Chapter 31 The Akendo Team Disbands
JC Kellar, Preston Latham and Nancy Bond had all arrived at the same conclusion when they had met in JC office after their emergency video conference, and that conclusion was that something was up. Preston and Nancy were concerned that for once in their long careers with Kellar, Latham and Bond that they were not in control of the situation. They did not know the facts and had wondered why the Anderson Corporation had initiated such an important state development project only to pull out and be replaced by the hitherto unknown Akendo Corporation. JC had other worries on his mind but kept them firmly to himself. There was a furious row between the three of them about who’s responsibility it had been to sign off the due diligence before signing the contact with the Akendo Corporation, they all blamed each other but Nancy had silenced the row by plainly stating,
“It’s quiet simple, we we’re greedy, we saw the dollar signs and went for it…., I am sure there are a number of people we could lay the blame on, but at the end of the day we messed up, the three of us that is and that’s just how it happened.”
They had all sat silently brooding for a couple of moments before Nancy broke the silence.
“Well how do we proceed then?”
Preston had wanted to carry out some more investigations into the Akendo Corporation, its background and try and find out if and how they were connected with The Anderson Corporation but JC provided a shortcut by tossing two files onto the desk.
“It’s all here…, read it and weep.”
He said as he stood up from the desk and turned to stare out of the window. Preston and Nancy scan read the documents contained in the two files, their facial expressions alternated between frowns and noticeable winces as the truth became clear.
The Akendo Corporation looked as though it was a front organisation, its CEO was a man called Donald Chadwick and the corporation itself was only a few months old. Chadwick’s name was a name that meant nothing to either of them, which in itself was strange as they knew the names of all of the high flying business men of the state and for that part many dotted across the country but they had never come across a Donald Chadwick. The information within the file that dealt the cruelest blow was the financial trail that JC’s team had uncovered with a lot of hard work.
It lead back to the Anderson Corporation which through a number of subsidiaries and off shore accounts financed The Akendo Corporation to the tune of two hundred and fifty million dollars or that was the amount that sat in a bank somewhere behind the Akendo Corporation. This was information that they would normally have unearthed during their due diligence. Providing all of the legal services for a project of such size was both a commercial risk and also a risk that could impact upon their excellent reputation if their clients were not all that they seemed to be. To identify, understand and manage these risks they should have spent a considerable time with an experienced team researching the finer details and background of both the development itself, the Corporation that was to deliver the development and also its financing. But that was not what had happened the three of them had pushed their colleagues to hurry up and get the deal signed, all they saw were dollars.
Preston had thrown his file back on the desk and sworn, while Nancy had closed her file, laid it back on the table and sat silently thinking. JC returned to his seat then spoke to them both.
“Well here is how I see it, something is not right, everything they have done is entirely legal and I suppose you could say legitimate,… there are many large Corporations that deliver projects through subsidiaries, that is not the issue, the issue is why have we been kept in the dark,…. I don’t like this at all and why retain our services they have never done that before……For one I wouldn’t do business with any of those bastards and two they normally retain the services of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan of New York.., why suddenly us?”
They all sat in silence for a moment longer before JC Continued.
”I say we pull out of the project right now, what do you two think?”
Nancy and Preston both nodded immediately and in unison agreed with JC.
“Right Nancy get your guys on it and unpick the contract,Preston you find out exactly what the financial penalties are that we can be expected to incur.”
“Already happening JC.”
Nancy announced, she was by far the quickest witted of the three and had assigned a team to do just that minutes after they had finished their emergency video conference earlier that day.
“Here we go.”
Preston said as he reached into his briefcase and produced a spreadsheet printout for both JC and Nancy. They both picked up their one page spreadsheet printouts from the desk and studied the contents; the figures were not as bad as either of them had feared.
“Is this the lot Preston or will we be hit with other payments further down the line?”
“Well as far as I can establish that is the full financial penalty we will incur as long as our exit from the contract is smooth and the final terms of exit favor us.”
Preston replied glancing over at Nancy.
