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 4 of Silicon Gulch ... The Frenchman announces a total lie!
Monday, 8:05 PM: Dinner Surprise!
Jeff goes to the dinner where he meets the congresswoman who puts the make on him! He meets Paula who is sending signals. But the surprise of the evening is when the Frenchman announces he has a deal with Jeff's company!
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- Chris Lamela
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Author contact: chris@chrislamela.com, 707-566-8790 PST
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Monday, 8:05 PM: Dinner Surprise!
They turned starting to walk down
the hallway toward the singles mixer registration table with Parlor Three
directly facing the table. Jeff glanced back at the entry to the California Ballroom,
"You're not going back into the mixer?"
She leaned her head on his shoulder as they walked, "Who needs that?
I already have a date!" They both laughed walking on, her head on his
shoulder. He was amazed at how easy it felt to be with her. What was it that
was so different compared to Nancy
They hugged, kissing quickly once more, conscious of the faces behind
the registration table watching them.
"Okay then, let's talk in the morning. I have no idea what my
schedule is tomorrow, but I have a car so if you get my message box just give
me directions and a time."
"Let's do seven, okay? That will give me time to get home to make
something. Will seven work? That's about as late as I can cook for Hannah. She
goes to bed at nine-thirty."
Jeff remembered their sharing stories of his children, Nicole and Scott,
and her telling him about Hannah who was about the same age as his kids.
"Like I said, I have no idea what my day's going to be like, so
seven is probably as good a time as any."
She smiled, they gave a quick peck once more, he turned to the door
opening it, giving a quick glance, she turned toward the hotel lobby giving him
a little pinky wave.
Jeff stepped into the mid-sized parlor room he had been in this
afternoon with the droll presenter, walking into the room now with a small square
of tables laid in white table cloths decorated with silverware and glasses.
There was a long row of tables for a buffet along the left wall, hotel staff in
uniforms busy bringing out trays of food, fussing over the details of the final
decorations.
"Jeff!" he heard a
voice. Turning around he saw the Frenchman walking up to him with a man and a
woman trailing in his wake.
Jeff glanced around the room seeing a few familiar faces, but mostly
strangers. He saw Nancy
Gerard stood to the side, motioned
toward the two that had followed him, "Jeff, this is Paula Johnson, she works
for General Avatonics," she held out her hand, they shook, her hand cold
to his touch.
"Oh, cold hand!" Jeff teased.
"That means a warm heart, right?" she gave him a quick flash
with a raised eyebrow of intrigue that didn't go unnoticed.
"And Samuel Johnson," the man also extended his hand.
Jeff looked back and forth between the two, "Both Johnson, related?"
Paula's cool response spoke beyond her simple word, "Formerly."
"Oh…" Jeff responded, a
chilled silence suddenly enveloped the little circle.
"Jeff, right?" a familiar voice came to his ears, Nancy
"Yes, for sure, Nancy Wyse? Did I get your name right? Do you have
a card?"
She smiled, instantly producing a card, "Listen, I'll let you get
back to your conversation," pulling her hand back, "make sure to come
see me afterward," turning to Gerard, "sorry to interrupt,"
turning briskly walking away.
The Frenchman flashed a lecherous smile to Jeff, "Ah, yes, she is
quite a woman, eh?" Jeff was looking at the card, "She is a
consultant that the congresswoman recommended. She is acting as a liaison to
the DOD for us. She is very critical if we are to get our next contract."
"Why are you guys working directly with the DOD? Why aren't you
working with a prime, like Raytheon or Westinghouse? They would probably be
really interested in what you guys are doing. I could make introductions."
"Why deal with the horse's ass when I can to straight to the horse's
mouth?" the Frenchman burst into an almost over-acted laugh. Jeff couldn't
figure out the tone of the laugh.
"Yes, then!" the Frenchman declared gaining his composure, turning
with a sweeping motion of his left hand, "there are so many people who
want to meet you, so many that you will want to meet! Come along," he
reached toward Jeff with a tug on his elbow, "I will make introductions."
They walked along the tables together toward a small group of people
standing talking. Jeff glanced back, Paula was following them, Samuel had
turned back talking with someone else.
Gerard pointed to the little clique of people standing around a woman, a
man at her side who seemed to be playing something like a defender in a
football line up. You know, the quarter back draws back, this guy rushes in as
defender.
