“You know,” I gave an inquisitive look, “for them to pull this off, they’re going to need help. Chase could have started it, but why? He has no reason to do it that I can see and I don’t think Black Bear acted alone. They would need assistance, and probably in the form of government help. They need a strong motivator to investors, higher oil prices won’t be enough. It would have to come in the form of government intervention.”
Galveston raised his eyebrows at my statement. A light bulb seemed to appear over his head, and I knew what he was thinking.
“The government, huh. How would they help?” He asked.
“Well, if the U.S. government eased restrictions on foreign investment, or offered incentives for investors in ‘green’ technologies, that would do it. Investors would pour money into such things, but that would be a big ‘if’,” I answered as Galveston looked thoughtfully at me.
“A Senator could do such a thing, right?” He asked.
“Yeah, I guess.” I knew where he was going with this. Galveston flipped through some papers on his desk, and muttered.
“A Senator, that’s it. Right here.”
He handed me a paper with the list of the Board of Directors of Global Energy Enterprise, and pointed to a name, second from the bottom, that we were familiar with, Senator Edward Eastman.
He moved to the computer I was using and began typing before I could say more. It did seem farfetched. A U.S. Senator? I guess stranger things have happened. I moved to the center of the room as Alex and Galveston researched frantically from our technological information center. I decided to get something to drink in the kitchen as they continued their work. I hadn’t even asked about Ernesto Patelo, we would know his fate soon enough.
Before arriving in the kitchen I heard a knock on the door and went to answer it. It was Elizabeth with Dr. Sloan and I welcomed them in. Dr. Sloan looked overly tired and disheveled, the product of living out of a suitcase for the past week. Elizabeth guided him to where Alex and Galveston were working. I heard a clatter of chatter as they exchanged pleasantries, and I returned to the kitchen to find a drink. As I reached for a glass in the cupboard, I heard another knock on the door. “Now what”, I thought, and moved to the front door and looked through the peephole. It was May, alone, waiting at the door.
I yelled to Galveston. “May’s here!”
I heard a clatter of footsteps and noise coming from the back room. Galveston appeared immediately in the foyer in response to my yell.
“Dr. Sloan isn’t here,” Galveston told me as we met at the door. “I think we need to keep him under wraps until we figure this thing out. The less David knows right now about his whereabouts, the better.” I wasn’t sure what he was getting at. I assumed that keeping Dr. Sloan’s whereabouts secret would stop the Bureau’s temptation of trying to use him. Galveston swung open the door.
“David!” He exclaimed. “Have I got a prize for you.” May was taken aback by the exuberance.
“I’m a little hesitant to take it off your hands, but I have the lab waiting to take a look at it,” May responded flatly.
Galveston moved to an adjacent closet door, opened it, and on the floor sat his black bag with the pink suitcase inside.
“I wouldn’t open it, if I were you,” he warned May, who nodded in agreement. “And you can keep my clothes. I don’t think I want them back.” Galveston handed the black bag to May cautiously. “Let me know what you find. We have a lot of things working right now.”
“Good, you’ll fill me in when you’re ready, right?” May asked.
“Of course,” Galveston replied.
“And what about Sloan. Where is he, and is he safe? We would really like to talk to him,” May inquired, as Galveston had expected.
“He’s safe and in a hotel. I’d rather you wait until we get more information as a favor to me. He’s just too hot right now. I’ll tell you this, everything he has told us, we have told you. Deal?”
“Alright, deal. We’re devoting much of our time to the leads you’ve already given us.”
“There’s more to come, that’s for sure. This thing is big David, real big. I don’t know if you boys know how far this thing goes.”
“We’re beginning to get that feeling. It’s going to be a mess.”
“I figured you knew. I’ll call you soon,” Galveston said while he seemingly pushed May back through the door and gave a wave goodbye.
“Oh, by the way Galveston, be careful. We’re dealing with professionals.”
“Now you tell me,” Galveston laughed, “Talk to you soon, David.” Galveston closed the door and turned to me. “I don’t want to tell May anything until we know the whole story and can protect ourselves. He’d have the Bureau in here in a second if he knew what we knew.”
I understood his reluctance. The last thing we needed were Federal agents scouring over everything we had worked so hard to find. We still had to look out for ourselves first. Our livelihood and safety had to take first priority over everything else, as callous as that may sound. Galveston and I walked back to Alex’s office.
“You can come out Dr. Sloan,” Galveston yelled. Dr. Sloan emerged from a closet in the room, appearing more disheveled than ever. “Sorry Dr. Sloan, we just have to be cautious,” Galveston said to him.
“I understand, but I’m getting tired of hiding,” he replied. We all felt his pain.
“Dr. Sloan, this is your new buddy, Alex. This is his house, and what is his, is yours.” Galveston answered for Alex who sat staring at the computer screen. He simply waved his arm over his head in an act of defiance.
“I appreciate all you’ve done. It’s good to get out of a hotel for a while,” Sloan answered.
“Yeah, put your feet up, relax, and make yourself at home. We’ll get some fresh clothes for you too. Alex has a huge closet,” Galveston said ribbing Alex, as he in turn flashed Galveston a dirty look. “Alex, could you find the good doctor something to eat? I’m sure he’s famished.” Alex grunted and moped his way toward the kitchen.
