My Man Pendleton Read Free Page B

to give the matter great thought. "I think, sir, that utilizing such a parlay might potentially impact productivity with a dynamic we can't possibly leverage at this time."
    Oh, now that had been truly inspired, he congratulated himself. Man, it was amazing how this corporate stuff just never left you. One quick flick of a mental switch, and it was all coming back to him.
    McClellan, Sr.'s snowy eyebrows shot up at his statement. "Do you?"
    Pendleton nodded sagely, steepled his fingers on the table before him, and strove for a grim expression. "Yes, sir, I'm afraid I do. Not only that," he added, hoping he wasn't taking the training wheels off too soon, "but channeling such a core strategy that way could decentralize market-driven revenues." He paused for a meaningful moment before adding, "And if I may speak frankly, sir?"
    "By all means, Pendleton. You seem to be on a roll."
    "Thank you, sir. But I wonder if Novak and Martin have fully considered the fact that the implementation of such a trend might rouse the concern of the AFL-CIO, the NLRB and the TUC, not to mention the FCC and ATF. Furthermore, in my opinion, a discussion of P and L, PPI, GNP, and AGI wouldn't be out of place here."
    Now McClellan, Sr. nodded as he gave lengthy consideration to the weight of Pendleton's argument. Finally, he said, "Yes, I think I see what you mean. And you may be on to something."
    Pendleton leaned back in his chair. "Of course, sir, ultimately the decision is yours to make."
    "Yes, it is." He turned to the two men at the front of the room. "Novak, Martin, I think you need to go back and expand your presentation to include all the concerns that Pendleton just raised."
    The two men glared venomously at Pendleton.
    "And you can pitch it again on Thursday. That's three full days. Surely you can implement the data by then. "
    A sudden tic assaulted Novak's eye as he said, "Yes, sir."
    McClellan, Sr. turned back to Pendleton. "I think you're going to be a fine asset to Hensley's, Pendleton. A fine asset indeed. Come around to the house tonight, will you?"
    This time Pendleton was the one to arch his eyebrows. "Sir?"
    "Cherrywood. It's where I live. In Glenview . See Margie for my address. I'll expect you for drinks at six. Dinner will be at seven." Then, without missing a beat, he directed his words once more to the others present. "I don't think we're going to have time for Carmichael 's input today, so we'll postpone that until Thursday, along with anything else anyone wanted to discuss. It's getting late, and you all have work to do. Now get out."
    The first to follow his own instructions, McClellan, Sr. rose from his chair, turned his back on his executives, and disappeared through a door behind him. Then, with a brief nod toward the other VPs, McClellan, Jr. followed immediately behind, closing the door with a soft click.
    "Oh, way to go, Pendleton."
    He looked up to find Novak smiling at him now, with what appeared to be heartfelt delight. As was Martin. Before he could comment, however, a chuckle greeted him from the other side of the table. When he turned, he saw that every other VP present was smiling the same sort of smile.
    "What?" he asked.
    In response, the others only chuckled some more. Finally Rutledge stood, casually buttoning his double-breasted blazer as he did so. "You, uh, you might want to make sure you're armed when you go to the old man's house tonight, Pendleton. An Uzi ought to cover you just fine, though you might want to hide a little something extra in your sock, too."
    Redhawk nodded. "Yeah, like a bazooka."
    Chang concurred. "And Kevlar under your Hugo Boss wouldn't be out of place."
    "The boys are relatively harmless," Carmichael said with an odd smirk.
    "But watch out for the girl," Bahadoori added.
    Dizzy from his confusion, all Pendleton could ask was, "The girl?"
    "She bites,"
Washington
clarified, gnashing his teeth for illustration.
    Pendleton, too, finally stood, gathering up his portfolio in the