Early July 2005 – New York

The trip this time was hectic. James had to get everything set up for the coming financial crisis. He was plotting everything out. The initial visit had been the one where it was all supposed to get started, but after advising the top staff in Todd’s financial business of their plans, they started to ask questions. Not in a bad way. They all trusted Todd’s planning, in fact they knew not to question it at all. All of them had become rich off of it.

They were all just small time when they were recruited, the key to them working here was the fact that they didn’t ask and just did. But they questioned each other and were expected to ask for information to make their jobs easier. The one thing that Todd wanted was to have people that did as he told them, but also looked for ways to expand the opportunities he brought them. That is one reason why James couldn’t accomplish everything during his first trip.

His initial plan was to invest in the larger firms that were going to bottom out in 2008 and then acquire one or two of them to maximize profits from their toxic assets. Also, to assemble a legal team that could shade them from liability, since they would be buying the companies and he felt, not responsible for their screw ups. He had a plan to deal with that as well.

The thing was, Todd’s people in 2005 offered some good options to add to the pile as they were told more. After a few days they realized a lot of things could be done. Since James was in charge of this he and Todd returned to the present, where he went back and got more schooling to help him prepare for the future task he was going to do in the past. That was when Amanda discovered them.

He didn’t know how long those side trips took. He knew that Todd kept a precise diary of when and where he had gone in the past. He insisted that it was so he knew where he was at all times. He didn’t know what would happen to himselves if he ran into each other in a random fashion, unlike the day he proved time travel to him. The general idea was that they would be fine due to the “barrier” he theorized would be around them but couldn’t be totally sure when it came to the same person. So, to be on the safe side he decided never to find out.

It didn’t matter now. It was his chance to show that he could do something productive besides taking up space on these excursions and wasting Todd’s time. One of the main differences now was that his people told him, that if he was right about the scope and depth of the financial crisis, that he could gain massive political influence from it. Todd opted not to take an active roll in this himself, but to set up a committee to find the best people to take advantage of it.

This included prosecutors, state legislators, and others, but those with a spotless record. He also started to setup funds to help bail out state funds that would be decimated by the crisis. These areas would be key to secure any potential candidates that he backed. The auto industry was also on his radar. He planned to bail them out instead of the government, this plan was easy if he got key people elected to office.

His main goal was to invest in electric cars and use the showroom model to sell that Tesla had, but most states were rigged against this. By saving the auto makers, he could get them to oppose these laws and help himself. Not to mention use their infrastructure to make his cars. It was all win for him.

The one thing he really wanted to do was to nail the bankers that screwed it all up. His parent’s retirement had been wiped out by it, and now he could get payback. Of course, they didn’t suffer long, but getting his proud father to take money had been a pain. Now though he could rectify the situation.

He had explained to James the way they were going to get the people that did this. James wasn’t too worried about it and left all that to the lawyers that Todd had lined up. They were there for more than just to prevent lawsuits, they were going to file a ton on their own. The thing they had on their side was having all the evidence and lists of names of people that were going to be affected before even they knew it. As soon as it happened they would pounce before the rest of the world even knew what was going on.

It took several months of hard work, but James had everything in place before the end of 2005. It was a lot easier for him to do since Amanda was there with him. They got to see all the sights and once a month took a long weekend to all the places they ever wanted to go courtesy of Todd off course. When an almost trillionaire says you can use his planes and expense account you go big or go home.

The trio would be leaving for the present soon though. All of the work that James had been doing for Todd to profit from the crisis got him to thinking. The pair was off to a fancy dinner that night to celebrate, Amanda was off to see some shows on Broadway that she hadn’t gotten to yet, so it would just be Todd and James. He was going to pitch a new idea to Todd.

James arrived at the restaurant and a hostess was waiting for him. Todd had booked a private room in the back for dinner. He liked his privacy when talking business. James followed the woman back and saw that Todd was already there having a drink or three. James sat down and the woman left.

“So is everything ready for the oncoming storm?”

“Indeed it is. I see you decided to start without me.”

“Just a couple of drinks. The main course should be here in a bit.”

“I have been thinking. Here we are getting ready to make billions off of this crisis.”

“I know.”

“What if we did the same thing, but at a different time?”

Todd sat up straight and leaned forward. “You have my attention.”

“The energy crisis of the late 70’s. We could go back, using the oil futures and other things, we could make a small fortune.”

“That was only a couple of years though. I’m not sure how much we could milk out of that. Not to mention the amount of rewriting history I would have to do to get my guy to work that angle.”

“What if we did it with someone else?”

“What are you getting at?”

“Well someday I hope you let me in on your master plan. One thing I did notice though is that you are on the up and up and mostly in the US. What I am proposing is a separate entity. You take the money you make from that energy crisis and use it to do some small stuff. The real thing is that you base it overseas. From there you use it to start investing in the old Soviet Republic when the wall falls.”

Todd thought a few minutes. “That is actually brilliant. How many million and billionaires are over there now?”

“More than I can remember, but you can get in on the ground floor. Knowing what industries will be up for sale and when, puts you in a good position.”

A knock came at the door, and an attractive blonde walked into the room followed by two men. They set down some trays on a nearby table and started to place dishes on the table. Todd took a moment to look at the woman. She looked familiar. It reminded him of someone he had seen before, but he couldn’t place her. He shook it off.

When they were done, Todd tipped them all $100 and they left, closing the door behind them. He turned his attention back to James. “I won’t be able to do it though. I have too much riding on the validity of my companies here.”

“I get that. I mean I always could. I could pretend to be a Russian, and do it,” he laughed as he said it.

“What if you were though?” Todd asked.

James stopped laughing, “Are you serious?”

“Why not? You do over there what I did here. I mean time isn’t a big deal. You can take as long as you want to learn languages, cultures, etc.”

James thought for a while. “I’ll have to run it by Amanda, but I am game.”

Todd smiled, “Excellent.” He raised his glass of wine and they toasted to the future and the past.