“What he is saying, Alvarez,” Richard added, “is we do not want to show any signs of weakness. In this particular situation, especially if something happens to me, then we want you to be able to carry through and give that order.”
Alvarez thought about this for a moment. He felt that both men were scared. He played along and said, “I see no reason that I will find myself in that situation, but rest assured that if I am, I will respond with the proper response.”
Said just like a politician, Richard thought to himself. He had learned well. It must be that Irish and Hispanic blood in him. He just did not commit to anything. “Thanks Alvarez, we knew we could count on you and we have all the scenarios worked out for you if for some reason this becomes necessary. Clinton has the details.”
“Well gentlemen, I need to prepare for my journey. I will see both of you on Monday.”
Chapter 115
8:30 AM CST Day four of 1260 Kansas City, Missouri - City Center, Jack South’s Suite
I had about half an hour before the meeting. This time it was everyone including the military, FBI, Secret Service, the Mayor, and my people. It was at 9:00 a.m. Veronica had called me late last night and said that ‘the powers that be’ wanted to discuss the Rally with ‘the Great Jack South’. So I was now the “Great” Jack South. How stupid, I thought.
She went on to say that both Luke and Mark were here. Mark had come due to some legal issues that needed to be addressed concerning insurance and liability. They had contacted him since the city could not find me, she had said. I thought Mark had been told by Gabriel to stay in Chicago, but then things change. I thought to myself, we were now all here, our ragtime band of worldwide disaster causers, or at least that is what I thought people would think.
I thought back to when I was starting to study prophecy. I remembered my concept of the witnesses, preaching God’s salvation, and making the world see the power of God. It would never have occurred to me that they would have need for insurance, public liability documents, permits, bonds and all the other complicated processes that were involved. This was still corporate America, regardless of God or anyone else. Ridiculous, I thought.
I had run out of clean clothes, but Veronica had managed to go to Wal-Mart and get me some things, including khakis and a white polo shirt. I preferred black rather than white, but Veronica had other ideas.
The way my mind was working today, I knew I was slaphappy and needed to get down to being serious. My normal personality was happy go lucky and being serious was difficult for me. I preferred to smile and make a joke, but I guessed I had to be serious today, like an old professor or prophet.
I am who I am and that is all there is to it, I thought. I laughed at myself. Then I looked up at the ceiling and said, “Ya get what ya get, Lord.” Then I went to take a shower. As I turned on the water, I thought that at least being imprisoned in a luxury hotel beats being in a cave.
Chapter 116
9:01 AM CST Day four of 1260 Kansas City, Missouri - Conference Room, 2nd Floor
I walked into the spacious meeting room on the second floor of the center. My team members and they city’s staff were already seated. They had been talking, but when I walked in, it went dead quiet. I really knew how to make an entrance I thought to myself. It felt more like a funeral reception after I walked in. I saw an empty seat by Mark and quickly moved to it and sat down.
“Thanks for coming, Mr. South,” a woman across the table said. “I am Madeline Sipes, Mayor of Kansas City, and on behalf of everyone here, I personally wanted to welcome you back home.”
Right I thought, I have turned this city upside down and you would prefer, as most would here, to have me somewhere else right now. I said, “Thank you, Madam Mayor. It is nice to be in familiar territory.”
“I am sure it is. Home, no matter where you go, is where the heart is. However, let us move on, there is a lot to accomplish. So, to bring you up to date, we have been working with your staff here on the Rally or Sermon for tonight, as some are calling it. However, before we bring you up to date, I thought I would introduce some of the people here. Starting from my right, this is the City Manager, David Phelps.”
I nodded my head and said, “Pleasure, Mr. Phelps.”
“Then next to him is Colonel Roland Winters.”
“Colonel,” again, I nodded my head.
“Chief of Police, Michael Poploski.”
“Michael,” I said, as my eyes continued to follow her introductions.
“Governor of Missouri, Mike Carson.”
