Chapter 28: New Business

Tuesday morning Kyle and Kathleen wake up just before dawn. They had actually gone to bed early the night before, but spent over an hour celebrating their marriage. They decide on a breakfast of fresh fruit in the Great Room while they work on their schedule for the next few weeks. The scheduling is interrupted by the marvelous view of the dawn flowing over the hills on the other side of Doña Ana. For nearly an hour they just sit there taking in the desert landscape while it all seems to come to life with the dawn.

With a great reluctance they return to the task of scheduling their time. Their job is complicated by the uncertainty of what will be required by Texas State Energy, so they make sure they build in a lot of flexibility. The main item for them, at the moment, is studying, so their schedules include tentative plans of the different assignments and projects to be done and when they plan to work on each. It doesn’t take either of them long to realize they’ll need to take their text books almost everywhere so they can read and make notes while they travel.

Sonny arrives at the requested time of 09:00 and they both get in the SUV to drive to town to see Charlotte. While he drives Sonny asks, “Have you got any specific plans for tomorrow, Kyle? I ask, because we’ve got a number of new people arriving mid-morning to look things over and to talk about housing and things.”

KK smiles while she fields the question, “Nothing we can’t defer until after that’s done. The increased security is our highest priority. Also, can you talk with them about weapons to give us a list of what’s wanted. When we do go out we can pass it on to the appropriate people. I was told we can have just about anything short of a tank.”

Shaking his head in wonder Sonny asks, “Now what could we use a tank for out here?”

Kyle grins, and replies, “I think a tank would be more risk to us than them, but picture the mayhem if the enemy appears to be breaking through to the house when someone drives up with a Bradley and opens up with the chain-gun. It’d send a bunch of them into shock.”

Sonny laughs, “That it would! But the operator would have to be very careful, or we’d rip the houses apart. I think a few things like we talked about before would be best for us to use, but we’ll talk it over as a group, tomorrow.”

“Sure thing,” says Kyle, “and don’t forget to include body armor and communications gear for the people and our vehicles. I think we also have to think about a few safe places for the non-combatants to hide out in at the houses.” Both Sonny and KK nod in agreement.

Kyle and KK read text books and make notes while Sonny drives. When they enter Las Cruces Kyle looks up and asks, “Sonny, can you please find us a Wi-Fi hot-spot so I can use Skype to make a couple of calls?” Sonny nods and he starts checking out likely suspects while Kyle opens the laptop and boots it up.

A few minutes later they find one while still driving. Kyle mentions the strong signal so Sonny pulls over and Kyle calls Dennis Chapman via Skype. Dennis answers and Kyle asks, “Dennis, Kyle Alexander, how are things going with the phones and stuff?”

Dennis replies, “Good thing you called, Kyle. I’ll have the last of the gear later today and will ship it to the address Missus Alexander gave me earlier this morning. You should have it tomorrow. I’m including a nice tester that lets you check signal reception in an area so you can better place the repeater and antenna. Oh, I had a choice of four colors so I had my secretary select one for your wife. I hope she likes it.”

Kyle laughs, “Coward. You did that so she can take any blame if it’s wrong. Thanks for thinking of the tester. Can you include detailed maps of the coverage area from Socorro through El Paso to Houston.”

“Of course I ducked the color issue. I know anything I choose would be wrong. This way we’ve got a chance of getting one she’ll like. I’ll add coverage maps of New Mexico and Texas to the pack. That should make it easier for you to work out where to place the antenna. I look forward to meeting you when you visit us here in Houston.”

“Thanks, I look forward to meeting you too. See you then.” He hangs up and turns to Kathleen, she looks her query at him. He smiles and says, “Dennis had a choice of four colors so he had his secretary select what color to get you so he wouldn’t be at risk if you didn’t like it. All of the gear will be shipped later today for delivery tomorrow.”

Kathleen says, “If the secretary chose the color then it’s likely it’ll be a nice one. My initials are now KA, so why do you still call me KK?”

With a big grin he responds, “For most of my life my pet name for you has been KK. Surely you don’t expect me to change that now, after over twenty years. Now the initials aren’t correct it makes it more of a personal pet name. OK.”

“I can live with that. Besides, I’m not sure I’d answer if you called me something else, because I’m too used to it as well.” They both laugh.

