The war council was gathered in my study. I was behind my desk, and gathered in a semicircle facing me was Steve Grant, Grier Barringer, Ingemar Cromberg, and Bill Ericson. Bill was the detective who had found my brother and he had been working closely with the police after Norma was killed. Inez was beside me on my left and Diane was at the right side of my desk. Bill was giving the rest of us an update as to his investigation.
"I've been able to keep informed when the police or FBI finds anything, Mister Andrews, but I got to tell you, they aren't really looking very hard. I have to be careful not to let them find out my information sources. I told them about one guy, and they arrested him and leaked the data. It seems as if they are trying to destroy the source instead of follow the lead. The FBI especially seems to be trying to keep anything from happening. I'm pretty sure that they are covering up for somebody."
"Do you really think that is what they are doing, Bill?" Inez asked. "Are you sure it is not just incompetence?"
"Oh, there is plenty of incompetence, for sure. But it is as if they assigned the biggest idiots to this case on purpose. When Steve found out about the Stingers and the kidnapping they had to become involved, but the local bureau chief got people from out of his district to head up the investigation. When I asked him about that he said that it was because he had too many pending cases and not enough people without deadlines to handle it. That is pure unadulterated bullshit. I know better. The State police were doing okay until the FBI turned it into a jurisdiction showdown. Since then all official leads have dried up."
"Well, you said that you had some information for us, do you?" I asked him.
"Certainly, Mister Andrews, and the intentional hindrance by the FBI is the first thing. They are obstructing the investigation because one of the people who would be found out is a senator. I'm not positive which one yet, but it has to be someone on the appropriations committee or the oversight committee for the FBI to carry water for them. That part is a little difficult to ferret out right away. I've got it narrowed down pretty good though. The corporations involved in the actual actions we have found out though. I'm still looking for the name of who called the shots, but I'll find him or her eventually. Once you begin your activities I think the roach will probably skitter out into the light. That is why I'm giving you the info now, you will help me find out the rest."
I looked down at the paper he had handed out when he arrived. Bill Ericson had been a Marine intelligence officer and been removed from service after an encounter with an IED, the same one that got Steve Grant. The mechanical hook on the end of his left arm didn't seem to slow him down any at all. The paper I was looking at detailed an interconnected series of power companies in seven states to include Texas. The headquarters was in Atlanta, and the actual threat seemed to emanate from there.
"Can you tell me what your plans are for these people Mr. Andrews? If I know what you have planned I can watch for the fleeing rats in the right place."
I looked up at him, and at the rest of the group. "As much as I would dearly love to rain shock and awe down on these fools, we don't have nearly enough power for that, and there would be too many innocents damaged. Here is what I have in mind, and suggestions are encouraged. First off, everything will need to be legal, but at the same time I want them to know that we are behind it. The easiest way I can see to do that is to use our products as weapons. I want to give discounts and subsidies to homeowners and small businesses in these areas. I want to get our small units out in much greater numbers than has occurred elsewhere. I want these companies to have to buy power from their customers. They have had to do it in the past, but it was always a rare thing and even then they bitched about it. I want to help all the other companies that are in competition with them, all the small power people on the fringes. Muriel tells me that the first commercial units should be ready in a couple of months. I want them to go to these small companies as a trial operation. This corporation will not get any of the commercial units at any price. Contracts will specify that representatives of this corporation are not allowed to have any access to our products, and impose very strict penalties for violations. When the stock prices start to drop, I'll have Crom's uncle buy most of it up. When we have control we'll bust the individual companies into regional co-ops with new management.
"This offshoot of GE that hired the spy is a different matter. When they did it we didn't have any patents, so their actions weren't strictly illegal. I want to buy this company and fire the executives for ethics violations. I know someone from GE itself gave the orders for it, but there is no way to pin it on anyone. Since we are not allowing GE to have any contracts from us, they have their own problems right now. We can use the company itself to make components. Sophia says that they have an assembly shop they work with that we can use as well. Do you think all this will flush out your vermin, Bill?"
