Chapter 20

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

I was groggy waking up, but knew that I needed to get my feet under me and get going. Jules stirred, but she wasn't acting like she wanted to join me in the world of the living.

Jules said, "I know that I need to wake up, but I really don't want to. You do this every day and I need to learn to join you in getting ready, but damn, Brad, this isn't normal, is it?"

I laughed, and said, "It's normal for some of us. Let's go work out and let me appreciate that fine ass you have."

That got a response from her and she moved to get out of bed. She was putting shorts and a stretch Bandeau top on to keep her jugs from jiggling while exercising a minute later. We were joined by Yori and Kelly as we went next door to the gym the hotel contracted with.

We all stretched before using the treadmills, followed by the nautilus machines or the free weights. Yori and I spotted each other as we did our reps.

We agreed to meet for breakfast in twenty minutes, so that kept Jules and I from some play time. We were ready to go to breakfast and had our clothes packed so that we could leave for Portland later. We carried everything down, met Sheila, and took her to the IHOP next door.

I tried to tell Sheila everything that had happened to date, but it was a little overwhelming. She finally accepted that she could possibly be under fire, but she would also be protected. I don't think she digested her breakfast as well as she should.

We weren't the first people there this morning. It was seven thirty and Sonja was there with a smile. June in decorating was there having a cup of coffee. George was already getting a package ready for title, and Mary Jane was getting ready for two quick closings.

Tod came in with a big smile, and went to the break room before coming back to the Manager's office with a cup of coffee in his hand. He said, "This is the way to greet people in the morning. Everything that happened yesterday is gone and not even remembered. I have six people from that other company starting today. I'll get them through the home office as fast as possible and out getting listings."

I told Tod, "You know that MLS and Zillow has properties and we get the seller's commission if we sell it. Have your new people work on selling new properties, but they should not forget something that's available on the market. Let's be a 'real' real estate company, in other words."

Sheila had shadowed me and met each of the entities. They all said that they would help her and teach her as they worked deals. She looked at me and said, "No one has pushed me into everything at once the way you're doing it. You don't fool around, do you?"

I smiled at the young lady and told her, "There are times to take it slow, and times that we have to really hit it. This is a really 'hit it' time. Ask whenever you don't understand something. I've been in the business a long time, and I still have to ask sometimes. Call me if you don't feel comfortable. I won't be away from my cell phone. I'll call you as soon as I'm in range if I'm in the air. Wait for me."

The four of us left the young lady in charge, and headed to the airport where Michi and the pilot were waiting for us.

I almost left Kelly, but she wanted to go to Portland with me. This was going to be crazy once again, but I wanted to get the offices running the way they should be.

The pilot was ready for us and the hostess said she had coffee for the short flight to Portland. I reviewed the files on Portland while in the air, and expected about the same problems as Seattle.

We encountered a policeman who contested our carry credentials at the Portland airport. Yori called Dai, who did whatever he does, and the jerk who was contesting us disappeared. That made me feel a lot better about being in the area. I rented a car with a GPS and drove straight to the office.

The receptionist had a scared look on her face when we walked in, so I left Kelly and Jules up front with her.

Yori, Michi, and I went to the Manager's office and found four heavies at the conference table and the Manager sitting at his desk.

The Manager said, "I'm not sure why you're here but you can leave now," as soon as we walked in. "As you can see, I have all the help I need to keep you from doing anything silly with my operation. The Seattle guy didn't get any warning, but I did and I want you on an airplane out of here as fast as you came."

I ignored the man's threats, and said, "My name is Brad Johnson. I am the new West Coast Regional Manager and will be making manpower decisions for a while. That you believe you're in charge is a good thing, but I expect to see some results. How about showing me the P&Ls for the last two quarters? You haven't filed them with the company. Even your mentor in LA filed P&Ls that showed a profit. Now, so that you know what I'm capable of, please give me the last two quarters P&Ls and do it within the next fifteen minutes. Any more time will mean that you're making them up."

The man stared at me and then glanced at the table full of heavies. I noticed Yori and Michi separating from me and each other. Kelly and Jules had come in, although I had wanted them to stay at reception and had their hands in their purses. I had watched Kelly and Jules at the range, and knew they both were very good.

