CHAPTER 248: RISK MANAGEMENT

"Since you’re part of the family now, I want to talk to you about security for my girls, my new employees, and my buildings."

"My company does provide personal protection for VIPs, but only in high-risk environments. If you’re looking to hire personal protection for your girls, I can recommend a few companies."

"I’m buying Horizon VR and Jensen Manufacturing and will be starting a new company called Radius 10K. All of them will eventually be targets for espionage and sabotage. I’m going to need to either build my own security team or buy a company. Any recommendations?"

"I’m assuming you don’t want to just hire a company to provide the services you need?"

"Correct. I’ve soul bound the CEO’s of each company, and I would probably need to do the same with whoever is going to run my security company."

"What will your companies be doing that makes you think you will need more than the usual security guards?"

He told Orin about his plans and how Radius 10K would disrupt the entire AI industry.

Once he finished, Orin said, "You need a risk management group."

"What’s that?"

"Risk management is about identifying risks and then working out how to mitigate or eliminate those risks. Given what you told me, you’ll need a risk management group in addition to more traditional security services."

"I have no idea how to go about finding people to help with that. Can you make any recommendations?"

"There is one possibility. There’s a company called Castle Group that is a top-three player in the risk management space. They’ve done work for Yoctoly and several other Fortune 10 companies. It’s a privately held company, and there are rumors that the owner has been acting strange lately."

Orin took a breath.

"Some of my analysts looked into it, and we suspect that the man’s granddaughter has been kidnapped and is being held as leverage against him. If that’s true, and you saved her, the man would be loyal to you for life."

"And you think this company can provide the kind of services I need, including protecting my CEOs and security for data centers around the world?"

"Yes, Castle Group would be the perfect company for your needs."

"Alright, let’s have a chat with the owner of the Castle Group. What’s his name and where would he likely be right now?"

"His name is Graham Sinclair, and last we heard, he was in Albion."

With the help of a summoned Jeeves, Jack was able to locate Graham Sinclair and found him pacing in an office.

Jack summoned a copy of the man and gave him the usual subconscious obedience and speak honestly instructions.

Graham turned to look at Orin and said. "I remember you. You’re that Federation general that went private and has boys running around Sarmatia pissing in the Nov’s porridge."

Graham Sinclair was an older man and spoke with the same Saxon accent as Jeeves, though with more gravity.

"You are a copy," said Jack. "And your original is unaware of this conversation. I’ll explain how later. As to why I copied you... I’m in need of the services of a risk management company and Orin tells me you might have a problem I can solve."

"Oh? And what problem might that be?" asked Graham.

"Rumor has it, your granddaughter has been kidnapped. If this is true, then I might be able to rescue her. Assuming the conditions are right, and both you and her agree to some conditions."

"Who are you?" asked Graham.

"Has your granddaughter been kidnapped?" asked Jack, ignoring the man’s question for the moment.

"Yes. Someone is trying to use her to force me to compromise the security of one of my clients."

Jack summoned Jeeves again, then told Graham, "Think about some recent memories of your granddaughter."

Then to Jeeves he said, "Locate Graham’s granddaughter in this snapshot."

The snapshot view started to zoom about and soon stopped, focused on a girl lying on a bare mattress, in a bare concrete room, with her leg chained to the wall.

Jack panned around the area and found that the girl was in the basement of a villa and there were around thirty guards stationed throughout the villa and surrounding grounds.

He scanned out further, and it looked like the villa was on the top of a hill that was part of a small island in the Myrtoan sea.

Graham had walked over and watched as Jack located his granddaughter. And when Jack zoomed out to look at the surrounding area, Graham said, "I know where that is."

Then he turned to look at Jack and said, "With this kind of power, why would you need my help, or the services of my company?"

Something about the man’s tone suggested to Jack that the man was asking more as a test than as a request for clarification.

"Personal power doesn’t scale," replied Jack. "If I only needed to worry about myself, then I would not need to hire, acquire, or create a risk management company. But I have friends, colleagues, companies, and facilities I need to protect, and there’s only so much I can do by myself."

The man nodded. "And my granddaughter? Can you return her to me?"

"Perhaps," said Jack. "But there are some factors to consider."

He gave Graham the same rundown on Genesis Heart that he’d given to Orin and his special ops team.

He finished with, "So, you can understand why I would require a soul bond from you, anyone that will be aware of me or what I did, and possibly your granddaughter."

Graham’s granddaughter looked to be about ten years old, and he wanted to avoid soul bonding her if he could. If he could just render the girl unconscious, then she would have no knowledge or memory of how she was rescued.

"And what would you expect from me in return for you rescuing my granddaughter?"

"Loyalty, and cooperation."

"You don’t want me to sell my company to you? Or to become your obedient lapdog?"

"No. I don’t think either is necessary. But tell me. What would you do, knowing what you now know about me and what I can do?"