"I once watched a mined freighter go down in the Persian Gulf, everything that could float was covered with rats, this should look pretty much the same. How soon do you intend to start?"
"First I would like to know if anyone has any objections or comments."
"What about the Senator? Is he or she going to get away scot-free?" Crom asked.
I looked to Bill, "Once the fallout starts to drop I should be able to narrow it down further and possibly identify who it is," he said.
I spoke up then, "I have tried to stay away from politics up to now, but I think we can be active for anyone who opposes any of the people Bill thinks may have done it. Whoever it was got me to be in Washington at that hearing, and they are definitely going to pay. Once they are identified, we can go about ruining them financially as well as politically. Bill, I want you to try and pinpoint the bribe they took so we can publicize it. Does anyone else have anything to add?"
When everyone shook their heads, I said, "Then we'll start right now. Grier, I want every other unit the factory completes to be set aside for this project. Diane, get with the distributors in these areas and set up the subsidies and discounts. I don't care if we make a profit in the area or not, I just want those units out there. Lease a big warehouse or two in the Atlanta area, there are empties all around the place. Then get with Sophia, I want a lot of the home units produced in other plants to go to these warehouses. We'll distribute them from there." I turned to my factory manager, "Grier, I need you and Crom to get some folks to Atlanta to do quality control before this stuff ships. I know Sophia is emphasizing it to the shops, but I want to be sure. You know, with all the techs we are going to need, maybe we should set up a school to train them for us. By this time next year we'll be getting most of the electrical engineering students from a four state area coming to work for us." I turned back to Diane, "See about having some of the technical schools providing curriculum to suit us. The kids are going to need it in the future wherever they end up working. After all, we are the future of electrical generation."
Two months later:
"Muriel. Where the hell are those commercial units? You promised me the first ones would ship last week. What happened?"
"I don't know, Alex. Every time I thought the lines were ready to run, there was another problem. Some of the machines would break, or supplies would be misplaced, things just keep going wrong."
"Why the hell didn't you tell me about this before? That sounds like sabotage. I want you to find an independent security firm and post guards at all areas in that plant. You and the techs watch and make sure that everyone who is working in there is supposed to be there. I'm going to have Steve send some people he trusts to get the security organized. I'll also have Bill's people do some background checks to see who is getting extra money from somewhere. I need those commercial units, Muriel. I've got home units going up all over the Atlanta area, and those folks are starting to get worried, but if I can't take away some of their business accounts, they won't fold. The next time you have problems, you call me before it gets this bad."
"Yes, Sir, I will. On the plus side, I have another plant that should be ready shortly after this one, and there are two places almost ready to begin manufacturing the small units. They may actually be ready before the big ones. I have a design team working on the possibilities of the small units and the ideas are pretty good. They have exchanged some emails and faxes with Ingemar as well."
"Good job on that, Muriel, but you should have seen this problem for what it was sooner. Get to work and fix the problem. I'll talk to you later."
I looked up and Diane was standing in front of my desk. "Miss Horne is probably seeing the sabotage as simply men being their normal stupid selves. Her bias drips off her like venom. I'd say pull her in, but she challenges a lot of men to do better, and some of the women to excel."
"I can understand about the men being challenged, but how do you see her improving the efforts of the women?"
"Heterosexual females try to prove that they can be just as competent as the gay women, and end up doing much better than they ever had to before. Men give them too much slack and don't expect as much. Mind you, you will need someone to go in after her and smooth the feathers a bit. Sophia was telling me about the man she has managing her office right now. She says that he is doing a great job, but is capable of a lot more. She wants to move one of the women working downstairs into his job if she can find something more for him to do. Enough about that, you need to go out to the factory this afternoon. Crom wants to talk to you and you have an appointment at two for someone from the government. This guy doesn't sound like a hit man for congress though."
"Okay, but get with Sophia about this guy she has, because you are right, once Muriel gets stuff up and running I'll need someone with a lot more finesse to oversee the operations."
"Glad to help. Shall we see what Marcella has for lunch today?"
