Chapter 18

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

My phone alarm was loud enough to get me going. I was smiling as I did my bathroom stuff and began waking the women. They both wanted to cuddle more, but finally got up, dressed in workout clothing, and went to the basement gym with me.

Jules asked, "Can I really go with you next week?" as we set into our pace on the treadmill.

I told her, "Dan has to give me the okay, but it's a good idea to have all the ears and eyes I can get. Just do any market stuff you have to do, and ignore everyone around you. Kelly is going to gain the confidence of the women in the office, while I bully those who we think might be trying to take advantage of the company. I'll have Yori backing me up, so we should be able to ferret out those who are on the take.

This office was on its way. Sales were on a roll that seemed to be feeding on itself. The construction people were really performing, but as Julio and Nita advised me, they now had about four times more people than they had before, and were now able to complete six to seven inventory homes and a minimum of five custom homes a week. Julio said he thought that he could manage at least three more crews and would need them if sales kept selling as much as they were. Nita now had an assistant, and acted like she might need another.

Every department was producing, which meant that people would be bathing in extra commission and bonus dollars at the end of the month. One of my goals today was to review what Ken had designed for our new office building. He spread his prints and drawings of the new building out on his desk when I went to see him.

Ken said, "Your idea of making the place look like several small offices was good, but I want us to promote Mooney as a conglomerate composed of all the entities we are. I also think that we should keep the office in a similar format as we have now since it seems to keep the morale very high."

"Let me show you what I have. This is the entrance and lobby. Our closing and interview rooms work so well that I want to incorporate them into the new plan. Note there are ten good-sized rooms surrounding the lobby with the receptionist in the middle. Ten may not be enough with our increased activity and what you hope to grow to, but properly used, we can have thirty to forty closings or interviews a day. That has to be close to enough."

"Instead of doors in front of hallways, I think an open hallway to the offices would be better and more open. The offices will be more rectangular on this first floor. Your office will be first and will be very large and long. Here's a sketch if you continue to use it the way you like to. Your desk will be toward the front of the office with your conference table off to the side and big side chairs in front. You'll have an open view of the hallway, and I think we can put pocket doors in that can make the room private if you ever needed it to be. Across the room would be your secretary, Kelly's, desk and there would be room on this other end for one or two desks like you have for Yori. There would be enough room to include Rebecca in the room too, but I put her directly across from you in a similar, but smaller, office with pocket doors, so that you could see each other when you're both at your desks when both of your doors are open. The Assistant's office would be easily large enough for two desks if you had more than one assistant at a time. Note that your office will have two windows, and your Assistant will have one."

"Two elevators, a stairwell, bathrooms, and the first floor break room all on the left side of the hallway would be to the right of the Assistant's office as you're looking at it. A large title office will be on your side of the hallway. I'm figuring a total of twenty people, with a separate office for the Title Manager. The insurance office that I think will very quickly grow larger will be next to the title office. Appraisals would be next, and a very large office for sales would be on the end of the building. There could be a separate Sales Manager's office, but you may not want to separate him from his people."

"Ken rolled a large page out, and said, "Let's look at the upstairs. This is going to be the most difficult because I think the decorators and architects will often be working together, so they should be next to each other. I'm figuring on eight decorators, with three or four assistants. There will probably be five architects, including me, and a single assistant. I'm figuring Loans is eventually going to require space for at least twenty people. Jimmy is undecided as to whether or not he wants a private office. Accounting is questionable, because I think they should have space for seven or eight, but Connie doesn't think that they will ever be that large, and she doesn't want a separate office. Between Loans and Accounting will be a large file room that Jimmy said was needed for him, Title, and Accounting. The rest of the upstairs will have more bathrooms, another large break room, and a large conference room for meetings and events. We'll be doubling our square footage, and we could build a third floor for not a whole lot more money if really we want to be proactive. I don't have plans for a third floor other than to extend the stairway and elevator, and continue the common plumbing wall. The home office plans had a separate office for a secretary, plus a private bathroom for you, but you don't seem to be the kind of guy who has to have a private restroom."

Ken then showed me sketches of the building, the lobby, the hallway, and the Manager's and Assistant's offices. They all looked good and made me want to get started.

"I like this, Ken. Let's send this to the home office to see what they think before you draw up construction blueprints. I'm going to be gone most of next week working on some problem offices, so make notes if you come up with a better plan or want to enhance this one, and we'll send them to the home office too." This plan would give me the same type of location as I have now and would put me closer to the Title office that I felt was important. That's where we collect the company's money for a job well done."

Julio was talking to Kelly when I went back down to my office. He stood up but I waved him back down. I had a couple of questions for him. "What's up, Julio?"

