The Dale Hunter Crime Thriller Novels are an explosive mix of crime, cash and computers in the 1980s. Entrepreneurs face challenges every day. It's hard to be a hero. This young entrepreneur is under threats of violence from the Montreal Mafia, while also fighting against crooked business associates and more gangsters in Taiwan, New York and Las Vegas. He wants to survive and not play by gangster rules. SIMPLY THE BEST is the second novel in the series. Dale Hunter is back in business, but so is Gino Boncanno. Hunter has already had to save himself from a murder attempt by the gangster, Boncanno. Now his new partner in Taiwan is dragging him into business with the Triads and their smuggling scheme into the U.S. Hunter has to call on his friend, Frank the Fixer, but the danger escalates and he still has to save himself and his family from the murderous plans of Boncanno. Hunter's escape may seem simple, but it's never easy.
The Dale Hunter Crime Thriller Novels are an explosive mix of crime, cash and computers in the 1980s. Entrepreneurs face challenges every day. It's hard to be a hero. This young entrepreneur is under threats of violence from the Montreal Mafia, while also fighting against crooked business associates and more gangsters in Taiwan, New York and Las Vegas. He wants to survive and not play by gangster rules. SIMPLY THE BEST is the second novel in the series. Dale Hunter is back in business, but so is Gino Boncanno. Hunter has already had to save himself from a murder attempt by the gangster, Boncanno. Now his new partner in Taiwan is dragging him into business with the Triads and their smuggling scheme into the U.S. Hunter has to call on his friend, Frank the Fixer, but the danger escalates and he still has to save himself and his family from the murderous plans of Boncanno. Hunter's escape may seem simple, but it's never easy.
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Overview
The Dale Hunter Crime Thriller Novels are an explosive mix of crime, cash and computers in the 1980s. Entrepreneurs face challenges every day. It's hard to be a hero. This young entrepreneur is under threats of violence from the Montreal Mafia, while also fighting against crooked business associates and more gangsters in Taiwan, New York and Las Vegas. He wants to survive and not play by gangster rules. SIMPLY THE BEST is the second novel in the series. Dale Hunter is back in business, but so is Gino Boncanno. Hunter has already had to save himself from a murder attempt by the gangster, Boncanno. Now his new partner in Taiwan is dragging him into business with the Triads and their smuggling scheme into the U.S. Hunter has to call on his friend, Frank the Fixer, but the danger escalates and he still has to save himself and his family from the murderous plans of Boncanno. Hunter's escape may seem simple, but it's never easy.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780228813897 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | 146152 Canada Inc. |
| Publication date: | 04/01/2019 |
| Series: | Dale Hunter Thriller , #2 |
| Pages: | 300 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.67(d) |
About the Author
Del is a strategic advisor, consultant, coach and cheerleader for entrepreneurs and has written extensively on business topics for decades. In addition to this series of Dale Hunter crime thriller novels, Del is also working on a short story collection and new editions of his two previously published business books, Don't Do It the Hard Way and The Complete Do-It-Yourself Guide to Business Plans.
Originally from the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Del has lived and worked for most of the past forty years in the fascinating, multicultural, bilingual, French-Canadian city of Montreal, Quebec.
Like Dale Hunter, Del Chatterson is an engineer from UBC with an MBA from McGill and he ran a computer products distribution business in Montreal in the 1980s. Some of the stories in the Dale Hunter Series actually happened, most are fiction. "These are my worst nightmares," he says, "that I decided to share through these novels."
Del started his own business, called TTX Computer Products, in 1986 and grew it to $20 million-a-year in sales with distribution centres in Montreal and Boston. He then took it into a merger to expand the business across Canada. The merger was eventually wound-up amid the rapid decline of independent businesses and consolidation of the major players in the computer industry.
Del has helped entrepreneurs around the world, including volunteer consulting and financial support in developing economies and in Aboriginal communities. His own life experience includes running nine marathons after the age of fifty (setting no records, but never being last) and running for Member of Parliament in the 2000 Canadian Federal election. (He came second, not last.)
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
It started with another phone call to Dale. This time he was at home and the call was from his business partner, Sammy Wong, in Taiwan.
It was after dinner and Dale was in the family room watching the evening news on TV with his wife, Susan. The kids were upstairs in bed. Their daughter, Keira, was already asleep, but her older brother, Sean, said he had some reading to do before turning his light out.
Susan had taken the phone call and called back to Dale from the kitchen. "It's Sammy," she said, holding the phone out from the wall and covering the mouth-piece with her hand.
