Doc's Place

© 2008, Michel Grover. All rights reserved.
Chapter 2 | Part 3
Saturday, September 15, 1984

At the gate, I tell the driver to keep the meter running. One of the guards uses a golf cart to run me up to the house where I change into oxfords, jeans, a long-sleeve tee shirt and a sports coat. Pick up the phone and call my security firm.

A voice says, "Code, please." After I say the code, Sui, my personal security consultant, comes on the line and we exchange phrases to verify my identity. Finished, Sui says, "Ninety-one percent reliability on voiceprint. Might be worth the money."

"Got the job, Sui," I tell her. "I'll relocate from Salt Lake City to Reno. Report to work on Monday, October first."

"Does Peter Marriott have any idea what we're doing?"

"No," I tell her. When she is silent, I add, "Peter doesn't realize that by focusing on the job I'm doing for him, he's missing what you and Mei will be doing to his Las Vegas assets, Sui. In fact, after I signed the contract, he told me that he's looking forward to working closely with me on this."

"Good," says Sui, "because he's the only one at Ferro smart enough to figure it out, so keep him busy manipulating you for a year or so. After that, it won't matter." She pauses and says, "When you get back to Reno, you'll have two bodyguards on you while you're not at home or work. Yoshiro will run with you every other morning. I've selected your personal bodyguard for those times you're inside Doc's Place, but she's in Utah right now and she won't be ready for a couple months."

"I want to recruit her personally, Sui," I say.

"I'll arrange it," she says.

"Where are the keys to the Buick?"

"Good-looking Mexican kid will palm you the keys as you step out the gate. Just walk out to short-term parking and bear to the right and back. Can't miss it."

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

Doc's Place Chat
© 2008, Michel Grover.
Chapter 2 | Part 3
Spring 2008

Mic :
In the left frame, I'm posting Doc's Place, one of my copyrighted stories. I'll post a part of a chapter, wait for a while so people may leave comments or questions and then post those I find interesting.

Jill :

Here, we get a tasty tidbit about Jill's intentions working at Doc's Place. At least part of her job there is to keep Peter's focus on Doc's Place and not on what Sui and Mei will be doing to Ferro's Las Vegas assets, whatever that is.

We also get a peek into Jill's corporate and private security network. Sui manages Jill's private security and you already know that Mei manages Jill's private wealth.

Benny :
When you call in and say your code, are you calling your own private security?

Jill :
The phone number is for corporate office security, but the code identifies me and routes me to Sui, who manages my private security from the corporate offices.

Benny :
Mei manages your personal wealth from corporate offices too?

Jill :
Yes. Corporate and private security is tightly integrated, as are business and security.

Les :
Mei and Sui are planning to raid Ferro assets in Las Vegas. Will those assets go into RDF?

Jill :
No, we only soften them up and expose the assets so the mother company can raid them.

Les :
Then why doesn't the mother company bear the burden of risk and expense for the raid?

Jill :
One characteristic of Pere is that executives develop their own ideas and bear the entire burden of risk to make those ideas work. That way, the mother company risks nothing and gains everything.

Les :
Coincidentally, you own the lion's share of stock in the mother company.

Jill :
Correct.

Les :
However, you do not run the mother company. The spider does. All you risk is your business capital.

Jill :
Also correct, but 21 years ago, in 1986, the spider designated a CEO over domestic business and withdrew to chair the board of directors.

Les :
Ah. Should not the one who owns the capital bear the burden of managing the mother company?

Jill :
Suze?

Suze :
In a man's world, perhaps but in a woman's world, no. Free the capital owner from the burden of management and delegate it to women who enjoy it and are most capable of it.

Les :
Back to security, we know the spider watches over management. Does she also watch over security?

Suze :
Definitely. Remember what Jill stated just a few minutes ago. Business and security are tightly integrated. The spider has a mother's love of the assets and zealously guards those assets. In fact, one could say every one of the females in the mother company emulate her, albeit not as successfully. Given time, one will step up to replace her.

Ben :
What blows me away, Suze, is that you were freaked out by all this a couple days ago and now you're able to spit out this mother-ship babble better than Jill does.

Suze :
Understand that while I know what the spider and her sisters are doing and why they're doing it, I do not know how they are doing it. I don't want to know for the sake of operational security. The details still disgust me, however.

Benny :
What is the name of the mother company?

Jill :
Pere, Incorporated for domestic and Midori, LLC for international. Pere headquarters are in Reno and Midori headquarters are in Tokyo.

