Security - 15. Chapter 15

I slept well that night, the bed wasn’t bad for a used bed. I got up at six, had a glass of orange juice, took a run along the beach. When I reached the cottage, Bobby was up cooking breakfast. “Good morning.”

“I thought you were still sleeping.”

“No, I was up early and took a run along the beach. I was surprised at all the shells and crabs I saw. I wonder why the kids who live here don’t collect all the shells?”

“I guess I’ll take a walk along the beach later this morning.”

I went and took a shower, dressed for the day, and ate the breakfast Bobby prepared. “Bobby, I have hired a housekeeper who will be here five days a week. She will prepare our meals, clean the house and do the laundry. The weekend we’ll be on our own. Her name is Rosa and I think you’re going to learn a little Spanish. She has a little boy and I expect he’ll be around as well. So make sure your door is closed and anything he might get a hold of is up off the floor.”

“Okay, when will I meet her?”

“Tomorrow, when we’re finished with breakfast I’ll show you around.”

I helped to load the dishwasher, “Come with me. This is the lanai and there’s your barbecue grill. I’ll pick up some chicken or hamburger for tonight's dinner. I don’t know where a grocery store is but as you walk around check the area out. You can call me if you need anything.”

“I’ll be okay. I want to spend some time on the beach, maybe get a little tan.”

“Make sure you use the sunscreen, the sun can be brutal next to the water.”

I drove to the hotel to meet the guys. Arriving at the hotel, I saw them on the veranda eating breakfast, I got a cup of coffee and joined them. “Good morning, I hope you had a nice trip. Are the rooms okay? This hotel was the closest to the airport and I thought you all might like the Mexican decor. Try the Mexican food for something new and spicy.” \

“The rooms are fine and we had a Spanish dish last night. I thought it was good but the rest thought it was too spicy.”

“It was too spicy, Dave. I think I’ll stick to American food.”

“She’s right, it was spicy but I could eat it if was just a little less spicy and enjoy it. The spice overwhelmed the taste of the food.”

“Well, tonight you are invited to a barbecue at my place. I’m going to find us a room so we can meet. Check at the desk when you’re finished eating, no hurry.”

I went and reserved a small room off the lobby. I asked that they set us up with coffee while we met. I went and waited for the guys, it wasn’t long before Dave came in, “The rest will be here shortly.”

“Dave, what happened? I thought this would be a slam dunk with the General so gung-ho.” “

A few members of the Chamber opposed the idea based on this movement for converting the palace to a tourist attraction. I think they think that this would be a way to increase their revenue which would allow them to do other things. What other things, I have no idea.”

“But even if it becomes a tourist attraction it will need security.”

“That’s what I had told the General. He was a little upset as he was hoping our project would reduce his dependence on his security people. He said he has held off in hiring more people because he was sure we’d get the project.”

“Well, let’s see what we can salvage. Here come Pete and Jim.”

The meeting started with Dave, more or less, repeated what he told me. Pete suggested maybe we should back away from this project. “What do you think Jim?”

“We have invested a lot of time and money in this project, I think we should try and salvage what we can.”

“Okay, let’s break the project down. I think we should look at alarming the doors as we did on the Chamber’s door. What do you think that would cost?”

And so the afternoon went, we broke down the main project into pieces. For the offices, we proposed the monitoring with our security cameras, for the private residence we proposed security for the windows, as originally designed. We propose the outside perimeter security cameras.

“Dave, we’ll need to price each project. Include our normal fees and installation as if we did each project separately. I wouldn’t be surprised if the costs exceed our original bid.”

“We can do that, we’ll not have the efficiency of having done all of the project at one time as we originally proposed. What happens if they decided not to do anything?”

“Then we package the proposal and present it to other governments. We can present the pieces of the package or the total package. We have done some good work here and we’ll prove it pays off. However, I think we’ll do the perimeter cameras, the General will guarantee that.”

“Then let’s work on that part first. If it’s okay with you, Chaz, I’d like to inform the General of our decision to present the proposal in pieces. We can start on the perimeter, which I think he’ll push for, and then if they want the rest, we can move from one project to the other.”

“Sounds good to me. Now the serious business, I was planning on barbecuing steaks or chicken or both, what are your preferences?” I listen and the consensus was since I was paying, we should have both. “I’ll be back at five-thirty to pick you guys up. Who has a car? Good, between my car and your car, we’ll have enough. So see you at five-thirty.” Now I had to go shopping, steaks, and chicken. On the way back to the cottage, I saw a supermarket, so I stopped. I took a cart, got everything I needed, and headed home.

“Bobby, you here?” No comment, I did a quick check of the cottage, and no Bobby.I took a walk to the ocean and when I got near the quay, there he was talking to Abe. They seemed to be into whatever they were talking about, they didn’t hear or see me as I approached.

“Hello Bobby, I see you have met our wharf fisher Abe.”

“Hi Chaz, I didn’t hear or see you coming. Abe and I have been talking about crabbing. I was telling him about how your dad and I use to go fishing.”

“He’s got some wild tales.”

“I think he wasn’t telling fishing tales, my dad and he fished quite often. I think his dad sold the fish in his store. So how is the crabbing?”

“Check the pail, I have quite a few. Been here since early this morning, threw a lot back, kept only the blues.”

“I think some of the others are probably good to eat as well. Bobby, maybe you can look them up and print pictures of the edible crabs.”

“Yea I can do that, I may have school tomorrow. If I’m here, I’ll drop them off for you.”

“Abe, I need to steal your companion, I have guests coming and he is the barbecue man.”

“He’s a nice man. Reminds me of your dad and fishing.”