“Governor,” as I nodded again.
“The City Attorney, Hans Rickenbacker.”
“Counselor,” I said.
“Also Marcus Schmidt, Director of the FBI, and Able Richards, Director of Secret Services.”
“Gentlemen,” as I nodded.
“And this is Roger Rehnquist. He is the President of the insurance company that insures our city.”
“Hello Roger, pleased to meet you,” I said.
“Then, of course you know John Roddenburg and his producer.”
“At the end is Shirley, who is one of our court stenographers and she is taking notes of the meeting here. I hope that is okay?”
I turned in my seat and looked at Mark then asked, “What do you say?”
Mark looked at me and said, “It’s okay Jack, not a problem.”
“Then it is fine with me, Madam Mayor.”
“Call me Madeline.”
“Okay then, Madeline.”
“And of course you know your own staff.” I looked around and of course, I was sitting by Mark. Veronica and Thomas were seated next to each other at the end of the table. Then I looked over and saw Gabriel standing next to the wall. He smiled at me and gave me his trademark wink. I wondered if anyone else could see him. I doubted it or there would have been a lot of attention paid to him. Well that was good. He was still around. I needed the support.
Madeline then got my attention and said, “Let’s get the unpleasant business taken care of first, if we can. We rather touched on the subject earlier before you got here, but we need to resolve this sooner than later. It appears that when you applied for your permits, no one at that time was concerned about it, for it seemed innocent enough and it was approved for you. However, since then, you have become, what can I say, a superstar of proportions never seen before. Your presence here has caused the city to swell to well over five million people and frankly our insurance company here is threatening to cancel our policy and is asking for an astronomical sum to insure us. So we are asking if you could help.”
“How much help?” I asked.
“75 million dollars.”
“Really? Is that all?”
“No, they want 100 million, but with sales taxes we’re getting here, it is sort of a windfall for us. In addition, the government of Missouri and the Federal Government have pitched in their resources at no charge to the city. The problem we have is that we don’t have it all and we need to be insured or we will have to cancel the Rally.”
“Okay then, let’s see,” I said, leaning forward to look at the insurance person. “I forgot your name.”
“Roger, Roger Rehnquist.”
“And your title again?”
“I am President of Universal Municipal Underwriters, a division of Sterling Insurance.”
“Okay Roger, so ya need a hundred million to insure this Rally, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And if not, you will cancel the policy. Is that correct?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Okay.” I turned to Mark and asked, “Can they cancel the policy?”
“Yes and no.” Mark replied. “There may well be a clause in the policy that limits their liability for things temporary or that are not ordinary; for example, five million people, or hosting events such as the Super Bowl. The cities who host the Super Bowls usually end up having to get more insurance coverage, but the NFL pays for it.”
“Thanks, Mark.”
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I looked back at Roger, leaned back in my chair, put my hands in a teepee, and said, “Roger, what I hear is that you need more money. So I will authorize a check for a million to you and we can call it a day.”
“That will not work Mr. South,” Roger said. “That is not even close.”
“Okay, Roger. Cancel the policy and the Mayor here will cancel the Rally. I will go on TV immediately and tell them why it happened and get on a plane to somewhere else.” I paused, “And you know what will happen then, Roger?”
“No,” he said.
“They will riot, Roger. In addition, when they do, the lawsuits against you alone, win or lose, will cost you a whole lot more than the 100 million. Moreover, I am not sure what the city is insured for, and all the other insurance companies that have insurance on other businesses here in the city. I would guess you would lose a tremendous amount of money anyway.”
“So you’re blackmailing me?”
“No, I don’t like being shaken down. If you shake me down, then I will shake you down. So do we understand each other?”
“May I have a moment?” Roger asked.
“Sure. We will be here, take your time.”
He pulled his cell phone from his briefcase and walked out the door. I noticed that he had left his stuff here, so he would be back.
