I Have Been Kind Enough to Let You Live

By William A. Morgan, Jr.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 28, 2011
• ISBN: 9781456878153

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Copyright © 2011 by William A. Morgan, Jr..

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011904769

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4568-7814-6

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4568-7813-9

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4568-7815-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

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Contents

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

Dedication

This book is dedicated to America which has entered a dark hour. There seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel, but there is still hope that we will again embrace the ideals and principles that once supported the foundation of this Nation.

CHAPTER 1

A. L. Swenson sat in his office reviewing his formal presentation for the annual board meeting. His thoughts reflected back on what had been an exceptional year for Syn-o-tech despite the major tragedy with partial loss of their mountain laboratory. Syn-o-tech had managed to answer satisfactorily all of the government inquiries. They even accepted the plan for sealing off the area, which allowed them to keep open the secret entrance that only Dr. Coventry, PHD, knew about.

He had really wondered about sabotage, but the investigative team did not discover any clues that lead to that conclusion. He still had suspicions about sabotage, but could not prove any concrete theories. Could it be only a coincidence that all the scientist were on R&R, except Richard Coventry who was a very out-spoken supporter of the dooms day laser. Many were opposed because they felt we were on the verge of a monumental break-through in weapons that would accelerate us eight years ahead of anyone else on earth.

It had been over a year since he had talked directly to Richard Coventry, who the government thought had died in the destruction of Laboratory Section C. He also thought he was dead until one morning before anyone else arrived, his personal office printer activated with the startling message. Richard had been in the Section C master control room and was able to isolate Section C. This contained the super computer, Cray, the small nuclear power plan, and also the laser project. He stated a message could not have been sent without discovery by the investigators that were completely surrounding the rock fortress. He had waited two weeks after the investigators left before the surveillance cameras were again activated and then, another two weeks before he sent the message via satellite.

They were extremely lucky that Richard Coventry did not have any living relatives. Because of the project, he did not have a steady girl friend at the time. A. L. was wondering how long he could hold out without corning out of the compound for an adequate length of time to relieve such desires. It would have to be a carefully planned trip to avoid detection which could blow their cover.

So much for the laboratory and his annual month long vacation. He must complete preparation for the annual board meeting. Linda, could you come here, please, and bring the final schedule for the board session?

His thoughts pondered the coded message he had received that very morning. Richard had worked out a system that every Tuesday morning he would arrive at 7:00 a.m. to receive the message, decode, read, and destroy before everyone arrived at 8:00 a.m. The message implemented a tremendous amount of stress. A. L. read quickly, extremely urgent, conduct trip with upmost caution, hit contract confirmed, blazer in place, black armed, keys under seat.

He would be very interested in how Richard could bring the message through their computer security program and not leave even a detectable trace. The program was supposed to be fool proof, but evidently could be entered without detection. Richard would definitely have to resolve that question.

His attention again focused on the meeting scheduled. He penciled in the changes and called Linda in and instructed her to make the corrections and to send the final proof to the division heads. Linda, I need to have about two hours without being disturbed, I have to review some top secret material. Yes, Sir, Mr. Swenson, I will make sure you are not disturbed. After she had closed the door, he quietly locked the dead bolt and also closed the blinds. He then opened the bar area and stood in position for the face and finger print identification. As the procedure was completed the mirror on the back wall shifted to the right completely out of the way. He then stood for another face and finger identification that would de-activate the protective energy field that no one knew about. With the identification complete, he was then able to open the safe and review the documents. He had to review the brief and other documents that had arrived by courier from his private attorney, John Bostick. Much to his relief, all of the government agencies had agreed with the operation and all of the legal documents had been signed by the Justice Department. Now that everything was signed and legal, he activated the face and finder identification for John Bostick. John had already been given the complete working details and a demonstration of the security system. Just think, the Company would be closely monitored for a period of one year if he disappeared. After Richard’s last message, the completion of this agreement was just in time.

As he was de-activating the door lock, Linda buzzed tore mind him of his four o’clock meeting with George Bradford. The meeting went fairly smooth except George seemed just a little nervous. George’s reply was, maybe it was the annual board meeting where they would have to plot a course of action about Big John Scalettie and the performance of the food division. As George talked on about the last report, he seemed to somewhat change his original position about the course of action to take about this. May be they should give it one more year and not try to sell. That seemed strange to A. L. because just three months prior George had told Big John we are going to take a vote at the board meeting to possible sell his division. Now George was changing his position and was campaigning to give them one more year. George, make your presentation at the board meeting and if we have a majority vote to retain, I will support the decision. Fine, A. L., that is good news.

