Chapter 33: Dealing With the Army

Once everybody leaves, I gave Admiral Cub a call. He is at his morning briefing, but his secretary promised she will get him to call as soon as he gets in.

Next is a call to Sorrel.

“Good Morning, Sorrel speaking.”

“Morning, it’s Trent.”

“Oh, good. I was about to phone you.”

“Any progress on the rental?”

“They are willing to do it without a lease, but they want a considerable amount more.”

“It isn’t what I want but close the deal. I need a place as soon as possible.”

“Will do. I put some feelers out for the Langford Lake property. Almost everybody is willing so long as the price is right. There is an older couple that refuses to sell. They say they have lived there all their lives and aren’t about to move.”

“Offer them a reverse mortgage.”

“What’s that?”

I forgot; the reverse mortgage hadn’t hit Canada yet. I explain, “You offer to pay a reduced amount for the house, and you pay it as soon as the contract is signed. They still own the house until they move or die. At which point ownership reverts to me. I don’t care if they want to stay living there for now. We don’t need all that land and nothing too secretive will be happening there.

“That is an interesting way to acquire property. I’m not sure it will work.”

“It is all in how you sell it. They are an older couple, so I am guessing they are retired. They still have dreams and however much money people have, they always dream bigger. Doing it this way will give them a chance to fulfill their dreams and keep their home until they are ready to move to a retirement home. It may be a ways in the future before we get the property, but I don’t mind. I want to build some nice homes for my top employees. We can build our little community around their home.”

“I’ll give it a try but no promises.”

“How about the oceanfront?

“Still waiting to hear back on our offer, but I believe it will go through. I spoke with the owners of the property for the restaurant. They want another 15,000.”

“Offer them seven if they don’t take it, then cave in. Anything else we need to discuss?”

“That should be it.”

“I should be speaking with the Dean at UVic today about you starting school. Any second thoughts?”

“Hell no! The jerks here are treating me worse than they did when I was a trainee. Taking your business away from a senior partner wasn’t a good move.”

“You didn’t take it. They lost my business. You brought it back. They are lucky to have you. If that is all, I have a busy day and need to go.”

We say our goodbyes, and I hang up. Before I get a chance to make my next call, the phone rings. I answer, “Hello.”

“Trent, this is Adm. Cub. I’m told you tried to phone me this morning.”

“Yes, I did. I need somebody in the army but figured you could help me out.”

“What is it you need?”

“Same sort of thing as last time. I need the army to introduce me to people in General Motors Defence and Krauss-Maffei. In exchange, I will attempt to get them to up-armour the tanks and armoured vehicles for our military at cost.”

“Up-armour, what kind of armour upgrades are we talking about?”

“Nothing I’d like to talk about over the phone, but this is as big as the F-18 thing I tried doing for you. I really need to upgrade my security. I have none. I have an employee dealing with Allied Barton, but I’ll contact them directly and speed things along. In the meantime, for national security reasons, I think PPCLI (Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry) should lend me a section. Have a couple guys patrol my place 24/7 until this is sorted out.”

“Let me make some phone calls. I’ll get back to you. For now, I’ll send a couple of MPs over.”

“Thanks. I better let you get back to work. I have a bunch of things I need to take care of too.”

“Talk to you later.”

I leave a message for Uncle Dick to phone me then I make a bunch of other phone calls. Many of them I don’t want to make, things like calling the funeral home to shore up plans. Other calls I was excited to make, things like ordering a lathe and milling machine for our new/temporary shop.

I’ve finished the calls and start to dig into my work when the phone rings. It is Dick saying, “You left a message to call.”

“Ya, I was just checking up on you. Wondering if or when you are coming down.”

“I’m just putting some finishing touches on things and will likely bring Dad down there in ten days.”

“I will be here when you arrive but will be gone that weekend. I will have Dahlia look into getting somebody to look after Grandpa. Is he the only one coming with you?”

“Ya, everybody else will finish out the school year here. Garret will be staying at a friend’s place. He isn’t happy about not being able to take his drums to their place. He will join me when school is out. The rest will all be old enough to be on their own by then.”

“I’ll rent you a car and put you up in a hotel until I have a home for you.”

I’m a bit excited to work with him again. In my first life, after I left home, I spent the summers working for him until I graduated from High School.

I just get back to my work, and there is a knock on the door. I look over and see it is the MPs. They have been told that they were sent here to guard something and that they are to follow my orders. I let them know what is up and have them patrolling the yard.

I just finished a patent and was about to start a quick study for my exams next week when the phone rings again. I answer, “Hello.”

The person on the other end asks, “Can I speak with Trent Brown, please.”

“Speaking, what can I do for you?”

“This is Gen Graham of the 2nd PPCLI. I’m told you needed to speak with me.”

“I’m sorry, General, but I don’t think it is a good idea to speak over an insecure line. Can you meet me here?”

“Why can’t we talk over the phone?”

“It has to do with some advancements I have made, some of which you will want to take advantage of.

“Gen, let’s not play games. It was your MPs that tried manhandling me on the Air Force’s behalf. You know I am a capable engineer. I am making the same offer as last time. You introduce me to the people I need to sell my invention to, and I will do my best to work it, so they upgrade all your armour at cost. Screw up like last time and Canada will end up lagging in technology.”

“That wasn’t my mistake.”

