by AJ Newman
Mike caught me to have a private discussion. “John, I misled you. Beth and I were seeing each other. She’s extremely jealous and makes my life miserable when I work with other women. Cindy and Jane have driven her crazy with jealousy.”
“Crap! I’m sorry to hear that. I don’t understand why she’d be jealous of my daughter. You’re practically her uncle. I hope she could see that Jane and I are getting closer.”
Mike shrugged, “Well, that answered my next question.”
“What question?”
“Are you and Jane seeing each other?”
“Kinda sorta and go find your own woman.”
Jere kept asking me questions while we ate, and this helped keep my mind off the next few days. We finished early, and Jere begged me to take him for a walk on the beach with his mom. I called for Punk, and we took off walking to the beach.
Jane patted her son’s head. “Uncle John probably wants to go home and rest. We’ve had a long day.”
I grinned at Jane. “Actually, I’d like to buy us an ice cream cone and see who can lick all of the ice cream before we get to the beach. A walk would do me good right now.”
“Okay, but Jere, don’t be a pig on the ice cream.”
We stopped at the ice cream stand west of Long Johns and ordered three small chocolate cones and a vanilla one, plus a handful of napkins. While we waited for a couple of stray cars to pass by before crossing the street, Jane asked, “Do you own the ice cream stand? You seem to own everything else.”
“Was that sarcasm, young lady?”
“No, just a simple question.”
“I had Doc make an offer to buy it last week. The owner has until the end of the week to respond. The owner is a year from retirement, and I’d planned to add an annex to Long John’s to sell ice cream and beach souvenirs. Buying the current business would be smarter if he’ll sell it.”
“John, are you wealthy?”
Punk begged for her cone as I wondered how to answer. “I have more assets than most people but very little cash on hand. I have to scramble to pay the kid’s tuition and have been successful in starting small businesses to keep cash flowing. I would have been a multimillionaire if I hadn’t sold my stock to Mike. Why do you ask?”
“You mainly act like a common nice guy, but you’re a tiger when it comes to making money. I want to learn how to do that for Jere and myself.”
Whew! I thought she was going to complain about my money grubbing of late. “Okay, I’ll continue to be your mentor even outside the lab. Later, we can discuss your skills and knowledge about non-chemistry stuff, so we can find some businesses that fit. Of course, you noticed that I’m not exactly the poster boy for childcare, home cleaning, or restaurant businesses.”
She gave me that look that melted me. “But, you know how to recognize good people.”
It was a long walk to the beach, and halfway across the raised boardwalk, Jere ran back to us with Punk at his heels with only the bottom of his ice cream.
“What do I get for a prize?”
I shrugged my shoulders, then had an idea. “What if I take you camping and fishing?”
“Momma, can I go camping and fishing with Uncle John?”
“Yes, but only if he lets me come with you two scoundrels.”
I was pleasantly surprised. “Yes, I’d like that. I can teach Jere to fish.”
“Uncle John, I can already fish. Mom taught me. I bet I can catch more fish than you can.”
I looked at Jane and said, “I’ll bet you can, and I’ll bet your mom knows how to fry the fish over an open fire.”
Jere ran ahead of us on the beach with Punk chasing him. This gave me time to talk with his mom. “Are you sure you want to go out in the forest with me alone?”
“Jere can protect me from you. You’re an old softie.”
“I’m not old!”
“Sorry.”
“So, we’re going as friends?”
Jane snickered. “We’ll see. I never said I wasn’t attracted to you. I said I didn’t want to go too fast. I just get to control the accelerator.”
“Okay, you call the shots on our relationship.”
She said, “So, we have a relationship?”
“It would appear so.”
That made me tingle, so I backed off. “I promise to keep you and Jere safe when the crap hits the fan. We need your expertise, but I won’t place you in a dangerous situation.”
Jane said, “I’m cold.”
I placed my arm around her and waved at Jere to follow us back home.
“Are you cold?”
“Yunh huh,” was all I said.
I saw a man approaching Jere and Punk on the beach ahead of us. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as the man closed the distance to Jere. Before I could break out into a run to Jere, Punk barked and then growled at the man. The man took off running with Punk nipping at his heels. Punk chased him out of sight as I reached Jere with Jane close behind me.
“What did the man want?”
“He just said hello, and then Punk growled and chased him away. Uncle John, he was weird-looking.”
Jane caught her breath. “What do you mean by weird?”
“I dunno, he just looked weird. Punk didn’t like him.”
Jane was justifiably upset. “I don’t know if the man just stopped to say hello, and Punk didn’t like him or …”
Punk had returned and stayed at Jere’s side the rest of the way home.
“That’s her. She’s the bitch who turned Mike against me.”
“I don’t care about your personal issues. We pay you for information not … I think you Americans call soap operas. Put the gun down. They have to finish their work and leave quietly now. The big man sent orders to finish here in the USA without creating any more turmoil. My Russians caused us enough grief and only got a couple of them killed. The J&M personnel turned out to be ex-military as well as formidable scientists.”
“When can I take over the production of FXA1 and 2?”