"We need to discuss more crews and if you want me to begin moving our yard. I hate the idea of not being near the office, but we can use the half block of land that's near here for our yard. That's one, and the other question is are you going to have us do the construction of the new building, or are you going to hire another construction company?"

I told Julio, "Go ahead with three more crews and we'll see if we can make some progress on custom homes. Ken has several completed so you can continue. You will have plans for more than you can build at a time when we finish getting the new architects settled." The next question was going to be tricky. "You and your men did a hell of a job with our remodel up front, Julio. Do you think you can hire the men and supervisors to do a major construction job like the new building? It could be three floors, and that's going to require steel work and scaffolding."

With a smile, he said, "We have the people to do it. I might have to hire some steelworkers for a while, but we can do it. I've been evaluating my men to find leaders who are willing and able to be foremen on jobs. The lead men who worked the three shifts for the remodel are all good foremen, and are leading home crews right now."

Julio then hit me between the eyes with this one, "We have the infrastructure on the new property in progress. We should have all the utilities, streets, and sewers ready by the first of the next month. Ken and Alec gave me a design for a really class act model that we should have up by the end of next month. I can't believe the way you are being granted permits. Even the custom homes in our existing developments have been being issued almost on request."

I admitted, "I had no idea that we had even engineered the infrastructure for the new land. Is this just for the high end development, or for all three new ones?"

"All three, Brad. We were sent the engineering, and Ken whipped the plans out for us, along with nursing them through permitting."

This was unbelievable and will require some planning on how to roll out advertising and sales presentations. I asked Julio, "Do we have some really good landscape people? I want these homes to be special with an emphasis on landscaping that has a limited need for extra water. We're also filling the roofs with aesthetic solar panels and possible solar water heating, especially for the potential pools. Have you looked for a pool company that we can acquire? I'll get Rebecca and Matt working on it if you don't feel comfortable doing that. I suppose I need to ask Ken to include that in our new building too."

Julio said, "I have a couple of prospects. Let me approach them to see if they would like to join us. I can hardly say no to a request to enhance construction after the hell of a nice raise you just gave me. I think I'm making way over what that thief I replaced made with his illegal money."

I laughed and said, "Probably. I think we can all make more money legally rather than scamming the company. We'll be making more for everyone around us too."

When Julio left, Yori said, "Dai is home and wants you to meet him for the lesson you requested. We need to leave now. You'll only be there two hours, so you'll be back around noon."

Kelly wanted to know what kind of lesson, and I told her it was a form of self-defense. Kelly asked, "If this is for the firing range, you said you would work with me too. Can I come along?"

I looked at Yori, and he said, "I will work with you while Dai works with Brad. Tell Rebecca and Joan you will be gone."

Yori, Kelly, and I drove to a large gun store with a pistol range. Yori had my weapon and shoulder harness with him and handed it to Dai. Yori checked Kelly's handgun and I saw him nodding his approval. Dai had me put the harness on when we were in our booth at the range, and began teaching me about the pistol. He went through the preferred stance to fire a handgun and even had me hold the empty gun and do some dry firing. He said he would show me how to take the gun apart for cleaning when we finished today. He went through the safety features of the gun, and he instructed me how to handle it.

He brought an empty magazine out, and handed it to me with a single round. Dai told me to push the round into the magazine. He then told me to use the safety instruction he had given me to insert the magazine and chamber the round. I did that, and lay the gun back on the small platform facing downrange.

"Okay, Brad, now, pick the weapon up, aim at the nearest target, and fire aiming at the body of the target."

Bang.

The slide locked back, so I dropped the magazine and lay the gun down again.

Yori was in the position next to us, and he and Dai looked at each other, before Dai asked, "Have you had lessons on how to fire a handgun before?"

"Nope, I had never fired a gun before the other day. Why?"

Yori chuckled from the next booth, "You hit the target in the center of the body mass with your first training shot. It took me a few hours of shooting to ever get one that close. Have him do it again, Dai."

Dai handed me a round that I slid into the magazine, then seated it into the handle of the Glock, and raised it up and fired. A second hole near the first one opened up. I dropped the magazine and lay the gun down once again.

Dai smiled and said, "Some people have a unique ability to accurately fire a gun. You must be one those, Brad. Let's try three rounds at a time. Fire all three at the body."

I went through the motions and fired three rounds that clustered together, with the second round I fired a little higher than the first. Dai commented as I put the weapon down, "You did fire slightly higher the second round, but you at least corrected for your third."

Dai handed me what appeared to be a full magazine, and said, "Fire five rounds at the body, and then five at the head paint."