One of the men observed what we did, and put his hands on the table. The others were inching their hands toward their suitcoats. I told them, "Look, I am a reasonable guy and want honesty and a way to prove what's being spent is for the good of the company. Show me that and go back to business. I won't pay for someone who is not really an asset to the company, and I won't pay over billing, more than is on a bill of lading, or invoices that aren't real. Show me what we're paying for on an invoice that we've received, and I'll have accounting pay it. There are a lot of invoices I'm seeing that are garbage and not real. I'm separating those out, as well as terminating anyone who doesn't have a real job in our organization. Pull your weapons if you want to argue with me, and let me shoot you between the eyes. I'm tired of this shit and don't need the aggravation."

I pulled my Glock and waved it at the men at the table. I pulled the slide back, ejecting the shell which I caught in my hand. I watched the men as I dropped the magazine and stuffed the round back into the magazine and re-seated it. The result of the demonstration was to see the men keep their hands away from their suit and sport coats.

I saw Jules smile, but I also saw Kelly tighten up as she seemed to be watching one of the men near her.

"Go to the front, Jules, and have a patrolman stop by to check some weapons that may or may not be legal. Go to the secretary's desk, Kelly, and find me a security company similar to what we hired in Seattle. I want coverage ASAP. Keep trying other companies until we get it done if the first company can't get here right away."

"Okay, Men, tell me what department you work in when I point to you." Are you a salesman, an architect, an appraiser? The first guy shrugged when I pointed at him. The second, third, and fourth men did the same thing. I was still holding my gun pointed at the four men, when I said, "So none of you do anything, and are probably on the payroll. You are not employed by Mooney as of right this minute. You four will show me your carry permit when I ask, and pull your weapons and place them on the table."

I used my Glock to point at the first man. He slid his hand into his suit coat, brought his gun out with two fingers, and laid it on the table. I pointed at the next man and he did the same. The third and fourth men followed in placing their guns on the table. While holding my gun on them, I asked Yori, "Use that empty waste basket and rake the guns into it. That will keep the temptation away."

I pointed at the man still sitting at the Manager's desk and asked, "Now you, Sir. Do you have a weapon?" He was reaching for his shoulder, when I said, "Stop, don't pull yours. I may want to shoot you and you'll need to be armed so that it'll be self-defense."

My smile probably bothered him, but I was thinking that I needed to have a policeman find him with an illegal gun. The other men probably couldn't be charged as a cop couldn't necessarily put the gun with the man or the man with a gun.

I asked the former Manager, "How long did you think you could continue what you were doing? The company already replaced you once. I'm sure you heard about Bennington who set you up, and you had to know that someone would do something. This isn't that big of an office, so you should have been worried that the company would just close the office and sell any properties they owned."

The guy wasn't going to talk now. I didn't care one way or another. I needed to begin to work the office and find out how far the guy had gotten in destroying the place. My peripheral vision picked up Jules waving at me. I went to stand next to the door where she could whisper in my ear. She told me, "The police are here and I told them these men have guns. They said that they wouldn't be able to do anything if you took them away from them."

I whispered back to her, "I'll send the men out with their guns in their holsters one at a time. Have them take them into custody outside so those still in here can't hear what's going on."

She left to talk to the policemen and I picked the waste basket up and pointed at the first man. "I don't need any of you four around here. I want you to leave. Get your pistol, put it into your holster, and get out of here."

I waited two or three minutes, and had the second man get his weapon out of the waste basket, slip it into his shoulder holster, and leave.

The third man was slow getting up, but finally did what I told him and left. The fourth guy was anxious to get out of there, and was trying to get up to leave before the third man was even out of the office. I finally let him grab his gun, but made him put it into his holster while holding my gun on him. He almost ran down the hall. A policeman came into the room less than a minute later, and asked, "Does that guy have a gun too?"

"I think so, or at least he was reaching for it at one time. The man is actually also trespassing. He was terminated from this location at least a month ago."

