'Dry martini with a twist?' Anderson added.
Freeman glared at Anderson die way he looked at his dog when she misbehaved. Anderson pretended not to notice, which was pretty much the way Freeman's dog usually reacted.
'Coffee will be just fine,' Nelson said. Jo was standing at the door and she nodded. She looked expectantly at Anderson but he shook his head.
'So, I don't suppose the board meeting's here, is it?' Nelson asked.
'We've got a boardroom upstairs,' Freeman said.
'Any news on the orders front?' Nelson asked.
'Nothing yet,' Freeman replied.
'The way I hear it, the US is pumping billions into Israel to maintain its security,' Nelson said. 'You can figure all the Arab countries are gonna have to do the same. That's gotta be good news, right?'
'Unfortunately, those billions are going on big defence systems, aircraft and missiles,' Anderson said. 'At the moment there aren't too many crumbs falling off the cake. Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better, not so far as we're concerned, anyway.'
'Because you're not getting a share?' Nelson asked.
'And it isn't going to get any better,' Freeman said. 'The best example is the fighter aircraft business. Back in the 1950s the US military would buy two thousand fighters a year, keeping lots of firms and tens of thousands of people working. In the sixties that had dropped to six hundred fighters a year, and that number had halved a decade later. Even in the Reagan years, with the defence budget doubled, they still only bought three hundred a year. The total expenditure keeps going up, but it doesn't keep pace with
the unit cost. And who profits? The big manufacturers, that's who. All the smaller firms can't compete.'
'You know where it'll end?' Anderson asked. 'If things continue they way they're going, by the year 2050 the military will be buying one plane a year. It'll be the best plane ever made, and it'll certainly be the most expensive, but it'll still only be one plane. And there'll only be one manufacturer.'
'You don't really believe that,' Nelson said. Jo popped into the office with Nelson's coffee and copies of the minutes of the previous board meeting.
Anderson grinned. 'It's maybe an exaggeration, but the principle holds good. All the money is going to the big boys, which means there's less to go around for firms like us. I just thought you'd like to know where we stand.'
'I appreciate the briefing,' Nelson said coldly. 'Are we almost ready?'
Anderson looked over his shoulder as a car drove by the building. 'Katherine's here,' he said to Freeman.
Nelson flicked through the minutes of the last meeting.
'That's Mrs Freeman, right?'
'Uh-huh. She's on the board. It was her father who founded the business.'
'Okay, I didn't realise she was the founder's daughter. I see she's listed in the minutes as K. Williamson. That's her maiden name, right?'
Freeman nodded. 'She has forty per cent of the voting stock, and has done since she was eighteen. She never bothered to re-register them under her married name.'
'Josh Bowers,' Nelson read. He looked up from the minutes.
'He's your Development Director, right? I'm looking forward to meeting him. We're still waiting for Bill Hannah?'
'That's usually the way it goes,' Anderson said. 'Bill lives in a retirement home out in Hunt Valley and he insists on driving himself. He's almost ninety so it takes him a while.'
'Bill was one of my father-in-law's original backers,' Freeman explained. 'He has a ten per cent stake in the company. He's been gradually selling off shares over the years to pay medical bills and such. He's not well.'
'He's been not well for the last fifteen years,' Anderson laughed. 'The old man will outlast us all.'
Freeman grimaced. He remembered how Anderson used to say the same about Katherine's father. They had all expected him to live for ever. Freeman still felt ill at ease in the chairman's office as if he expected him to walk back in to reclaim his desk. The great Charlie Williamson. Freeman never thought of the man by name. He was always Katherine's father, or his father-in-law. Freeman wasn't sure why that was, but it might have had something to do with the fact that the two men were never close. The old man had always resented Freeman marrying his daughter, and Freeman in turn had always been overawed by him. Nothing had surprised Freeman more than discovering after Charlie Williamson's death that he'd named his son-in-law as his successor.
Nelson stood up and straightened the creases of his trousers.
He picked up his briefcase and looked at Freeman expectantly.
'We could wait for him in the boardroom,' he said.
They took the stairs. It was only one floor up to the executive offices and the elevator was notoriously slow. Katherine's father always said that he preferred to be closer to the workforce than to the accountants, and after Freeman took over as chairman he saw no good reason for moving upstairs. Anderson excused himself and popped into the bathroom. Nelson seemed more impressed by the offices on the executive floor and he nodded his approval as Freeman showed him into the wood-panelled room. The oak table was big enough to seat twenty and was more than fifty years old. On the wall behind the head of the table was a gilt-framed oil painting of Charlie Williamson, a Bible in his right hand and an evangelical gleam in his eyes.
'That's your father-in-law?' Nelson asked, nodding at the painting.
'Uh-huh,' Freeman said. 'The man himself.'
'He looks like a guy who was used to getting his own way.'
'He was strong-willed, all right,' Anderson agreed as he walked into the room. 'Charlie Williamson wasn't a man you'd want to cross.'
They were interrupted by the arrival of Katherine and Josh.
Freeman introduced them to Nelson and then they took their places, Freeman sitting at the head of the table, the dour visage of CRW's founder staring over his shoulder. A few minutes later, Bill Hannah arrived, apologising profusely for being late.
He was followed by Freeman's secretary who quickly handed out copies of the minutes of the previous meeting to those who hadn't already received them.
With a dearth of new orders, most of the meeting was taken up by Josh describing the progress his research department was making with new products. He tried to be as upbeat as possible, but it was clear that it was going to be a year at best before he had anything close to a saleable system. Throughout Josh's presentation, Nelson leant back in his chair and played with his gold pen, a look of barely concealed disdain on his face.
There were only two items of Any Other Business: one raised by Anderson, the other a request by Nelson to say a few words.
Anderson's was short and to the point. He'd been looking around for additional investment resources and one of the company's backers, a New York-based venture capital outfit, Ventura Investments, had agreed to put an extra half a million dollars into the business in exchange for shares. Anderson was enthusiastic about the deal, but Nelson frowned and tapped his pen on the oak desk. 'What's their holding just now?' he asked.
'Seventeen per cent,' Anderson said. 'It'll go up to twenty-one if this deal goes ahead.'
'It'll mean the existing shareholders will see their stakes diluted,' Nelson said. 'Will they be happy with that?'
Katherine nodded. 'If it means extra money coming into the company, I don't see how we can refuse,' she said.
Hannah nodded in agreement, but he seemed less happy with the prospect.
'Who are these people?' Nelson asked.
'They're a group of local businessmen who've pooled their funds to back various speculative investments,' Anderson said.
'Total worth is about twenty million.'