Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2005 00:26:05 EST
From: Jetjt@aol.com
Subject: Empire Ch. 44

The following is a work of gay fiction. If the subject matter is offensive
to you, or you are too young, please exit now.  This story is the property
of the author and may not be reproduced without permission.  JETjt@aol.com


					EMPIRE

			            Chapter Forty-four

3:45 PM, Wildman Casino job parking lot.

Carl unlocked the door to the Honda and pressed the button on the armrest
of the driver's door releasing the other doors before reaching over the
front seatback and depositing his lunch cooler on the rear seat.

"I really appreciate your giving me a lift home all the time," David said
as he opened the passenger side front door and climbed into the small
vehicle.

"It's no problem Dave," Carl said smiling. "It's on the way home. If you'd
like I'll start picking you up too. That way you won't have to ride the
bus."

"That would be really great," David said with a smile. "With the bus I have
to be at the bus stop at 5:45 in order to be here before 7:00."

"I'll pick you up at 6:30 then," Carl promised.

Placing the key in the ignition, he had just turned on the engine when his
cell phone began to ring.

"Hello," Carl said after grabbing the phone from its holder and flipping it
open.

 "Hey Carl," Ron said on the other end.

"What's up?" Carl asked.

"Are you still with David?" Ron asked instead of answering directly.

"Yep. We're just leaving the job on our way home," Carl answered.

"Please tell him that we're scheduled to go through the Stratosphere on
Monday when you guys get off work."

"He'll be glad to hear that," Carl said smiling and looking over at
David. "Are we all going to get to go?"

"Anyone that wants to," Ron informed his ward. "We'll get more details
later. Just let David know."

"Thanks, Dad," Carl said with a grateful smile, before saying goodbye.

"That was Mr. Turner?" David asked, still uncomfortable calling Ron by his
first name.

"Yeah. He said that the Stratosphere tour is a done deal!"

4:15 PM, David's apartment

Opening the door to his apartment, David was surprised that the door was
again unlocked. Anticipating the visitor he dreaded seeing, he pushed the
door open. As expected, Achmed was seated on the sofa.

"I hadn't heard from you in a few days" the large man said
accusingly. "What do you have to report on your assignment?"

"We just got a call from Carl's dad on the way home from work," David said
defensively. "The tour through the tower is scheduled for next Monday."

"Good," Achmed responded. "The explosives we need are arriving in small
shipments daily. We need to finalize our plans very soon. Having been by
the site many times, I think it would be best if we could knock out the
tower leg next to the hotel. Not only would the impact of the falling tower
be in the Casino around the legs, but also there would be a good chance of
collapsing about 1500 rooms or more down onto the casino floor underneath
them. With a little luck we could kill more infidels than died in the World
Trade Center triumph."

"I can only tell you what I find," David replied. "I'm not an explosives
expert."

"Well we'll meet the next night, Tuesday, after your tour. Take
pictures. Time's running out. Oh, and another thing, I don't like you
spending so much time with those American bastards."

"Hey, if I hadn't there would be no tour of the target building. If I stop
seeing them now they might get suspicious. You know people from the Middle
East are already suspect, especially after 9/11."

"I guess you're right," Achmed conceded. "We'll meet then Tuesday at our
normal rendezvous location at 7 PM.  Don't be late."

"Okay," David said to the figure that moved to the door without another
word, exiting into the closing dusk.

David sat down on the sofa, feeling relief from the tension of Achmed's
visit, but riddled mentally with self-doubt and inner conflict about the
terrorist operation with which he'd allied himself. The more he thought,
the more torn he became.

			* * *

Two hours later, Ron and Matt's Ratt's nest

Ron and Matt stepped from the elevator connecting their third floor suite
to the main living area of the house. They had arrived home around 5:30 PM
and had showered and dressed in more casual clothing in anticipation of the
arrival of their dinner guests. Ron had sent their limousine to pick up
their guests at their hotel, planning for its return around 6:30. When they
entered the family area they found that Tyler and Dan along with their two
boys Jerry and Zack had already arrived. The two boys joined Ron and Matt's
boys, including Eddie in the game room as the older guys congregated at the
bar serving the family room.

