The Kiwi Target

aren’t known as a Pricane executive.”
    “I could offer my resignation from São Paulo, just in case,” Kincaid said.
    “That’s already been handled.”
    A sharp sense of annoyance touched Kincaid, but he managed to keep it from showing.
    Lloyd went on. "Right now we’re after two things. There’s a man in New Zealand, a recluse named Bishop, who holds a significant block of stock in Swarthmore and Stone. We want his stock or his proxy—it doesn’t really matter which one. We’ll get the stock later in any case.”
    “Can we acquire the company without him?” Kincaid asked. Lloyd pressed his lips together. “Right now he has a controlling interest, or close enough to it to be a nuisance. We’re willing to buy him out at well over market, which is probably what he’s after. I want you to handle that.”
    Kincaid nodded.
    “While you’re down there, look around for any desirable potential developments. Later, as president of Swarthmore and Stone, you’ll be in a prime position to negotiate for the necessary properties. If Bishop is at all difficult, you might make some trade-offs.”
    “What’s my position?”
    Lloyd approved of the question.
    “You’re,representing a large block of Swarthmore and Stone stockholders who want our offer accepted. We can back that up with our present holdings. None of them are in our name.”
    He picked up a black binder that had been placed on the corner table. “Here’s all the information you’ll need on Swarthmore and Stone, what we have on Bishop, and some fill-in on New Zealand. Apparently, they’re pretty primitive down there. Mostly they raise sheep.”
    Kincaid accepted the binder but avoided looking into it while Lloyd was briefing him. A blunder like that could cost him his new assignment, one that should carry a substantial salary increase.
    A light glowed on the phone and Lloyd picked it up. “Yes?”
    “The meeting you are to address is in ten minutes.”
    Lloyd hung up without speaking. “We’ve learned that Swarthmore and Stone has sent an engineering type to New Zealand to try and see Bishop. Bishop doesn’t see anyone. He deals through his attorney; his name’s in the file.”
    Kincaid nodded that he had absorbed everything so far. “We’ve been having some image problems lately because of the number of our acquisitions and the way we’ve been getting them. At the moment we’re facing an FTC investigation— another reason we want to keep this totally under cover.”
    Lloyd let a flash of anger cross his features. “We lost a major deal recently because someone we’d fired peddled our ass to The Washington Post. So stay out of sight as much as you can. As soon as we have controlling interest, S and S will become our operating division for New Zealand. You’ll continue as president at a hundred and fifty, plus options.”
    That was beyond Kincaid’s expectations; he had hoped for a hundred to a hundred and a quarter.
    On his way out, he paused by Mrs. DeForest’s desk. He noted the way her knit dress clung to her figure and the way that she looked up at him.
    “May I ask a question?” He put it very casually.
    “Of course, Mr. Kincaid.” She was quite proper, but he caught a possible signal.
    “What is the best dinner house in town?”
    Wilma DeForest lifted her shoulders and allowed a small smile to show. “If you don’t mind driving, Valini’s, about fifteen miles north of here, is quiet. The food and service are both very good.”
    “How about eight o’clock?”
    Mrs. DeForest paused just long enough to suggest that she was considering the matter. “Only by accident,” she said.
    “Of course.”
    As he left with the black folder held carefully in his hand, Kincaid hoped that the women in New Zealand would be of equally high caliber.

CHAPTER 4

    At eight-thirty the following morning Peter was back at the Auckland Airport ready for his flight for Queenstown. When he went out to board the plane, instead of a sleek jet he saw a small, stubby aircraft that could have been built in the sixties.
    When it was his turn, Peter climbed inside and discovered that the rows of seats were almost impossibly close together; he had to slide in sideways to take his assigned place next to the rearmost window. When he sat down, there was just room for his knees and no more.
    He was still trying to make himself comfortable in the limited space when a very large and bulky man crammed himself into the narrow seat beside him.
    The plane