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“It’s official,” said the announcer on the news channel Rick had been watching. “With 97% of the votes in, Director Hobbs is now the CEO of the Wilson Corporation. CEO Hobbs was the Director of the Legal Division of Wilson...” The announcer paused. “It seems like the New CEO is ready to take the podium at the victory celebration. Let’s go there live.”
The scene changed to a large gathering. Rick was impressed that the soft-spoken Hobbs had so many people backing him. Hobbs walked up to the podium. He seemed a little despondent but forced himself to smile. Rick knew him well enough to know that he was not happy.
“Wow,” said Hobbs and the crowd went wild. When they calmed down, he continued. “I never expected to win so I have no victory speech.” Again, the crowed clapped and cheered. “As a member of the board of Directors I was expected to run for the position of CEO. However, what I expected was to serve the new CEO with the same honesty I used to serve the people.” He paused to let the crowd stop cheering. “Here and now, I give my oath to the shareholders and to the people of this great corporation, that I will do my best for all.” Hobbs seemed like he wanted to get off the stage, but the prolonged cheers wouldn’t let him. “Let us move forward in peace together so that all corporations can profit from now on.”
As Hobbs walked away from the podium, everyone in the hall was screaming, clapping and stamping their feet.
Rick turned off the news and readied himself for bed. He was glad that Hobbs was the new CEO. He was a good man and would do what was right for all.
It seemed like almost every one of the shareholders voted for this election. The one thing Rick always thought was strange was that any shareholder could vote. One share one vote, but you didn’t have to live inside of the Wilson boarders. If enough foreign investors bought enough stock in the Wilson Corporation, they could take over the corp.
Yet that didn’t seem likely as the Board of Directors owned 60% of the stock for Wilson. And they kept it that way. If you wanted to be on the Board of Directors, you had to buy out one of the current members. In the case of Nash his assets were seized and would be given to the new CEO. In this case it would be Hobbs. Rick was sure that the transfer would be taking place in the morning during normal business hours.
Rick thought about the vote. If Hobbs had 63% of the votes then most of the Board of Directors voted for him along with a large percentage of the shareholders. That was not surprising as Hobbs popularity had gone up dramatically after prosecuting Nash. Hobbs was the face of the Wilson corporation. Neman only had 17% that meant that only three Board members voted for him. Graham with 5% meant that he voted for himself. The rest had 2% or 3%.
Hobbs was now the richest man in the twenty-three worlds of the Wilson Corporation. And in charge of the richest corporation in the galaxy. Rick was glad for him.
He was just about to fall asleep when the light on his desk started flashing letting him know that he had a phone call. “Who the hell, is calling me at this hour?”
Rick was about to rollover and ignore it when the computer answered his question, “It’s CEO Hobbs on the line, should I activate the answering service?”
As soon as Rick heard it was Hobbs he jumped out of bed and said, “No I’ll answer it.” Then hit the button to receive the call. “Good morning CEO Hobbs. Congratulations on the victory.”
“Did I wake you?” Hobbs seemed concerned. That was one of the things Rick liked about Hobbs.
“No sir, I was just getting ready for bed.”
“I’m sorry. I should have waited until morning.”
“Not at all Sir. What can I do for you?” Hobbs didn’t look to happy about the promotion.
“Well, a couple of things. First, I want to make you a Director. Then I want to put you in charge of the Legal Division. I want you to take over my old job.”
Rick couldn’t understand why he wanted to promote him in the middle of the night. He shook his head. “Sir there is very few things that I wouldn’t do for you, but this is one of them. No.”
“Can you give me a reason why you say that?” Hobbs looked a little distressed.
Rick was halfway expecting this request as soon as Hobbs pulled into the lead in the election. “First and foremost, I am an investigator. That’s what I do best. To put me in charge of the legal division would take me off investigation and leave it in the hands of people I don’t know if I can trust. Next, I don’t want to play the political games that go around that table. Moves and countermoves are not what I do. I’m blunt and honest. I don’t think the Board could handle that.”
“And that is exactly why I need you,” said Hobbs. “You called it a victory. Nothing could be further from the truth. This whole mess was dumped into my lap with no way to handle it. I need someone I can trust.” Rick was starting to feel his resolve crumble. “I’ll tell you what I’ll handle the Board. I know the ins and outs.”
