by Earl Nelson
Jim and Todd knew what was going on so gave me no grief.
The thing that most excited the port master was the shortened turnaround time for the ships. Every day in port cost the shipping company a large part of their annual cost.
You would think the port master who derived income from the ships would want them there longer. His port traffic was up, offsetting the loss of revenue. In the long run, he estimated that it would increase profits by thirty percent.
Also, he was very happy with my companies performance especially the cooperation from my employees. No complaints whatsoever.
That told me everything I needed to know at this stop. It was clear that there were no problems not being reported to corporate.
From Liverpool, we were flying to Buenos Aires with a fueling stop in Senegal. When I boarded the plane I was handed a message which had arrived from Whitehall. I was requested to call a US Army General, Brigadier Westmoreland. Whitehall asked that I cooperate if I could.
I called the General from the Aviation Center. He was aware of my itinerary and asked if I reroute to Washington and my way to Buenos Aires.
I asked him why and he told me it was very classified and he couldn’t talk about it on the phone.
Since Whitehall wanted me to cooperate I told him the plane would be rerouted and I would see him tomorrow.
Again we flew all night. The flight crew was getting hours in their logbooks. I had started the trip with the secret hope that I could get some more hours in on the big bird but it wasn’t to be. I couldn’t stay up flying half the night and do my job the next day.
The next morning we landed at Washington National Airport, on the private aviation side. General Westmoreland had a limo waiting to take me to the Pentagon.
Out of habit, I had worn my shoulder holster with my .38. I had yet to find a weapon with more stopping power that wouldn’t ruin the hang of my suits. I was cheap enough I didn’t want to replace my fifteen suit coats times three with new ones.
It set off the alarms at security. They had one of the new metal detectors. You would think I was trying to invade the place.
When you saw how badly I was outgunned it was ludicrous. It took my US Marshal credentials to calm them down.
After that, I was taken to a room somewhere in the Pentagon. That building is huge!
The General was waiting for me in his office. It was nice but not as nice as mine in LA or even at the Meadows. It did beat the one in the garage in Oxford. I know this was small-minded of me, but first impressions are first impressions.
The General was all business.
“We understand from Intelligence that you will be making a trip to China?”
Since it wasn’t a secret to the Chinese I answer in the affirmative.
“We need you to check out the Chinese atomic bomb program at Haiyan, they call it 596 for some reason, and if possible see how the construction of the test site is going at Lop Nor.”
“There seems to be a mistake here, I’m not in espionage.”
“You have done some work in that area with the KGB and the Stasi.”
“Not by choice or training.”
“Well, this is an order.”
“Uh, I’m not in the US Army.”
“I will contact your direct superior at Whitehall and they will give you your orders.”
“You would probably have better luck if you had the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs contact the President, then have the President contact to the Prime Minister, who in turn would call on the Queen.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because I’m in a Colonel in Coldstream Regiment, but don’t report to them in Whitehall. I’m an aide-de-camp to the Queen and report directly to her.”
From the look on his face, you could tell that I had trumped his ace.
Chapter 46
“We need this information.”
“I don’t doubt it but your intelligence group hasn’t given you the full story. While I’m there one of the political factions will try to assassinate me. I’m afraid I won’t be able to sneak around and spy in any dark allies.”
“I can see that I have this all wrong, my apologies.”
About that time an aide knocked on the door and handed the General a note. He read it and handed it to me.
It was forwarded by the flight crew. From President Kennedy, he had been made aware of my arrival in Washington. He would like me to stop by if I had time.
The General had a very strained look on his face. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why.
“No one needs to know all the details of this meeting. You asked me to be alert to any information on the Chinese atomic program. While not making any inquiries I will pass on any information gained on my trip.”
Westmoreland might get that second star someday.
I asked the General to have a call place to the White House. He had me connected to the main switchboard.
As sheer luck would have it I recognized the voice of the switchboard operator I knew. We had met briefly in the cafeteria on a previous visit. Her voice defined sultry.
“Ah Sophia, this is Sir Richard, I’m returning the President's call.”
The icing on the cake, I was put right through.
“Mr. President, how may I help you today?”
“I understand, I will ask if the pentagon can have a car bring me over.”
“No Sir, General Westmoreland wanted to know if it would be possible for me to share any passive information I would acquire on my trip, especially if I end up in China.”
“I thought his request was reasonable. I’ll be there within the hour, traffic permitting. Okay, I will go to the helipad.”
The General hadn’t tried to pressure me so I didn’t drop him in it. He had to be impressed with my being so well known at the White House. Sometimes you get lucky.
By the time I got to the helipad Marine One or one of its clones was waiting for me. A ten-minute flight and I was out on the White House lawn.
