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Luke and Katrina had made the flight to Honolulu, with only a few of the passengers upset when little Madison’s tummy was. Madison was hooked on mommy and went where mommy went. Hack thought she was excessively hungry or maybe poopy, so did the rest of First Class but mommy had to be at the board members function; therefore, so did Maddy. Lucas Jr. was staying at Grandma’s; helping her, Katrina said, but a two-year-old in the house is never help, unless there were lost things in the cupboards—he would find lost things.
The newest, and by far the cutest, person attending the MJD Corporation annual board meeting was fascinated with the bird. Ambrose always attended these functions; he was a Vice President, according to Captain McCaw. Baby Maddy and Ambrose were conducting business, actually making so many distractions the rest of the members caught on to who the company leaders were and it wasn’t Hack Jensen.
Luke was finishing a boring report of stock activity, the S&P being up 250 percent. Things were as rosy as a new company wedging into the global markets could expect. Hack was Chairman protem, because of the absence of Ho Tanner.
“If Captain McCaw had made any contact with us here, I am sure he would have left instructions Ambrose would be presiding,” Luke commented drily, bringing a smattering of laughter from the members, especially Smokey Joe, who was walking with a cane to keep him steady, but looked none the worse for his ordeal. Moose had picked up Annie and Smokey before bringing the jet back to Hawaii. He tried to convince everyone the limo pickup was just a business meeting. Inside, he knew that it was an abduction, one that might have lasting impact on the new company but, for the purposes of MJD’s stock meeting, he elected to inform the gathering Ho was ‘detained in Thailand’, undoubtedly trying to fix the brown-out problem their mariachi generators were experiencing in Southeast Asia.
It was at this juncture, Hack Jensen’s PowerPoint presentation got hacked. The large screen monitor in the boardroom with three graphics showing the hundred-week growth watermarked on a map of the world suddenly blinked off, followed by flashes of color and some white fuzzy lines then a stern looking Asian business man with a bald bullet shaped head and a disarming smile said, “Good morning MJD, I see the Board of Directors are all present, except one. I represent a firm—a new global holding identity called South Pacific Bitek. Please study the following list of suggested demands for merger.”
“It’s that damn Odd Job, Annie,” announced Moose Drummond.
“Who the heck is Odd Job, is he for real?” Katrina spluttered, “There’s no potential merger, is there?” Every one shrugged or ignored the question.
“He’s a jerk that works for the devil,” Annie volunteered, remembering the confrontation at the Mekong River Commission Meeting. Moose and Annie snickered and shared an adoring glance.
“Well, just turn him off, Lucas. We want nothing to do with the devil. Make him go,” demanded Katrina, sure her talented husband could accomplish anything with a computer.
Hack Jensen looked helplessly at the screen, tapped some commands, but the takeover was complete. Someone had their private URL locked on. “I can’t, hon,” Luke said, helplessly.
The initial surprise among the board members gave way to disbelief and a quiet assimilation of what was going on. Even Ambrose had cocked his head sideways and was watching the screen. A list of instructions appeared:
Following the text, which stayed up on the screen for what seemed like a long time, a video of Ho Tanner was shown. He had been beaten recently, one eye was black and puffed, his lips were cracked and crusted with blood. He was looking into the camera but was having a hard time concentrating. In a voice, thick with deprivation and pain, he pleaded.
“Hack, Lonnie, Moose and Annie, and Kat, I know you are not prepared for this but you need to join Smokey and me in voting to turn over our assets to these people. They assure me they will not harm me or the company. They have the technical ability to destroy everything we have started. Mr. Tanaka has promised me he will continue the MJD mission statement and provide this energy source to any who want it. The fee structure will change, obviously, but they are prepared to operate the company with more skill than we have been.”
The board members were too shocked to comment, they just stared at each other, wondering if this was really happening or a joke of some kind.
“Follow their list implicitly and I will be released, in exchange for the takeover. Lonnie, please follow the instructions carefully, bring the black rock you used at Isle de Mujeres, we’ll trade that also. Let’s work with the merger, MJD, please.” Ho’s last words sounded desperate.
His image suddenly went off the screen, followed by a large flashing command, Vote Now. It was painfully obvious someone intended to own every asset that MJD had ever seen or owned. Moose and Annie huddled up in a short caucus of whispered ideas. Everyone else was speechless.
The ugly face of Alkichi Kuboyama reappeared. “Do this promptly and you will prosper. Fail, in any detail, your company and your leader will be crushed.” The list popped back up on Lucas’ visual aid screen...a hacker hacking Hack; this was war. Luke knew they would have to play the game now and negotiate later.
The group in the board room was still silent. Stunned, not sure of what to think, let alone say. Maddy had a lunch date with mommy and her shrill wail broke the stillness. Then Ambrose weighed in with his opinion. The place was total confusion; everyone talking at once, throwing out ideas—refuting ideas, wondering about the terms—if any of the promises were real, including the statement from Ho.
