Its my family money, plus a group of private families here in Australia who are old family and old money. We will need to borrow about half and that is something I and my people have started on and expect to close late January 2019 if we can get the "pollies" moving. No there is definitely not any foreign money. There are no foreign equity providers. There are no foreigners with a piece of the action anywhere. The whole idea is to interface with the Western Sydney Councils and the Business plan so we can get jobs to the people out west so they can use the new railways and tollways to get to the Park. Meanwhile we have the technology companies lined up to use the Park and they will provide the IT, the people and some of the building finance over special constructions.
It is 10.30 and I have to run to catch up with my sisters family for Sunday lunch. Joe will give the address. I want you to come please so you can see our down to earth no frills family. Get your story cut and come around at say 12.30. Just you. No cameras or phones or recorders. As you are dressed now. Bye.
And that was it. He was gone off to his office and we were ushered out and checked as we left the front security doors.
No one spoke outside. We just had the most unbelievable interview and now Jane is to go to his family gathering as his guest to a private house about ten minutes from where they were now, but of course they had to cut the story, lock it down on tape, give it to their boss, let the lawyers have a good look at anything controversial and be ready later that night to set programming priorities.
At 12.30 Jane arrived at the suburban address to be greeted by a female version of Mr J: You must be Jane. Of course you are I see you on TV all the time. Welcome. Come in and meet our family and my terrors we call Jim and John. The dogs are Labs, so no worries there just give them a pat and a sausage and they will friends for life. Mum and Dad are Frank and Helen. J can be a bit grumpy but we all love him, so we call him J. Get yourself a drink over there and my hubby Evan will help with the intros. Joe is not able to be here but he will come by later to pick up J.
That turned out to be one of the most enjoyable Sydney Sunday BBQ's ever for Jane since she moved out of home in the bush to model. She spread herself around with the kids, the dogs, the oldies and occasionally caught up with J.
Mr Jones: I hoped you enjoyed yourself today. I have to run because I meetings with one of the Councils out west in an around an hour and Joe has to pick me up and I need to change. This is my life these days. Here is my card with my private email and mobile number if you need to follow up. I feel like I can trust you. Don't let me down and never give this card to anyone ever. OK.
Jane: I don't know how I can ever repay you for your time?
Mr Jones just smiled gave her peck on the cheek and left out the back door where Joe was waiting in the Black Jeep.
Jane had to zoom to her office for debriefing with her boss. She hugged sister Mary and the Labs, said her fond goodbyes and headed off.
Mary: Evan did you see how J looked at Jane?
Evan: Yes, bloody good sign eh what.
Jane met with the Head Hunter on the Monday again precisely at 8.00am in his office. He went over details of her CV and from her info on the TV station website. By 8.30am he had cleared all his questions and left five minutes to Jane: So what do you want to know?
What can you tell me about this guy?
Head Hunter: With your sources it would not take you long to work out who so I can only give details about the role. He is an absolute time bomb waiting to go off. He is so busy in meetings and managing his family stuff around the world he has remained single. A typical day would be 15 to 16 hours, most of it in meetings. He flies regularly round the world talking to bankers mostly and occasionally lawyers who he hates apart from his own who he went to school and uni with years ago. If you were to get the role you would be expected to work the same hours as he does and sometime more being his PA, time manager, confident, accompanying person on any event he needs a beautiful woman on his arm and to keep praying woman and industrial spies at bay. Joe works at security so that should be the least of your roles, except I see you are legally qualified so that would help with the warning bells. You would read most of his mail as it comes in and ensure responses go out via email, texts and rarely you will type letters. He has a team of office admin people so you would need to liaise with team and make sure his people access when needed. So an all care, plenty of responsibility, mad time scheduling and stressful role, hence the money.
Jane rang J for some follow up questions and to arrange meetings with his Site Technical Engineer and two boffins that spoke perfect English in an Australian accent, but could not be relied upon to be understandable in plain wordage. On both occasions he insisted he see her personally before and after her interviews to have a coffee, a sandwich and a few moments relief.
