Chapter 116
9:01 AM CST Day four of 1260 Kansas City, Missouri - Conference Room, 2nd Floor
I walked into the spacious meeting room on the second floor of the center. My team members and they city’s staff were already seated. They had been talking, but when I walked in, it went dead quiet. I really knew how to make an entrance I thought to myself. It felt more like a funeral reception after I walked in. I saw an empty seat by Mark and quickly moved to it and sat down.
“Thanks for coming, Mr. South,” a woman across the table said. “I am Madeline Sipes, Mayor of Kansas City, and on behalf of everyone here, I personally wanted to welcome you back home.”
Right I thought, I have turned this city upside down and you would prefer, as most would here, to have me somewhere else right now. I said, “Thank you, Madam Mayor. It is nice to be in familiar territory.”
“I am sure it is. Home, no matter where you go, is where the heart is. However, let us move on, there is a lot to accomplish. So, to bring you up to date, we have been working with your staff here on the Rally or Sermon for tonight, as some are calling it. However, before we bring you up to date, I thought I would introduce some of the people here. Starting from my right, this is the City Manager, David Phelps.”
I nodded my head and said, “Pleasure, Mr. Phelps.”
“Then next to him is Colonel Roland Winters.”
“Colonel,” again, I nodded my head.
“Chief of Police, Michael Poploski.”
“Michael,” I said, as my eyes continued to follow her introductions.
“Governor of Missouri, Mike Carson.”
“Governor,” as I nodded again.
“The City Attorney, Hans Rickenbacker.”
“Counselor,” I said.
“Also Marcus Schmidt, Director of the FBI, and Able Richards, Director of Secret Services.”
“Gentlemen,” as I nodded.
“And this is Roger Rehnquist. He is the President of the insurance company that insures our city.”
“Hello Roger, pleased to meet you,” I said.
“Then, of course you know John Roddenburg and his producer.”
“At the end is Shirley, who is one of our court stenographers and she is taking notes of the meeting here. I hope that is okay?”
I turned in my seat and looked at Mark then asked, “What do you say?”
Mark looked at me and said, “It’s okay Jack, not a problem.”
“Then it is fine with me, Madam Mayor.”
“Call me Madeline.”
“Okay then, Madeline.”
“And of course you know your own staff.” I looked around and of course, I was sitting by Mark. Veronica and Thomas were seated next to each other at the end of the table. Then I looked over and saw Gabriel standing next to the wall. He smiled at me and gave me his trademark wink. I wondered if anyone else could see him. I doubted it or there would have been a lot of attention paid to him. Well that was good. He was still around. I needed the support.
Madeline then got my attention and said, “Let’s get the unpleasant business taken care of first, if we can. We rather touched on the subject earlier before you got here, but we need to resolve this sooner than later. It appears that when you applied for your permits, no one at that time was concerned about it, for it seemed innocent enough and it was approved for you. However, since then, you have become, what can I say, a superstar of proportions never seen before. Your presence here has caused the city to swell to well over five million people and frankly our insurance company here is threatening to cancel our policy and is asking for an astronomical sum to insure us. So we are asking if you could help.”
“How much help?” I asked.
“75 million dollars.”
“Really? Is that all?”
“No, they want 100 million, but with sales taxes we’re getting here, it is sort of a windfall for us. In addition, the government of Missouri and the Federal Government have pitched in their resources at no charge to the city. The problem we have is that we don’t have it all and we need to be insured or we will have to cancel the Rally.”
“Okay then, let’s see,” I said, leaning forward to look at the insurance person. “I forgot your name.”
“Roger, Roger Rehnquist.”
“And your title again?”
“I am President of Universal Municipal Underwriters, a division of Sterling Insurance.”
“Okay Roger, so ya need a hundred million to insure this Rally, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And if not, you will cancel the policy. Is that correct?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Okay.” I turned to Mark and asked, “Can they cancel the policy?”
“Yes and no.” Mark replied. “There may well be a clause in the policy that limits their liability for things temporary or that are not ordinary; for example, five million people, or hosting events such as the Super Bowl. The cities who host the Super Bowls usually end up having to get more insurance coverage, but the NFL pays for it.”
“Thanks, Mark.”
I looked back at Roger, leaned back in my chair, put my hands in a teepee, and said, “Roger, what I hear is that you need more money. So I will authorize a check for a million to you and we can call it a day.”
“That will not work Mr. South,” Roger said. “That is not even close.”
“Okay, Roger. Cancel the policy and the Mayor here will cancel the Rally. I will go on TV immediately and tell them why it happened and get on a plane to somewhere else.” I paused, “And you know what will happen then, Roger?”
“No,” he said.
“They will riot, Roger. In addition, when they do, the lawsuits against you alone, win or lose, will cost you a whole lot more than the 100 million. Moreover, I am not sure what the city is insured for, and all the other insurance companies that have insurance on other businesses here in the city. I would guess you would lose a tremendous amount of money anyway.”
“So you’re blackmailing me?”
“No, I don’t like being shaken down. If you shake me down, then I will shake you down. So do we understand each other?”
“May I have a moment?” Roger asked.
“Sure. We will be here, take your time.”
He pulled his cell phone from his briefcase and walked out the door. I noticed that he had left his stuff here, so he would be back.
I then turned back to Madeline and said, “What else do we have on the agenda today?” ignoring the shocked look on her face.