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to be taken over!”
    “What?” Tess dropped her pen on the desk, a dozen questions forming in her mind.
    “Andrea!” Sara crossed the room to Andrea’s desk. “Have you heard?”
    “Heard what?” Andrea pulled her earphones back off when she saw the look on Sara’s face.
    “The rumour that we’re about to be taken over! I’ve just checked with Daddy and he says he thinks it’s pretty accurate. He heard it from one of his business associates,” she added importantly.
    “Taken over?” Andrea looked up, bewildered. “But why? Did he say who was supposed to be taking it over?” Andrea was asking all the questions Tess wanted to ask, so she flew across the room too and perched on a corner of Andrea’s desk. Sara shrugged.
    “Some whizz kid apparently. And wait for the best part. Apparently, he plans to finally take the station national!”
    “Are you sure?” A frown creased Andrea’s forehead.
    “Yes, I’m sure. His name ... is ...” Sara frowned and she went back to her own desk to where she peered at a scrap of paper. “I wrote it down ... Jack. That’s it. Jack McCabe.” She looked up expectantly. “Did either of you hear of him?”
    “Jack McCabe? No, never.”
    But Andrea had already tapped the name into Google. Tess waited tensely, Sara standing behind her now, both of them jiggling impatiently as they waited for the results. Seconds later Andrea was reading aloud: “
Jack McCabe made most of his money courtesy of the property boom and crucially got out before the crash. Gifted with the Midas touch, McCabe is known for turning ailing businesses around even where others have failed. His business instincts have been described as uncanny and he is famed for not shying away from hard decisions when it comes to profit margins.
”
    “Oh my God!” Sara butted in. “That fits in exactly with what I’ve heard. Daddy says Jack McCabe will go for a really youth orientated vibe. He’s heard he is going to axe the entire staff and only employ people who are under thirty!”
    “Is that not illegal?” Tess asked faintly.
    “Of course it’s illegal,” Andrea snapped, eyes squinting as she read on silently. “Besides, this is all only gossip and rumour. There’s no evidence whatsoever that Atlantic is going to be taken over at all! Where did your dad hear it anyway, Sara?”
    “Golf club.” Sara shrugged insouciantly as she walked away. “And Daddy says this could be my big chance because I
am
young!”
    Tess and Andrea exchanged glances.
    “Coffee?” Andrea mouthed, making a sign for a coffee cup with her hands. Tess nodded. They needed to analyse and parse this, to try and figure out what, if it were true, it might all mean for them. But she had only taken her jacket off the back of her chair when the phone buzzed. Tess reluctantly picked up the handset. “Yes, Helene? Your office? In ten minutes? Okay, I’ll tell the others.” She replaced the receiver and looked over at Andrea. “Looks like Sara and her dad aren’t the only ones who’ve heard the rumours. Helene wants to meet us all!”
    Minutes later, they were all crowded into Helene’s office and it was clear the news about the takeover was a bit more than a rumour. The room was thick with tension. Tess slipped into the chair opposite Ollie, who was cracking his knuckles restlessly. Two lines formed a deep frown between his eyebrows, and his complexion had a grey pallor about it, as if he hadn’t slept in days.
    He’s evidently heard Atlantic might soon be a wrinkly free zone, Tess thought. Serves him right. It might teach him a bit of humility.
    Helene was sitting at the top of the table, two spots of scarlet staining her cheeks. “Right, that’s everyone here,” she said as Sara pushed closed the door. “I’ve called you here because ... because in the next few days you may hear some, er, rumours about this station,” she began.
    “We already have,” Sara cut in. Helene raised her eyebrows and Sara fell