The Executive

By Joe Bob Newman

After a tragic accident takes his wife and daughters life, Steve is confronted by a strange man who hands him a business card. The card is a job offering and a life style change. He takes the job and trains to become an executive, and eventually is thrown into the leadership of the new company. Others are determined to stop him at any cost. The question is, why would they care? He meets a beautiful woman who offers to help him. But he cannot figure out who's side she is really on. Steve falls in love with her, but is it too late. She winds up in the middle of a ferocious gun fight. Who will live and who will die? Steve must make some difficult decisions, which determine his and the company's future. Can he make it to the top, and hold onto what he has? Is the cost of reaching the top really worth it? The final question is, should love conquer all?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joe Bob Newman
• Release date: Nov 23, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301619412

Joe Bob Newman

I have been writing mystery and fiction books since 1982. I have never considered having any published until now. My career has been in writing technical documents for the defense industry. By profession I am a mechanical engineer, P.E. I have six grand children.. During the summer months, I spend a lot of time in the mountains of New Mexico. Watching wildlife and observing the ecology. i also enjoy riding my 4-wheeler. I built a cabin by myself, just above a stream filled with trout, perhaps i should say am building, I have been working on it for twenty years and it is still not finished, but it is livable, it has electricity, running water and a septic system. With that, I am happy to live there in the summer months and for a week or two in the winter, but I have found that I am not much of a "snow" person.I do hope you read and enjoy my books as much as I enjoyed writing them! Thanks for visiting my page.Joe Bob Newman

Book preview

The Executive

By Joe Bob Newman

Copyright 2012 Joe Bob Newman

Smashwords Edition

Cover Design by Laura Shinn

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to http://www.smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Other Books by Joe Bob Newman – See the last page of this book for details.

The Craft http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/248190

When Time Stood Still http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/249866

Phantom canyon https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/253555

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter-I

Chapter-II

Chapter-III

Chapter-IV

Chapter-V

Chapter-VI

Chapter-VII

Chapter-VIII

Chapter-IX

Chapter-X

Chapter-XI

Chapter-XII

About The Author

The Executive

Prologue

Stephen Clayton is a Mechanical Engineer who is on a very slow track to success. He has been married to Carla since he was twenty-one; she was his high school and college sweetheart. They have one daughter, Alyssa who is ten years old. He works for Campbell Taggert, a conglomerate organization who specializes in owning other companies. Steve works in the main company’s corporate office. He designs and then installs conveyor systems in large bakeries. He is content with his job. It pays a good salary, has great benefits and he fits right in. He has worked for them for eight years and will soon be a Senior Engineer. Steve has learned a lot about engineering, but even more about how companies work, from the inside out.

On a cloudy, dreary day in June, he is on vacation in the Rocky Mountains, where he is driving up a long steep grade, when an eighteen wheeler comes barreling down the mountain pass out of control. Steve is not giving the road his full attention, when the speeding semi, hits his car on the passenger side instantly killing Carla and Alyssa. Grief and complete guilt rapidly consume him.

At the funeral he is grieving terribly when an older man steps up to him, and says, I am Vander Vanderman. Carla was my third cousin removed. When you feel better, give me a call! And the man hands Steve his business card.

It was three months later before Steve would call Mr. Vanderman, but he finally did. It seems Mr. Vanderman, made it rich in the oil business and now operates a drug prescription development organization, which is looking for the cure to different kinds of cancer. Mr. Vanderman offers Steve a job. The job appears to basically entail doing nothing, at the multi-billion-dollar company that Mr. Vanderman operates. The job pays a low six figure salary, and his obvious job is to learn the business! His real job is to learn how the company works, and to keep fraud out. It seems that prescription businesses are the fraud’s way to making millions. The company is first rate, and uses many sub companies on its payrolls. This is the place that Steve starts out. He is virtually given a free hand to work when he wants to and for as long or as short as he wants to. It is the perfect job for Steve. Vander gives Steve plenty of warnings, but is not able to fully describe the dangers that exist.

At first there does not seem to be any fraud, just a lot of inefficiency, and his biggest problem is keeping all the single women off him. Then he discovers a plot to take over the company from Vander. A certain high up executive has his own business’ plan and Vander is not included in it.

Steve uses his business connections to learn different jobs in the company, while all the time watching the group of men who struggle to take over the company. Can he learn enough, fast enough to stop them? Vander encourages Steve to go to Military training school, where he learns to shoot different guns, how to defend himself, and how to think for himself.

Along the way he meets a beautiful older woman, who capitalizes his attention. The only problem is, he can’t decide whose side she is on. Was she placed there just to distract him? She seems to only have eyes for Steve, but the set up just seems too good to be true. She is an executive assistant in the company and takes him under her wing so to speak, to teach him how the business end really works. Is she really teaching him, or just keeping him out of the way?

This story has more twists and turns than an old mountain pass, and is full of anger, lust, and lost love. At points it will make you cry, and at times you will root for the good guys and at times, you will not know who the good guys are. But, you will enjoy this book, I promise you!

Chapter-I

Steve is sitting at a nice hotel bar in Atlanta Georgia, just watching all the women come and go. He cannot seem to figure out if they are meeting their husbands or dates. But there is a steady revolving door of women coming in. Most seem to ignore him; however a few smiles have floated his way. He was supposed to meet the Bakery plant engineer here and then go to dinner. But the guy hasn’t shown up. Steve decides to go up stairs and change into something comfortable and come back down. When he arrives back at the bar, he sees the assistant plant engineer waiting on him. He still has on his work overalls. Steve knows right away that something has gone wrong.

Greg the assistant engineer explains to Steve that the automatic flour