Chapter 1: Matt Chapman

Matt---I should tell you a little about myself before we get started. I am an only child of an auto worker and a high school science teacher. Full grown I stand 5’ 10” inches tall and weight 175 lbs. just so you know I am not athletic, never was. I was the last kid picked when teams were chosen on the playground. Know what I mean? I could not catch a ball or run very fast. But I was always the smartest kid in my class. I loved studying and doing research in the library. That almost got me killed one night. I’ll explain that later.

My mother was always talking about saving the planet and involved in everything from clean air protests to the “green movement”. In high school I went along with her. I guess that’s what got me interested in “environmental science”. That is what I majored in at the university. The truth is that’s why I am where I am today.

I was thinking about what to do my thesis on. Yeah, I was getting my Ph.D. when I saw an article on the local landfill. It had been lined with plastic then filled with garbage. Even though they had pumps to siphon off the leachate it was not working, the plastic lining had probably ruptured, and the plume (contaminated water) extended over three hundred meters. This was going to affect the drinking water for over a million people.

I always thought lining a landfill with plastic was a bad idea. That’s when a light bulb went off in my brain.

What if ... we’ll get back to that later also.

My paper was a success, and I received my Ph.D. but one of the professors told me it would never work on a large scale. Silently I thought of Fred Smith and his idea for Federal Express.

I started my company and was beginning to think he was right. Waste management is handled by politicians or various mafias for the most part. Corruption is the name of the game. Even though my idea solved a lot of problems it was like butting my head against a wall. Then I got an e-mail from an attorney in South America.

She was handling the legal work for a company that had gone bankrupt. That company was a strip-mining operation that had contracted with the capital city there to use the abandoned strip mines for garbage dumps. She had read my thesis! She wanted to know if I could come down and explain my ideas to her! The capital city was wanting to know when they should close the old garbage dump and start hauling their garbage to the strip mine. Time was of the essence! I was on the first plane leaving the next morning!

I landed seven hours later and breezed through customs. At the baggage claim I saw a man holding a sign with my name on it. It was a short drive to the hotel. He took me directly to a room and helped me get my bags settled. Before he left he handed me a card and told me to call the number if I wanted to leave the hotel. He said an American walking alone could be targeted. I looked at the card and it said, “O’Malley Security”. (Read my story, ‘The Guard’) This guy was not only my chauffeur but also my bodyguard! I assured him I would stay in the hotel.

In the room I found a letter telling me that Camila Gomez O’Shea, my lawyer contact, had offices here in the hotel and I was to come to the 30th floor at 9am. I spent the night watching an episode of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ in Spanish then reviewing my power point presentation. I ordered a steak from room service and was surprised how good it tasted!

The next morning found me getting off the elevator on the 30th floor at the offices of ‘The Gomez Company’. I introduced myself and asked for Mrs. O’Shea. I was told she was waiting for me in the conference room. When the door to the room was opened, I was surprised! The room was full!

A pretty Latina stood and shook hands with me as she introduced herself as Camila Gomez O’Shea. Her husband, Daniel, (From my story ‘The Honey Trap’) was next, a civil engineer. He was there to help her with anything she did not understand. Next came Ana Gomez O’Shea, her sister, who operates the O’Shea Ranch which adjoins the mining property and had bought it from the bankruptcy court. Her husband was the tall man dressed like a cowboy minus the hat. I noticed an old scar running from the top of his head down his neck. His smile was ice cold, I imagine that scar has a lot to do with his stand-offish personality. Then a bubbly younger girl stepped forward and introduced herself as the youngest of the Gomez sisters, Patty. Her husband was dressed in some type of military uniform complete with a pistol on his side.

“I’m John O’Malley, Patty’s husband.” (Reference ‘The Guard’)

I recognized his name from the card I was given last night.

“I have one of your cards.”

“Keep it on you at all times. If you ever need me, give me a call.”

