Dumb Luck

by J G Jerome

  Tom chuckles, “Well Jack, you’re in luck. You see, I recently took on an associate that is expert in corporate and tax law. So, rather than muddling through this myself, Megan will set this all up for you.”

  I look to Megan, and the blushing young woman is long gone. She is all business. “Explain your vision to me, Mr. Jerome.”

  “Please, Megan. I prefer you just call me Jack. I suspect you’re going to know me so well by the time we’re done with all this you won’t be able to muster a ‘Mr. Jerome’ without significant effort.”

  She gives me a small professional smile. “Okay, Jack. What do you envision?”

  I nod my head as the middle distance calls me back. I keep staring there as I respond. “Quite a bit actually, and yet tragically it’s probably not nearly enough.” I pause while marshal my thoughts.

  Finally I pull my head out of my ass and continue. “For context. I did some...very dirty work for our government when I was a soldier. Videos and being a public figure may turn into a significant problem. I’ve had people come after me three times since I left the army. I have a semi-public life and a remnant of a shadow life. Add to that I have a bunch of new considerations added to the mix, I need to organize better.” I point in Trina’s direction.

  I look at Tom and Gretchen, noting the surprise on their faces. Megan looks like I just told her what I had for breakfast. I focus on her. She’s poised to take notes on the stereotypical yellow legal pad. “First, I want to keep my current firm, Databridge, in its current form. I have people that count on that to just work, and I have plans for growth that I want to realize. Second, I want to have a firm that collects, manages, invests, disperses the lottery winnings as I deem fit. Over time this becomes an investment-slash-venture capital firm. Third, I need to create a security firm. Physical security, data security, maybe eventually branch out into site security, hostage rescue, or brand and image restoration. Regardless, this firm will always have the security of the employees of all my companies, their livelihoods, and their health as its primary mission. And while we’re at it, let’s create an agriculture company. Apparently I’m going to have a vineyard shortly, and I would like to have enough of a farming operation to be able to feed my people if it comes to it.”

  Megan is furiously scribbling on her notepad. ”We may start other companies as we go, but this should get us started.”

  She stops writing and looks at me. “For something like this, you are going to need officers as a minimum. Eventually you may want a board of directors, too. But you don’t need that to get started.”

  “Hmm. I don’t suppose we can just do them as an LLC sole proprietorship?”

  “Honestly Jack, you could. It will take about one month for you to become overwhelmed with it all regardless of how great a business mind you have. Then we would have to redo it all.”

  I look at Trina. “Pet, will you serve as an officer in my companies?”

  She clasps my face in both hands, “I will serve you whenever you need me, however you need me, my Lord.” Then she sealed it with a kiss. Megan gasps at her words and actions.

  I tell her, “I’ll need to call her, but I think we get Kristina involved. I would love to get Myra and the Ravens involved,” another gasp from Megan, “but I suspect they all have their hands full at the moment.” Trina nods. “How about Peg?” I ask her.

  Trina shakes her head, “She won’t want any risk of being out in public.”

  I look to Gretchen, Tom, and Megan. “Tom, I think I need to add a third contractual piece if you are all willing to take it on. I would like to contract you, Gretchen, and Megan to a contract of one year as officers of the various companies. The contract would be limited to a single one-year term. Extensions would not be authorized. Subsequent terms would need to be renegotiated in total. Compensation $200K each for the one year term. I suspect you will earn it. It would preclude fees for legal consultation except for Databridge.” Gretchen gasps.

  Tom nods. “I’m willing to do that, Jack. I would be honored.”

  Megan just looks at me. “No mention of this to my family, Jack. Not my family nor my extended family. This would be business between you and me. If you break that term, I will disappear and the contract will be null and void.”

  I extend my hand, “As you wish. Let it be done.”

  She gives me a crooked look as she shakes my hand firmly, “The Princess Bride? Really?”

  Trina and I laugh. Megan points at Trina, “Same goes for you Ms. Laughlin.”

  Trina looks at her seriously. “Back at you, Ms. Nessus. I don’t want this known among our cousins either.”

