Little Differences

Peggy turned her shocked face toward Gabe and just stared at him. "Why you?" she finally asked.

"Because as long as you are in charge at Armore," Ehrlinger explained, "Captain Lewis would not be available for another task that requires his special skills. We need him to take over Brandt Consulting."

~~~

"Wait a second," Peggy said after Secretary Ehrlinger had finished explaining the role that the President and him wanted Gabe to play. "You're telling me that there is some super-secret, shadow organization existing within the Brandt Consulting operations that does things which the government is unable or unwilling to do, and that you want Gabe Lewis to run this organization for you?"

Gabe realized that Peggy was going to need a lot more information before she could even begin to have a hope of comprehending what was being asked of them both. He tried to explain, "I actually did more when I was in the Marine Corps than just fly aircraft. My actual military occupation specialty code was 0284, or an Advanced Foreign Counterintelligence Officer. I worked primarily with Naval Intelligence, but spent a great deal of time working with the various joint special operations forces around the country training them on counterintelligence, as well as planning several major operations. However, I had completely resigned my commission, and my required time in the reserves has expired. So, my question for you, Secretary Ehrlinger, is what's in it for me to even consider this role with Brandt Consulting?"

Ehrlinger had a smile on his face when he replied, "You are correct that you are no longer associated with the military establishment, and that makes you the ideal candidate to run a privately owned company, which Brandt Consulting is, and will remain. The leadership of the company wants to retire after years of dedicated service to our country. They have no interest in selling the company, yet none of their later generations are willing to step in and continue running it. Either we find someone suitable to take over the leadership or we will have to rebuild the entire operation from scratch. As to your question of 'what's in it for you', there are a couple of incentives that come to mind."

"We are aware that your financial situation makes anything monetary that we could offer you inconsequential to your decision. The role would bring you back into the employ of the United States government from a hierarchical perspective since you would become a Deputy Director of Homeland Security with a GS rank of 15, equivalent to a Colonel, which avoids any Senate confirmation requirements. You would have authority through my office and the ear of the President, but few others within the government would know of your existence or the role that you would be playing to protect our country."

"I still don't see any benefit for me, or for Peggy and me together."

"How much of a benefit would it be if we made the pending SEC investigation into your recent shenanigans related to the Armore shares go away?"

"What investigation? I legally acquired those shares through SIPA, and I can prove it."

"There are several labor unions that feel that the shares of Armore stock that they had transferred to the officers of Armore rightfully should have been returned to them and they are pressing the SEC to investigate the entire transactional process through which you were able to buy the shares. Even if the SEC rules in your favor on that transaction, you know as well as I do that they will be all over every other share of stock in your portfolio, which will include all of those controlled by your investment group and each of those individual investors as well."

"I have nothing to hide and the members of the investment group are just as clean as me..."

"Maybe so," Ehrlinger conceded with a grin, "but are you so clean that you wouldn't benefit from a full Presidential pardon that provided you with blanket immunity for any other capital crimes that might eventually come to light?"

Peggy felt Gabe physically respond to the last statement with a noticeable tensing of his body. He turned to look at Avery English and saw him smiling back at him. "The bastard did know," Gabe thought, or at least he had strong suspicions.

"What?" Peggy asked.

Gabe relaxed and patted Peggy's hand, "I'll explain later." To Ehrlinger, he said, "I am pretty confident that nothing could be proven, so your offer of a Presidential pardon doesn't carry much weight with me right now. That being said, I am willing to meet with the principles of Brandt Consulting, accompanied by Peggy Donahue, after which we will get back to you all with our decision. Is that acceptable?"

~~~

All afternoon, as Peggy listened to people expressing their admiration of Gabe, frequently making comments that inferred that they had knowledge of some action or event that involved him, she kept reminiscing and wondering if this is how Gabe had felt when trying to understand her dual personas when they had first met.

They had been escorted from the conference room and through a door that looked like a storage closet. Inside it was a stairway that led to a tunnel approximately one-hundred yards long, ending at another door. Through this door, they entered an area that to Peggy, resembled a military command center, and she wasn't far off in that comparison.

The operations center for Brandt Consulting was a hive of activity, with people monitoring data feeds from every American port of entry, air traffic across the country, power grids statuses, and several other activities that Peggy didn't immediately recognize. Large monitors were displaying feeds from CNN, Fox News, Al Jazeera, the BBC, and some other foreign news programs that could have been anywhere in Europe or Asia.

The principles with Brandt Consulting, James Brandt and Jason Reid, seemed to instinctively know what activities in the Operations Center would be of greatest interest to Gabe. Peggy smiled at the interest or excitement that she would recognize in Gabe each time that they showed something that they hoped would influence him to take the role they were recruiting him for.

