Stephen's Logbook #1 Entry #10
These stories about Stephen began was when he was 10 years old, and
moving to a new part of the country to attend a special school for
gifted students. This was from a time before computers would fit on a
desk, and when people communicated with friends in other countries by
actual letters sent through the postal service. He wrote 225 of them to
a friend. Please refer to them for insight into this new series of
stories. He stopped writing to his penpal, but found he still wanted to
record his life, in case he loses his memory again. So, we can now look
into selected entries in his logbook to see how he is doing.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
The stories may not be posted in chronological order.
Stephen is 15 in this story, before the Winter break of year 6 of
special school.
Stephen's Logbook #1 Entry #10 "Bad Company"
NEW ENTRY
We were briefed in contact, about our arriving guests. One man stayed
in their car, parked right next to our limo. He had a gun in a shoulder
holster. The security manager had a Walther PP 38 in a shoulder
holster, a PPK 32 in his belt, and a 4 barrel 22LR derringer strapped
to his right ankle, and a switchblade in his pocket. The CEO's
"assistant" was armed the same, and had a briefcase which had documents
and a miniature tape recorder just like we had, in it. I grinned at
Nigel when we were told that. He got red again. We set ours going. They
came in, and the security manager frowned at the way were were around
the table. That forced them to be at the other end, and out of arms
reach of us, and with the CEO with his back to the door. We stood as
they came in, and then sat right back down, without moving to shake
hands. That put them off even more. I said "I would like to be informal
here. I'm Stephen. This is Nigel. Your security manager has already met
us. This is Pete. What has your security manager told you about us and
how we met?" The CEO said, "He said he had some psychic adepts to show
me, who might be able to help us. That's all." I said "So he didn't
tell you he was going to bring you to rich kids he picked out in a
burger joint?" He looked surprised and then angry, and said, "No he
didn't." I told him how it happened word for word. I was prepared.
I said "I noticed his intense interest when I mentioned my money. The
rest of our not so private conversation was probing him with different
key words to see what else that well armed man would be interested in.
Then he came over and we talked. Please notice I never told him we were
adepts, yet here we are, assumed to be adepts. Note also, he didn't
warn you in advance that we were kids. What do you deduce from all
that?" He said "He didn't take what I asked for, seriously, and wanted
to hide that from me." I said "Very good. Stupid of him, wasn't it, to
think he could get away with it. He doesn't believe in psychic things."
I turned to the security agent, who was feeling uncomfortable, just as
he said, "Then how do you explain knowing how interested I was in you?"
Right on cue. I said "I'm probably the world's foremost expert in
reading body language, and I've been training in security almost from
birth, by the best in the business. I'm not an adept, but I know things
about you, anyway. You have three guns on you, and a knife. So does
your security assistant over there with the recorder. I could see that
by the way you held your bodies when you walked in. By the way, we
fight as well as we observe. If you move to draw, you will find that
out in a hurry. We have other skills as well. So, what do you want us
for?"
The CEO smiled slowly, and pointed at the security manager, and said,
"His job?" I said "Not interested. We have our own company, for hire.
What else?" While he was deciding, I took out a card and pushed it at
him. It was the one the security manager had given me. Then I pushed
his real card from where he really works, at the CEO. I said "Cards on
the table?" Nigel and Pete tried not to laugh at that pun. The security
manager made a move, and Pete's arm flashed, and there was a thunk, and
the chair next to the security manager jumped. I said, "Careful there.
Check out that chair. That quarter could have been in your skull, if we
wanted that. At this range, he's more accurate than anybody with a gun,
and he's the fastest man alive. Our company believes in hiring only the
best." I said to the CEO, "The question is, do you want to hire our
services, and for what? Be truthful. Body language doesn't lie." He
smiled and said, "Impressive. I hope we can do business. We have a
competitor, the one on his card, who outbid us on some lucrative
contracts. We want them to fail to deliver, so we will be awarded the
contracts." I waited for more, and then said, "Wishes don't make for
results. What do you need us to actually do? Whatever it is, we can do
it better than anybody else. Industrial espionage or sabotage? We can
do either, or both, and more. Fatal accidents cost more, naturally. Do
you want to do business with us, or are we wasting our time here?"
He said "Do you have references?" I said "Yes, but you aren't getting
them. Confidentiality. If you want to test our skills, fine, if we feel
like it. Otherwise, decide, or leave." He was sweating a little. The
security manager ached to tell him not to say anything, but knew he had
lost all credibility with his boss. Then his boss had an idea. He said
"We can test one thing right now. I figure the talker is the least able
to fight. You fight my man unarmed and win, I'll deal." I said "To the
death?" He said "If that happens, so be it." I said "Fine." We got up
and pushed the table closer to the wall to make room. They didn't
notice the door closing behind them, all by itself. I took my suit coat
and tie off, and my shoes and socks. The security manager was looking a
little sick when he saw that. I said to him, "To make you feel better,
you can keep and use your knife. Do your best, and I'll try not to hurt
you. Careful taking out your guns. We don't want anybody getting shot
by accident. By a bullet OR a quarter." I was flipping one as I said
that. He got the message, and was very careful in removing his guns. He
took his shoes and socks off, too. I nodded to show him I appreciated
that, because it was smart to have bare feet on a carpeted floor,
instead of leather soled dress shoes. I could see his muscles working
under his clothes, warming them up. I just stood still and relaxed.
