by Finian Blake
Tom escorted an unhappy Eden to the helicopter while Rene assumed her duties. Tom called on her sense of duty to swing the deal assuring her that she would have the duty tomorrow. This was Eden’s first assignment in the field, and that asshole Lloyd really screwed that up.
“If I have to Taser that asshole again, he will be shitting sparks.”
“You did perfect,” Tom laughed. “Rene understands that you will be back in the saddle tomorrow. Your instincts were ‘right on’.”
“Xavier made that call.”
“And you were smart enough to go along with it even though you were in charge,” Tom pressed. “You really showed me something today. You took Xavier’s call even though you were in charge. Two years ago you performed flawlessly at the chemical bunkers with those terrorists. We only do what we train for about one percent of the time, but that one percent is why we are here. Chief Strong said that you were worth it, and you keep proving him right.” Eden puffed up visibly with that last comment finding it much easier to go along with the recommendation.
Senator Ransom and Rene walked into her office. She was not happy about letting Lloyd off so easily, especially when Tom said that he was a sure bet for screwing up the deal. Molly looked totally upset when she walked into the outer office.
“Senator Belight was really pissed off when I canceled your nine o’clock with him. He called back laughing when he saw the news,” Molly said looking at Rene hoping for a better explanation.
“The lady that was injured on the steps will be my assistant for a few days. She is actually security,” Winnie said flatly. “This is Rene she will be taking Eden’s place this afternoon. As part of her cover Rene will be helping you around the office.”
“Where do you get your clothes,” Molly looked Rene up and down admiring the fit and fashion.
“JC Penny,” Rene smiled politely trying to sound as serious as possible.
“I knew that they had some nice things, but wow.” Molly caught the smile on Rene’s face. “Oh you’re a kidder, that’s good the last intern was so stiff it was painful.”
“I do some modeling on the side and I get to keep the clothes since they were made for me,” Rene confessed. “You are a good looking woman. The designer insists on using normal women instead of the standard skinny model types.”
Senator Belight burst in the inner office. “I will see Winnifred now.”
“I will announce you,” Molly said politely as senator Belight continued toward the door. Rene stepped in his path.
“Molly will announce you put your ass in that chair.” Rene pointed to a chair next to the door. Senator Belight was so shocked that anyone would talk to him in such a manner that he instantly took a seat before he thought to protest.
“The Senator will see you now.” Rene opened the door allowing Senator Belight to skirt past her with caution.
“Where in the hell do you get your help from,” Senator Belight asked being more than a little annoyed.
“I picked her up from the Bureau of Prisons, she was doing cavity searches,” Winnifred said with a broad smile on her face surprised at her own flip comment. “She was tired of dealing with assholes.”
“What the hell happened on the stairs this morning,” Marvin said not hiding his annoyance.
“I thought that your friend Wayne Haggard might explain that to me,” Winnifred said with a smirk on her face. “Wayne is the only person that I have seriously pissed off in recent history. The Capitol police assure me that this was the first time that something like this has ever happened on the Capitol steps.” Winnifred was enjoying the look of absolute shock on Marvin’s face.
“Wayne would never…” Marvin began.
“Mister Haggard is exactly the kind of sneaky bastard that would do something like this,” Winnifred looked at Marvin seriously. “Do you know that you stutter when you are surprised?” Marvin decided that confrontation was not the style that he should pursue.
“The committee has a hearing starting in ten minutes.”
“I will probably be about ten minutes late.” Winnifred caught the Senator before he left the office, “how is the Titan stock doing?”
“It went from forty down to ten and it looks like it will drop some more,” Marvin said unhappily.
Winnifred smiled warmly, “tell him to exercise his stock-option one hour before closing making the announcement after closing.”
Senator Belight hustled down to the hearing room to a very small office picking up the secure phone.
“Wayne, what in the hell did you do that for?”
“What are you talking about Marvin?”
“Senator Ransom was assaulted on the steps of the Capitol building,” Senator Belight said nervously. “It seems that she thinks that you arranged that little fiasco.”
“That crazy bitch will say anything to make me look bad,” Wayne roared swinging one arm wildly in the air. “Who is the bimbo that took the hit?”
“That would be Eden Bacchus her new assistant.” Senator Belight was anxious to defer an argument, “your stock is down to ten exercisers stock-option one hour before closing, and announce it after closing. We will announce that you do in fact have a contract for building eight ships tomorrow afternoon that will help the price of your stock.”
“In that case I am sorry to hear about her misfortune this morning,” Wayne said with mock civility.
“You did it. You son of a bitch,” Senator Belight said with an edge to his voice. “I was going to get her to make the announcement herself to get a bigger bounce out of the stock, but now there is no way that I can even ask her. I was going to have her announce Titan Shipyards as the bid winner for all eight ships effective immediately. That should add three to five dollars a share over the former price. We are talking $150,000 extra for the deal.”
“Hell, you know that I didn’t do anything like that,” Wayne exclaimed.
“Wayne, I want to believe you and I don’t, but what I believe doesn’t matter,” Marvin said calmly. “It’s what she believes.”
“What makes you think that I did it,” Wayne said pointedly.