Gerard pushed through the little group around the woman in a mild
demandingly intrusive way, "Congresswoman Lindon! There is somebody I
would like you to meet!"
The conversation around the woman suddenly stopped, all eyes turned to
Gerard, the defensive lineman stepping forward, "Excuse me?" The
congresswoman glanced at the man with a nod turning to Gerard tolerantly.
Enthusiastically waving to Jeff, Gerard announced, "This is the
gentleman I told you about with Versatronics! The company that makes the
electronics and avionics for the General Avatonics unmanned aircraft. Their UAV
planes."
The congresswoman glanced around the little circle of faces in mild
apology for the interruption with a special glance at her lineman, reaching her
hand toward Jeff, "Yes, I have heard about your company, about you, my
name is Woldsey Lindon."
Jeff took her hand, "Yes, I have heard about you, my name is Jeff―"
"Like I said, I know who you are," smiling graciously at Jeff.
He looked down, she still had his hand gently clasped in hers as she continued,
"I have heard a lot about you. I understand that you are quite the ladies'
man." He looked at her confused wondering how on earth she could know
anything of the sorts about him, she smiled again with a slow nod, "Yes,
just rumors of course."
He was speechless, not knowing how to reply, sudden lightness hitting
him, "Well, I promise you that whatever rumors you hear are blatantly true."
She laughed still holding his hand, "I prefer to think they are absolutely true," giving his hand a
squeeze, finally letting go.
Ding ding ding ding! A bell rang, everyone turned toward the man whose
upright posture and pursed lips matched his chef's hat with his big apron, his
deep French accent declaring, "Dinner is served!"
People began to migrate toward the long row of silver trays along the
side wall, the congresswoman pulling Jeff aside, he turned to her, "So
Jeff, how long are you here?"
"This whole week."
"The whole week, that's lots of time to get into all sorts of
trouble." Jeff's brow wrinkled at hearing the same words he had just heard
from Kathy .
Change the subject!!!
"So how would you like to be addressed?"
"People naturally call me congresswoman," she winked at him, "but
we will be doing a lot of work together I am pretty sure. My friends call me
Lin."
"Lin?"
"Yes, spell it L-I-N, from my last name. It's been my nickname
since I was in grade school." She leaned in toward him, "I never
liked my first name anyway, everyone always gets it wrong, it sounds like I
wear itchy clothes all the time."
He didn't quite get her little joke laughing anyway. He suddenly got it,
wool, laughing again glancing at her
appreciative smile.
"But I want you to call me Lin." She winked leaning to him
whispering, "Call me Lin when you call me to breakfast, okay?"
His eyes bugged out at this unabashedly overt come-on.
Jesus, he thought, not
another week of this!
Already he had collected Nancy, Kathy .
And now a congresswoman? She smiled knowingly at his expression touching the
small of his back, massaging through is coat, "Come on, let's eat. I'm
starved but this damned Frenchman always insists on having dinners so late."
Jeff turned to her smiling, they
walked to stand at the opened serving trays, "Yeah, I've worked in France
"He wanted to have this at ten! I told him that nobody would show
up, or at least that nobody would eat because they would have already eaten. I
don't know what it is about this guy, but he keeps insisting that we adapt to
the French culture here. I mean, the French dinner time?"
Jeff told her about his little run in with him earlier about French fifteen minutes, they both
laughed, "See?" she laughed. "Watch this guy, he really likes
playing by his own rules," he nodded at the warning.
They came to the front of the line, he glanced at the tables seeing little
name tags at each place, noticing Paula setting one down on the other side of
the room. He turned to pick up a plate.
"I really wanted you to sit by me for dinner, but he arranged us in
some order. So let's make a point to get some time to talk. I need some
expertise on this whole thing." She reached into her pocket pulling out a
gold business card case embossed with the congressional logo, opened it handing
him a card. "Call me in the morning and let's find some time to talk."
He took her card reading it, nodded, sliding it into his inside coat
pocket, pulling one of his cards out to give to her. "Is this your cell
phone number?" she asked holding the card in front of her face. He nodded.
"So I could, say, call you at midnight on it?"
Jeff looked around worried that others were listening, but the line had
already moved ahead, nobody near them. "Yeah, I guess, but why would you
call me at midnight?" while getting absolutely clear language why such a
call would occur.
