Balance of Power Shifted (39 page)

In downtown Houston on the 47
th
penthouse floor, in the luxurious headquarters of Peak Oil, a big man was dressing down a smaller but very intense looking man.  “Jasper, how the hell could these Arab boys screw up so many times…I’ve put out $15 million dollars to ensure our problem goes away and what do we get?  I will tell you what we get; we get a shitload of unwanted press and more and more people focusing in on Electricus.  I thought you were helping them to organize their ops?”  “Big Dog,” the man called Jasper exasperatedly said, if I was using my crew this would be a done deal, but these amateurs think that some training in a backwater terrorist camp makes them indestructible agents for their cause.  They are rank amateurs and not all the expensive gear and weapons in the world can overcome that.  If you let me take control with my guys I’ll guarantee your problem will be solved.”  Big Dog thought about what Jasper had said but declined.  He said, “There are too many connections from you as my head of security to me.  Believe me I would love to use you and all you X military friends, but I need complete deniability from this and the Arabs are the perfect scapegoat, and have as much to lose as we do.”

After Jasper left the room, Big Dog poured a class of 20 year
Scotch, pulled out a Cuban cigar, and sat in his large leather high backed chair and pondered the situation.  The day’s events were a fiasco and had cost almost 3 million dollars.  He had spent over two million for the helicopter now on the bottom of the ocean, a couple hundred thousand to pay of the Verizon technician as well as weapons.  Those bastards should have taken the 23 Billion offered.

In reality
, he could have made up his share of it in one year.  Mmmm, maybe we should have offered a lot more.  He should charge back all the other pansy assed members of the consortium when he succeeds, he thought, knowing full well that could never happen since he did not want a world of shit to fall down on his head.  Maybe, just maybe, he should run a parallel operation to try to divide and conquer the Efficio management team.  It is a shame he could not play one owner against the other since the Arabs had at least got half the job right. 

T
he last month and a half had been a whirlwind of activity as we signed deals with three big US car companies and had a dozen others under review by Julius and Iris’s team of 33 lawyers and law clerks.  Four companies of the Fortune 500 that built residential homes signed on almost immediately after the storyline of the low-income housing development ran.  The Army had numerous vehicle prototypes built and was already mass-producing portable field based systems for use.  The feedback we kept getting from them was that it was all too simple to believe.  Fiona’s New Gretna find ended up being a gem and the closing was next week.  The local township officials were happy to get a business in there that was essentially quiet and would leave the natural beauty of the place undisturbed.  We found a second production center in the San Diego area, and even though it did not sit right on the water we secured a right of way with an adjacent property owner to run an underground intake hose to their sea wall.   

Our third production location was more problematic. 
We could not find what we wanted in Louisiana but was still searching the Gulf area.  Our headquarters’ building looked better than new and was a poster child for state of the art security including thermal imaging cameras, disappearing metal barricades and bullet-proof glass in a few select windows.  Bill had also made tremendous inroads and actually secured a production facility on the Italian coastline and had laid out an aggressive plan with the help of our Vatican friends.  Everything was going too smooth that it made Mike nervous and he kept having this feeling that something was going to happen…but when?

Bill was no linguist, but he was proud of the progress he had made learning a little Italian.  He was by any standard, awkward, and regularly greeted with smirks and laughter when he pushed the boundaries of his knowledge a little too far.  Truth be told, he was lonely and homesick, but he knew the work he was doing was as important as it gets.  It was also at the point where he needed a full time Efficio assistant for the things he could not use his assistants from the church for.  He had confided in Mike the other day that he and Charlene were a hot item and he was in love with her.  Bill was upset that she thought he was dead and that no one had actually talked to her in anyway about the attack and it was eating him up inside.

Mike and Fiona
had put him on the speakerphone yesterday and told him they had a surprise for him and filled him in.  When Fiona had heard the story from Mike she had hatched an idea and with Mike’s blessing had put her plan in motion.  Fiona had Mike call Charlene and after first apologizing about not contacting her about Bill he told her they had an opportunity in Rome for someone to assist the head of the European operations to build out their European affiliate.  She was hesitant as first, but when Mike stressed that they hired people they knew personally due to the sensitivity of the business she grew more interested.  When he told her the salary in US dollars was $125,000 per year, she said she was more interested.  For the last two days, she was in the New Jersey headquarter building which freaked her out a bit since this was where Bill had gotten injured.  She got a full emersion in the company’s business during this stay.  It was all so surreal for her.  They ended by telling Bill, that he had to schedule someone to pick Charlene up at noon tomorrow at the airport.

Bill nervously waited at an
auxiliary building that they had moved him into due to all the activity he was generating.  He kept looking at himself in the mirror and was not totally unpleased with what he saw.  Most of his hair had grown back, but an angry red scar could easily be scene.  Everyone played it down and told that is made him look tough or rakish.  He had also put back all the weight he had lost plus five pounds due to the fantastic food here.  Looking at his watch, he was thinking to himself that the limo should be here any second and as if on cue, it pulled up just outside the door.  It took about a minute for the sole passenger to emerge and when she did, his heart started pounding.  She looked as beautiful as ever, yet she carried a hint of sadness around her normally bright, mischievous eyes.  Slipping back into his office, he waited.

Charlene was both nervous and excited at the same time.  This was her first trip to Europe
, let alone Rome, and the sights and sounds of Italy and Rome were even more exciting then she had expected.  She had dressed in a business suit since she would be meeting her boss for the first time whose name was William Hart.  She knew nothing about him or what his plans were, but was excited all the same to have such an opportunity.  The office was basic and had a couple of doors off the main room.  One door had the name William Hart on it so she put her bags down and strode to that door, which was partially open.  Knocking firmly on the wooden panel, she said “Mr. Hart, this is Charlene your new assistant.”  She heard a voice from inside say ‘come in.’ Pushing the door aside, she walked in and looked at the man behind the desk.  As she focused on his face she became confused and was trying to process why this person looked just like her Bill.  When he said, “Hello Charlene, I missed you.”