I stared at the target a second before I picked the magazine up, seated it, and let the slide move forward into place, chambering a round. I fired fairly slowly at the body, and then raised my aim to fire at the head. I hit the paint on all five of the head shots, but they were not in a tight cluster as I seemed to have more trouble raising my aim.

Dai said, "Amazing. You have a feel for this. We'll work on speeding up your firing, but Yori said you rapidly fired several rounds at a man who was going to shoot you with an automatic weapon. No wonder you were able to disable him. You're very accurate."

I told Dai, "I still don't like carrying a weapon. I suppose it is going to be necessary for some things, but I don't like it. I just hope that I will make the right decisions using a weapon rather than shooting when it's unnecessary."

Dai said; "Wait just a minute. I'll have the Range-master set up their decision course. I'll make sure that it's set for slow so that you can get the feel for how it works. Load two magazines with ten rounds each, and wait for me to return."

I lifted the ear protectors to let my ears breathe for a few seconds. Yori was at a pause with Kelly, did the same thing, and commented again that he was very pleased to see that I was accurate with the handgun and not afraid to fire it. I told him, "It's crazy that people have to carry a weapon for fear of someone attacking them. I know there are bad people and I've ran into more bad people since I've been out here than I've ever met. Is it the area, or is it the business?"

Yori said, "It's both, because you're dealing with millions of dollars and some people want to get some of that money the easy way. You represent that money or a restriction on their getting it. It's the same with Hideki. He once had to use his weapon to keep Nobuko from being kidnapped. He was successful, and made a very difficult shot at the kidnapper who was holding Nobuko. Hideki was shaken from the incident for over a month. You made some difficult shots and recovered the same day. I'm comfortable with you."

Dai came back with a handheld remote control. He told me, "Put your ear protection back on, and get ready. I will put the display up and cycle through the targets. I will let you say 'shoot' or 'don't shoot' for each one as you see it. This is just some practice so that you'll know what the targets look like."

The targets were like projections of various people. Some had robbers' masks and some hoodies with both hands up. One was a mother pushing a stroller with a baby in it, while another had a mother pushing a stroller with machine guns in it. I would probably still say 'don't shoot' if she didn't have a gun in her hand.

Dai told me to load the Glock and lay it on the shelf. He then aimed the remote and said, "Pick your weapon up when you hear the beep, and begin shooting at targets that should be shot."

I shot ten rounds, quickly reloaded, and shot ten more targets. I think the only target I shouldn't have shot was a guy in a hoodie with his hands in his pockets. When I dropped the empty magazine and lay the gun down, Dai said, "Very good. Which ones are you questioning?"

I told him about the guy with hoodie and his hands in his pockets. Dai said, "You did hesitate for a second, but fired anyway. That was a bad choice. Remember to wait until you see a weapon or partially see one as it's being drawn to harm you or another."

The big man then said, "You've covered four or five hours of training in less than two. Let me teach you how to clean your weapon. Let's check for any brass that fell inside the booth first, though. You held the gun out, so I don't think any landed in here. Let's go check in and clean our weapons."

The range had a table with cleaning materials. I was shown how to take the gun apart, clean it, and put it back together. Kelly had already been well-trained, and was able to disassemble her smaller Glock for cleaning.

The two men had me repeat the operation two more times to be sure that I knew what to do. The whole gun was four parts, the frame, the recoil spring, the slide, and the barrel. They showed me how to clean and lubricate each part and suggested I make myself a kit with what I would need. Dai handed me two full magazines and a single round when I had finished with the gun. He told me to load the gun, including chambering a round. He had me drop the magazine after I had loaded the gun, and stuff the last bullet in it. He told me, "This is a Glock 22, Generation 4, with magazines that hold fifteen rounds, and you already have a round in the chamber, giving you sixteen opportunities to do what you need to do if you pull your weapon with the intent to use it. The time it would take you to chamber a round could be the time you give your enemy to fire at you. Now put it into your shoulder holster and get used to it. I will give you another lesson right here on Saturday and Sunday, at eight or nine. Which would be best?"

"Let's do it at eight so that I'll have time to clean up before I have other lessons tomorrow."

Dai nodded with a smile and said, "Those are very important lessons too."

I called Joan on the way back to the office and asked if she was going to order sandwiches. She said that she would make the announcement, and have one of the architects go get the order.

I told Dai, "Stay for a Subway. You can tell Joan what you want."

Yori told Dai, "I think the guy could live off Subways and what Johnny's serves."

I was very pleased at the office with the way the building looked with the additions and the paved parking area. We looked a hell of lot more professional. I felt like we were as well. Joan asked for our Subway order that we gave her when we went into the lobby. She told me, "There have been several calls for you. Kelly has messages."