The Manager suddenly blurted out, "I still haven't been terminated. Go check with accounting and they'll tell you I'm still on the payroll."

I nodded and said, "I see, so you bullied accounting into keeping you on the payroll even though you were officially terminated."

The policeman had taken the gun from the man and was cuffing him. He told me, "These guys will probably be able to post bail in a few hours if there aren't any outstanding warrants, so you should get some additional security. Now, to be fair, may I see all of your IDs and your carry permits?"

He looked at my credentials, wrote down all the ID information, and made a cell phone call to ask a question. He nodded and then handed my stuff back to me. He looked at Yori's and Michi's, wrote their ID information down, and just briefly glanced at everything. I asked the policeman if he could take the vehicle these men came with so they would have no reason to come back. They said they would have it towed.

I went up front to watch them leave and saw there were four police cars in the lot now. The back was open on a Chevy Suburban with a cop holding what looked like a small automatic rifle. Another officer was holding a rifle with a scope. Maybe they wouldn't get out of jail so fast.

Turning back to the receptionist who I really hadn't met yet, I smiled at her, and said, "My name is Brad Johnson, and you are?"

The woman smiled back and said, "I'm Eloise, the receptionist, and thank you for getting that man out of here. He threatens everyone in the office and is constantly telling us that he is going to help us sleep with the fishes if we don't do exactly what he wanted. Most everyone has quit, so there aren't many people here. There's Burt in Finance, Melissa in Accounting, Kitty, the decorator, and that's about it. The Sales Manager was fired by the last Manager sent in here. That one left because the legal men came in and found out that he was going to do the exact same thing because the old Office Manager immediately cornered him. We do have a salesman and saleswoman who are still working. They do sell a few custom homes, and I know they try to bring listings in to sell pre-owned homes. They don't stay in the office because of the Manager being here so often.

The place should probably be closed and abandoned. It was difficult to believe how many people were hurt by that man's greed.

"Do you have a Title office?"

"No, Sir, the Manager did away with it almost six months ago. He also cut Melissa's hours so that she only works three days a week. The salesman and woman just bring their contracts in and give the credit apps to Burt. He gets the loans approved and then schedules closings with another title company."

I asked the receptionist if she could call the two salespeople because I wanted to meet them and could use their help. Jules said that she would stay with the receptionist unless I had something for her to do. I asked her, "Begin calling title companies to see if one might be available to be bought or if they know of an office that might be closing. I'll have the salespeople help me find a Sales Manager. Now I want to talk to Burt and Melissa. Do an all page to find me if you need me, Eloise. Tell me when Kitty comes in, and I'll talk to her. Michi was now in the lobby to protect Jules.

I went upstairs and found the accounting office, and also found Burt there talking to Melissa. I introduced myself to both. Melissa immediately asked me, "Can I go back to full time like George did in Seattle?"

She smiled when I said, "Yes, you can. I also want you to find an accounting firm who can do a thorough forensic audit. Get a temp or two if you need help while trying to get caught up, and you can have an assistant if you find you need help full time. Just so you and I can get on the same page, can you identify which invoices are real?"

"That's easy, because I assign them an 'F' account number because I know they're fake."

"There could be others that appear to be real, so investigate every invoice that comes across your desk. Your payroll should be six or eight people from what I know right now. Any more than that are people that I want to meet by the end of the day. You can help by getting the cleaning people you used to use to come back, and make sure they do the models too."

Melissa said, "Don't forget Construction. I think they earn their money because they are always busy building an inventory home if they aren't building a custom."

"Tell me, in your opinion, Melissa; is the material we're paying for about the right amount for a home or for the homes that are scheduled?"

"Oh yeah, the former Manager tried to pull something like that, but Sherman Wilbarger, the Construction Supervisor, wouldn't put up with it. He told the Manager that he was going to report it to the company if he tried something like that again."

I turned to Burt and asked, "I know that there aren't many ways to corrupt the Finance department and I hear you do find loans for the few sales that are coming through. How many additional people would you need to handle a minimum of ten sales a week? I'd like to see this office produce at least twenty a week. Use that as a guide to see if we can get this office to work again. The way to do that is to have other realtors use us for their loans. Mooney has money to loan, so work at getting business from other homebuilders and realtors. You know how easy it is for a lot of people to get home loans from us."