  Megan extends her hand and they say, “Thus mote it be,” in unison as they shake.

  “Okay I need to call Kristina to ensure she is in. I’m 99% certain, but courtesy is an easy way to keep those you love happy.” Megan just looks at me like I spit on the floor.

  “How long to get this in place, Megan?”

  She shakes it off, “Well Jack, you’re in luck. I’ve done a couple of incorporations since I passed the bar, and I’ve had a fairly low workload since I started here. As a result, I’ve built some templates that are improvements on the standard ones I’ve seen. What you want is pretty straight-forward, but there is a timing element to it. I can have the holding company registered today, have the rest done by the end of the week. That includes putting in the claim for the winnings. The longest pole will be getting a bank account set up.”

  Trina says, “I can work with you on that, Megan. I’ve got the week off, but Jack needs to travel for work Wednesday through Friday. I have capacity, and am kind of at loose ends unless Jack is chasing me around the condo.”

  She gives Trina a hairy eyeball.

  I say, “Super. How much money to start the bank accounts?”

  Megan opines, “Ten thousand each just to make it looks serious.”

  “That’s do-able. How soon can we expect the lottery to pay out?”

  Everyone around the table looks stumped. I pull up my phone, and google it. “Apparently 15 days after the drawing for the big ones like this.” I look up. “Alright, that should come together pretty well. I’ve got a real-estate commitment and another investment I want to discuss with Tom. You probably want to listen in on those too, Megan.”

  Nodding, Megan asks, “Do you have names in mind? What would you like these companies to be called, Jack?”

  “Greenleaf Farms, Green Field Capital Management, Verdant Security Services, Verdic Holdings.” She just stares at me with her mouth agape.

  “Did I say something wrong, Megan?”

  She snaps her mouth shut, and shakes her head. “No Lo…er, Jack. The color theme caught me by surprise.” She won’t look at me.

  Despite the table being full, I drop my voice and pitch to towards Megan. “We are going to have a quiet chat very soon, Megan.”

  She nods her head, and says “Yes, Lord.” Trina puts her hand on my arm and shakes her head. I pat her hand and nod.

  “Okay then, next topic. I want to invest in Insurance Ecosystems, also known as InsEc. It’s a company owned by a trusted friend, Don Kerrigan. He’s a technical genius, and has the next generation data integration platform for the Insurance business. He’s hurting on the sales side, and will likely have to close shop before long without help. He’s agreed to help me on this contract I’m working towards in Hartford, which is the one I emailed you about, Tom.”

  Tom nods, “Yes. I don’t see anything to worry about in the contract so far. We should be able to put it to bed quickly, Jack.”

  “Yeah, well that’s getting more complicated. I’m picking up indications that the head IT guy on this job is trying to farm this out to a different supplier, with a built in plan for integration of the data. They were supposed to be separate contracts. I’m bringing Don in as 1) he has the best data integration product on the market, and 2) he knows the major insurance applications better than the vendors that built and sell them. I’m going to add a data integ
ration package as an option to the HCI contract, and Don’s going to help me pitch it Thursday. Which means we need to conceptualize and package it in the contract most rikki-tik. Before we can do that…” I pause to catch my breath.

  “I will hire Don Kerrigan as the lead technical consultant for operations at Databridge. His duties will be to supervise the technical staff, win and deliver this contract, and build business for InsEc. I will invest $1 million for a 10% interest in the company. Don will stay as the President and CEO of InsEc in addition to his duties at Databridge. Databridge will be his sole supplier for professional services like project management, business analysis, systems analysis, systems administration, general software development, etcetera, on other work for InsEc. InsEc will be Databridge’s sole supplier for data ecosystem, blockchain, and advanced technical skills.”

  Tom nods, “There may competitive practice challenges on contracts, but we should be able to avoid major hassle by setting up a ‘gold partnership’ type of agreement and divulge it up front. You’ll need to inform Hartford Casualty soon after agreeing with InsEc.”