“Oh don’t you worry, we have a couple of smooth exit routes established within our contract as within all of our contracts, the last thing I want is this Akendo Corporation chasing us through the courts over the coming years.”
“Good, then that is it,Nancy when do you estimate we can terminate and be rid of these people.” JC said in a slightly more upbeat manner.
“End of the week and it’ll be done, I’ll copy you both in with all of the documentation and correspondence including what we will be telling the media.”
Nancy replied in her usual efficient manner.
“Good job.”
JC replied before asking his two colleagues if there was anything else they needed to discuss about the Akendo Project before they called it a day. JC was very aware that it was now getting late and both of his colleagues had to catch flights home.
“Not me, I’m ready for the off,… I think we’ve got this well and truly contained.”
Preston said as he stood and started to put a couple of document into his briefcase on the desk.
No…, not really, but…..”
There was a pause before Nancy continued, staring right into JC’s eyes she said.
“You’re not hiding anything from us are you JC? … I mean this has all been a little strange to say the least and your reaction earlier was quite odd, I could see through the video link up that you were about to explode,… you were trying to control some sort of hidden anger.”
“No it’s nothing Nancy.”
JC lied.
“Its just that I cannot stand any of those Anderson’s or Langford’s, especially that Curtis Langford, one of the most arrogant men I have ever had the displeasure to meet and a Republican fund raiser and donor at that.”
JC’s reply placated Nancy and she smiled,
“Just so long as that is it.”
She said as she also rose from her seat and turned to leave.
What JC failed to inform his colleagues of was that a bugging device had been found in his office only that day. He had been spooked by the revelations from the mysterious Jason Bridge and a sense of paranoia had set in very quickly to his frame of thinking. After finishing his conference call he had ordered his security team to do a general sweep of the executive’s offices paying particular attention to his own office suite and the board room.
The bug that they found was not a sophisticated device, a microphone and small transmitter mounted within an electrical socket behind his desk. His normally calm demeanor had evaporated momentarily when his chief of security had handed it over to him and explained that his team could not say accurately how long it had been in place. JC had exploded in a childlike tantrum of swearing, kicking chairs around his office and shouting, which culminated in him throwing the offending item back at his security chief hitting him on the forehead and causing a minor abrasion. He had stopped in his tracks as soon as he had realised what he had done and apologized profusely.
Beresford Williams was Chief of Security at Latham, Kellar and Bond, he was of African American descent, a giant of a man standing six foot six and weighing in at three hundred and five pounds of well toned muscle. He was an ex military man and had worked at Latham, Kellar and Bond for fifteen years since leaving the elite Navy Seals where he was a martial arts specialist instructor and sniping instructor. In his time in the military he had completed numerous overt and covert missions across the globe and had always been known and respected for his dedication, physical prowess and calm nature. It was this last character trait that JC had just severely tested, Beresford or ‘Big B’ as he liked to be called licked his middle finger on his right hand and wiped away a small amount of blood that was starting to ooze out of the skin on his forehead, he then bent slowly forward and picked up the electrical socket bug from off of the floor and held it out for JC to take.
“Beresford I am so sorry…,please,…..please take a seat.”
JC said as he took the offending item from Big B and pulled out a chair motioning for him to take a seat.
Beresford politely refused the offer.
“Sir, thank you for your apology and the offer of a seat but no harm has been done…, I’ll admit that I don’t like having things thrown at me even on the best of days, but I can see you were just flippin out some, …at least it wasn’t a grenade.”
He said with a smile before continuing.
“I’ll get on to establishing exactly when the last de-bugging sweep was done and make sure that in light of this find we increase the frequency of such searches.”
“You’ve taken my idiocy with grace and humour and once again I apologize and thank you for your candor.”
JC said holding out his hand. Big B stood up, took hold of JC’s hand and shook it firmly; he released it, turned smartly on his heels and strode purposely out of JC’s office.
Once Big B had gone JC cringed at the though of what he had just done. Since joining the firm Big B had been nothing but a loyal, helpful, dedicated and smart security chief. He had accompanied JC all over the country and abroad and had always been a person that JC could rely on and trust.