"Oh, you never know," she said nonchalantly," reaching
her hand to rub his back again, "it can get pretty lonely at that hour,
right? Midnight is the loneliest time for us singles."
He nodded nervously turning to the food, "Oh, look at this food!"
diligently addressing the silver trays in front of him.
Soon his plate was piled with what looked like very tasty food. This had
to be very expensive he thought looking at the platters that included caviar,
faux gras, and other very French
food. His mouth watered at the smells, realizing that this French meal schedule
was definitely not to his liking because he was starved.
With a full plate in hand, Jeff walked around the table looking for his
name, finally seeing it he smiled at the two on each side sitting down.
Paula turned to him, "Well that was lucky, I get to sit by you!"
He smiled at her remembering seeing her fiddling with the place placards. Yeah, lucky he thought hearing a
definite tone of her elation from this luck.
Jeff smiled at her, unwrapping
his silverware, putting the napkin in his lap. "Yeah, lucky, I guess, so
Paula tell me about you, who are you with?"
She fumbled to put her fork down, reaching for her purse on the floor
produced a card handing it to Jeff. "I'm with General Avatonics."
"Oh, that's right, that's what Gerard said. I'm good friends with
Frank Pacfil. I get down there all the time so why haven't we met?"
"I'm VP of strategic projects." He looked down at the card, that
was the title printed under her name, he nodded. "I mostly hang around DC
and god knows where else, responsible more for the business development side. I
did all the deals that your deliveries are for."
"Oh, yes, good job…" he smiled at her sliding her card into
his inside coat pocket next to the congresswoman's, he pulled out one of his
handing it to her.
"So you and your―what is he―your husband? Samuel?"
"You mean former husband."
"I'm sorry, divorced?"
She had just put food into her mouth motioning to give her a second as
she chewed, "I wish divorced. No. Not yet."
"So…"
"No he's not with General Avatonics. He's DOD. I don't know why he's
here. We already have a consultant," motioning to Nancy
Jeff laughed, "Just woke up?"
Her expression turned serious, "Jeff,
are you married, have you ever been divorced?"
"Yes, I'm married―well at least sort
of married―and yes, I've had two divorces. But I don't ever remember waking up
married!" He laughed again.
Her
expression lightened, a smile crept onto her face, "I guess you're right,
saying it like that makes it sound like I caught
marriage like you catch a cold, huh?" She laughed again leaning her
head on his shoulder.
He wanted to pull back at her overly-familiar
gestures toward him, felt a tiny
spasm of uncomfortable, but there was
something about her that made him play along.
He turned to her for a quick examination.
She looked to be early forties, maybe, but he wasn't very good at women's ages,
dark hair with a gray streak over her left forehead swept back over her head,
her hair in a loose pony tail. She wasn't particularly attractive, but he was
taken by her wide-open expression. Her eyes were an intriguing dark gray color
with a depth that wanted to speak to him in words that he couldn't quite hear
in the quick flashes that he was seeing. There was something here, but Jeff
couldn't understand all the unspoken language flowing toward him from that
anxious face.
Nervously Jeff turned to the man sitting
to his right, "So hi, my name is Jeff," he glanced back to Paula to
see her attention back on her food. The man was the congresswoman's lineman
Jeff had noticed earlier.
"Steve Richoff, nice to meet you. You're
with Versatec, right? I've heard a lot of good things about your systems. I've
heard a lot of good things about you!"
"Really?" Jeff managed with his
mouth full of food.
"Yes, I heard how you displaced the
Israelis from the General Avatonics plane. Man, that was impressive. That's
like…I don't know…almost industry lore."
Jeff's pleased smile told how he liked the
word lore. "Yes, that was quite
a feat. I've given a couple talks on that whole deal. Nothing special really,
just good old-fashioned strategic business development. No magic."
"Strategic whatever, all I know is
that it was nice to see someone knock that damned smug smile off those
bastards. Israeli Aircraft Industries is a formidable competitor." He
leaned in to Jeff, "IAI is formidable
but only because word has it that the playing field is not level with those
bastards, they play by different rules. We can't do payola, right? I mean that's
like prison time if we do. But those
bastards―"
"Listen, Steve, right?" Steve
nodded, "Listen Steve, I've been around this industry for almost eight
years and believe me, there is plenty of
payola on our side."
Steve had just taken a bite of food, his full
mouth prevented him speaking, his expression saying tell me more!
