Jeff finds himself in Washington DC on business trying to close a big deal for his company where he meets up with Nancy again, the FBI agent he had fallen in love with in Atlanta nearly two years ago. Jeff is separated from his wife because of Nancy
Chapter 6 of
Friday, 8:09 PM:
Jeff goes to a party at Nancy and Shawn's place in Takoma Park
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- Chris Lamela
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Author contact: Chris Lamela,
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K Street, Chapter 6
Friday,
8:09 PM: Takoma Park
“You will see me tonight with Shawn, will you be okay with that?”
He paused looking into her wonderful golden eyes nodding slowly.
“I know what I said today on the phone, and goddam it Jeff, I mean it.
But I really want to give this a chance with him, I need…well I need…I need you
to be okay with it.”
“Babe, there’s almost nothing I can do right now about anything. Technically
I am still married, but I don’t even really know how married I am,” thinking
about his wife’s words today. His thoughtful look made Nancy
She leaned forward kissing him
gently on the lips. “Thank you.”
A minute later they were in the blue Mustang driving amid the old
brownstones of Georgetown Connecticut Avenue
“So let me ask you,” Jeff turned to Nancy
“We knew you always stay at that Hilton when you are in town, we knew
you came in yesterday, so yeah, I knew where to find you.”
“How did you know that I went to that singles mixer?”
She laughed, “You didn’t notice me, but I was standing in the lobby when
you came in. I was just getting ready to come up when you came out of the
elevator going to the singles thing. I followed you, saw you talking to that
pretty lady.”
Shaking his head grinning, “Don’t worry, there was nothing special about
her. We definitely did not connect. I don’t even think about her, really.” He
turned to her, “And you knew that I was going to be in the meeting this
morning, right?”
“Look, I was really surprised when your name came up in all this. Man,
was I surprised.” She drove quietly in thought, Jeff watching her. “I can’t
tell you the mix of emotions when I saw your name. I thought it might be some
kind of mistake, or maybe somebody else with the same name, but then I
remembered the background work we did on you in Atlanta
He patted her on the right knee smiling, “Well, I don’t know what’s
going to happen here, but I’ve got to tell you that not a day has gone by when
I haven’t thought about you since Atlanta
She smiled keeping her eyes on the road.
They drove a little farther when Jeff’s concerned brow caught her
attention, “Is everything alright?”
“So Shawn. I’m a little confused about his role in this whole ODS thing.
If they are such bad guys, isn’t he one of them?”
“Best I know he doesn’t work for the organization. He is a consultant of
sorts. His role is very passive, harmless really, best I can tell. He has a
very extensive network of contacts in the U.S.
“He seemed to take quite a leadership role in that meeting today, but there
was something about payments. That doesn’t sound very passive.”
“Yeah, I was a little surprised by that, but not sure what that all
meant. It could just be his trying to facilitate the relationship.”
Jeff listened to this having doubts
about her explanation based on what he observed in the meeting, deciding to
make a point to keep his eyes and ears open wide for the next few days. His
whole purpose of being here for the next week was to bring home the payment for
the equipment Versatec was selling. Six million dollars! The manufacturing
process was well underway, he was concerned about some big-ticket cost
commitments coming up in the next sixty days, so he was anxious to make sure
this all went smoothly. Bringing home a six-million dollar check would
definitely make this trip worth it. It was one thing to have the purchase
order, it’s something else to make sure they are getting paid. He decided right
then to leave all his questions about Shawn alone for now so he could focus on
the business at hand.
“The point is that you love him―sort of anyway…”
“Yes, Jeff, I love him. Maybe not in the magical way that I feel about
you, but I love him. I trust him. I think. I will make sure that I keep my eye
on the ball here and not let my fawning over picket fences get in the way of
figuring this thing all out, okay?”
“Look, I’m not trying to cast any disparaging anythings at him, okay? I
just want to know the truth about what’s going on, not feel like I’m being kept
in the dark like I felt in Atlanta
“No. I promise that I will be as open as I can.”
