The Peripheral Sur

by Bart Key

  Betty wanted to know more about David as well and his history. I told her of his having graduated from Wharton, his becoming an intern with a large Wall Street brokerage firm and how he began working for Sur as manager of his securities portfolio. David had his office in New York city but later he and Sur decided to move it to Luxembourg City. Sur’s portfolio over time grew almost exponentially having been sweetened by large capital contributions whenever Sur sold one of his companies. Not long ago, David had mentioned to me in passing that Sur’s portfolio alone was worth untold billions of dollars. Over time, David took on many additional responsibilities and routinely assisted Sur’s other lieutenants with various financial matters. I expected that Betty eventually would meet all of them.

  When Betty started interviewing candidates for the various Geneva and division managerial positions, she asked me to sit in. I very quickly ascertained that her interview skills were every bit as good as mine if not better. One of her job requirements was that all managers and communication professionals be proficient in English and at least two other languages. I passed muster on that score I guess and my Spanish now wasn’t half bad either.

  When I interviewed candidates for my own staff positions, my top requirement was hands-on-experience in dealing with difficult and diplomatically sensitive security problems. When all finished, I had a talented staff of five and each of our division offices had talented staffs as well. Betty and I met routinely to discuss ongoing security issues of the foundation.

  Due to the importance of keeping confidential the identities of our donors and their contributions, my first major task was to develop a system which would protect the data from being accessed by anyone other than me or Betty. This was accomplished by storing all the data in a separate closed computer system cut off from any kind of outside access. Periodically, the system was tested for bugs by reputable outside professionals. As an additional precaution, Jeremy would come to Geneva to personally monitor the testing. To this day, I still find it amazing that this guy who looks like he just walked off the beach is a computer geek with incredible hacking detection and prevention skills. It had taken him years of attending courses and communicating with consultants for him to develop this talent. Sometimes he would bring Karen with him introducing her to others as his consultant from Los Angeles. I knew, of course, she was far more than that. They would usually join Betty and me as our guests for dinner when they were there. In spite of their ages, they could hardly keep their hands off each other which Betty thought was cute.

  Not to anyone’s surprise, a disproportionately large percentage of the donations we received in the beginning were directed toward feeding the world’s hungry. Our division staff in Singapore worked tirelessly on food distribution within designated areas having under-nourished populations. Occasionally they even had had to resort to air drops in order to assure delivery to the intended recipients. Generally though, deliveries were made by reputable local distribution companies but sometimes interruptions and thefts would occur with local government authorities suspiciously choosing to look the other way. When this occurred, we would cease further deliveries and report the problem to the local media. Should that fail to bring about resolution of the issue, I had some alternative measures up my sleeve which were much less gentlemanly.

  Occasionally, one of our health division projects was interfered with as well. One of its more effective programs was to distribute school books and pamphlets written in the native language covering subjects like personal hygiene, sterilization of water and simple medicines. The distribution of these items was sometimes thwarted by those who felt threatened like faith healers, shamans and quacks. In these circumstances, CHOW adopted the practice of hand-delivering the publications directly to literate individuals who were willing to read to those who weren’t.

  Our world peace arm also had its share of security concerns. One of its early successes was a program under which counselors were sent into poverty stricken areas with extremely high birth rates. They would distribute to young women pamphlets describing various methods of birth control and the advantages of having smaller families. Free condoms also were made available and their use encouraged. The result was a reduction in the birth rate which in turn led to increased opportunities for mothers to seek jobs outside the home. The problem was that sometimes our counselors were threatened for the reason that their assistance violated local religious or cultural norms. If the threats were deemed serious enough, CHOW would abandon the program in the affected area as it had a strict policy of not allowing its people to be in harm’s way.

  One of my worst nightmares was contending with child slavery issues including child prostitution. We learned that in many cases, particularly in third-world countries, the parents of kidnapped children had no one they could to turn to in finding and rescuing them. Generally this was because local authorities were unresponsive or simply lacked the resources to help. CHOW developed a program which distributed circulars in vulnerable areas listing CHOW phone numbers and addresses to which these kinds of incidents could be reported. When receiving a credible report, our policy was to pass it on to the government agency having responsibility for dealing with the problem. This practice sometimes yielded positive results when authorities did decide to address the incident in order to avoid being in CHOW’s bad graces and prevent bad press should CHOW should elect to release the report to the media.

  There were instances however when the responsible government agency simply was incapable of dealing with the problem regardless of the fallout. When Betty and I discussed this dilemma, I told her that I might know of other means which could be employed to resolve the issue but they were not the type that CHOW could support. She gave me that look I knew so well which meant that should I decide to proceed with these other remedies, she was to be out of the loop and CHOW would not be implicated in any way.

