Double Eagle
Headquarters
M Street Georgetown
Washington, DC
November 12, 2017
Spence and Jack walked down the carpeted hallway to a private dining room. Seated at a small round table set for two, Spence lifted the crystal goblet of red wine and swirled the contents on the way to his nose before looking at Jack.
Spence broke the silence, “I think you’ll like this. It’s a Cabernet from Romania.” The conversation picked up the thread from the previous meeting.
Jack Lang looked at Spence and shook his head at what had sounded like a crazy scheme that didn’t pass the common sense test. But Lang knew Spence better than that. He always was playing the game multiple moves ahead. His brain could assess options faster than a server performing complicated Monte Carlo simulations. But this scheme had Jack wondering…was Spence slipping gears or had he really thought this one through?
“ABACUS is the likely leading contender for this HS2 program, and I intend to make them non-competitive. Some china will likely be broken in the process, but we need to take them out of the running now.”
“Hey, Doug and I play racquetball every Wednesday in the Pentagon City Sports Club, and I can tell you that he’s in this game for the long haul. He figures that winning Fortify will put him on track to head up ABACUS’ Sterling business unit in Colorado Springs. ABACUS is all in on this program.”
Spence looked at Jack with cold eyes and said evenly, “Looks like you’ve got a blind spot when it comes to Doug Smith.”
“Blind spot, hell no,” replied Lang angrily, “I like beating him on the court and especially seeing his wife when he’s out of town.”
Spence smiled, his eyes showing their more characteristic warmth. He replied, “Yes, we’ve got time to position Double Eagle for winning Fortify. You will help us with that win.”
Spence glanced at his ‘son’. Jack’s sinewy body supported broad shoulders and dark curly hair framed a rugged face. Women were drawn to him like moths to summer porch light. Perfectly straight white teeth flashed behind a confident and engaging smile. Jack filled every room with his presence. Spence looked into his deep blue eyes that captured the color and serenity of the Aegean Sea.
The two ate a light lunch, talking about plans for the next few weeks and the rumors about the Washington scene, who was in and who was out, assignments of senior civil servants and military flag officers and the overall attitude of the Congress. Spence prided himself on knowing these details before they were released to the organizational insiders and long before official announcements were made to the general public.
“Jack,” he said as he embraced him in a familiar hug, “Leave the details to me. Have a safe trip and I’ll see you when you get back from Los Angeles.”
The younger man smiled broadly and walked towards the door, closing it softly behind him without looking back. The comments about Doug Smith made him wonder exactly what Spence had in mind when he suggested that a security lapse might be attributed to Doug and what china might be broken. He dismissed any misgivings as he thought about a site visit to one of the Double Eagle affiliates out in Los Angeles that dovetailed nicely with the layover that a certain Qantas flight attendant had offered to him weeks ago.