God. I feel my breath coming fast. Oh God, oh God, oh God… they’re going to ask and I’m going to have to—to have to—

“Look,” Eva is saying, “I think the cold, hard reality of Rik’s figures wasn’t lost on any of us. It’s a pretty stark picture. Our overheads—”

“I don’t want to go over all that again,” Topher says dismissively, as if the profit and loss sheets Rik just took us through were totally irrelevant. “We can all read a spreadsheet, and Rik made his points very ably. Before we head out, I think it would be really helpful to take an indicative vote, so we know where we stand.”

My breath quickens. The headache behind my eyes intensifies until the edges of my vision begin to fray.

“But, Topher,” Eva is saying, “you know perfectly well that we don’t have full information yet; that’s the point of this week, to weigh up all—”

“And it’s why I said indicative,” Topher interrupts, a touch of aggression creeping into his voice. “This is nonbinding, Eva. It’s just a show of hands to see where we are. It’s possible we’re already close to an agreement.”

Eva says nothing. She glances at me, and I know what she is thinking, and I know she can’t figure out how to head Topher off from this. He is like a mule when he puts his mind to something. He just pushes, and pushes, and pushes…

Elliot also says nothing, of course, but we all know what his silence means—support for Topher. It’s what it always means. Elliot doesn’t care about anything except for code. For everything else, he defers to Topher.

“Rik?” Eva says. Her tone is brittle.

“Why not?” Rik says. His acquiescence surprises me.

“So,” Topher says, in a slightly mollifying voice. “As before, in a nonbinding show of hands, who’s in favor of the buyout?”

“Me,” Rik says.

“And me,” Eva adds. There is a long silence, and I can feel the tension as they wait. When Topher speaks again, there is satisfaction in his tone, like a cat that’s got the cream.

“Great, and who’s against?”

“Me.” Elliot’s deep monotone makes the word sound like a full stop.

“And me, obviously,” Topher says. There is another pause, and then he says, as if attempting to sound more casual than he really is. “And… um, what’s your vote, Liz?”

I swallow. There is something hard stuck in my throat, and I realize that I haven’t spoken since I got up this morning. No one talked to me at breakfast. No one asked my opinion at the meeting. I don’t know if I can trust my voice when I speak.

“Liz?” Eva says. I can tell that she is trying not to pressure me, but at the same time, the edge in her tone shows clear.

“I—” There is a crack in my voice, it is croaky with disuse. I swallow again, vainly forcing down the obstacle that feels like it is choking me. “I don’t know.”

“Come on, Liz,” Rik says, and though he is trying to sound jolly and supportive, there is impatience in his tone as well. “You must have an idea of how you feel. Do you want twelve million, yes or no? It’s not a hard question.”

“Or,” Topher says, and the sharpness makes me flinch, “do you want shares worth potentially much more if we retain control and go public.”