Chapter 12

We were on our way to the airport the next morning when my cell phone rang, it was Jim telling me that the federal government had received a tip that we were cheating on our taxes, they had come and seized everything on the accounting floor, I told him to get a hold of our lawyers and make sure they had the right to do this, Then I hung up and had Shannon call the plane and let them know we were headed home instead of to Edson, I called Rick and asked him if he was aware of what was going on and he told me he was with Jim and Julie waiting for the lawyers before they would let the police into the office.

We got onto the plane and I told the pilots to haul ass as I wanted to get there as soon as possible, They put the plane in high gear and had us back on the ground in Edmonton in short order. Shannon broke every speed limit on the way back to the office, I was on the phone with Jim as we pulled up in front of the building, He told me to go straight to my office as that is where all the action was at this point. Once inside my office I saw there was quite a crowd in the office, there was a very important looking man talking about injunctions and such so I just grabbed Jim and pulled him out of the office.

"What's going on now?" I asked.

"Mr. Smyth our top attorney has stopped them so far he called a judge and had an injunction hearing called for this afternoon, they can't do anything until the case is heard, but they are keeping a close eye on us and we can't touch any of our paperwork or computers until after the hearing either" Jim explained.

"How much trouble are we in?" I asked him.

"None I am quite sure that we have done everything to the letter of the law, anywhere that we were unsure we paid the taxes, then had Revenue Canada look it over and make a decision, we followed their decision to the letter. I know that our accounting practices are very sound and we have broken no laws" Jim swore to me.

"How come all the cops and everything then?"

"Apparently they got a tip that we had cheated on our taxes for quite awhile and we have been involved in drug dealing, that's how we got so big so fast" Jim said.

I just started to laugh and walked back to my office "drug dealers, you seriously think we are drug dealers, Mr. Smyth could I talk with you for a minute please" I said.

Mr. Smyth came out of the office with me and I told him that we had nothing to hide and I felt that we should just let them have a look and get it over with, Mr. Smyth was a little concerned about letting them go ahead with the search warrant because the way it was worded they could and in fact had seized all assets of the company. I told him to go ahead with the hearing then but only to change the wording so we could continue to run the company while they completed the audit.

I walked back into my office and watched with a bit of a smirk on my face as both sides were arguing, Rick, Julie, Shannon and Jim looked relieved to see me smiling and I told them that we should let the lawyers handle this and we could go for lunch, as we walked to the elevator two men followed us into the elevator.

When we walked into the restaurant the two men followed and got a table beside ours, I asked Rick about them and he told me that they were supposed to keep an eye on us as we might flee the country. I laughed and told the waitress to put their meals on our bill. I asked if anyone had any idea who would have told Revenue Canada that we were drug dealers. No one had any ideas so I asked if anyone knew of anything in our business practices that may have made anyone suspicious that we were breaking any laws.

Jim said that we seemed to make money at everything we did and that in itself was suspicious, I replied that hiring the right people should not be suspicious and even if it was we would continue to do this.

After we ate Shannon drove us to the courthouse in her Beemer, I noticed that she drove well within the speed limit on the way over, Mr. Smyth met us just outside the courtroom and he smiled as we came over.

"Are we ready to go in and kick some federal ass?" he asked.

"I think we all are; I know I am, one more thing I would like you to have corrected as well is to have our shadows removed please" I said indicating the two men following us.

He frowned and replied "I am sorry I didn't realize they were taking this as far as all that, they must think you are guilty of something."

"Well I for one am guilty of nothing more than speeding, will we get to hear all of their evidence at the hearing?" I asked.

"They will have to give us enough evidence to justify the warrant at the very least" He explained.