Thursday was upon us, Thanksgiving Day – everyone brought a covered dish of some kind to the gym for all the employees and gym regulars to enjoy. Dad and Jason had cooked two turkeys to be sure there would be enough.

All the tables and chairs we had stacked in the garage were carried over to the gym in back of Dad’s pickup truck, assisted by all the able bodied men to load and unload them.

All the employees at Morton Field were invited and came along to.

Lisa and Mom made all the specialty foods. There was the usual candied sweet potatoes gravy and dressing, along with apple, mince meat, chocolate and lemon pies. We had a feast.

We were going to do this all over again for just family and friends tomorrow at the house. Lisa and Mom had made plenty and separated it into two equal portions. All those refrigerators came in handy.

Friday morning Frank called to ask if he could bring a couple of friends and acquaintances with him and his wife.

“Sure, we have plenty of food,” I replied. And we did; Lisa, Mom and we girls had cooked more of anything we thought we would be short on. The guests were going to carry home leftovers for sure.

Marcy had bought plenty of those cheap plastic food containers. Three meals of turkey and leftovers were enough. We were going to have to spend extra hours on the gym floor as it was.

We had a big guest list and by 11 they were arriving. Some came early to help set everything up. The extra help was nice; it was even better that they did not need continuous direction. There is only so much that you can do with table and chair arraignments. It doesn’t really matter where you put the salt, pepper and napkins on the table as long as there are enough of them there.

We had several of those multi crock pot food heaters for the hot foods, much larger crock pots for larger volume foods and coolers with beverages of all kinds.

The judge, his wife, Jason, Lisa, Joey, the North six and their families, Jeanna and both her secretaries came. Marlene and Crash were playful as ever. Marlene was in her late 40’s or early 50’s and she was dressed to play like she was 30 and still wild. I wondered how she acquired the daddy complex in the first place.

Frank arrived with his family, Eric and his wife with Mable tagging along. His guest turned out to be no other than Amy Lockerman and her husband Allen. Allen looked like he was a sub in the dom/sub games. He was always looking down at the floor unless spoken to with his hands always behind him or to his sides. Either that or he was extremely shy.

Lisa said grace and everyone took a plate and the feast began. It was easy to tell when people had food; it got quiet, the only thing heard was occasionally someone asking for salt or pepper or to pass this or that. It stayed that way for an hour or so before chairs were being pushed away from the table with grunts and groans.

The tables were cleared – the china quality paper plates filled the trash cans. The real forks, spoons and knives joined the dirty glasses in the dishwashers.

The deserts were brought out and put on the tables – to more grunts and groans – with another stack of paper plates and plastic forks. Along with the desert came the fellowship of family and friends the things that made us strong and kept us together.

It was late afternoon when the family and friends started leaving in two and threes. Most had gone, only the close family remained along with Frank, Eric, their wives, Amy Lockerman and Allen.

Frank and Eric approached me and asked if we could talk about business – if I had no objections – for a few minutes.

The security business is like war. Once you start it goes 24/7 and even though it was a holiday weekend, my employees were still walking beats, monitoring cameras and protecting and I was still responsible. So no, I had no objections talking business.

Marcy, Jenny, Lorrie, Eric, Frank, Amy, Jeanna and I drifted into a corner. Vicky and Ching Lee asked the wives and Allen if they would like a tour of the gym.

The first logistics questions were answered. We would have to buy six Bell 407’s on the market. There was no surprise there. Amy insisted the State department contracts and agreements were complex and firm with the host countries.

The agency along with backing from the State Department would prod the DOD to put six of the better Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawks at the bone yard on the closed auction site for us to buy. JBG would be authorized to buy anything we wanted from that site from now on.

Jeanna had worked up a number for us to offer to the bankruptcy judge and the Bank of Virginia for the fleet of armored SUV’s and the worn out junk planes and choppers.

Then the news that I knew was coming. All JBG employees at the office and Morton Field would have to undergo the highest level of background checks there were.

All would have to pass polygraph tests, a new round of finger prints and an agency contractor ID card. Jenny, Marcy, Vicky, Ching Lee, Lorrie Jason, Roseanne and I would be issued a low level diplomat ID. All employees would have to get passports if they did not already have one.

With everything we had going on for the next two weeks, agents from the agency and the State Department would be here on Monday to start the process. Once all of that was in order we would be awarded the contract, with January 15 as the official start date.

That would give JBG 45 days to make the transition to management of the former Black Water employees and to visit all 80 countries and the diplomatic overtures to be made.

JBG would gain a few things other than more employees and equipment. With the increased security clearances the girls, Jason and several of my clerks, including Cindy and Mark, could carry our Glock through airport security.

One other benefit also stood out on the paperwork; JBG would be able to provide security and bodyguard services to all but the President and Vice President as contract services.

The down side was that there were 80 countries to visit routinely as contract security management for the embassies. We talked about the nuts and bolts and things that we would need to complete on our end of the contract for another hour.

We had two more days to rest and strengthen our family, before all hell was going to break out starting next week. December was going to be one busy month.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Joe H.