Part 21 (1/2)
The next obvious question ould have the ability to gather this amount of information, most of which was obviously meant to be kept very, very private Papers roup of insiders
Lastly, and just as iain fros on inside of Corporate America There have been so many stories over the years about this couy
How the IRS and the governal channels The kinds of things that the Secretary of the Treasury would prefer were kept under wraps Sometimes stories of this type made the news,picture White collar criely ignored
Scott Mason needed to figure out what to do with his powder keg
So, as any good investigative reporter would do, he decided to pick a few key pieces and see if the old axiom was true Where there's smoke, there's fire
Fire That's exactly what Franklin Dobbs didn't want that MondayHe and 50 other Corporate CEO's across the country received their own unsolicited packages by courier Each CEO received a dossier on his own co information that technically didn't, or wasn't offi- cially supposed to exist Each one read their personalized file cover to cover in absolute privacy And shock set in
Only a few of the CEO's in the New York area had ever heard of Scott Mason before, and little did they know that he had the complete collection of dossiers in his possession at the New York City Tiardless, boardroo was untypically low for a Monday, less than 50,000,000 shares But CNN and other financial observers at- tributed the anomaly to rando through Corporate America
By 6 PM, CEO's and key aides from 7 major corporations head- quartered in the hout the day, CEO's routinely talk to other corporate leaders as friends, acquaintances, for brain picking and G2, h, the scurry of inter-Ivory-Tower calls was beyond routine
Through a complicated ritual dance of non-coiven, with a good dose of Ziegleris the day that they were not happy with the ether Unofficially of course, just for a couple of drinks with friends, and there's nothing wrong, we ad, of course not
These are the rules strictly obeyed for a non-encounter that isn't happening So they didn't meet in a very private roos often never took place One's presence in that roo on in a black hole You just weren't there, no matter what
Perfect
The room that wasn't there was heavily furnished and dark The ue and incredulity the 7 CEO's felt Massive brown leather couches and any tables were die lah for all of Cae ante-roo s that stretched fros
One tired old black waiter with short cropped white hair appeared and disappeared skillfully and invisibly He was so accustoentlemen, and kne ireat pride in re- filling a drink without being noticed With his little game, he made sure that drinks for everyone were always full They spoke openly around La World War II and he saw no reason to trade occupations; he was treated decently, and he doubled as a bookie for some members which added to his incoentleetic and feisty leader of Morse Technologies, defense subcon- tractor ”I personally call this black, but have you been threat- ened?” deden Roberts, Chairman of National First Inter- state
”No, I don't believe any of us have, in soWe are ies private That's all But, I do take the position that we are being intiht This is tantamount to blackmail Or the precursor at a minimum”
They discussed, in the most circumlocutous manner, possibilities
The why, how, and who's Who would know so much, about so many, supposedly sacrosanct secrets Therefore there ured about 50 of their kindred CEO's had received sies, so that meant a lot of ere behind the current crisis in privacy Orwho OK, that's narrowed down real far; either a lot of whos, one big who, or soreed that dey between their firms, any sort of connections that spanned at first the seven of those present, to predict what kinds of demands But it is difficult to find hard business connections between an insurance colo store product known to man and a fast food company The thread wasn't there
How? That was the hardest They certainly hadn't come up with any answers on the other two questions, so this was asking the i how their compa- nies work on a day to day basis Thus, after 4 or 5 drinks, spurious and arcane ideas were seriously considered UFO's were responsible, I once saw onemy secretary, I never really trusted her at allthe Feds! Must be the IRS( it to all of usthe Moonies, o to the Feds?” asked Franklin Dobbs who did not participate in the conjecturing streah the room instantly Lambert looked up from his corner to make sure they were all still alive
”I'm serious The FBI is perfect We all operate interstate, and internationally Would you prefer the NYPD?” he said dero- gatorally waiting any voices of dissent
”C'den Roberts the banker asked belligerently The liquor was having an effect
”Certainly not the truth” he cut hierously close to ad he had committed ”You knohat I o into all of the detail An abbreviated for I aree that ant to keep this, ah, situation, as quiet as possible” Rapid assent came from all around
”All we need to say is that we have been contacted, in a threat- eningto cooperate with the authorities That would give us all a little tianize our priorities, if you see what I htful