Betrayed Husbands Anonymous Ch. 02

My name is Jim Anderson. I am starting a new life in Denver, Colorado. I explained why in "Betrayed Husbands Anonymous", but the short version, goes like this.

My wife went on a date, and we ended up divorced. I wanted revenge but had no way to carry it out. Hard as it is to believe, a man showed up at my new apartment, and offered me a way to get revenge. It was called Betrayed Husbands Anonymous (BHA).

It was both a complete enigma and extremely effective. For me, the organization involved going to two meetings, each held more than an hour's drive from my residence. The first meeting showed me how to wish for revenge and the next meeting I wished for that revenge. I didn't really ask for it, that might have been a crime. BHA was careful. Very, very careful, that I was both anonymous and not involved in the revenge in any way.

After those meetings BHA members took different paths, depending on the nature of the revenge they wanted. My path was to get involved in non-violent revenge, both planning and execution.

As a result, I am a contract employee of a company called Perfect Project Planning. The company has a wide range of services it provides, mostly to small businesses. These businesses tend to be formed by entrepreneurs with a specific skill. When they are good enough, the business takes off and there are a variety of things required of these single-skilled people of which they are totally unaware, let alone proficient in. Perfect can handle bookkeeping, information technology, marketing, advertising, and a variety of other tasks, to help these companies go from 1 or 2 people to the next level.

The scope of Perfect's business was just what I needed. My background was business systems, both their design and implementation. And not coincidentally, Perfect's business was just what BHA needed, as well. I was asked to do projects for Perfect and to help on a variety of tasks for BHA to make its members happy.

My first "BHA client" in Denver was Dave Williams. Dave was known in some circles because he was the managing director of the Chaste (no, it's not misspelled) Banks, here in town. However, I knew of him because I was in charge of getting revenge for him. Dave had no idea who I was or that I was in charge of his revenge (BHA is totally anonymous, no one knows what the activity of another is).

++++++

I was briefed on Dave, then I was to attend a meeting at which he would state what he wanted. I got to the meeting, I found my seating assignment to be in a corner, where the speaker would least likely see me. This was all a part of a written plan. I didn't know who wrote it and frankly, I thought it was too much like a James Bond novel. Who'd go to the trouble of thinking through in which seat I'd be least likely to be seen? While even paranoids have real enemies, this was over the top.

I sat down. I didn't know who the others were, or what function they had at the meeting, it was not part of my function. I was there to hear Dave. Soon, he stood and started into his spiel.

"Hi, my name is Ralph." Dave started with a false name, as he was supposed to. The group said hi to him, and he began.

"I am a pretty successful guy, or I was. My wife and I were putting away a lot of money toward a great retirement. We were happy and in love; at least I was. One day, I caught her in bed with another guy. I pulled him off her and hit him -- hard. Ashamed as I am to say it, he then beat me unconscious. While I was out" he said with air quotes, "my wife moved out."

He paused to gather himself, "Here is the part that really got me. She up and leaves, this guy she is with now is so rich he has rooms where he stores money. But it isn't enough that he gets her, he wanted to hurt me, too. He hired lawyers that cost him more than he got from me and went about destroying me in the divorce. All my years of work and saving -- gone. Now I have my job, and almost nothing else. The house, the investments - everything gone.

"I wish someone could take this guy down."

He finished abruptly.Take the guy down. The guy, I knew, since I knew the particulars from my briefing was William Mason, who was currently acting president of Wellborn Enterprises. I had done some research. Taking down William Mason was not an easy task; so far, it was not even an approachable task -- but I was working on it. Take the guy down was broad enough, I had some wiggle room.

++++++

I should take a minute and describe the two halves of BHA. I had been through the victims' side. It was straight forward, as I've described. The victors' side was also straight forward -- but involved. There were "finders" -- men who worked in divorce court, attorney's offices, bars, and probably more I was not aware of. They identified victims and gave the names to planners.

The planners took care of operations on the victims' side. They chose times, locations, and attendees of the meetings. They arranged the contacts, using false names, and were charged with protecting the anonymity of all.

The next group, of which I am a member is the envoys; the people who take action. Again, the name conjured some spy movie; an ambiguous title to obscure what we did.

