Chapter 25

There were bellhops ready and waiting at the hotel to take our luggage. They were all wearing green badges, which contrasted with their red uniform jackets.

“People with green badges like this are civilians. If they don’t have a badge on at all, then it might be a test from corporate, or not. But that’s our inviolate rule. Green badge means good guy,” Melvin said as he held the door for us. “And this is first night. We’re not going to have much happen tonight, other than dinner.”

“Why do I feel like this isn’t a regular kind of Christmas Party?”

Mike laughed. “Because it’s not, is the easiest way to say that.”

We left Melvin and Stephen at the cars. As a group, we walked up to the check-in desk. The lady behind the desk also was wearing a green badge. “Party name, please?”

Mike said, “Douglas for corporate, Lewis for principal.”

“Thank you, sir. I have your room keys here. I see you’ve stayed with us before, but your agents have not, nor have your principals. I show you have two principals, is that correct?”

“Yes. Mister Cal Lewis. Miss Jennifer Lewis.”

“That’s correct and matches.” She looked up from her computer. “Welcome to the Marriott and the Wackenhut Christmas party. For your safety, please wear these yellow badges and lanyards at all times you are not in your rooms. As principals, you have full and unlimited access to all of our amenities, including the weight room, pool, and sauna. You also have full and unlimited personal access to our dining facilities, as well as both clubs. Please note that there has been a yellow sign placed upon your door, indicating that your room is off limits to others. All principals have this same sign on their doors. Please respect their privacy unless invited in by the principal staying in that room. If you do go in, simply be aware that all charges for damages to rooms will be billed to you personally, not to any corporate accounts.”

What the fuck were we getting into here?

“Gentlemen and lady, you are employees of, and here for, the Wackenhut Christmas Party. Once you reach your principal’s room, please put all of your firearms in the safe in that room. Absolutely no loaded firearms are allowed upon the premises or during any of the activities. This includes those firearms modified to fire less than lethal or other rounds. Use of non-standard projectile weapons is also forbidden, including but not limited to, slingshots, bow and arrow, crossbow, paintball, catapults, either built or improvised from surgical tubing and funnels, or dart guns. Standard first aid equipment will be available as always. The Jupiter Medical Center has increased their staffing for this event, so there should be no delays this year in treating any serious injuries.”

“Thank you all very much, here are your key cards, and I hope you have a pleasant stay.”

Jennifer had to help me slip my yellow badge and lanyard on, I was rather shocked by what the clerk had said. “Come on, Toto,” she said, pulling me along.

I shook my head, but followed the bellhop that was leading us. He took us up to the third floor, where we had four rooms in total. Mike gave all of us a key card. Even the cards that Jennifer and I were given were bright yellow. I unlocked the door to our room, with Chuck going in first and giving it a quick look through. The bellhop simply stood there, like he was expecting it. When Chuck finally said, “Clear,” the bellhop pushed the cart with our luggage on it into the room.

It was a small suite, with a queen sized bed, work area with table and chairs, couch and a couple of chairs as well for conversation, television, refrigerator stocked with drinks, and another large television. I looked in, and it had a large bathroom, complete with Jacuzzi tub. The bellhop put our luggage on the racks, put our hanging clothes up, our golf clubs in a corner, and then moved over to what I thought was a closet door.

“Folks, as you heard, no Wackenhut employees may have loaded weapons during this event. Mister Lewis, may I use your card, please?” I handed it to him. “Thank you.” He plugged it into a slot on the door. It clicked, and then silently swung open.

“There is room in here for up to ten long rifles or shotguns, plus shelves for more than enough regular handguns like you all have. If you would all please put your weapons in the safe, I need to verify that they’ve been placed inside and secured.”

I was surprised to see Mike immediately take his belt and ankle holster off and put them into the safe. “Come on, guys. All of them. That includes your bra gun, Angela.”

Jennifer gave me a look, and I slightly shook my head. I’d been paying attention to what was said. We weren’t Wackenhut employees.