‘You fuckin asshole’, he thought as he admonished himself for his stupid behaviour. Juggling the bugged electrical fitting between his hands as he sat at his desk his mind raced back to the microphone itself and then his thoughts clicked mechanically over one at a time,
‘How long had it been there? What had it heard? Who had been listening? Why had it been put there?’ He knew that there were many things that happened within Latham, Kellar and Bond that were on the wrong side of the law and most of them could be tied back to him, that is if someone knew what to look for and where to look. He broke out in a cold sweat as he thought of some of the unlawful practices that he and a number of his employees in outlying offices had been and were currently involved in. He shuddered when his mind ran to the logical conclusion of being caught out……………., jail. The thought terrified him, he tossed the bug onto his desk and sat there quietly fuming. After replaying the day’s events in his head over and over until his brain ached JC shook himself out of his self inflicted torment. He leaned forward and opened his e-mail, he scanned his inbox, as usual there were many mails that needed his attention before he could finish his day’s work, but one stood out it was from Beresford Williams. He opened it and read it quickly.
“Shit, shit and double fuckin shit!”
He shouted out aloud. According to the security sweep records the last time the executive offices were swept for any bugging of surveillance devices was six months ago. JC thought it would be so, as it was he who had gone against Big B’s advice two years ago when Big B had been promoted to Chief of Security. He had advised JC that a monthly sweep of the executive’s offices and board room would be an appropriate frequency to carry out such an action. This was in light of their line of work at Latham, Kellar and Bond and JC’s public work and status. JC had thought such surveillance or targeted eves dropping was more akin to something out of a spy film, something like a James Bond movie, so he had dismissed the advice as not necessary.
He had had enough for the day, the rest of the e-mails could wait for the morning, he stood up quickly, picked his jacket off of the hanger behind his desk and walked briskly out of his office. As he passed through the revolving office doors on the ground floor and entered the furnace of late afternoon his mind turned to his family, a Barbeque possibly on the terrace when he got home then early to bed that would take his mind of things and relax him a little he concluded. He had a whole day of meetings to attend to tomorrow from seven thirty am right through to eight pm then an evening charity gala and the next day an interview on WBRZ News 2 ‘Louisiana at Noon’, then a debate on WAFB’s Nine News Extra.
By the time he reached his car he was soaked in sweat, his head was starting to spin and his shoulders ached. Stress was something that came with his job and the public service work that he carried out but the last nine hours had been enough to floor a buffalo. Once seated in his car he stated the engine and waited a short time before the air-conditioning pumped a cooling breeze out from the dash across his face and chest. He leant back and massaged his stiff neck with both hands before selecting reverse and moving backwards out of his parking bay. As he drove home through the sun baked streets his mind went into overdrive as it tried to recall all of the conversations he had had in his office during the last six months, both personally and over the phone. If he was feeling paranoid earlier it had now increased exponentially.
Bootsie’s team had had to postpone their urgent meeting at Lakeland Drive for a couple of days because two key members of the team were out of the state on business and one out of the country, none of them could return immediately and Bootsie was adamant that everyone was present in person. If there was anything that needed immediate attention then it could be dealt with via e-mail or the phone. This time lag had a positive effect, all of the team members were able to compile their own information in greater detail and have a little time to think of what they would present, and it focused suggestions on how they would tactically amend their strategy and what their best next move would be.
As Bootsie sat at the head of the large conference table his team filed in. There was a buoyant air of success and expectation and everyone seemed to be smiling in spite of the heat outside that for the last couple of days had broken all state records. In attendance was Curtis Langford, Glenn Anderson, Earl Langford, Donald Chadwick,Quentin Saucier, Dilip Jhadav, Oscar Williams and Lottie. Before Lottie took her seat Bootsie stood up from his and walked over to greet her, he planted a kiss on both cheeks and smiled broadly.
“Well Lottie as usual you have come up trumps he said as he held her gaze.”
“That’s what I do Bootsie, you should know by now…, that’s what I do.”
With a smile on her face she took her seat. As Bootsie walked back around to take his seat at the head of the table he nodded acknowledgements and made a point of stopping to thank Curtis who had come back two days early from a business trip to Beijing.