"Sorry, can't talk about it,"
Jeff made a motion with his right hand zipping his lips. "Trust me,
though, we are not all that squeaky clean."
Jeff desperately wanted to change the
subject, "So Steve, are you from here?"
Picking up his napkin, he pushed his empty
plate back, laughed, "Yeah, I tell people I was born and raised in Silicon
Valley before it was Silicon Valley !"
"Really?"
"Yeah, this building was on hay
fields, across the freeway was―I don't remember, either apricot orchards or
plums―anyway some kind of orchard. I used to pick buckets of fruit during the
summer."
"Really?"
"Yeah," Steve laughed, "fifteen
cents a bucket. It was the hardest work I ever did in my life."
"So Silicon
Valley ."
"Yeah, began when Intel started up in
the early seventies, they're only about two miles from here, AMD in Sunnyvale
"So,
silicon valley," Jeff repeated.
"Actually, I prefer Silicon Gulch. Or
just the Gulch for short."
The man to Steve's right was listening in,
interjected looking around Steve to Jeff, Steve sat back abruptly at the
interruption, "I prefer Silicon Pit actually."
The two turned to this conversational interloper, "Or just The Pit," with a bitter smack.
"Whoa, why the sour tone?"
"I've been in the industry my whole
life," the sour face continued, "this is a great place to work, but a
lousy place to live."
"So go somewhere else!" Jeff
thought that was a simple answer.
"That's where The Pit comes in. If you are in tech you are trapped here. There is
nowhere in the world that you can go. No place comes near to this place for jobs. Certainly not for pay!"
Suddenly Jeff remembered the man's face
from the elevator, "Say, aren't you the prick in the elevator that was so
goddam mean to that Chinese couple?"
"You're not from here, are you?"
the man leaned intently toward Jeff, Steve leaning further back not to be
caught in the middle of this.
"No I'm not. I'm from Seattle
"Then you don't know what you're
talking about, do you? You don't know how those bastards have taken over the
valley. Have you been to Cupertino Cupertino Santa
Clara , and don't even get me started about Fremont
"Dude, the world is changing. Every
place is changing."
"Yeah, but I grew up here, and it's a
bunch of crap that I can't feel comfortable in the place I grew up."
"Okay,"
Jeff thought to himself, "eject!"
quickly pulling back out of sight from this angry face, Jeff turning quickly to
Steve who glanced at the man to his right, leaning cautiously forward turning
to Jeff, "Are you with the congresswoman?"
"Yes, I am the congresswoman's chief
aid, hold on," glancing quickly back to the man on his right with a scowl he
reached into his pocket pulling out the same gold business card case embossed
with the congressional logo that he had seen in the congresswoman's hands and
in so many other congressional hands in DC last year. "Here," he
pointed to a telephone number on the bottom, "That is my cell telephone
number, only way to reach me this week."
Jeff took a bite, Steve turned back to him,
"I understand that you are key player in this weapons system."
"Our products don't go boom, we
prefer to call them surveillance systems."
Jeff took another bite, chewed slowly
hoping to get time to pass.
"So how long have you been the aid of
the congresswoman?"
"Since she was elected eight years
ago."
"That's a long time. I mean you don't
look that old."
"She plucked me out of the election
staff. Made my whole career." He glanced at the woman at the head of the
tables, Jeff could see an adoring gaze. "She is amazing."
"So you said to call you this week. Why
would I want to reach you this week?"
Steve gave a big wry smile, "You just
got here today?" Jeff nodded. "Trust me, you will want to call me
this week."
"What's going on?"
"Very complicated."
Suddenly there was a loud tinkling, a spoon
on a wine glass, "Ladies and gentleman, if I may," the room was filled
with a thick French accent, all faces turning to the man standing next to the
congresswoman who was looking up at Gerard. "Thank you for coming to this―"
he looked down at the congresswoman with a smile, "to this early dinner," there were a few
chuckles around the tables.
"We are pleased to have such a worthy
collection of guests, and it is my hope that by getting to know each other
better on a personal level so that we can make our good business together
better." Jeff laughed at the slightly twisted English coming from this
pompous form. "We have a number of special guests here tonight, but most
of all I am pleased to make an announcement."
