Security - 11. Chapter 11

The General was very upbeat and excited about us being there. If it was up to the General, we would’ve had the contract now. But they needed the Chamber’s endorsement and that’s why we were here. “We have rooms for you at our palace," which later we found out was the Prime Minsters home. “If there’s anything you need before tomorrows meeting, let me know.”

Dave mentioned about the names and bio on the members of the Chamber, Pete mentioned about the installation of door monitors and I asked about a set up to show the video of our meeting in the States. The General smiled and said he’d have everything by morning so we could check it all out before the meeting. He further told us that dinner that night would be with the Prime Minister.

Marco called and said they would be staying at the American Embassy, he gave me a phone number to call when we were ready to return.

The General true to his word, provided everyone what they needed. The dinner with the Prime Minister was excellent, the food was five star and the conversation wasn’t around the project but rather about his country, history, people and noted works of art, literature and education, a very pleasant evening. I had no trouble sleeping, the one glass of wine was enough. Pete finally had his alcoholic beverage.

In the morning we had breakfast with the Prime Minister and the General. The guys went to finish up their preparations, I asked the General for a tour of the grounds and what security they had. I was surprised at how large the Palace was. It didn’t look that large. The front of the building was only the beginning, I extended quite a way back, like a rectangle, so it took a while to walk all around it.

The security was essentially minimal and now I knew why the General was excited about the proposal. He must have a headache whenever he thought about the possibility of a break in. “Was this place a palace in the true sense of the word, you had a king?”

“Yes, a long time ago, he had a son who inherited the kingdom, but the son had a daughter who could not inherit. So he created the Chamber, he then renounce the throne and we elected a Prime Minister. The Prime Minister serves a term of ten years and then becomes the president of the Chamber. If the president of the Chamber dies before the new Prime Minister retires, we have a position that’ll complete their tenure. If the old Prime Minister is still alive when the new Prime Minister retires, then the retired Prime Minister heads the Chamber and the old Prime Minister accepts a position in the Chamber. This has worked well for us over the last hundred years. If you are interested in our history, I’ll get you a book that explains it all.”

"Yes, I definitely am interested.”

“Chaz, we are ready for a demonstration.” I told the General we’ll see him later and I followed Dave. The door was completed, the word to open the door was Chamber, the video was turned on from the lectern. Dave handed me the tablet, Jim sat down and I could see his face, and name clearly. I read the description under it and laughed. “Dave, you and the boys did a great job. Now we shall see what happens after lunch. I want the camera on and tape this room from now on till we’re finished."

Then I heard someone, “I can’t get this door open. The key doesn’t work.”

Jim got up and opened he door. It was a waiter, “I need to do a set up.”

“I think it would’ve been better to do that just before the meeting, I don’t think they would want to drink hot water.”

Then I heard the General, “Stop, hold that man.” The General appeared with another man and one of his soldiers. He took the water bottle and told the man to drink from it. The man turned pale and refused to drink, the General nodded and the soldier took both of them away.

“Sorry about that, we were monitoring the room.”

“I agreed to let the General monitor the room from our camera.”

“That was a good idea. General, we’ll let the camera in place and you can monitor the room all the time.”

I took Dave aside,”He can monitor, but not record sound in this room. Make sure that the camera only shows live content. We’ll need the content of the camera and sound. He doesn’t need to know what is said here.”

Lunch again was with the Prime Minister, the General and Mr. Omah. After lunch, we adjourned to the room where the Chamber met. The Prime Minister was surprised the room was empty. There was loud knocking on the door. “The key doesn’t work.”

Someone else said, how are we supposed to enter if the key doesn’t work.”

I told the Prime Minister what the word was that would allow the door to open and he could be heard outside the door. “Ladies and gentlemen why are you not here?”

“We can’t open the door. Did someone change the lock?”

“No, you’re experiencing a new security system that we’ll talk about. Your keys will not open the door. However, you can open the door if you say the right word.”

“How do we know the right word. We are members of the Chamber and not in the mood for games.”

“Well, then come in. We’re waiting for you.”

With that said one of the men next to the door opened the door. As the members of the Chamber entered, they looked around, what they were looking for I don’t know. One of the older members, grumbled, “Which one of you opened the door.”

The Prime Minister smiled, “No one here opened the door. I told you a word would open the door, one of you said the word and the door became unlocked.”

The old man replied, “Prime Minister, I can not believe that you’d lie to us.”

“I assure you I’m not lying. If you don’t believe me go back outside, the rest of you stay here. Will one of your people go with him. You know the word.”

“Jim you go with him.”

The old man and Jim left the room, the door closed. We could hear Jim. “Try the door and be certain it’s locked.”

“Yes, it is just like it was before.”

“Do you have a key? Try it”

“It doesn’t work.”

“Okay say this word.”

We heard Chamber, “Open the door.”

The door opened, he walked into the room, looking around, “Which one of you opened the door.” “None of us opened the door. It was just as the Prime Minister said. The word was Chamber and when it is said the door unlocked.”

The old man looked at every member of the Cabinet. “Ahan, watch I’ll show you.”The man left, closed the door.

“Ahan, open the door for me.”

Ahan moved to open the door. It was locked. “Jana, I can’t it’s locked.”

“Chamber” and Jana open the door. Ahan rubbed his head, he couldn’t believe it but it must be true.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Peter and James are handing you a booklet that explains who we are and more important what we proposed to do to increases your security. At one time securing a building involved circling the perimeter with a chain fence. A later innovation allowed them to electrified the fence. In addition, the buildings had motion activated cameras that lighted a certain path. Then came the addition of dogs that roam the grounds at night. Guards at gates, when open, checked in all vehicles.

But our experience with these systems showed they were not one hundred percent effective, wire cutters took care of the fence, lights didn’t cover enough of an area creating black out spaces and a well seasoned piece of beef took care of the dogs.

We have improved on these systems by incorporating invisible lines of communication, placement of the items and the application of a system of locks such as you have experience on the door to this room. David will take you through the manual assisted by Peter and James. We also have a tape of the presentation we made at our meeting in the States which we’ll show you at the end. David, Peter, James, the meeting is yours. The Prime Minister and I sat down while David and the guys took over.

I listened, but more important I watch the people, I could tell which ones were buying it and which ones were skeptical. I even saw the General get into it with one of the gentlemen who didn’t want to spend the money. I also noted the Prime Minister taking notes. After three hours of the presentation there seems to be a consensus, the Chamber was for the proposal. Now it would be up to the General to convince whoever will pay for it. David started the tape of the presentation in the States. There was laughter as they saw the confusion on the General and Mr. Omah’s face as they looked for the camera. I think those who were caught when they arrived, didn’t feel foolish after seeing how their leaders acted.