Once all of the handguns were in the safe, the bellhop shut it. “Thank you. This is on a time lock. It will automatically open again Saturday morning at eight. The pool is open until midnight, so is the sauna. Weight room is open twenty-four hours per day, with key card entry. All rooms have a stocked refrigerator. The contents of the one in this room only are free, the ones in the rest of the rooms are typical cash bar. We here at the Marriott hope you have a comfortable, and safe, stay.” Jennifer handed him $20. “Thank you, Ma’am. Dinner tonight is in the main dining room, service starts at nine. Even if it clashes with your outfits, please wear your yellow badges.”

He went back into the hallway, then put the luggage into the other rooms quickly, before leaving.

Mike said, “Quick conference, then everyone start getting ready. Stay in your rooms until ten minutes till nine, then come out. That’ll give us time to get downstairs and to our table. First, thank you for shaking your head at Jennifer, Cal. You shouldn’t need it at all, but better to have it. Second, the reason for all the rules regarding firearms is very simple, and should not affect us in any way. Wackenhut is international. We have clients in the Middle East and in Israel. Polish Jews and Germans. Japanese and Koreans. Armenians and Turks. In other words, a lot of people that hate each other. The last two parties I’ve attended, trouble was limited to only half of the groups present. As a side note, if you see someone walking around armed with a sword, saber, or other large cutting device, assume that they ARE an expert at using it, and that they WILL use it if need be.”

“We started the yellow badges three years ago, and it’s cut down on a lot of issues, because the principals are the ones who tend to start things. That’s also why the warning about going into another principal’s room, because blood stains typically require full furniture replacement. So, black tie and elegant dress for Cal and Jennifer, Angela and Chuck get to show off some of what they got at Disney, and the rest of us, business professional. We have just under two hours. Let’s go.”

They all left, shutting the door behind them.

I looked at Jennifer. “Normally, I would say, let’s get in the shower together, but...”

“Yeah, but...” She blinked a couple of times. “Apparently this isn’t quite the romantic getaway that everyone else thought it would be.”

“We can make it that way, my love.” With the comments that I’d heard, I was almost a little paranoid. I used my vision to quickly look around the room, then checked in the bathroom. “Well, there don’t appear to be any listening devices or hidden cameras in here.” I looked up at the smoke detectors again, just to make sure.

“I’ll make sure our clothes are fine, no wrinkles from being in the hanging bag, and check our shoes, if you want to get into the shower. I know it’ll take you longer to do your hair and make-up than it will me, obviously.”

While she did that, I pulled the comforter and blankets down, scanning the bed for small critters that might bite Jennifer in the night. It was free of those. I got my tuxedo out, used a polishing rag to take two small scuffs off her shoes and one off of mine. They had a steamer in the room that I quickly figured out how to use, to get one wrinkle from the bottom of my pants, and another from along the hem of her dress.

With the golf game in the morning, I double checked all of our clubs, and made sure our shoes were cleaned and ready to go. I stuck the bag with the money and diamonds in the bottom of my golf bag. After fifteen minutes, I heard the water shut off. About ten minutes later, she said, “Okay, Cal, you can get your shower.” She was wearing a robe, standing in front of the mirror with a tremendous number of hair tools in front of her. “It’ll take me every bit of an hour to get my hair done right. Is everything else ready?”

“I like that dress. It looks like you need high cut panties with that. What about a bra? I didn’t lay your underwear out.”

“Panties are in the top compartment of the suitcase, and for this dress, I’ll need your help putting on breast tape.”

“Um ... what’s that?”

“Margie has a lot of it, because some of the Star Trek outfits she has are ... somewhat worse than scandalous. It’s a seriously adhesive double sided tape. Once I’m completely dry, I peel one side off and stick it to me. Then we position the dress exactly so, then peel the other side off and stick the dress to it. That’s a sleeveless and backless gown anyway, with just a simple loop to help provide uplift that goes around my neck, so there’s no way to wear a bra with it.”

“If I die from frustration after seeing you in it, the others aren’t going to be happy with you.”

“It’s even better. No hose. That’s why I wore those ugly shoes down here, so I didn’t have to touch up my toenails or fingernails.”