Annie came up fighting. “Listen guys, we should never give in to this kind of business practice, this is worse than industrial espionage, it is blatant criminal activity. We have to get the law and meet this head on.”
Moose cautioned even if they met all the demands on time, the captors could still make Ho disappear. “This is gang style. There is no honor in dealing with anyone having Triad or M-12 connections. They will take and still kill.”
Makaewalani begged them to do whatever they asked. “I’ll take them all the papers, I’ll take the risk. It’s what he would do, just wing it. You all know that.”
“The only things worse than losing Captain McCaw, would be losing you, too,” Luke stated. “I don’t think you should go. We can find a different courier.”
“He’s my guy, Hack. I tracked him down before, and I’ll do it again. I won’t lose him.”
After a few minutes of ideas and wrangling, Katrina had the baby satisfied and settled. She stood, rocking the baby and made a speech, surprising them all, even Luke, who knew first hand, how much she despised Ho, his attitudes and what he stood for. To her, he was an apostate.
“All right, people, friends. You guys know I have had a dislike for Ho, probably a personality clash or something, but one thing you don’t know and that is what being a hostage, in the hands of cruel, wicked criminals, is like. I do. It is times like that, when only the love you have for your friends matters. There is no thought of money, success or revenge. Human emotions take on one form, have faith enough to survive and trust your friends.” Katrina wiped away a tear. “You are wondering if you will die the next minute, wondering if the people you relied on would or could save you. If any of you could see this from my perspective, which is now Ho’s perspective, you would do anything, I mean anything to get him back.” She slowly gazed at each one in the room, for a moment. They nodded.
“Ho, Smokey, my husband, even Mother Lode, did what it took; they saved me. I will never forget the sight of MK parasailing, or whatever she did, flying down and slamming the sword meant for me, into the heart of the evilest person in the world. I know, Annie, we could ask Victor to help us fight them and maybe win or just get people killed. Three years ago, you all gave up a U-Haul; half a billion dollars’ worth of gold. To stop Xolotl? Not really. It was to save an immature, sometimes rude girl. Unless we have all changed in three years, there is only one option. Ho would already have the company paper transferred. You all know there is more value in his little finger, than this whole Mariachi Company.”
These sentiments, coming from the spoiled, often cantankerous Katrina, meant more to the members of the board than a hundred speeches from anyone else. They got down to business, video recorded the company activity, voted on the transfers and Moose and Luke made the paperwork, including the place for Irene Tanner/Esplin’s signature (proxy holder for Capt McCaw).
Makaewalani booked a flight for Bangkok then asked Luke to turn off the recording of the meeting particulars and to shut down anything electronic, including laptops and phone devices.
“Now, off the record, do any of you have any ideas about why he requested the rock from Isle de Mujeres? I think he wants to trick them into thinking they have the actual Black Mariachi, when he really gives them a dumb rock I found in a souvenir shop on the island.”
“You mean it wasn’t you on the hang glider that triggered the U-Haul generator we stacked?” asked Smokey, who had been silently observing the proceedings.
“It wasn’t me being above the generator that made it turn on; it was the conduit of power connecting from the Angel Falls tepui to Ojinaga, which actually energized Mujeres and, finally, completed the transformer of the Ursa Major layout,” answered Makaewalani.
“I think he wants us to keep the original safe,” Smokey said, thoughtfully.
The members were each thinking about the things Smokey had just endured, what he knew about the stone and its power. He knew and testified the rock had been the reason he was rescued—it had provided a transmitter through the Mer-ka-ba, somehow. “We may need it in the future. One was lost with Wade Tucker. Where is the other one? I had it with me at the mountain monastery.”
“I have it right here,” Moose responded and took it off from under his dress shirt and tie.
“Give it to his mother, to keep. They won’t think to look there. If he trusts her with some stock and his proxies then she should have that rock, too, agreed?” Smokey looked at each of them, until they assented.
“But, really, no one knows of any other stone, except the one I am taking them.” Makaewalani stated the obvious. They all nodded conspiratorially and agreed to the switch.
Smokey Joe had been quiet for the duration of the meeting but now stood and related some more of his adventure in finding the artifact. “I know the Black Mariachi rock”, he placed it in Renie’s hand, “has some way to make the old Mer-ka-ba do mysterious things. Luke, we need to study that ancient artifact when we are through with the meeting.”
“The semi- annual meeting of MJD Corp is adjourned indefinitely.” Luke Jensen announced. “Let’s get into it Smokey and try to remember every detail for me.” All the friends separated for the evening, Moose and Annie to their room, Katrina with the baby, Hack and Smokey to the library to discover the Mer-ka-ba’s secrets. Makaewalani left for Bangkok. By the time she was boarding, her anxiety began to give way to a rage, something few had ever seen, except some MMA contestants. Looking out over the sea of fluffy clouds, she almost willed the United Airlines 747 to higher speed. She knew Ho was in some serious trouble and promised herself if anything else happened to him or anything like a threat toward her, some arrogant business men were going to die.