Emily stood. “I need to call Edison and the Director of Sales back, but first I’d better call Alasdair and see if he’s okay with the idea.”
“Do you want me on that call?”
Emily smiled. “That’s all right. I’ve got this.”
Tom watched Emily leave the room again, smiling as she disappeared down the hallway. “I know you do.”
Frank Whitworth, Senior Master of the combat martial arts society, ended his call with Arthur and immediately initiated a conference call with the other masters, including Jamie. Once they were on the phone, he told them about his conversation with Arthur.
“Do we have enough instructors to provide the training if the intelligence committee accepts our proposal?” he asked once he finished outlining what Arthur was looking for.
“We’ll have to reschedule some of the training we’ve already committed to,” Master Rutger Samson replied. “But if all of the masters participate, we should be able to get the job done.”
“And it’s not like these are novice students,” Master Gunther Marshall interjected. “These are senior law enforcement and military personnel. We won’t have to start from scratch with them.”
“I agree,” Master Malcom Richards echoed. “And this sounds like too important an opportunity to refuse.”
“That was my thought,” Frank stated. “Jamie, do you have anything to add?”
“I think this should be our highest priority,” Jamie replied. “If I can get Tobias to watch the dojo while I’m gone, I can travel anywhere you need me to.”
“You know that there might be men in these units who won’t take you seriously because you’re a woman,” Master Elias O’Rourke pointed out.
Jamie snorted. “Nothing I haven’t dealt with before. I can handle myself around people like that.”
“Good,” Frank said. “It sounds like we should move forward on this proposal, as long as everyone agrees.”
“I agree,” each of the masters stated.
“Very well,” Frank said. “I’ll pull together a draft proposal and let you all see it before I send it to Arthur Reynolds.”
Alasdair was okay with Emily subcontracting some of the Order’s surveillance operatives to help with SignalCorps’ training, and he promised to contact Terri Ogilvy, the Order’s Chief Surveillance Training Officer, to start pulling together a list of potential names to use. Emily then called Edison and the Director of Sales to let them know that she had additional resources available should more people be needed to deliver the training that Arthur Reynolds wanted.
“Good,” the Director of Sales responded. “We don’t have enough people inside the company to do the job.”
“Well, these are people who have used our systems to do surveillance work in the field,” Emily assured him. “They know the subject matter, and they know our equipment. They’ll do just fine.”
“All right,” the Director of Sales said. “How much do we charge for their services?”
“Use our standard contractor rates,” Emily replied.
“Very well.”
Emily called Arthur when she got off the phone with Edison and the Director of Sales.
“We’ll have the proposal for you in time, but we’re going to have to subcontract some of the training resources. Any objection to using members of the Order? I checked with Alasdair, and he’s all right with it.”
There was a pause. “Clever,” Arthur said finally. “We get to leverage some of the best operatives available who use your systems, and the Order will potentially gain access to intel it could never get otherwise. I like it! Start making a list of who you want to use so we can make certain they have all of the necessary security clearances.”
“Terri Ogilvy’s putting together a list right now. I’ll get it to you as soon as I can.”
“Perfect,” Arthur said. “Let me know if you need anything from me.”
“Will do. Good night, Arthur.”
“Good night, Emily.”
Arthur submitted the proposal in person to the U.S. Counter-Terrorism Committee Chairman. His sales team, along with Alfonso, had worked non-stop for two straight days, finalizing the pricing, adding in the proposals from SignalCorps and the combat martial arts society, and confirming the security clearances of all of the contracted resources that would be needed to deliver what the Chairman needed.
The Chairman flipped through the proposal until he reached the page with the financial summary. He stared at the total proposal estimate for a moment.
“That’s actually better than I expected,” he commented.
“I could raise the price, if that would make you feel better,” Arthur offered.
The Chairman glared at Arthur over the top of the proposal, and then he laughed. “That won’t be necessary. The committee meets in thirty minutes. I’d like you to present your proposal to them. Do you have extra copies, or do you need my aide to start making copies for you?”
Arthur reached into his briefcase and withdrew twenty copies of the proposal. “Will twenty copies be enough?”
“That’s plenty,” the Chairman confirmed.
Three hours later, Arthur walked out of the Counter-Terrorism Command Center feeling exhilarated and apprehensive at the same time. The committee had approved the entire proposal, including the combat martial arts training addendum. The contracts that Arthur had brought with him were signed before the meeting ended.
Arthur had never seen a government contract approved so quickly – further evidence of the seriousness of the crisis that the counter-terrorism committee was dealing with.
Now we have to deliver as promised.
4
When Jamie arrived at the dojo Monday morning, she had just finished turning on the lights when the phone rang in her office. It was Senior Master Frank Whitworth.
“Good morning, Frank,” Jamie said when she answered. “What’s up?”
“I got word last Friday that the contracts have been signed for the counter-terrorism and counter-espionage training that the government wants,” Frank replied. “And our services are part of the agreement. We’re going to start training FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, and military units as part of an urgent initiative they’re undertaking.”
“Any idea what the initiative is?” Jamie asked.
“That’s classified,” was all Frank could say about it.
“When do we start?”
“That’s why I’m calling. I’ve called a meeting for all masters and instructors to discuss our involvement. Can you be here Thursday at noon? The meetings will run through Friday afternoon, so you can fly out that night.”
Jamie looked at her calendar. There was no question that she would attend the meeting. It was a requirement of her rank. But she wanted to see if there were any classes that she had to assign to other instructors. Fortunately, she had no commitments for Thursday and Friday that week. “I’ll be there.”
“Good. See you then. Bye, Jamie.”
“Bye, Frank.”
Jamie immediately went online and booked her flight, hotel room, and rental car for the trip. Then she sent a quick note and the itinerary to Hunter, who was at work at his father’s commercial real estate firm.
She looked at the framed photo on