Chapter 12

The Jeep station wagon pulled onto the county road and Ann saw that the sun had warmed up the road appreciably and the road was almost clear. The sun was just beginning to go below the horizon and it would be dark before they arrived in Hinley.

"Do you notice anything different about this Jeep?"

Ann looked around the jeep trying to find something different about it, "I can't see anything different."

"It's fully armored to B6. You would notice if you were driving it. It's heavier and a bit more sluggish than a stock Jeep. It also has a slightly higher center of gravity than a stock Jeep. You would be amazed how many armored vehicles you have seen and didn't know that they were armored. I'd say fifty per cent of the Fortune five hundred CEOs drive armored vehicles. Juergen Schrempp, the CEO of Daimler-Chrysler, just had his million dollar armored Mercedes stolen in Stuttgart."

"And you want me to use the Expedition that you have at the company? What if someone stole it?"

Bob chuckled, "Well, I guess a smaller car would be better for you. I have a Skoda Octavia in the yard that I can let you use. It's only armored to B4 though. A Swiss banker ordered it. The Swiss police arrested him before he could take delivery."

Ann laughed, "Only armored to B4! I guess that you don't think very highly of me if you're willing to risk my life with a car only armored to B4. By the way, what is a Skoda?"

"A Skoda is a Czech mid sized car. It's considered a poor man's Mercedes 500 sedan. Now, the Mercedes is armored to B6."

"You had to take a loss on that car?"

Bob laughed at that statement, "No. The banker put fifty per cent down on the car and after he was arrested he committed suicide. I'll make more on that car than if he had taken possession."

Bob pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant. The restaurant was built on the style of a Swiss chalet only much bigger. He let Ann out at the front door and then drove to a parking spot as close to the front entrance as possible.

They were greeted by a hostess as soon as they entered and they were told that it would be fifteen minutes before there was a table for them. Bob told the hostess that they would wait in the bar and he led the way to the bar.

"I'm only going to have coffee. I don't want to take a chance on having an accident while being impaired. You have whatever you want."

"Coffee's fine with me," Ann demurred.

Bob walked to a booth and they sat opposite each other. A waitress came to the table and Bob ordered both of them coffee.

Bob asked her several questions about the website that he had shown her that afternoon. He asked her the names of several of the people listed as contacts on the website and asked her opinions of the different products that the company offered.

"When do you think that you can start with the company?"

"Don't you think that I should have the interview first?"

"Ann, you've been having the interview all afternoon. The questions that I've been asking you this afternoon and since we got here show me that you absorbed the information on the site and that you're not one of those people that feel that the only reason for going to work is to get a paycheck. I believe that if I offered to pay you a salary and told you that you didn't have to do anything for it that you would turn me down. You've impressed me remembering the names of every person listed on the website as a contact. Everybody in this world deserves respect and I feel that you feel the same way too. Remembering their names is one way of showing that you feel they are important enough for you to remember them. As I said, I'm tickled to death that you don't know anything about the security business. Now I won't have to break a lot of bad habits."

Ann let out a deep breath that she had been holding, "The couple that wants to buy the business asked for a sixty day settlement but I know that they want to get in as soon as possible. I probably could settle within thirty days.

"Tell the couple that our company sends a lot of flowers and fruit baskets. I'll transfer our business to their store and also sign a contract to provide a large flower arrangement on Monday morning and Wednesday afternoon for our reception area. You have some kind of an agreement with one of those floral delivery things don't you, one that delivers world-wide?"

Ann nodded and Bob continued, "Do you have a passport?"

"I've never even been out of the country."

He pulled a notepad out of his pocket and wrote something on it, "Can you speak any foreign languages?"

Ann gulped, "I can speak French. I took French for three years in high school and two years in college. My grandmother and grandfather spoke German almost exclusively and I can understand German enough to get by."

"Great! I think that you'll get by just fine. Americans think that if they know English the rest of the world should speak it too. Most Europeans speak at least two languages and some speak as many as five or six."