Lunch was always fun when Inez and Camille were home. Once she had Camille working with her, Inez took off on the generators to schools idea. There were already a lot of low-income area schools in the Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas areas with generators. She had even taken the idea so far as to hire architects to design new schools with the generators in mind, to include placing them in high wind areas. I didn't like having Inez traveling around so much, she was really starting to bulge out and I knew that she was beginning to get uncomfortable. Camille did most of the travel for her, but some stuffy school boards wouldn't be satisfied talking to a subordinate, they wanted to fete the queen bee herself. Soon they wouldn't have any choice though; Doctor Calloway wasn't going to let her travel for much longer.
Today the pair was off to Dallas, and Jessica was going with them.
I had begun using my office in the factory more and more lately. I tried to use the one at home when I could just to stay near Inez and Jessica as much as possible, but for more and more things I needed technical help nearby so most afternoons I was at the factory. Today Diane led me right on down to Crom's workshop. He had what looked to be one of our generators hooked up into a testing cradle. There was an electric motor running the turbine with a belt. Crom was standing at an instrument panel with a young girl I hadn't seen before.
"Hello Crom, what are you working on and who is this?"
"Oh, hello Alex. This is Genevieve Decourly, she is a student at Texas A&M and wrote me about some improvements she might have for my designs. They weren't really much of an improvement, but she impressed me with how well she understood what I was doing. We are financing the rest of her schooling and she will be working here afterwards."
I shook the nervous girl's hand, and then turned back to the generator. Something didn't look right about it. "Is this one of her ideas, Crom?"
"What? Oh ... this. No, her designs are much better than this. This little jewel is the first of what will probably be a long line of competitors. This one steals our patent directly, but is only able to manage about half our output. That is still ten percent more than conventional designs, but we are trying to see how they made it to be so inefficient. I think they disassembled one of our units and built this without really understanding the design. It is a company out of Jakarta and they are selling these things like sausages, and for twice what we charge. Our lawyers are arguing patent infringement in the world courts, but I don't expect much to come from it. That part of the world needs this technology as much as we do and they feel that we are withholding it from them.
"Look, Alex. I know that you want to keep this "American made" to help with the trade imbalance and to provide jobs here, but it's getting too big. I think we need to license the designs out to places in Japan and Australia. They can take care of the whole Asian market and some of the profits will come back here. We just have to put in the agreements just what their markets are, and put in hefty fines for going out of bounds. We could also use someone in England to build units for the European market. These countries are our allies and they are having as much trouble with energy as we are, more in some cases. Japan never really recovered from the earthquakes and the destruction of their nuclear plants. They could use our units as much or more than anyone. It shouldn't take them long at all to be producing as much as we do. If we pick the right company the quality should not be a problem either."
I turned to my right, "Did you get all that, Diane?" She smiled and nodded, "Then alert the legal team and put out feelers for another Sophia. I don't have to have a woman for the job, but I need someone with her ability to get results."
"Actually, I already have someone in mind, Sir. He was laid off from one of the companies we are at war with and applied to us for work. The application was shunted to you because of that, so I had Bill check him out carefully and was just about to suggest that Grier take him on. He is fluent in German, French, and Italian, and able to get by in Japanese and Russian. He is a very able electrician who spent a lot of time in the Air Force. He was also in Iraq, and to add to Mister Cromberg's list, we need someone to build units for the African continent. We will also have to set up something in Russia. If we lease the rights to a company over there, they can fight the patent infringements we know are going to happen. The same goes for all the other lessees, they can fight the wolves for us."
I turned back to Crom, "Any questions?"
"Yeah, why didn't you hire her six months ago? I hope you're paying her enough."
I had to laugh, and did. Diane had eased things for me by an unimaginable amount. "How about it, Diane, do you need a raise?"
"But I just started working for you, Boss. You started me at double my last job, and I'm not due for a raise yet."
"None the less, you get twenty five percent as of next week. Now what is this appointment I have?"
"Thank you, Mister Andrews. I think this guy is from the military. He didn't say anything, but I get that feel from him."
"I hate to tell him, but he is meeting the wrong guy. Hey Crom, want to sit in on this one?"
