Security - 21. Chapter 21

I slept late on New Year's day, I wasn’t in a hurry to get up. Bobby had a different view. I heard the pounding on my door. “I forgot my key. I came over to help you clean up. Looks like you can use help to make breakfast as well.” He thought that was funny.

I, reluctantly, went and showered, dressed for the day. Bobby had breakfast ready, scramble eggs with what looked like cut-up grilled hot dogs. I looked at him as I pushed my fork in a piece of hot dog. “Well, you have to use them up. I only used those that were grilled, the uncooked dogs are still in your fridge.”

I took a plate and put some on it for him. “If you think this is a tasty idea, you can help me eat it.” He laughed, went and got the catsup, dumped a good bit on his eggs and hot dogs made a sound of hmmm and licking his lips. I laughed, took the catsup, and with that I finished the eggs and hot dogs. It took two cups of strong coffee to help wash it down. I wasn’t ready to clean up the pool area but Bobby had other Ideas.

“I’ll do it, you can watch.”

He knew I wouldn’t sit and watch. His psychology class must be going well. So I pitched in and with both of us, we cleaned the pool and surrounding patio. Emptied the grill, cleaned the screen, and put the unused coals away. We finished in time for lunch.

“Bobby, we’ll be flying back in time for you to start school on the eighth. I don’t know if you’ll need time before school starts or not. If you do let me know when you want to leave.” He didn’t say anything, just smiled. “You want to make lunch or should we go and get lunch.”

“We should make it, you have a lot of food here.”

“Okay, you make lunch. I’m going for a swim.”

He looked at me, I turned around and went to change into my trunks. He was in the kitchen as I dove into the pool. The water was warm, but I enjoyed it. I did several laps and just floated for a while. “Chaz, you want to eat out here or in the kitchen?”

“I’ll come in. Just give me time to rinse off the pool water and change.”

It didn’t take long, I was in the kitchen in twenty minutes. Bobby had a salad and hamburgers. I recognized the lettuce, tomato, onion salad from leftovers. The hamburgers looked like they were freshly made until I bit into the burger. Then I knew he just heated the leftovers. “Do you think we could have a fresh meal for supper, one not made with leftovers?”

“We still have some hot dogs and hamburgers. I thought I made enough but some of the guys wanted a few more, so I cooked more. Now we have leftovers.”

“Maybe later we can have a going away party. Most of the college group will be leaving a few days before they have to start school. Something about getting ready.”

“That seems like a good idea. Call it a refrigerator raid party. Maybe some of them would like to come early, like the day before, and make a menu. I guess we have to eat those cooked over dogs and burgers.”

“They aren’t that bad. There are only a few, we can finish them for dinner tonight.” That meant Bobby would be here for dinner.

I went and called Annie, I wanted to know how things were with the Prime Minister. She told me that David moved into my office and she was reassigned to another VP of the company. David brought his secretary with him to my office, his office now. She said she’s happy where she is and got a raise when she transferred. I was glad for her, she was a good secretary. I said goodbye and place a call to my old office phone. David answered, he sounded like he was glad to hear from me.

He caught me up on the Prime Minister Project. It seems that the people who wanted to turn the palace into a tourist attraction came to realize that the cost to ensure the safety of the building, protection of the offices and residential spaces was more than the overall project originally proposed. So we were back at the original proposal. The General was instrumental in getting the Cabinet to approve the overall plan as originally proposed. David said, if I approved, they could provide some protection for those artifacts that would be exposed to the public for a part of the palace. He suggested they make glass enclosures for those artifacts that could be easily removed. They would wire the enclosure to alarm if anything was taken.

“If they bought the original proposal you may have enough money in the contingency to do as you say. I leave it in your capable hands. I’m available if you need me. Say hello to Pete and Jim for me.” I was glad that the General was on our side. He had the interest of his people, he would be a good negotiator. My percentage of the contract would help me with my bracelets.

The contract I had with Global Technologies gave me fifteen percent of all contracts. I agreed to a fifteen-year contract, I had eight more years to go before I signed everything over to them. For me, it was a good contract.

My security bracelet was beginning to be accepted by major players. A few newspapers wrote about the near misses it prevented in the foreign press. This was good publicity and several security companies wanted to buy the rights. I politely turned them down. The president of one of the companies wanted to buy one from me, for his personal use, he said. I sold one to him knowing he was lying and would try and take it apart to see if he could copy the internal mechanism. I was aware that many would try, it was a novel approach to personal security.

I was right, he sued for false information claiming the bracelet didn’t work. I had no options, so I invited several prestigious people as my defense. They swore that the bracelet worked, and demonstrated how it worked in the courtroom. The man showed his didn’t work. I asked the court to check a mark on the bracelet that would be destroyed if there were any attempts to open the bracelet. I had my witnesses show the court, on their bracelet, that the mark was intact. When the court looked at my accuser's bracelet, the mark was destroyed. I not only won the case but as a result, I now owned a small security company. Payback is a bitch, someone said.

Now I needed someone to run my new company. I would’ve liked Dave to run it, but that was unfair to Global. I needed to understand the management of Adams Security and maybe I can find someone in that company to run it for me. I also needed to look at the books and for that, I needed a CPA. I knew exactly who to contact, the man who helped me to invest my money from the Global deal. He was glad to hear from me and when I told him what had happened, he agreed to audit the company.

Bobby was back in school and he introduced me to the girl who sat in front of him. They were dating, he was happy and doing well in school. I did add him to my insurance.