The Chauffeur (#42) Extortion

The Chauffeur (#42) Extortion

By PABLO DIABLO

Copyright 2019

CHAPTER 1

Before Dakota came down from the office, Amy came scuffling out of her bedroom. Apparently, she was up late watching movies. The one I saw before going to bed was only one of three that the gang watched. I sat her down and gave her the update about what had happened. She looked like a lost puppy because this was not something that we had discussed as a means of security.

She asked if she could go take a quick shower and then help on the phones. I sent her to get that shower as I would need a wide-awake Amy.

Jill was pacing back and forth. I couldn’t tell if she was worried or if she was thinking about her next move. BJ was pretty much her shadow. They sat down together and began discussing their ideas of what the next step for them might be.

The back door opened and the seven from the studio and the pool house filed in. Allison wouldn’t look at me. I directed everyone to put their stuff in the bedroom that they stay in when we are in lockdown.

Fred took his two nephews aside and spoke to them. Although I couldn’t hear what was said, I knew it wasn’t good as both boys kept looking at the ground. Aurora sat nervously at the kitchen table, not really looking at me. The porn twins went upstairs to the room that they had chosen to put their stuff down and came back down to the kitchen.

While people were milling around, Dakota came downstairs with a big stack of papers. She set them on the kitchen table and headed back upstairs. I flipped through them to see that all the Pinetree locations were printed out, each location listed the address, the unit number, the phone, and fax number as well as the current General Manager’s name. I flipped through the stack and took off about 10 pages and began handing them out.

Since it didn’t really matter what locations you ended up with, I just took the top 10 pages then the next 10 and so on.

“If I hand anyone locations that are west of the Mississippi, please set them aside and move on. Look at what I’m handing you right now and see if I need to give you a different set of 10 pages,” I tell the group.

One of the CG boys had pages for Arkansas, I took those back and handed him the next 10. I decided to cover what should be said, “OK, everyone here’s what I would like you to say to the contact unit. ‘Hello Mr. Smith, I’m David from Jaxson, Inc. home office. We’re aware that you currently have no computer system. We’ve had a technical glitch and our IT department is working hard on fixing the issue as quickly as possible. When the system is restored you will receive a message that says our system is back online. Until you receive this message please have your people stay off our system. Do you have any questions at this point? That’s wonderful. Thank you for your assistance,” Then you should hang up and move on to the next unit.

“Does anyone have any questions about what they are supposed to be doing?” I ask.

“Yes sir, can Bobby and I make some phone calls to help?” Sammy says.

“Absolutely! That is great of you guys,” I tell the two chefs. I see both CG boys and Allison not looking at me. I’m sure that Fred lit his nephews up and well, Allison, I can tell she’s nervous about what will happen. Aurora is just sitting there with her ten pages acting as nothing has happened. I’ll address this issue when things are much more settled down. The porn twins and Belinda seem excited to participate as they have note pads, pens and their cell phones plugged into the wall to keep them charged.

My phone buzzes. It’s Agent Heidi Longmire.

“Hello Mr. Greene, this is Agent Longmire. I believe you spoke with Special Agent Fernandez and he let you know that I would be coming by to pick up your laptop. Please assure me you have not opened that email,” she says to me.

“Agent Longmire, the laptop is closed and unplugged from the wall. It is ready to be handed off to you when you get here. How far away are you?” I ask her.

“I’m coming down your service road right now,” she says.

“OK, then I’ll wait until I see your car and then open the gate,” I say.

I head to the security camera in the kitchen to watch until I see her car. When I do see it, I poke the necessary buttons to open the gate. I watch her pull the car into the courtyard and I poke the buttons to close the gate immediately after she pulls in.

I pick up the laptop and power cord and walk over by the front door. As I wait for her to come to the door, I hear my group making phone calls and almost repeating the speech exactly that I gave them to say.

There is a knock at the door.

“Who is it?” I ask.

“It’s Agent Longmire,” she says.

“Please show me your credentials,” I say to her.

I open the door just a few inches and see her holding her FBI ID. I open the door the rest of the way and let her come inside.

“Um, Mr. Greene, what is going on here?” she asks.

“I have my people calling each unit east of the Mississippi to let them know that we have a computer issue and are working on it as fast as we can. They are asking the General Managers to keep their people off the system until service is restored. Right now, we are working on the hotel division, but as soon as we have more contact information printed out I’ll split the group half working on the hotel division and half on the restaurant side,” I tell her. She sees the laptop but before I hand it over to her I ask my question, “Agent, are you married or in a relationship?”

“That’s kind of personal, isn’t it. Mr. Greene?”

“Not to me, it’s not. I saw you running things when we had the shooting of your agents here. Captain Perez showed up and you turned the investigation over to him. I asked Special Agent Fernandez about you and he tells me that you are a hard worker and very dedicated to the FBI. I would like to invite you to dinner to meet someone who works just as hard as you do. He owns his own business and, in my head, I think the two of you would be compatible. However, let me be clear, I’m not matchmaking, I’m just doing introductions. If nothing happens then that’s fine, but if you work as hard as I think you work then maybe having someone to talk about work to might be of interest to you. If not, well then you got a nice dinner out of it. Have I scared you off?” I ask her.