“No. I still need to know what happened to Collier.”
“Okay,” said Hobbs with an air of exasperation. “Let me explain something to you. As Director of the Legal Department, you can do whatever you want. Go wherever you want. You can be out of the office for months at a time and no one will say a word about it. You are the boss. The only one you have to answer to is me.”
“What about the office work? What about the case load? What...”
“Rick!” The hardness of Hobbs voice stopped the questions. He continued in a softer tone. “You have people to do that for you now. I really haven’t done anything with the legal department for the last year. The only exception has been working with you. Most of my time has been battling with the Board. I put good people in places that get the job done. They will take care of the day-to-day business so you can do what you need to do.”
“I see,” said Rick noncommittally. He had already decided to do it. If for no other reason that because Hobbs asked him to.
“Look, you may think my job will get easier now that I’m the CEO. The truth is that it is going to get a lot worse. Most of the Board was loyal to Nash, if for no other reason than the power he gave them. I’m going to be getting it from all sides. I need someone to cover my back.”
“Yes. Okay. I’ll do it.” Rick thought about the last time Hobbs offered him a job. In his first week he was shot, saw a planet get blown up and got caught in the middle of a war. He wondered what the next week would be like.
“Great,” said Hobbs with the excitement of a kid. “I’ll make the arrangements. Take the next few days off and when you’re ready come into the office and we’ll get you set up. Thanks Rick. Hobbs out.”
After Hobbs ended the call Rick went back to bed. He lay there thinking about the life of a Director. As a kid Rick hated the Directors for what they had. It seemed like they had anything they wanted and didn’t care about most of what they had. As he grew into a man he hated them for the bad decisions they made. The slums seemed to be getting worse and life became harder. As an investigator he hated them for the crimes they got away with.
The more Rick thought about it the more he realized that it was the reason he wouldn’t backdown from the Harris case. He had hated the Directors all his life. Now he was going to become one of them. He was going to become the very thing he hated. Self-doubt crept in and he wondered if he would make the same mistakes. Would he be as selfish and greedy? Would it change who he was?
“No,” he said out loud. He was not going to let them change him. He was going to be the Director for the legal department. There would be justice for all, or he would know why.
And that brought the thought to mind, what did Hobbs want? Hobbs did nothing without a plan and a purpose. Yes he could trust Rick. Rick felt very loyal to Hobbs for all the support he gave in the Harris and Nash Trials. Each time Rick put his life on the line and Hobbs did everything possible to help him.
In return Rick would do everything possible to help Hobbs. But the question of what Hobbs wanted was still a mystery.
Rick rolled over and went to sleep with the final thought, I’ll know soon enough.
––––––––
The next morning Rick slept until he woke up. It was strange to not be woken by the alarm clock. It was just a matter of coming gently out of sleep. He was not aware that he could do that. He sat up in bed and realized that he had nothing to do. He was no longer the Lead Investigator of the Wilson Corporation. And he was not yet the Director of the Legal Department.
It was a starling realization that he had always defined himself as the job he did. Still, who was Rick? It was a question he couldn’t answer, and he found that troubling.
To get his mind away from that thought, Rick thought about watching a movie. Then he realized why he didn’t really watch them any other time. They seemed a pail shadow of the real-life drama he had been living in for the past 17 years. Action and adventure, done that. Courtroom drama, been there. Who done it’s, had the scars to prove it.
His mind came back to the question of who he was. As Rick was pondering the question, who he was, he got a call from Hobbs.
“Hi Rick. How are you doing?” Hobbs seemed to be in a better mood than the last time they talked.
“Well Sir, to be honest I’m ready to go back to work.”
Hobbs chuckled. “Nothing to do? Well then why don’t you come into the Legal Building tomorrow, and we will get you set up.”
“Sir, may I ask, what is it you want me to do? I mean I don’t have the slights clue what’s to be done.”
“It’s alright Rick. You will be given a briefing on what’s needed and wanted. You have some responsibilities, and they will be explained to you. Just show up tomorrow at 10:00 and go from there. Now I have some things to take care of, so I’ll talk to you later. Hobbs out.”
Rick looked at the blank screen a little disgruntled and said out loud, “You never did answer my question.”