Chapter 118
10:25 AM CEST Day four of 1260 Boston, Massachusetts - Sterling Insurance Company Corporate Office
Sterling picked up the phone and dialed the special cell phone number he knew was a secure line that would ring directly to Aafre in Kansas City. Aafre had gotten there last night and was in the same hotel as Jack and his group. He was not looking forward to this call, at least with the results he had from Roger. Aafre hated being told no. There were usually consequences if he was given bad news. The telephone rang and on the third ring, he heard Aafre’s voice say, “Hello?”
“Sterling here, sir. I needed to call you to bring you up to date.”
“I was expecting your call Sterling. Nice to hear from you, especially since I know you do not hesitate to call immediately when it is bad news.”
How does he know it is bad news, thought Sterling? I have not even said anything yet. “Well sir, it appears we have a problem with the increased premium and Mr. South has threatened us.” He went on to tell him the events as Roger had relayed them.
After he was through explaining the events to him, Aafre said, “I know all about the conversation Sterling. I heard the entire thing while it was happening, but I wanted to hear your take. We have the meeting room bugged. Jack is getting interesting it appears. He does have some balls. Too bad we didn’t get him before they did, huh Sterling?”
“Yes sir, he seems to be pretty sharp, sir.”
“That is true, and in other circumstances, I would have called his bluff. It would not be a good idea in this instance, however. We are having our meeting here tomorrow and Saturday. He is right, they would burn down the city, and we would be paying out the limits of the policy. Therefore, it would be a bad decision to call him on it. I doubt he would cancel, but on the other hand, he may well have done so. I think he knows we are here and he probably knows we had something to do with the insurance thing. So call your man and tell him to take the million and go home.” He paused, then said, “Anything else, Sterling?”
“No sir, nothing else.”
“Well have a good day and we will talk again soon.”
After he hung up, Sterling could feel the perspiration on his forehead. He felt shaken up. Aafre’s people had the room bugged and knew what had happened even before he had called. It was a good thing that he knew the whole story and had enough sense to tell it to Aafre verbatim. If Roger had varied the story any at all, the repercussions from Aafre would not be something he would care to experience.
He picked up the phone and dialed Roger’s cell phone.