Corer Beliefs : Chapter 4 : Which Way Do I Go Joe?

It was almost 9:00 on Sunday before Matt woke to sunlight streaming through the window.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had slept past eight. Admittedly, he felt rested and refreshed. The meeting with Chris had certainly helped. His first thought was to continue his search for a place to carry out the research.

He started new internet searches and realized he was coming back to the same websites as before. He concluded he was going to have to go to his ace in the hole, his brother Joe.

Joe and his family went to church on Sunday mornings, and though Matt could leave a message, Joe wasn’t going to answer it until the afternoon.

Joe had talked with Matt about how a church might be a help for him, but Matt couldn’t see that it would make a difference, not without Marilyn and Lizzy. He knew Joe was trying to look out for him, but he had to forge his way forward. At least, that’s how he saw it.

Finally, 1:30 rolled around. Matt called from his study. Joe’s phone rang three times. Matt was afraid that he was going to have to leave a message, but just as the fourth ring ended, Joe picked up.

“Hello?”

“It’s me again.”

“Wow!” Joe blurted. “This is unusual?”

Matt realized the number of times he had talked to Joe twice in a week in the last ten years could be counted on one hand.

“Well,” said Matt, “I’ve got a boatload of questions, and you’re the only one I trust.”

“Does this have anything to do with your new venture?”

“Very much.”

“Okay, Matt, give me a minute to get to my office.”

Matt closed his eyes as Joe put him on hold and visualized Joe making his way from the front of the house back to his lawyer’s lair.

Matt anticipated that Joe would walk to his office, close the door, sit down in the big chair behind his desk, pull a legal tablet from the top drawer, and place the phone on speaker mode so he could write.

“Okay, fire away,” Joe’s voice emerged on cue.

“Joe, I want to keep this venture very low profile. How might it be set up to minimize drawing attention?”

“Matt, is there a particular segment that you want to avoid attention, or is it pretty much across the board?”

“Joe, I want this thing to be as invisible as possible.”

Joe paused; Matt assumed in thought. “You’ve never done business like this,” Joe said. “It’s more than a little alarming, you know?”

“Joe, there is nothing illegal or immoral in what we’re doing, but there is some very sensitive R&D involved. I don’t want anyone to even get a whisper of what’s being worked on.”

“This must really be something for you to rearrange your life to make it happen.”

“All can tell you is it has the most exciting possibilities of anything I’ve ever been associated with.”

“Then, I guess,” Joe quipped, “I need to give you as clear an answer as possible.”

Matt heard scribbling at the other end and figured Joe was plotting an outline.

“Okay, Matt, there are certain conditions to doing business legally. Are you going to be the only owner and investor?”

Matt talked, Joe listened, and listed options with pros and cons, and finally arrived at a Limited Liability Corporation, LLC, being the best solution.

When they exhausted that subject, Matt dropped the bomb. “Hey Joe, I am interested in buying a missile silo.”

It got very quiet on the other end of the line. Matt wondered if he had pushed his brother too far.

“Matt, did I hear correctly, a missile silo?”

“Yep, a missile silo. Here are my reasons, and if you have a better idea, I will certainly listen.

“First, from what I can find, most missile silos are in rural, unpopulated areas. Second, the R&D we are doing requires a good control lab and a remote experiment lab, both heavily shielded and totally out of sight from any potential prying eyes. Now, the diagrams I’ve seen of Titan I sites come close, and a Titan II site would be even better. I’ve looked on the internet, and there are only a few listed there, but my gut tells me to keep looking. I’m hoping, through your contacts, you might know of another way to source one. If we tried to build something from scratch, I’m afraid it would take too long. The permits and inspections would destroy the secrecy.”

“You’ve thought things through,” Joe said. “Well, Matt, you have some pretty stiff requirements. I suppose you want to avoid national TV, billboards, or full-page ads in searching for this silo?”

Matt chuckled and confirmed the low-key approach. “Joe, if this is something you don’t want to get into, just say so. I’m going to keep looking quietly.”

Joe asked for a minute. Matt knew Joe had always been able to evaluate things quickly, and after about thirty seconds, he heard Joe say, “Okay, let me see what I can find, but someday you’re going to have to give me more info than the R&D stuff.”

“Joe, as soon as it’s feasible, you’ll get more of the story.”

After goodbyes, Matt slumped in his chair, feeling Joe’s willingness was a good sign.

He spent the rest of the afternoon thinking about the importance of the coming dinner with Chris and Charlotte.