The Protege: A Novel

Christian Gillette strode purposefully down the long main corridor of Everest Capital, the Manhattan-based investment firm he ran.

' Christian. '

Gillette ignored the voice calling him from behind.

' Christian! '

Louder this time, but Gillette still didn ' t stop. He glanced over at his assistant, Debbie, pen and pad in hand. She was struggling to keep up.

' Mr. Chairman! ' Faraday huffed, finally catching up with Gillette, and grabbing him by the back of the arm. Faraday was second in command at Everest. A talented money raiser from Great Britain who had an Outlook full of high-level connections in the Wall Street world. His accent was heavy, though he ' d been in the States for fifteen years. ' Wait a minute. '

' Morning, Nigel, ' Gillette said politely.

' A fucking magnificent pleasure to see you, too, ' Faraday muttered, breathing hard. He inhaled ice cream constantly ' to fight stress, he claimed ' but he ' d been thirty pounds overweight since graduating from Eton. Long before he ' d ever dealt with the pressures of a private equity investment firm. ' I sent you three e-mails this morning, ' he grumbled. ' You haven ' t replied to any of them. '

' No time. '

' One of them was extremely important. '

' I ' ll get to it when I can. '

Faraday scowled. ' I ' m the number two person here, Christian. I need access to you. '

Gillette jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. ' I ' ve got three conference rooms waiting for me. A guy representing the Wallace Family in One, one of our accounting firms in Two, and ' '

' The Chicago Wallaces '

' Yeah. '

' Jesus, they ' re worth like twenty double-large. '

Following Gillette ' s lead, people at Everest sometimes referred to a million as ' large ' and a billion as ' double-large. '