Today's Roofer June 2015 | Page 18

How Do You Deal With Kidnappers? By Gordon Van Wechel Imagine there's a loud, harsh pounding on your front door. So loud, so harsh that it snaps you out of whatever you're doing and gets your adrenalin pumping. When you open the door, no one is there. But you find a letter taped to the front door. You read it and your heart skips a beat. Your pulse begins racing and you break out in a light sweat. You feel more panic than you've ever felt in your life. The note reads: "We have your wife (or any other loved one). Don't talk to anyone about this. Don't call the police. We've set up electronic surveillance on your home and business that will detect any efforts you make to let anyone know about this. If you talk to anyone, your wife will be killed. We want $2 million in cash. And we want it within 48 hours. If we don't get it, for any reason, she dies. We'll be calling you in an hour to arrange for you to deliver the money." What if this happened to you, but you simply didn't have that kind of money? And you only had one hope. Through your business, you just might be able to raise that kind of money, but it would take you at least 30 days. When the phone rings, you explain your situation to the kidnappers, and surprisingly, they agree to give you 30 days to raise the money. But the deadline will not be extended one minute beyond that time. And you're acutely aware of the consequences. What would you do with a loved one's life on the line? Now the real work begins. You must figure out some way to raise this money. Given this extreme situation, you would immediately ask yourself three questions: 18 Today’s Roofer / June 2015