The remaining nine of the first group were right on time; 4:00 on the dot. Vicky, Ching Lee and I put them through their paces. The first few minutes of any defensive training was spent repeating the final fifteen minutes of the last lesson to refresh their memory and to warm them up.

We worked out very hard for two hours then took a ten minute fluid break, both emptying and refilling. We repeated the process again for two more hours before I made them take a hi-calorie energy and fluid break.

It was during this break that the Jones and Jones crew made their way into the gym to leave their trucks and pick up the pool cars. They picked up the handout of the local cuisine that we gave to all visitors, with good directions and menus from those that were interested enough in business to leave some at the refreshment center.

Part of the Jones crew decided they would get food from the refreshment center and then watch the action in the gym, including the two ladies.

I gave the group an extra few minutes and worked with Albert. He was a fast learner but there were still a couple things he was having trouble with. The difficulties were from missing the first class.

Before we went back with the complete group I had to ask Ching Lee to back down a hair. She was trying to move her group along too quickly. There were certain moves and holds that they had to learn, no matter how long it took. Those holds and moves formed the foundation for the more advanced skills.

“These groups are not competing against one another. They are going to be competing one on one in a life and death battle with an unknown; we have to do this right,” I told her. “Pushing too hard too fast is only going to get them injured and out of the fight before it starts.”

“I did not look at it from that point of view. I understand, I have gotten carried away,” she replied. We continued the training until 10, and then called it a night.

The Jones engineers had watched for a while then disappeared to the upstairs offices, occasionally making a visit to the refreshment center. Sometimes during breaks they would ask a question about the training or about the Morton farm.

After the CIA group left at 10 and our shower, we made our way to the offices. Marcy, Lorrie and Jenny were already up there with Tony and Kathy.

“Nice setup you have here. The exterior of this building disguises your operations quite well. I bet everyone is surprised when they make their way up here,” Tony said.

Kathy added, “You have the top of the line CAD program. It will do everything we need to do and more! I thought we may have to make several trips to Philly but not any more.”

“Thanks for the invite to stay in the guest rooms. Marcy talked us into it,” Kathy added.

“The invitation was a pleasant surprise. I hate motel rooms,” Janet added.

Marcy pulled me aside and handed me several checks to look at. The first one was from the CIA general expense training account for 250 thousand. The memo line read – training for nineteen individuals, in special arts.

“Rodney said that we would be well compensated for our time; he sure was not kidding,” I replied.

The rest were checks from various colleges where we had already opened the security offices and payments for the office site construction that had been completed. Bob’s Construction and Bill Lamar were weeks ahead of schedule with the things they were working on for us. The total was almost three million. I was sure there were payments to those guys that would take half of it.

“The security accounts are looking very good now. I think that we are going to be pleased when it all comes together in September,” Marcy said.

Then she handed me another folder with a printout from Lorries Air charter division. All the flights with the Bombardier 200’s had been highlighted. Marcy had added the accounting sheet along with the reserved and scheduled flights for the next month and the ones that went out several months.

“Lorrie wants to keep both of them and I have to agree, they are making good money with lower cost. Lorrie wanted to talk to you first but you have been so busy and we are not going to bring things like that up during our personal time,” Marcy said. “We have to let the salesman know by the end of the week.”

“I don’t think you can handle that number of flights with just the one. To sublet them reduces the profit and runs the chance of another line picking up the business. Renting an aircraft for short term flights will lead to poor quality equipment and poor customer satisfaction,” I replied. Then I added, “What did Jenna say and how do the numbers look with the farm purchase as collateral?”

“She said we have more collateral than we need without adding the farm and she agrees with you on the need for the second plane, but the final decision is for you to make,” Marcy replied.

Marcy flipped the next page in the folder, “Here are the current numbers with the farm and plane, assets, outstanding loans, cash on hand and our credit limit. At the bottom is our available credit line.”

“Give Lorrie the good news,” I replied as my phone started ringing while we walked back to the table. For some reason I had hit speaker; it was Crash calling.

“Are any of your people out here at the farm? There is someone messing around,” Crash said. “I am going to shoot them if they are not yours.”

I looked at Tony. He was shaking his head no and then added, “None of ours; all of our equipment is here.”

Edit by Alfmeister