Rebecca was sitting at my desk, talking on the telephone. Kelly smiled at me and said, "There are some messages Joan took for you, but I don't think any are important. Fred from Tampa called to let you know that he thinks his wife is pregnant. The San Diego Manager, John Willing, wanted to report record sales this week, and that he was geared up with salespeople for the weekend. Don from Vegas called to tell you that he thinks he's ready for a good weekend. It's all good news, including the company pilot who called and said that he understood you were flying to Seattle on Monday, and wanted to know what time and what your itinerary for the week is. I'll call to tell him there will be four of us on the plane and that you would want to leave early in the morning or Sunday evening. I think we'll have to reserve rooms close to the office in Seattle. I really doubt we'll be able to clear that place in a day."

"You're right, Kelly. We may not even get to Salt Lake next week." I looked up at Rebecca and she was off the phone now, "You're going to be busy without Kelly next week. Should I leave Kelly here?"

Rebecca said, "I've hired an after-hours receptionist and a weekend girl. While I was at it, I've hired a part time weekday girl so that Joan can do what Kelly does while you're gone. We should be okay with the additional costs from Connie's projections. Sales are still going strong with selling pre-owned and any inventory homes that get finished. Custom sales are up too, so we aren't slowing down because we've sold out our inventory homes."

I asked her, "So you're learning to grease up the sales to Finance, Decorations, Architects, Insurance, and Title?"

Rebecca smiled and said, "I had this great conversation with Fred in Tampa and he explained what I needed to be on the lookout for and how to head off a problem. You've done the work getting everyone on track and all I have to do is keep my eyes and ears open and make it keep happening."

She said, "Julio knows a pool installation company that has one salesperson, but he said he thought he could get a couple more if we wanted them. These people don't do that many, but they apparently build some real classics. Can I interview the guy? I can send you all the information on him while you're gone so that we can begin selling pools and spas too."

"Sure, let's see if it works. Is the guy going to want a lot of money to get with us?"

Rebecca said, "From what Julio said, he would like a salary and someone else to front the materials so that he isn't broke all the time. He said he has a backlog of orders that he can install, but lacks the cash to buy what it takes to build the pools."

"Get him and I'll clear it with the home office, Rebecca. I'll have Fred in Tampa get started with the idea there if they say go. San Diego and Las Vegas would do well with the idea as well."

I reached for my phone at the same time as Rebecca reached for it. I commented, "I think I'm going to recommend to Ken that we build my office big enough for you, Kelly, and Yori. We need more phones and PCs If we're in the same office."

Rebecca laughed and got up. "I have an office. I'll go there and sulk for a while, and you can flirt with your secretary."

Kelly suggested, "Move my desk a little toward the front of the office and your desk this way a little and back. The big credenza behind you can be moved over the same amount, and then put Rebecca like me with the conference table and Yori in the back. I don't think it will feel crowded. I'll get Ken to measure and draw it up for us."

I made the comment, "I suppose Title and Decorators would enjoy having another closing room."

I sat in my chair now that my desk was free, and called Dorothy in the home office. I asked her if the senior partner was in and in a good mood. She said, "He's in a lot better mood knowing you're going to Seattle on Monday. Your sales are keeping everyone up here excited, so ask him for just about anything. I'll transfer you."

Dan said, "Glad to hear from you. You're not getting cold feet about going to Seattle, are you?"

"No sir, I'll be there Monday morning. I'm not sure of what I'll find, but we'll figure out a way to clean it up." I paused then said, "I know you've let me begin an insurance agency, and now I might have something else that could improve sales. I want to absorb or acquire a small pool and spa design and installation company to sell pools in our developments and in the open market. I think a custom home with a custom pool would be desirable."

Before I could continue, Dan said, "Damn right it would be desirable. I've wondered about that, but no one seemed to want to do it. Your sales are blowing off the top, and that could really generate some extra revenue if you were to build some with a pool. If you get someone, make sure that he knows how to have more than one crew working at the same time. You're going to have a busy department."

"Thanks, Sir; what do you think about doing the same in Florida? I think we could have a successful pool business in all the offices down there."

"Do it, Brad. Call every one of the offices and tell them how to get started. Give them a budget that's flexible and see how it goes. All your managers down there will want to increase their revenues and will jump on this. Tell them about your insurance office too. I understand your agency in LA is writing a lot of business and might even show a profit this quarter."

"Thanks, Dan, and thank you for the use of the airplane while I take care of the problems. It will make moving around faster."