Jeff thought that it would be refreshing
to actually hear anything substantial from these guys. He watched the form to
his left, Jeff noticing a quick glance from Paula as she turned to smile at
him. He smiled at her gesture turning his attention back to the Frenchman.
"Yes, tonight I am pleased to
announce an agreement consummated just only this evening," pointing to
Jeff, all eyes following the gesture toward him, "with Versatec to conduct
integration and testing of our adaptive neural network technology with the
advanced Versatec avionics systems." Jeff's eyes bugged out, he heard a
soft murmur of surprised delight emerge from the room, "And we also have
an agreement that General Avatonics will do an integration of our systems onto
their UAV aircraft." Reaching for his wine glass, the Frenchman held it
up, "Here's a toast to new partnerships, and to the success of Neurotek in
the future!" a general accolade rose into the air.
Jeff was stunned. He looked at the
congresswoman's questioning smile, her glass barely raised, Paula turning to
him with an astonished expression.
"Yes on that note," Gerard
turned to the congresswoman who wiped her mouth setting her napkin down,
standing. Gerard sat down with an odd flourish which Jeff was beginning to see
was the essence of his personal style. Pomp, flourish, ceremony.
What an odd lying duck!
"Thank you Gerard, always a pleasure
to hear new developments for Neurotek." She looked around the room. "As
you all know, at least most of you, my office is very interested in anything
that will promote the valley's economic growth and well-being. We are excited
that we are seeing a new cycle of growth with the new Internet technologies,
though there are certainly a few disappointments in some of the high tech
companies."
Steve leaned whispering to Jeff, "She
means Apple, I'm pretty sure. We've been scrambling around trying to figure out
how to keep those guys in business." Jeff glanced at him, "I mean the
PC won, right?"
The congresswoman continued, "It was
very good to hear about the new partnerships with Versatec," waving toward
Jeff, "and General Avatonics," waving at Paula.
Paula's baffled face turned to Jeff. Jeff
shrugged.
"So yes, a toast!" Glasses were
raised, but the congresswoman didn't complete the toast, sitting down with a
perfunctory frown.
Jeff looked at her expression suddenly
realizing that this room was filled with
intrigue that he had somehow managed to get swept up into.
What
the hell is going on?
He saw Nancy
Jeff felt his chest flush, this is it, we get to go to my room!
She
came up behind Jeff turning to Paula, "Paula you won't mind if I steal him
from you, will you?"
Paula flashed a good-sport smile, "As
long as you bring him back to me!" Paula laughed, Jeff giving Nancy
"Remember, I said that I wanted to
talk to you, I am short on time, can we do that now?" Nancy
"Sure!"
Jeff tried to stand up but Paula put her
hand on his left shoulder pulling him back down, "You are coming back,
right? I mean we have so much to talk
about. And don't forget we have that meeting tomorrow at ten. But come back
here, okay?"
He smiled reaching up to his shoulder, gently
pulling her hand down, "Yes, though not tonight, I've had a long day."
"So I'll see you in the morning, ten
right?"
"Sure, meeting in the lobby. Right.
Okay, see you then." He had actually forgotten about the meeting, but smiled
to her standing, following Nancy
They walked out the door, the singles
mixer reception tables were bare. Jeff looked at his watch saying six minutes
after ten.
They walked into the lobby when she turned
sharply to Jeff, "What the hell was that?"
"What?"
"A deal with Neurotek?"
"Nancy
"But he had to get that from
somewhere!"
"Look, I had drinks with him―"
She glanced around quickly, "Not
here, let's go to my room." She pulled out a card scribbling a room number
on the back. "The Embassy Suites are just across the freeway, go left out
of the parking lot, left on Great America and over the freeway, take the first
right and bend around, you can't miss the hotel."
Without another word she turned, disappeared
through the front door. He felt around in his pants pocket to find his car
keys, patted his wallet in his left inside coat pocket sprinting for the door.
A minute later he was crossing the
freeway, could see the Embassy Suites sign above the Pepper Mill sign, felt his
heart racing.
He laughed to himself that he had been
scolded and told to get a room when
he was kissing Kathy in the hallway
of the hotel.
But who needs to get a room?
Yippee,
he thought.
I get Nancy's room!
I get Nancy's room!
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NOW READ THE NEXT EXCITING CHAPTER OF
SILICON GULCH!
http://chrislamela.blogspot.com/2012/10/silicon-gulch-chapter-5.html
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