“I think on that note, I’m going to get in the shower. If I blow a hole in the side of the hotel, do you think they’ll bill me?”

She giggled. “Oh, my. You ARE going to be frustrated for a while tonight. Good. I’m looking forward to our after dinner entertainment.”

I shook my head, then let her continue getting ready without interruption.

At ten minutes until nine, Jennifer was carrying a small clutch. We both had the stupid yellow badges on, and they definitely clashed. I started to open my door, which seemed to be the signal for everyone to open theirs.

Chuck and Angela walked over to us, taking up positions to our outside, while the rest of the group just stared in shock at how the four of us looked. Mike shook his head, then said, “Ben, elevator. Randy, you’re on six.”

Ben pushed the button. The elevator that opened was empty. He stepped in, quickly looked it over, then nodded. We got on, then headed downstairs. It opened on the ground floor. In the lobby, there was a man wearing a suit, but also a green badge.

“Your dinner party is this way, folks. Turn left at the end of the hallway, and you’ll be escorted to your table from there.”

We followed his instructions. At the end of the hallway, we turned. The hall continued, with several doors opening off to the left. The first two were shut, but the third had a small table set up, with several people sitting there. Three of them wore green badges, but one of them didn’t. A lady with a green badge on and a clipboard said, “Corporate and principal name, please.”

“Douglas for corporate, Lewis for principal,” Mike said.

“Thank you. Pamela will escort you to your table.” The woman not wearing a badge stood up.

Mike shook his head. “No, she won’t. You’re wearing green, you’re supposed to be a good guy.”

“Oh, my apologies. Lee Anne will escort you to your table.” This time the woman that stood up was wearing a green badge.” As she came around the table, Mike glanced at Pamela.

“Got anyone with that trick yet this year, Barb?”

“Just one, Mike. You know how hard-headed some people can be.”

“Yes, I do.” We followed Lee Anne in through the doorway. The dining room was quite large, easily the size of our entire basketball court and stands, but only a couple of stories tall. At center court was about a fifteen foot square raised platform, with spotlights aimed towards it. There were a dozen round tables sort of arranged in a circle around the platform. Then there were two more circles of tables behind those, for what at first glance looked to be about fifty total tables in the room. Most of them were occupied already.

Lee Anne led us to two tables in the second row, on the right hand side of where we’d come in. There were eight chairs at each table, with two having yellow napkins in front of them on the table to the right. I held the chair for Jennifer, so she could sit down, then I took the seat to her right. Angela sat to Jennifer’s left with Chuck on my right. Mike and Brad both sat facing the stage in the center chairs of our second table, while Eric and Randy sat in chairs with their backs to the stage.

People were sitting rather quietly, not getting up and milling around, which I thought was interesting. Then I realized how intensely, everyone was looking around the room at everyone else, without actually trying to look around at each other. After a minute went by, one more group was escorted in, to a group of tables on the third row. There was one table in the front row that was empty. I was puzzled by that, but from the angle I was sitting, I couldn’t actually tell from a name tag who was supposed to be sitting there.

The lights around the perimeter of the room dimmed slightly. A man who hadn’t been sitting at any of the tables walked in, then up onto the stage, holding a microphone.

“Thank you all for coming here tonight, to help us celebrate this week the eighteenth annual Wackenhut Corporation Principal’s Christmas Party. For those of you who’ve never met me ... shame on you. You’re paying me a lot of money, and you should at least have a face to go with the name. I’m George Wackenhut. I’ll grant you that three of you are new clients this year, so that’s understandable.

“This has become a bit of a tradition for our company. You get to see our operatives on a daily basis, doing their job protecting you. But you are also involved in ... well, high finances. Getting together with others of your wealth, status, and industry isn’t quite as simple as just running over to the corner pub or local market. This party has evolved into a way that you can meet with your peers, while at the same time, allowing us to recognize the people that work to keep you safe. And twelve of you had that happen for real this year.”

The door opened and three women came walking in, two wearing yellow badges, one with a blue badge on. There were only two other people with them. They were escorted to the empty table in the front row.

