by Jack Sunn
As for inputs, I came to admire the depth of knowledge that Sarim had to offer. Of both Chinese and Indian ancestry, she sized me up quickly and worked closely with me on every visit I made. She began not by enforcing a diet, but by modifying some of the components in what I eat. Certainly, her knowledge of Ayurveda is extensive, and her explanations of this ancient but extraordinary Indian framework of the relationship between body type, environment and food became increasingly more fascinating with each visit. I was encouraged to take notes, and of course the library was well stocked with literature on the subject. But first let’s get back to the beginning. Sarim suggested two fundamental substitutions in the food I consume. I liked her approach. Simply stated information, but without preaching. After all, it was not Sarim who was going to change me, that was left for me to do.
She started by asking, “Jack. I’ll ask you later what you eat, but firstly do you prepare and cook meals for yourself?”
Of course I answered yes, but did not tell her at first how little I did.
“Good,” she said. She went on, “As is normal with food, there is much propaganda, misinformation, she stressed this word, and advertising to tell you what to consume. What I am going to tell you shocks many with disbelief. But worry not – be calm I say. We have plenty of literature for you to peruse at your leisure if your interest should peak. I have two recommendations for you to start with. They are the same for everybody. Firstly, fats and oils. Throw out most of what is in your kitchen or pantry. You can keep any extra-virgin olive oil, and to many people’s surprise, the butter and ghee. Throw the rest. Buy coconut oil and use it by preference for all cooking. It is the best oil to use by far, as it does not denature with heat, and is readily used by your body with NO stressed harmful effects. Indeed, it is valued by the body, and assists weight loss for those in need. I’ll let you read about it in this book,’’ and handed me a paperback on the subject. “With your olive oil, use at room temperature, but do not cook with it. For flavour in cooking you may use ghee or butter in Indian and some European foods. Simple. This one substitution will leave you healthier, and probably have you losing some weight.”
“Secondly, try to eliminate wheat from your intake. The main problem ingredient in wheat is gluten, which even if not a celiac, causes a great deal of unseen harm to a high percentage of people. Again, the recipe used does not need to be changed, only an ingredient substitution. Gluten has been shown to be a major contributor to inflammation which in turn may cause obesity, cardio vascular disease and all sorts of disorders. Wheat is relatively new to the human diet, so junk it. And incorporate turmeric in your daily intake. It is a marvellous anti-inflammatory agent. So good for the health.”
Of course it did not stop with just this little amount of information. The following weeks saw me learning all things kitchen and food. Even the simple tasks of cutting were revised. Naturally everybody can use a knife, but like walking, tuition leads to a better practise. I did not have to cut sophisticated Japanese garnishes, but the cutting I learned was faster and more consistent than before.
Probably the most useful information Sarim imparted to me was the use of food ratios. She had recipes to use for all manner of dishes, and she selected ones to suit my body type, with instruction on seasonal variation. The recipes contained no misleading or confusing terms of measurement. No longer was I confronted with, mls, tablespoons and cup measures all in the one recipe. She had it all sorted. But let’s return to ratios. I learned basic ratios of ingredients, and then started seeing it for myself when reading recipes. But she emphasised of course, to never let a measure get in the way of taste. It was not long before my repertoire had expanded considerably, and cooking had become an enjoyable and satisfying part of life, rather than simply a necessity. Life was taking turns for the better.
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Another of my early instructors was Alex. Like many instructors to follow, Alex was a man with many lessons to reveal, and personal survival was his forte.
Early in the program Alex announced, “Let’s go for a field trip Jack. Burleigh is not far away and a great source of readily made material that I think you will like.”
On that measure he was spot on. We went to LEGEAR where we assembled a cart full of great security products. We got cut and puncture resistant gloves, boots, night vision gear, and all manner of interesting materials. But what surprised me more, was the selection of equipment he had in store at the CrossRoads.
“Not everything you want and need is available on-line or in store. Over here we have some tailor-made apparel and tools, all fairly light weight and effective. I think you will like it. We are not able to offer bullet proof clothing, but we do make cut and puncture resistant clothing. Depending on where you are and what potential threats await you, that is if you can identify them beforehand, these may be extremely useful. A little warm to wear, so maybe only work in winter. Ha ha. Anyway, protection of the torso is absolutely essential. Stabbings are usually at close range to the body, in and out quickly. Try stabbing this mannequin in the upper body.” Alex passed me a sturdy knife. I took the knife and thrust, only to be stopped as if poking it with a blunt stick.
“The mannequin’s vest is made of what we call paplas. Readily available paper and plastic materials crafted into an effective puncture resistant shield for the body. We also have quick attach-release upper and lower arm guards.”