  Looking back, I am still amazed by how much my life changed after moving to Geneva. I had fallen deeply in love with Betty and she with me. It just sort of happened. We were together a lot and then suddenly we wanted to be together all the time. We were married in a quiet ceremony in San Francisco while visiting our office there. My aging parents were delighted when I called them with the news having thought they’d never see the day. For a wedding present, Sur gave us a small sleek yacht, perfect for cruising on Lake Geneva.

  Both Jeremy and Cory of course were shocked and overjoyed when they heard the news. They had always pictured me as the eternal clean-living bachelor. More surprises were in store for them as both of them and I would soon begin working together again in ways none of us would ever have imagined.

  •

  Ward turned out to be the man I had always been looking for and never found. Once we began working together, I began to look forward to seeing him when he arrived at the office each day. He always seemed so comfortable in his skin. I found it curious that he had been a bachelor all these years and suspected it was somehow connected to his close kinship with Sur. Having been around Sur some myself now, I could relate to that. In Ward’s case, the affinity apparently began when the two were close in Vietnam.

  It is said that distance makes the heart grow fonder. But in Ward’s case it was just the opposite. Once he moved to Geneva, he seemed accepting and even relieved that his days of being in Sur’s inner circle were over. At the same time, he was genuinely excited about his new position and was determined to do whatever he could to make CHOW the success that Sur had envisioned.

  Both of us were caught off guard when we fell head over heels in love with each other. Though in my prior life I had been drawn to a number of men, my attraction to Ward was off the charts comparatively. At work, he always treated me as his superior. But away from work, he treated me as his object of desire and partner in life.

  Ward’s position required him mainly to deal with the myriad of security issues associated with CHOW’s day-to-day operations. Occasionally though,
he learned of criminal issues which were outside of the foundation’s mission. His practice was to pass on what he knew to the appropriate police agencies. But that didn’t always result in resolution of the problems. I could tell he was frustrated that he couldn’t do more. Not long ago he told me that there might be some things he could do to help. But should he decide to move in that direction, it would better if I didn’t know about it. By now, I knew him well enough that he would use extreme care not to implicate CHOW in any way should he elect to proceed with other means of resolution. I also had concerns for his safety. I just wanted him to be close to me and not in any danger. He told me not to worry. But I knew I would.

  Chapter 29

  Shadow Squad

  During one of his rare visits to Geneva, I discussed with Sur my frustration with not being able to address certain reported illegal activities knowing that CHOW could not become involved as it was not a law enforcement agency. I wondered if some of these instances could be resolved by employing less traditional methods not involving CHOW directly. Sur asked what I had in mind. He was relieved to know that I was not suggesting anything involving the use of force. Rather, I was pondering whether it might prove useful to deploy a small specially-qualified squad to undertake undercover operations for purposes of gathering evidence of unlawful activities. If successful, the evidence simply would be made available to the proper law enforcement agency for its further action. Sur thought the idea had merit but we both knew the squad would always have to be prepared to defend itself should the occasion arise. The squad’s missions would need to be meticulously planned in order to minimize the risks of violent confrontation.

  As the squad could not be supported by CHOW resources, Sur said he would contact David and have him set up an account in some small independent bank where funds would be deposited periodically to cover the squad’s expenses. While it would be my job to organize the squad and coordinate its missions, I could not participate directly in them because of my connection to CHOW. I told Sur that I had already spoken to Betty about the possibility of resolving these types of issues outside the mantle of CHOW and she had no objection, it being understood that I would not reveal to her what I was doing in order that she could be truthful in denying any CHOW involvement.

  So who would be on my shadow squad? Cory and Jeremy were my first two choices. Yes, they were getting older in the tooth but nonetheless I had no doubt but that they were both qualified and dependable. Jeremy might need some convincing though as, after the African incident, he probably would never again want to participate in anything which involved the use of deadly force. Gustav might be a good third candidate. And having a younger man on the squad would no doubt be useful in certain circumstances. For now, I would concentrate on organizing a three man unit and we would see how things developed.

  •

  I was intrigued when Ward called me at the ranch and asked me to meet him in San Francisco to discuss something he’d prefer not talk about over the phone. He asked if I would get in touch with Jeremy and ask him to join us. A few days later, the three of us sat down for lunch at a quiet restaurant not far from San Francisco’s airport. After having a beer and catching up, Ward explained what was so hush hush. He had become frustrated with CHOW’s inability to deal with certain illegal activities particularly those involving exploited children. He was determined to find an alternative means of curbing some of these criminal acts by employing what he called a “shadow squad”. Before Jeremy could say a another word, Ward made it clear that the squad would never be asked to charge into the breach with blazing guns. Rather, its function would be to gather evidence of unlawful activities using various spying techniques. Once credible evidence of a crime had been gathered, it would be provided to the appropriate law enforcement agency or, perhaps in some rare cases, to the media. Ward thought that most of the squad’s missions would be relatively routine but some might be more complicated. Unquestionably, there would be risks involved but, if the missions were carefully planned and executed, he thought they could be minimized. He believed that Jeremy and I would be ideal members of this squad.