“I’m sorry. I mischose my words. I don’t believe in laying blame, but I do take precautions when I have been burned. I don’t know or care if you were involved in the screwup, but I know you are a member of an organization that attempted to take advantage of a perceived weakness of mine. I have no clue if you will act like Admiral Cub or the Air Farce. What I do know is, if you deserve it, you will be rewarded. If you don’t, I will likely forgo dealing with the Armed Forces again. As far as I am concerned, this topic is exhausted. Let’s move back on point.”

“If your new development is as you say, then we should meet, so I can determine if it is something we want to pursue.”

“I’m not about to leave here even with the MPs guarding my place.”

“I’ll be there at noon.”

“If that is the case, tell your steward to order some takeout. My cook isn’t normally here to cook lunch, and we might as well make a lunch out of it.”

“The galley likes at least a 24-hour notice. We’ll just bring pizza.”

“Sounds good. See you then.”

I figured the morning had a phone theme, so I would continue with it.

“Dr. Stevens’ office. How can I help you?”

“Hi Penelope, (his secretary) this is Trent Brown, I was hoping to talk with Dr. Stevens. Is he in?”

“I heard about your Grandmother. I hope she recovers soon. Hold just a sec. I’ll get the doctor for you.”

“Trent, how’s it going.”

“As good as can be hoped for, considering. How is it coming with the nuclear program?”

“We are hitting more roadblocks than I was expecting, but we are pushing forward. Did you see the article published in Scientific America? That gave us some good publicity. They mentioned you a few times.”

“Ya, Dr. Stewart sent me a copy. It painted the school in a good light. It should help convince the government, but it will do nothing for your tree hugger problem.”

“You should call them protestors. The wrong student hearing you say that will be offended, and you could have a problem.”

“People tend to keep speaking part of the dialect from where they grew up. I grew up a northern hick. I have only been here a few months. You have to expect me to use the dialect I was raised with. Besides, a wise man once said,’ He who takes offence when none is intended is a fool, He who takes offence when offence is intended is an even bigger fool.”

“Who said that”

I need to be more careful. Gordon B Hinckley, a leader in the Mormon Church, says it but not for another four years. I reply, “I did. I didn’t phone to talk about the nuclear program. I need a favour.”

“What is it?”

“I need you to ask around. I m looking for one of your graduating students to manage an investment portfolio. I would prefer experience, but I have had issues with the brokerages I have dealt with.”

“I will ask the business profs if they know anybody. I can’t make any promises.”

“That is all I ask.”

We briefly talk about Sorrel then socialize for a short bit, but I see the General’s staff car drive by my bedroom window and into our driveway. We say our goodbyes and hang up.

I greet the General. I notice he travels with the same size and rank of entourage as Admiral Cub. Only, they are the equivalent army ranks. In other words, standing at my door is the General, two Captains and a Corporal.

I step out of the way for them to come into the foyer. The General makes introductions, and we all head to the dining room. We sit down, the Cpl sets the pizza on the table and asks where the plates and cups are. They are both in the same cupboard, so I just tell him instead of showing him. Before we are all seated, he is back and is serving our lunch.

As the Cpl is busy, the Gen asks, “So what is this all about?”

“Ordinarily, I insist on never talking business until after the meal, but since we are so informal today, we might as well jump right in. I developed a way to crystally polarize steel.”

“What does that mean, and what does that do for us?”

“I don’t think the army has people trained to be able to understand it. Talk to a Combat Engineer or Marine Engineer from the Navy or Airframe Tech from the Airforce. They will tell you that steel is made up of many crystal structures that are all facing different directions. When you heat treat the steel, it changes those structures and makes it either brittle and strong or malleable and plastic. I have a way of cooling liquid steel to align all the crystals within the steel, which, in effect, makes the steel one big crystal. If this steel is properly layered, it makes for a greater penetration resistance than existing armours. Stick a light ceramic shell on it, and the only tanks that could hope to penetrate it would be Soviet tanks equipped with their latest anti-tank missile. Unless you get into a firefight with the Russians, I can make your APCs virtually impenetrable.”

“What do you want from us.”

“Since GM Defence builds all Canadian armour, I would like you to put me in contact with them. The Canadian military is their biggest customer, so that will not make your upgrades economically viable for me. Some of your armour are license builds GM does for Germany, so I would need contacts with Krauss-Maffei as well. We should let our allies in on the secret too, or I will not make any money. I need contacts in the US, Japanese, UK, Italian, South Korean, French and Israeli militaries. I know we have more allies, but the arms merchants of these armies end up supplying the rest of our allies, at least as far as armour is concerned.”

“I can’t guarantee anything, but I will make some enquiries. Even if our military doesn’t go for it, I’ll let our allies know, and they can get a hold of you on their own.”

“That is all I ask.”

“In the meantime, we can’t have such technology just sitting here for anybody to steal. Why don’t you move your office into Esquimalt? We will get you a contractor ID so you can get on the base.”

“I’m still not 100% comfortable since the Air Force tried strong-arming me.”

“Fair enough. Would you mind if I replaced the MPs we have guarding your place with PPCLI?”

“I could agree to that. I would be more comfortable with PPCLI. They are less likely to pull the same kind of stunt. I am working with Allied Barton to upgrade my security. We are also moving my base of operations to a shop by the Westshore Mall. It will be easier to secure.”

“At least until I am sure Allied Barton has you properly secure in your new location, I would like to keep my soldiers guarding your work.”