“Follow me Professor,” he said dejectedly, and they left the room.
“You’re really putting the screws to him,” I said to Galveston.
“Ah, he’s okay. He’s getting too tan. This will help keep his mind off of sitting by the pool and sipping his fruity drinks,” Galveston replied, smiling. “Boy-oh-boy Elizabeth, do we have a story for you.” Galveston grabbed Elizabeth’s hand and squeezed it, obviously glad to see her.
He gave her a short synopsis of our travels, what we had figured out so far, and our theory about Black Bear’s next steps. Elizabeth was intrigued, but shocked at the scope.
“I feel I must get the Agency involved, these things are of importance to our government also,” she told him. Galveston was hesitant, but Elizabeth had resources at her disposal that were endless.
“Maybe if you can find out what the real story is in Nigeria. We’ll never get it from the news wires. We’re still going on a hunch on that one,” Galveston requested.
“Let me make a call.” She pulled out her phone and went onto the patio.
“Did you find out anymore about Black Bear or the Senator?” I asked him after Elizabeth left the room. I had to snap my fingers at him in the process to get him to listen.
“Uh, yeah, yeah,” he said breaking away from his stare at Elizabeth. “From what we found, it looks like Black Bear isn’t doing as great as they appeared, just as you suggested.” He pointed to a page on the computer and I skimmed it quickly.
Black Bear had lost two lucrative security contracts in the Middle East in the previous year. They had also lost a trio of lawsuits. Two were from foreign governments, and one from a private company. One case was settled for an undisclosed amount, and the other case was settled for 14 million dollars, payable over five years. The private company’s lawsuit was still pending. This company was seeking damages of 80 million dollars, due to accusations of a hostile takeover, records tampering, and lost revenue. It seemed Black Bear
had a history of unscrupulous activities. Black Bear was being hammered by lawsuits. I figured in the amount of two recent contracts losses, and based on my best estimation, the numbers were clearly in the red. Black Bear also tried to expand into other areas of business that didn’t relate to their own. When I checked on the other companies they had acquired, I found that those companies were doing terribly.
Black Bear had engaged in a classic case of expansion when the money was rolling in, and to fund their expansion dreams incurred a large amount of debt. Now they didn’t have the money to cover the costs of doing business. The companies they had acquired were just a money drain. Nobody wanted to buy them. A security company shouldn’t be trying to run an iron ore production facility in Russia, for example. Black Bear had their hands in so many companies that it was difficult to track. Most were foreign, which was attributing to Black Bear’s demise. In order to stay solvent there had to be some creative accounting going on.
In each quarter Black Bear showed a significant revenue growth, but it didn’t add up to what was really occurring. Why hadn’t Wall Street caught on to this? Most likely because Black Bear was doing a credible job of cooking the books, moving money between one entity to another each quarter, making it seem as if they were making money. But that couldn’t last for long. They were being driven by fear; the fear of going out of business, the fear of losing investors millions of dollars, and fear that the Securities and Exchange Commission could investigate them when the balance sheets didn’t add up.
At this point they needed a huge infusion of money, and fast, to stay viable and solvent, because they were hemorrhaging money at every turn. They didn’t have the assets to cover their losses, and soon they would be out of money completely and bankrupt, or worse, sold off in pieces. According to my rough calculations this would occur by year’s end. I showed Galveston my numbers.
“Yeah, they’re in a world of hurt. They don’t have the money to cover their expenses, and they can’t borrow more because their credit is topped off,” I told him.
It was also a classic case of corporate panic. Business had been booming, then it went flat, and to compensate, they spent more money. But instead of gaining, they ended up losing more and more profit. The executives were panicking, and picturing the loss of their mansions, sports cars, and power.
“Wait until you hear about our Senator friend,” Galveston told me.
“I’m sure it’s a glowing report. He helps all the sick children and works in a soup kitchen, doesn’t he.”
“Yeah, and he steals welfare checks, and gets kickbacks for supplying the soup. He’s a nasty little guy. You wouldn’t know it from the crap he spews. I read some of his comments, I felt like I had to take a shower afterwards.”
“Great, another hypocritical politician,” I responded with disdain.
“Seems Senator Eastman likes the ladies too. I find it hard to believe they like him back. This is what we found.” Galveston scrolled through another screen on the computer. “Eastman touts himself as an ardent environmentalist. The problem is he’s invested in so many ‘green’ companies and has shamelessly shaped public policy for them. He’s power hungry, no doubt about it. As you know, he’s a career politician. He’s on the Chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, and he sits on the board for Global Energy. This ties him to Weston Chase,” Galveston reported.
“He sure is one, big, walking conflict of interest,” I added.
“Yeah and here’s the scary connection. He used to be a high ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, but was pushed off due to ‘political pressure’. Possibly because of a midnight tryst. While on this committee, he lobbied hard for an ease on restrictions of private security agencies involved in government contracts. It is widely known that Black Bear was one of his primary political contributors, and they benefitted heavily from his work. It’s rumored he got a stake in the company under the table. Nobody can prove it though. Eastman currently shows no obvious stake in the company.”