  Even before he finished his pitch, I knew I was in. I was feeling a bit bored just then anyway. But I suspected Jeremy would be a harder sell. Ward went to great lengths explaining to him that his computer research skills would be invaluable in both the planning and execution of the squad’s missions. Ward had no intention of employing the squad in situations having a high potential for violence. It would nonetheless be necessary for the squad to always be prepared for trouble. Jeremy squirmed when he heard that and was even more troubled when Ward said that he wouldn’t be able to participate directly in the squad’s missions because of his position at the foundation. Finally, I just looked at Jeremy and told him that I would sure feel a lot better if he were with me. Jeremy then sighed and said okay, he was in too. He admitted being somewhat bored himself at the moment as his office was not all that busy anymore and could function fine without him during temporary absences. Would he be doing the squad’s research from his office computer? Ward cautioned against that and wondered if Jeremy might consider setting up a separate system in his home. He would of course be reimbursed for the expense. Jeremy grinned and noted that he kind of wanted a more sophisticated computer setup in his house anyway. And thanks, but no reimbursement was necessary.

  Ward then asked what we thought about Gustav’s being the third member of the team noting that he knew him to be very intelligent and practical minded. He had once witnessed Gustav in a street scuffle and was impressed with his fighter instincts. His experiences as a gay street kid no doubt taught him much about survival in dangerous environments. If Ward thought Gustav was qualified to be our third member, that was good enough for me. Jeremy seconded that. Both of us remembered well Gustav’s fearlessness on the ski slopes of the French Alps.

  As it was rare then for the three of us to be together at one time, we decided to take advantage of the moment and drive down the coast to our house in Ventura. Along the way, Ward informed us that he already had discussed the formation of the squad with Sur who not only supported the idea but had already made the arrangements to cover its expenses. Sur preferred not knowing anything about the squad’s activities but knowing him as I did, I would wager he’d somehow have some idea anyway. After arriving in Ventura, we spent the next three days surfing at some of our old favorite spots and wore ourselves out talking about past experiences when we were roommates. All of us were aware that our lives were about to change yet again.

  •

  On my way back to Geneva, I stopped in Luxembourg City and obtained David’s okay for us to include Gustav on our squad. I was purposely vague in describing to him what the squad would be doing and he got the message that it would be better if he didn’t know. Later that day, I met with Gustav and, as I expected, he was excited at the opportunity to be on the squad. Since we would need some kind of headquarters, Luxembourg City seemed like an ideal place for it. I asked him to start looking for a small secluded warehouse which might be appropriate. On my flight to Geneva, I began devising a code which could be used in communicating between me and the squad.

  Within a week, Gustav called to tell me he thought he had found a place for our headquarters so I flew to Luxembourg to have a look. It was a small warehouse in a secluded area with a small kitchen and bathroom. The place could easily be refurbished to house the squad and its equipment. After arranging for its lease, I dropped Gustav off at the airport so he could catch a flight to Los Angeles. When he arrived, he would join Jeremy and Cory in attending a month-long course on the installation and use of sophisticated cameras and other surveillance equipment. After completing the course, the three would take a short four-day break in Ventura where I highly suspected that Gustav would be introduced to surfing. Then it was off to Miami where the three would attend a two week course on modern sleuthing techniques, popular among the private detective set. Then they would he
ad back to Ventura where I would meet up with them. For several days we would discuss details of squad organization and logistics plus I would introduce them to the code I had developed. On my way back from our Ventura meeting, as I was landing in Geneva, the three of them would already have arrived in Luxembourg City to begin outfitting themselves and their new headquarters.

  •

  With Gustav as our spokesman and translator, we rented a truck and shopped first for the new computer equipment Jeremy wanted at our headquarters. After unloading it, he began setting it up while Gustav and I went shopping for furniture, household goods, heavy duty steel lockers and workout equipment. After hauling several loads to the warehouse and unloading them, it was early evening. Gustav insisted we stay at the chateau that night as David and Pierre were in Vienna attending an art auction. The next morning the three of us shopped for high-powered binoculars, cameras, photographic lenses, special unlocking tools and recording devices. Ward had recommended that we not acquire firearms because of the attendant legal and transportation issues. If the need arose for us to have them for any reason, Jeremy knew ways to make them available having done so for me several times in times in the past. Late that evening, Gustav drove Jeremy and me to the airport to catch flights back to our homes. While we were having a beer waiting for our flights to be called, I looked over at Jeremy with a grin and said “has it occurred to you that maybe we’re getting a little too old for this shit?” His response was “no way dude” and we slapped hands.

  Ward had made it crystal clear that we should never discuss the squad and its activities with anyone. Gustav said he would tell Hans only that he was involved in confidential security matters associated with his job. Ward suggested that I be the squad’s leader which Jeremy and Gustav were only too happy to support.