The Legacy of Shadows. William Speir

office in Washington, DC. The aide gestured for them to sit at the conference table on the far side of the office.

      “May I get you gentlemen something to drink?”

      “No, thank you,” both men responded.

      “The Chairman will be here shortly. If you need anything, please let me know.”

      The aide excused himself and left the men alone in the office.

      Both men, who were also members of the Order, worked for the same company that Tom Anderson had retired from several years earlier. Arthur Reynolds was the company president, and Alfonso Berkshire was the director who was responsible for counter-terrorism and counter-espionage training. The Chairman had called Arthur the previous evening to see if his company could provide the training needed by the country’s counter-terrorism units to prepare for the coming offensive against the Russian sleeper agents.

      After a minute, the Chairman entered the office and sat across from the two men at the conference table.

      “Thanks for coming on such short notice,” he said, opening his notebook and handing neatly-bound papers to both men. “We’re in urgent need of specialized training that I hope your company can provide.”

      The Chairman walked them through the papers he had given them, outlining the types of training needed without going into details about what was driving the need.

      Arthur jotted down notes while the Chairman presented the material. When the Chairman asked for their thoughts, Arthur said, “I don’t see any problem providing the counter-terrorism and counter-espionage training that you requested. We have resources available at the moment that can be deployed wherever you need them. But there are two areas of training that you haven’t mentioned, and I wondered why.”

      “What two areas?” the Chairman asked.

      Arthur pulled out a brochure from his notebook. “First, we have a relationship with a company called SignalCorps that makes the finest surveillance equipment on the market today.”

      “I’m familiar with them,” the Chairman interjected.

      “Well, they have a new system that’s ready for field-testing. It has capabilities that would be perfect for counter-terrorism and counter-espionage. And we subcontract with them to provide training on their equipment. Would you find that valuable?”

      The Chairman nodded. “We’re going to need more eyes looking for potential threats than we have manpower available. I’ve seen SignalCorps’ systems in action, and they could help supplement our human capabilities nicely. Yes, add that to the list of training we need. What’s the other area?”

      “Hand-to-hand combat,” Arthur replied.

      “Why would we need hand-to-hand combat training?” the Chairman inquired.

      “Because there’s more to counter-terrorism and counter-espionage than just stopping the threat. You need the intel that terrorists and spies have, and to get that intel, the terrorists and spies must be taken alive. Right now, your units are not trained to wound. They’re trained to kill in order to protect lives. If you need to take terrorists and spies alive, that potentially means hand-to-hand fighting. Just as we have a relationship with SignalCorps, we also have a relationship with a society of combat martial arts instructors who can train your units in non-lethal ways to apprehend targets.”

      The Chairman leaned back in his seat and stared at Arthur for a moment. “I hadn’t considered that. Add it as an addendum to your proposal. That way I have the option to include it or exclude it in the contract, depending on what the committee decides. But make sure that the SignalCorps part is in the main proposal. I want that added.”

      “The training or the new system?” Arthur asked.

      “Both,” the Chairman replied.

      As the two men left the Chairman’s office a few minutes later, Arthur said, “Do you see any problems getting the proposal and pricing pulled together in the next day or so?”

      “That’s a bit soon,” Alfonso protested.

      “I know, but you heard the man. The need is urgent, and if it has anything to do with what the Order’s intelligence committee is working on, we don’t have a moment to lose.”

      Alfonso nodded. “I’ll get right on it. I don’t see a problem with the proposal and pricing for our parts, but I don’t know if SignalCorps or the combat martial arts society can get back to us that quickly.”

      “Don’t worry about that,” Arthur said. “You focus on our pieces, and I’ll call Master Whitworth and SignalCorps’ chairman as soon as I get back to the office so they can start working on their pieces of the proposal.”

      “Sounds good,” Alfonso agreed.

      Emily and Tom sat in the den of their house – cleaning their pistols after having lunch at the gun club – when Emily heard the phone in her home office ringing. She ran down the hall and grabbed the phone before the call could roll to voice mail.

      “Emily Anderson.”

      “Emily, it’s Arthur Reynolds. Do you have a minute to talk?”

      “Of course, Arthur. Is this Order business or SignalCorps business?”

      “SignalCorps.” Arthur filled her in on his meeting with the Chairman of the Counter-Terrorism Committee.

      “I wondered if someone would approach your company,” Emily said when Arthur was finished. “I know what the Committee is up against. When do you need our piece of the proposal?”

      “I’d like to have everything by tomorrow night or the next morning at the latest. I want to move on this as quickly as we can.”

      “That doesn’t give us much time, but I’ll have the sales team get started right away.”

      “Thanks, Emily. Give my best to Tom, will you?”

      “Of course. Goodbye, Arthur.”

      Emily was now chairman of SignalCorps’ board of directors. Edison Travis Shane, the company’s founder and Emily’s business partner, was still the President and CEO, but he wanted someone else to be chairman, and Emily was the logical choice since nearly every product that SignalCorps now produced was based on her original surveillance system designs.

      Emily called Edison and the Director of Sales for SignalCorps as soon as she ended her call with Arthur. She filled them in on the opportunity, and the Director of Sales promised to have a preliminary proposal ready for review by 9:00 AM the next morning.

      When Emily returned to the den, Tom asked, “Have you been on the phone this whole time?”

      Emily nodded and started cleaning her gun again. “That was Arthur calling. He sends his best, by the way. The U.S. Counter-Terrorism Committee Chairman in Washington wants training services from your old company, and Arthur wants to include SignalCorps’ surveillance training and the use of our new system as part of the training proposal.”

      “Nice,” Tom said. “Who’s going to coordinate all of the training with the counter-terrorism units across the country?”

      “Alfonso.”

      “Good man,” Tom noted. “I’m guessing you’ve already talked to Edison?”

      Emily nodded. “He and the Director of Sales are working up a preliminary proposal so I can review it in the morning.”

      “Do you have enough people for what’s needed to train all of those units?”

      Emily shrugged. “I have no idea. But for an initiative this important, we’ll find a way to make it work.”

      “What about subcontracting part of the work to the Order’s best surveillance operatives?” Tom suggested.

      Emily thought about that for a moment. “Not a bad idea. And it would give