Jeff finds himself in Silicon Valley where he is asked to investigate claims by a gregarious Frenchman that his neural network electronic technology actually works. He meets up again with the enchanting Nancy, the FBI agent he had worked with in Atlanta where they fell in love while he was still married, and again in Washington DC Kathy puts romance back into Jeff’s life as he finds himself hounded by financially-desperate Europeans so determined to push their questionable technology―men so desperate that they will stop at nothing, even Jeff’s murder. The excitement will make the reader gasp, tragedy will make the reader cry, romance will make the reader sigh.
Chapter 17 of Silicon Gulch … Gerard and Mikl are stunned to see Jeff alive!
Wednesday 8:33 PM: Risen from the Dead
Gerard and Mikl cannot believe Jeff is alive! Jeff talks them into giving
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- Chris Lamela
Author contact: chris@chrislamela.com, 707-566-8790 PST
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Wednesday
8:33 PM:
Risen from the Dead
Jeff turned to Nancy
"So aren't you guys going to say hi to Jeff?"
They both sat silent.
Spellbound.
"You know Nancy
"Oh of course they were. It's not like you just disappeared from
the face of the earth! Or died or something! Why wouldn't they expect to see
you?"
Jeff turned to the two faces that could be in one of Madame Tussauds'
wax museums they were so paralyzed. Yes, Jeff
smiled to himself, wax figures from the
Greatest Stupid Criminals display!
"Are you gentlemen alright?"
Finally Mikl gasped, his head jerking forward like he was catching
himself from falling over some precipice.
Jeff turned to Gerard, "And you Gerard, are you okay?"
Gerard seemed to shake himself, giving the same gasp they had just heard
from Mikl.
"Okay then, what's on the menu?" Jeff rubbed his hands
together enthusiastically, turning with deliberate casualness to Nancy
"No we haven't, but have a glass of wine. Gerard picked it."
"Oh, yes, I am sure he has very discriminating taste," he
reached for the bottle, tipping it to his glass seeing the bottle was empty. He
motioned to the waiter with the bottle; a minute later a new one arrived.
The waiter started to do the sample swirl-look-sip routine with Jeff but
he just waved it off offering up his glass, "Full glass please." The
waiter poured the full glass with a half-disgusted grimace turning from the
table hastening away. Welcome to
Budweiser land dude! was Jeff's thought in response to this haughty
behavior.
"Look Nancy
But
no reaction from either of them.
"So gentlemen, how are you doing?"
Mikl finally could speak, though Jeff had to lean to him to hear the
words that sounded so wooden in tone, "We are fine Jeff."
"And how about you Gerard?"
"Yes, yes Jeff, I am also fine," in the same wooden tone.
"I thought you two would be so happy to see me, to know that I'm
still looking forward to our meeting tomorrow. Tomorrow morning right?
Integration?" Both men still in stunned silence, "And then Friday to
talk about the other deal we discussed right?" He turned to Nancy, "And
Nancy, I'll bet you will be interested in this! These fine gentlemen have
offered me five million dollars to endorse the Neurotek technology." He turned
to the two men who were just awakening from their stupor. "You know, guys,
Nancy here is so well connected in the DOD, I'll bet that she would be a good
person to make the same offer to!"
Mikl suddenly looked like someone splashed cold water on him, his face
jerking toward Jeff.
"You know, Jeff," Nancy turned to him animated by this sudden good idea, "General Robert Thompson
who runs all these kinds of programs, well you know that he is a very good
friend of mine."
"Oh, yes, I'll just bet that if you were to tell him that you
endorse these guys that the old general would certainly take your advice!"
Jeff laughed turning to Nancy realizing that they were having as much fun as
two kids whacking at a piñata! They were just waiting for the candy to come
spilling out!
"What do you think, Mikl, is that a good idea, another five million
for Nancy here? How about you Gerard? I mean who could think your technology
was a fraud if you have someone like Nancy here bending the ear of the
three-star general who would manage your technology procurement? I personally
know for a fact that this woman is a very
good friend of General Robert Thompson."
Gerard finally moved his head turning to Mikl who exchanged his glance.
"Well, yes," Gerard stuttered, struggling to find his tongue
after the shock of seeing Jeff, "I think that would be very good."