The man who headed our office, Chuck, had many contacts who were helpful to the envoys. [author's note: unbeknownst to Jim, Chuck is the founder of BHA.] My first task was a formidable one. I had to "take down" one of the most powerful men in town.

From my briefing, I knew Wellborn Enterprises was a local business. It had always been run by Rodney Wellborn -- (I, II, and III). For the first time, Trey, as he was known, was taking time off and rumored to be on some tropic isle. William Mason was running things in his absence.

Mason's meteoric rise in the company started about the time the Wellborn Building was constructed. No one really knew of him before that. A company called Armstrong Construction, had, then lost the contract for the Wellborn building. That loss cost Armstrong millions. Yet, during that time they grew from an insignificant operation into a substantial construction company.

The divorce was a horror story. The wife sued him for everything. Mason sued him for assault. Dave was not intimidated, he sued them back and in the end they settled. The ex-wife got half. Dave's legal fees took most of the other half. Dave didn't have two nickels to rub together.

My first assignment. Take a guy, who is mysteriously acting as a company president, down. The past president has disappeared. A small construction company lost the contract to build the company HQ and tripled in size. I couldn't talk to the client or anyone else, as I saw it. I decided I needed to talk to my boss, Chuck.

I went into Chuck's office. "I need some help; do you have a minute?"

"Sure, close the door."

"How do you know what I want to talk about?"

"I just want you to be in the habit of making sure the door is closed when we talk. One topic or the other doesn't matter. Since sometimes we will need the door closed, make sure you always close it."

I closed the fucking door. "Chuck, the door is as good a topic as any other. Must we be so secretive?"

"Jim, I don't make the rules." [which, of course, he did]

"Okay, I'll not argue with you on that. But I am working with a guy who has a big ask, he could help me, but I can't ask him. Why?"

"BHA is an imperfect organization. We help people without the resources, or well, the balls, to get their own revenge. We go out and give some guy a good beating; maybe that is exactly what he deserves for what he did, but the one he did it to is not involved. So, one could ask, is it really even revenge?"

"I get that." I didn't see what this had to do with my problem.

"You believe you are going to take down your guy because he did something unlawful. If he did and you can catch him, that will be great. If he didn't, we are going to have to figure out another way to get him. You might not think what is chosen is so great."

"Well, when you asked me ..."

"I promised I'd see to it you didn't have to do anything unlawful."

"Right!"

"So, now, let's take that one step further. We get some victim involved in the totally legal take-down of his nemesis. But we can't find anything. So, it needs to go to -- what I'll call the other side of the house for a less legal solution."

I interrupted, "The other side of the house does it and neither he nor I have anything to do with it. What's the problem?"

"Let's say Mr. Nemesis gets beat up or robbed or both. The number one suspect will be Mr. Victim, agree?"

"Sure."

"Jim, this is the most important part of why we are so cautious. The police will question Mr. Victim. He may well be up to being interrogated, but probably he will not. It is essential he knows nothing, so he can say nothing. If you worked together, look at what happens.

"He says he was working with you, to discover a crime. None was discovered. Now, the police have reason to talk to you. They have a path to Perfect. Now, two people have the opportunity, under police pressure, to say, we found nothing, so it went to the other guys."

I nodded my understanding. "I want no part of that, for sure. I can see he and I must never meet. I want nothing to do with some solution which is illegal."

"That's what I promised you, Jim. Those who formed the organization assure that none of us ever do anything we can't live with."

"But that can be done because others are totally without conscience."

"You want me to agree with that?"

"No. I want to be able to swear I will do nothing unlawful, and the organization supports that view."

Chuck smiled, "Exactly. Now, what do you need help with?"

"It appears there is something fishy about Wellborn and their relationship with Armstrong Construction. I know no one. I need help getting started."

"Our big competitor here in town is Adams Business Systems. Brian Adams is a friend. About the same time as Armstrong lost the Wellborn contract, Wellborn blacklisted Armstrong."

"Are you saying that is connected?"

"Might be. But what I know is the business manager for Armstrong, a woman named Bridget Connolly, was about to be hired away from Armstrong, by Adams. The blacklisting apparently killed that move. You can talk to Bridget, about getting a job here. See what you learn. I'll call Brian and let you know what I find."

