Chapter 12
The Jeep station wagon pulled onto the county road and Ann saw that the sun had warmed up the road appreciably and the road was almost clear. The sun was just beginning to go below the horizon and it would be dark before they arrived in Hinley.
"Do you notice anything different about this Jeep?"
Ann looked around the jeep trying to find something different about it, "I can't see anything different."
"It's fully armored to B6. You would notice if you were driving it. It's heavier and a bit more sluggish than a stock Jeep. It also has a slightly higher center of gravity than a stock Jeep. You would be amazed how many armored vehicles you have seen and didn't know that they were armored. I'd say fifty per cent of the Fortune five hundred CEOs drive armored vehicles. Juergen Schrempp, the CEO of Daimler-Chrysler, just had his million dollar armored Mercedes stolen in Stuttgart."
"And you want me to use the Expedition that you have at the company? What if someone stole it?"
Bob chuckled, "Well, I guess a smaller car would be better for you. I have a Skoda Octavia in the yard that I can let you use. It's only armored to B4 though. A Swiss banker ordered it. The Swiss police arrested him before he could take delivery."
Ann laughed, "Only armored to B4! I guess that you don't think very highly of me if you're willing to risk my life with a car only armored to B4. By the way, what is a Skoda?"
"A Skoda is a Czech mid sized car. It's considered a poor man's Mercedes 500 sedan. Now, the Mercedes is armored to B6."
"You had to take a loss on that car?"
Bob laughed at that statement, "No. The banker put fifty per cent down on the car and after he was arrested he committed suicide. I'll make more on that car than if he had taken possession."
Bob pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant. The restaurant was built on the style of a Swiss chalet only much bigger. He let Ann out at the front door and then drove to a parking spot as close to the front entrance as possible.
They were greeted by a hostess as soon as they entered and they were told that it would be fifteen minutes before there was a table for them. Bob told the hostess that they would wait in the bar and he led the way to the bar.
"I'm only going to have coffee. I don't want to take a chance on having an accident while being impaired. You have whatever you want."
"Coffee's fine with me," Ann demurred.
Bob walked to a booth and they sat opposite each other. A waitress came to the table and Bob ordered both of them coffee.
Bob asked her several questions about the website that he had shown her that afternoon. He asked her the names of several of the people listed as contacts on the website and asked her opinions of the different products that the company offered.
"When do you think that you can start with the company?"
"Don't you think that I should have the interview first?"
"Ann, you've been having the interview all afternoon. The questions that I've been asking you this afternoon and since we got here show me that you absorbed the information on the site and that you're not one of those people that feel that the only reason for going to work is to get a paycheck. I believe that if I offered to pay you a salary and told you that you didn't have to do anything for it that you would turn me down. You've impressed me remembering the names of every person listed on the website as a contact. Everybody in this world deserves respect and I feel that you feel the same way too. Remembering their names is one way of showing that you feel they are important enough for you to remember them. As I said, I'm tickled to death that you don't know anything about the security business. Now I won't have to break a lot of bad habits."
Ann let out a deep breath that she had been holding, "The couple that wants to buy the business asked for a sixty day settlement but I know that they want to get in as soon as possible. I probably could settle within thirty days.
"Tell the couple that our company sends a lot of flowers and fruit baskets. I'll transfer our business to their store and also sign a contract to provide a large flower arrangement on Monday morning and Wednesday afternoon for our reception area. You have some kind of an agreement with one of those floral delivery things don't you, one that delivers world-wide?"
Ann nodded and Bob continued, "Do you have a passport?"
"I've never even been out of the country."
He pulled a notepad out of his pocket and wrote something on it, "Can you speak any foreign languages?"
Ann gulped, "I can speak French. I took French for three years in high school and two years in college. My grandmother and grandfather spoke German almost exclusively and I can understand German enough to get by."
"Great! I think that you'll get by just fine. Americans think that if they know English the rest of the world should speak it too. Most Europeans speak at least two languages and some speak as many as five or six."
"I really need a job and I would like to try out with your company, it seems so interesting. Do you really think that I can do it?
Bob paused before answering, "A lot of what you are going to have to learn is just common sense. I'm sure that you didn't notice it but I pulled into the parking lot like I would in any country that was in turmoil. As I neared the parking lot I looked at everything in my field of view. If there had been anything that was out of place or that I felt shouldn't be there, I would have driven right past the parking lot. When I pulled up to the door to let you out, I checked everything. If there had been anything wrong I would have put my foot down hard on the gas and got out of there. I made sure that there was no car in front of me so that another car could not pull behind me and box me in. I made sure that there was nobody standing around the entrance to the restaurant that shouldn't be there. There's valet parking outside but I parked my own car. I'm sure that the valet thinks that I'm just trying to avoid paying him a tip. I don't want him in my car. I don't want him to know that it's armored and I don't have to worry about him doing anything to the car.
"I'm sure that there is no one that is waiting to do me harm," Ann laughed.
"Would you bet your life on it? That's what you are doing if you aren't careful. It's a far different world out there than it was ten years ago. I don't like it but it's a fact. I have a theory that most people that are murdered become victims because they were either afraid to make their attacker mad or they didn't take the ordinary precautions that you have to in this day and age."
The hostess came to them to tell them that their table was ready. Bob and Ann followed the hostess to their table and sat down. The hostess left a menu with each of them.
Bob and Ann both decided on the surf and turf and the waitress took the menus and refilled their coffee. While they were waiting for their meal to be prepared they engaged in small talk about the different things that Paladin had run into during the course of business.
As they sat drinking their coffee, after they had finished eating, Ann smiled at him, and "Do you realize that you haven't talked about selling your business in almost twenty-four hours?"
"I guess you're right. I've been trying to find someone to help me with the business for over a year now. Selling the business was a way to get some help. I hope that I don't scare you off with the expectations that I have for you. I've needed someone that I can open up with about the business for a long time. We've got plenty of business but we're starting to stagnate. We have the same old tired products and processes. We have to get to the cutting edge of the security business. We have to position ourselves s the only place that someone with any common sense would go to for their security needs. The products that we offer are the same products that any security company can offer."
Ann paused for a second, "Why don't you develop your own high end products? Hire the most gifted scientists and patent everything so that you're the only one that has the product."
"I just don't have the time to get something like that off of the ground. My people have specific tasks that they are good at and they do them well. How about you take that on as your number one project. Draw up a complete, detailed proposal and bring it to me. If I feel that we can make it work I'll put you in charge of getting it off of the ground."
"Does that mean that I'm hired?"
"Sure it does. I thought that you knew that. Now, let me get the check and we'll get out of here."
As they walked out of the restaurant Bob handed the valet a ten dollar bill, "Thanks for watching my car for me."
Ann started to walk to the car and Bob rushed to catch up to her. She had almost reached the car when she stepped on a large clump of snow and her foot went out from under her. Bob caught her in his arms just before she went into the slush on the parking lot. She looked into his face as he held her for longer than was necessary.
It suddenly dawned on him that he had her in his arms, "I'm sorry. I just... I mean."
Ann straightened up and stepped away from him, "Thank you. I would have been cold and soaked for the second time in the short time I've known you."
Bob held the door for her and then got in and started the car. He
had no trouble with the roads on the way home. When he pulled in front
of his cabin there was a deer standing in the driveway. The deer stared
at the headlights of the car for a long time before she ran into the
woods.