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CHAPTER ONE
THE MEETING
November 15th – 06:30
____The light November snow tailed off with only occasional snowflakes drifting down to contribute to the white blanket covering the foothills west of Denver. The morning sun was still low on the horizon with its orange rays lighting up the dark blue eastern sky. A local resident, a full grown grey wolf, sauntered down a hillside and stopped to survey his surroundings. The mountain air being still should have made it easy for the wolf to hear a predator, but the fresh snow’s absorption of sound meant the wolf strained to listen. Something was different this morning; a deep vibration in the ground beneath his paws meant he felt the sound before he heard it.
____Suddenly the wolf’s hunt for his morning meal came to an abrupt halt. The sound became audible, and then deafening. He had stood motionless on a ridge when a, big turbine powered, Bell helicopter rose from the valley and stopped to hover at his eye level. The wolf’s heart was pounding as his thick fur rippled from the wind produced by the whirling blades. The giant machine began to lumber forward, from right to left, in front of him. Then it abruptly headed for the Denver skyline at 2,000 feet above ground level. There came another helicopter and yet another. Finally, a fourth lifted off from the eastern slope of the Rockies.
____Helicopters this large made for an unusual sight even to the human eye. From a distance, the unbroken chain of massive flying platforms looked reminiscent of an airborne combat mission.
____These were not standard helicopters, and the men on board were anything but ordinary. Four of the wealthiest men on Earth were on their way, carried by their modern day chariots, to meet a fifth and equally extraordinary man. Alexander Maxwell waited for them in his boardroom atop the Maxwell Land Company Office Tower, one of the tallest structures in Denver. He dressed casually for the meeting wearing a thin, grey turtleneck sweater, black belt and black trousers. His relaxed dress belied his nervousness.
____It was cool in the room so he pulled a maroon, long sleeved, sweater over his turtleneck. A recording of soft instrumental music came from speakers hidden in the ceiling. From fifty floors above street level, he looked across to his estate on the western edge of the city. He knew the helicopters would be coming from that direction. He had been host to his wealthy, globetrotting, friends at his hillside mansion the night before. As the four helicopters came into view he pivoted away from the glass curtain wall, took a few paces to the conference room phone and pressed the call button labelled “Marsha”.
____“Yes, Alexander,” answered Marsha Thompson, Maxwell’s executive assistant.
____“They’re almost here, Marsha. Do you have the disks?”
____“I’ve already loaded them into the computers; they’ll boot automatically when you deploy the monitors.”
____“How about the catering? Did the advance people get all that handled?” He was uncharacteristically tense.
____“Yes. Alexander, it’s all good. Stop worrying. Everything will go as planned,” reassured his assistant. “How do you find the music? It’s supposed to be relaxing.”
____“I appreciate the thought,” he replied. He leaned his full weight back against the edge of the conference table and continued to look toward the mountains. The boardroom table, though massive, was a thing of beauty. It weighed over four hundred pounds and would not move even a fraction of an inch. Built from the most rare of woods and polished to a high gloss, the wood came from a 1000 year old Lignumvitae tree, found only on Lignumvitae Key in the Florida Keys. Botanists refer to it as the “Wood of Life Tree”. The dense and hard wood was used on WWII submarines to line propeller shafts. The craftsmanship, to build the table, was of such high quality it was difficult to see the thin lines, cut on the surface, that cloaked the computer terminals below. ____The five sole members of the Global Geocache Society were about to convene their third annual meeting around the hightech table. The decisions made during the meeting, being important only to them, would be hidden from the public. It was Alexander Maxwell’s turn to be host.
____He felt anxious again and got to his feet. This was the only meeting all year that would cause him to pace. Yet there was no need for him to be on edge. He should have been beyond the fear of financial loss that had plagued his youth. His corporate struggles were over. Maxwell had won the game of business. He anticipated no more hurdles to jump. Long life had seasoned him. He was adept at dealing with highpowered
men and women.
____However these were his peers and, in a couple of cases, perhaps a bit smarter. His executive assistant usually made things run smoothly. Maybe that was why he tolerated Marsha’s independence from time to time. She was the only employee at the Maxwell Land Company who enjoyed a close working relationship with him. He trusted her, which in his world was no small matter. If she said all was well then it was. Occasionally she appeared cold, detached and emotionless, but she was efficient.
____The men would work through breakfast and no unknown food allergies would cause medical problems for Maxwell’s friends. Marsha would take into consideration preferences for special tastes: caviar for the Russian, wine for the Frenchman (even for breakfast), a hot sauce for the Mexican and Cuban coffee for the Japanese member. He had strange tastes that one. The helicopters were coming closer. Finally, they reached the top of the office tower and hovered in formation. The closest helicopter approached for landing, dropped off its influential passenger and departed the helipad to make room for the next.
____The five members of the Global Geocache Society were together again. Once in the conference room, they exchanged greetings in the way of their own cultures. One would bow and another would hug. They had much to talk about.
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