True Lies - Redux Ch. 02

Well fuck. Just my luck. Grayson and Jim are gone at the exact same time. Guess I won't be sleeping with Jim this week after all. Might as well have one more drink before heading home.

And that's when yet another asshole tried picking me up - only this one was kind of young and really cute and he was actually charming. Lately, it seems like I had been getting hit on by stranger men even more than normal - and some amazingly attractive ones even by the high standards of the Washington DC singles/pick-up crowd. This lounge was probably a prime spot - but this was really early for that and the major reason I was here. I just wanted a quiet drink while thinking through all my shit.

Somehow this guy got to me, and before I knew it I was feeling really good, forgetting my troubles - and taking this guy home to my place. Maybe he'd sleep with me all night? Maybe he was actually a psychopathic serial killer? Either one seemed OK to me right now...

**********

Jim -

I had access to a lot of stuff on my secure computer at work now. Right in my office. Before at GSA I had to go into a secret sub-level basement only a very few of us knew about. My otherwise normal GSA ID/Keycard allowed me access via one special elevator. It took the keycard to summon the elevator, then 4 different floor buttons had to be punched in the right order. PLUS a 24/7 guard always watched the interior of that elevator anyway and could override the command if someone unauthorized was in the car.

Now I was just reading all about Grayson Peterson and the secrets surrounding the whole Iran negotiations right from my desk. I could also do queries of the massive NSA database and even chats with other "agency" personnel on specific questions I might have.

Grayson's "enterprises", his business, was primarily financial. He made money with his money. He was almost a kind of venture capitalist who financed an awful lot of shady enterprises, and generally anti-American ones, it seemed like. Smaller things (financially) like Taliban opium/heroin production and distribution into Western Europe. And the worldwide sex trade. Everything from kidnapped boys sent to Afghanistan to Thailand pedophilia "sex vacations", to Scandinavian beauties seduced into sexual slavery in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, and other oil-rich Muslim states with a certain percentage of rich men, to Russian and Eastern European women tricked into more common prostitution in Turkey. Bigger money was to be had with financing weapons production and distribution - from quasi-legal "knock-off" production of AR-15's, Uzi's, H&K MP5's, and AK-47's and AK-74's - to outright black market stealing and then reselling actual military weapons, munitions, and explosives. This was a booming business , especially surrounding the extremist Islamic Jihadist worldwide renaissance.

This was where the real big opportunity for ever more money for Grayson was in the whole Iranian deal. Yes, he got a few millions for helping lobby and facilitate the Nuclear/normalization negotiations. But he expected far more in the arms deals to follow. His contacts, his already financed/owned sub-enterprises, could acquire and ship "untraceable" weapons and explosives of all kinds to Iran - for some of that $150 billion they now had lying around. And his companies could also help deliver those weapons safely and securely to Iranian picked Islamists worldwide in the current war. None of the embarrassment and losses that Iran and Turkey and other Islamic nation states had suffered in the past attempting their own bulk shipments via freighters, trains, and trucks. He had good and smart people and used many of the very same techniques the CIA had perfected in "Charlie Wilson's War" - in that case old Soviet military grade weapons and supplies bought by Israeli agents from Egypt and then transported thru Pakistan to the Afghans fighting against the Soviet invaders in the 1980's. This was even before Reagan authorized direct US weapons shipments - Milan Anti-tank missiles and Stinger AA missiles especially. From Grayson's perspective that was all done on the cheap and a LOT of money left on the table. Better if the "private sector" was involved. People like the very amoral Grayson Peterson III.

I kept digging wondering if there was something other than pure monetary greed driving Grayson's motivation. I soon discovered something, maybe. Grayson was actually married, though it seemed to be something seldom mentioned in any of the press surrounding him.

And his wife, Farah, was from an Iranian-American family. Her grandfather, Reza Bakhtiari, was once friends with H. Ross Perot and a business partner of EDS Systems in Iran when Jimmy Carter was elected President. He was smart enough to see the writing on the wall and liquidated all he could of his Iranian businesses and properties right before the Shah Pahlavi abdicated and left the country. He might have gotten advanced notice it was coming. But he still barely got out with his own family and about $80 million. But get out he did and that was enough for him to start over in California.

He did very well in the USA - mostly in high end real estate development. Most of Grayson's current fortune seemed actually to belong to his wife. I wonder what kind of pre-nups might be in play? Grayson was undoubtedly a paper billionaire and certainly had a lot of spendable cash to well afford his rich lifestyle day by day, but he might not be nearly as securely rich as most everyone assumed.

And then it also seemed strange he was so well received in Iran, as Fatwa's were still in place for many ex-Iranians like Reza and his family were, who had abandoned Iran and "stolen" Iranian wealth as they exited the country right before the Mullahs took over.