“We’ll see. You can take over Mobile’s operation when J&M pulls out, and then if you deliver increased production, we’ll discuss the operations in Madagascar.”
“You’ll be pleased. I’ll have my people ready when you kick Brunner out.”
“Brunner will have an unfortunate accident the day he leaves us.”
She saw something. “Is that one of your men walking toward the boy?”
“No, I didn’t bring anyone with me.”
She stayed behind and watched as Carl’s boss walked into Long John’s for supper. With him out of the way, she snuck over to John’s home and placed the bomb under the back fender of Jane’s old truck.
Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley
We walked into the place as though we owned it. The office manager met us at the door and asked whom we needed to see. Mike brushed her aside when he saw Brunner walking in from the floor.
Mike frowned at the lady office manager, who quickly retreated to her office. “Just the man we need to see. We have some excellent news for you, and perhaps we can make a buck off you to boot.”
Brunner looked bummed out, but we knew he needed to play his part. “You have my attention for the next hour. Then I have some work to do.”
My team was a few steps behind Mike and me, so I waited for them before heading to our conference room. We played the part of a group of scientists with something exciting to tell our client while setting up our laptops.
Jane was in a good mood already for some reason and bubbled over while talking about our process discovery. “John, I can’t see why Brunner and his folks won’t be ecstatic when they hear your presentation. This cut the processing time down by two to four times.”
Cindy chimed in as we’d rehearsed. “It will save them millions when they go into full production. I never dreamed a batch would get over three kilos, but these changes should allow this equipment to produce ten-kilo batches.”
I added my lines from our carefully de
veloped script. “The new machinery can produce one hundred kilo batches. They might not be ready for that much capacity now, but someone will. Mike will make a fortune selling the new process and equipment.”
Jane said, “He’d better share a bit of his wealth earned from our work.”
I didn’t remember that being in the script. Before I could react, Mike led Brunner and a thin, dark-haired man into the room. “This is Dr. Boris Gorski. He’s one of Dr. Brunner’s scientists and the chief of product development.”
Mike introduced us and gave me the laser pointer to begin my presentation.
Thirty minutes later, Gorski, applauded, which shocked me. I had to act pleased instead of shocked.
Gorski said, “The change in catalysts and temperature are brilliant. The Nano-catalyst is beyond excellent. The bonding rate and reaction rate will be accelerated beyond my expectations. How do you plan to handle the heat buildup? We can’t have the reaction start making FXA2 and blow us to pieces.”
Jane punted before I could speak. “Sorry, we didn’t bring my sketches of the water jacket or the computerized temperature controller. John quickly saw the potential heat buildup, and we designed a chiller to keep the temperature exactly at the process control parameter.”
Gorski patted Brunner on the back. “Well done, my friend. I didn’t believe you when you told me this morning. Instead of paying Mike and sending him on the way, we need to shovel some more of Bates’ money at him and some more to you.”
Mike seized the minute. “I’ll need to meet with your money guy and get a down payment to build the equipment and finish developing the operation.”
“Of course, could we use the same agreement we used for the current process? We’ll double the upfront money and pay the balance on delivery of a working operation,” Gorski said.
It was all Mike could do to keep from jumping for joy. “Doctor, that will be two million upfront and two million when we deliver. Are you okay with that? Of course, that pays for all of our labor and a team to watch over the startup and until we reach a stable operation.”
“Have a copy ready to sign, and I’ll wire transfer the money to your bank.”
Mike opened his backpack and found a file. He filled in the amounts, noted a reference to our presentation, and handed it to Gorski. Gorski signed it and said, “Check your bank account in about ten minutes.”
All of us looked a bit stunned. “Sorry for the deception, but I’m the business owner for the entire project here in Mobile. We need you to work around the clock to get this project up and running in thirty days.”
Mike balked. “That would almost be impossible. We’d need a minimum of ninety days as noted in the contract.”
“I respect that. How about looking at it this way? How about a twenty thousand dollar bonus for every day you beat the ninety days in the contract?”
Mike replied, “I’ll hire three teams to work around the clock and add to my product development team. I won’t guarantee thirty days, but we’ll beat the hell out of ninety days.”
“That’s what I need to hear. Now, I’ll get out of your way so you can go back to your lab and get started.”
Mike responded. “We’ll head back to our lab, but we do intend on running a trial tomorrow with the current equipment.”
“A wise and prudent move. I’ll send an addendum to you with my signature, okaying the extra labor, and send another half million to cover the extra cost. I want you to be happy. I’ll also want to know what exclusive rights to the manufacture of FXA1 will cost us. As you know, we’re the first in the field to go into mass production, and this could be our goose with the golden egg. Don’t get greedy, but my boss has deep pockets.”
Chapter 30
Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley
We walked through the front office on our way to the parking lot when Jane whispered to Cindy. “See the woman in the white top and green slacks?”
“Yes.”
“That was the woman Beth was meeting with yesterday.”
Cindy’s head jerked around to see the woman. “Oh, crap! We have to tell Dad and Uncle Mike. But wait until we’re in the car.”
