Every element of the seminar had been changed or altered in the past twenty-
four hours. Terry had expected the family to humor him and attend his lecture on travel safety and K&R crisis possibilities … what he didn’t expect was a complete compliance of all the family’s employees. That included every full and part-time employee of the Inn, all of Gerry Kennedy’s staff, everyone working with Hando and Colin at the garage, Kelly Wigand’s few employees and even several of the people from Wade’s Sheriff’s office; not all, but enough to represent that sector. Impressive … and completely unexpected.

At first, the plan was to have the two-hour conference in the formal dining room. That idea got nixed almost immediately, as he and Dino had several visual aids to assist in driving the points home. Can’t make a windowed greenhouse dining room dark enough for a projection. Plan B. The pub. No problems opening the Inn Pub a few hours later. But … there was no way so many people could fit into the small space.

Plan C didn’t exist, but Riley came to the rescue. There was a large convention hall/ballroom built beneath the new greenhouse dining room. It had never actually been used yet but the space was large and carpeted, perfectly lit and already equipped with PA system, AV station, long tables and chairs. The reason she hadn’t actually promoted the space before had to do with not having enough accommodations for a large convention. With the completion of the new addition, it was being marketed big time by Kim and Emily. Lucky for Terry and Dino, it wasn’t booked that day.

The tables were covered with linen, there were enough booklets printed out at Kinko’s to cover the one hundred-twenty attendees and the PowerPoint presentation was poised and ready. Dino sat on a chair, wolfing down a burger and watching Terry review his notes for the thousandth time.

“I’ve never seen you nervous,” Dino said through a full mouth then blinked. Seeing the tilted glare from Terry made him laugh aloud, sesame seeds spraying from his mouth at the repeat of a famous old line from Alice Bowman.

“Not nervous, mate. Bloody terrified.”

“Look,” Dino sat up, brushed his shirt of crumbs and sighed. “We’ve gone through this over and over. This is the direction we want to go … and this is the audience we want to test it on. It’s just a test. They all know that. But …” Dino’s brow lowered and he bit his bottom lip. “This is family. Got an idea, Ter. Maybe the problem is our approach. I mean, this is our family, people we know and love and care about. Everything about this presentation is too formal. These people … they’re not so formal, except maybe Skinner. Here’s my suggestion. Toss the notes. Just tell them like it is. They want to hear what you have to say or they wouldn’t be coming. It’s you they want to hear it from. You they trust.”

Terry looked apprehensive and Dino reached over, took the 3 x 5 cards from his hand and tucked them into his own hip pocket. “Now. Rock ’n roll, Terry. Here comes the audience.”

And in they came, finding seats at tables, socializing and gathering in pockets to chat. Terry watched John hobble in on crutches. He’d heard the bloke took a nasty fall on the slopes playing ski patrol that morning. He felt bad for John’s knee, but worse for what the man was gonna have to hear from Riles ‘til it healed. At the moment, Riley herself was in her office upstairs, wrapping up a meeting that will schedule the convention hall/ballroom for a week in June. Terry’s eyes took in the space, hoping it made some good profits for his brother and his wife.

He waved to Lachlan, noticing that he and Jessie were seated at the back. Unlike the other parents at the seminar, new mum Jessie wasn’t ready to leave her nipper with a sitter, even for a few hours, just yet. Sophia was fine with it he saw, as she sat with Maximus toward the front. He’d be calling on Maximus’ input, as the Roman General had once worked at his side in Thorne and O’Leary.

At twelve-ten, Riley rushed in and settled beside John, nodded and Terry began. He greeted them all with casual ease then launched into something that didn’t even remotely resemble his original opening speech. He was seated comfortably on a table, perched easily and just talking to them all. He scanned the faced of those he knew and loved, those he didn’t know. Dino was right. This was something that simply required telling it like it is, Thorne-style.

“Who likes to travel?” he asked and several hands rose. “Who understands the K&R insurance business?” Far fewer hands went up and he nodded. “Now, who understands the psychology behind the act of kidnapping?” No hands, as expected. “Alrighty then, here’s what we’re gonna be talkin’ about, mates. First, how the kidnap and ransom crisis management business works; then how to protect yourself from being kidnapped; and finally, how to survive should the worst happen.” All eyes were big as saucers and he refrained from soothing them. This was one of those situations where a person needed to be scared before they could grasp the concepts he had to present.

“Now, I’m not here to try and sell you kidnap insurance. In fact, if you wanted to purchase K&R insurance from Throne and O’Leary, we wouldn’t even sell it to you until you had taken this seminar. Dino and I think it’s time to stop sugar coating the world and let you all know what you’re up against.

He began by explaining all the risks foolish people take when they travel. “Never go out of the country or even out of town without making sure someone knows where you’re going and when to expect your return.” He followed with a little basic logic. “Carry the important things on your person when traveling. Yes, it’s lovely to carry your mum’s address and phone number, but always remember to carry the business card of the company you’re insured with … the phone numbers of a reliable, level-headed person you trust to manage things should a kidnapper make contact, and make sure that person also has the number of the insurance carrier as well.”

Taking a deep breath, he continued. “When you’re traveling, don’t go off alone, don’t carry too much money, don’t flash handfuls of traveler’s cheques and by all means, don’t think that just because you’re on holiday and spending your life’s savings for the trip, a kidnapper will know that. Trust me, mates. Even if you plan to come home broke as a beggar, there is something a kidnapper can get because you are valuable to someone … worth money to someone … get that? They will find that someone and they will wring that person for everything they have or can get … just to get you free.”

Terry paced at the front of the room then moved to walk among the attendees; the tiny mic at his lapel never faltering as he moved ahead with the agenda. Next came the tough stuff. “Now … let’s say the absolute worst happens, you’re taken. We’re gonna spend a little time talking about what to expect, how to handle it, and how to be emotionally prepared.” He explored the dynamics of captivity. Dino manned the computer and displayed several photos, far fewer than originally planned, the most disturbing having been deleted from the program. But what he showed made great impact. An even bigger impact came when he introduced Frank Jarvis after telling the story of the man’s kidnap and rescue. Frank spoke for twenty minutes and Terry could swear he could hear a pin drop in the room.

There was no applause after Frank’s speech. Just silence. Plain … simple … silence.

“Okay, now let’s talk a bit about the high risk travel destinations.” Hands flew over notepads and Terry spoke frankly, using statistics to back his evaluations.

“Finally, let’s explore the aftermath,” Terry sighed. He had purposely broken this topic between Frank’s dramatic narrative and the high-risk destinations. He knew they’d need a bit to breathe. “This is what you might face …”

When it was over he returned to his perch on the table and looked over the stricken faces. “Questions?”

“Why the bloody hell haven’t you ever told us this before?” came a voice from the back of the room. Jeff Mitchell was seated, arms crossed like he was mad as hell.

“Truth? Mate, it’s not industry accepted yet to tell it like this. Corporate clients fear they won’t be able to convince their management to travel or live abroad if they knew. The travel industry is afraid this knowledge will stop people from taking holiday. Dino and I just thought maybe it’s time to be fair to everyone, our corporate clients … and our independent clients. We’re hoping that a traveler armed with this kind of information will still travel … just travel smarter. Yes, Clari?”

The maid had raised her hand. She opened her question with a knowing little wink at Terry, luckily never noticed by either Eva or Richie, Clari’s current squeeze. “Terry, how can anyone know how much K&R insurance is enough?”

And so it went, an hour of questions before they wound down to jokes about staying home this year and painting the house instead of taking that trip to Amsterdam. Terry closed with far more emotion in his voice that he expected.