Charlene
dropped in a dead faint to the floor.  She felt dampness on her forehead as someone applied a cool cloth and when she opened her eyes she was looking at Bill’s face and then at his scar and back to face again.  “She heard Bill say, it’s really me baby, it’s really me.”  All she could utter was “but how…but how?” which Bill cut off with a soft kiss as tears fell from his eyes onto her cheeks.

An hour later
, they were both still sitting on the office couch with their hands in the others, as Bill filled her in on the events of the last couple of months.  Charlene kept reaching to his head and softly tracing the scar as if she could not believe that it all happened.  “Charlene, you are not just here to see me, we really do need you, and I really need you here to help me put our program in place.  You just cannot call me by my real last name, but Bill works fine.”  Charlene had never felt some much love in her life.  She already knew Bill was the one for her and she was devastated when she had heard the news that he died in the attack.  Now that she had a second chance to be with him, she was not going to let anything stop her, so when he got down on his knee, right then and there and proposed to her, she burst out into tears again and said “yes…yes…yes.”  Bill slipped a ring, he had purchased just that morning, on her finger and stood up and kissed her.

While the weather in Rome was delightful,
Beijing was experiencing a torrential downpour and Professor Ling was jittery as could be this morning with beads of perspiration dripping profusely as he was trying to look into the lens of his powerful microscope.  Mopping his brow every 10 seconds was making it difficult to focus in on the organism on the slide.  The sweating had nothing to do with his corpulent frame gained through a lifestyle of excess.  No the sweat came from fear of failure and consequences the General had in for him if he could not solve the puzzle that was Electricus.  His control samples of Electricus were thriving and had done so even after a couple of months in his possession, however every sample he tried to get to reproduce ended up with the organism slowly dying as the sample evolved from a green hue to a brown color.  Being honest with himself, he knew he did not have a clue.  The most expensive analysis equipment and a team of microbiologists at Ling’s disposal were unable unlock the secret.  Unfortunately, he had been telling the General that a breakthrough is just around the corner and now the General will be coming to the lab this morning and he had hinted that he knew things were not going well.

The Professor thought to himself that he knew what had happened.  A junior associate working with him took it upon
her to file her own report with the General.  That bitch Fei Yen, with her US degrees was always looking for a way to promote herself.  Another big problem was the need for a larger supply of Electricus to get more aggressive in the testing.  The amount stolen in the raid was gone, except for a 12-ounce jar and what was in the stolen Power Mats, which the General forbid using. Looking at his watch, his stomach tightened as he realized the General would be here in less than a half hour.  He could not resist himself and snapped off a chunk of German chocolate from a half-pound bar he had been consuming all morning.

General Hu was sitting in his
limousine with his two bodyguards trying to get to the fringe of Beijing where their sprawling lab complex was located.  News had not been good lately.  His own little lab rat had informed him that there had been zero progress by Professor Ling even though he had been pumping me up with positive reports.  Regular reports coming out of US news agencies, discussed Efficio signing contract after contract with major automobile manufacturing companies and with large construction firms. It appeared that every one of the 100 lottery winners for the housing project were interviewed with each one touting how great it was to live in a home with no power utility bill or heating costs.  Efficio’s blonde PR woman was holding regular press conferences and had indicated that they were gearing up for mass production of Electricus in the US and will soon follow suit around the globe.

US manufacturing companies
were already contacting Chinese firms to farm out the building of the Power Pads for all kinds of custom installations as well as custom power and control panels needed for a variety of purposes.  This was good for China, however the real money-maker and control of power was with whoever had the secret to Electricus. His spies have also heard rumors of a lot of activity coming out of Europe with discussions happening with governments in the region.  The weird part of this was that the Catholic Church seemed to be brokering these meetings for Efficio.  The General found this odd indeed.

Arriving at the lab, Professor Ling
met him.  The General observed that he looked like he had eaten bad dog meat or something.  The professor offered his hand to shake and the General strode by ignoring him.  Hustling his fat ass after the General, he scanned his retina in the biometric reader and held the door for the General and his bodyguards.  Grouped around an 80 inch LED screen was the Professors entire team who all bowed down upon his entrance.  Without wasting any time, the General looked at Professor Ling and said, “Professor I have received disturbing information regarding your efforts to reproduce the Electricus organism.  I understand that we are no closer to understanding it then we were two months ago.  Is this true?”  The professor stammered and started to wipe his brow as he started to explain. “Umm ahhh we have umm been analyzing the organism, which suddenly appeared on the large screen in full magnification, and have created a new classification and…” The professor stopped when the General put his hand up for him to halt.  “Do you know how the organism reproduces successfully?” the General slowly said.  Hesitating for a couple of seconds the professor replied “No” and put his head down. 

The General t
urning to one of his bodyguards and pointing to the Professor said, “Take this poor excuse for a researcher and back to his quarters for now.”  Looking around the room, the General saw Fei Yen and pointed to her and said, “You are now the lead researcher on this project and have complete control of everyone in this room.  Do not disappoint me and I want a report at the end of each day, 7 days a week.”  With that, the General turned around and strode out of the room.  Fei Yen looked around and saw everyone staring at her.  With cold realization, the phrase came to her ‘careful for what you wish for because it may come true’ came into her head and all of sudden her excitement changed into concern as reality hit home.