Read Online On Wings of Eagles by Ken Follett - Free Book Online Page B

in the eye. He had married a woman who
        resembled his mother. Blond and
    48 Ken Follen
     
    blue-eyed, Margot also had the kind of sweet nature that Lulu May had. But
    Margot did not dominate Perot.
        Everybody's mother has to die, and Lulu May was now eighty-two, but Perot
        could not be stoical about it. She was still a big part of his life. She no
        longer gave him orders, but she did give him encouragement. She had
        encouraged him to start EDS, and she had been the company's bookkeeper
        during the early years as well as a founding director. He could talk over
        problems with her. He had consulted her in December 1969, at the height of
        his campaign to publicize the plight of American prisoners of war in North
        Vietnam. He had been planning to fly to Hanoi, and his colleagues at EDS
        had pointed out that if he put his life in danger the price of EDS stock
        might fall. He was faced with a moral dilemma: Did he have the right to
        make shareholders suffer, even for the best of causes? He had put the
        question to his mother. Her answer had been unhesitating. "Let them sell
        their shares. " The prisoners were dying, and that was far more important
        than the price of EDS stock.
        It was the conclusion Perot would have come to on his own. He did not
        really need her to tell him what to do. Without her, he would be the same
        man and do the same things. He was going to miss her, that was all. He was
        going to miss her very badly indeed.
        But he was not a man to brood. He could do nothing for her today. Two years
        ago, when she had a stroke, he had turned Dallas upside down on a Sunday
        afternoon to find the best neurosurgeon in town and bring him to the
        hospital. He responded to a crisis with action. But if there was nothing to
        be done he was able to shut the problem out of his mind, forgetting the bad
        news and going on to the next task. He would not now spoil his family's
        holiday by walking around with a mournful face. He would enter into the fun
        and games, and enjoy the company of his wife and children.
        The phone rang, interrupting his thoughts, and he stepped into the kitchen
        to pick it up.
    :'Ross Perot," he said.
    'Ross, this is Bill Gayden."
        'Hi, Bill." Gayden was an EDS old-timer, having joined the company in 1967.
        In some ways he was the typical salesman. He was a jovial man, everyone's
        buddy. He liked a joke, a drink, a smoke, and a hand of poker. He was also
        a wizard financier, very good around acquisitions, mergers, and deals,
        which was
        ON WINGS OF EAGLES 49
     
    why Perot had made lurn president of EDS World. Gayden's sense of humor was
    irrepressible--he would find something funny to say in the most serious
    situations-but now he sounded somber.
    "Ross, we got a problem."
        It was an EDS catchphrase: We got a problem. It meant bad news.
    Gayden went on: "It's Paul and Bill."
        Perot knew instantly what he was talking about. The way in which his two
        senior men in Iran had been, prevented from leaving the country was highly
        sinister, and it had never been far from his mind, even while his mother
        lay dying. "But they're supposed to be allowed out today.
    "They've been arrested."
        The anger began as a small, hard knot in the pit of Perot's stomach. "Now,
        Bill, I was assured that they would be allowed to leave Iran as soon as
        this interview was over. Now I want to know how this happened."
    "They just slung them in jail."
    "On what charges?"
    "They didn't specify charges."
    "Under what law did they jail them?"
    "They didn't say."
    "What are we doing to get them out?"
        "Ross, they set bail at ninety million tomans. That's twelve million, seven
        hundred and fifty