  “Yep. My plan is to get this all agreed with Don in principle today. Work out the details tomorrow for the contract, and send them an updated proposal for a comprehensive integrated solution right before I get on the plane on Wednesday.”

  Tom looks to Megan, “Do you see any issues with any of this?”

  She tilts her head to the side, “It would be simpler for all involved if you set up a corporate partner agreement separate from the investment piece. You still get what you want, but it will be less complex. That tends to keep everyone but the lawyers happy.” She says with a shy grin.

  Tom chuckles at that one. “From the mouths of babes. Anything else, Jack?”

  I look around the room. Everyone is focused and ready to launch. I take a big breath. Letting it out, “May I camp here for the afternoon? We can keep the communication cycles shorter.”

  Gretchen agrees, “Sure Jack. You know how to use all the technology here as you set it all up. Make yourself at home.”

  “Thanks, Gretchen. Shall we cater in lunch for everyone?” Nods.

  Gretchen says, “I’ll take care of it and put it on your account, Jack.”

  “Thanks, Gretchen. Well Tom, nope. Nothing else. Let’s get cracking.”

  Chapter 30 - Setting the Course

  I hand Trina my iPad and show her the passcode. She starts checking all the other lottery tickets to see what the total tally is. She says it’s not exactly like doing science, but it is research and that it gives her a little bit of the same zen feeling as she gets in the lab.

  Then I call Kristina and explain the situation with the companies and ask if she would be willing to be an officer of Greenleaf Farms. She asks if we can call it Greenleaf Farms and Wineries. I agree. She becomes VP and Chief Operations Officer. Megan has moved into the conference room with me by the time I hang up; so,informing her is a matter of moments.

  I then get online and wire $1.6 million to the escrow account for the land purchase. I may need to add more for fees later, but that will cover all the principle even with the fast close option.

  Trina reports that the total winnings for the other 50 tickets is $3,210,067. She emails the tally with ticket number, picked numbers, and return on each ticket to Megan. Then she finds links to bank applications for Gretchen to print out.

  I call Don Kerrigan after that and lay out the plan as I sketched it out to Tom. He’s ecstatic with the cash infusion and agrees to the 10% for $1million. He tells me the investment is probably worth closer to 50%, but I told him that at 10% he is clearly in charge, and that I will still make a shit-ton of money off the investment. We then talk through how we can pull together a comprehensive inland marine telematics service for HCI. We throw some ideas around and share a whiteboard app until we agree on how to package it. Don says he’ll have some basic graphics for me in two hours that I can use to flesh out the details of the presentation with final ones in the morning. He teases me about the ‘g-word’ and threatens to drag that conversation into a third Yuengling later in the week.

  Trina and Megan are sitting side-by-side working on contracts and applications. Megan looks at Trina inquisitively, and Trina just winks at her and smiles.

  I stop and ponder my next step. I walk down to ask Gretchen to direct me to a private room. Once sat in the chair, I pull up HideMyAss to create a VPN data connection on my phone, then I WhatsApp call Yuri Kolenko. I don’t think that’s his real name, but he is a hacker extraordinaire that I know from my operator days. He’s never an official resource, but he’s always useful.

  Get an audio only call and hear a heavy Ukranian accent, “Well is famous Jack Jerome! How is going, Jack?”

  “Now Yuri, just like you, I’m only famous in infamous circles.”

  He laughs, “Sadly is not true for you much longer Jack. All the US news agencies have been downloading video of my old friend Jack.”

  “Fuuuuuuck! I was afraid of that. Yuri are you willing to help with damage control?”

  “Sure Jack, but is not cheap,” he warns me.

  “I know, I know. Yuri, I also know you get what you pay for. I called you because I need a pro. What are you thinking?”

  Yuri ‘hmmms’ for a minute. “I think quarter million to cover it.”

  I think ‘I expected worse.’ “I’m still listening, Yuri. What does that cover?”

  “I delete all existing public and private copies I can reach in the next three weeks.”

  “You indicated that you have been tracking downloads. Did I get that right?”

  “I might be copying log files from all sources I have found.”

