America 1982-Chapter 177 - 67: Lies Fill the House_2

"Yes, sir, I’ve heard about your experiences with Mr. Finney," Tommy nodded.

Wiping his fingers with a napkin due to the moisture from handling grapes, Miller continued, "As a member of SSD, I can skip the nonsense I’d normally reserve for those hypocrites and get straight to the point. Some brothers from the Navy’s SSD mentioned while we were out fishing that the United States Navy is preparing to bid on a naval contract worth at least two billion, with about four hundred million involving computer software. I think the Actor Corporation might be interested in earning that money."

"It seems to me that unless the Navy is completely blind, they wouldn’t give Actor Corporation—a small company—a chance to make that money. Mr. Miller, Actor Corporation does not have the capacity to bid in this league. We just develop some simple office software to sell to the poor," Tommy said with a look of shock on his face. After being stunned for a few seconds, he regained his senses and shook his head repeatedly.

Miller ignored Tommy’s shock and kept on speaking, "The order is for the United States Navy to find service providers through bidding to establish computer information centers for four major overseas bases located domestically, in Hawaii, Japan, and South Korea, and to provide maintenance services for computer information equipment. Two billion is just the initial set-up cost; if maintenance services are needed later, additional contracts will have to be signed, with renewals every five years, meaning every five years, they can charge the government."

"This sort of business would be more suitable for EDS, established by another SSD alumnus, Henry Pero. His EDS specializes in providing comprehensive network construction and maintenance services for governmental agencies, large banks, and corporations," Tommy interjected immediately after hearing this.

When Miller heard Tommy mention Pero, his lip curled into a disdainful smile, "Pero, yes, you’ve heard of Pero, haven’t you? The fellow does sound like he’s in the same business as you, with connections in the military—Army, Navy, and even the National Social Security Administration—all holding significant contracts with his company. He certainly seems like the most suitable candidate for this order. But why didn’t I call him and instead, upon discovering you, was I delighted to invite you to discuss this business?"

"I’m not sure, sir. I’ve never met Mr. Pero; I’ve only heard stories about him," Tommy replied, shaking his head.

From any perspective, Pero’s EDS is the Navy’s best choice for this business.

"Using his SSD connections, he landed a significant order while working at IBM, after which he founded EDS. The military chose his small company EDS over the more suitable IBM for many contracts. Just as I am ready to hand over this order to you today, through those contracts, EDS quickly grew, and in no time, the guy became the richest man in Texas. But even though he was clearly not lacking money, he insisted on taking the company public. EDS could make a continuous stream of wealth just from United States Military business, but that bastard chose to betray those who helped him and took EDS public with much fanfare. Many shareholders who had helped him and were just looking to hold shares and receive returns were forced to pull out of EDS right before it went public. Now tell me, after hearing all this, do you think Pero, who betrayed his friends, is still the most suitable candidate for the Navy’s order?" After explaining his reasons for not wishing to hand the deal over to Perot, Miller patted Tommy’s shoulder:

"Now, the opportunity to become the richest man in Rhode Island presents itself to you, because of Pero’s folly, just as it once did to Pero."

Tommy’s face showed a look of disbelief, his breathing even quickened, but inside he was as calm as still water. The old man’s words, if spoken to an average clueless college student, might actually be tempting, as they painted the whole affair as completely harmless, even providing an example of an escape route, such as someday having a conflict with shareholders over business issues and then, like Pero, taking the company public and going separate ways.

But in reality, Miller was just skirting the crucial points. He definitely wouldn’t say that just because Pero could do something didn’t mean Tommy Hawk could do the same.

Pero had served many years in the Navy and had earned numerous medals; he had powerful connections. And he was childhood friends with Hayes McClerkin, today’s third most prominent white-shoe elite lawyer and personal advisor to President Nixon. He also had personal ties with the Bush family in Texas. Given his bipartisan and military connections, the military brass behind Miller, a gang of vampires, could not simply use American iaijutsu to get rid of Pero for wanting to earn big money without them, obviously because these United States Military bugs would not want to do something stupid, like losing their office and reputation over a little less earnings.

But they would dare to use American iaijutsu to deal with Tommy Hawk, who had no such background but was trying to emulate Perot’s attempt to break free from their control.

Noticing the expression on Tommy’s face, Miller continued, "You really like Ottelia, don’t you? Influenced by the jesters at SSD, no one can resist a blonde girl, and her being your high school teacher only adds to the temptation. Seize this opportunity, and you can stand before her offering an expensive diamond ring in proposal. Her father would not object to the match but would bless it. Miss it, and I think that by just selling those cheap software, it would be difficult for Julian to feel confident entrusting his daughter to you, as any father would worry about his precious daughter’s quality of life going down."