He was starting to give up hope on getting anything at all when, about two weeks after he'd installed the mics, he picked up a conversation and heard his brother's name. He hit rewind.
“So,” Nicholas was saying when he started playing the recording again, and Mark turned the volume up just a little. “Alex Reid is determined not to let me get my hands on his company. Which is undoubtedly admirable. He's bought enough stock in his own company that no matter who I buy out I'm not going to have a majority.” He laughed and the sound of a ball being hit echoed in the recording. “That doesn't mean that I won't be able to influence his board of directors. At least sway them in the direction that I want them to go.”
“And what direction is that?” an unknown voice asked.
“I think that’ll become clear once it's happened,” Nicholas answered.
That was it. There wasn't anything else, and Mark closed the laptop a little too hard, standing up and stalking away from it. So Nicholas was obviously planning something. Erica had been right about that, and about how to catch him. The question was, what was he planning?
The answer to that question came a sooner than he'd expected.
***
Three days after finding the conversation that finally had some proof that Nicholas was up to something, Mark walked out onto the golf course to find the dark-haired man there with a small group of people. He didn't immediately recognize all of them, but he recognized enough. They were members of Alex's board of directors. Maybe not the whole board, but enough to make a big difference in any vote or question that was put to them. And whatever they were here for, Alex would have to deal with the consequences unless Mark could stop it before it started.
“Hello,” Mark said, making his way over to them. “How are you all doing today? Anything I can get you?”
“No,” Nicholas said, “we don't require anything, but thanks for the offer. We're just here to take advantage of your golf course, as usual.”
And to take advantage of my brother. Mark didn't let that thought show on his face. Instead, he smiled. Very professional. Very polite. “I'm glad to hear that. It's always good to see one of our best golfers back.”
“You run the kind of club that keeps people returning, Mark,” Nicholas said, and Mark curled his hands into fists at his sides. He hated the way the man said his name. There was just something off about it. Something that seemed to imply that Mark was somehow lesser than he was.
“We try.” Mark smiled again. “Let me or a member of the staff know if there's anything that we can do for you at any point. Good luck with your game.”
“Of course,” Nicholas answered. “Have a good one, Mark.”
Mark turned and walked away. He hadn't greeted any of the men and women with Nicholas, but he knew that some of them had met him before, and even the ones who hadn't would know who he was. He hoped that his presence had given them all a twinge of guilt that would stop Nicholas from swaying them over to his side on whatever thing he was manipulating them over.
Instead of going back to deal with the guests and the restaurant and whatever else needed to be dealt with, Mark went to the front desk and asked Christine to please hold calls for him for a short while. She frowned at him, her expression a little suspicious.
“Everything okay, Mark?”
“Sure,” Mark answered. “It's just fine. Just need a little bit to get something done in privacy, and phone calls would distract me from what I'm working on.”
She didn't look like she bought it, but she still nodded. “Okay, then. I'll hold the calls for you.”
“Good,” Mark said. “Thanks. I'll call down when I'm ready to have them start again.”
“I'll be here.”
Mark turned and walked away from the desk, heading back into the kitchen and from there up to his rooms. They were empty this time of day; Erica was still out teaching. He walked over to his laptop, and opened it, turning on the program that ran with the bugs. Usually he listened to past conversations, but today he was going to listen to the one Nicholas and the board of directors were currently having. If any of the information was time- sensitive, he would have it in time.
“So you see, gentlemen,” Nicholas was saying when the sound flicked on, “and ladies, there are many factors to consider in the running of a business, as I'm sure you already know. And one of those factors is whether the person at the top is right for the job.”
Mark’s fingers curled around the edge of the chair he was sitting in, squeezing hard. Did Nicholas really think that he was going to talk Alex’s board into running him out of his job? Could they even do that?
“And you’re saying that the person currently running Reid Enterprises isn’t right for the job?” a man’s voice asked.
“Not at all,” Nicholas answered. “I wouldn’t presume to tell you what to think. All I’m saying is that you maybe need to give it a little more consideration.”
“Mr. Reid built the company from literally nothing,” one of the two women in the group said. “He’s been running it for years and it’s only ever gotten more profitable. What reasons could we possibly have to take issue with the way that he’s running his business?”
Mark heard Nicholas sigh.
“Clearly,” he said, with an air of long-suffering, “I'm not explaining this well.”
No, Mark thought that he was explaining it perfectly. He just didn't want the people he was trying to manipulate to know exactly what he wanted.