I could hear a couple of voices from other tables murmuring about them being late to the party like usual.

“Tess, glad to see that you and your daughter made it this year,” George said.

Tess had a British accent. “Of course, George. Did we miss the introductions like I’d planned?”

“Sorry, no. You’re stuck again this year.” A few tables politely chuckled at that. “Now, as I was saying, tonight is our way of saying thank you to you, as our principal’s, for allowing us the privilege of protecting you, and in many cases your properties.” He paused for a moment.

“Now, since there are three of you in this group that are new to the Wackenhut family, and an additional four of you have never attended our Christmas party before, I probably should explain some things that may be puzzling you. The whole badge thing, for one. You see your protection team daily. We don’t. We trained them, and you write us a very nice check monthly so that we pay them, but we don’t get to see them in action, to see how good of a job they’re doing for you. So, we have operational testing going on during this time.

“An example was when each of you was picked up at the airport. Another was when you were brought in to your seat. During the meal this evening, and for the rest of tonight, there will be no further testing. Tomorrow ... that’s another story. Green badge people either work for the hotel, the restaurant, or are otherwise considered neutrals. Their job is to fill in the vital role of simply running this party. That does not mean they won’t hand you off to someone whose job it is to test you, as two of you found out.

“Yellow badges. You are the principals. There are thirty-six of you, representing twenty-eight different organizations or families that we provide your security. Blue badges. You are part of the principal’s party, someone we protect, but in the hierarchy of your organization, a secondary priority to the yellow badge holder. As our trainers may not know who in your organization is the person who needs to be protected, during a training exercise, this is our way of assisting them, and of identifying you in the event of any accidents.

“Lastly, as some of you are rivals in business, politics, or simply personally hate each other, the same rule that we started a few years ago applies. No one with a yellow badge may go into another yellow badge room without being invited. And the consequences for you doing so are completely on you. Neither the hotel nor Wackenhut will accept any responsibility for damages, injuries, or fatalities.

“Now, I’m going to come around the room, to each group of tables. If the principals at each table would stand up and introduce themselves, that way we all can get to know each other. When that’s done, they’ll start with the soup. If you would all please wait until dessert to begin mingling, that’d be great.” While he was talking, he walked over to a table in the inner row.

The first table had a man with the yellow badge that looked to be about sixty sitting at it, along with three women with blue badges. From their dress, they were obviously Japanese. The man stood up, then in perfect English, said, “I am Haruhiko Yashimoto, owner of Yashimoto Tochi-Tatemono, Yashimoto Real Estate and Property Development. Six billion.”

He sat down, then George went to the next table. That man had a serious accent. “Hi, y’all. H. Ross Perot, out of Dallas, and this is my wife, Margot. I started Electronic Data Systems, just sold that for a couple billion, also into real estate. Eight billion, total.”

The next group of tables had one man with a yellow badge, and several other men and women with blue badges. “I am Sheikh Sulaiman bin Abdulaziz Al Rajhi. These are some of my children. With my brothers, we started and own the Al Rajhi Trading and Exchange Company. Current value, thirty billion.”

The next table answered a question I had. George said, “This is your first year with us. Just introduce yourself, your wife, a little about what you do, and your total corporate wealth, not personal.”

“Gotcha, mate. I’m Robert Holmes à Court, my wife, Janet. We’re from Australia, if you didn’t figure it from the accent. I own Bell Group, about seven billion.”

From the murmurs at a table behind us, he wasn’t a popular man with them.

George continued around the room, skipping the women that had come in late, then starting on the second row of tables. From the far side of the stage, I was surprised to hear a familiar voice. “Charles Koch, my wife Liz, and my brother David. We own Koch Industries, and are investing heavily in a new group, CEDEM Financial. Three billion.”

George said, “See, that’s why we like to have this. Charles and David know of this company that’s taking off, making them wealthier, and they’re sharing that with all of you.”

I leaned over to Chuck. “Why haven’t I seen the security around Charlie and Dave that you guys have around me?” I whispered.

“You haven’t been to their house. And they’re established, not turning the world on its ear,” he whispered back.

