M. W. Huffman
Chimera
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Thanks once again to my partner and wife, Susan. I’m sure she wonders when I am going to run out of ideas and stop having her read every story. None of this would be possible without her love and encouragement.
“Extreme remedies are very appropriate for extreme diseases.”
OTHER BOOKS PUBLISHED BY M.W. HUFFMAN
THE END — BOOK I of THE EVENT
THE BEGINNING — BOOK II of THE EVENT
THE REVELATION — BOOK III of THE EVENT
A NATION DIVIDED — BOOK I of THE 2nd Civil War
A NATION at WAR — BOOK II of THE 2nd Civil War
A Nation HEALING — BOOK III of THE 2nd Civil War
OPERATION BLUEBOLT — BOOK I America’s Gulags
OPERATION BLUEBOLT — BOOK II American Uprising
BlackStar
CHIMERA
CLOSE PROXIMITY
WORLD’S END
THE BRINK — Operation Deep Flight
Angie Bartoni Case File #1 — The Alphabet Murders
Angie Bartoni Case File #2 — Frostbite
Angie Bartoni Case File #3 — Dead Aim
Angie Bartoni Case File #4 — What Goes Around
Angie Bartoni Case File #5 — Nothing to Lose
Angie Bartoni Case File #6 — Shadow Man
Angie Bartoni Case File #7 — The Club
Angie Bartoni Case File #8 — Murder by Shakespeare
Angie Bartoni Case File #9 — One Too Many
The Logan Files — Blond Deception
The Logan Files — Innocence and Avarice
The Logan Files — The Deal Breaker
The Norris Files — Insurrection
The Norris Files — Silver2
Unfinished
CHAPTER ONE
The New Bedford Mining Company was certainly not the largest U.S. operation. It wasn’t even the oldest or the newest. In fact it was quite unremarkable in many ways. Where it excelled was in the ability to adapt to new technology. They were constantly looking for better ways to bring the precious ore out of the vast caverns in the complex.
They had been in operation only seven years and while the initial startup cost had been astounding, they had managed to break even during their fourth year of operation.
For the past six months the board had been debating whether or not to order a prototype piece of equipment called a Remote Controlled Boring Auger Reclamation Drill. It was soon nicknamed BARD-1. The cost was staggering, almost one hundred million dollars but it would be unlike anything being used in the mining industry.
The boardroom was not opulent by any means but it was adequate for the size of the operation. While the company was still privately owned, most of the board members were given stock as bonuses rather than drain the cash reserves.
Paul Miller was the CEO and Chairman of the Board of the New Bedford Mining Company. He did not get there by accident. His great-grandfather had actually started the mine which was handed down through each successive generation. Like his grandfather and his father, he started by first working in the mines. His great grandfather was a firm believer that you could never understand the entire operation or what the paid help was going through until you got in and did the job right alongside them.
“Until you toil alongside the working man, you can never understand what they have to go through,” had been the unofficial family motto for over a hundred years.
Paul was forty-one years old but looked ten years younger. His black hair, cut short, didn’t have a single gray hair. He was physically fit and swam every day that he could. He was the first college educated family member to run the company.
“I would like for Ann to start with the financial report,” Paul said by way of starting the meeting.
Ann Taylor was a striking woman. Her auburn hair, emerald green eyes, and pale complexion pretty much gave away her Irish heritage. She was as smart as she was good looking. She had earned her BS from Stanford University and an MBA from Penn State.
“Well, the news is good for the most part. Last month’s P&L shows a healthy operating profit of 16.1 percent. Now I know you don’t rely on the profit and loss statement for net income but it is always a good indicator when we can top fifteen percent operating profit. The company had a net income after taxes of 11.2 percent making it the third best month in our history,” she told them.
Smiling faces and nods greeted her when she looked up.
“Excellent Ann. What is our cash position currently?” Paul asked.
“As of yesterday, COH was eighty-seven million six-hundred thousand. That brings up another point. We have way too much cash on hand and it is just sitting there not working for us. We need to make a decision because we are just wasting money.”
“She is right. We have been talking about this for six months…”
“Seven,” Ann interrupted.
“Okay, seven months and we still haven’t decided a course of action. Darin, what’s going on?”
“Well, we are still evaluating and changing the parameters of the prototype. It’s complicated,” he said hedging.
Daren ‘Mac’ McDillon was the Chief Operations Officer, or COO for the Bedford operation. While extremely knowledgeable he was also overly cautious according to Paul.
“Come on Mac. I’ve been hearing that for seven months. You’re the one who first brought this up. Now we need to buy the thing or move on. Right now it is just criminal to have these cash reserves not earning income,” Paul said.
“I understand. I do, but this is a whole new area. No one has anything like this. If we are going to spend a hundred million on the BARD and my butt is on the line, I darn well want to make sure we did it right. I certainly don’t want to get fired because I overlooked something,” he replied.
“You’re not going to get fired, even if the damn thing blows up when we first start it. I understand the risk we are taking but even if it doesn’t work, it will not ruin the company. We will still be solvent. No one is going to place the burden of making a good decision squarely on your shoulders. I take responsibility for those kinds of decisions,” Paul told him.
“Paul, he does have a valid point. Suppose we do buy the machine and find that it could have done this or that better if it had of been thought through a little better. We would essentially have a hundred million dollar antique,” Barney Falk, the Executive Vice President said.
“You are right Barney but that does not change what we are facing. We know we have located a huge coal vein that has the potential to double our output. Think about that. This one mine could out produce Alpha, Beta and Charlie all combined. Why can’t we capitalize on it right now? We need workers that are qualified workers. We can’t just hire a bunch of new people and expect them to go into the mines. Look at our safety record. In the last seven years, we have had only one serious accident. Even that one was caused by horsing around, not work. We can’t just sit on this. We need to either work it ourselves or sub it out to some other company,” he replied.
It was silent in the room. He was right but to sub the core out to some other company would be a very bitter pill to swallow and they all knew it.