Even though Bolton, Meyer, and Sloan was an “old school” accounting firm, Todd’s boss was able to push through an arrangement whereby Todd could begin to work from home three days of each week.
To start working from home, Todd bought himself a 1.8 GHz IBM clone with a twenty-gigabyte hard disk and dial-up modem. All of the accounting software that he needed was supplied free of charge by his firm. After he began working from home, Todd’s boss noticed an increase in his productivity almost immediately. When he mentioned it to Todd, Gray replied, “Well, it only stands to reason that if I’m spending four hours less each week on the road, I’m sitting at my computer that much more, right?”
A year later, when Todd was offered a raise in salary, he asked to start working entirely from home, instead. When the senior partners in the firm heard about this and were told about his increased productivity, they gave him both the raise and the go-ahead to start working from home full-time. He was Bolton, Meyer, and Sloan’s first full-time employee with a “work from home” arrangement. Todd joked that the firm had finally emerged from the Dark Ages.
When Mary heard about Todd’s raise and new working arrangements, she was ecstatic. They talked until late in the evening about the possibilities of moving to Idaho. When Todd mentioned how late it was getting, Mary asked, “What are you worried about? You’re commuting down the hall in your slippers tomorrow.”
The next person to join the group was Dan Fong, an Industrial Design major who eventually landed a job as the engineering manager for a large canning company. Dan, a second-generation Chinese-American, had a passion for guns. Fong was frequently criticized by the other group members for being a “gun nut.” Specifically, they chided him for continually adding to his large gun collection, which mainly consisted of exotic guns in oddball calibers.
While Dan kept buying guns, his cache of food, ammunition, and medical supplies remained pitifully small.
Dan was always a bit chubby, but ate remarkably little. He prided himself on his frugality. His only extravagance at dinnertime was premium beer. He had a taste for Anchor Steam, Samuel Adams, and ales from various Midwest micro-breweries. He once told T.K., “I save major bucks by eating cheap.” Typically he ate a light breakfast, skipped lunch, and after returning from work, made a dinner that was invariably dominated by rice. He only cooked meat or fish twice a week. From these few high-protein meals, he saved his meat drippings to make a sauce to flavor his rice later in the week. He attributed his rounded belly to beer rather than overeating.
Fong’s gun collection changed drastically after he joined the group. It never numbered less than twenty guns, however. When he first joined the group, his collection consisted primarily of target rifles, big game hunting rifles, and black powder muzzleloaders. Later, the composition of his collection had shifted more toward the paramilitary, but was still exotic.
Among others, Dan owned a Belgian FN/FAL assault rifle, an early 1960s Portuguese contract version of the Armalite AR-10 (predecessor of the AR-15, but chambered in 7.62 mm NATO), a SSG “Scharf Shuetzen Gewehr” sniper rifle made in Austria, a Beretta Model 92SB 9 mm pistol, two Browning Hi-Power 9 mm pistols, including one with a tangent rear sight and shoulder stock, a stainless steel Smith and Wesson .357 magnum revolver, a Winchester Model 1897 twelve-gauge riotgun, a McMillan counter-sniper rifle chambered in the .50 caliber machinegun cartridge, a scoped Thompson-Center Contender single shot pistol chambered in .223 Remington, and several World War II vintage guns including a Walther P.38 pistol, an M1A1 folding stock carbine, and an M1 Garand. Eventually, with much prodding from the group, he also bought a full set of the group standard guns and spare magazines.
Jeff Trasel joined the group at roughly the same time as Dan Fong. At twenty-five, Jeff was lingering in junior college for the fourth year. He still lived at home with his parents, in a small bedroom crammed with bookshelves.
Shortly after high school, Jeff did a hitch with the Marine Corps. In the Corps, Jeff was assigned to a Force Reconnaissance Team. An excellent athlete and a bright student, Jeff spent most of his time attending special service schools. No one ever figured out how he wangled it, but in rapid succession, Jeff attended the Marine Corps Force Recon School, the Army Airborne School, the Army Air Assault School, the Marine Corps Sniper School, the Navy SCUBA School, the Navy Underwater Demolitions School, the Army Ranger School, the Army Pathfinder School, and the Navy SEAL course. In all, Jeff logged more time at special schools than with his actual unit of assignment.
When Jeff left active duty in 2002, he had a hard time readjusting himself to civilian life. Despite his academic talents, he could not bring himself to enroll in a regular university. Instead, he loafed around the house, worked out, and attended a few junior college courses. At one point, he considered working overseas as a mercenary with Blackwater or one of the other “contractors.” But the choice jobs in Iraq went to soldiers who had served two or more tours in
“The Big Sandbox.”A quirk of fate had kept Jeff out of the Middle East. Thus, there were no prospects for “merk work” for him aside from the Légion Etrangère—the French Foreign Legion. Jeff scoffed at the idea of fighting for the government of France. Even though he admired the fighting record of the Legion, he said that he wanted nothing to do with the French Army. The French, he said, “could screw up a two-car funeral procession.”
Trasel contented himself by keeping his military skills current in the Marine Corps Reserve. Because he was not employed, and only a half-time student, it gave Jeff the time to take several extra short tours of active duty each year. He typically did two, two-week annual training tours each year instead of just the one tour required. He also put in extra drill days at his unit, doing administrative tasks and keeping the unit’s intelligence briefing book up to date. He eventually attained the rank of Staff Sergeant.
Jeff added a distinct paramilitary flavor to the organization. During his tenure as the group’s tactical coordinator, Jeff insisted that all of the group members get physical exercise regularly, and that the group hold bimonthly field training exercises similar to those conducted by small military units. Starting with “tactical hikes,” Jeff taught the group the essentials of traveling quietly through the bush, hand and arm signals, keeping a proper interval space between members of foot patrols, and so on. Under Trasel’s tutelage, the group eventually graduated to night patrols, defensive fields of fire, immediate action drills, standing listening post/observation post (LP/OP), picket shifts, raids, and ambushes. On these “field trip” days, the group members ate military surplus Meal, Ready to Eat (MRE) rations. Jeff often joked, “MRE: That’s three lies for the price of one.”
Most of the group members, including the females, enjoyed the field training exercises. Curiously, one of the most enthusiastic participants was Kevin Lendel. Kevin frequently volunteered to be the point man on patrols.
Typically, Kevin was armed with his riot shotgun equipped with a strip of white bandage tape running down the top of the barrel to provide better sighting in low light-conditions. Kevin proved to be an excellent point man.
He had acute hearing, outstanding night vision, a fencer’s fast reactions, and a curious “sixth sense” about potential ambushes. He liked the position of point man, and quickly earned the respect of all the group members—even the super warrior, Trasel. Previously, Trasel had his doubts about how Kevin might react to a “terminal situation.”After seeing him in field training, however, Jeff felt as confident as everyone else about Kevin’s skills and calm nerve.