“You never denied it. What you said was that I knew you didn’t do it, but you never said that you didn’t do it.”
Wayne Haggard was very much surprised when Molly, Senator Ransom’s Secretary put his call right through.
“Senator Ransom, Senator Belight informs me that you might possibly believe that this morning’s ugly incident on the Capitol steps may in some way be related to me. I feel somewhat wounded that you would even entertain such an idea. I would like to give you my personal assurances that I had nothing to do with what happened this morning, and would like to inquire into your assistant’s wellbeing.”
“Thank you for your concern Mister Haggard,” Winnifred decided to be gracious. “I plan on personally announcing the news of your company receiving a contract to build all eight ships in a press conference on the Capitol steps at four PM Eastern time. It will be in time for the evening financial news cycle. Hopefully there will be no further unfortunate incidents on the Capitol steps this evening.”
“I am sure that you will realize a handsome profit when you sell your shares.” Wayne said with a haughty tone in his voice.
“Mister Haggard I don’t own so much as one share of Titan shipyards, or Hall shipbuilders. I would like you to know that I have not received so much as a free lunch from your lobbyists. Please don’t confuse me with the other ‘Reverse Whores’ that occupy the halls of Congress. Give my best to Senator Belight.”
“Reverse Whores…?”
“Whores accept money to get screwed. You take money to screw your constituents. So, yes ‘Reverse Whores’.” Winnifred was glad that she had turned down the offer of stock from Tamar and Cherry.
Cherry took the information from Winnifred and called Susan in Manchester. “Susan, in three hours they are going to announce that Titan shipyards will have the contract on those eight fast transports for the Navy, and that Hall shipbuilders will
be out of contention.”
“Thanks Cherry, I have all the trades preprogrammed in the computer and I only need to press one key.” Susan pulled up the preprogrammed trades and pressed the enter key, executing 1,000 trades involving 50,000 shares of stock across the world through a hundred companies. “Congratulations love, we have made a wagon load of money with one keystroke.” Susan was a chief financial officer for the Inn which was parent company for Four Diamonds Security. She controlled almost three billion dollars in assets doing business in more than seventy countries.
“How many shares will we be dealing with,” Cherry asked.
“We will be dealing with approximately 150,000 shares or more, but we are not selling anything,” Susan said in her official business tone. “When they hit the execute button we just bought every available share on the market for Titan shipyards. No trade was for more than five hundred shares from anyone of our companies at one time. Several countries are interested in buying fast transport ships and there is a lot of money to be made by building them. When Hall shipbuilding takes a hit with your announcement this afternoon we will start buying every share of stock that they have on the market. Hall shipbuilding holds patents on the turban engines and thrusters that this design will require. We will merge the two companies. Keep me posted on the CEOs.”
“We have had some major help from an outside source, and she is proving to be extremely loyal. I would like to make sure that she is well rewarded.” Susan could feel the warmth of Cherry’s smile through the phone. “She is a true Amazon, Susan. I would like to bring her in close.”
“As usual, we will go with your estimate,” Susan purred over the phone to Cherry.
At four on the Capitol steps Senator Ransom held her press conference highly praising Titan shipyards and formally announcing that Hall shipbuilding was officially out of the running. Paul Devon’s mouth was full when he heard the news, and he choked heavily at the news grabbing the phone with Molly taking the call.
“Yes Mister Devon, Senator Ransom has instructed me to give you any appointment that you would want. She is out of the office for the rest of the day but she can meet you for dinner if you would like to see her tonight.”
“Yes young lady I would like to see her tonight,” Paul said with the tension in his voice clearly evident. “I am in Philadelphia and can be down to Washington DC in a few hours.”
“How will you be traveling,” Molly asked.
“I will be coming down by helicopter young lady.”
“I have a number for your pilot to call for instructions,” Molly said making it a point to keep her voice warm and friendly. “It will be late would you and your pilot care for accommodations?”
“Yes, I believe that would be nice.” Paul Devon wanted to see where this was leading. “Which hotel will you be putting us into?”
“We will be using a private facility to provide accommodations for you along with your pilot.”
“May I bring my wife? She is an officer of the company. I was going to have her attend the meeting,” Paul pushed his test. He was surprised by the immediate response of the Senator’s secretary.
“The Senator wants as many principles from your company as possible. Will there be anyone else?”
“No, I believe that will be sufficient.” Paul ran out of demands for the moment.
The Bell Jet Ranger did a quick circle of the property before landing next to the Agusta 109e helicopter with Paul Devon wondering who else was attending the meeting. All of a sudden he noticed another Jet Ranger in what appeared to be a hangar that only came into view as they touched down on the ground. Rhonda, Tom Thomas and Senator Ransom drove up to the helicopter on a cart. Paul Devon and his wife Felicia were decidedly surprised. Senator Ransom started the introductions.
“Paul I would like you to meet Rhonda Savage the managing director of Four Diamonds Computer Security and Tom Thomas the managing director of Four Diamonds North America.” Senator Ransom said pleasantly.