"What little you've had time to tell us about our guests sounds absolutely
fantastic," Tyler said enthusiastically.

"Yes, it's hard to believe," Ron agreed. "If hydrogen can be produced
cheaply and in quantity, the fossil-fuel needs of the world can drop
drastically.  In addition, if salt water can be converted to drinking
quality water economically, vast areas of the country and the world can be
converted from desert or at best, arid farming to high yield agricultural
production. While neither of these will ever replace birth control as the
primary tool for over- population, it will provide a means that second and
third world countries can use to join the industrial world in a high
standard of living without exhausting the world's fossil fuel supplies or
its limited supply of fresh water. The men you'll meet tonight have
developed processes that have the potential to do both. Not only that,
we'll be on the ground floor and over the next few decades stand to make
trillions of dollars!"

"That's mind boggling," Matt joined in. "I thought that a billion dollars
was a lot of money. I mean no private person has yet broken the 100 billion
mark in personal wealth. A trillion dollars is a thousand billion!"

"Wow!" exclaimed Dan. "What could you do with a trillion dollars?"

"Ask the government," Ron said with a note of sarcasm. "They think a
billion dollars is lunch money and can spend 100 billion without blinking
an eye or even blushing. Even with the Tegano purchase, the four of us
together may be worth 7 or 8 billion dollars in the next couple of
years. That is a LOT of money by most people's standards, and will put us
will within the top 1/100th percent of all the people in this country, the
wealthiest country in the world. Yet in the bigger scheme of things 7
billion dollars is chump change."

"I hate to break up your conversation, Mr. Ron," Parker said entering the
room from the kitchen, "but the limo has just passed through the estate's
front gates. Would you like me to greet your guests?"

"No thank you Parker," Ron replied. "Please just wait by the front door to
take their coats. The four of us will go out to the entry and welcome
them."

"Very good sir," Parker responded as the four men put their drinks aside
and moved toward the front entry. Descending the grand staircase leading to
ground level, Ron led the way out the eight foot high doors and over the
bridge to the porte cochere where the large white vehicle was just pulling
to a stop.

Rob, the Ratt's Nest driver, jumped out of the driver's seat, first opening
the rear door on the driver's side, then circling around the rear of the
car to open the opposite rear door. Once the four passengers were gathered
opposite the four men from the house, Ron began the introductions.

"Gentlemen," he said addressing the newcomers, "I'd like you to meet my
life partner Matt Davidson, my brother Tyler Turner and his life partner
Dan Barnes. Guys," he said switching to whom he was speaking, "this is my
college roommate Chet McDonald, and his clients, Luke Sanders, Damon
Peabody and Bill Rogers."

"Just call me Buck," Bill said as the parties exchanged handshakes. "I must
say," Buck continued, "this is one impressive house."

"Thanks Buck," Ron replied. "Tyler and Dan have one nearby that is quite
different, but equally impressive. If you'll accompany us inside, I'm sure
we can find a cocktail and get to know each other," Ron said.

Ron turned toward the house and with Chet by his side began walking back
over the bridge toward the front doors. Matt paired up with Luke, and Tyler
and Dan did likewise with the other two guests. Upon entering through the
portal Ron introduced the new group to Parker who in turn took their coats,
hanging them in a nearby cloakroom. Ascending the grand staircase from the
entry foyer the group moved to the living room where they settled in the
luxurious seating, then Parker again joined them, taking their drink
orders.

"This house is truly magnificent," Luke remarked. "It reminds me of the
famous house called `Falling Waters' by Frank Lloyd Wright back home."

"You're from Pennsylvania?" Matt asked.

"Yes, that's where I grew up, but really nearer Philly than Pittsburgh."
answered their guest."

"I commissioned the design of the house from Taliesin Associates," Ron
replied. "That's Frank Lloyd Wright's design studio in Scottsdale,
Arizona. They also did our offices and Tyler and Dan's house. Each is in a
different style made famous by Frank Lloyd Wright."