I had to go through a security screening and surrender my weapon.
I was then escorted directly to the oval office where the President waited in his rocking chair. Brother Bobby lounged on a couch.
“Sir Richard thank you for coming. Bobby and I need to talk to you.”
I had been thinking this might be about China but now it didn’t feel like it.
“What about?”
“You have offended some powerful people in our party. We need you to make amends.”
“I gather the Governor of Pennsylvania and Mayor of Pittsburgh are not happy with me.”
“You may say that they are livid. How could you think they wouldn’t find out about your other donations immediately.”
“They aren’t the ones that concern me, it’s the union. They are ready to issue a contract on you.”
“And that is because?”
“The salary increases you are giving. It could end up destroying them.”
“Why should I care? They would only hurt my workforce and lessen the profits.”
It must have been his brother's turn to play bad cop.
“Listen hear Jackson, we are ordering you to take back the pay increase. It is not in our best interests for it to go through.”
“I understand that the union is a strong supporter and donor for both your party and your campaigns but I have to do what is best for me and mine.”
“You could be heading for more trouble than you can handle.”
“Should I take that as a threat to me, my employees, and my company?”
“Take it any way you want, by the way, you left out your family.”
At that, the President stepped in to calm things down. Bobby had shown the stick, now I was to see the carrot.
“Rick, we aren’t going down that road, but you must understand that this is very serious to us. We can make up your loss of profits by special tax breaks.”
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I had to bite my tongue, this was the party representing the workers against the rapacious rich capitalist. This didn’t surprise me at all. I had seen Ike and Dick Nixon pull similar stunts on previous visits.
This was the nature of the beast. Maybe I was a Monarchist at heart. You understand I would have to be the Monarch.
“I will back down to the point that my people will receive the same increase as the union.”
“That will work. We will start the tax break through Congress.”
“Thank you, Mr. President. Is there anything else, I need to depart to Buenos Aires.”
“That will be all.”
After retrieving my weapon I was driven back to the airport. Once we were in the air I explained my stop at the White House to them.”
“Boy, they play hardball.”
“Yes, they do. That is why I want to wait until after the industry contracts are signed and set up a better health care program, scholarships, and anything else you can think of to put the increase back in.”
“Your name will be Mudd.”
“They will get over it, other things will have their attention. I also would like you to start a working group to study moving our Pittsburgh operations to England.”
“What!”
“We aren’t going to do it, the English taxes are much worse than here. The infrastructure not as good and the workers are more often communist as not.”
It will get their attention. I can wave a stick also.”
“What about a carrot?”
“The carrot will be not moving the operations.”
“How old did you say you were?”
I didn’t bother to answer that one.
We landed in Miami to refuel. We would have another stop in Rio for the same. Because of the time of day, we would spend five hours on the ground in Rio so we would arrive in Buenos Aires in the morning.
I spent most of the flight looking out a window and wondering if I had handled the whole Pittsburgh situation correctly. I was looking for problems in my operations. Maybe I was proving to be the problem.
After a while, I sighed and went looking for a snack. This introspection seemed to make me hungry. As I had some chips and dip along with a coke I came out of my little funk.
As we crossed the Caribbean there was a huge storm below us. It wasn’t a hurricane but it did remind me of the last time I had been through here.
That time was in a ship and I could still remember the screaming of the metal as we twisted and turned in the storm racked seas. Man, I’m sounding poetic.
Poetic or not it had been the scariest thing of my life. Even being shot didn’t compare. The shootings were quick. The storm went on for hours.
While remembering I watched the lighting below me light up the sky in a magnificent show. All of nature's power on display and those of us looking out from the aircraft were the only ones that could see it from above.
Well of course there may have been other planes flying this route. I had to laugh at myself. My musing was all over the place. I think it was my mind trying to get comfortable with the fact I had a clash with the President of the United States, the most powerful person in the world, and came out whole.
Time would tell about being whole but I think it would be okay.
We landed on schedule in Rio, by the time we got over the South American mainland the storm had died out so it was a smooth descent and landing.
We all deplaned once we landed. It was nice to get out and stretch our legs. Even the sedimentary Roger walked with us.
The private aviation terminal was divided up so that we could go inside without technically being in Brazil. This way we avoided customs and immigration. With my British passport, I wouldn’t need a visa, with my American I would have had to have the stamp.
I was paged as Senhor Jackson please come to the information desk. There was a message to call Dad no matter the hour.
With an operator's help, I was able to get through to him. I had all sorts of dire thoughts about my family. It was nothing of the sort.
“Rick, way to go, you have the President of the United States fuming.”
“Why I gave into him on the wage deal, we aren’t going to exceed the union package.”