"No thanks, Alex. Gen and I have some more work to do on this bastard here, and I don't think my designs are really appropriate for weaponry."
"I'll tell him you said that. Lead on McDuff."
When I entered my office there was a medium sized guy in a dark grey suit waiting for me. My secretary handed me a stack of papers. She was the main reason for me having an office in the factory. She and Diane scheduled my time so that I only wasted time I wanted to waste. Sometimes you have to stop and deeply ponder consequences before girding your loins, or gilding the lily, whichever you were pondering.
I held out my hand to the man, "Hello, I'm Alex Andrews. I hope that you haven't been waiting for very long?"
"Glad to meet you Andrews, I'm Jerry Weatherby. My boss has some items to discuss with you."
"And your boss would be?"
"The Secretary of Defense, Sir. He wants to feel you out on several things and I am just here to gauge the reception."
"Come on into my office then Mr. Weatherby. As you can see, I am a very busy man, and after my last visit to Washington I am not exactly impatient to repeat the experience."
"I am sorry about that. We had no idea what those fools had planned, and even if we had known, there was no jurisdiction. The Secretary wants to know if you have considered any military applications to your systems?"
"My partner just told me that he didn't feel that his designs had any use as weapons. Have you come up with something he hasn't?"
"No, not as weapons. But consider this, nuclear ships use the nuclear energy to run steam turbines connected to generators, which in turn power the electric motors that actually propel the ships. Your designs would increase the efficiency of this system by an incredible amount. We are thinking of the new keels being laid down and of retrofitting the older ships to use your technology. The Army also uses a lot of generators in their field deployments. We need your units for them."
"I'll tell you what. You have the people building those ships and systems decide what kind of power they want them to produce, and we will design the unit, or lease the patent to the company who can, probably the later. I'll have my people produce a set of specs your folks can work with, and we'll go from there. I want to help the military, but we are way too busy trying to break into the world market to be able to give the projects as much time as they deserve. You already have people who are familiar with working with you and they can do it much better. The way I see it, the companies you have building your stuff now will be the contractors and we will be a sub. Be warned though, some companies will not get leases or rights usage. We will not work with any of the companies involved with activities against us. I hope you can abide by that."
"I don't see why not. Most of the companies you are talking about are soon to go bust anyway. You don't hold back any, Mister Andrews, and if those folks don't know how bad they screwed up yet, they soon will."
I buzzed the intercom, "Steph, would you come in here please?"
When she entered, I instructed my secretary, "Get together with Grier and Crom and the ad agency. Have them put together a package for contractors to use detailing the capabilities of out systems. This is so they can design platforms that will use our generators. I'm sure Grier will know what I want. If there are any questions, don't hesitate to ask."
"Yes, Sir. I think Crom has already been working on something like that for Muriel's people. I'll talk to him first."
"Sounds good. Thank you Steph." I turned back to the DOD rep, "Leave your number with her Mister Weatherby and she will let you know when the packets are ready. In the meantime, get your people to plan out their power requirements. You might even be able to use electric motors for new applications. Consider how much quieter an electric tank will be than a diesel, or how about a hybrid Hummer? Using our designs you can get 50 miles to the gallon with one. Think about the fuel you won't have to transport. The wind turbines we sell for houses could provide much of the electricity needed for a field camp too. All you would need to do is have them made in camouflage and designed for ease of assembly. The possibilities are pretty extensive, but we aren't the people to make them come to life. You already have those folks; you just need to utilize them."
I escorted him to the outer office, and Diane was waiting out there with Bill Ericson. She led him into my office and I followed.
Once we were seated he came right to the point. "I think I know who ordered the actions against you Alex. He is a vice president of the Southeastern Power and Light Corporation. His job title is New Business, and he is a jackal. It looks like he was hired for his lack of scruples. His name is Daniel Smith, and if he hadn't been black he would have probably joined the Mafia. In the year before you came onto the scene he had brought two companies into the corporation through bribery and blackmail. The CEO of Southeastern thought that the corporation was languishing and wanted expansion, his method was to hire a thug to help things along. Smith is trying to get out of the country right now, but we are blocking access to his funds he tried to hide. As soon as I have some actual proof against him, I'll turn it over to the Justice department. Until then we are keeping a sharp eye on him."