Kyle uses Skype to call Charlotte and confirm the meeting with her at CyberFun. When he’s finished he makes one more call.

The phone rings and is answered by a now familiar voice who says, “Doctor Narduchi’s office, how may I help you?”

“Morning Paula,” Kyle says, “You may want to note this number, it’s my Skype phone number. I’ll use Skype when I can, to make tracking us a lot harder to do. Anything you need to update us on?”

“Good thinking, Kyle. Yes. I’ve four people arriving from Dallas to meet with you just before lunch. If you like them they’ll be your office and security staff in Houston. They consist of two married couples and all are well trained for your needs. The woman who’ll be your PA did the same work for a top general.”

“Good. Have them meet me for lunch at CyberFun. Do you have a file on them we can pick up on our way there?”

“Yes. I’ve a copy of their military short files for you to review. Just make sure you return them when you’re finished, and keep them safe.”

“OK. We’re in Las Cruces so we shouldn’t be too much longer.” They soon finish and hang up.

Kyle smiles when he sees Ryan’s Skype phone is logged into the network. Making the call he asks, “KK, do you want to talk to Ryan when I get him on the phone?”

“Yes, when you’re finished.”

The phone rings, and is answered by Ryan, “Morning, Kyle. How can I help you today?”

“Morning, brother. You do realize I can call you that now since you’re my brother-in-law?” Kyle grins at the low growl he gets in reply. “I want to set up a commercial website which I think will get a lot of very heavy traffic and generate a lot of money. Is there anyone you can recommend to host it in either the Las Cruces, El Paso, Doña Ana, or Houston areas. And is there anyone you can recommend to design it and look after it for me?”

“How heavy a usage do you expect?”

“If all goes well they’ll need a couple of T one links, or better, to handle it all. I’ll discuss the set up arrangements with whoever you recommend to manage it.”

“A couple of T one links or better for your traffic!! How many people do you expect to use it?”

“If it goes as well as I hope, I expect we’ll have a million or so paying members within a year, plus as many again as casual visitors. I need to check with a few other people, but I do expect it to go viral once up.”

“Damn. If you’re serious then you’re better off setting up your own location and have a group of full-time staff looking after things. I’ll email you a suggested set up and hardware list. If the only reason you’re looking at those locations is so you can keep an eye on it then you may have to give up that idea. The closest I can recommend a base for such a site like that would be in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and I can even give you the names for a full set of staff I know and trust. Six tech people with two office people for twenty-four by seven coverage of the technical side and handling all of the paperwork. They’re also used to working together to run a busy site operation.”

“OK, send me the info. How come you know of such a full team?”

“They’re people I know who’ve been running a successful website and the owner just sold it. The new owners are moving the whole lot to their main offices up in New Jersey and they don’t want the staff or the office, just the hardware, legal rights, and customer base. As a result you can get the location, a solid staff, and the data lines are already in place. Everything won’t be fully available for a few weeks, but I think it would be worth the wait.”

“OK. Sounds good. Have them contact me to talk about things. I’ve got to touch base with Stanley and a couple of other parties first. Also, to make sure they feel happy about this I’ll try to get them approved to be junior partners as well as employees. That should give them some feeling of job security.”

“Good thinking. For legal reasons they can’t talk to you during their working day. But I’ll email you their contact details and times.”

“Good idea. Here’s KK, she wants a word too.”

She takes the headset from Kyle and says, “Hey, brother mine, you are still planning to come to the church wedding, aren’t you?”

“Since I’m now all but moved in with Dad and he’s bringing the family from here, I think it’s safe to assume I’ll be traveling with him.”

“Good. I’ll see you then. Just wanted to make sure you’d be here.” Kyle takes the headset and signs off. He nods to Sonny, who’s watching him in the rear-view mirror. The SUV starts up and pulls out while Kyle closes the computer down. They both go back to their studying.

KK is interested to know about this website Kyle is suddenly talking about, but she knows there’s no point in asking anything until he’s got it all worked out in his mind and everything is almost lined up. It’s clear he thinks it’ll float, but he’s still putting it together in his mind.

A little later Kyle turns to Kathleen to say, “KK, am I right to think you don’t want to start a family just yet?” She turns to give him a slight frown as she nods yes. “Then you might need to contact your doctor and get checked out for one of those long term patches, or we’ll be parents sooner than you wish.” Her eyes go wide when she realizes the risks they’ve been running lately with unprotected sex. She pulls out her phone and calls her doctor to make an appointment. She’s in luck and the doctor can fit her in later today due to a cancellation.