I thanked Chuck and was starting to understand BHA better than I had before. If all the pieces of someone's desired revenge were kept separate, no one was likely to ever get caught. The victims' revenge was discounted by no involvement, but nothing comes for free.

++++++

I thought the Bridget tip to be a good one. I went back to my desk and called Armstrong Construction's number from their website.

"Armstrong Construction, Bridget speaking, how may I help you?"

"Bridget, my name is Jim Anderson, I work for a firm called Perfect Project Planning. We are relatively new here in town, have you heard of us?"

She was intrigued, I could hear it in her voice, "Yes, as a matter of fact, I was going to call you. Well, notyou you, your company. I just didn't know who to call."

Oh! That opens the possibility of exploring why she wants to leave -- but that might make me look like I had an ulterior motive. I'll play it straight. "I have heard good things about you. I'd like a chance to interview you and find out more about your capabilities."

"That might be difficult, Simon doesn't want me to leave. I think he had something to do with my not getting on with Adams."

"I don't understand. Adams?"

"I shouldn't have said that!" She paused like she wanted to say more. "Forgive me."

"Bridget, are you married?"

"Are you looking for employees or friends?"

"Strictly employees. That was an inadept way of asking if you could go out with me, seeming socially, for an interview. I guess you could do that, married or not. I'm babbling. How does that sound?"

"We could do that. How about Saturday?"

"Saturday? Sure, why not?" I was sorry I more asked than stated my answer.

She sounded concerned, "Is Saturday bad?"

"No, I was just thinking a weekday evening, but I have nothing to do on Saturday, it will be fine."

"Saturday is easier for me. I start very early in the morning, six days a week."

I mentioned several nice restaurants. She picked Italian. I was sorry I asked. We agreed to meet at the restaurant. The nice thing about the restaurant, it had a large bar area. We agreed to meet at 6:00pm and I made dinner reservations for 7:30pm.

I was off the phone with Bridget for maybe twenty minutes when Chuck called me in his office. I made a show of closing the door. He wasn't amused but decided to let it go. He started, "I have been thinking about Brian Adams."

"You need to get a life, Chuck." I smiled.

"No shit. I told you I'd call him, but I don't like where that leads. He will wonder why I am calling, and I'd rather not bullshit him, though I'd never consider telling him the truth."

"That leaves you little room." I wondered why you'd never tell a guy the truth.

"Hence, hand the job off. You don't know him. Tell him we're considering hiring Bridget and you found out she'd been turned down there. He'll ask how; tell him I thought I remembered that and asked you to call."

"He'll probably call you and ask why."

"Certainly. I have no problem bullshitting him on his dime."

He gave me a big smile and I returned it. Chuck had a lot of class, most of it third, but a lot of class. His ethics were solid, slimy but uniformly slimy -- you could count on parity in the distribution of his slime. Being evasive to a questioner is far different than lying while questioning. I wondered if my own ethics would hold up in this shrine to secrecy and deception.

I called Brian. He was very friendly, if you define that in terms of effusive and illusive. He told me "these matters" are delicate. Did I mind if he called Chuck?Did I mind? What if I said, yes I do? "No, of course not," I said warmly, not feeling a bit of that emotion, "I'm sure he'd love to hear from you." I could sling shit with them, since that's what we seemed to do.

After I said that, the rest of the conversation was, thanks, click. Chuck promised he'd talk to Brian and now I was sure he would.

An hour later, Chuck called me in. I closed the door.

"I just spent forty minutes on the phone with Brian and another 15 trying to figure out what we said."

"Pardon me, I am trying to understand what you just said. Why did it take so long to figure out?"

"My, my, Jim. You do have much to learn. Brian never said what he meant and I responded cryptically to get him to expand on what he meant -- but hadn't said.

"I heard a joke once, the punch-line was something like -- you may disagree with what you think I said, but what you don't understand is what I said is not what I meant."

Chuck looked at me, "What's funny about that?"

"Apparently, nothing in this environment. So, what didn't he say, or did he mean when he said something else?" Now I was talking the same gibberish he was.