“This is my wife Felicia and my pilot William McLeod.” As the introductions wound up the rotors of the helicopter stopped turning and a mechanic ran out lining them up with the fuselage. Rhonda motioned to someone unseen, and hydraulic poles started to rise from the ground. Paul with his eye for detail noticed the hint of copper on the underside of the extensions from the poles. “I take it those extensions have a definite purpose.”
“Most definitely,” Tom smiled. “We call this little item our ‘asparagus’. We use it to spoil unauthorized landings by helicopters. The copper extensions take advantage of the extreme amount of static electricity generated by the rotors storing it in capacitors. When we add power from our generators it creates an artificial lightning strike disabling any unauthorized aircraft. The same static will also stun anyone repelling down from a helicopter.”
“Nasty,” Felicia said with an appreciative smile. “I take it that this is not the standard weekend retreat.”
“No,” Rhonda said, “but we have all the facilities of a weekend retreat available. Please allow us to show you the accommodations before we tackle any business.”
“Felicia, I see that you have an appreciation for innovation,” Tom noted. “May I assume that you are more than the wife of the CEO?”
“Felicia is Hall Shipbuilding.” Paul offered, “I am the CEO because nobody takes a female engineer seriously. My primary background is business.”
As soon as the cart started to move Paul turned to Senator Ransom. “Since the tone is casual may I call you Winifred?
“Please call me Winnie.”
“Winnie you hammered us hard by specifying that we were no longer in the competition.” Paul said moving right to business while Felicia seemed distracted by the ride.
“You were not in real contention anyway,” Winnie said shocking Paul. “Your yard is too small and your company could never meet the timeline which is a major specification for the contract. We did specify that your turbines, impellers and steering will be used which of course your company will build.”
“And…” Felicia said absently over her shoulder.
“And Rhonda has a business proposal for you. First we will show you your accommodations,” Winnie said.
“That building is an extraordinary size how many square feet is it,” Felicia asked.
“66,000 square feet, not counting the roof garden,” Rhonda said mimicking Felecia’s distracted tone. “You are quite observant.”
“The design for the ‘fast transport’ is mine. With the right modules it could be a hospital ship, or a war ship. I have been studying container design and have several designs for modules. We strengthened the unit tie downs to take heavy seas as well as the units themselves. We have hospital, armament, assault, and command containers.” Felicia said pointedly dropping the distracted tone. “Camouflage is one thing that I am familiar with. Those houses and barns down the hill, what are they hiding?”
“People and horses,” Rhonda answered flatly. “Between the condos and ten acre estates most of our people live on site. What will interest you most is the computer center which is our next stop.”
The cart drove in front of the spa and up a ramp to the roof garden where several people were having cocktails around a structure that looked like a private residence. Felicia recognized one face in the gathering.
“Morris Feynman, where have you gotten to,” Felicia gushed causing Paul to frown deeply.
“I have been busier than hell,” Morris said happily. “I was hired to do this place and they have kept me busy ever since. My clients prefer that my work remains secret. The real incentive is I get to build what I imagine the way that I want. Wait until you see this place!” A short woman with a chiseled body walked up to Morris. Felicia didn’t realize that she was in her late forty’s until she stopped in front of her to join the conversation.
“Morris, how do you know Felicia Devon?”
“It wasn’t Devon at the time,” Morris admitted. “We went to Northwestern Unive
rsity at the same time. Felicia may I introduce Cherry Newley. She looked Cherry up and down stopping her gaze at Cherry’s breasts more than once, a fact that did not escape Cherry.
“They are unaltered fully functional 36EE udders,” Cherry smiled warmly as Felicia blushed furiously. “I don’t know who stares at them more women or men. More women think that they have been altered.”
“Well anyway,” Morris blushed, “Cherry is my benefactor, she allows me to build my vision, my way.”
“You are in charge,” Felicia asked reappraising Cherry.
“Actually my wife Rhonda is in charge, and my husband Boris runs the computer business. I just write the checks.” Cherry gaged the shocked look on Felicia’s face realizing that she was hitting her with too much information, too soon. “Have a drink and catch up on old times with Morris while I introduce myself to Paul.”
“Paul, my name is Cherry Newley. Paul I am so glad that both you and Felicia agreed to meet with Winnie here. We have a security problem with your bodyguard William which we need to take care of immediately. He may keep his sidearm but we will be securing his laptop please do it without a great deal of discussion.”
“William, turn off your laptop and hand it to Cherry immediately without argument.” Rhonda stepped up behind William with a briefcase that was lined with a lead foil. She eased it out of his hand before William had a chance to object.
“What the hell is going on…,” William started to protest as Rhonda started to object.
“Your last job was for Ardent Computers and that is one of their laptops. We need to inspect it for any hacking devices.” Rhonda and Cherry both detected a look of panic in his eyes. “You may accompany our husband Boris for the inspection.” Rhonda indicated a man of medium build standing next to her, so William was feeling pretty good until a six foot seven giant stood next to him.
“My name is Ted Mc Kenzie, Boris is teaching me computer basics and I have been teaching him combat martial arts.” William gave up all hope of sucker punching the geek and running.
Boris led the way to his lab in the basement. The communications on that level were highly restricted. Boris detected the laptop signal instantly.
