Chapter 14
The couple was pleased that Ann agreed on an early settlement and Ann sold them the building and the business and settled in thirty days. She found an apartment a week before settlement. She called Bob and let him know that she would be able to start on December first. Bob asked about the business and she explained that she was ready to settle and that she had found an apartment. He told her to contract for a mover and to have them send him the bill. When she protested he told her that it was normal for his company to assist on relocation.
Ann walked into the office building, on December first, and introduced herself to the receptionist, "Yes Ms. Simmons. My name is Paula; Mr. Long said that you'd be in today. I've got all of your passes and you're ID card and your personal gas credit card and your VISA and MasterCard. Your satellite phone is on your desk. I'm supposed to get a picture of you for your passport. We'll send it out today and you should have your passport in a couple of days. We use one of the passport services and they walk our requests through. Our company is well-known at the State Department and we never have any problem. Mr. Long asked the IT people to work with you for a couple of days to get you familiar with our systems. Mr. Samper will want to talk to you about our security protocols. Now, if you'd like I can take you back to your office."
"Is Mr. Long in the office today?" Ann asked.
The young woman smiled, "Mr. Long is in Saudi Arabia. Next week he will be in Sweden all week. If you'd like to speak to him, he has his satellite phone. Just remember the time zones. We have a map in your desk drawer that will guide you in remembering the time zones."
Paula took Ann back to her office, "Mr. Long said that he would like you to pick one of the other cars for your company car. The Skoda will be a problem if it needs service or parts. Mr. Long suggested the BMW or the Range Rover. Both are armored to B6. The BMW has all wheel drive and the Range Rover is four wheel drive.
Paula lowered her voice and leaned forward, "Take the BMW, it's classier."
Ann smiled, "Ok the BMW it is."
Ann spent the rest of the week with the IT department and the security department. There was always someone in the office asking for a decision on sales or customer contacts. Everyone seemed to be cutting her a little slack because she was new. By the time Friday afternoon rolled around Ann's head was spinning; she had never worked so hard in her life.
The phone rang just as Ann got back from lunch. She picked up the phone and Paula said that it was Bob Long on the phone.
"Ann, this is Bob. I'm in Stockholm. I hate to do this to you your first week but I'm going to need you here. The Swedish government wants additional security on their North Sea rigs and their land based oil refining facilities. They're afraid that the Danish thing with the Muslims will spill over to Sweden. This is going to be a rush job and it's going to be big; bigger than anything we've done so far. I'll need you, John Livy and Paul Sturgeon here for a couple of days. Have Paula charter a corporate jet and fly over here and meet me Monday night. After we meet the Swedish engineers John and Paul can design the system and you can manage it from your office. Did Paula get your passport?"
Ann gulped and then nodded. It suddenly dawned on her that Bob couldn't see her nod her head, "Yes, the passport got here today."
"Can you get away and meet me here?"
Ann paused before she answered, "Yes, I can get away. Brenda is still in school and there's nothing pressing in my life that would keep me here."
"Ok, just remember that it's winter here. The temperature varies from thirty-six degrees to nineteen sometimes, so bring suitable winter clothes. If you don't have anything heavy enough we can buy it at the airport in Stockholm. Tell Paula what you need to do. She knows how to set these things up. You can rely on Paula. She's good. I'll reserve your rooms for you from this end so tell Paula not to do that. Tell Paula that the corporate jet is for one way only. I'll expect the three of you here Monday afternoon."
Bob talked to her for a few minutes more; asking her if she was making out Ok and if the job was what she thought it was. Ann heard a phone ring in the background and Bob said that he had to go. She hung up the phone and called Paula and asked her to come into her office. She explained what Bob Long needed and asked Paula to make the travel arrangements. After Paula left Ann called John Livy and Paul Sturgeon into her office and told them that they would need to go to Sweden. She told them what little she knew about the project.
John nodded his head and stood up and said in his thick Scottish accent, "We figured that this would come up. The Swedes have been asking questions for about a month now. I think that we have the basics worked out already. Do you want me to go over what we have put together so far?"
Ann told him that she did and that they would meet in the conference room in an hour. After John and Paul left to get the preliminary plans and estimates she picked up the phone and dialed Brenda.
Ann had given Brenda her cell phone when she started with Paladin and Brenda answered it right away.
"Guess where I'm going to be on Monday?" Ann asked her daughter.
"On a romantic get away with your hunky boss?" Brenda shot back at her.
"No young lady, I'm flying to Sweden on Monday and I'll probably be there most of the week. The Swedes want us to work up security for their North Sea oil rigs and their land based facilities."
"Gosh Mom, can you do that?"
Ann laughed, "Of course not. I don't even know what they're talking about. I'm taking two engineers with me. They'll do the planning and execution. It will be my job to make sure that everything that we propose gets done and that we get paid for it."
"So I guess that I won't talk to you until you get back then."
"No way, young lady. I'll call you a couple of times a day from Stockholm. I'll have the satellite phone with me and if you have to get in touch with me call me from your phone no matter what the cost. Do you need anything before I start my globe trotting? Do you have enough money?"
"I'm fine with money Mom. Just go off with your man and don't forget to bring me something from Sweden."
John Livy stuck his head in the door and motioned that they were in the conference room. Ann nodded and told him that she would be there in a minute.
"Look, Brenda I'm going to have to go. I'll call you before I leave on Monday."
"Ok Mom. Behave yourself in Sweden. You know that I won't be able to keep my eye on you."
Brenda hung up the phone. Ann walked back to the conference room and saw that the two engineers were already discussing the project.
John looked at her as she sat down, "Ms. Simmons, I know that your background is business administration so we'll try to explain everything that we've been working on. If there's anything that we don't make perfectly clear, stop us and we'll explain it again until you do understand it. It will be pretty easy for you. You really don't have to know why it works; you just have to have an idea of what we are trying to accomplish. It's like a television. I doubt that you know everything that makes it work but you know if you turn it on, a picture comes on the thing and sound comes out of the speakers. If the Swedes asked you to provide them with something that will show moving pictures and have sound, you'd give them a television. That's what we're going to do next week. There will be a lot of politicians there that will try to make us think that they know everything about the security business. Really their only expertise is how to get elected. By Monday, you'll know many times more than they do about security. The best advise that I can give you is this; go into every meeting like you are the resident expert and you are going to run the meeting your way. Defer to Paul or myself if they want a technical explanation. Don't talk down to them but let them know that you are the executive in charge."
John and Paul coached Ann until eleven o'clock Friday night. Ann
asked them to help her again on Saturday and John agreed to come in and
help her. Paul begged off due to a family event that had been planned
for months. Ann and John went over the project for ten hours on
Saturday. They decided to take Sunday off. John told her that he would
meet her at the business aviation terminal at four o'clock on Monday
morning and that they would take off at first light on Monday.