I interrupted him. “But there are ways around that; off shore accounting, dummy investment companies, hedge funds. These are all ways to hide an investment.”
“Exactly,” Galveston answered. “There’s one more very interesting tidbit of information that Alex found by chance. In a meeting of the Energy Committee, Eastman introduced the plans for a bill that would virtually eliminate import taxes on investments in alternative energy. This would allow companies to purchase their products with little to no import tariff.”
I interrupted again. “This would allow companies to cut the prices of their products, thereby out-competing U.S. companies. This would encourage investment with foreign companies that sold alternative energy solutions. More importantly, alternative energy products would sell for a quarter of what they would from U.S. companies. I can see the detractor’s side. If this legislation was passed, it would harm the U.S. companies. They would have to compete with a foreign company on a level field. Now, let’s say the oil demand was there, and everyone is hurting due to higher energy prices. Here comes a product on the market that is good and reduces energy demand, the super battery. Companies would be scrambling to buy this product that they can now get it at a reduced price because it can be offered by a foreign company at the same price as a U.S. company. Maybe this foreign company is, oh, I don’t know, Ecomax. The interest in such an incredible product would be tremendous.”
“That to me is a smoking gun,” Galveston said. And I agreed.
Imported products are usually more expensive than the same products produced in the U.S. That’s why imported beer from Holland is more pricey than good ‘ole Budweiser, and the same reason why Budweiser would be more expensive in Holland; (though I doubt they drink the stuff there). If that same Dutch beer was produced here, it would be almost the same price. There are some exceptions, like plastic toys or TV’s produced in China, Taiwan, or Mexico. They can compete with U.S. companies due to their inexpensive labor costs and poor economic conditions. We were referring to highly intricate and complicated energy supply systems, costing hundreds of thousands, to millions of dollars. U.S. companies would quickly be outdone by their foreign counterparts without the import tariff.
The Senator’s plan would make the cost of a Belgian wind turbine the same as one produced in Colorado, and it dealt only with alternative energy, nothing else. The Colorado wind turbine company would have to lower their prices to compete, drastically damaging their bottom line.
Black Bear appeared to be creating the demand for oil and rising energy prices, while hiding in the background, waiting for people to panic. Then, low and behold, a magnificent product will become available to all those gas seeking, energy guzzling Americans. They would be able to import the product for the same price as if it were made in the States, erasing the risk of the prying eyes of pesky government agencies and regulators. It would also fuel investors who would throw their money at this new glorious company called Ecomax, in the hopes of reaping the benefits and profits. Ecomax would be rich, Black Bear’s stock price would soar and trade at a premium, and Senator Eastman and the execs at Black Bear would walk away with millions, if not billions of dollars, with no one the wiser. That is, as long as they could get rid of Dr. Sloan. With Colonel Espinosa out of the way, Dr. Sloan was the only one who could pose a threat. But, they hadn’t counted on a couple of ex “la Technologies” employees getting in the way. They hadn’t succeeded in this part of their plan, and we were going to make sure they never did.
“If this is all true, you know they’re not going to stop. They’re going to be desperate and you know what that means, right?” I wasn’t sure I knew what he meant. “They’re going to eliminate, and I mean eliminate, anyone who knows about this. That means us, Dr. Sloan, Margaret, Elizabeth, Alex, everybody. They’re going to hunt for Dr. Sloan and when they find him, which they will eventually, they’ll find us,” he said very seriously.
“Then what do we do?” I asked searching for an answer.
He stared at me, the anger growing in his eyes. “We strike at them first.”
-Chapter 41-
I was shocked at his statement. I wasn’t a mercenary like those at Black Bear. I had only fired a gun twice in my life. My world had been numbers and thoughts, not bullets and guns.
“This is getting out of hand, way out of hand.” I said, stating the obvious.
“I’m not saying we’re going in like Dirty Harry, but what do rich people fear more than anything else?” Galveston asked, his anger subsiding.
I thought for an answer. “I don’t know. Not being able to find a cheap lawn guy?”
“True, but no. What rich people fear most is being poor,” Galveston said bluntly. “That’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to make them poor, and relieve them of their pressure and burden.”
“Why that’s mighty nice of you, but you don’t think they’re going to let you waltz in and take their money, do you?” I inquired.
“Well, you’re going to help me figure out how we’re going to do this. You’re the money man remember?”
“Yeah, don’t remind me. I’d like to tender my resignation,” I joked.
“So soon? Nah, you want to see how this thing turns out. This ought to be fun.”
“Yeah, fun,” I answered.
Elizabeth returned from outside, timing her entrance perfectly.
“I’ve contacted the agent in charge of our western Africa operations. They have no intel on a rebel uprising. He informed me of twelve dead total, thirty-two wounded. The remains of two men were found, shot multiple times in the chest,” she told us.
“Who do your people think did it?’ Galveston asked.
“They’re unsure. Appears to be a military operation, but they are unsure of who. Those bastards blew the entire facility.” Her English accent made all the words appear eloquent, but you could hear the anger in her words.
Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 01 - Flapjack Page 19