"I'm somewhat a Wright fan myself," Luke admitted. "I'd like our research
lab to be in the style of the Marin County building in northern
California."

"I'm familiar with that complex," Ron said. "I don't see why it can't be
done. Where do you want the lab to be built?"

"We were thinking it might be somewhere near where we live now," Buck
replied. "Both Damon and I currently work for Dupont in Delaware. Luke
works in New York."

"You pick the place," Ron said. "I have real estate and construction
specialists that can help when you decide. Of course, our construction
company will build it. What are you working on now?"

"We're still exploring the hydrogen/ water ideas." Damon answered, "though
Luke is working on an application that I'm sure would interest you, but
Buck and I have a new idea that could cut production costs of hydrogen by
another 40%, however it's still very experimental. If it works it should
cut the costs of water desalinization too. Of course once the first power
plant is underway we'll be working on the hydrogen plant that will feed
it. Hopefully by then our research can be used to cut production costs."

"That sounds great," Ron agreed. "I also think though that we need to make
sure the plant we build is the optimum size, both for our hydrogen
facility, and for the production of electric power. If anything, the
hydrogen facility should be larger. We could start out with all
hydrogen-powered vehicles. I'm sure that we could start our own vehicular
market. What are you working on Luke?"

"I'm working on the design of a hydrogen powered jet engine. I have a
friend from MIT who works for G.E. in the jet engine design department. He
seems to think that with hydrogen we can slightly improve fuel consumption
of jet airliners with minor alterations to engines currently in use and up
to 20% with new engines and we can produce the fuel 25% cheaper than the
cost of kerosene. It could save the airline business because we wouldn't
have to manufacture all new engines. He feels we can modify existing
engines to accept the fuel and as needed, build new engines that are much
more efficient than the modified ones. It would be a win-win situation for
both the airlines and G.E. who we'd license it to."

"There's our market!" Ron declared.

"How many plants can we build in the beginning?"  Matt asked.

"Assuming that the optimum size is of the million gallons a day size, I'd
guess that we could start 10 in rapid succession," Ron replied. "It would
be a capital investment of about 900 million dollars, but I'm sure we could
borrow it all if we have the customers lined up. I think that 10 million
gallons a day would make a big dent in the airline consumption. It's
important that we start our first pilot plant though as soon as
possible. We have sufficient cash to do the first plant or two without
borrowing, but not enough for 10 all at once."

"What if we can't get the airlines to buy?" Tyler asked.

"Easy," Ron said smiling. "We'll buy an airline and kill the competition."

"Aren't they publicly held?" countered Tyler.

"Sure but a couple are on the brink of bankruptcy. I'm sure we could buy
out the stockholders for pennies on the dollar. Of course we'd pick up an
immense amount of debt, and we'd have to convert the engines too, but I'm
sure that G.E. would finance the engine conversions."

"You sure don't think small," Chet chuckled.

"What are you laughing for Chet?" asked Ron grinning. "You're going to make
it all happen."

"WHAT?"

"Hey, you can't expect us to do all the work," Ron told him. "If we make an
agreement with your friends, you're going to have to come to work for us."

"Heck Ron, if this deal comes off, I won't need to work."

"Look at the four of us, my friend," Ron said. "Do you think any of us need
to work?"

"I get your point Roomie," Chet responded. "There goes my kicking back on
my heels in the Bahamas," he said feigning disgust.

"Not really," grinned Ron. "We've got a boat!"

Tyler, Matt and Dan all laughed at Ron's referral to the PT II as a boat.

"What's so funny?" Luke asked.

"Our boat, as Ron refers to it, is over 180 feet long, has a crew of 11 and
handles 16 guests in comfort and luxury."

"Wow!" Buck replied. "I vote that we have our next meeting on your boat!"

"Which one?" Tyler asked. "We have another nearly as large in San Diego."

"I like you guys!" Damon said. "Luke, Buck, I think we have some new
partners."