"How likely are you to get the proof you need?"
"I don't know, Alex. He covered his tracks pretty good. We are more likely to get proof of his other activities than we are of the actions against you."
"Not good enough, Bill. You say you are blocking him from his money, well take it away. Make him do something stupid. Even if we can't get him for Norma's death, he can't be allowed to get away. We'll ruin the guy who hired him, but this Smith has to be punished. Make him desperate enough and he'll crack."
"Will do, Mister Andrews. He hid his money in the Cayman's, and we put a virus into his computer that caused the bank to doubt his identity. To the bank, it looks like someone is trying to hack his account when he tries to access it. He is not very popular with the people he works with, and it was easy to get one of the IT guys to load the virus for us. The next step is to make it so that when he tries to access his account again, the virus will dump his money into another account, one we control. What I need to know, is do you want him to know who is doing it to him? It will be easy enough to do."
"No, I think it would be best if it is anonymous. He might suspect us, but without proof he is unlikely to strike back. I don't need to endanger my own people to get this man off the streets." I paused and thought a moment, "See if you can cause Smith to think his boss may have had something to do with it."
"I think I can do that. I'll let my people know."
Diane asked a question then, "What about the government folks, any more about them?"
"Yes, that is the other reason I'm here. We have it down to two Senators and two Congressmen. All of them have been getting money from Southeastern Power and any of them could have pulled favors to get you to Washington. One of them is even on the committee you appeared before. I don't think they knew what was going to happen, they were flunkies in this."
"Okay, Bill. We'll work against them in the open. Just the idea that they were willing to take the bribes is enough to get them out of office. Give Diane the names and we'll take it from here. Keep me informed about Smith, I want to watch him squirm."
I sat back in my chair as Diane led Ericson out. In the background I could hear the helicopter landing. We had moved the heliport out to the factory after the fiasco in town. There was too much chance of collateral damage when landing at the estate. The factory area was easier to defend.
Diane came back into the office, "That should be Sophia, she wants to see you."
"What about? I would really like to get home and do some laps in the pool to relax, Diane."
"I'm not sure what it is about, Sir. But maybe she can talk in the limo. She and Susan should be spending the night since it is so late."
"So I finally get to meet Susan. I have heard quite a bit about Missus Chatham."
"If you mean that she is loud and obnoxious, yes, I've heard that too. But that's only the people who see her passing by, the one's who meet her also include that she is smart. She seems to fit in perfectly, just the right brassy counterbalance to Sophia's sweetness. Too bad Muriel hasn't found anyone that good."
Any further conversation was stopped as Stephanie announced that Miss Morgan and Missus Chatham were here to see me.
"Send them in, Steph. I was expecting them."
"Sophia, nice to see you. And you must be Missus Chatham, I've heard some good things about you."
"The name is Susan, and you can discount half of what you've heard, the rest is true."
"I hope so, Susan. Sophia needs someone like you around."
She turned to Sohpia, "You're right Sophy, he could polish a turd. Now get on with it, tell him why we're here."
"Okay, Alex, we stopped by to pick up one of Grier's people on our way to a new factory, but what in the hell did you do to Muriel? She acts like you tore her a new asshole. What did she do that was so wrong?"
"I scolded her a bit about not seeing the sabotage going on in front of her nose, that's all. I didn't threaten to fire her or anything, did I Diane?"
"No, not that I heard. You were actually pretty gentle with her. I'd have been a lot more brutal than you were."
Susan spoke up then, "Well from the way Miss Dyke is acting you cut her pay and took away her strap-on. She stormed into the office today and threw shit around, and then she fired her latest PA and made the poor twink cry. I kinda liked that one. Of course, if he was any more flamin' we'd have had to take out extra fire insurance, but he had some good recipes."
I could immediately see that what I had heard about Susan was true, all of it. I liked her.
