A story of power, money, and deception.

EXECUTIVE CONFERENCE ROOM, BIDDINGER OIL, DENVER, COLORADO

He stood at the floor to ceiling windows of the conference room, the view of the city below him and the snow-capped mountains in the distance. But he didn’t actually see what some might call one of the most magnificent views of Denver and Rocky Mountains to be had.

Instead, his eyes were focused on the glass of the window, on the reflection within the glass of the conference room behind him, and more specifically on the two people sitting at the conference table.

The person closest to him in the reflection was a man 10 years older, but of the same height and build as himself. The other was a woman, 5 years older, a little shorter than either of the men in the room.

Both of them were reading a bound report he had put together, a report it had taken him months of research to put together, a report that was going to be a shock to everyone. As he watched their reflections, he saw that the woman was slowly shaking her head and the man was angrily flipping back and forth through the pages.

Suddenly the man violently pushed the report away and stood up. He walked over to the sideboard and poured himself a glass of water, then turned to the man at the window.

“What the hell kind of stunt are you trying to pull?” the man demanded. His name was Douglas Biddinger, and he was President of Biddinger Oil.

“It’s not a stunt, Doug,” replied the man at the window, who was Vice-President of Biddinger oil and Doug’s younger brother, Tony.

The woman ignored them and continued to read the report. She was Elizabeth Biddinger, sister to Doug and Tony, a successful actress in Hollywood and one of the stockholders in Biddinger Oil.

“Of course it’s a stunt!” Doug roared. “There is no way Biddinger Oil is in trouble, Tony. You must have either decided to try to pull something or got your information wrong. We are the largest privately owned oil company in the country. We are not on the verge of bankruptcy!”

“It doesn’t say we are on the verge of bankruptcy, Doug,” Elizabeth said as she closed her report. “It says that if Biddinger Oil continues to operate the way it is currently operating, it will be insolvent in six years. There is plenty of time to make changes to keep that from happening.”

“By buying up a cable company?” Doug asked with a sarcastic tone in his voice. “Or a drug company?”

Tony sighed and turned to face his brother. “Or a real estate company, Doug. Or an electric company. They are four companies that I have analyzed as being good purchases that will create other sources of income for Biddinger Oil.”

“Biddinger Oil is an oil company, Tony. It always has been and always will be. It’s right there in the name.” The sarcasm was so palpable that Tony could almost see it spilling from Doug’s mouth.

“It’s called diversification,” Tony replied. “Unless we branch out into other fields, this company is going to go under. The writing is on the wall, Doug. Oil is not going to be big business much longer.”

“He’s right, Doug,” Elizabeth said. “There is an overwhelming push for renewable energy sources, for electric cars, for ways of going through life without the need for oil. It’s not going to happen overnight, but eventually there will be a very limited need for oil.”

“Just because a bunch of tree huggers want it that way?” Doug asked.

“No,” Tony replied. “Because the US Government seems to want it that way. Tax incentives for electric vehicle development, tax credits for buyers of electric vehicles, higher mileage standards, a huge investment in research for renewable resources. It all leads to oil being pushed out of the way for bigger and better things, Doug. If we don’t take steps now to reduce the impact of oil on this company, not to mention the family, then we are going to see Biddinger Oil start to fail.”

“But we’re making huge profits,” Doug replied.

“Not really,” Elizabeth said. “According to the report, we lost quite a large chunk of money last year. How did that happen, Tony?”

Tony slowly walked away from the window, and slowly toward the sideboard. “It seems we invested a very large part of our cash into oil futures during the frenzy of last year. We would have made an extreme amount of money off those futures had we sold them before the bottom dropped out.”

At the sideboard, Tony opened one of the cabinet doors and pulled out a crystal decanter and four crystal glasses. “There was another factor, but I think we will need a drink for that explanation. Join me?”

He looked back at his siblings and saw them both nod. He poured the scotch into the glasses and carried them over to the table, where he handed each of them a glass.