Sammy Wong was the owner of Chung-Wai, the primary manufacturer and supplier of computer monitors for Dale's distribution business in Montreal.
Dale and Sammy were also joint owners in a computer products distribution business in New England. They regularly phoned each other and tried to make their calls during business hours at both ends, but it was not always possible with the thirteen hour time difference between Montreal and Taipei.
"OK, I'll take it upstairs," said Dale. "Sorry, but he's already at the office. it's tomorrow morning in Taiwan. Must be something important."
Susie nodded. She had had her evenings interrupted before by Dale's work and it wasn't just Sammy from Taiwan. She had learned that owning your own business meant always being available to business partners, or customers and suppliers and employees. They all had Dale's phone number at home.
"Call me anytime," he told them. And they did. He thinks easy access to the owner is good for the business, thought Susan. He needs to be reminded sometimes, that easy access to the husband and the father is also good for the family.
She knew that Dale couldn't control all the interruptions and sharing an active family life with their kids, Sean, aged eight and Keira at six, was important to him too.
Dale took the phone in his upstairs office and waited to hear the click, as Susan hung up in the kitchen. The background hum of the long distance call echoed off Sammy's voice on the line.
"Sorry to bother you at home, Dale, but we're already hard at work here at Chung-Wai. The next shipment for Boston is nearly ready for you, but I have a special request on this one."
"OK," said Dale, "is there a problem?"
"No problem," said Sammy, "just a special request. It's the usual 40-foot container full of 14-inch colour monitors, but for this shipment, I'm including six boxes that are not for you. They're a special delivery for, uh, another customer, in New York."
"OK. So you're short-shipping me by six units?"
"Not exactly. The invoicing and all the customs paperwork will still show 448 units of CHW-1428 computer monitors at the current price. The six boxes will look the same as all the rest, but you need to separate them from the monitor shipment. We'll make sure you can find those six boxes when you unload the container in Boston. They'll be in the second to last row at the back of the container. We'll identify each of the boxes with extra QA stickers. You know, the square yellow labels from Chung-Wai Quality Assurance that show the model and serial number. The stickers will be marked as inspected, marked OK and signed off. I'll sign these stickers myself, so you'll know they're the right ones."
Dale was starting to feel more uncomfortable by the minute, as Sammy Wong explained what was required of him in Boston.
"Jesus Sammy, what the hell are you smuggling in this shipment? I don't want any part of it. They take smuggling very seriously in the U.S. We're risking getting the business shut down and getting me thrown in jail with this plan."
"Dale, I need you to do this for me or some really bad things will happen here. You'll suffer the consequences, too."
"What are you talking about, Sammy? Are you threatening me now?"
"No, of course not. We're business partners and friends, Dale. I just don't have any way out of this, without asking for your help. Please don't ask too many questions. I'm under serious threat from the Triads here and you really don't want to know any more about it. I just need you to do this for me, please. I wouldn't ask if I had any choice."
Dale said nothing as Sammy continued.
"Just do as I ask without any questions. You don't need to get involved."
"But you're asking me to get involved, Sammy. I'll have to sign off on falsified paperwork, unload the dirty goods and then hand them to your friends in New York. That's what you're asking me to do, right?"
"Yes. It's not complicated. Just follow my instructions when you receive the container. Call the people in New York and they'll come to pick up their shipment. Hand over the six boxes and you're done. Then you can wash your hands of it and walk away."
"Do you even know what's in the boxes?"
"Yes, we repacked the stuff into Chung-Wai monitor boxes here last night."
"Sammy, we're trying to build a good, legitimate business together in Boston and this is a big step in the wrong direction."
"I took the first steps a long time ago, Dale."
Sammy sounded tired of the whole fiasco and reluctant to cooperate with the Triads, too. "I'm trying to keep you and others out of harm's way," he said. "But the Triad boss here has his hooks into me pretty deep. I have to play along. It's best if you don't know too much and just do as I ask. We're partners helping each other out, right? I got you out of a jam with the crooks in Montreal, now I need you to keep me out of trouble with these guys. If we do it right, nobody gets hurt. We just have to play along, until they let us off the hook somehow, later." His voice faded into silence.
"I don't like it Sammy, but it sounds like I can't refuse."
"Like I said, we have no choice."
Dale continued to object and reminded Sammy of the risks to them both, but he finally agreed to accept the mystery boxes in his shipment before hanging up the phone.
I'm not convinced we couldn't make better choices, but Sammy's committed to this plan, it seems. The problem is these guys in Taiwan and New York aren't likely to let him stop after one shipment. Especially if we deliver what they want.