She glanced at him seeing an uncertain face. “Look, we’re here!”
They pulled up in front of a good-sized house, two stories finished in a
white clapboard exterior. The home was older, Jeff guess it had been built
before the big housing boom of the early fifties, maybe late forties. The front
lawn was small, nicely trimmed with bushes along the neighbor’s side away from
the driveway, trimmed with colorful flowers.
“Nice,” Jeff commented, “though certainly not your Georgetown
“Nobody knows about Georgetown
“How big?”
“Three bedrooms, two-and-a-half bath, a little under two thousand square
feet. The interior is really dated,
you’ll see. We have all sorts of ideas what to do with it when we buy it. Yes,”
she gave a coy smile, “I told you that I hope this one is for keeps!”
Jeff was absolutely thoroughly confused, but just didn’t have the energy
to comment.
He followed her in. They could hear lots of voices, soft piano music, they
approached the front door. She opened the door, Jeff tagging behind.
She ordered two Sam Adams which were served in glasses, they gave a
little clink of glasses. He took a sip looking around the living room which had
to be maybe thirty feet on a side, large for the size of the house. He could
only guess that there was no family room, that the kitchen must be small to
accommodate such a large room here. There was a baby grand piano in the other
corner with a woman playing Summer Time singing
softly. Her singing was nearly drowned out by the hum of voices in the room
that echoed from the fourteen-foot ceiling, but Jeff could hear her voice that
was almost too sweet for the song which he remembered coming from Janis Joplin with
her raspy throat when he was a teenager.
Shawn stepped up to Jeff giving him a warm handshake, asked if he’d had
a chance at the hors d'oeuvres, signaling him to step
over to a long serving table next to the bar. Jeff picked up a small plate
selecting three different pieces, Shawn motioned to follow him into the next
room.
Jeff soon stood next to Shawn in the formal dining room that was a little
quieter. “So how is your trip going so far? Did Nancy
“It’s been pretty easy so far, just learning more about your
organization.”
“I don’t work for the ODS, I thought you knew that.” Jeff shook his
head, he held one of the small pieces of food to his mouth. “I am a consultant
to the company.”
“What do you consult?” Jeff’s mouth half-full of food.
“I have been in the arms business all my
life, since I left the Air Force twenty years ago. I worked for a couple
companies like Versatec, one bigger, one smaller, soon I found that the
relationships I was making was capital that I could use to grow my own
business.”
“You are just one guy in your company?”
“No, there are eight of us, incorporated, a Delaware LLC.”
Jeff laughed, “Delaware
“The cover in Delaware
“Not from Versatec,” Jeff frowned.
Shawn laughed, “No from the buyers. We are the middleman in the
transaction, it comes off the top before you ever see your money.”
“So the comment you made about form of payment today?”
“It’s pretty straightforward. There will be three payments for this
transaction. The first will be to Versatec, I think for six million dollars, that
right?” Jeff nodded. “The second will be to my company.”
“That’s Armatec, right?”
“Yes, our payment is for ten percent of the total transaction value
which will make it eight hundred thousand.”
“Ten percent of six million is not eight hundred thousand unless my math
is broken.”
Shawn gave a chuckle, “No, the third payment is for two million to ODS.”
“So the transaction value is the payment to my company for the hardware
plus the two million to ODS. Then eight hundred thousand to…” Jeff paused
trying to remember the name of Shawn’s company.
“Armatec, yes.”
“ODS’ role in this is setting up all the export licenses? That’s a
pretty steep price for something that’s kind of clerical, don’t you think?”
“Trust me, it is hardly just
clerical. There is a lot of maneuvering that goes on in these deals, a lot of
needing to know the right people. ODS achieved getting the export licenses. It
was all finished just this afternoon.” Shawn took a sip of his drink. “Then we
turn around and do the same for the General Avatonics aircraft. That should be
done by the end of next week.”
“Wow, so this whole deal must be pretty lucrative.”
“Yeah, hard work pulling it all together, but yeah, lots of money for
everybody,” he smiled satisfied taking another drink from his glass.