After a couple more minutes, George made it to our table. “I know that this is your first year with us, and you’re one of our clients that had an agent show his level of dedication to protecting you and your family by taking a bullet earlier this year.” He handed me the microphone.

I stood up. “Two bullets, actually, and fortunately he was wearing a vest, which meant the three men that had guns drawn didn’t take anyone with them when they were shot and killed seconds later.” I raised my hand up in a wave, across the room. “Charlie, Dave, Liz, hello. Everyone, I’m Cal Lewis, this is one of my ladies, Jennifer.” She stood up next to me, and I heard the intake of breath from a LOT of people in the room, both men and women.

“I’m the owner of CaLe, Incorporated, and President and CEO of CEDEM Financial. Our marketing slogan is, just as the sedum plant is good for any garden, CEDEM Financial is good for any of your financial needs. And if you figure the total value of not just what we have in liquid assets, but in total, between the companies that we own shares and interest in that listen to us ... about thirty billion, would be my estimate.”

At the murmurs that came from around the room, my comment took a lot of people by surprise.

It also didn’t go unchallenged. One of the men sitting with Al Rajhi, wearing a blue badge yelled out, “Who would listen to a boy who doesn’t look old enough that his balls have even dropped yet?”

I just laughed at him, then said, in Arabic, “Not only have they dropped, but they work quite well, as my lady carries my unborn child in her womb. How many goats have you tried to breed with, since no woman would ever lay with you? Or is it camels you prefer?”

I halfway thought he was going to come out of his chair and rush me, but the sudden clapping of hands by the oldest woman sitting at the front table made him pause. He stopped, looking at her with fury in his eyes. She simply said, “Sit down. You lost, Mister Lewis won. Don’t embarrass yourself or your family here, tonight.”

That made everyone else give me a round of applause, which I wasn’t expecting.

We made it through the rest of the introductions, then finally George went to the front table, handing her the microphone. “Oh, very well, George. There are some here who don’t know me, after all. I am Teresa, Lady Rothschild, this is Serena and her daughter, Hannah. My husband is Victor, Baron Rothschild, and, of course, we control Rothschild and Company. Around four hundred billion,” she said, smiling politely.

After that, the soup was served.

I was surprised that the main course was a filet mignon with prawns, considering the cost involved. I made small talk with Jennifer, and ended up eating about a fourth of her filet that she couldn’t finish. I noticed that everyone seemed to respect George’s request, though.

When the last plate was picked up, and the servers came around with coffee, ice cream, cakes, and chocolates, that seemed to be like ringing a bell. The volume in the room increased, and people suddenly got up and started going around to other tables. It appeared that protocol allowed them to bring their dessert and drink with them, too.

The first thing that happened at our table was that someone from the outer row, behind us, came up to our table.

“You’re that miracle kid from Kansas, aren’t you? The football quarterback that’s also a financial genius?” The man had an east coast accent, and was standing back several inches from my seat.

I stood up and turned, Jennifer with me. He looked like he was about 40, with sandy brown hair and some weird eyebrows. The woman next to him had garish blonde hair. He was dressed nicely, though, and only a couple of inches taller than me.

“So I’ve been told. Even though we all said our names before, I’m Cal Lewis,” I said as I held my hand out.

“Pleasure to meet you. Donald Trump, and this is my wife, Ivana. I develop real estate in the New York area.”

“I’ve heard of you. You’ll get there one day, don’t worry about any set-backs. You might consider diversifying a little, though.”

He tilted his head to one side slightly. “What do you mean?”

“Simple, really. I’m from Kansas. Lots of open land. To close a recent deal, I flew to San Francisco. Stayed in a rather nice hotel there, about $300 per night. On another deal, I had to fly into New York, and stay in what was supposed to be a nice hotel there, that cost $400 per night, and our room was half the size of the one in California. I realize that land space in New York is limited, so you have to build up. But I can’t be the only one that would rather drive an hour and have plenty of comfort. The other thing is don’t be a one-trick pony, if I’m using that phrase right.”

Now he leaned back a little, with his eyes half closed, but I could tell he was paying attention.