Hmmm, was it possible some anti-American pro-Islamic-Iranian sentiment existed in this rich (and powerful) ex-Iranian family? I tried to bring up more info on the whole family, but there was actually very little detailed info available. Simple questions like "was the family Muslim or not?" just had no answers. There was some basic info on Farah Peterson, Mrs. Grayson Peterson III. She had an address in Beverly Hills and seemed to keep a low profile. She had some rich friends and her IRS tax returns indicated major donations to a few favorite charities. She always filed separately from Grayson and her annual income was always in the five to ten million dollar range - and basically from interest and dividend payments from a couple of trusts and from "Grayson Enterprises, LLC". That meant a minimal "paper" fortune of $500 million to a billion dollars herself - with "paper" meaning anything from riskier stocks, to surer bonds, to secure certificates of deposits, basically "money in the bank." Hmmm - why was she still married to this Grayson scumbag?

To people like me, mysteries are opportunities. Knowledge may not be power, per se - but it could often turn out to be nice leverage, if properly utilized.

What did Farah look like? She was 39 years old and she was a handsome woman, rather than merely beautiful - in that Persian way. Her wealth pretty much assured her she could look as good as she wanted to look, in reality. Apparently she was comfortable in her own skin - and looked just the way she did, pretty naturally. For many women this kind of confidence comes from merely being loved. Did Grayson really supply this love for her? Or maybe someone else does?

Maybe we should take a run at her as a potential Grayson weak point. I chatted with Jennifer about that via secure PC messaging during her lunch when she was alone in her (Randy's) office, then I called her securely.

"Hey," I started. "Can you talk?"

"Hey, yourself," she replied. "When you going to hire me again - my escort services?" she halfway kidded.

"Soon," I replied. "Right after I get back from California..."

"Farah? Personally, you? Seriously?"

"I'm leaning that way. I know you could get one of our real sexy men to make a run at her, but I just have a feeling I might be the best fit for her right now. Maybe she even still speaks at least a little Farsi. I'm way up to speed now and I could fake being Iranian-American myself. Instant rapport. Maybe."

"OK, I can see that. How are you even going to meet her? I doubt just ringing her Beverly Hills Mansion doorbell is going to get you face to face..."

"Yeah - I DO need some help and more personal background. Can you put a team on her for a week, maybe? What she REALLY does daily? I'm sure - well, I hope - she just doesn't sit home every day. Maybe some of her charities she does more than just give money to for tax purposes? Maybe she even has a boyfriend?"

"OK, I'll run it up the flagpole to Elaine. If she backs it I'm pretty sure she can make it happen. From what I'm hearing very privately, we've got a lot of resources on this one problem and not making much progress elsewhere. I should know no later than tomorrow."

"You need any help on the Rachel front? Anything new?"

"Not really. I can't push it much. I've asked her about her being with Grayson so much socially and publicly on the society pages and she is basically being very coy. Not like I expect her to admit outright infidelity. She is just saying it's mostly business but they have become "friends" and mutually respect each other. So, I ask her what the business is about and she clams up, 'Oh, Jim, that's client privilege and you know I can't discuss that with you. Don't you trust me?' and I just grovel a little more at that point. Any ideas?"

"Get her in the sack? Sorry to be so blunt."

"Yeah, I'm working on it. Don't think I could do it successfully without the help I'm getting from Dr. Ruth. She IS one smart lady. I'm about to try and get Rachel to see her now, as well. That might be my best ploy."

"What about your "another sexy man" seduction option you had for her?"

"She's a tough nut - we've actually sent two of our best comparable "Grayson" types and she just brushed them both off. I'm going to send a 27 year old kid at her, maybe someone that will subconsciously remind her of the younger you. That's the best I've got going right now. But also, Grayson did come by Randy's office two days ago and I just happened to look my best - that submissive "hidden passion" secretary's look - and Grayson really did eyeball me and I'm pretty sure he talked to Randy about me. Randy grinned and leered at me. Don't know yet if Grayson likes the fact I'm letting Randy do me or not. That was always a risk and I might have misjudged his psyche."

"OK. I'll just keep researching and reading everything I can. I'm also going to workout later this PM with the security guys at GSA who also like MMA training - and even hit the shooting range. I have this feeling things might get pretty serious, sooner or later. Just a feeling, the more I learn."

"Sounds good. Better safe than sorry. If you DO go to California, there will be a support team in place to supply you with everything you need. Anything real special you can't fly with?"

"Yeah. I like the FN FiveSeven for my main gun, at least 3 clips and a shoulder holster and a belt convertible holster as well, but also a Beretta .25 or a little .22 Magnum mini-revolver for really concealed carry defensive purposes. If I have to assassinate someone I don't use guns, anyway - so I don't need any silencers. But hey, I'm going out there as a lover not a fighter, and some special communications equipment with my support team who WILL have the long guns is just as important, right?"

"If you go, we'll have your back. And you'll get a little communications magic to take with you as well, like some Bluetooth shirt and trouser buttons with "Bluejacking" capability that will allow you a one push "emergency" holler thru ANY cellphone within it's 60 foot range. Or any PC with Bluetooth capability and connected to the I-net. So, even if you're "caught" and your own phone is taken and destroyed, you'll get at least one personal 911 call out to our guys, including your exact GPS co-ordinates."

"Sounds good. Shouldn't need it, but..."

"Yep. But...I'll let you know as soon as I know. Ciao, Baby..."

And I laughed out loud as I hung up.