Chapter 10

“Good day, Mr. Williams. Right on time. That is perfect.”

“Good day, Mr. Albert. Are you ready to go? I have a cab waiting.”

That was all I needed to hear. I was out the door and headed to the elevator so quickly that I almost forgot to lock the door to my suite. Williams had anticipated me by having the operator hold the elevator to wait for us. Down we went and out the front door to the taxi cab that was waiting for us.

I was startled when I climbed into the cab to find George Holmes waiting for us. He was the poker friend who had originally hired Williams to check up on my honesty and quality as a poker player. “Good day, George. I am really surprised to see you. I do hope that this meeting has nothing to do with poker.”

“Good day, Prince. No, this has nothing to do with poker, but I do not want to say any more until we reach a place I have reserved for us. Please accept my apologies for keeping you in the dark. You will soon know the reason for that.”

“Certainly, George. I am at your disposal until tomorrow morning.”

We three rode in silence for about 11 blocks. The cabbie already knew our destination, so there was no conversation with him, either. We arrived at the front door of the most famous Greek restaurant in New York City, and now I knew why Greek food for dinner had been promised. I was sure that it was needless to say that I was delighted.

We three went inside the restaurant and were met at the door by the maître d’. He obviously knew Holmes and Williams. He led us to a dining room separate from the main dining room which was obviously reserved for very important customers. Three other men whom I did not know were already there and waiting somewhat less than patiently for us to arrive. From their manner of dress, I was sure that I was in the presence of REAL MONEY. That fact was practically shouted at me.

We were seated immediately, and coffee in the American style was served. Once that was done, the three men were introduced, and I was truly impressed. George Holmes opened the festivities by briefly describing my defense against the pirates off the coast of Corsica. This looked like it impressed all three men. Holmes nodded to Williams, who said, “I thoroughly investigated this incident, and I must say that this synopsis did not due justice to what Mr. Albert did.

Oh, come now! I did not think that it was that big a deal. Obviously, none of these men, including Williams, had ever faced Comanches. On the other hand, I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut and not to argue that point. Nevertheless, I could not help thinking that these Corsican pirates were amateurs compared to Comanches, who were real professionals at killing.

I did answer a few questions about the battle, but they were the kind of questions that any bunch of people who had never faced a gun would ask. The biggest problem with those questions was that I had to be careful not to sound condescending with my answers. Dammit, where was all of this heading? I began to wonder if my time was being wasted, but, hell, this was better than being bored.

Finally, we got to the important stuff. George said, “Prince, now comes the part about why you are here and the importance of your action against those pirates. These three gentlemen and I want to set up a shipping operation serving southeast Asia. We are especially interested in servicing Japan, China, India, and the French and British colonies and protectorates in the area.

“The problem is that you could almost walk across the ocean around there without getting your feet wet if you stepped only on the pirate ships. There are so damned many pirates that any ship, no matter its country of registry or its size can expect to be hit by a pirate at least once a week.

“You have shown what you can do against pirates, so we want you to run our ship’s defense against pirates. We are prepared to offer you an appropriate salary and an opportunity to invest in our operation.

“The disadvantage from your point of view is that you would have to move to that area and live there as long as you held the job we are offering you. We do not care where you choose to live, but there are many American and British enclaves in that part of the world where you could live. In all probability, you would spend a lot of time aboard ship fighting pirates, so you might not have much time to spend at home during the first few years of the job.

“The advantage from your point of view is that we would give you complete freedom to run your operation any way you wanted without us meddling in what you are doing. You will have a large operating budget, so you can hire as many men and purchase as many weapons as you need. All we want is for our ships to be safe from pirates. We will handle the business end of the operation.

“What do you think, so far?”

“Frankly, I am overcome with the confidence you show in me. Yes, I am interested in the job, but I cannot help wondering why you think that I could do a job that the local governments and military do not seem to be able to do. At first glance, it looks to me like you are asking for an impossible performance from someone who has never even visited the area you are talking about.

“As a talking point, suppose that I agreed to take on the job for one year. In that time, I should be able to get a good idea of just how difficult the task would be and whether or not I am up to the job.

“Come to think of it, I may be getting ahead of myself. How many cargo ships would I have to protect in the first year or so? If there is only one ship, I am almost certain right now that I could satisfy your requirements for protection. If there are 10 ships, then I am almost certain that I would fail, simply because I have no idea what to expect from the pirates or from the men I would station on a ship to protect it. You can see from those simple examples that I am currently too ignorant to give you any solid answers.”

George said, “Currently, we plan to start out small with only one ship for the first year. If the project and you are progressing well enough, we will add another ship as soon as practical. However, we project to have at least five ships in operation by the end of four years. We will see how things go after that.

“Your proposal to take on the job for one year to see what you can do sounds good to me, but I will have to discuss it with my partners before we give you a solid answer. Meanwhile, talk to John about what the general conditions are like in that area of Asia. He has been there recently and has done a lot of the research that we are depending on.”

John said, “Come with me, Prince, so that we can give these gentlemen the privacy they need to hash out your proposal. I have some ideas that you may be able to use.”

We went into the main dining room, and John found the maître d’. We were immediately conducted to a smaller and less ostentatious private dining room. A bottle of Greek wine, but not ouzo, was delivered for us to sip on while we talked. Initially, we talked about the various places I might set up my headquarters, and we finally settled on Shanghai. Possibly Hong Kong would have been better, but Shanghai was more of a trade and general commercial center for China.

The consortium was looking more for local business than European colonial business, so Shanghai looked more appropriate. John obviously knew more about it than I did, so I went along with him and chose Shanghai for my headquarters for at least the first year. I could move somewhere else once I found out more about the general area and where the pirates were concentrated.

There were plenty of people in Shanghai who could interpret for me, though I did hope to learn the local language if I stayed there for more than a year. With so much foreign trade being done in Shanghai, I should be able to get by at first with my English, though aboard ship, I would have to be able to talk directly with my men.

Within a reasonable time, a waiter came to fetch us to return to the main meeting. As soon as I entered, George stood up and offered my his hand. “Prince, we have agreed unanimously to take you up on your plan to spend a year looking over your new job. Tomorrow, we can meet to draw up a contract and discuss your financial compensation and operating budget. From now on, unless you have some questions, we can close this meeting and start celebrating our new business venture.”

That was fine with me because I realized that my stomach was complaining and it was almost 6:00 PM, so I was ready for some of that Greek food this restaurant was famous for. Everybody else agreed, so our waiter was contacted and the banquet began. I will not even try to list all of the food that we ate that night, except to say that it was wonderful. The evening was finished with ouzo and cigars. By this time, I had eaten so much and drunk so much that I had to be helped to a taxicab. The driver was instructed to help me to my suite, and he was tipped massively for this extended service.