Once Bootsie was seated again Quentin closed the meeting room door behind them all and locked it.
“Phones please ladies and gentlemen.”
He asked in an assertive but pleasant voice and walked around the table collecting everyone’s phone, he checked that they were all off and placed them in a box and put them down at one end of the table.
He looked over and nodded to Bootsie who stood up to talk.
“Ladies and Gentlemen firstly thank you all for attending at short notice and I am aware that a couple of you were out of state so thank you for returning.”
He looked over towards Dilip then Glen and gave each a nod of appreciation.
“And Curtis hot footed it back all the way from Beijing, so thanks Curtis.”
He Nodded to Curtis and Curtis responded with a touch to his brow.
”No Problem Bootsie, I was missing some good old home cooking anyway.”
He said with a laugh.
“Now lets get on with it .”
”Bootsie said before asking Quentin to speak.
Quentin spoke without reference to any notes, he possessed the memory of an elephant and was able to recall the smallest detail on any matter that he had been engaged to work upon over the previous ten years.
“Ladies, Gentlemen, The Akendo Project has fulfilled its purpose. We have documentation, and Donald can confirm this that identifies professional malpractice, corruption and fraud.”
He glanced momentarily over at Donald, who nodded in confirmation.
“For the time being we do not need to discuss the details of each area we have uncovered, suffice to say we have concrete and irrefutable evidence that, if it does not bury Kellar and his board, the scandal will be such a hindrance to him personally and their business operation and reputation that they will no longer pose us a threat for many years to come.”
He paused for a second while everyone took in the information, looking around the table everyone was smiling and nodding in approval, he continued.
“Firstly the malpractice,…. we have documentation that shows that Kellar is personally behind the purchase of a strip of land running straight across the middle of the proposed development site, this is what is known in the business as a ransom strip. He purchase the land for tens of thousands of dollars, with the effect that it splits the site in half making the development of the whole site and instillation of its roads network and connectivity to the state highways a no-goer. He was hoping to be in a position to sell this land to the Akendo project for millions of dollars, which is something the project would have to have paid if it were real to allow for the whole development to proceed. Clearly Malpractice and we have a direct link to Kellar.”
“Good Job Quentin.”
Someone called and then they all applauded.
“Please, please I am only the messenger, we have all achieved this.”
Again smiles reigned around the table and everyone nodded in agreement.
“Next, Malpractice and corruption, I have an e-mail supported by some evidence gathered by covert means that Kellar instructed one of his top men, a certain Mr. Kendrick Toup to make a substantial payment to a certain Mr. Herbert Mouton, Evangeline head of zoning to facilitate the negation of the Evangeline Parish Zoning plan that ran through to 2019 . This plan identified proposed development areas. The important factor here is that our proposed development site for Akendo is situated on the large area of land to the south east of Ville Platte, either side of the Louisiana State highway 10 / US Highway 167, and not being part of the Evangeline Parish Zoning plan through 2019 does not allow any development at all. Herbert Mouton has responded to Toup with the following statement.
“Consider it done, your zoning requirements to allow the Akendo project situated south east of Ville Platte, either side of the Louisiana State highway 10 / US Highway 167 will be permitted to proceed for your clients through to acceptance and certification as far as we are concerned here in Evangeline…..”
“Next, Malpractice and corruption again, The Target Plantation house that sits almost in the middle of our proposal site is protected as some of you will be aware by state and national conservation laws and again we have documented evidence in the form of e-mails and covert surveillance that two people who for the moment will remain un-named have agreed to make a ‘Special dispensation’ for the Akendo project….., these people are very high up in Washington and can for the time being remain nameless, just be reassured that we have Kellar’s top people requesting special dispensation, and the ‘Washington two’ agreeing to it, identifying a payment amount and offshore banking account details.”
Quentin stopped and took a sip of water before continuing.
