Stuart Woods - Strategic moves

"Arrested? For what?"

"I'm not sure; some sort of financial irregularities in his firm. It should be in the papers tomorrow."

"This is not another Madoff thing, is it?"

"I hope not," Herbie said.

"Herbie, have you invested with your new father-in-law?"

"I'm not sure; Stephanie is handling that."

"Where is she?"

"With her mother."

"Herbie, you should get over there immediately and find out where your money is, and if it's with Gunn, you'd better move it fast."

"Okay, I'll go talk to Stephanie."

"Have you canceled your travel plans yet?"

"No. I guess I'd better call the travel agent. We were supposed to fly to Saint Barts this afternoon."

"That's exactly what you should do," Stone said. "If this is a financial scandal, you and Stephanie are better off not being in New York."

"I'll see what Stephanie thinks," Herbie said, then left.

Joan came into his office with a copy of the New York Post. "Is this Herbie's new father-in-law?" she asked, handing the paper to Stone.

"I'm afraid it is," Stone replied. "I met him last night."

"There's no mention of the wedding in the story," she said.

"They'll get around to it, don't worry." His phone rang and Joan picked it up. "Mr. Barrington's office… One moment."

She covered the phone with her hand. "Somebody called Adele Lansdown."

Stone took the phone from her. "Good morning, Adele."

"Have you heard?" she asked.

"Yes, Herbie was just here. He's on his way to the Gunns' place to see Stephanie."

"Stop him, if you can," she said. "There's a mob scene over there."

"Hold on, please. Joan, see if you can get Herbie on his cell. Tell him to go straight home, not to the Gunns', and to try Stephanie on her cell and tell her the same thing." He went back to Adele. "My secretary is trying to reach Herbie. Do you know anything about what's led up to this?"

"Not a thing. Jack is the most upright man I have ever met."

"Do you have money invested with him?"

"Yes, most of my liquid assets."

"Can you get it out?"

"I can't do that; it would look awful if Jack's sister-in-law appeared to have no faith in him."

"Have you talked to Christine?"

"Just for a moment. She has no idea what's happening, except some people showed up at their house at breakfast time and took Jack away."

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Do I need a lawyer, Stone?"

"Are you in business with Jack, except as an investor?"

"No, I'm not."

"Then just sit tight and get somebody to screen your phone calls. Don't talk to anybody from the press."

"Not even to support Jack?"

"Not even for that, until you know more. Call me if you need any help."

"All right. Thanks, Stone." She hung up.

"Do you know anybody who invests with Gunn?" Joan asked.

"That was his sister-in-law; she does, but nobody else that I know of. Did you reach Herbie?"

"Yes, I caught him in a cab. He's going home, and he's trying to reach Stephanie."

The phone rang again and Joan answered. "It's Mike Freeman at Strategic Services," she said.

"Hello, Mike."

"Morning, Stone. Have you heard about this Jack Gunn thing?"

"Yes, just a few minutes ago."

"We're having a board meeting in half an hour. I'd like for you to be here."

"I'm on my way. What's the agenda?"

"Strategic Services has got more than ten million dollars invested with Gunn. That's the agenda."

Stone was in a cab when his cell phone vibrated. "Hello?"

"It's Bill Eggers."

"Good morning, Bill."

"I assume you've seen the papers, about Jack Gunn."

"Yes. I met him last night at his daughter's wedding reception."

"I just had a call from his corporate counsel, Leighton Craft. He wants us to represent Gunn, and I'd like you to help me handle it."

"We've got a conflict, Bill. Strategic Services has a big investment with him; I'm on the way to a board meeting there right now."

"It may not be a conflict. Leighton says that Gunn has done nothing wrong and is cooperating with the U.S. Attorney. I'm meeting with them this afternoon, and I'd like you to be there."

"All right, but I'll have to tell Mike Freeman about it."

"Go ahead and do that. I'll see you at three o'clock here."

Stone hung up. Yesterday he had never heard of Jack Gunn, and now he was up to his ass in the man's problems.

Stone arrived at Strategic Services, and the receptionist sent him in to Mike Freeman straightaway. Mike had moved into Jim Hackett's old office.

"Sit down, Stone," Freeman said. "I'm going to place a conference call to London, Tel Aviv, and Hong Kong in just a minute, but I wanted to talk to you first. What do you know about the Jack Gunn arrest?"

"Just what I've read in the papers," Stone said. "I attended his daughter's wedding last night-his new son-in-law is a client of mine. I'd never met Gunn before."

"Jim Hackett was a good friend of Gunn's; it was Jim who invested the firm's money with him."

"You said ten million. What part of your cash reserves does that represent?"

"Only a small part; we're sitting on over half a billion in cash."

"Well, that's good. Have you checked your insurance policies?"

"What insurance policies?"

"In your corporate portfolio you may have something that protects corporate funds from theft."

Freeman pressed a button on his phone. "Get me the legal department, an insurance specialist."

"I'll get right back to you," his secretary said.

"It would certainly make things simpler if we're covered for that," Freeman said.

"Mike, I have to tell you that I had a call from Bill Eggers on the way over. He's meeting with Gunn's corporate counsel, a man named Leighton Craft, this afternoon to discuss the firm's representing Gunn, and he wants me to help handle that."

"Wouldn't that be a conflict of interest, since you represent us?"

"If it looks that way, we can seal me off from any contact with the representation of Gunn," Stone explained, "but I understand that Gunn's position is that he's innocent of any wrongdoing and is cooperating with the U.S. Attorney."

"Not like the Madoff thing, huh?"

"I hope not. Bill wants me at the first meeting this afternoon. I'll need to look into this some more, to be sure there's no conflict, but in any case, my first loyalty is to Strategic Services."

Stone's cell phone buzzed, and he looked at it. "It's Eggers. I'd better take this." He got up and walked across the room. "Yes, Bill?"

"Stone, I'm going to seal you off from the Gunn representation. I don't want it to interfere with your representation of Strategic Services, and you should tell Mike Freeman that I can't work on his account until the Gunn thing is cleared up, which could be some time."

"I understand, Bill."

"This means you're going to have to handle the Strategic Services account without consulting me. Most of the rest of the firm will be available to you, if you need help."

"Thanks, I'll let Mike know." Stone hung up and returned to his seat. "I'm all yours," Stone said.

"Good."

"But Bill is going to have to be absent from your account while he's dealing with the Gunn thing."

"I understand."

"Have you made any attempt to move your investments from Gunn to another firm?"

"Not yet."

"I think it would be good if you moved those assets to another entity, say, your bank, for the time being. You should talk to your banker before you call the Gunn firm. Who is your account manager there?"

"Jack Gunn."

"You'll have to talk to his number two, then."

"That would be Peter Collins. I've dealt with him a couple of times."

Freeman called his banker, talked for a moment, then hung up. "All Gunn's accounts are temporarily frozen," he said to Stone. "No transferring any funds into or out of accounts, and no trading."