Chapter 10

I should have known that Marcel was not the kind of person just to ‘let sleeping dogs lay’. He never did say who he worked for or where he was from, I had just assumed he was CIA. Then again?????

Michelle and I talked about things but she always looked on the verge of saying something but never did. There was something ‘rotten in Rouen!’ and it was not moldy cheese.

I probably should have forced the issue but you know, I did not want to be like Marcel. Giselle had called Michelle and I know she e-mailed her. I think Kimber was no longer in the picture.

Michelle had not found any job she liked or was good at, Duh! she was only 17 now. She came to me one day with an idea. “Jean Paul, with all the ex-FFL people, would starting a security or a guard/escort service for hire be worth considering?”

I thought for a minute and replied: “Possibly, it’s a good idea and one that many go into. I never thought there was enough business but in these times, there seen to be many more opportunities now. This is really a great idea Michelle. If we can find a niche market or two it could really work. Thank you sweetie!”

I immediately imagined those beaches around Southern France. I remembered I was married now, though it may be an opportunity for a business.

Whomever Marcel worked for, I assume he was not number 1; he told me they finally found a replacement. Marcel sent me a message with the name and an e-mail address.

I would be sending him my e-mails now. I planned to blind copy Marcel anyhow.

I know we had ten years but there were some voids that needed to be resolved together. There was an overriding issue we/I/us, had not voiced yet.

The assumption I had been under was: That we had an engagement of a limited duration, in which we had to virtually ‘eliminate’ the entire OPFOR.

Sounded great until you consider:

We did not know when and where to go Once we know, we have limited time to get there Re-supply won’t happen right away If time is ‘of the essence’, air and land get split If not by task force, we don’t have area denial munitions Assume fighting goes into the night, then what? If we ‘blow’ this chance, the ballgame is over This scenario fragments our force into 3 or more groups

Those details aside, I sent the following to Ingmar, the new me.

‘It is my considered opinion that the longest lead time, expense and most uncertain configuration consists of the ships, weapons, munitions, fuel type, and supply. All considered once you determine the sources of these the rest should be secondary and fall into place.

I will limit further comment to only topical items that were identified in an earlier review, I am not certain if you saw that so I have attached a hard copy of what I presented.

Good luck and feel free to contact me for additional information.’ Well I heard from him about as much and as often as I thought he would. Nada. He either had figured out more than I could or came up with a totally different direction than the one I had taken.