Maybe I should just screw it up so badly, they'll never ask us to do it again. But I don't want to make matters worse for Sammy. The Triads have a reputation for being pretty ruthless about getting what they want.
And Sammy's right. He did get me out of a jam that could have been a disaster when the Mafia was squeezing me for more than I could handle. He was a friend when I needed one, so now I have to return the favour.
Dale remembered the threats of violence from Montreal gangsters and the Mafia back then.
But Sammy wasn't the only friend to help me out of that mess. Maybe it's time to call on Frank again, Frank the Fixer.
Dale came back to the family room and dropped back into his La-Z-Boy lounge chair facing the TV. Susan looked at him for a moment, then reached for the remote control and turned it off. Dale continued staring at the blank screen.
"Dale!" Susan said sharply.
He jerked his head up, blinked and frowned at the blank TV. He turned and looked at her.
"What?" he said.
"Never mind what," she said, "I've lost you to Sammy, it seems. What's he got you worrying about this time?"
"He's just being Sammy, getting too creative in Boston again."
"Creative is OK, when you do it, Dale, but Sammy worries me."
"Well, sometimes we get dragged into trouble, no matter how hard we try to avoid it."
"So what's he up to this time?"
"Nothing to worry about, Susan. Just a little extra shipment into Boston he wants me to look after."
"Jesus, Dale. You don't want to get caught doing anything illegal in the States. They'll put you away and we'll never see you again."
"No, no. Really. I'll keep away from anything illegal myself, as much as I can. I don't want any more trouble either, but I owe Sammy. He did step up with enough cash to get us away from the Mafia loan sharks, not long ago, you remember. Now he's got his own sharks to deal with in Taiwan and he needs my help. We're in business together in Boston and he's supporting it without hesitation, so I have to step up this time. I'll try to end it as quick as I can."
"Please, Dale, we don't need to get into any more trouble with criminals. Last time, it almost got you killed and they got too close to all of us. We don't want more of that nightmare."
"Don't worry, this will stay in Boston and I'll get out of it as quick as I can." He reached for the TV remote. "Let's get back to what's going on in the rest of the world." The TV lit up and he turned away from Susan.
"Don't tell me not to worry," said Susan. "I need to know you won't bring it home this time."
She scowled at Dale, who was no longer looking at her. He nodded silently, but kept his thoughts to himself, as the TV news intervened again.
Believe me, I'll keep this as far from the family as possible. We've all had enough encounters with the gangsters in Montreal and I'm not looking for more trouble from them now in Taiwan or the U.S.
CHAPTER 2Dale Hunter was riding the wave of personal computer products that washed over North America in the 1980s and he was enjoying the success of his rapidly growing business.
It's been a wild ride, he thought. And I'm still managing to stay on top of the wave. Not bad for a small town kid from the Rockies with no surfing experience.
Dale's company, called 3D Computer Products, specialized in computer display products and sold to personal computer retailers, clone builders, systems assemblers and network installers from his distribution centre in Montreal.
Dale had started the business in 1984. He pushed hard and took more business risks than his original partners from Toronto could tolerate, so Dale bought them out to continue his rapid growth independently. The partners, Don Leeman and Doug Maxwell, were competent and ambitious businessmen, but Dale thought they were too cautious and holding him back. They all respected each other and accepted their differences. They still retained a close business relationship and they continued to share suppliers and sales territories across Canada.
A key factor contributing to Dale's early success was his proprietary EXL brand of computer monitors. The monitors were sourced from low-cost manufacturers in the Far East; Chung-Wai in Taiwan and Korea Computer Systems in Korea. The EXL branding allowed Dale to distinguish his product line from other computer display products flooding the market. All the smaller Canadian distributors were trying to sell their products against the strong competition of the better known multinational brand names like HP, Toshiba, Hitachi, NEC and Sony.
Dale had started his business after losing his executive position at AES Data, a failing computer manufacturer in Montreal. AES was unable to transition into the personal computer market and would fade into oblivion by the end of the decade. Their specialized word-processing equipment was more expensive and less versatile than the desktop personal computers from Apple and IBM, as well as all the low-cost personal computer clones. Talented technicians and entrepreneurs were successfully building and selling computer products from their garages and basements all over North America.
Dale had the satisfaction of being among those small independent entrepreneurs who were winning business from the big corporations that had used and abused them all, in the past. He had been attracted to the challenge of running his own business, ever since leaving his original profession of engineering and earning his Master's in Business Administration, an MBA, at McGill. His subsequent forced departure from AES Data, and the substantial severance package he negotiated, provided the opportunity and the funds to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions.