"I hope so," Ron commented. "If we end up making a deal with you, we plan
on betting the bank. I hope you guys realize though that even with almost
unlimited money, we can't do it all. We'll have to do a lot of
licensing. For instance, we can't manufacture cars or jet engines or
distribute power, nor are we big enough take on the whole world at once in
producing hydrogen. If we spent 100 billion dollars in building plants, I
suspect that the demand would outstrip the supply very quickly. I foresee
an explosion in the world's economy. Gentlemen, we're sitting on dynamite
under our rocket. We have to plan our strategies very carefully. I'm
certain that money to finance whatever we want to do is available, as long
as we develop the market along with our production. Nevertheless, I have no
intention of working myself to death to become a trillionaire. What's the
point?  This whole thing better be fun or someone else can do it."

"Ron, you've convinced me," Luke said grinning. "I expected to come here
and have a knock down fight over the terms of our deal. I can see now that
the whole experience will be good for us all. Heck, we're just
scientists. We wanna play in our labs and let someone else tend to the
business of making us rich."

"I'm convinced along with Damon and Luke," Buck stated. "I'm ready to
sign."

"Funny you mentioned that," Ron said laughing. "I happened to bring copies
of a preliminary agreement home with me. Before we all sign, however, I'd
like you all to read it, including Matt, Tyler and Dan. If any of you don't
agree with what's proposed, or if any of you don't want to do the deal,
it's dead."

He reached in a small folder and extracted copies of the agreement that he
brought along home from the office, handing a copy to each of the seven
men.

"I think that you'll find all the pertinent details included," Ron
said. "It's a simple agreement of only two pages, but it covers all the
salient points of our discussion earlier today. While you're reading it,
who'd like a drink?"

Eight hands went up in the air, which Parker noted, appearing mysteriously
in the doorway. Having already anticipated the answer and duplicating the
earlier orders, the older man entered the room and deposited the
appropriate drinks before each man.

"That's what I call service," Chet said as the drinks were set down.

"Thank you sir," Parker said smiling, then with a wink toward the Las Vegas
guys added, "we aim to please."

Five minutes later, Chet looked up and watched the eyes of his `customer
friends' as they concluded their reading.

"What's the verdict?" he asked.

"Looks good to me," Luke responded first.

"Me too," both of the other men agreed.

Ron looked at Tyler, Matt & Dan who all nodded `yes'.

"I have two originals here," Ron said. "I've already signed it for us. If
each of you will sign it, we can get on with our socializing."

Chet rose, picked up the documents from Ron, signed them and then handed
them around to the other three men.

"Who is Turner Holdings?" Luke asked as he signed the documents.

"It's our holding company that owns all our operating and investment
companies," Ron explained. "I'm sure we'll create several operating
companies out of this deal, and collectively you'll have the same 32%
ownership in them that you have in the original deal. It's explained in the
4th paragraph on the second page but in general terms. Understand that this
preliminary agreement is not the full agreement. The final agreement will
probably be 30 pages long and will go into a lot of detail. We'll be happy
to work with you and with Chet on it to make sure that your interests are
not diluted."

"I don't like all the fine print," Luke stated. "I know we have to go
through all the legal mumbo-jumbo, but I trust you, and if your word is no
good, then neither are all the papers."

"I couldn't agree with you more Luke," Ron agreed. "We'll try to make it as
painless as possible, yet cover all the contingencies. For example, are you
guys partners collectively or individually, and what happens if we want to
do something that's not covered in the contract? If one of you doesn't want
to do it, is the deal dead, or does the majority rule on your side of the
fence?  It's that kind of crap we have to wade through."

I never thought it would be this complicated," Luke commented.

"I'm sorry to say it is," Ron responded. "We have to think of everything
possible that could happen both in developing and running the businesses,
and also what happens between us. Then we have to agree on how we handle
something we haven't thought of nor covered in our agreement. It's a lot of
work but worth the effort in the long run . In the old west men made
agreements by handshakes. They often solved their later disagreements with
a gun. None of us want to resort to that kind of issue resolution.

