At last the time arrived for the Sentinels’ final planning meeting. Although he hadn’t been actively involved in any of the Sentinels’ activities since he retired to manage the Sentinels’ winery, Tony Garibaldi, one of the original six, had kept in close contact. The five-thousand-acre premium wine operation represented one of the investments the Sentinels had made to prevent the proceeds of their German bond sales from being detected. It was Mike who suggested they kill two birds with the same stone, as he and Cecelia flew back to San Francisco from Washington. “If we ask Tony to host our next meeting at his ranch in California,” he said, “we could receive his winery status report and at the same time figure out how we are going to raise all the money.”
“Let’s make certain we select a time when Ian Meyer can be there,” Cecelia added. “Not only do we need him to take notes, but it will be difficult enough to meet without Jacques. Despite the fact that he has been forced to reduce his involvement to that of our scrivener, I still consider Ian as one of the original six. With his presence, at least five of us will be there.”
“My dear,” said Mike, “at last count I think we will be more than five. I’m assuming we will want to invite Juan Pablo and Sir David …”
Mike’s phone conversation with Tony was much more than a talk between two old friends. “Of course, Mike,” said Tony. “I would be pleased to invite all six of you to the ranch. It just won’t be the same without Jacques, though.”
“Speaking of Jacques,” said Mike, “his absence is something I need to discuss with you. I’m going to need your help. You and I understand, better than the others, how Jacques would want us to proceed. Claudine is a trouper, but she is going to need to rely on us for support. While I am certain we can count on her to complete the European part of the equation, I think she would be relieved to know we are going to lead the charge.”
Mike’s next call was to the Secret Service. The agent in charge said, “You don’t have to tell me about the ranch; I was there last time, when those Samson operatives shot up the place and almost killed Tony Garibaldi. Give us a few days to prepare, and this time we’ll make certain nobody who shouldn’t be there will even get close!”
During the day preceding their meeting, the Sentinels and their guests began arriving in ones and twos. Always the proud vintner and consummate host, Tony was present to greet his old friends, colleagues, fellow investors, and new guests.
He made certain each arrival was properly situated in the guest quarters and told each person that he would conduct a tour of the ranch and the surrounding vineyards as soon as everyone was assembled. Two years had passed since the Sentinels had last visited, and five years had passed since they had put together the five thousand acres required to support an emerging national market for premium wine.
“First we will tour the vineyards,” Tony explained to each guest. “After three years, we have planted more than fifteen hundred acres. I think you will be impressed by the different microclimates, the diversity of the grapes, and the vigorous growth of the vineyards. Plan to be ready by eight o’clock in the morning. The tour will take most of the day, and it will work its way up the Napa Valley, cross through the Alexander Valley, and drive south through Sonoma’s Russian River Valley. Then we’ll pass through the Carneros region on our way back to ranch headquarters. Hopefully, we’ll return in time to tour our winery, the bottling operations, and the warehouse where we store and age our bottled wine inventory.”
To complete the tour, Tony’s staff had organized a dinner that would take place in the limestone caves where the wines were stored and aged. Each course had been selected to complement the wines that would be served.
As impressive as Tony’s progress was, Jacques’s absence was never far from anyone’s mind.
The next night, after a long day of touring the sprawling vineyards, the Sentinels and their guests were all seated around a wide table placed inside the mouth of the limestone caves, allowing guests a magnificent view of the vineyards of the Napa Valley and, in the background, the rolling green hills spotted by the majestic oak trees that populated the region.
Mike tapped his glass and waited until he had everyone’s attention. “Before we start, Tony has something he would like to say.”
A teary-eyed Claudine stood up, champagne flute in hand, and said, “It’s time to break the silence about our dear friend. Jacques, I lift this glass in a toast to you. Each of us misses you very much in our own way and is concerned about embarking on our new mission without your guidance and assistance. Wherever you are, we hope you are safe. Please hurry back to us. We know if you were here you would be telling us to proceed. Jacques, we hear you, and we know what we have to do!”