He was amazed and delighted by his rapid success in business and he was confident in the affirmation of his talents as an entrepreneur. He was also pleased to see Susan relieved of her concerns for the family's financial security after the unexpected loss of his job at AES Data.
Dale pushed himself and his staff to exceed even his high expectations and he was willing to take the necessary financial risks to pursue his objectives with creativity, but he was stubbornly determined to play by the rules. That meant accepting his obligations and honouring his commitments without any excuses, though he knew his competitors and other striving entrepreneurs felt less constrained. They found it easy to accept the risk of getting caught offside and rationalized that "Everyone's doing it" and "You'll never win playing by the rules."
Dale refused to accept that logic. He declined to take cash under the table or to cheat on his taxes. He was deliberate in meeting the sometimes onerous regulatory requirements put on his business and perversely, he found it even more satisfying to win at the viciously competitive game of business without breaking the rules.
Sometimes I have to bend the rules and play in the grey area. But I do it my way, dammit.
Dale was doing over ten million a year in sales in 1988. He was enjoying all the perks that came with his financial success. He had never experienced it before. He did not have a wealthy family history and came from a solid middle-class background. His father had been a tradesman and his mother a school teacher.
The first challenges to Dale's business from the criminal world came about two years earlier. Thieves broke into 3D Computer's warehouse in the night and stole almost $200,000 worth of computer products. Nothing had ever been recovered and the crooks had never been caught.
During the investigation, Dale met a Montreal Urban Community Police Detective named Pierre Forsey who seemed capable and effective, but still failed to solve the crime. Later, when the gangsters came back demanding protection money and threatening violence against Dale and his family, he had called on Detective Forsey again.
Unfortunately for Dale, it turned out that Forsey was dirty and on the payroll of Gino Boncanno, the ruthless gangster who was behind both the robbery and the protection racket. Detective Forsey failed to do anything useful, so Dale decided to take matters into his own hands.
Forsey had tried to stall by introducing Dale to someone called Frank, Frank the Fixer. The introduction was intended as a diversion to keep Dale from discovering Forsey's connection to Gino Boncanno, who wanted to demand increasing amounts of protection money from Dale. Forsey was benefitting from his share of the action.
As Dale began to suspect that Forsey was looking after his own interests more than Dale's, he arranged to meet the mysterious Frank the Fixer. He discovered that Frank was an imposingly large young man and a former Somalian refugee only eight years in Canada, who had learned to survive in the tough underworld of Montreal.
It had taken time for Dale and Frank to get to know and respect each other, but they had become friends and worked together to extricate Dale from the threats and intrusions of Boncanno. Frank, the street-wise Montrealer, was more capable of dealing with Montreal gangsters than Dale, a small-town kid from the Canadian Rockies.
With Frank's help, Dale had managed to fend off Boncanno and his gang of thugs by seeking the protection of another Mafia family. Eventually, he had survived the attacks on his business and his family.
It was the worst year of my life and I never want to go back into that world again. What the hell is Sammy getting me into now? His half-million was good to get me out of the clutches of the Mafia loan sharks, but it was never meant to be a ticket back into business with more criminals from Taiwan.
I know it's hard to avoid the crooks. And there are a lot of greedy and unscrupulous people trying to get rich in the computer business. But Sammy's call for help with smuggling into the U.S. goes too far. I'll have to end this as soon as I can.
I hope Frank has some ideas.
CHAPTER 3Dale's introduction to smuggling of stolen computer products started with the phone call from Sammy Wong to his home in Montreal.
Two weeks earlier, Sammy had been in his office at the Chung-Wai factory, a few miles outside of Taipei. It was at the end of a typically hot, humid day in Taiwan. The large second-floor windows were closed to keep the heat and the polluted air outside. The spacious corner office looked out over an irregular array of low flat-roofed buildings in the industrial park. The pale light of dusk produced no highlights in the monochromatic scene. Only a few illuminated signs and exterior lights on the buildings added some colour and contrast to the shadows.
Sammy Wong was a small, middle-aged man with jet-black hair and bright eyes constantly scanning his surroundings through steel-rimmed glasses. He radiated energy and confidence and had a reputation for being eminently personable and charming in a social setting, but sly and calculating in business.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Simply The Best"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Delvin R. Chatterson.
Excerpted by permission of 146152 Canada Inc. Tellwell Publishers Inc..
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