George, you also will need to remind Big John he will not be able to get in when we vote on the top secret defense projects. His security clearance has been delayed another six month. A. L., I don’t understand. Just six weeks ago we received notification the clearance would pass with no problems. George, no need to worry, it just will not happen before the board meeting."

George, with the board meeting just two days away, I think we should have our final review for next year’s defense projects; and the existing ones at 6:00 a.m. before the board meeting starts at 8:00 a.m. to insure that we will proceed on schedule. My plane leaves at 7:00 p.m. that evening. I don’t want to miss it. A. L., where are you going this year? Well, George, since Joan died last year I guess the schedule is open! I have not decided exactly what I will do! I will call on a regular schedule if you have a problem! We could have some additional inquires from the Air Force about the sharp missile. They have voiced a lot of interest because it can shoot down another missile.

Linda, could you bring in the new print out on division revenue? "George, before you go, call Dr. Maloney. He is concerned about the electronics shield on the sharp missile. We will cover that information at the 6:00 a.m. meeting"

The two days passed fast for A. L. because of the urgency of several projects that required his attention with minor technical problems. Much to his surprise all problems were corrected. The remaining open items, George would report on tomorrow morning.

For A. L. it was a restless night because of his concern about the last message from Richard and the death of his wife the year before. He was also concerned about his brother who had really not felt well in the last six months.

He wished a visit to his brother was possible, but it was not at this time because he should not lead anyone to him, especially after receiving Richard’s message.

The last few years, visits had been in frequent because his brothers duties as an Episcopal priest did not allow time for visits. Eric had sent him copies of all the poems he had written. His brother hoped to publish those someday. He had just filed away the poems he received and had not read most of them. The poems were packed and would be read during his vacation if possible. As he was about to doze off, the alarm buzzed. Could it be 4:30 a.m. already? Yes, he would have to hurry, the driver was scheduled to arrive at 5:30.

This would allow him enough time to arrive for the 6:00 a.m. meeting with George. As the door bell rang, he reached into the night stand for the 357 Magnum that was kept there. He normally did not like guns, since a childhood friend had been killed in a hunting accident, but after the message he received, he must be careful.

Much to his relief he was confronted by a familiar face when he opened the door. Good morning, Mr. Swenson. Yes, Jack, I will be with you in just a minute. He was very relieved because Jack had completed the defensive driving class at the top of his class, but he would still take the pistol to his office. The trip was very smooth; not much traffic and they were on time. Jack had noticed he really looked around before they exited the limo. Is there anything wrong, Mr. Swenson? No, Jack, I must always be cautious because of the type projects we do. Jack, you can store the bags in the security area until we leave for the airport tonight. Okay, Mr. Swenson,, Jack thought to himself, Mr. Swenson is acting a little strange, but he is the boss. Of course, Jack Allison was more than just a driver. For security reasons he was classified as just alimo driver, but was really a top notch body guard.

The experience that made him such an individual began during his childhood in Anniston, Alabama. His father was a mechanic and garage owner who, as a hobby, prepared grand national stock cars. Of course, Jack learned to drive these high powered cars. He learned, you might say, all the tricks of the trade.

During the defensive driving course, the instructor was amazed at how easy Jack executed the difficult maneuvers, that was until Jack told him about his experience with cars. The reverse direction maneuver was called a bootleg spin and they practiced it on bridges to sharpen their skills. As the course was completed Jack was offered an instructor’s position, but he declined.

Jack Allison had developed another interest, which was the military. This was probably prompted by Fort McClellan being located in Anniston. After graduation from highschool, Jack joined the Army and through an agreement, if all test scores were achieved, he would become part of the 101stAirborne. Because of his abilities and the Vietnam Conflict, he moved through thru ranks very quickly. After the Vietnam Conflict, he received an honorable discharge.

Jack has been employed by Syn-o-tech now for about three years.

As the elevator opened, George Bradford was waiting for A. L. "George, do you have all the documents we need to complete our discussion? I sure do, A. L., and we were able to solve the problem with the shield on the sharpe missile. "Dr. Maloney has scheduled the final test firing on the 21st and if complete success is achieved, the Air Force demonstration will be next month, on the 14th. Dr. Maloney is about two months away from testing the Navy version.