The next morning, after Tony’s staff had cleared away the breakfast dishes, the group was enjoying a second round of coffee. Addressing Tony and Ian, Mike said, “How nice it is to have you join us. Given Jacques’s absence, having all the remaining Sentinels and our new guests gathered here makes things seem a little less forbidding.
“Now that we have finished organizing the prototype fund,” Mike continued, “the time has come for us to focus on raising the balance of the money. For the last few weeks, each of us has been busy studying the problems we must solve if we are to raise the fifteen billion dollars required to meet the Federal Reserve’s minimum stipulation. I think this would be an appropriate time for each of you to give a brief report of your activities toward achieving this objective.”
One by one, each of the Sentinels and their guests described their progress. Following their analysis of what they had learned, they provided Mike with their best guess regarding their estimated range of funds raised. Mike scratched figures on the blackboard as they spoke:
| Cecelia | Asia | 1.5 – 2 billion |
| Mike | USA | 6.0 – 8.0 |
| Jacques/Claudine | W. Europe | 1.5 – 2.5 |
| David | Great Britain | 0.5 – 1.5 |
| Juan Pablo | Latin America | 0.5 – 1.0 |
| Total | $10.0 – 15.0 billion |
After reviewing his work, Mike continued, “If my math is right, it appears that we only expect to raise between ten and fifteen billion dollars. Even if we achieve our most optimistic forecasts, we’ll barely achieve our minimum stipulation. At the low end of the range, five billion dollars is a lot to make up. In other words, we’d have to have a lot of luck on our side to achieve our goal. It also means we have to raise the maximum limits. Should any of us fail, the shortfall could place us well beyond the get-lucky range.”
Tired and frustrated by the result of their presentations, the Sentinels looked to Mike for encouragement. It was Claudine who asked, “What are we going to do if all we can raise is ten billion dollars?”
“I think we need to be careful about putting too much credence in these numbers,” Tony responded. “Perhaps we should look at our problem from a different angle. So far, all we have talked about are the quantitative issues. What about the qualitative issues? Do we know how motivated these investors may become once they focus on the potential threat of the seven oil companies? Although I regret not being able to actively join you in the raising of the money, I would like to volunteer our communications system, here at the ranch. I don’t see any reason why each of you can’t utilize the same private network we use to communicate with all our brokers and institutional customers.”
Standing up, Mike said, “Tony, thank you for your words of encouragement and the use of your system. I would like to add something to what you just said. We need to consider the trust factors that the information gleaned from Señor Perez’s files revealed. We also should consider the influence of U.S. guarantees. I think we may have underestimated the persuasiveness of our own argument. We’ve even been assured we have the support of the White House.
“If any of you have had the opportunity to study David’s investment-center map, I have to believe you share my amazement how broad and diverse the potential sources of economic interest are. There is no way to gauge the effect of these qualitative arguments or the attractiveness of our offering terms until we begin to meet with the investment managers.”
“The American people haven’t yet spoken,” said Cecelia. “Once we’ve created and passed the necessary legislation, the will of Americans might play a more influential role. Imagine how the big banks might react when faced with the possibility of being excluded from one of this country’s most important financings. Maybe the strength of the Oil Club’s position is not as commanding as they would like us to believe.”
Ian Meyer, who had been sitting quietly and listening to all the talk of numbers, finally said, “I’m not certain I understand all the numbers, or what they mean. All I know is that we are talking about a very complex and large transaction. I don’t think I need to remind you, it was only five years ago that we conjured up the idea of forging a hundred million dollars of the Germans’ gold certificates. If a hundred million seemed like a big number then, can you imagine how people are going to react to the suggestion that we need to raise fifteen billion dollars? Before we overreact to the big number, why don’t we concentrate on completing the funding of the one-billion-dollar prototype? I know we’re done organizing that exercise, but once we complete it, maybe we will have a better feel for the remaining fourteen billion.”