Chapter 181

It was 1600 when the congressional people decided they had heard enough. I was tired of the double talk as it was. It’s funny how many different ways someone can ask the same question and expect a different answer.

I was surprised when a JBG helicopter landed outside the White House. I wasn’t expecting anyone so I walked out to it with several agents. It was a big helicopter - as big as or bigger than the luxury one we had at the Islands.

All my mates were in it plus JJ, RJ, Takeo and Sara. Lorrie wanted to show off the new helicopter of which she had ordered several for the commercial leases.

Marcy explained that they had decided to sell more of the diamonds from the mine. That, plus Pirates Bank ordered another shipment of gold bars and gold had gone up five hundred dollars an ounce since the last order. All that extra income needed off setting with deductible purchases.

They had also purchased some land in Nebraska at Jeanna’s request. For the lack of a better term it was an inside bank job. It was next to Jeanna’s oil and natural gas dome property. Midwest Bank held the paper on it.

It was a four thousand acre corn farm and according to seismic testing, there was no oil on it. When news broke of oil with producing test wells on Jeanna’s massive property, investment firms from Wall Street went crazy buying property in the area while paying horrendous prices. Now they were panic selling. It seems there was just one large dome in the county and Jeanna owned it.

As usual Jeanna had a plan to siphon off part of the oil through the new property as oil found on our property by angle drilling. The goal behind that was to transfer more of Jeanna’s wealth to Marcy without paying the massive income taxes that would happen if she died and left it to Marcy in an estate or gave the money as a gift.

The deal was so liked by our and Jeanna’s tax professionals that angle drilling had already started. I wondered if that made us oil tycoons or oil barons. Would it be sold as new oil or sold as old deferred oil - it made a big difference on the tax game. Sold as new, oil had high taxes on it, sold as old oil was nearly no tax. Either one required offsetting investments or if I remember correctly, it would have to be in the oil or energy industry. Either way I expected red flags flying very soon.

I was sure as we got into the living area I would find out a lot more about the deal and I was sure there was more. But first we went to the kitchen to have dinner.

Marcy covered the conversation about the oil deal with Jeanna and then expanded. The Cameroon security deal was in its infancy; JBG was clearing the right of ways and building security outposts. Along the way the security contract was broadened from just the pipe line security to refineries and oil terminals and more.

When the contract was first signed there were just a few hundred JBG security personnel there. Now there were over a thousand and soon to be more. But there was still one problem. None of the major producers - because of the terrorist and kidnappers - were willing to be currently involved in production - drilling oil wells in the out lands.

Black and Bear floated the crazy idea about JBG showing confidence in our security personnel and its application to the area by getting involved in production, transport, and the refineries. All of it was there waiting to be repaired, completed or started.

The leadership in Cameroon thought it was an excellent idea. If we had more investment into the arrangement than just security, we could not walk away from protecting it and that would make it a company priority.

I wondered why they thought we were just going to walk away if things were to heat up?

I was sure Black and Bear, Jenny, Marcy and Jenna were in on the expanded negotiations. When all was said and done, they had rolled the dice for one thousand acres in the prime oil region which included surface, mineral, gas and oil rights, right of way to the pipelines and full owner ship of the Julin-arco refinery.

Julin-arco refinery was a nearly finished refinery where all construction had stopped after multiple kidnappings and murder of construction workers and executives. Nearly a hundred executives and key employees had been kidnapped and/or killed. The oil companies threw in the towel and just walked away. The government of Cameroon now owned the uncompleted refinery.

JBG had to supply security for two other operating refineries in the same industrial area, security for the pipelines (the original contract) for twenty years which was ten more years than the original contract.

Twenty years is a long time in third world security business. Most of the employees we had that worked there had served ten years in the military; a few had gone into the service right out of high school did twenty and were in reasonable shape to do ten for us.

There was a problem with old men and women - we slowed down, we weren’t as sharp in the jungle, we missed signs and clues of the enemy. At that point in life most had families and the idea to give your life for a job wasn’t that appealing any more - there was too much to lose.

That was one reason countries preferred assassins with a terminal illness. They wanted big money up front to leave to their families. They would take ridiculous chances to carry out the contract even if it meant they were killed; they were dying anyhow. All in for the money.