The trip flies by and Sonny parks in front of Paula’s office. Telling his charges to stay in the locked car Sonny runs into her office and grabs the files she has for Kyle. He quickly returns, and moments later they’re headed to CyberFun to meet with Kyle’s mother.

Kyle directs Sonny to park in the back of CyberFun. They exit the SUV and Kyle rings the bell at the back door, which is quickly opened by one of the kitchen staff. They walk through and Charlotte leads Kyle and KK to the office to have a quiet talk. Sonny parks himself at a table in the main room and he has a coffee while watching the office door as well as the people in the room.

The three sit in the chairs around a table and Charlotte says, “Kyle, KK, I wanted to talk to you yesterday, but it wasn’t all confirmed then. First, the police have almost finished their investigation into Robert’s activities. Thanks to Ryan’s efforts we’ve recovered a lot of the money Robert had funneled out of the company. The auditors are working with the police fraud people to conduct a one hundred percent audit of the company records for the last ten years while going back a year at a time. They’ve already identified a few staff who are either involved, or were very slack in their work. Either way, they’re being questioned by the authorities. Two of our board members have been implicated, in addition to upper level management of one of our major competitors. The police have kept this all quiet while they do their investigations, but it’s now getting too big and people are asking questions. Later today a public announcement will be made in Houston by the Police, Texas Rangers, FBI, and the Chairman of the Board. I expect the media to be after both of you for comments and such as soon as that happens.”

KK interrupts with, “Great, another group to hide out from.”

Charlotte gives them both a weak smile and continues, “Well, that’s how things stand at the moment. The other thing is I’ve spoken to the board about you taking over for Robert as a short term replacement to clean it up. They were unimpressed with your credentials until I told them you took just on four years to build up a business from nothing on borrowed money and not only paid it off, but recently sold it with no outstanding debts for twenty-five million dollars. That got enough on board to approve you taking the reins to clean things up while I look for a long term replacement. We all agreed we’ve no suitable people within Texas State Energy as Robert had got rid of all the good people to put in his own staff. We’ll need you down in Houston very soon, but not for a few days so we can let the media forget about you for a bit. The need to replace Robert will be announced, but not that you’ll be acting CEO. So you need to let me know when you can be ready to go to Houston.”

Kyle gives weak smile when he says, “Well, I’ve someone looking for a few good staff for me. I want some people that are good and who’ve not been under Robert’s influence in any manner. Four of them will be here for me to talk to around lunchtime. I’ve got some information on them here.” He holds up the large envelope from Paula and continues, “If I like them one will be my Personal Assistant, one will be my guard / driver in Houston, and the other two will be a combination of office staff and extra security. If I approve of them you’ll need to see they get a quick walk through Personnel without any problems.” Charlotte nods agreement so Kyle opens the envelope and they each take a file to review. To help them Paula has placed a sticky note on each one saying what their role will be if he accepts them as staff. Both KK and Charlotte are surprised to see they’re looking at military personnel summary files and both glance at Kyle for a comment. Instead, he simply opens the first file and starts to carefully read it in entirety.

Several minutes later there’s a knock on the door. Kyle grabs the files and holds them under the table in his lap before he calls out, “Yes.”

The door opens and Courtney walks in with coffees. While she puts them on the table Kyle asks, “Courtney, can you please ask Sonny to come in here?” She nods and leaves; a moment later Sonny walks in. Kyle hands out the files again and says, “Sonny, as we finish with these can you cast your eyes over them and give us your impression of them?” Sonny nods agreement and joins the other three at the table.

Charlotte looks up and asks, “Kyle, why are you asking your driver to check these over?”

“Because, Mom, he’s also the current head of my personal security team. Since these people will also be responsible for my security I want his input on their capability to do that. Just as I want your input on how you see the office staff working in with your people.”

Charlotte sits up a bit more and gives both her son and Sonny a hard look before slowly nodding and saying, “OK! If that’s what you want. I gather there’s other things happening as well!”

“Yes, there is.” He responds. “I’ve found out the people responsible for Jonas’ death are now looking for KK and I. Aunt Lucille is one of the more well behaved and responsible members of the group involved, so we need good combat ready security because they may send their militia at us to capture or kill us to get some items Jonas left to me.”