On her first meeting with the Site engineer, J was immaculately dressed in probably a Boss black suit, fresh white shirt and fashionable yellow pattern tie. He looked very impressive no doubt compounded by his well over 6 feet height and his tight figure probably testimony to many gym workouts over the years. There was not a crease on his clothes as he spoke passionately on what he was trying to achieve and trying to get some blockhead pollies and their bureaucrats over the line to issue some key licences and building approvals. No approvals and licences, no finance, simple as that he kept saying. They sipped their coffees, chewed their fresh salads and Turkish bread dips and just talked over about themselves totally unguarded. Jane really liked this man and why not.
Her second meeting with the two Professors needed another hour of J's time to convert it all into plain understandable English. J gave her all the time she needed along with some docs on a flashcard she could copy and manipulate for screenshots. That finished with their exchanging information on their private lives and why they remained single; mostly because both were too involved in their careers or the old excuse they had not found that special someone.
It was a Friday morning around 10.00am when J called Jane on her private mobile: I need a favour tomorrow night and hoped you would bail me out? I have to go to a reception and formal dinner at the French Embassy on Saturday evening. I struggle at these types of events because they are so pompous at times. Would you please be my personal guest and guide me through all the crap I will have to endure, the table manners and all the rubbish they go on with. Do have to put up with it because some of the tech companies for the Park are partly owned by the French Government. I hope this is not too late for you. Dress is formal, so I will be suited up black tie?
Jane thought quickly and realised she could put off her dinner with the girls: Sure. Time?
J: 7.00pm. Joe will collect you in the Merc. I will be there already to deal with a couple of their Paris bosses over for the formal meetings. Best advice is don't compete with the French ladies and their make-up and jewellery, because they look plastic.
Jane: Understand. See you at the Embassy.
As Jane entered through the entrance to the Dining room where she had been ushered by a bumbling French groomsman, every man in the room turned to see who was this gorgeous Australian lady who had just entered and who was her man for the evening. J was caused to turn around and watch her as she approached doing her model walk and allowing her movements to emphasise her near perfect figure.
Here was a sophisticated lady. Her dress was black and strapless, with her arms fully exposed and tanned. Her hair was perfectly groomed and as jet flashing black as any lady of Italian descent. Her eyes sparkled green, along with a small emerald choker and earrings. Her shoes were hidden by her long dress, except when a slight slit in her dress allowed a small amount of delicate legs to come on show. Her clutch bag was small, Oroton silver gleam and practical to contain the minimum of maybe a lipstick, her money sticks and cards and key.
As she approached J she kissed him on the cheek as greeting and took his arm.
J just looked appreciatively into her eyes and smiled that beautiful open welcome whispering: You look amazing.
The night went smoothly with Jane managing his etiquette perfectly without anyone on the table recognising. She listened intently into the conversations and commented politely when asked mainly on the political issues surrounding NSW and Federal politics and how that may impact Western Sydney. She did not let on she was a News Reporter, but her background knowledge kept her as a supporter to J whenever he needed some input or a nudge on the leg whenever needed. She knew the backgrounds and reputations of some of the Paris bureaucrats from her time in Paris and dealing with international TV commitments. She would squeeze J's hand or let her hand touch his leg as she bent forward to distract her French annoyances anytime she knew a comment was inaccurate or misleading from one of the sleazebags in particular. The night ended as smoothly as it had begun with Jane dropped off at her apartment by Joe as J finished his formalities at the Embassy.
A week later she received another call from J: I cannot thank you enough for Saturday. You were absolutely perfect. So for something a lot less formal how about coming to our Xmas party as my guest this Friday night. Joe can pick you up at say 8.00pm and we can see how good you can improve my dancing for me. We have a private room at the Hilton with a small dance floor and a DJ. My team is about 30 with partners.
Jane: Fine. I do love black though.
