Acquiring Trouble

beginning of fall.
    He loosened his dark red tie and slid his black suit coat off, hanging it on the back of his chair as he stood up with the papers. He paced across the office reading them one last time. He paused in the middle of a long stride when he heard the soft knock at the door.
    "Come in," he barked. He looked up at his quiet assistant, Claire Montgomery, as she made her way into the office holding a sheet of paper. "Is that the final agreement?"
    "Yes. The Kentucky Re staurant Council just sent this over via courier . It's signed by the president . They approved your initiative. All 3 00 plus restaurants belonging to the c ouncil have agreed to purchase local produce from our fa r mers! Isn't that wonderful? The farmers are going to be so excited."  
    Claire was a middle-aged housewife turned assistant . He hired her because she had raised triplet boys. They were now in high school and during her interview she had joked that she needed the job for the bottomless pits that were teenage boys’ stomachs. He figured anyone who could control three teenage boys could handle anythin g.
    Miles smiled as he looked at the signe d agreement for his company, Family Farms. During college he had discovered that the heart of farming, the small family farms like his parents' , were being run out of bu siness by large corporations which then bought the failing farms for pennies on the dollar during foreclosure.
    These corporations w ere negotiating huge contracts to supply their produce to certain governments, restaurant chain s , grocery stores , and more. They lobbied Washington to keep quotas on farmers based on the size of their farms or th e produce they were generating.
    Miles started his company with the intention of being competitive with the large corporations. He pulled in family-owned farms from all over the state under one umbrella. Instead of three hundred small family farms competing for sales independently , they combined their power and growth into one organization . It result ed in being more competitive for contracts such as the one he just closed with the R estaura nt Council and the one for the regional grocery store he was currently in negotiation with.
    "I just got this email from Top Producers, LLC," he said as he handed it to Claire . "They wanted to congratulate me on getting the Kentucky Restaurant Council contract . If you read it you'll see where they are supportive of our cause but I believe they are fishing . ”
    “What would they be fishing for?” Claire wondered as she leaned over his shoulder and read the email.
    “Us. I’ll bet you anything they are interested in finding out if we’re weak enough to be taken over. David Washington, the president of Top Producers , will come in and garner support for a change in management, then once in power he’d break up and dismantle Family Farms faster than you can blink. Without us here, the farms will slowly go bankrupt. I’m sure David is counting on that. He's done it before and I can't see that he would suddenl y want to help the local farmers ."  
    "So, how are you going to handle it?" Claire absently fiddled with her belt as she worried. His secretary was loyal to a fault. Her parents were both farmer s and she took it as her personal mission to look out for every client of Family Farms as if they were her own family.
    "It means more long hours. I need to find a way to make us look invincible to the investigators so they’ll tell David to save his money and go after someone else. "
    "Mr. Davies, you already put in long hours. You need to take a break," she worried.
    "I can take a break later. I need to strengthen our defenses —c losing on the grocery deal will help, because this is going to be a battle. David will take a couple months to investigate and that gives us time to develop a plan of action ."
    "Do you want me to stay and help?" Claire asked.
    Miles looked down at his watch and grimaced. It was already past seven and Claire had a family at home. "No thanks. I'll get s tarted and then we can go over my ideas on Monday." As Claire left , Miles thought about calling his brother Marshall , the Sheriff of Keeneston, and seeing if he needed help with the dog-fighting ring he was tackling. He'd give him a call right after he pulled some info on last quarter’s sales .
     
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    Miles ran a large hand over his face and stood up to stretch. He looked around his office and realized it was dark outside.  He