Suddenly the sound of fifteen
million dollars being spent on payola jolted Mikl to consciousness, he
turned to Gerard, "That would make fifteen million, are you insane?"
"Fifteen million?" Nancy turned to Jeff, "Who else is the
other five?"
"Paula. Paula Johnson with General Avatonics."
"Boy, these are generous men! Maybe I should ask for six million!"
"No!" Mikl jerked suddenly.
Jeff leaned forward, "I'm sorry, Mikl, did you say no?"
He turned to Jeff still not quite able to focus on the man before him. "I
meant that five million to Nancy should be enough."
"Ooooooh," Jeff smiled turning back to Nancy, "he thinks
that you're getting greedy on him. Now Nancy, you shouldn't try to take
advantage of these poor guys."
"You're right Jeff. What was I thinking?"
"So what else you guys got going, Mikl. Anybody lurking around
trying to make sure that you have all ends tied nicely together?"
Gerard flashed a panic to Mikl that was not lost on the other two, "No
we are just trying to get the endorsements. That's all. That's everything."
"Say Gerard. Funniest thing. I saw you last night at the airport.
Isn't that a coincidence?"
Gerard shot a stunned face at Jeff, swiveling his head toward Mikl.
"Yeah, I guess you must have been picking up friends huh? I'll bet
you have lots of friends!"
"You saw me?"
"Yeah, you and two men. So your friends must have come down from
Alaska or something, what with that trench coat and that big ski jacket. I
thought to myself, boy, that's odd. It's eighty degrees here and these guys are
walking around dressed like they're in Aspen!" He laughed out loud. "Too
bad you weren't there, Nancy, we could have gotten a chance to meet some of
Gerard's friends!" they both laughed overacted watching each other's face.
"You know, Mikl, we didn't really talk much about the terms of the
deal that you guys want me to sign on Friday. By the way, Paula won't be there,
she got called back to her factory. Don't know what that was all about, I mean
if it was me I'd definitely find a way to be here on Friday, that's for sure. I
mean it's not every day you get five million dollars, right? So tell us about
the terms."
"We haven't decided the terms," Mikl replied stiffly.
"Well let's talk about them now, you know, we're all here, right?"
Jeff turned to Nancy, "What do you think? I mean wouldn't you like to
know?"
"Why yes, I would!"
They both leaned forward on their elbows looking at Mikl expectantly.
"Like I said, we have not decided the terms."
"Well, we're here, let's decide them together!" Jeff turned to
Nancy again. "So, these two guys bust in on a very important meeting that
Paula and I were having yesterday. We never did get to finish that meeting, I
might add. This happened after a little misunderstanding when Gerard here,"
pointing toward the man, "misunderstood, he thought that he was actually invited to Paula's and my
meeting. We got that all straightened out though. Next thing I know they are
knocking on the conference room door so Paula and I have to stop our meeting to
let these guys in. They come in, made this wonderful offer, I mean five million
dollars to endorse their technology, they even had the foresight to make the
payment in Bearer Bonds!"
"Bearer Bonds!" Nancy declared, "They're as good as cash,
right?"
"Well you can't spend them at Seven Eleven, but yes, that sure
beats hauling around two hundred pounds of hundred dollar bills! And it
completely gets around that pesky anti-money laundering silliness of ten
thousand dollars. Very thoughtful, these two."
Nancy turned back to the two men who were barely able to connect to the
show going on before them. "So when is this meeting Mikl? Friday is a very
busy day for me, but I wouldn't want to miss out on getting five million
dollars in Bearer Bonds! So when is the meeting?"
"Noon. Noon Friday."
"Oh yes, and Gerard, we are still
meeting tomorrow morning to discuss the integration, right?"
Gerard glanced at Mikl, they exchange tiny nods, "Yes, yes at ten."
"Well, things are a little crazy for me in the morning. Can we make
that at eleven instead? How about in the same room that you guys came into when
you interrupted Paula and me yesterday?"
The two men exchanged wide-eyed stares.
"I mean it's a nice room, so quiet. I'll make arrangements when we
get back. Now about the terms of that agreement for Friday."
The two men turned back to Jeff. He could barely contain busting out
laughing at their incredulous expressions. These guys were absolutely rattled!
"Okay,
so how's this," Jeff continued looking to Nancy, "come on Nancy, help
me out here. You know about this kind of thing. You've done it lots of times,
right?"
