The tap-tap of polished shoes coursing across the marble floor in Jackson MultiMedia's lobby sounded loud, almost deafening. Each footfall heavy on the floor, though not nearly as heavy to Harry as the pressure he felt as he stepped inside. He could feel the eyes on him. Assistants paused. Junior executives gossiped.
They had mourned him. They thought he was dead. And now it felt like he'd walked in from the ether like a ghost collecting old debts.
Harry adjusted the tailored navy blue suit Mason procured for him earlier that morning. It felt alien—his body, this world—and somewhat worked, and he wore it like soldiers wear their issued camouflage patters, anyway. He couldn't afford a trip this far back into his past. Not in front of them.
The elevator dinged softly, stopping at the 38th floor.
Executive Level.
Mason waited just outside. "They're all inside. Be sharp. Don't let them bait you."
Harry took the slight pause to nod. "I wasn't planning to."
The boardroom lay at the end of the hall. Floor to ceiling glass doors; chrome handles; the frozen Jackson crest mimicking the board members' frozen faces reappeared in the frosted panes.
Mason swung the door open. "Ladies and gentlemen, I present... the miracle."
Silence gripped the room.
Ten board members sat around a long oak conference table. A few blinked in disbelief. A couple exchanged tight-lipped glances. And a few others did not bother to hide their annoyance.
At the head sat Douglas Kline, the interim CEO. He was late fifties, white hair, with a crimson tie. He was a long-time executive that had scratched and clawed his way through the corporate battlefield for three decades.
"Well, this is a surprise," Douglas said with a practiced smoothness as he folded his hands. "Harry. I was told you were still recovering."
"I was," Harry said as he pulled out a chair, near the end of the table. "Now I'm not."
Douglas chuckled lightly. "You don't mind if we ask you a few questions - just to make sure your mind is ... clear?"
"I'd be disappointed if you didn't."
The first punch came quickly.
Madeline Roark, the head of acquisitions, leaned into the table. "Do you recall the difference in broadcast and cable licensing in regards to the television model?"
Harry's lips creased into a grin. "Broadcast revenue was dependent on ad sales and reach. Cable licensing was dependent on subscribers providing a more guaranteed consistent revenue stream, which of course relies on less flexibility for ad sales. JTV relied on the latter too heavily last quarter - ad rates dipped, but contracts did not pivot. The earnings report stated as much last week."
Madeline eased back in her chair, lips pursed tight.
There were a few heads that nodded.
Rajeev Kohli, the Chief Financial Officer, cleared his throat. "So what is your plan, then, Mr. Jackson? We're bleeding views on our primary channel. What do you want to do about it if - hypothetically - we put something in front of you to fix?"
"Hypothetically?" Harry responded, tone confident. "I'd start with JTV."
A murmur rippled the room.
"JTV?" Douglas raised an eyebrow. "That's bold."
"It's bleeding, and everybody in this room knows it. Flimsy low-budget reality reruns, an ever-bawdiness treasure of a programming plan and no digital push whatsoever. The last hit show that you launched was two years ago and you haven't replaced it. Hand me JTV. Let me build something worth watching again."
Douglas let out a soft laugh. "Build? You are just a legacy kid. You'll need boardroom experience."
"No," Harry said coolly. "I'm the son of the man who built this company. I've just watched you folk gut it and squash life out of it in the course of three weeks. "
Tension hung in the air like a powerful, silent fog.
"Enough!" Mason interjected. "You guys all said he must prove himself. He has come to you. He is educated. Do you want to keep making this go on and on?"
Another voice added. It was Lillian Trask, the Vice President of Marketing. A relatively quiet, influential voice with a neutral expression on her face.
"I say give him the opportunity. It's not the parent company. It's JTV. If he fails, we can cut him out of the process. If he is successful... maybe we have a real thing here."
Douglas looked annoyed but slowly nodded his head. "Okay. Let the minutes reflect that Harry Jackson is appointed as the Interim Executive Director of Jackson Television. He will report to the board. He has full authority over creative and programming decisions. The only hold up on budget approval is if the performance metrics are not going to be in the ballpark. Is that fair Mr. Jackson?"
Harry kept his eyes open and did not blink. "Fair."
Mason silently grinned.
As the meeting adjourned, board members shuffled out of the room with deleterious murmurs of what they were thinking. Harry stood up slowly and released the first breath he had in an hour.
"You did great," Mason said. "They were ready to shred you."
"They could still shred me," Harry said softly. "They gave me the JTV position because they can't believe it is what it is. They think it is dead."