“He’s mad about what you are planning later. He called me to get you to back off.”
“How did he know.”
“When did you talk about this?”
“On the plane with Jim and Todd after we took off from DC.”
“Did you land anywhere?”
“In Miami to refuel.”
“Either Jim or Todd called the White House or you have a spy on board.”
Chapter 47
The first thing I did after hanging up from Dad was hunting up Jim and Todd. I asked them directly if they had talked to anyone about my trouble with the Kennedy’s.
Both said they hadn’t and when would they have done so, they didn’t get off the plane in Miami. Since the inflight radio would have taken the help of the flight crew I realized it couldn’t have been them.
We talked about who could have gotten off the plane in Miami and made a phone call. Of course, that person would have had to hear our conversation.
We hadn’t seen anyone hanging around the office but that didn’t mean there wasn’t someone hiding around the corner and eavesdropping.
I had the Chief Pilot come back, I asked him who all had gotten off the plane in Miami. From the question, he could tell something was up.
“Several of the crew and hostesses walked the runway but the only one who went inside the terminal was first officer Raymond. He is acting as our purser on this trip. He went in to pay for the fuel.”
“Would you please bring him back here?”
The Chief Pilot went upfront to bring Raymond back. He came back alone.
“Raymond was seen going into the aviation terminal and going through immigration.”
“Well, we know who our spy was and who he was working for.”
Todd said, “Not necessarily, He may have been freelancing and called the Kennedy’s to sell it to them.”
Thinking for a moment, “I don’t think so, the President acted on the information immediately, that indicates a high degree of trust in the source.”
“You’re right, Rick, you should be a spy yourself.”
“Lord Blackhoof here, Lord Richard Blackhoof.”
That just didn’t have the Bond ring to it.
“I wonder how many other spies we have onboard?”
“Why would the US have more than one?
“There’s the Russians, the Chinese, and for all I know Luxembourg.”
“Maybe not Luxembourg but you get my drift.”
Our meeting was interrupted by a man in US Army uniform. He had been allowed on board by one of the hostesses. I wondered what new grief this would be.
His unit badges were from the Signal Corps. That seemed strange. He introduced himself as Captain Johnson. He was wondering if we could help him with a logistics problem.
He was escorting a lady to Buenos Aires to give a speech to a ladies group. Their flight had been canceled and there weren’t any others that would get them there on time. Could they hitch a ride?
Things couldn’t get any weirder so I said yes. He brought an elderly lady on board. She must have been seventy. He introduced her as Grace Banker. I told her I was glad to meet her and give her a lift.
She thanked me and take a seat up front, that was the last I saw her. I wonder why the Signal Corps was escorting her around? I didn’t care enough to ask as I was thinking of spies.
Spying for information was one thing, my previous experience with them was more serious, life and death serious.
The flight continued and we arrived on time in Buenos Aires. The Signal Corps Captain and the lady he was escorting thanked me once more. As they moved away I heard him asking her about General Pershing.
I wondered if she had ever been on track 57. Nasty thoughts Rick, clear your mind!
The docks known as the Puerto Nuevo were in the Retiro ward and ran by the General Ports Administration. This meant a continual series of brides. All low level. More like a tip.
I had been warned about this so had a pocketful of one peso silver coins. Some things aren’t worth fighting. Every official I was introduced to was an expert at palming these coins.
The port construction itself was going well. I had a conversation with the head of construction. He rated a gold peso.
I realize that as long as I kept handing out brides I would be told what I expected to hear. The only saving grace was that if someone else bribed them they would hear what they wanted, even if it contradicted what I had been told.
In other words, my trip here was a waste. I did manage to corner a couple of American engineers and ask them if things were to the blueprints. They told me there were but it was running up costs by ten percent to keep everything that way. Those pesos added up.
I told them to keep the bribes rolling, the project safe and on time. The cost overrun would just be part and parcel of the whole deal.
The irony was that the bribes being paid were being billed right back to the Argentine government so they were paying for everything.
I wondered how long it would take for the wheels to fall off.
I had to go to a reception at the British Embassy that night. My welcome the last time was gracious as the son of Viscountess Jackson. Now as Lord Blackhoof they couldn’t do enough.
I was thinking about my last trip here when I saw them. They were standing with a group in the corner. I had to go say Hello.
“Good evening Colonel Frade, it has been a while.”
“It has Lord Blackhoof, I see you have done well for yourself. I may have been hasty in helping your departure.”
“It had its moments, still worth a laugh now. I was shaking at the time. How is your daughter?”
“She is married and about to give birth to her first.”
“Give her my best wishes.”
I made a mental note to have a gift sent. After all the Frades are my partners in the Howell container operation.