I tried again, and again the dummy defied my attempts to puncture it. “I definitely want some of this,” I said taking a vest that Alex handed to me.
“We have two grades of protection,” said Alex. “Social wear for everyday occasions, and heavy duty. Think of it a bit like the protection butchers and fishermen sometimes wear. But this covers more. Long sleeves and jackets can hide a lot of protective layering. In an open hand fight a certain amount of percussive resistance is also offered. And not being made of metal, it is excellent for air travel. The idea with the vest is that one or two ineffective stabs are likely to give you a little extra time to respond before your assailant tries something else. Without the vest you could bleed out or suffer internal organ damage from a single strike. You certainly would be disadvantaged in the extreme, maybe even fatally wounded. Nothing much worse than being stabbed as it instantly drops your ability to retaliate. Okay, that’s the defensive side, now for the offensive. I will show you what I can easily conceal.” From just inside his left boot near his ankle, Alex withdrew a sickle shaped 14cm long knife with a carved handgrip and small protective hilt, and with the blade sharpened on one edge. “This is made entirely from bamboo. The species we use has a tensile strength even greater than that of steel. We tag the stems and only harvest three-year-old culms for processing. Not too young and not too old.” Alex passed it to me. “And check the weight. With a sheath and Velcro fasteners, this is awesome stuff. Next, we have the small blade, very handy. In an emergency I can use it for cutting food or cloth.” From inside the right ankle area of his left leg Alex withdrew a shorter straight two edge blade. From his pocket, he took out two short blades, a small peg and two paper clips, and quickly assembled a pair of scissors. “Crude but effective in the short term for cutting light materials.”
“Impressive,” I said.
“Try on this fitting-vest and we can tailor make one ideal for your body. This light weight cotton vest is easily adjusted to make the ideal pattern.”
CHAPTER 7
First apprentice assignment. That I had been enjoying my classes was an extreme understatement. My home in Brisbane was decluttered, cleaned up, and resembled what some would think was primitive accommodation. The only really modern component was high speed internet access. The microwave was gone, along with associated junk, including the television. Sarim and others had shown and advised me well. But more and more my time was spent at Clunes. I was getting into a routine and had thought practical involvement in TaSMAN group activities was a long way off. But not so. In maybe my seventh month Alex sprung a question for me.
“Jack, are up for some detective work? We have a meeting in two days’ time in our client’s office, 11 am. He wanted to meet us tomorrow, but I delayed him to give you some extra time. It seems he experienced an office breach with minor theft. One of the investigating detectives suggesting hiring us. What we need is for you to find out as much about him, his family, and his company in the two days we have.”
“Certainly, when do I start or leave?”
“I would suggest straight away. And to make it more interesting, I am only going to give you an address and request no liaison with the police. It would be good to overwhelm the client, and also me, with exposure of his/their vulnerability. We aim not to demean anybody, but to reinforce what we already know about society’s vulnerabilities. Here is the address.”
With that in hand I went straight to Google Maps and road view and had the company name within seconds. It was a simple matter then of following down leads through a few more searches. I was quickly pleased with my efforts. As a police officer, all sorts of records are available that only the police can access. But here was a wealth of publicly available information. The CEO was listed on professional social media such as LinkedIn and others. Ten minutes later I caught up with Alex and said I would be off, but not before handing him a folder with about ten pages of information on the company, and the CEO in particular.
I then said to Alex, “Should we reconvene at say 7am for breakfast in two days’ time?”
Alex smiled and readily agreed. “And Jack, you know the procedure about being inconspicuous?” This time it was my turn to smile and I was off.
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Four storey building, underground car park, loading dock, double front door, one side door.
Day one and the bulk of the office staff left between 4.30 and 6 pm. Of the cars that left the garage one was a late model Bentley. Following a Bentley presented me with little difficulty, and I returned in the morning to observe all comings and goings and do some inconspicuous detecting.
Breakfast with Alex the following day was followed by his quick perusal of the report I had prepared. Time to enter the building and meet with the CEO.
The CEO’s office was on the top floor, as is often the case. Upon entry, Alex introduced himself to Mr Redman and then said, “Let me introduce my associate Jack Sunn. Jack has prepared a preliminary report for you to consider, which I perused this morning. I think it may startle you, at least in part. Acting on the preliminary recommendations alone should improve the safety and security of you and your family, and off course that of the firm. May I please handover to Mr Sunn?”
First thing I did was to hand over a letter for the CEO Mr Redman to send off to the Queensland Police. “We recommend that you send this off as soon as possible. We love nothing better than to recommend ourselves, but request that you allow the department to verify we are who we say we are. As licensed private investigators, we have a good relationship with the authorities, and welcome them to answer any questions you may have of us.”
Mr Redman quickly scanned the document, placed it in his out tray, and nodded his head slightly in approval.