“And you are guaranteeing that this sale to Saudi Arabia
“No, that’s the beauty of how ODS is organized. You are guaranteed this is legal because its
advisory board members are the people who do
the approving!”
Just then Nancy
“Of course,” turning to Jeff, “excuse me, but we must attend to the
customers, right?” Shawn walked back into the living room with all the company.
Jeff looked through the door seeing even more people had arrived.
“So are you two getting along?” Nancy
“Yeah, I guess. I learned a little more about the three-layer cake in
this deal. Shawn’s company is getting quite a hefty fee for arranging all
this.”
“I know all the details.” She leaned forward lowering her voice, “We’ll
talk about all this on Sunday.” She smiled, he could see into her gorgeous
golden eyes with the little black flecks. “And thank you for taking time to get
to know him. He’s a really nice guy, smart, too.”
Jeff couldn’t help but feel like something wasn’t right, but didn’t have
enough information to judge just then. Besides, all he wanted was his check so
he could get the hell back to Seattle
“Jeff, come over here!” Shawn was waving at him. He stood next to Amid,
Hazim and three other men. Jeff walked up to the group. Shawn introduced him
around to the three men. “These guys want to go out tonight, they’d like you to
come along.” Nancy
“Where do they want to go?”
Shawn spoke to the two Arab men in Arabic, Jeff was surprised to hear
what sounded like fluency coming from Shawn. They conversed back and forth, he
turned to the rest of the group. “They want to go to a club called Archie’s”
“That’s a strip club on K
Street
Shawn spoke to the men again, they nodded. “Yes, that’s right. Seems we
have, what do they call those Mormon’s who drink and smoke?”
“Jack Mormons,” one of the other three men spoke up.
“Yes, Jack Mormons,” Shawn repeated, “Well, we have Jack Muslims. Seems they never get to drink and party at home so
when they are in the U.S.
“And you want me to go along?”
Shawn spoke to the men again in Arabic, they nodded smiling at Jeff.
Jeff put up his hands, “No, no, no, I don’t do strip clubs. I had a bad
experience once in one. I am vowed never to go again.”
Shawn leaned forward to Jeff whispering, “Ah, come on, this is the
schmoozing part of the business. We are their hosts, it is expected.” Shawn’s
voice was consoling with an underlying tone of demanding, “It would be a
dishonor to them to ignore this wish.”
“I don’t know if I really―”
She turned to face him in a lowered voice, “Look I know you didn’t
exactly have the best time of your life at Magic Town
“You got that right, never!”
“But this whole thing is a lot more complicated than you know. We need
these guys’ trust, getting them to feel comfortable by us willing to go out and
play with them.”
“So are you coming to Archie’s too?”
She laughed, “Yeah, that would be quite a scene huh?”
“Maybe you could dance again,” he said smiling remembering her
performance at Magic
Town
“I would do that if that’s what it takes,” she tried to keep a tight
face, but couldn’t, her expression burst into a smile, “who knows, maybe I
should get there before you guys to see if they’ll let me take a swing on the
pole!” They both laughed, “But this is harmless, go have a couple drinks, stuff
a few dollars into a bikini, let these guys enjoy themselves. Come on, what do
you say?”
Standing with a reluctant mope he realized that too much was stacked against
him. “Okay,” leaning toward her speaking softly, “only if I get to see those
non-blonde pubes again.”
She pushed at him playfully, “Remember, I’m trying to do right with
Shawn.” He stuck his lip out in an exaggerated pout. “Okay, private show for you
only in your hotel room, one night together, but that’s it!”
“When?”
“God, I can’t believe I’m doing this! Sunday night, maybe, but we really
should wait until Tuesday night after the deal is all done. Maybe Sunday night,
okay?”
“Not tomorrow night?”
“Damn I wish,” she sighed, “but no. There is another event that he’s
dragging me to. Let’s just stick with Sunday night, okay?”
“God I wish I could kiss you right now.”
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K STREET!
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