Jane closed her door. “What could she be up to? At a minimum, she’s trying to steal a client away from Mike and John.”
Jane gave me the timeout sign as I talked with Mike in the front seat. Cindy said, “Dad, the woman Jane saw meeting with Beth yesterday was in New Wave’s front office.”
“Do what?” Mike stopped the truck and grabbed Cindy by the shoulders. Cindy was afraid Mike was mad at her.
Jane gulped and repeated what Cindy had just said. “I saw Beth meet with the woman in the white top and green slacks yesterday.”
“Mike, did you hear that?”
“Yes, and I suspected Beth has been trying to steal customers for a competitor for a couple of weeks. My security team caught her having unscheduled meetings with two of my clients several weeks ago. I gave her some time to tell me about the meetings and heard nothing.”
I was a bit scared that she’d spilled her guts to Brunner or his boss. If she’d told Brunner, I hoped he’d rat her out. We were quiet for a short time when Cindy said, “I was just looking through my notes when I found a message from Brunner. It read, “Ms. James thinks she can steer the business from J&M after you withdraw. She didn’t know about the new process and didn’t mention our issues.”
Mike chuckled, “The bitch thinks she can steal New Wave away from me. She can have the smoking rubble when we get done with it.”
Mike heard a ding coming from his phone. “We’re rich. Well, John and I are rich. You ladies deserve a nice bonus when and if we live through this mess. John, I’m sure you’ll remind me to figure out your part.”
“Don’t worry your little head about that. I’ll remind you after lunch.”
“Oh, crap!” Jane said under her breath. I looked at her, and she said, “I was waiting for a private moment. I saw someone place a small black box under my old truck and then park over at Long John’s and go in. I couldn’t make out who did it and didn’t recognize the vehicle. I took the box and placed it under the jerk’s own fender. I figure it must have been a GPS tracking device.”
“If it’s a tracking device, the person will be trying to follow you and actually be chasing their own tail.”
We all laughed.
Mike was quiet, and then looked in the mirror at Cindy and Jane. “Cindy, I know your schooling is paid for. Jane, John and I’ll figure out how to reward you later. Jane, if you sign a document guaranteeing to work exclusively for J&M for a minimum of four years after finishing your master’s program, we’ll pay all of your college expenses and room and board. As with Cindy, John and I’ll work up a dollar figure for a bonus. Ladies, we couldn’t have pulled off this sales pitch without you. Jane, that chiller and auto controls sealed the deal. How does that sound?”
I broke into the conversation. “I agree with Mike and have to say we make a great team. I also have to apologize to Cindy. Darlin’, I had a few doubts about your work ethic this close to the beach. I’m sorry.”
Cindy and Jane thanked us profusely, but I suspected they also were anxious to find out how much cash they’d get. Mike and I didn’t say it until later, but we were just worried about surviving this week. I was deep in thought when I cursed myself under my breath for being so mercenary, and then I suddenly had a fantastic idea.
“Mike, I know it’s a bit late in the game, but is it possible to find a small group of mercenaries to do our dirty work? I’m ready to make the explosive and do my part, but actually blowing up the place is something for professionals, not washed up old soldiers.”
Cindy and Jane performed a fist bump. “Dad, that’s the smart way to go. Is there time to recruit and put a plan together for them?”
Mike hadn’t said anything. “We could stall several days while we perfect the new process. John, I know you weren’t trying to improve the process, but I’m confident you succeeded.”
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nbsp; “Oh, boy. I may have succeeded in helping racists commit a more perfect genocide.”
“Yunh huh,” Cindy mumbled.
“Mocking me will get you a spanking, daughter.”
Jane and Cindy laughed until it hit them that I was correct.
Mike said, “Calm down, kids. John, you and the kids will go back to the lab in the morning. I’m asking Bill to check with his contacts who run civilian operations in war zones for the military. They have the guys who can complete the job.”
“Mike, can we trust them to not turn us into the Feds?”
Silence.
Mike’s Home – Dauphin Island
It was still morning that fateful day. With the weight of thousands of innocent people on my shoulders, I couldn’t help but look out over the bay toward the ocean and think what the heck was I doing. This was spring. I was at the ocean, and there was a beautiful woman who kinda liked me. The blue waves and white sand made me think about what a dumbass I was to get involved with Mike and New Wave. I could be swimming, drinking beer, and flirting with …. Crap, I wouldn’t be close to Jane if it hadn’t been for New Wave.
I had slap myself and then gave the ladies my best motivational speech. Cindy had looked down during my entire talk. She looked up, and both Jane and she broke out laughing. “Dad, this isn’t Saturday afternoon, and our coach has to kick us in the ass to get us motivated.”
“Okay, if you prefer, get your butts to work and stop daydreaming about the ocean.”
We continued working at Mike’s safe room while Mike’s chief of security, Bill, took a chartered jet to DC to meet with his contacts. We obviously didn’t trust the phones, which forced Bill to meet face to face. He told Mike he’d be back about ten if all went well. I asked Mike to call me even if it was early the next morning with any news.