I then turned back to Madeline and said, “What else do we have on the agenda today?” ignoring the shocked look on her face.
Chapter 117
9:15 AM CST Day four of 1260 Kansas City, Missouri - Hallway of City Center, 2nd Floor
Roger was pissed that this totally unknown man a few days ago would even dare talk to him like that. He was seething and the anger was getting to his senses. He knew he had to calm down. He walked down the hall away from the conference room and started dialing his office in hopes of catching his Chairman of the Board, Richard Sterling.
“Hello, Mr. Sterling’s office. This is Shannon, may I help you?”
“Shannon, this is Roger. I am in Kansas City and it is very important I talk to Dick.”
“He is in a meeting, Roger.”
“Slip him a note. It is very important I talk to him.”
“Please hold.”
Roger wondered where they got some of the people who answer telephones. It was always, ‘they are in a meeting’ or ‘they just left,’ and so on. Gatekeepers, that is what they were, nothing but gatekeepers.
Shannon came back on the line, “Please hold Roger. I will transfer you to him. He needs to go to his private office. It will be just a moment.”
“Thanks Shannon.” He wanted to call her something else, but thought better of it.
In a few moments, he heard Dick’s voice.
“Roger, how are things in Kansas City? I assume you took care of business.”
“No, I have not Dick. This Jack South sort of threatened me and I am at a loss as to what to do at this point.” Roger told him what had transpired in the negotiations, and the threats made by Jack.
“Alright Roger, give me a few minutes. I will call you back. I need to make another call.”
“Thanks Dick, I will be here.”
Chapter 118
10:25 AM CEST Day four of 1260 Boston, Massachusetts - Sterling Insurance Company Corporate Office
Sterling picked up the phone and dialed the special cell phone number he knew was a secure line that would ring directly to Aafre in Kansas City. Aafre had gotten there last night and was in the same hotel as Jack and his group. He was not looking forward to this call, at least with the results he had from Roger. Aafre hated being told no. There were usually consequences if he was given bad news. The telephone rang and on the third ring, he heard Aafre’s voice say, “Hello?”
“Sterling here, sir. I needed to call you to bring you up to date.”
“I was expecting your call Sterling. Nice to hear from you, especially since I know you do not hesitate to call immediately when it is bad news.”
How does he know it is bad news, thought Sterling? I have not even said anything yet. “Well sir, it appears we have a problem with the increased premium and Mr. South has threatened us.” He went on to tell him the events as Roger had relayed them.
After he was through explaining the events to him, Aafre said, “I know all about the conversation Sterling. I heard the entire thing while it was happening, but I wanted to hear your take. We have the meeting room bugged. Jack is getting interesting it appears. He does have some balls. Too bad we didn’t get him before they did, huh Sterling?”
“Yes sir, he seems to be pretty sharp, sir.”
“That is true, and in other circumstances, I would have called his bluff. It would not be a good idea in this instance, however. We are having our meeting here tomorrow and Saturday. He is right, they would burn down the city, and we would be paying out the limits of the policy. Therefore, it would be a bad decision to call him on it. I doubt he would cancel, but on the other hand, he may well have done so. I think he knows we are here and he probably knows we had something to do with the insurance thing. So call your man and tell him to take the million and go home.” He paused, then said, “Anything else, Sterling?”
“No sir, nothing else.”
“Well have a good day and we will talk again soon.”
After he hung up, Sterling could feel the perspiration on his forehead. He felt shaken up. Aafre’s people had the room bugged and knew what had happened even before he had called. It was a good thing that he knew the whole story and had enough sense to tell it to Aafre verbatim. If Roger had varied the story any at all, the repercussions from Aafre would not be something he would care to experience.
He picked up the phone and dialed Roger’s cell phone.