“Moving swiftly on, Malpractice, there are three endangered species that have been identified by the US Fisheries and Wildlife Service as having habitats in the area of our proposal site and therefore are protected by the Endangered Species Act. The animals in question are the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, the Louisiana Pine Snake and the Pallid Sturgeon. The edge of the proposed site also encroached into the edge of a long leaved pine forest which makes up part of the LABlack Bear corridor which is a statewide effort to establish bear travel corridors connecting remnant bear populations from northeastLouisianato central and southernLouisiana. Yet again we have e-mails and covert surveillance between Kellar himself in conversations with the Director of TheUS Fisheries and Wildlife Service a certain Pamela Gould who resides inWashington. This time he is asking how the significance of these three endangered species could be greatly reduced within our proposal site. She has laid out quite plainly how to achieve a result that would basically nullify any impact upon our Akendo project and render the site appropriate for full zoning development and thus not contravene the Endangered Species Act. As for the Black Bear Corridor she simply asked if he knew of any one who may have been attacked on their property along the corridor, the more people the better she has stated before proceeding on to say ‘if you do let us know and I’m sure the corridor would be diverted away from your site or closed completely in that part of the country’.
Lottie shook her head,
”What a bitch …………, what has she got to make from this Quentin, do we know?”
“Not sure Lottie, maybe she does not like animals as much as we would all hope.”
“Well I think I’ll do a follow up on her myself, nothing to do with this, or anyone present, it’s just something I need to do.”
“Good for you.”
Bootsie said, others joined in,
“Yeah good for you Lottie, you go get her!”
“Finally we have uncovered fraudulent actions in relation to Latham, Kellar and Bond’s billing submitted to Donald’s financial guys at Akendo that show rates charged for specific contracted work for the project is thirty five percent above the agreed maximum, un-contracted work or supposed work has been invoiced, again at this heightened rate and their contracted team of fourteen has grown to twenty one,…..I am assuming the extra seven are ghost employees who do not exist. ……, there is also the weekly expense bill for accommodation for Kellar’s team that would be appropriate if you were entertaining the Sultan of Brunei and his entourage, Donald Trump, Christy Walton and the Koch brothers in the Ty Warner Penthouse at the Four Seasons in New York or similar luxury accommodation, every night of the week including weekends……. It’s completely and utterly unreasonable. As for the travel expenses if they all flew in individual exec jets with chauffer services either end then it would make sense but again it is clearly preposterous.”
With that Donald held up a sheath of printed out spreadsheets and described their contents,
” I have it all here in black and white… It’s been cleverly constructed, to put it simply the nominal totals per invoice submitted weekly and this is only over their first few weeks on the project relate back to our contract. But and this is important on every invoice it states ‘contractual charge’ as a nominal amount but this amount is actually a multiplier of the total per invoice which appears to all but the closest examination to be above board. This amount is then applied to the monthly billing amount that is submitted and relates back to a weekly invoice amount.
In essence the weekly invoices are checked and look correct, then the monthly invoice comes in referencing the weekly agreed invoices but at the multiplied amount and that is what the client, or us as Akendo paid. I must admit it is clever, referencing the contract and constructed in a manner that would not have been picked up by the finance guys immediately or at all unless we were actively expecting something and looked for it.
“Well that concludes a high level view of what the Akendo Project has achieved for us, for those of you that don’t know, Kellar was tipped off about the Anderson Langford connection a short time ago by e-mail, I had my best guy get onto it straight away and we know who he is and interestingly he ties up with some of the information that Lottie has to share with us,……. now I’ll let someone else talk………., oh and before I finish I think we could stir the hornet’s nest up a little more if we told Kellar that Toup is the cause of his downfall,…. That should set off some infighting and get them all paranoid and suspicious of each others actions.”
Quentin said with a business like nod of his head towards Bootsie.
“Thanks Quentin, Donald Good job, and I like your final suggestion, get one of your team on it straight away… As ever you and your teams have provided more than I could have expected, that goes for y’all,……, it seems that we, as a team have managed to gain more information than I think any of us could have hoped for all those weeks ago when we initiated the project.
Bootsie next asked Lottie to speak.
