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acquire. And he's going forward fast, with the help of his friends like Jim Daly at Goldman, Sachs. Daly's very smart, but investment bankers always have big fees riding on a merger. They'll do their due diligence, I'm not saying they won't. But it'd take a lot to get them to back out of the deal now."

    "Uh-huh."

    "So Nichols feels he's lost control of the acquisition, and he's being rushed into a deal that's a lot richer than it should be. Nichols doesn't see why C-W should make us all wealthy. He'd pull out of this deal if he could-if only to screw Conley."

    "But Conley's driving this deal."

    "Yes. And Conley's abrasive. Ile likes to make little speeches about youth versus age, the coming digital era, a young vision for the future. It enrages Nichols. Ed Nichols feels he's doubled the net worth of the company in a decade, and now this little twerp is giving him lectures."

    "And how does Meredith fit in?"

    Kaplan hesitated. "Meredith is suitable."

    "Meaning what?"

    "She's Eastern. She grew up in Connecticut and went to Vassar. The Conley people like that. They're comfortable with that."

    "That's all? She has the right accent?"

    "You didn't hear it from me," Kaplan said. "But I think they also see her as weak. They think they can control her once the merger is completed."

    "And Garvin's going along with that?"

    Kaplan shrugged. "Bob's a realist," she said. "He needs capitalization. He's built his company skillfully, but we're going to require massive infusions of cash for the next phase, when we go head-to-head with Sony and Philips in product development. Conley-White's textbook operation is a cash cow. Bob looks at them and sees green-and he's inclined to do what they want, to get their money."

    "And of course, Bob likes Meredith."

    "Yes. That's true. Bob likes her."

    Sanders waited while she poked at her food for a while. "And you, Stephanie? What do you think?"

    Kaplan shrugged. "She's able."

    "Able but weak?"

    "No." Kaplan shook her head. "Meredith has ability. That's not in question. But I'm concerned about her experience. She's not as seasoned as she might be. She's being put in charge of four major technical units that are expected to grow rapidly. I just hope she's up to it."

    There was the clink of a spoon on a glass, and Garvin stepped to the front of the room.
    "Even though you're still eating dessert, let's get started, so we can finish by two o'clock,"
    he said. "Let me remind you of the new timetable. Assuming everything continues as planned, we expect to make the formal announcement of the acquisition at a press conference here on Friday noon. And now, let me introduce our new associates from Conley-White . . ."

    As Garvin named the C-W people, and they stood up around the table, Kaplan leaned over and whispered to Tom, "This is all fluff and feathers. The real reason for this lunch is you-know-who."

    ". . . and finally," Garvin said, "let me introduce someone that many of you know, but some of you do not, the new Vice President for Advanced Operations and Planning, Meredith Johnson."

    There was scattered, brief applause as Johnson got up from her seat and walked to a podium at the front of the room. In her dark blue suit, she looked the model of corporate correctness, but she was strikingly beautiful. At the podium, she put on horn-rimmed glasses and lowered the conference room lights.

    "Bob has asked me to review the way the new structure will work," she said, "and to say something about what we see happening in the coming months." She bent over the podium, where a computer was set up for presentations. "Now, if I can just work this thing . . . let me see . . ."

    In the darkened room, Don Cherry caught Sanders's eye and shook his head slowly.

    "Ali, okay, here we are," Johnson said, at the podium. The screen behind her came to life.
    Animated images generated by the computer were projected onto the screen. The first image showed a red heart, which broke into four pieces. "The heart of