“If Lucille is seen as one of their well-behaved saner members I do not want to meet any of the more extreme members. Anyway, the two files listed as clerical staff for in the office or in transit are very suitable. I also like the experience of the PA. I’ve no comment on the driver.”

Sonny speaks up, “The driver was the first one I read. He’s trained and very experienced in both roles. In fact, he’s a better choice than me. Of the combat skills and experience of the others the one I’ve read is a good choice. If the others are half as good they’re all good choices.”

KK adds, “From what I can understand they’re all good people.”

Kyle slowly nods and replies, “Well, I’ve got one more to read. So let me finish that and we can get ready to offer them lunch when they arrive. Sonny, when I get done with this file can you please take them back to where I got them from this morning?” Realizing Kyle doesn’t want to say where he got them Sonny nods his agreement.

A few minutes later Kyle finishes with the last file and returns them all to the envelope. He hands the envelope to Sonny, who exits the room to return the files. After Sonny leaves KK heads to the kitchen area to talk with her mother and Charlotte opens her briefcase to remove some company papers to discuss with Kyle. For the next hour mother and son plan how to handle certain things in Houston and a decision is made for Charlotte to take a much more active role in the company management than she has for many years. She’ll be at least as active as when her father was still alive, and maybe more so now.

Kyle and his family are in Sam’s Café sitting down talking when four people in their early to late thirties walk in the door. They look about and one points at Kyle while talking to the others. The four walk over while quite a few of the students in the room watch what they’re up to.

They reach Kyle and one asks, “Kyle Alexander?” Kyle nods yes and the man holds out his hand, “Peter Reynolds.” They shake and Peter points at the others, saying, “My wife, Jenny. Estelle Martin and her husband Richard, they only ever answer to Dick and Stel.” Kyle shakes hands with everyone while he introduces his family and Sonny. They all start shaking hands while one of the staff brings some extra chairs.

While everyone is greeting the others Kyle pulls out his phone and makes a call. When it’s answered he says, “Barbara, it’s Kyle. Have you had lunch yet?” On getting a no in reply he adds, “Care to join us for lunch at CyberFun. I’ve got a few people here for an interview and I’d like your opinion of them.”

Barbara responds, “Kyle, if these are the four people I spoke with Doctor N about working for you in Houston they’re all good people for you to hire. I’ll join you for lunch, anyway, because I want to say hello.” A few more words are said and they hang up.

Alice is taking their lunch orders and is now waiting for Kyle’s. He orders a large rib-eye sandwich for himself and another for Barbara. Seeing all is well at that table the other students go back to doing what they were doing. They’d been a bit worried for Kyle and Kathleen due to what happened when the last set of strangers arrived at the café.

With the greetings and orders over Stel asks, “What’s going on and who has the magic pull?” Kyle raises his eyebrows at her so she adds, “Look, we’ve been talking about not reenlisting and getting other work. Our enlistments have a few months to run and we’ve been under a lot of pressure to reenlist. We’re on leave in Dallas looking for work when Dick gets a call suggesting we talk to you about immediate employment as office staff and personal security. That’s followed by a call from our company commanders letting us know if we want to take on these jobs with you they’ll show us as on leave for the rest of our enlistment so we can start for you as soon as we agree. That takes a lot of pull.”

Kyle is about to speak when Charlotte says, “Kyle’s father, Robert, my soon to be ex-husband and now ex-CEO of Texas State Energy was pressuring Kyle to be his assistant. In doing this he did some things to disrupt Kyle and Kathleen’s marriage plans and one of Kyle’s friends took action to help Kyle and KK, as she’s called. In the process they discovered Robert was embezzling millions, committing security fraud, and he even tried to make his son appear to be a thief. The end result of all this is Robert will likely spend much of his remaining life in prison and Kyle will be working as acting CEO to clean up the company while he finishes his university studies here. That will require him to be both here and in Houston as well as other locations around the planet. He needs an office staff to handle the routine matters while he handles the emergencies and the clean-up as well as his studies. To complicate matters, during the same period Robert’s father committed suicide when some not nice people threatened to destroy Kyle and our family. The suicide eliminated one threat, but opened up another. Kyle needs to be protected from these people because they constitute a very real and immediate threat to him and KK.”