Les :
Pere, one of the most diverse multi-nationals in the world, has headquarters in Reno frickin' Nevada? Why not New York City?

Jill :
The spider lives in Reno, so headquarters are located in Reno. The only reason to locate headquarters in New York City is to attract investors in publicly-traded stock. Since Pere won't trade its stock or seek investors, why locate in New York?

Benny :
What is the spider's name?

Jill :
Ume Brandeau.

Ben :
The wife of Marlon Brandeau, the racing executive? She's the spider?

Jill :
Yes.

Ben :
Hell, their son is KMark Brandeau, who just retired from a 5yr NFL career without an injury. Now I know why. No doubt his mother is grooming him for an executive position within the mother company.

Suze :
Just because KMark is Ume's son does not qualify him for such work. No, she has other plans for the young man. We'll be hearing about those plans soon enough.

Benny :
You said business and security are tightly integrated under Ume. Does the security organization within Pere have a name?

Jill :
Yes, Ume calls it SIA, which stands for Security, Information and Audit.

Benny :
Who runs SIA under Ume?

Jill :
Donna Esteban took over SIA in 1986.

Alan :
Big shake-up in the mother ship in 1986: a new CEO and a new SIA chief.

Jill :

You're right about that, Alan. Pere came under attack in 1984 and again in 1985. We'll discuss that in detail too.

Meanwhile, the morning after I arrive in Reno, Le and I take separate cars to Pere headquarters to review security and finance. The chief of security at the time is Kuzuo, a tall, quiet Japanese man with the clothes of a custodian but the eyes of a killer. In fact, as an experienced SIA operative, that is exactly what he is, which Ume and I know but Le does not. All Le knows is that he is chief of security. We follow him down a hallway. He admits us to a dark, quiet room. Several Japanese men ignore us as they manipulate cameras, watching monitors.

Le briefs me on current security measures and incidents. Once I understand, she points out the problem. "Two crews are watching us," says Le. She explains what little they know of these people.

"What do your instincts tell you?" I ask.

"Nothing," says Le. "Kuzuo's the one with the instincts," she adds, inclining her head toward the custodian.

Kuzuo says, "They will attack within a month." As we watch the monitors, he continues softly, "They will come for you near your home."

Nodding, I ask, "How?"

He shakes his head and shrugs. "Your car is distinctive and not secure."

"I agree. I'll park it when I fly back to Salt Lake Saturday night. I'll return with a couple of ten-year-old Buick sedans. Both have extensive security refinements."

"Good," says Kuzuo, "Sui will send someone to run with you in the mornings."

Later, as Le and I are reviewing financials, she says I seem distracted. Pointing toward the security monitor room, I say, "You heard what Kuzuo said. Those vultures are out there—watching for vulnerabilities, waiting for a mistake."

"Does it piss you off?" asks Le.

Look at her and say nothing, but I'm thinking, Piss me off? Yeah, but I want them to come closer.

Releasing a ragged sigh, Le shrugs and says, "Okay, boss. Oh, are you ready to release the order to build your shop north of the Carson City airport, Jill?"

"Go ahead, Le," I say.

Le pushes a button on the intercom. "Initiate 6a," she says. Two clicks in response.

"When will it be ready?"

"December first," she says. "What about Washoe Valley?"

My property is on a hillside between Reno and Carson City. "Not yet," I say, glancing at my watch. "Are we finished here?"

Lucia :
Are the people who send the crews to watch Pere in September the same ones who order the attacks on Pere in '84 and '85?

Jill :
Yes in '84 but no in `85.

Carlo :
Is that Buick you mention in the left frame one of the pair you'll bring to Reno in 2 wks?

Jill :
Yes.

Maria :

I'm just getting to know you, Jill. When Le asks if those crews watching your company pisses you off, you don't answer her, but you reveal your thoughts. Are you walking out of there angry?

Jill :
Yeah, I'm doing a slow burn.

Steph :
Tell us again why we discuss all this stuff? I lose track of the big picture as we slog through all this goddamn detail.

Mic :
Maria?

Maria :
Jill and Mic know where we're going but they have only a rough idea of how we'll get there since our discussion is both the story and message within the story.

Mic :
In McLuhan's terms?

Maria :

Sometimes we discuss the unfolding story; other times we ignore it as we talk about our unfolding discussion. This process (medium) is the story (message)—an extension of the will of all of us.

Mic :
Stephanie, restate.

Steph :
We have to kiss a lot of details in the process of meeting the handsome big picture.