I thanked him but doubted I would ever need him. How wrong I was!

Then I was introduced to Dr. Will O’Shea and his cute little brown-haired wife. Both were scientists I was told. We all took our seats, and I started my presentation. I did notice Will had opened his laptop and was either streaming or recording the meeting.

I promised you I would explain my idea. Now is as good of time as any.

Instead of lining a garbage pit with plastic that was going to leak eventually, I had developed, with the help of my business partner, a chemical engineer friend of mine, an epoxy which would be sprayed on the bottom and sides of the pit. In this epoxy was ground up old car tires. That gave it a thickness of about six inches. The floor of the pit would then be covered with perforated pipe which would collect the leachate and pump the water up and out to a filtering station. The water on the other side of the filters would be safe enough to be put in a lake for livestock or pumped back into a creek or river. The methane gas would be treated the same way. Vertical perforated pipes would let the gas pass up and be pumped into a gas facility which would “bottle” (metal tanks) it and sell it to people who lived away from gas or electric lines. They could use it for heating their homes, cooking or even on gas operated refrigerators.

I finished and asked if anyone had any questions. The scientists had a few technical questions that I answered easily. I saw Will looking at his computer then he asked if I had a wife or girlfriend?! What kind of question is that from a genius! I told the room that I had a girlfriend in grad school. She was a medical doctor and worked for ‘Doctors Without Borders’. A long-distance relationship had not worked out. At present I was single and looking. That got a laugh from everyone.

Ana asked for a break so they could discuss some things in private. Her husband Travis, and the engineer, Daniel suggested I accompanied them downstairs to a coffee shop. I agreed and we left the conference room. John O’Malley caught us at the elevator and said he decided to join us. We made an odd-looking foursome. I am 5’ 10” tall and 175. The other three are all 6’ 3” or taller and weigh probably 225 or more.

The conversation over coffee was very informative. Travis and John were both former Marines. I refrained from asking Travis about the scar, or John about his limp. I thought I would save that for over a beer one night. John told me he was head of security for Victor Gomez and did some “contract work” for the police department. What the hell does that mean? I also saved that question for a night over a beer. Daniel told me about a project he was working on. The city wanted to close the dump they were currently using and create some type of recreational area, like a park with hiking trails or maybe a golf course. I told him I would like to help with that. We could try to keep the leachate out of the ground water but that’s always a problem. The methane gas could be salvaged. Our conversation got a little above the heads of our other companions, so we decided to meet another time and work out the details. We had killed about an hour when John said we should get back and see what had been decided.

As we walked into the conference room, I knew I had my first deal! Everyone was smiling!

To make a long story short we did have a deal. My company was hired by the O’Shea Ranch, owners of the property and Daniel hired us as a consultant on the reclamation project!

After being shown to my new home, an apartment in one of the new high rise apartment buildings the Gomez family owns, I went back to the states and closed my apartment. A week later I was back doing all the logistic work getting ready to start my project. Life was good!

It was about 11:30pm on a Saturday night. I had been sitting outside in the enclosed patio of the apartment building and had decided to call it a night. As I got off the elevator on my floor, I noticed the door to the apartment across the hall from me was open. When I glanced inside, I got the shock of my life!

There was this giant black man holding a woman up against the wall by her throat! He must have already hit her a few times because I saw blood streaming out of her nose and mouth. He was screaming at her in English.

“You bitch! You’re mine and don’t you ever forget it. I own your ass and I will until I say it’s over! UNDERSTAND!!”

She was in no condition to even hear him, much less understand what he was saying. She did not respond so he hit her again!

“You better tell me you understand bitch, or I am going to knockout the rest of your teeth!”

His back was to me and he did not hear me enter the apartment. I saw a glass vase with roses in it sitting on the coffee table. Before he hit her again, I grabbed the vase, roses and all, and hit him as hard as I could on the back of his head! The vase shattered; roses and water went everywhere! He collapsed to the floor!