“Um, well……. I guess it’s alright. I do work a lot and really have no time to go looking for someone to trust for a relationship. It’s not like I’m going down to the local pub to pick up someone that I can’t check out ahead of time. Yeah, I’ll be happy to go to dinner with whomever. One small note, I’m allergic to bell peppers. Doesn’t matter the color just bell peppers in general. Here’s my card, let me write my personal cell phone number on the back as I don’t want to get in trouble for using the agency cell phone for personal business,” she says to me as she pulls out a pen and writes her number on the back.

“Thank you, Agent. Here’s the laptop,” I say as I hand her the computer. She puts the laptop into an evidence bag and seals it. I open the front door for her and out she goes. I go back to the security system and poke the buttons to open the gate and watch her leave.

I call Donna.

“Donna, how are things going?”

“Well, David I’m glad you gave me John. He’s been a big help calming people down that are here. He is also taking call escalations and handling frantic customers. He’s sorting the manual reservations into 27 piles, one for each state and one pile for Washington DC. I kind of feel useless he’s doing so much for the call center,” Donna tells me.

“Well, then we made a good call sending him to your group. We’re making calls from here. We have everyone working on it, even Bobby and Sammy. Mom and Fred are making calls as well,” I tell her. She laughs a bit, but I can tell it’s a nervous laugh.

“I’ll touch base with you later, keep working. Oh, one more thing how many people do you have working?”

“Right now, 75, but in about 90 minutes the second shift arrives and that will take us to about 200. Why do you ask?”

“I just wanted to keep tabs on how much help you have there since you are doing things manually. If you feel you need more people, then call them in. We’ll work on the OT later,” I tell her. She thanks me and we end the call.

I dial up Paula next.

“Hello Paula, how goes the limo business?”

“Really slow. The system is virtually down so we are taking reservations for limos manually. We’re explaining that we have a system issue but not to worry as our IT department is working on it as fast as possible. So far everyone seems OK with that explanation,” she tells me. I exhale a bit, as we have two businesses doing ok manually.

I hear Amy behind me telling someone that I’m on the phone.

I end my call with Paula and walk over to Amy and gently take the phone from her.

“Hello, this is David Greene. Whom am I speaking to?” I ask.

“This is Mark Reading. I’m a district manager for a Pinetree district in Dallas. What the hell is going on with our system?”

“Mr. Reading, we have a large issue with our computer system for every computer east of the Mississippi. Did Amy not tell you that we have a computer issue and that the IT department is working on the issue?” I ask him in an annoyed voice.

“Well, I can’t do my job with no computer. I need to look at yesterday’s numbers before I go home,” he tells me. I look at my watch it’s 12:05 pm which makes it only 2 pm in Dallas.

“Please tell me when you go home,” I say to this district manager.

“I stay all the way until 3:30 pm since I got here at 9:30 this morning,” he replies.

“Well, since we are having issues, you may need to stay a bit longer tonight,” I tell him rather than explode on him as we are quite vulnerable.

I hear a long pause before I get an answer, “OK, I guess I can stay since its only one night,” he tells me.

“Well thank you. I’ll be in touch sometime over the next few days,” I say to him. In my head, I don’t understand how the district managers think it is OK to go home at 3:30 pm. After we get through this major issue, I’m going to rattle a few cages to remind them that since they are on salary, they must work a minimum of 45 hours a week. As I count, this district manager is working a total of 6 hours a day times 5 days and that comes to 30 hours. He’s a full 15 hours short and being paid for 45 but only working 30. That is going to change rather quickly. I have my plan B ready for my unannounced visit back to Dallas. I think about Seattle having the same issue and need to look at management files, but with the FBI having my laptop, that will have to wait a bit.

I decide to text Rob. “I know you’re very busy. Are you making any progress?”

I let my phone sit for a bit as I plug it into the charger in the kitchen. I see people making big strides with the pages that I gave them. Dakota comes down the steps with another large package of papers for making calls.

“Everyone, when you finish the call, you’re on. Don’t make another call until I tell you,” I say out loud for everyone to hear.

I see people putting their phone down. Bobby and Sammy are chatting quietly about one of them making lunch for everyone. I’m quite proud of the porn twins and Belinda, they look like they have made the most calls as their stack of papers is much larger than anyone else.

When everyone ends their current calls, I divide the table in half so some may make hotel calls and others will make restaurant calls. I put the porn twins and Belinda to begin making restaurant calls.

I get a text from Rob. It reads, “MAKING PROGRESS. MIGHT BE UP IN ABOUT 75-90 MINUTES. STAY TUNED” I smile seeing this reply.

I call Boston Market to order lunch for the call center and Happy Limo and Black Car Limo.

“Thank you for calling the Pasadena Boston Market, this is Carol speaking. Will this order be to go or dine in?” I am told on the phone.

“Carol, I want to make three large orders. How quickly can they be ready?” I ask.

“Well 5-15 sandwiches about 35-40 minutes forever 5 sandwiches add 10 more minutes,” she says. I think to myself that it will be dinner time before all the food is ready. Carol, that’s all I needed to know, I’ll call you another time,” and hang up the phone.

Next, I call El Polo Norteno and ask about catering for 150-200 people, how long would it take and what would be the delivery fee for it going to two different locations. The delightful lady tells me it will take about one hour to have all the lunches made and be on the road for delivery. I place two sets of lunches: one is chicken on a salad, the other is three fully loaded beef tacos. The lady gives me a price plus the delivery fee. I give her my Visa and add a 20% tip for the driver.