"What's this `discovery period'?" Buck asked.

"That's a 30 day period where we get to see if your claims are true. If
you're not able to do what you claim we can back out of the deal."

"I'm not worried about that," Buck replied. "We've done our homework."

"Then it should be a `no brainer'," Ron said smiling.

"Do we have to wait for 30 days to get our initial money?" Damon asked.

"No," responded Ron as he reached back into his folder, "I have your checks
here."

All four men looked up in surprise.

"Hey guys, we either trust each other or we might as well hang it up right
now," Ron said as he handed the checks to Chet in exchange for one of the
original signed documents.

"I really like the way you work, Roomie," Chet said with a grin.

"Thanks Chet. I'm sure this will be one really good relationship."

Ronnie entered the room and approached Ron.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt," he said, "but when are we gonna eat!"

Ron laughed.  "Right away Ronnie.  Guys, this is our son Ronnie. Ronnie
this is Mr. McDonald, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Peabody and Mr. Rogers."

"Nice to meet you all," Ronnie said offering his hand to the four men who
shook it.

"Nice to meet you too," Chet said for the group. "Ron and Matt, I didn't
know you had a son. You're so full of surprises."

"Actually we have four," Matt answered. "Tyler and Dan only have two, so
far."

"I know this sounds stupid, Ron" Luke said, "but it's obvious that you're
gay.  That's not so unusual, but to have four sons really is."

"Yes," Matt and I are quadrupley blessed," Ron said. "In other
circumstances I'd not mention this, but you're family now. All our boys are
gay too."

"Wow! That's astounding," Chet replied. "I, of course knew you were gay
from when we were in college, but as I said before, I kinda lost track of
you."

"I hope your wives won't be upset that you guys are in business with a
bunch of gays," Ron remarked.

"I doubt it's possible," Buck said. "We have no wives. We're all gay. Damon
and I are life partners, but Luke and Chet are `available'."

The four Las Vegas men grinned as they looked at each other.

"Dinner is served," Parker announced from the doorway.

"There's your answer Ronnie," Matt said. "Get the boys."

"Yes sir," Ronnie said running toward the game room.

"What a charmer," Buck commented.

"Thanks, they all are," Matt replied.

		* * *

Two hours later

Ron, Matt, Tyler and Dan watched and waved as the limo pulled away and
started down the long drive to the front gate of the large estate.

"Nice guys," Dan remarked.

"Yes they are," Ron agreed as they headed back into the house. "I think
that we'll get along fine. They really don't want to be involved with the
business end of their discoveries, but simply want to continue to do
research and enjoy life."

"I'm sure that even without us they could become mega-millionaires just off
of licensing their patents. We're very fortunate to be in on the ground
floor."

"Can we really handle the kind of expenditures that this kind of
construction will demand?" Tyler asked.

"No," Ron confirmed, "but we can license what we can't do ourselves. It's a
win-win situation. Even if we could capture the whole market ourselves we'd
have to face anti-trust charges from the government. It's not worth it just
to make more money. In a way it's like Dupont. They were a successful
gunpowder producer clear back well before the Civil War. However, it wasn't
until the Second World War when their chemical labs went to work with
nylon, synthetic rubber and a host of new products that they became
huge. It's the brain trust that these guys bring to the table that's the
most valuable commodity in this deal."

"I wondered why the lab they want interested you so much," Matt commented.

"Yes, the hydrogen and water discoveries are immense beyond imagination,
but they are not the last thing these guys will bring to us. No matter how
big we get or how much money we make, we can never ignore these guys. They
and people like them, are the key to our future, and quite honestly,
perhaps even the world."

The four men climbed the grand entry staircase to find the six boys waiting
at the top.

"I've been elected spokesman," Ronnie said smiling. "We think we need to
have a family meeting."

"Yes sir," Ron said winking at the other three men. "Would now be too
soon?"

"Duh!" Ronnie replied, eliciting a laugh from the four older men.

"Where would you like to meet, Mr. Chairman," Ron asked.

