The Inner Sanctum Read Online Free PDF Page B

rose quickly from the office couch and extended his hand. "How do you do, sir?"
    Mohler grimaced at Will's grimy fingernails. When they had finished shaking hands, Mohler wiped his palm on his dark suit pants. The subtle snub was not lost on Will--or David.
    "I better get going." Will picked up his jacket off the couch.
    "I'll make the arrangements for what we talked about," David mumbled.
    "Thanks, little brother." Will nodded deferentially at Mohler. "Nice to meet you, sir."
    "Mmm."
    "See you, Will," David called after his brother.
    Mohler watched Will move toward the reception area, then turned and scowled at David. David Mitchell was tall and dark, a definite distraction to the women in the office, and from the wrong side of Baltimore's tracks--something Mohler disliked intensely. David's presence interrupted the old-money consistency that had ruled the firm since its inception. Mohler had voted against offering David a job but the other two committee members had overruled Mohler. He had never forgiven David for that. "David, I don't think it's a good idea to let your brother come up to our offices anymore."
    "Excuse me?" David had been about to sit back down but stopped.
    "We often entertain high-powered clients here at Sagamore. We want them to leave with a good impression. I think you understand what I'm driving at."
    "He's my brother. He's a good man," David said evenly, easing into his chair. "That's the only impression people would leave with."
    Mohler smiled condescendingly. "Your fifth anniversary with Sagamore is only a year away now. I would think you'd want to act in the most circumspect manner possible." Mohler sat down on the couch. "That would include taking a direct order from a member of the executive committee."
    David shifted uncomfortably in his chair at the mention of the five-year anniversary. If you had been in the bottom half of the monthly list a majority of your time with Sagamore, the executive committee quietly requested your presence on your fifth anniversary and terminated you. David had been in the bottom half most of his four years with the firm.
    "I'll be fine," David said calmly.
    "Don't be so sure."
    "So why did you come to my office, Art?" David ignored the warning.
    "I want to talk about General Engineering & Aerospace." Mohler removed his half-lens glasses, chewed on one of the stems for a moment, then replaced them on the bridge of his patrician nose. "Two and a half years ago, against my better judgment, you convinced me to put a billion dollars of Sagamore's money into GEA common stock. A billion dollars. Into a new issue of common stock that amounted to buying almost thirty percent of the company. And it's looking like one of the worst large investments this firm has ever made." Mohler opened a notebook on his lap, extracted several papers, and reviewed them. "When you bought the GEA stock, it was trading at twenty-five dollars a share. Now it's at twenty-two. In two and a half years it's gone down three points. In case you didn't realize, that's the wrong way, son," he sneered. "Remember, we want it to go up."
    A wave of resentment coursed through David, but he managed to keep his temper in check.
    Mohler removed another piece of paper from his notebook. "I have a graph here you gave me when you presented the GEA investment idea. It shows that you believed GEA stock would be at fifty dollars a share by now. That we'd make a billion dollars and double our money. Instead we've lost a hundred and twenty million. At least on paper. What's going on?" Mohler was quickly becoming angry.
    Once a month they went through this over the GEA investment, and every month Mohler's criticism grew sharper. "You know, Art, I think--"
    "GEA is going nowhere." Mohler didn't allow David to finish. "The defense industry continues to shrink, and the company hasn't won a major Pentagon contract in three years. It's time to jettison this position. Call the investment banks. Call our people at Alex Brown and