“Again, you want a base for diversification. I own 8 sections of land near Hutchinson, Kansas. That’s my base. I’m building factories on three of those sections, for different kinds of manufacturing. One of those sections has a chemical plant already finished on it. Dave and Charlie Koch have a part of that. The other four sections are for residential and commercial. Four thousand single family homes, apartment complexes, grocery stores, everything that the people that are going to work at those factories and live in those houses are going to need. I’m expanding the airport, and we’re buying more small business jets to provide an air fleet not just for me, but for my partners. Diversification of income, and of expenses, so that way if one thing has an issue, there’s no trouble.”

“Just for my own clarification, you’re saying that you own eight square miles of land?”

“Yep. I didn’t see him here, but I presume you’ve heard of Microsoft and Bill Gates.” Trump nodded, a frown now on his face. “When he sold me part of Microsoft, one of the things we discussed is land. He needs land for research parks, and programmers. Seattle’s great, but land out there is thousands of dollars per acre. I bought land for a few hundred dollars per acre, and can build his entire research park for less than he would spend on land alone.”

I’d noticed two older men had walked up behind Trump and were listening in. They were both nodding at what I said. The one on the right said, “I think you ought to listen to this young man, Donald. How’s your father doing?”

Trump turned, and smiled at both men, holding his hand out. “He’s holding his own, gentlemen. Cal, this is David and Laurance Rockefeller. Gentlemen, how are the two of you doing?”

“We’re fine, Donald. Thank you for asking. You and the missus are up to three now, if I recall correctly.”

“Yes, Mister Rockefeller, that’s right. Our youngest, Eric, will be one next month,” Ivana said.

“Raise them right, so they don’t turn out like my oldest daughter. Jesus, what a nut. Where the hell does she think the family money comes from, that let her get those crazy ideas? What about you, boy? What are your thoughts?”

“I, uh, have a lot of thoughts, Sir. But I can’t give you a reply unless I specifically know what you’re asking about.”

“Sharp one, aren’t you? What do you think, Laurance? Any of the granddaughters about his age?”

“David, this boy has himself a fine looking woman already, or are you blind?”

David Rockefeller moved a little. “Apologies, young lady. I truly couldn’t see you because I was standing behind Donald, here.”

Jennifer frostily said, “Accepted.”

“So, what I was talking about was the wealth. We all have it. Some of us inherited some of it, but we’re all supposed to be growing it.” He turned to Donald and gave him a slight nod, then turned back to me. “Sounds like you’re doing a bit of that venture capital that Laurance does, helping other companies.”

“You take some money, use it to make more money by helping someone, then take that money that you’ve made doing that, and help other people. Pretty soon, you’ve got a whole bunch of people that you’ve helped, and you own a piece of all their businesses. Not much; it doesn’t take much. But you can keep right on going, and with the right ideas, you can change the world for the better,” I said. “No one said you can’t make a fortune along the way. But you don’t need that much money to live on, really. So you keep going, and pretty soon your small fortune is a big fortune, and in the meantime, you’ve helped a lot of people get small fortunes of their own.”

“Nice talking to you, Donald, Ivana. Tell Fred we said ‘Hi,’ next time you see him. Young man, would you and your young lady come with us?”

I looked a little shocked at that, glancing at Mike. His nod was almost imperceptible. I said, “Sure. Jennifer, allow me to carry your coffee, if you’d get your purse...”

While there weren’t many people actually up and walking around, I hadn’t noticed until just now that they were all wearing yellow badges, or green badges from the staff. No one from ANY of the security teams were out of their chairs.

We didn’t make it all the way to where ever David and Laurance were leading us in the room before Charlie Koch stopped us. “Gentlemen, Cal, Jennifer. I think David, Liz, and I are going to call it an early evening. Cal, if you want, you’re always welcome in our suite while we’re here.” He looked around. “Half the people that were here last year aren’t here this year, and that’s a shame. I thought we were going to get to do business like we did before. Good luck.”

David Rockefeller looked at Charlie’s back. “For what he does, he’s right. But the world isn’t the same place that it was last year, either.”