Dan said, "No problem; it lets me use the new plane. We won't be using it as much because it requires two pilots, and the other partners wanted to have a hostess as it has a bigger galley and can carry ten people. Your activity is going to pay for it, so thank you."

I laughed at that and told him, "I guess Mooney is becoming big time now with two corporate aircraft. We'll have to keep this upward swing going to afford your toys."

Dan said, "The new plane is a lot faster, so it'll be easier and faster for us to make it to the distant locations. It will be better since it can also carry more of us at a time, considering that we usually travel with our wives."

"That's really good. I look forward to more of you guys coming to visit. Let's see, there are only five partners remaining so you can all come at once. That would be a neat visit. You'll have to think about it."

"Oh, we have, Brad. They all want to come to see your place after we got back and Mika told the other wives how great a time we had. It'll happen as soon as you get that region settled."

I told Dan, "Well, watch for my reports beginning Monday. I'll dive in with both feet. I may need people, so be ready."

Kelly was holding two Subways while Dai, Yori, Rebecca, and Joan were at the conference table with theirs. I asked, "Who's watching the front?"

Joan said, "Sharon, the new girl. She was a receptionist for Browning, but recently left to work part time somewhere. I've known her and she is a great receptionist and will work some weekends and as well as evenings. She's very flexible and will work out well while you're traveling with Kelly."

Kelly came over to my desk to hand me my sandwich. She leaned down and whispered, "She's another looker. You're going to be having salespeople trying to get hired by the company just for the scenery."

I was going to have to check this Sharon out.

Dai said, "You and I have to do one more thing for Hideki," when I finished my sandwich. "Come, we're going to get you fitted with Hideki clothes. You need them to be able to wear that thing without it showing."

I told them that I needed to use the restroom and wash my hands. I used the men's urinal and then washed my hands, looking to see if I could spot the gun under my suit coat. I could. It even showed a bulge when I stood up straight. It didn't show if I left my suit coat unbuttoned, but that side of the coat could float open and show the nasty thing sitting there. Oh well, I already owe the guy so much that I'll never be able to repay him.

Joan introduced Sharon to me as we left the office, and I was coming close to choking because I wanted to investigate this babe right there in the lobby. I smiled and winked at Joan, Kelly, and Rebecca, who all wanted to see my reaction. I was so cool, but anyone could have smelled the good stuff running down my leg if they had a good nose.

Dai asked for the keys and drove me and Yori outside Hollywood to an area that could be considered rough. The place was sort of like the place in Tampa that was frequented by anyone wanting a deal on quality clothing at a seventy-five percent discount. Dai spoke to a salesman in Japanese, and then led me to where the suits were displayed.

They had me try on my size suit coats and sport coats, and then began selecting pants. When I had a full rolling cart, we went to the fitting area where they checked every coat while I wore my harness with the gun. I then began trying pants on so that they could alter them to fit. Dai and Yori had selected six suits of unbelievable value, as well as three sport coats and nine pair of slacks. Dai had one of the women salespeople select some very nice knit shirts to go with slacks and sport coats. I knew better than to protest, as this is what Hideki wanted and probably what Nobuko wanted, as well.

Dai and the people at the desk had a conversation in Japanese when we were finished. Dai turned to me and asked, "They will be at your home at three-thirty tomorrow to fit you with these new clothes. Do you need any dress shirts?"

I dizzily said, "I don't think so. They are easy to get anywhere."

Yori told me, "We can get denims now too if you need them, because you're going to want to wear them and a sport coat when we're not at your offices."

"I'm fine, Yori. I pack light and don't carry that much with me. I can get shirts laundered at any hotel."

My bodyguard nodded in agreement, and we went back to the office. Kelly said, "I wish I could have gone with you. I love that place as they have professional women's wear too. A lot of people won't go there because of where it is, but I've never had a problem."

I kept thinking that I had taken care of problems all over Florida for over five years and always traveled alone. I didn't have a secretary, but I had a receptionist who watched out for me. We did a hell of a lot of business in all our locations there and were amazingly efficient. It was different out here because of the amount of money everything cost. That I was going to travel to Seattle with a horde of people was strange to me, but I was prone to believe it was a good idea considering all the strange situations I had already run into.

I made sure the wheels would continue to turn appropriately with Rebecca watching them. I was going to have to take her with me for some of my travels and leave Kelly here.

I made sure that Kelly, Yori, and Jules were equipped with laptops and iPads. They may not be efficient with them yet, but they would quickly learn how to link the two together. I checked with Kelly and she said that we were set to fly up and be in the Seattle office when it opened Monday morning. I had finally agreed to fly up Sunday evening and check into a hotel for a couple of nights. This was becoming a job instead of an enjoyable occupation.