All of a sudden he yelled and sidestepped into a high side kick,
aiming the edge of his foot at my throat. I went under and into it, and
twisted him to the floor. Then I stood back and said, "Good move, not
to use the knife first. Your first lesson. You can't surprise me,
because I'm not expecting anything. Second lesson. You telegraph too
much, because you're too tense. Try again." He got up and tried to draw
my eyes to his waving left hand while he came in with a low thrust with
the knife in his right hand. I blocked the knife arm aside and grabbed
it and took it up and over my head. He twisted in the air and came down
on his side, with me holding his arm and wrist in a lock. I let go and
backed away, and said "Third lesson. Maintain your balance." He got up
and nodded, with some respect. The CEO said "Why haven't you hit him?"
I said "I said I would try not to hurt him. If you know anything about
this kind of fighting, you would know that's ten times harder, when
somebody is trying his best to kill you. You wanted a demonstration,
and I'm giving it to you. Besides, he's not that bad, and I'm
interested in seeing what he can do. Here's a lesson for YOU, this
time. You can learn from any situation. I like to learn." I nodded at
my opponent to continue. This time he came at me with a fake thrust,
and turned it into a slash at my arm. I dropped under it and swept his
legs out from under him. He lost the knife and went to get it. I said
"Forth lesson. Don't forget to watch for a ground attack." He got ready
to have another go at me, and I moved into range and planted a snap
roundhouse kick on the side of his face, just to slap him. I did that
and pulled it back so fast, he didn't have time to react. I stepped
back and said, "Fifth lesson. Patterns are made to be broken. Don't
depend on your opponent to keep to a pattern." I said to the CEO, "Is
this enough?" He said "Almost. You're fast, but have you got power?" My
opponent was afraid. We both thought the same thing. His boss wanted
bones and blood. I wasn't going to give it to him. I said to the
assistant, "Take the quarter out of the chair back, and toss it to me."
He couldn't, so Pete had to take it out, and toss it to me. I took it
in my two hands, thumbs on top, and called up my ki, and bent it in
half. I tossed it to the CEO and said, "That's power. Fight's over." I
bowed to my opponent, and he bowed, too. We sat back on our chairs.
CEO said "Why didn't you want to hurt him?" I said "'Want' isn't the
operator. I try not to waste anything I might be able to use. He has
some good skills. With some more training, and a reorientation of his
priorities, he could be made effective. No more games. Do we do
business or not?" He said "Yes. I'm willing to pay well. We want their
contracts. Espionage probably won't accomplish it. That leaves
sabotage. Will you do that for us?" I said "How soon?" He said "As soon
as possible." I said "We've already scouted the place. Do you have
anybody planted there we should avoid injuring?" He said "Yes, two." I
told him the names of the new hires. He said "How did you know?" I said
"New hires." He said "Oh. You really are sharp." I said "In the
accidents, do you want anybody killed? That would cause them more
trouble." He said "If you could arrange that, it would be great,
especially if it's the operations manager." Nigel said, after I told
him something in contact, "What about arranging the blame for some of
the accidents on their security chief?" I said "Good idea. You can
handle that." He nodded. The CEO looked very pleased. I said "Now we
come to the financial arrangements. Ten thousand retainer up front. Ten
for each accident we cause, minimum 4. Ten additional for each death,
minimum 1. 50 when you get at least one of their contracts. Agreed?" He
said "Reasonable. I think I know better than to bargain with you.
Deal." I said "Right." He said "Would you take a check?" I waggled my
finger at him and said, "Another test?" He grinned. He motioned to the
assistant, who pulled out a bundle of hundreds. I said "We both know
what would happen if we did the work, and you didn't come up with the
money, right?" He nodded and said, "I can imagine. But we have the
recording if we need to protect ourselves."
Pete said, "No you don't. We jammed it. But our recorder is working
just fine." I nodded and said, "I've changed my mind. You have a lot of
the stock in your company. With what your wife has, you two have voting
control. As of this morning, your stock has sunk to a new low of 1.5 a
share, because you are about to go out of business, and the brokers
know it. You and your wife will sell all you own to us at 2 a share.
You may stay on to run the company until we decide what to do with it,
at your current salary, plus 20 percent." He said "Or the tape goes
public." I nodded. I said "If you stay as long as we ask, we will
provide you with a retirement annuity which pays out at 75 percent of
your monthly salary at the time you leave. Deal?" He said "On those
terms, I would be doubly a fool not to accept it. But, can I trust
you?" I said "Yes, but do you have a choice? We can do all we said we
can do, and much more. That we know all this about you and the other
company, with only half a workday to do it, should tell you something."
He said "Right. I accept. If we need help to meet the payroll, you'll
provide?" I said "Yes, and we will monitor. Cooked books will get you
fried." He nodded. I said "One more thing. Don't fire your security
manager. It would be too much trouble to change personnel at this time,
and you will find that this day has made him a better man." I turned to
him and said, "Am I right?" He said with a whole lot of respect, "Yes
sir." I shook his hand, and secretly have him my card with "Tonight 7PM
Burger" written on it. He glanced at it and signaled acceptance. I said
to the CEO, "Our legal staff will get in touch with you. Take good care
of your people, and we'll take good care of you. Oh, and tell your two
spies to quit that company, before we do something about it ourselves."
He agreed, and we shook hands, and I gave him my new card. We left
first, after I got all my things back on. They didn't notice I was
rubbing my hand to get the touch of him off me. Pete and Nigel noticed,
and showed they agreed.
END ENTRY
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Grant
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