She gave a pretend little-girl blush, "Jeff, you make it sound like
I am an expert. I've only done that," she looked to the ceiling pretending
to count, "well, enough times anyway. My position pays okay, but these are
like little―I mean big bonuses―that
can really pay some bills!"
"So this is pretty special. You guys might want to take notes."
Mikl reached inside his coat pulling out a white-tipped pen while Gerard
fumbled around his pockets looking for something to write on.
"Gerard, never mind," Jeff motioned to the waiter asking for a
pad of paper, the waiter said he would look to see if he could find one in the
back office, a minute later a white blue-lined pad appeared, Jeff motioning to
have it passed to Mikl.
"Okay, first of all, what is an endorsement? I think we need to at
least go through the motions of a demo, don't you think?" Mikl sat with
pen to paper uncertain what to write, but scribbled something. "We will
have our little meeting tomorrow," turning to Nancy, "and Nancy you really
should be there tomorrow, I'm sure there will be all sorts of valuable
information for you." Turning back to Mikl, "Anyway, yes, then I will
have one of my engineers send you the mounting information. How much does your
gear weigh?"
"Three kilos, uh, seven pounds."
"Good. Light. Anyway I will send you the mounting information. It'll
be really easy if we do in on our Skymaster, that plane already has a mount
with cameras so you can have your choice of a daylight camera or an infrared
camera, both use standard video. Send one of your guys up so we can fly around
to take some video. We will be in the plane to watch the videos." Gerard
gave a start, "I mean that's okay to witness it live right?"
Gerard glanced to Mikl, "We prefer that you look at the video tapes
afterward."
You mean you prefer for us to look
at the doctored videos.
"Then we can look at the videos when the plane comes down, that
will be fine with me."
"We prefer to view the videos first, then to submit them for your
review.
Your stuff doesn't work at all! I
knew i!.
"Well, see then, that's why we need to discuss these terms now.
Yes," turning to Nancy, "that would be acceptable, don't you think?"
"Works for me."
"After I review the videos
I will write an endorsement saying that I have witnessed the testing and seen
the resulting tapes, that I find what is on the tapes to be satisfactory to
show me that the Neurotek technology does indeed work. But you understand that
we are going to really have to put this through rigorous scenario testing,
right? Daylight, night, fog, moving and stationary targets, the whole works. That's
okay?"
Gerard turned to Mikl with the tiniest sign of a smile, "Yes, under
the terms that we can review the tapes, at our factory of course then you can
devise any scenario that pleases you." Gerard finally looked like he was
coming alive reaching to the wine bottle pouring Jeff another full glass, going
around the table topping-off the other glasses to only half full.
"So here is to a successful integration and testing, and to the
endorsement of Neurotek!" the four clinked their glasses, once more Jeff
drank his with a loud gulping sound in one large swig.
"A little more of that here," Gerard emptied the bottle with a
half glass that Jeff immediately chugged. Nancy was not far behind Jeff
finishing her glass, she set her empty down.
Jeff looked around, "We forgot to order dinner!" they laughed,
Mikl nudging Gerard, they both stood.
"Listen we have an important meeting that we must attend," Mikl
bowed holding out his hand. Jeff and Nancy both took turns shaking his hand, then
with Gerard. The men both made a small bow, a few seconds later disappearing
through the front door.
Jeff turned to Nancy who had her phone out mumbling into the handset. Jeff
signaled to the waiter, from memory ordering food for them along with another
bottle of wine, motioning to the empty places asking to have them cleared. The
waiter cleared the entire table, pulled off the table cloth, replacing it
efficiently with a new table cloth, brought them both new wine glasses,
silverware and napkins. It was like though the waiter knew they were glad to be
rid of their company, that they didn't want a trace of their former guests, a
brand new evening brought before them. Nice
touch, big tip!
Two minutes later another bottle of wine was brought out, the waiter had
the sense to know not to do the snotty-wine routine, but instead poured two
full glasses of wine. They clinked their glasses together sitting without a
word until the food was served.
During the meal they nodded to each other but scarcely a syllable was
spoken.
Jeff desperately wanted to ask Nancy
After crème broulé they each wiped their mouths gently, smiling with
nicely-filled stomachs. Nancy
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SILICON GULCH!
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