They have requested a name change. The Navy does not like Spike for a missile name. Dr. Maloney has an acceptable alternative which is Skyhawk. George, I think that is very acceptable, because the missile does hunt enemy missiles and destroy them. "A. L., we have also received several inquires about the spinner radar. Some defense people have figured out the Sharpe and Skyhawk and the effect on a board radar that allows identification of the target. We will have to postpone any action on that request until after my vacation because of the self-destruct requirement. I would not want that radar system to be captured by any enemy or even a friendly government. This will require a lot more study and many meetings with the Defense Department. I believe that covers everything we need to discuss prior to the board meeting. Oh! Big John’s security clearance did not come through and he will be excused for the defense projects discussion. I will inform him prior to the meeting.

Linda, I need to talk with Jack Allison before we start the meeting. Yes sir, Mr. Swenson, I have Jack online one. Jack, I will need to leave at 5:30 p.m. this evening as my flight will leave at 7:00 p.m. from the Ontario Airport. That should allow enough time to be sure I catch my flight. No problem, Mr. Swenson, I will be ready."

Mr. Swenson, it is time for the meeting to start. Oh! Linda, I want you to keep my office locked while we are attending the meeting. Yes sir, I will lock up and be there in just a minute.

As A. L. entered the room all of the familiar greetings were exchanged among all the board members and division heads.

A. L. realized as he greeted each one, he was searching for some indication as to the identity of a possible traitor. After careful surveillance no problems were apparent. Maybe the information Richard had discovered was incorrect. At just that moment, Linda entered the room and the meeting began with the reading of the schedule.

A. L. opened the meeting with several general statements about the over-all performance of the company with additional insight into the modified long range plans. He then turned control of the meeting to George Bradford.

George supported all of the information A. L. had presented in his normal smooth manner. The actual review of the past year events began with the financial information presented by Anthony Goldberg, Vice President of Finance. The past year had been a very profitable year for each division with one exception. The food division had just moved into the black, the last month.

Jason Little Vice President of Marketing l reviewed the previous year’s marketing strategy with several suggestions for fine tuning the performance. The comments from most of the board members were favorable for the new ideas.

"Jason l I would suggest you present the proposal on the expansion of the food division at this time. This may be a total surprise to the board l but we did not feel we could tolerate a division that was operating in the red, ninety percent of the time. You will find the details of this proposal in the envelope marked #1. I feel we should covert his in detail because of the magnitude of the operation.

A. L. and fellow board members, the following is the most accurate information we could compile. We have not been able to expand our market share because of competition and the strong position of the small specialty food companies. As you will see our main competition BestFoods does have competitive products to compete with the small companies but we have been unable to expand in these areas. We have thoroughly researched the subject and determined we should purchase Delta Foods. The reason is they have about the same account base as Best Foods. This would allow us to have access to these new accounts for our standard products.

Because Delta is now privately owned, it will make the purchase possible without public knowledge. We were approached by the owner, Jim Mason, about ninety days ago with a proposal. The asking price is below market price. The details are as follows: fifty percent of the purchase would be cash with the balance in Syn-o-tech stock. As you can see on the chart this is about four million dollars below market value. I recommend we proceed with the purchase without delay and before the information becomes public. Is there any discussion? If not, I make the motion as stated, that we purchase Delta Foods for twenty million with fifty percent cash and fifty percent Syn-o-tech stocks. George Bradford seconded that motion. All were in favor and it carried unanimously.

Based on projections, the purchase should be complete in ninety days. George, we need to proceed with the transition team in about thirty days. As normal, we will keep the present management for at least six months with adjustments as necessary.

As the transition begins in sixty days, Jim Mason will be asked to stay as manager and will report directly to you, Big John. A. L., I believe with this purchase will finally be able to increase our sales. Just be sure you make the most of the opportunity."

The balance of the meeting passed in what might seem like a few minutes. A. L., much to his amazement, did not recall a lot of the remaining presentation. Maybe it wash is prior knowledge of the material or his pre-occupation with the crisis that could develop in the hours ahead. He had decided not to involve Jack Allison at this time because if he survived, Jack would be better utilized later. The fewer people that know the major part of the laboratory had continued to operate, the less likely the secret would be discovered. His theory was the conspiracy must be uncovered with all guilty parties revealed before an announcement about the success of the project is released. He was sure the announcement would be several months away.

The meeting adjourned at exactly 4:50 p.m. This allowed A. L. to depart on schedule after a brief conversation with all of the board members. As he and Jack Allison entered the parking garage, he looked carefully in all directions. Jack assured him he had personally checked the area and cautioned the guard are the main gate not to allow anyone other than company employees to