Edward was surprised to see they were already at his ride. It was the limousine; it picked them up from the airport and was still there when he tore out of the house after Benibo‘s phone call. At least the owners of the hire service would be happy campers in all this. The driver opened the back door with alacrity. Edward recalled the snarled traffic on the way from the airport and what had happened in that back seat. He turned to Ogbonna.
“Do you know if the Mercedes is here?”
“I think so,” the PA replied. He turned to the pool driver and spoke quietly.
“Okay sir,‘ the hapless driver replied in confusion and ran quickly to the elevator doors.
Mrs. Olayomi slowed down her car as it approached but Edward waved her away. They‘d all been great. Kanayo, Benibo and Odili only left about an hour ago.
“Did you check Odili‘s story out?”
“Yes. It was verified at the Securities and Exchange Commission. He filed an insider statement about a year ago and started trading; all his activities were properly filed.”
“Funny thing is I knew when that happened. I didn‘t dig that deep though; I just made sure the books were in order. Odili handled it after the initial tip off especially the SEC angle.”
“If he covered it up, do you think he‘s behind the takeover?”
“I‘ll have a private talk with him but I doubt that. He probably played in the market unwittingly. The share movements had been going on for a while before he started trading.”
“At least we can still work around the loss of his stock.”
Edward knew what Ogbonna was not saying. They wouldn‘t be here if they were only talking about five percent stock. The loss of the twenty from Gladys was the major culprit.
The limo driver returned and walked them to the Mercedes.
“Give the keys to me, I‘ll drive myself home.” The man jingled them over and bid both of them goodnight.
Before he entered the car, a thought occurred to Edward, “Ogbonna, about this company bidding for a takeover. I want you to find out all about them, the owner, holding company, subsidiaries, transactions, where, when, how, you name it.”
“Like the others said earlier, they‘re hiding behind a lot of intermediaries, corporate entities and...”
“We have to unmask them as fast as possible and don‘t think that anything is too small. Dig up even the tiniest details. You‘ve been with me long enough know that this is war.”