Chapter 119
9:35 AM CST Day four of 1260 Kansas City, Missouri - City Center Meeting Room, 2nd Floor
The meeting was progressing. We had discussed logistics regarding the use of Arrowhead, Royals Stadium and the Sprint Center. Then we covered the Jumbotrons and there placement, and general information regarding how to accommodate five million people. I had noticed that the Colonel said little and continued to stare at me. I looked him over myself, and what I saw was a career military man close to my age or maybe a bit older than me. He had a long face and short, military style gray hair. He had gray eyes and was not really that tall, maybe 5’10” or so. He had a scar running down the left side of his face, which I assumed was from injuries resulting from combat. He was dressed in Army fatigues and boots and sat ramrod straight. There was something about him though that bothered me and I was not sure what it was; but I knew he did interest me.
Madeline, the Mayor, was in her late 50’s, attractive and very intelligent. I thought that the people from the Pendergast machine of the 20s, would all be rolling over in their graves if they knew Kansas City had elected a female Mayor. She was all business and seemed to know her stuff. She was also pleasant and easy to talk to. You could tell she was firm. She had a knack for making sure she got her point across without being overwhelming. Good choice I thought. I would probably have voted for her if I still lived here.
The door opened and our insurance man, Roger, entered.
“I hope I am not interrupting anything?” he said.
Madeline turned to him and said, “No, we were just going over some details. Did you make your call?” she asked.
“Yes ma’am, I did,” as he went over to his seat and sat down.
“And?”
“I spoke with the chairman of the Board of our holding company. He has instructed me to accept the additional premium of a million dollars in lieu of the other amount that was suggested. Therefore, I wanted to pass this on to you and see if I could get it now. Then I will be on my way and you can continue your business.”
“Good Roger, and yes we can take care of that, I assume,” as she looked at me.
Hmm, I thought, she was ready to write out a check for 25 million a few minutes ago, and leave me with the other 75. Now, she want
ed me to pay the million.
“Not a problem,” I said to Roger. “But I don’t keep checks with me. If you like,” as I pulled out my wallet, “you can charge it to my bank card and I can get some more air miles.”
“A million dollars on a card?” he asked.
“It’s either that or give my attorney Mark here an invoice and he will fax it to the office today. They can either wire the money or send a check; whichever you would prefer.”
“I can write an invoice,” he said as he opened his briefcase, pulled out a form, and started filling it out.
Madeline then said, “It’s a good time for a break if everyone else is in agreement. Let’s say we meet back here around 10:15 or so.”
We all agreed and the participants started drifting out the door. I looked over at Veronica and asked, “Is it okay, do you think, if I go down to the restaurant. I would like to and get some fresh coffee or something, or am I still a prisoner?” I then pulled a pair of big sunglasses out of my pocket, and put them on. “I got a real good disguise.”
The remaining people, including Roger, the insurance man, laughed. Veronica, smiling, said, “We will go with you Jack,” and off we went.
Chapter 120
9:45 AM CST Day four of 1260 Kansas City, Missouri - City Center, Lobby Coffee Shop
We left Mark to deal with the insurance matter. Luke, John, Thomas, Veronica and I went to the elevator. I started talking but Veronica held her finger up to her mouth and said, “Shh.” We then got on the elevator and no one said anything. We only had one floor to go down so it seemed that the elevator popped open almost as soon as we got on it. As we walked off the elevator Veronica said, “The reason I asked you to not say anything, is that the room we are in and the hallway are bugged big time. They must have done it in a hurry for it was obvious to anyone with a trained eye.”
“Well you know your business. You proved that in Israel with our jet.”
We moved over to what appeared to be a coffee shop to the right of the check in desk. I took in the surroundings as we walked. There was a military and police presence everywhere. Only one of the front doors was being used. The others were locked. There was both a metal detector and one of those luggage machines that were used in airports. There was even a chemical detector. Off to the right of that was a curtained off area, which I assumed may be for strip-searching. The military walked around with M16s in firing position, which meant they were in their hands; not strapped to their shoulders. It looked like a third world country to me, and that was scary.