Lottie nodded to Bootsie and opened up the folder that lay in front to her on the desk, it was her notes, key points to deliver, short, sharp and to the point.
“Gentlemen I personally have found the contents of my team’s investigations truly unbelievable……, I know there are corrupt people here and there in organisations and in local and central governments but we have uncovered a web of corruption that criss-crosses the state. The information we have collected has been gathered by various means.”
She said with a playful grin, she scanned down through her notes before swiftly continuing.
“This information implicates regional Latham, Kellar and Bond offices in Claiborne, Lincoln, Rapides, Evangeline, St Landry, East Feliciana, West Baton Rouge, Terrebonne and Plaquemines, all of which, again seem to have differing levels of corrupt relationships with local government officials….., and that is without the professional misconduct that the team has uncovered.”
She paused and scanned down through her notes again quickly to ensure she had not missed any salient facts, before looking up and continuing.
“Two of the hottest viper’s nests seem to be connected with the Evangeline Latham, Kellar and Bond office and a certain Mr. Kendrick Toup the same man as mentioned earlier by Quentin and the Plaquemines office and a Mr. Amin Masih.
The former has opened up into a web of corrupt land deals, corrupt local government officials, overcharging of Latham, Kellar and Bond clients and skimming money from multiple oil lease contracts.
The latter is explosive, Mr. Amin Masih has been overcharging clients and has diverted some of his clients account funds to an offshore bank account in the Cayman Islands where it has then been transferred into the account of a Mr. Amr Wasem in Ramallah in the West Bank, and Mr. Wasem is a fundraiser for Hamas…….. Even with all of this I cannot see Kellar being foolish enough to be connected to any of these goings on at his regional offices, although you never know.”
There where whistles and shaking of heads form all around the table at Lottie’s last statement, diverting funds to whatAmericahas identified as a terrorist organisation was certainly explosive. Once the room had quietened down again she continued,
“My team have compiled a list of all of the local government officials that are caught up in this web of corruption, we have e-mails and as Quentin so accurately described it earlier other covert surveillance evidence to support all of this,……. Returning to Evangeline, the zoning officers, highways officer, land agent and a private zoning and development consultant are all tied up in corrupt deals some of which involve Mr. Kendrick Toup of Latham, Kellar and Bond. We have their names, dates of meetings, and a plethora of documentation, letters, e mails, cell voce messages and recorded meetings that will bury these guys………. Now I mentioned the highways officer, he is a certain Mr. Clive Meek and as one of Quentin’s team discovered is the same man who tipped off Kellar by e-mail.”
She paused again as she scanned down her notes quickly.
“Now Mr. Toup, as well as being entangled in this web of corruption with officials at Town Hall in Ville Platte and satellite offices in Spicebridge, Evangeline has also got himself a very interesting sideline. For the last twenty years he has been skimming money from multiple oil lease contracts to the amount of approximately one million dollars per year from a certain Mr. Luke Foreman and..”
“From who?”
Bootsie interrupted.
“A Mr. Luke Foreman, I have an address here Bootsie.”
“Please, Lottie let me see it.”
He said holding his hand out. Lottie took a piece of paper from her file and passed it around the table. Bootsie looked down at the address, said nothing and returned the piece of paper back around the table.
He took the opportunity to call for a short break blaming a weak bladder and excused himself from the conference room. He walked down the corridor and sat on a chair in the reception area in silence. As he thought of what he had just read his blood boiled, he stared at the wall opposite as he thought of Luke. He made a mental note that as soon as the meeting concluded he would call Luke and tell him he had been well and truly screwed by Toup to the tune of probably twenty million over the years. He knew Luke’s life was a quiet one in the backwaters of centralLouisiana, he knew all about Luke’s escapades, moonshining and generally hell raising. He also knew all about Luke’s grandfather, father then Luke himself and how they had bought up different plots of land in and around Evangeline over the years that they suspected had oil laying beneath due to the small oily pools or tarry soils that they had found.