  “I propose this as a counter. Flat $200K to chase all the server copies for four weeks. Another $50K for the list of all IP addresses that downloaded it. Another $5K for each one of those downloaded copies confirmed destroyed. I want it to be like it never happened.”

  Yuri counters, “$200K to chase all server copies for three weeks. Have holiday planned after that. $50K for list of all IP addresses that download it during three weeks. $10K for each downloaded copies confirmed destroyed by video record. I have holiday in just over three weeks.”

  “Agreed, Yuri. Invoice to my new company called Verdant Security Services. I spell Verdant, victor-echo-romeo-delta-alpha-november-tango. I’ll WhatsApp you an email for the company by end of the day.”

  “Okay, Jack. All public copies and copies from news outlets are deleted now. I will start hunt.”

  “Oh Yuri. Consider this an audition. My circumstances have changed severely in other ways too. I suspect I will need your caliber of artist frequently.”

  Yuri chuckles, “Sounds good, Jack. I like how your money spends!”

  I laugh with him, “I know, Yuri. Just don’t let your bosses know how you come into it.”

  I hear a bump and curses in Ukrainian. “Shit, Jack! How long you know that?”

  I chuckle, “About thirty seconds. Before I just suspected. Your secrets are mine. My secrets are yours. I’ll watch out for you my friend.”

  He sounds scared, “This is only thing lets me sleep nights, Tovarishch!”

  I try to calm him. “Seriously, Yuri. You get in trouble, you call me. You are helping my family with this. It’s not about money, it’s about taking care of my people. You’re one of my people now. You need help, you call me!”

  Quietly he says, “Thank you, Jack. I maybe have different payment terms on this one.”

  “Sounds good, Tovarishch! Do svidaniya, Yuri”

  “Proshchay, Jack!”

  I head back to the conference room and sit across from Megan and Trina.

  “Megan, who is taking the lottery tickets to the office? It’s down by the airport.”

  She looks at me questioningly, “Me, Jack. Why do you ask?”

  I hold her gaze. “Security. People know me in the valley. People may recognize me from our neighborhood. If we don’t put in a claim until Friday,
that gives people four more days to figure out who I am, what I’m doing with the tickets, and put a plan in place to steal them which may put you all in danger. We need to have a security plan. I think I can get Corrina to give me a security detail, but getting them here from Sedona and equipping them will be the biggest issue.”

  She smiles indulgently at me. “I have my own detail of two Ravens, Jack.”

  I think through it for a minute. “Ideally I would want you to have three vehicles and six guards, two per vehicle. You in the center. Comms, mid-range weaponry, etcetera.”

  “Jack,” she interrupts me, “I really can’t have anyone in the court knowing I’m doing this. I can trust my guards, and that’s it. Please don’t out me!”

  “I won’t, Megan. I also won’t throw you out there without protection. Best case, I’m paranoid. Worse case, I have to come get you. Worst case, I have to try to resurrect you, and I’m not sure if I even have that ability.” Her eyes bug at the mention of ‘resurrect.’

  I turn to Trina, “Sweetheart, can you guard her?”

  “Of course, Jack. I was going to volunteer, so count me in.”

  “Do you think our Cherry friends would help?”

  “Oh gracious, Jack! That’s a great idea. You need to arrange to go see them anyway. Quid pro quo.”

  Megan looks confused. I tell her, “I think I can get you assistance from outside your greater family, Megan. You will have to keep other people’s secrets.” The clouds don’t clear.

  “I have made some friends with a bunch of skinny folks with pointy ears. Does that help?”

  “Wha...really? You think they would help, Jack? They hate my entire...extended family.”

  “I’m pretty certain,” I tell her. “We are building bonds. Plus I know for a fact that they don’t hate all of your family. They are quite fond of at least one of them.” I nod to Trina.

  Trina wraps an arm around her and says, “It would be my honor to serve you, Princess,” before kissing her on the cheek.

  Gretchen overhears that comment as she walks in lunch from Jason’s deli, “Right? Tom and I both call her our ‘little Princess.’ Megan is just so adorable!”