Burt said, "I can do twenty a week with one or two more people. What we really need is the Title office back. It's always a struggle to get that done."

"I'm working on that as we speak. Okay, here's the deal. I'm going to find a good Sales Manager and at least a handful of salespeople. If you know of someone, call them and ask them to come in. Oh, Melissa, I have a security company sending a couple of men out to watch the office during the day, and we'll use the same company for one or two walking guards at night. That will screw up the budget for a while, but we'll be selling properties soon which will get everything back on track. I want both of you to take my cell phone number and immediately call me if you see or hear of any type of transaction that's improper so that I can immediately nip that in the bud."

Burt asked, "Are you going to be the Office Manager?"

"No, but I can guarantee you that the new Office Manager will have some experience and will be honest. Once again, call me if you see anything out of the ordinary."

"Both of you think positive and work toward the Portland office's success. Now to see if the decorator is in."

I could see light through the blinds on the glass door window when I walked by the decorator's office. I knocked. "Come in."

A woman in a nice blouse was busy with some sketches and photos when I went in. She turned to me, showing me that she had what it took to show some great cleavage, actually too much for an office. She looked me up and down before asking, "Who are you?"

"I'm Brad Johnson, the new West Coast Regional Manager. You must be Kitty."

She swung her chair around to face me, and smiled, "Are you here for your introductory blowjob?"

She reached for my pants, and I pushed her hand away. "Pardon me?"

"Oh, come on, the asshole you fired made me give both of the new Managers a blowjob as soon they arrived. He always makes me give him head when he comes in. The guy beat the shit out of me a long time ago when I refused and promised me he would continue doing it if I ever refused again. I need this job. I'm paid better than a lot of decorators, and I like giving head, so I get to work at what I like and get a helping at least once a day. Come on, I'll bet I'll be a treat for you."

I backed up a step, and said, "One of my cardinal rules is that there is never any sexual contact between employees during working hours or at the office, Kitty. You can service every male here somewhere else, but not here, and not when you're on the clock."

"You're no fun. I like giving head, like I said, and usually love the result. The former Manager tasted terrible, but the kids who came to be Managers were pretty good. Those two legal guys sure weren't any fun either. I offered to do them in their hotel rooms, but they both said they didn't have relations with fellow employees."

"That's good to hear. Can you keep your hands off the other employees who work and are going to work here? This is important as I want a professional office, Kitty."

"Sure. Brad, right? I know how to behave myself. I just love to tease and give the guy I tease a reward. I'll dress down for the office so that I don't attract the wrong kind of attention."

Then she floored me, "I saw those two babes who are here with you. Do you think either would want me to visit them in their hotel rooms for some head? I love pussy."

"You have a one track mind, don't you?"

Kitty grinned, "I wake up horny, and can't ever seem to get enough. The only thing that satisfies me is giving head to men and women. Men are easier to find than women, but I find some women fairly often."

"Cool it here, okay? There's absolutely no fooling around in the office and during office hours."

The woman tried to give me a pout, but she was giggling too much to make it work. I told her, "Now, what I want from you is to help find an architect to design the custom homes. I'd like you and the architect to help customers together to get the home designs finished and to construction. I also want you to market your services to other homebuilders and real estate offices. You'll probably want another decorator or two to do all that, and then you'll need an assistant to keep your schedules working. Can you do all that without attacking everyone?"

"I'll be good. I won't want to, but I will. I know I'm sort of a freak, but that's the way I am."

I patted her on the shoulder as I left and she grinned at me. I joked and said, "Maybe we should get rid of this door."

"Shoot fire, Brad, Baby, I don't mind an audience."

I was laughing as I made it to the Manager's office. Kelly was sitting at the Manager's desk and told me, "Yori is walking the two plainclothes guards around the building and material area. I explained to the security company that we wanted two walking guards at night for at least three months. The Construction Supervisor wanted to know what was going on, so Yori tried to explain it. You should go over there and talk to him. I think he wants to get out to where a house is being built."