"I didn't mean to cause so much trouble, but what can I do about it?"
"She needs her ashes hauled." Susan stated, "She isn't thinking clearly and needs an outlet. Until she can find someone to diddle her clit, she's going to continue to be a supreme bitch. She can't find anyone to travel with her either. This PA she fired was her third. Sophia found this cute little kid to work as our gopher when we travel, but Muriel keeps trying to find fairies to work for her. This is fine in a lot of cases, but not all the time. She needs good people, not just good gays."
"Damn, I wish Inez were here, she can usually cut through the crap to find a way through."
"Inez doesn't know her any better than you do, right?" Diane asked. "What you need is a gay woman's viewpoint, someone you can trust."
"Well there is Brenda and Diane, maybe they can help."
"Damn," Sophia exclaimed, "I should have thought of them. With Brenda carrying a baby and Diane itching to get one of her own, I almost forgot that they are gay and know a lot of the gay folks in Vegas."
"Call them from the car, Sophia. I'm ready to go home and relax. You are staying the night, aren't you?"
"Yes, Alex." Sophia answered, "I promised Susan that she would be able to have one of Marcella's meals. We didn't have time when I brought her down before, while you were in San Francisco. She is from this area and loves spicy food."
"Great, I'll let Marcella know so she can prepare yours special, Susan. She has to tone it down a lot for the rest of us."
My chauffer Billy looked pleased to see all the women in my entourage tonight. After the attacks Steve and Paul had hired new drivers for Crom and me. I had all these beautiful cars in my garage, and I wasn't allowed to drive them. Paul drove Inez, and my new driver was Billy Stone. Billy was well over six feet tall and built like a tank. He was in his mid forties and retired from the Army. He had worked as a bodyguard to rock stars before Steve hired him. I could see from his expression that he was impressed with Susan, and the way she pressed against him as she entered the car showed that the interest might be returned.
In the car Sophia called Brenda. She described some of the problem, and after a bit handed the phone to me. "Brenda wants to talk to you, Alex."
"Hi, Sweetheart. How's my second favorite blimp?" I had to hold the phone away from my ear as a screech erupted from it.
Diane could see the questions in Susan's eyes. "Brenda is pregnant, she is just a couple of months behind Inez. Her partner Diane is going to try after Inez and Brenda deliver, and Inez is pregnant again." I could see that there were still questions, but not urgent ones.
"Alex, you son of a bitch, you gave me a boy. How are Diane and I going to raise a boy?"
"Well you didn't ask for a girl, Brenda. How was I supposed to know?"
"You should have known, Alex. Now you be sure to give Diane a girl, you hear me?"
"As you wish. Now do you think you can help Muriel? She needs to get laid, and more than that, she needs a competent PA to work with her. She doesn't seem able to hire one herself, so we are going to help her. Any ideas?"
"The getting laid is easy. You send her to us and we'll make sure she is taken care of. You work her and Sophia too hard anyway. You are a real slave driver. Hmm, maybe if you treated Muriel like a slave she would respond better? Anyway, Diane was talking yesterday about her sister. She seems to be having trouble at work. I'll talk to her, maybe that can work out to your advantage. Get your redheaded problem up here and we'll handle her."
"Thank you, Hon. I really appreciate it. Tell your Diane to send her sister's resume to my Diane. Maybe that can work out, if not, I'm sure that we can find her a job somewhere." We pulled into the garage, "I have to go now, dinner awaits."
"Okay, Alex. You give Marcella and the others my love, tell them that I found out it's a boy, they'll be happy, even if I'm not so much."
"Will do."
Billy and I helped the ladies from the car. I saw that Susan waited for Billy's hand and flashed him some leg as she got out. I think I saw Billy blush, but it is hard to tell when a black man blushes.
As I assisted Diane out of the car, I gave her some instructions, "Send Muriel a message that she is to meet with Brenda and Diane in Vegas. I'll let them explain it to her. I hope Diane's sister is what we need to calm Muriel down. I would hate to have to let her go, but if there isn't some improvement, I'll have to."