“There was also a bit of stockpiling of oil,” Tony said as he sat down. “Over 50 million barrels of oil put into storage, and left there after the fall in price. Most of it is still there. We would have lost our shirts if it weren’t for the fact that we sold such a large portion at a much higher price. We only lost $100 million in that deal.”

“Only $100 million?” Elizabeth gasped.

“If we had sold a million more barrels at the peak, we would have made a profit at that point,” Doug replied. “However, even with the price of crude being what it is now, if I dumped the whole lot we will still make a substantial profit.”

“This is true,” Tony replied. “And we will probably show a profit for this year based on that fact alone.”

“Then why have you written such a dire report?” Doug asked.

“I wrote it because the price of oil is only going to go down, Doug. We need to sell off that stockpile as soon as possible, and get out from under it before there is another drop in the market,” Tony explained. “And we need to use the profits from that oil to purchase at least one of the companies that I outlined in my report to create a buffer for the eventual collapse of the oil industry.”

“That’s nothing but fear-mongering,” Doug replied.

“Fear-mongering sounds like a damned bad idea,” said a voice from the doorway.

The three of them looked over and saw their father, Anthony Biddinger, the man who started the company and handed control of it over to his oldest son, standing there.

He came into the room, saw that they each had drinks in their hands, and fixed one for himself.

“What are we discussing over scotch at just past noon on a weekday?” he asked as he sat down at the head of the table.

“Tony’s report,” Elizabeth said as she slid her copy over to him.

“Break it down for me, Tony.”

“If Biddinger Oil does not expand into other fields of business other than oil, we are going to find ourselves in trouble. I have researched 4 companies that are ripe for buying that will help to stem the coming collapse of the oil industry.”

“Tell me about these companies,” Anthony said, as he looked down at his Blackberry.

“The first is Rio Norte Electric up in Cheyenne. It’s an electric utility that is currently in the process of building a large wind farm to compliment its current coal fired generators.

“The second company is a small pharmaceutical company by the name of Meditech. Currently they make mostly generic drugs, but had a rather extensive R&D department. They are in clinical trials of an arthritis drug that is showing some great results.

“The third company is Western Cable, which is a cable television company that specializes in more rural areas of the country.

“Finally is a company we actually know quite well: Stone River Properties. The owner, Teddy Littlefield, died and left it to his grandson, who is rumored to want nothing to do with it. Stone River owns quite a large amount of real estate around the country,” Tony finished.

“I know Bryon Lange, Teddy’s grandson,” Elizabeth said. “I haven’t seen him in years, but I remember him from Teddy’s parties.”

“And Stone River owns this building,” Tony said. “But my proposal is to buy as many of these four companies as we can, using the proceeds of the sale of the stockpile oil.”

“Which is all a bunch of hogwash,” Doug said. “What do we know about electricity, cable television, drugs or real estate? We are better off remaining in the oil business.”

“We will still be in the oil business, Doug,” Tony replied. “We would just be supplementing our income from these other companies. We’ll have multiple streams of income.”

“Until the other company fails because we know nothing about running it and making a profit,” Doug replied.

“Will you stop it already?” Tony asked. “Will you please quit being so damned negative and just listen to what I have to say without making some flippant, sarcastic remark?”

“To what end?” Doug asked. “Every time you create a report it is all doom and gloom! It’s almost as if you want to see this company fail!”

“Enough!” Anthony said, his voice booming through the room. “Doug, there is nothing wrong with expanding into other fields, and just because we don’t know anything about those fields does not mean we can’t find the right people to run them for us.”

At that point Anthony’s Blackberry rang. He looked at the screen and a confused looked came across his face.

“This is Governor Biddinger,” he said as he answered the call.

“Anthony Biddinger, Governor of Colorado?” a woman’s voice asked from the other end of the line.

“Yes, speaking,” Anthony said.

“Governor Biddinger, please hold for the President of the United States.”