"The family room would be nice. That way we could get you guys all
liquored-up," Ronnie said with a mad grin and a wink.

"Lead on MacDuff," Ron said with a wave of his hand.

Ronnie looked at his dad with a strange look on his face, then headed for
the family room content not to ask the question that was on his mind.

Ron smiled then accompanied the three other men to the room where the other
5 youths had already settled in. After taking seats that had purposely been
left empty by the young guys, the men looked at Ronnie as Ron said, "Okay
guys, what's on your minds?"

"Two things," Ronnie responded. "It was nice meeting your friend and those
other guys, but what was that all about? Every one of you older guys seemed
so excited, but we're in the dark."

"I'll keep this brief but give you a quick outline," Ron said beginning his
explanation. "First you have to understand that what I'm about to tell you
is a business secret. You can't tell anyone. If you can't agree with that
then we're finished before we start.

"We promise," Ronnie said as all the other youths agreed.

"Good. Two of the most pressing problems our world currently faces, are the
future scarcity of oil and the scarcity of potable water. With the growth
of the third world nations and the population growth, we'll most likely run
out of oil in our lifetime and not be able to feed the world because of the
scarcity of fresh water. The three men who were with my friend Chet are
research scientists.  They have discovered a way to make hydrogen cheaply,
which can be used as fuel, and as a byproduct, this process enables them to
take the salt out of the plentiful seawater. They have offered their
discoveries to us and will be our partners in developing their
discoveries. Long before we've reached the immense potential of this
venture, you will be adults, and those of you who choose to be part of our
businesses will be affected."

"Wow! That's great!" Ronnie gushed. "We get to help save the world!"

"Yes," Ron agreed, "and make a lot of money while we're at it. Now what was
your second item?"

"Uh... well, you know that Nathan and Carl have jobs. The rest of us want to
work too."

"What about school?" Matt asked.

"Oh, we'll still go to school and to college and stuff," Jerry
interjected. "We'd just like to work a few hours a week each and maybe full
time in the summer when school's out."

"Do you mind if I ask what brought all this about?" Ron asked.

"Sure. We all got to talking when we were on our trip to San Diego about
how interesting all the things are that you guys do. We decided that we
want to be part of it."

"I think the four of us need to talk between us before we respond to your
request," Ron replied. "I believe I speak for all of us in saying that
we're pleased that you want to help and be involved, but we also want you
to enjoy your youth and the freedom that goes with it."

"That's nice and we appreciate it," Jerry said, "but we don't want to be
just a family of spoiled rich kids. We already take some shit.... Uh...I mean
kidding... about it at school."

"Let us adults talk about it together," Matt said. "Have each of you
decided what you want to do?"

"Not definitely," Jerry answered. "We knew you'd ask though so we wrote
down our interests and thought you might take those and see if you could
work us into something we'd each like."

"I see you've been thinking quite a lot about this," Ron
complimented. "We'll talk about it and get back to you soon. Is there
anything else?"

"Nope, that's it," Ronnie said. "Thanks for talking with us."

"You're welcome. Okay guys, I think it's time to think about going to
bed. You guys have work and school tomorrow," Matt reminded the youths.

The 6 young men got up and said their goodnights. While Jerry and Zack were
exchanging hugs with Tyler and Dan, Jerry said, "Uh Dads, Zack and I will
take one of the golf carts home. That way you guys can talk about the
jobs."

"Pushy little devils, aren't you? Tyler said with a grin. "Okay, take
off. We'll be home soon."

Thanks dad," both boys said at once, and scampered toward the door.

When the room was empty of the youngsters, Tyler turned to Ron.

"Well bro, what do you think of that?"

"I think they're growing up too fast," Ron replied.

"Probably so," Matt agreed, "but I think we should do something."

"I do too," Dan joined in last. "My only concern is that they don't take on
too much."

"I think for now maybe three hours, twice a week would be doable," Matt
suggested, "like Tuesdays and Thursdays after school. In the summer it
could be more, except I think we should have two or three weeks of vacation
where none of us work."