“Here is a copy of our report to date, and an electronic copy. As our client, you and your family are our highest and first priority. I realise this started with a breach of security here, but I recommend we start with your home and family. In brief, personalised number plates and highly distinctive cars invite trouble. Nice car and all, but between here and home it is impractical. Instead we recommend a change to something like the Range Rover Sport. It is common in Brisbane, and when trouble occurs it will take you off-road readily with comfort and safety. Trouble could be as simple as an impending collision. The Rover will effortlessly take you over the kerb or through bushes. Off road driving practice, which we recommend, is available at the Mt Cotton driver training facility and run by highly professional drivers. A tailor-made course is available, with further instruction available for tuition on the hazards between here and your home address.
Secondly, for the safety of your wife, children and house keeper, we have prepared a number of recommendations for you to consider.
Thirdly, this building requires some changes. We will install a bench at the front of the building away from the doors for smokers. Smokers have been exiting the rear door at the loading dock on a regular basis, allowing easy ingress of foreigners. For security, we can tighten that up, and at the same time force the smokers to smoke in public.
Here is a second letter. This is for all staff to sign so that thorough security checks can be made. No one should have any reason to hesitate signing. If they do, maybe they should not be working here.
Now, to get back to the building. You currently have one line of security on the ground floor. Yesterday I was readily able to use the elevator to access this, the fourth floor. I won’t go into details, suffice to say we can also readily fix that. I would also like you to send a request to your HR staff for a meeting tomorrow at 7.30 am in your conference room. It is important that all senior staff, other than yourself attend. I would like someone on your personal staff to arrange designated seating with place tags, so that we can run a tight and efficient meeting. Here is a suggested memo format and seating plan.” I briefly outlined the agenda for the meeting.
We continued for a little while longer, with Mr Redman concluding, “Gentlemen. Thank-you for what appears to be a wakeup call for me. I had not known what to expect, but from what you have said so far, I believe you should proceed with what you have planned. I would like to offer you any resources that you may need to complete the transformation of our building and our running of the company. I can see by the speed that you have acquired the information on structure and procedures that we have a bright and secure future here, and hopefully an ongoing relationship with your security company. I look forward to our next visit. Good day gentlemen.”
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7.29 am the next morning and nearly all were settled in. At precisely 7.30 the door was securely locked from the inside as instructed. I introduced myself and quickly proceeded.
The first question was to the Senior HR Manager, Ms Dale Anders.
“Ms Anders, please outline your responsibilities?”
“I am the senior HR Manager.”
That got to me straight away. As if her answer told me anything. A title is not a definition of procedures or activity.
“And what does that entail?”
“I am the manager responsible to the HR team. And who are you to ask? You are not an employee yet you ask these questions of me.”
“My name is Jack Sunn as I said earlier. I am directly employed by Mr Redman, the CEO of this 10 plus billion-dollar company. Though my terms of engagement differ from yours, let me assure you that I am most certainly within the employ of this company. Now, you said you are responsible for the HR team. Surely you mean all employees of the company? Let me ask you a question. Can you tell me what Jan pronounced something close to Yon, but I did not allude to this, and pronounced it as Jan Peters does for the company?” Silence followed for about five seconds.
“What does she do?” Further pause.
“How many staff are there in the building and how long have you been here?”
She then answered and sounded a little dazed by my barrage of short but quickly presented questions.
“About three hundred, and nearly five years. Why do you ask Mr Sunn?” she said sneeringly.
“You are responsible for the staff are you not? Yesterday I spoke with Mr Peters. He was most friendly and we share some interests.”
“A moment ago you said she, now you say he. Will you make up your mind Mr Sunn?”
“Jan, a European name pronounced Yon. I am not surprised you do not know him. It appears the HR department has not set foot in the mail sorting room downstairs in recorded history.”
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The day before: I walked around the building simply observing. The mail sorting room was in a temporary lull
, staffed by two men and a woman. While two of them were seated and drinking tea, one man was cleaning the window of the small office. Though this may seem strange to some, it was made a little stranger by the man’s appearance. He wore a casual suit and neck tie, and polished shoes. Hair of neat appearance, medium build and erect posture. Drinking tea and checking Facebook obviously had nothing on cleanliness. I studied him for a while as the man moved carefully and methodically.
“Excuse me sir. My name is Jack Sunn and I am currently working for Mr Redman on a security matter. You appear to be doing an admiral job in keeping this place neat and tidy. May I ask if you are, and referring to the staff directory, Jan (Yon) Peters?”
“Yes, and thank you for not calling me Jan.”
“Jan, can we talk in private for a moment about the company? How long have you been here?”
“Two years Mr Sunn.”
“Do you know how many people work in the building?”