"He thinks Bridget is a spy for Mason. He said a series of things -- he was going to hire her. He had Wellborn work. Armstrong had the Wellborn Tower. He got black-balled by Mason, so he didn't hire Bridget, and Armstrong lost the Tower."

"He thinks he lost a client because Bridget is at the intersection of some grand scheme?"

"That's what I was struggling with. If you think she is in on something, you'd want to get her close, I'd think. And if she was the lynchpin, why'd Armstrong lose the work?"

"I assume you asked?"

"I'm not sure. I can't remember the words, nor the context, but I think he said the scheme fell short. I thought that meant he had no clue."

"Maybe it's just me, but I find saying what you mean is helpful."

"That's because you never have ill-intent behind what you say."

"So, did you gain anything while not talking to one another?"

He paused, frowning, "I think he started the Bridget nonsense because he sensed I was probing him more successfully than he was me. Bridget was a red herring. He thinks Mason has something on Trey and Trey has fled the country to plan a counter-attack."

I perked up at that and wondered why we'd wandered down Bridget's-a-spy lane. I'd have asked him, but I wouldn't know whether he was saying what he meant or trying to teach me the advantages of obfuscation in common conversation. "Trey - guilty of wrongdoing or personal disgrace?"

"Personal. No doubt."

"Then, he is a potential ally?"

"You'd think so. But his dad is a real tight-ass; no nonsense kind of a guy.

Trey will not admit someone has something on him, because that would acknowledge there is something on him. So, if we can find a way to talk to him, on Bora Bora, or wherever the fuck he is, we have to offer him a way to take down Mason, without any strings on it."

I was worn out. "Do you ever try to communicate with someone, directly? What does the elasticity of Deuce's sphincter have to do with Trey's willingness to talk?"

"Oh, Wellborn senior was a free spirit. He made and lost several fortunes. His son took over running the businesses when he was about 30. He was his father's opposite. Extremely conservative and a shrewd businessman. After he took over, his dad could not lose money anymore -- Deuce, as you called him, made everything work."

"Sounds like he was the brains."

"Not really. He was a great manager. His dad put everything together, just lacked any discipline to actually run it."

"Deuce kept a tight rein on everything until he was 70. I'd guess he is approaching 80 now. Trey is more like his granddad than his dad. I guess Deuce is a one and one-half drinks per night kind of a guy. Never more, never less. Devoted husband, church goer, and art patron."

"A solid citizen. A guy I could talk to -- says what he means."

"Okay, smartass, the thing is he might forgive Trey cutting a corner here or there, but if Trey has been fucking the neighbor's pet goat, he's in real trouble."

"If Deuce is so overbearing, might he wonder why Trey is off island hopping?"

"No one has seen him in a while. I don't know if he has all his buttons."

"Then, why would Trey fear him?"

"Good point. I'll see what I can find out."

I left shaking my head.

++++++

I was driving to my interview with Bridget. I was thinking through the conversation with Chuck about her being a spy... No, I am not going there; I am here to meet Bridget.

We arrived right on time, found a table and ordered iced tea. The waiter looked like we were going to cost him a bigger tip. We laughed at his mood and got right to it. Simon Armstrong was good at construction and at getting work, he had no idea how to keep books, pay taxes, or any of the dozens of other things he needed to know to be successful. Bridget did all that.

I had given us 90 minutes, so if she was only marginally qualified, I'd have enough time to ask questions to see if she would fit at 3P. She was so qualified I knew she had the job in 15 minutes. There was a lot of time to fill.

I thought I'd see what I could learn from her slip-up earlier in the week. "Bridget, I am impressed. I am sure we will come to terms on a job. But I want to talk about your comment about Adams the other day."

"I'd rather not."

"Well, I know, but let me say this -- Adams is a competitor, I'd like to know all I can about them."

"Why?"

"Know thy enemy."

She sat and seemingly weighed the pros and cons. She smiled; she'd come to terms with what she'd do. "I have wanted to talk about this for ever but had no idea with whom. I feel like I am a prisoner at Armstrong, and I don't know why. Well, I am desperate for the income, don't have the education to go elsewhere -- well, until now." She looked at me like she'd just peed away her chances.