"That sounds like the beginning of a plan," Ron said. "This coming weekend,
let's `interview' each of the boys after we think of what might be
available according to their lists. It might vary for each kid though. Some
may want to be more involved with school activities, especially Zack and
Eddie who are the youngest."

"I've been meaning to ask you Matt," Ron said changing the subject a bit,
"how's Nathan working out in `Trusts'?"

"He's taking to it like a duck takes to water," Matt replied. "He has those
three `arts specialists' eating out of his hand. I know that George Bowles
really appreciates him working with those three prima donnas."

"Do you think that's his niche?" asked Ron.

"I'm not sure. I'll talk to him about it. I just know that he does a great
job.  I'm not sure it's the job that he likes or if he just is naturally
gifted and motivated."

"Yes, please talk to him. If he wants we could rotate him elsewhere to
broaden his experience base."

"I'll do that Ron," Matt promised.

"I have one more thing that we need to discuss or at least think about."

"What's that Ron?" Tyler asked.

"This new energy/water thing has the potential to be 100 times bigger than
all we're currently doing. Who's going to run it?"

"I think you should do it, Ron," Tyler suggested.

"What do you think Babe?" Ron asked Matt.


"I know I don't want the job. I love what I do already and that thing is
going to be a monster. I think you running it would probably be best, but
I'd hate to lose you from all the things that you currently oversee."

"What about you Dan?"

"I vote for you. We can all work to take up the slack."

"I can't disagree that me running it would work," Ron replied. "but I'll
tell you what I'm thinking. I'll say this first though. I'll not push this
on you all, but I want you to think about it. First, I think that Dan is
underutilized. He's very good at what he does but he needs a major
responsibility, not just to be a Regional Manager for Construction
Leasing. Second, I think that Tyler has some immensely capable people who
could handle Aztec-Turner now that the major external expansion is
complete. My thought is that Tyler and Dan take over the energy/water
development and management. It's dangerous to a relationship for two
partners to work that closely all the time though, so I'd suggest that
Tyler handles the energy side of things and Dan handles the water."

"Whew!" Tyler said shaking his head in surprise. "I'm not sure that I know
that much about science stuff."

"You're an excellent manager," Ron countered. "That's what's important. Dan
is too. Chet can handle the marketing aspects for one or both of you, but
I'd also like to suggest that we bring the whiz kids, Jeff Thompson and
Phil Davis, back from Chicago as Vice Presidents to help you, to keep you
from getting bogged down with the organizational details. I know that
they're happy where they are, so we'll have to make it very attractive to
them. If you need more help we could bring Lonnie and Jack back from New
York too. I also know though that the first thing they all did in setting
up those offices of Turner Consulting was to hire some very bright people,
people who are capable of taking over for them."

"What you're suggesting is mind-boggling!" Dan exclaimed.

"That's what I do," Ron responded with a grin. "I boggle minds."

"Do you mind if I ask why you don't want to do it?" Tyler asked. "You have
the most experience."

"My thought for myself is to move Will into my current job, and to move
myself up a notch to Chairman of Everything. I think we need to be able to
utilize all our resources and I can do that best by removing myself from
all the day-to-day activities of the Turner companies. I'd like to move
Matt's Trust operations up with me though rather than have his operations
subordinate to Will. One of my great loves is to work with Matt in our
charitable operations. If our new venture is as successful as I expect, our
charities will be dealing with $100 billion or more, not $1 billion. We
have the opportunity to do an unprecedented amount of good."

"Dan and I will talk about your proposal," Tyler committed. "Right now I'm
overwhelmed."

"That's all I can ask," replied Ron. "I just want you to know how much
confidence I have in both of you."

"Thanks Bro. That means more to me than I can express," Tyler said, still
in shock.

"I feel the same way Ron," Dan agreed.

"Where are we going to put all the people we're going to need?" the ever
practical Matt asked.

"Well..." Ron said with a grin, "Frank Lloyd Wright designed a mile-high
skyscraper."

			*		*		*