She was among warriors. Peggy had realized it as soon as she witnessed the interactions between the principles of Brandt Consulting and Gabe. They each exuded the strength, confidence, honor, and bravery that she somehow had taken for granted within Gabe. He was a Gallowglass; he was her own 'G.G.'. Although she was hearing only brief snippets about Gabe's military exploits in the conversations that these men were having, when his qualities were placed beside those of these men who had selflessly devoted their adult lives to protecting their country, Peggy understood the dichotomy that Gabe must have experienced with her.

Just as he had with her, Peggy was seeing Gabe in a totally different light for the first time, and she was prouder than any woman had the right to be. She knew that at the slightest hint from Gabe that the role of leading Brandt Consulting would be something that he was interested in, she would do everything in her power to support him in doing so. Stepping away from Gabe to stand beside Anna English, Peggy said, "Let's talk terms."

Anna reached into her shoulder bag and extracted a file folder. "Here's a written proposal for you and Gabe to review at your leisure. We really hope that you and Gabe decide to run Brandt Consulting so that Avery and I have the opportunity to work more closely with both of you in the future."

Peggy accepted the file folder but didn't open it. "What do you mean about Gabe and me running Brandt Consulting? I don't know anything about all this counterintelligence stuff."

"Brandt Consulting is much more diverse than just the clandestine operations for the government that has been discussed so far today," Anna explained. "They provide many of the same consulting and IT services that Armore provides, just to more sensitive customers, such as the government and select government contractors. You and Gabe running Brandt Consulting together wouldn't be that much different than you running Armore together, except for those activities that called upon Gabe's skills and experience to direct."

Anna saw Peggy frown at her assessment and thought that she knew the reason why. She added, "There is an extremely qualified team of department heads currently at Brandt Consulting, and you could count on all of them staying with the company. That's one reason why the owners don't want to sell, just turn over the day-to-day operational decision-making roles to someone else. Your time would be much more your own with leading Brandt Consulting than it would ever be with Armore. Plus, with the exception of the operation center here and a semblance of a corporate office near the San Antonio Airport, all of Brandt Consulting's employees and operations are virtual. You could live wherever you wanted and still function as the leaders of the company."