Bootsie screwed up his fists in anger as he thought of Luke and how much of his acquired wealth he donated to charities and good causes, a high percentage towards military charities which he spread in equal amounts across the board. He knew them all intimately as it was he who Luke had used as the conduit to make the donations. Luke was not a man for being in the limelight, he was a brave man certainly but one who would have been extremely embarrassed if people knew for one of his wealth and also of his charitable donations. Bootsie sat quietly running through the extensive list of charities that had benefited from Luke’s philanthropy, the ones he could remember were causes like The Vieatnam Veterans Assistance Fund, Homes for Our Troops, Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, Fisher House, Veterans Families United, Veterans Helping Veterans and Others and Disabled American Veterans Auxiliary Inc.
WithinLouisianahe donated to Post 236 Fontenot Le Fleur, Association of Retarded Citizens Of Evangeline Inc, Boys and Girls Club of Ville Platte, Evangeline Community Outreach Inc, Ecoa Elderly Housing Corporation,, Evangeline Parish Youth Foundation,, Evangeline Home Health Agency and the Ville Platt Affordable Housing Corporation. This was not an exhaustive list because Bootsie knew only too well that Luke donated to a total of thirty charitable organizations.
“That Bastard Toup.”
He shouted out as he thought more about Luke, a man he loved more than a brother, a man who would die for him and who Bootsie would die for, with that last thought swirling around in his mind he stood up, turned and walked back towards the conference room. He opened the door to find everyone sitting around the large table chatting in small groups. He closed and locked the door behind him and took up his seat at the head of the table. The chatting quickly subsided and all eyes looked to Bootsie.
“Well I can plainly see ladies and gentlemen that we have Kelllar just where we want him and by the sounds of it some of his organisation and local officials have been caught in our net. Good Job all of you.”
Bootsie beamed before pausing for a moment, he then asked a simple question of his team.
“Well how do we all think we should proceed now?”
Bootsie looked over towards Dilip but Lottie was the first to speak.
“I have been thinking about this quite a lot over the last few weeks and I have come up with a plan that will point a very large finger at Latham, Kellar and Bond, ……it will have both the media and authorities hounding his corporation and whoever else is tied up in their corrupt dealings and hopefully lead straight to the door of Kellar himself.”
Lottie looked around the table, there were nods of encouragement.
“Please Lottie continue,….. We are all eager to hear your plan, it sounds intriguing.”
Bootsie said.
The team sat silently as Lottie outlined her plan, within ten minutes she had finished explaining how she was going to distribute all of the information they had gathered.
“The more shit we can throw at Kellar the more will stick.”
Curtis said .
“Couldn’t agree more.”
Quentin said in support of Curtis.
All around the table were nods of approval, the plan was simple, would be extremely effective and importantly there would be no trail leading back to Bootsie or any of the team.
In Lottie’s world the simple solution was always the best and she had been used to working in the shadows for nearly all of her working life, collecting and when required distributing all sorts of different top secret and confidential information to achieve her desired objective.
Dilip was next to speak
“I would like to thank Lottie for her tremendous efforts, working in conjunction with Quentin and his guys, she has with the help of her team has delivered a wealth of documented evidence and surveillance information that is much more than any of us could have hoped for, as we have all heard some of it quite explosive in nature …… And Donald’s works on the main focus of the Akendo project has been exemplary… thanks Donald…… All of this will be extremely damaging for Latham, Kellar and Bond.”
He paused while a small ripple of applause rang out from the assembled team, both Lottie, Quentin and Donald took their applause graciously and beamed smiles back around the table. As the room quietened down Dilip continued.
“In conjunction with the documentation we have gathered via the Akendo project I think we have Kellar just where we want him…, and if other are caught up in all of this then they will all get what is coming to them. Now your plan Lottie is quite exquisite in its simplicity, boldness and is focused on inflicting the maximum damage when it is implemented… I do have one question though and that is how long will it take?
“Well from past experience I would estimate two weeks tops, so lets say ten to fourteen days, that means all of our information will be out in the media and also in front of the appropriate law enforcement agencies, and from there events will take their own course and be out of our control.” Lottie replied.
“That will work out just fine from a time perspective, what do you think Bootsie?”
Dilip said looking over to the head of the table.
“Great, which will leave a month for the scandal to be splashed nationwide and by then it will have sunken into the public’s consciousness… hopefully every TV network and newspaper will be hounding Kellar, hotly pursued by the authorities.”
Quentin was next to speak and as always from a security angle.
“How sure are you Lottie that there will be no come back on any of us, we want the focus to be entirely on Latham, Kellar and Bond, not on any of us, especially Bootsie.”
“I’m sure Quentin, I’m one hundred percent sure, no come back at all, it will be suddenly out there, a scandal that will grow and grow and hopefully totally engulf Kellar, just keep yours ears open and your eyes peeled in about ten days time maybe two weeks and the story will break, if I wasn’t one hundred percent sure I would say.”
“That’s good enough for me.”
Bootsie said.
“And me.”
“And me.”
Echoed around the table.
“Well ladies and gentlemen thank you all for taking the time out of your busy schedules, do we have any more we need to discuss?”
Bootsie said glancing around the table.
Dilip and Quentin were deep in conversation with each other in hushed voices.
“Dilip, Quentin anything to say?”
Bootsie asked of them.
They cut off their brief discussion and Dilip spoke.
“Yes just a last point that Quentin and I were briefly discussing and that is about us, the team and the Akendo project.”
All eyes looked at Dilip.
“It would seem to us, that is Quentin and me that now that we have got this far and are now at the point of releasing the information we have on Latham Kellar and Bond and their corrupt associates that we will as Lottie identified no longer be in control of events………So it seems that this needs to be the point that the team is disbanded. Curtis, Glenn and Earl can legitimately pull the funding from the Akendo project as the scandal breaks and then Donald can wind up the Akendo Corporation…. I will work with Donald and his board on any media statements they will issue about the Latham Kellar and Bond scandal and that in light of this The Akendo Project was being temporarily suspended as the Akendo Corporation wanted to disassociate itself with Latham Kellar and Bond with immediate effect.”
He paused and glanced over to Donald who nodded his agreement, Dilip then continued.
“At some future date and it may be within a month or so or never, someone might dig around and discover the funding for the Akendo project came legitimately from the Anderson Corporation…… So in light of this I will also work with the Anderson media team and board on any media statements they will issue about the pulling of funding from the Akendo Project due to the Latham Kellar and Bond scandal and not wanting any association at all however tenuous with such a corrupt organisation.”
Dilip stopped again and this time looked over towards Curtis, Glenn and Earl who all nodded in agreement.
“Good thinking guys.”
Bootsie said as he slapped his right hand on the table.
“Finally Bootsie, ladies and gentlemen, as a team it is over, no more discussions, meetings or anything, we never existed, this will not be talked of any more,……. We will obviously do any follow up denials and media responses or statements as appropriate but apart from that, it’s over…. We will let Lottie weave her magic and watch as Kellar’s world falls down around his ears,…… is every one agreed? Quentin asked of the assembled team. The all nodded in agreement and voiced approval to Quentin’s final statement.
Earl had just one more thing to say, he stood up from the table and addressed his colleagues,
“In the words of Henri Wadsworth from the aptly titled poem Evangeline,’Fill our hearts this day with strength and submission and patience!’, thank you.“
The room echoed with cheers and hands clapping. The team that was no more stood up and shook each others hands and some embraced, there was a lot of back slapping and radiant smiles of satisfaction. They had done a good job so far and now the game was entering into its final stages, they would all just have to wait and see. Quentin unlocked the door and they all filtered out one by one saying their goodbyes before they went. They would all meet up again in other circumstances, as individuals or in smaller groups, socially, or on business matters, but never again as the “Akendo Team.”
Bootsie stayed sitting at the polished table while the room emptied and once the last person had said their goodbyes’ to him he picked up his cell phone from the desk and turned it on, he waited a couple of seconds then selected the name “Luke” from his personal contacts list and pressed dial.
I hope you enjoy your reading. It is available on Kindle and a free copy can be borrowed for download at https://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Blue-Heron-Howard-Moore-ebook/dp/B00KK6BWLK..
Howard Moore