Nodding toward the entourage that was giving Gabe the tour, Anna said, "I believe that they will explain more about that after lunch."

~~~

"There are often constitutional limitations placed on government agencies that don't exist for private companies. I'm not talking about legal versus illegal, but operational limitations that render various agencies ineffective in handling specific requirements, especially in matters of national security, or in national emergencies," Gabe explained. "Brandt Consulting has been a prime contractor for the Department of Homeland Security since its inception more than four decades ago. It has hundreds of private industry clients as well, but Brandt Consulting has always been the go-to organization when the executive branch has felt the need to work outside of the Washington bureaucracy."

"I understand all of that," Peggy sighed. "What I don't understand is what makes everyone so convinced that you should be placed in charge of the company? I mean, I have complete confidence in you, but what gives all these other people, including the President of the United States almost as much confidence as me?"

By mutual agreement, Peggy and Gabe had deferred discussing both the offer to acquire Armore by Saturn Systems and the offer for Gabe to lead Brandt Consulting until they were on the road, continuing their return to Southern California. They were currently westbound on Interstate 10, just passing exit 523. Gabe would have to remember that exit since it is the one that would take them someday to Fredericksburg, Texas, the birthplace of Admiral Nimitz and home to the vast National Museum of the Pacific War, someplace that he had always wanted to visit.

They had discussed the proposal from Saturn Systems for less than forty-five minutes. While they would need to have a lot more in-depth discussions on how to reinvest the money that they both would receive from their shares in Armore, they had agreed that the proposal was not only generous, but also the best for the future or Armore. Existing operations would see little impact from the sale to Saturn Systems, and through a strategic realignment of both companies' facilities, they would be able to provide redundant business continuity for all operations.

"Brandt Consulting has always been the go-to organization," Gabe explained, "because James Brandt has always been the go-to guy. The reason that they have confidence in me replacing him in running the company is that they have access to portions of my military service record that few others do."

"And what do those records tell them?"

"That I was also a go-to guy. Look, I don't know exactly what my records tell them about specific actions that I was involved with, but they have learned that I have a history of stepping up to analyze an existing strategy to gauge whether or not prescribed tactics were still appropriate based upon changing dynamics. Sometimes the strategy was still sound and slight changes to the tactics were all that was required. Other times, the strategy had to be revisited in the field and decisions made without always having the luxury of more senior leadership to do so. I demonstrated that I could make effective strategic changes and implement tactical solutions that still achieved the desired objective. One of my senior officers once wrote in a post-engagement report that I don't simply think outside of the box; I stand on top of the box and look over the horizon."

Peggy considered what Gabe had said and then tried to relate it to what her experience with him told her. She recognized that he had always been a leader, even without any formal declaration of him as such. His confidence was inspiring to others, his intelligence unrivaled as far as she had seen, his ability to immediately adapt to situations yet not lose sight of the end objective; all of these traits had been there, but muted somehow by the sum of the whole man. He didn't make excuses, he found solutions. Solutions like finding those mercenaries that her father had contracted with to eliminate the threats against them. "Holy fuck!"

"What?" Gabe asked.

"That's what they were attempting to blackmail you with," Peggy exclaimed.

"You're going to need to be a little clearer. I can't read your mind."

"Those guys that you and my dad met with on the boat. You did more than merely arrange the meeting, didn't you?"

Gabe was silent for several seconds before replying, "Nothing that anyone can prove. Trust me. Some people who read my service record and learn of the events involving the deaths and their causes might suspect things, but they could never prove anything."

"How did you manage it from the boat, because I know you never left it."

Gabe grinned and said, "I simply developed the tactical plans and selected the team to execute them. The boat, which I own on paper but it really still belongs to Naval Intelligence, has far more communication capabilities than I shared with all of you. I directed and monitored the progress of the operations in real-time. It wasn't that difficult."

"You said that you were no longer in the military. How did you come to own, on paper, a boat that really belongs to the Navy?"

"My owning it provides a cover for the conversions to the boat that Naval Intelligence wanted on it and also allows it to go places where a naval vessel would be out of place. While I do get to use it for recreational purposes, its primary purpose is counterintelligence. Everybody knows that China and other countries place intelligence operatives onto cargo ships bound for America to collect data on our coastlines, port facilities, and everything else that they can. When I mentioned my boat being used for whale watching and stuff, that is just the appearance that foreign ships have of it as the highly sensitive equipment on it monitors their communications."

"Does that mean that we can't take it island hopping?" Peggy asked with a pout.

"Probably not, but we'll see," Gabe told her. "I was informed that if I take the position with Brandt Consulting that it came with quite a bit of influence within the government."

"What do you mean, 'if'? I got the sense that you wanted the position."

"I guess I do, but it comes with some costs that we would need to accept and deal with."

"Such as?"

"The biggest is the threat of reprisal against me or someone in my family if any of the actions that I might take in the future upset a person or organization enough for them to attempt to strike back. On a positive note, with the name of the company remaining the same, the Brandts will still bear the highest risks associated with the actions credited to the company. Although, if all actions are conducted properly, the name of the company will never factor into the equation. Company resources will be utilized, but the actual involvement of the company will not be apparent to anyone."

"That being said, we would need to take precautions to minimize our footprint in the world at large. No social media presence, the absolute minimum of publicity, and all public records related to us would need to be sealed. How do you feel about all of that?"

Peggy shrugged her shoulders and said, "That's been pretty much the way I have lived my life so far, so I'm fine with it. Anna English said that we could pretty much live wherever we wanted. Is that true?"

"To a large degree, yes. We will need someplace that can be secured completely, and where any equipment required for us to remain in constant communication with the operations center and the White House would not be obvious or apparent to the casual observer."

"So, a house would be the best choice," Peggy said. "What about locations? I mean, should we consider things like access to an airport or anything like that?"

"It sounds like you're pretty on board with me taking the position," Gabe chuckled.

"I think I am. I see it as a way for us to work together in running the company, with you handling all the James Bond-type stuff and me overseeing other operations. As you once told me, I want to share this with you. I want to show you how much faith and confidence I have in you. I want us to be partners in business and in life. I will want to review their past marketing strategy to understand whether there is an opportunity to expand into different commercial markets beyond the government contractor segment, but all-in-all, I see potential."

Gabe heard the excitement in Peggy's voice and that cinched the decision for him. He pulled over into the next rest area and searched for a number on his cell phone. Dialing it through the car's audio system, he waited for the call to be answered before pulling back onto the freeway.

"Mr. Lewis, how can I help you?"

Gabe glanced over at Peggy before saying only two words, "We're in."

"Excellent," Secretary Ehrlinger replied. "I'll notify the President."

Peggy spoke up, "Just make certain that our starting date is at least sixty days from now. Las Vegas, here we come!"

Ehrlinger laughed and said, "I'm sure that will be acceptable."