Convoluted Journey (The Mercury Black Authority Book 1)

by Finian Blake

  “It seems that we both must deal with impatience,” Jesus smiled. He said something to his brother. Juan went into the bay through the interior door. Noah looked up to the flight deck.

  “Come on down.” The flight crew came down to the crew cabin.

  “Jesus this is my flight crew Frank.”

  “Which one is Frank?”

  “We are,” the quartet said in perfect unison.

  “I see that you have your problems too,” Jesus laughed.

  “Is there anybody that speaks English with you?” Jesus nodded. “These guys need to look at the place that you wanted us to park.”

  Jesus motioned for the quartet to follow him and pointed toward a beautiful Latina named Maria. He returned in a few minutes. “Now that we have played our games may we negotiate?”

  Noah nodded his agreement standing up and walking out the crew door. When they were off the Ark, he turned to Jesus.

  “There are extra ears on board. Let us negotiate in private.”

  “That is an excellent idea.” They walked back under the wing.

  “Now that we have measured each other up what are your thoughts?”

  “I must work out the arrangements, because the people that set this up have no idea of what they are doing. Tell me what your thoughts are.”

  “Price on the street is twenty to $50 a gram depending on quality. 500 pounds should give you four to five million. That should be a very good price. That is our thought.” Jesus was confident of his figures.

  “That is what the street price is. We are in the Nicaraguan jungle so we will need to smuggle it into the country and wholesale it. That airplane, this crew, and the flight round trip to Russia, is a huge risk and will cost us some tall bucks plus if we are busted we lose everything going to jail for a very long time. Running guns is illegal, and so is running dope. Both are a death sentence in many countries. You want me to do this three times. Every time I run the big risk and fly around half the world. I was thinking three dollars a gram. This is 1.4 million, and at that price I make a small profit for a big risk. Noah kept his voice calm.

  “We have more of the drug and we can pay you every time. You could be rich.” Jesus was trying for street price.

  “You didn’t make the drug. You raided it from those that do so all that you have invested is a few bullets. You get your guns for their work. On the other hand, we must pay the Russians.” It was a guess but this was not a drug producing area. Noah knew he hit a nerve when Jesus’ jaw dropped a little. Noah tried to keep his poker face. “If you don’t want the weapons I can sell them to someone else. They would love to pay in drugs also. There is a real need for guns all through the area and I can sell my next load to the Arabs or Africans and that would make a much simpler trip.” Jesus’s face changed perceptibly. It was time for Noah to push. “Cocaine is so much white powder down here. You can make a mountain of it and have nothing. Even if you had the money you cannot get out of here to buy anything. I saw your face when I opened those boxes. Up in the states I can buy medicine, food, and tools plus I can deliver it. Give me everything you have on hand, and I will make two extra runs on top of the arms runs.” Noah jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “You will be very popular.”

  “Two runs with one of these full of medicine and food!” Jesus lost his poker face. Guns would be good for fighting, but this would give him the people. Bullets and guns did nothing for a sick child, but medicine and food would win the hearts of the people. Jesus knew that the people have suffered for his revolution and they were losing patience. This would put him several steps ahead of all the other leaders. “I will talk to my brother.”

  He walked off quickly heading toward the intended parking area. Juan and the quartet were walking back this way. With them were two attractive women. Noah could make out their curves from this distance. Jesus reached the group with his hands still moving in animated conversation. Juan’s hands started flying in the air as the ladies joined the conversation. All of their arms started flying in the air mimicking a flock of birds getting ready to fly. One would walk away and then come back after a few seconds and then another would do the same thing.

  The engineer walked directly up to Noah.

  “I don’t know what you said but Jesus is ready to give you the farm. Juan is trying to undercut Jesus and is telling the others that Jesus is selling them out.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I speak some Spanish. I just didn’t let them know that I do,” Frank let out a quiet laugh.

  “Don’t let on you understand anything. We’ll play it close,” Noah wanted some idea of what was being said. “How difficult was the landing?”

  “Not bad the approach is a piece of cake. The only tricky part is the uphill landing. Now that I made the first landing there will be no problem. That parking space that they wanted us to use is perfect. The road makes a sharp turn fifty yards before you get to the parking spot, so that we are off the road. There are a few spots in the tree line that you could park a tractor-trailer in and not see it, why?”

  “Would you be willing to take two more runs down here with humanitarian supplies for these people? We would not be carrying guns.”

  “I am a go.” The relief looked at the others nodding in agreement. “We might as well do something that will help. It would be a good idea to use a different set of frequencies. I can set them up with Jesus’s wife Maria. She helped with the radio for our approach on this last landing. She is a private pilot that trained in the L.A. area.”

  “If they go with the plan, we will set it up with her,” Noah thought for a minute. He turned around and looked at the engineer. “You said that you were out didn’t you?”

  “If you are going to do the humanitarian stuff I can work with that. I am back in, ok?”

  “It’s not up to me.” Noah looked back at the rest of the crew. “It’s up to them.” He got the nod and it was a quartet once again. Jesus, Juan and Maria walked over to the crew leaving Marcel behind. Maria was first to speak.

  “My husband wants to know how much you are going to spend.”

  “We will spend a minimum of a dollar per gram plus the guns,” Noah did not hesitate. “I have no idea of what the quality is, but a dollar a gram is a safe guess. We will go more if the quality is good.”

  “How do we know that you will keep your word?” Maria continued the questioning.

  “I do business all over the world. If I break my word nobody will deal with me. You are emptying the Ark. What prevents you from leaving, or shooting us and then leaving? I must trust you,” Noah did not have a solid answer. “Either you trust me and we do business, or you don’t trust me and we don’t do business. I will go on my way with a lesson.” Noah smiled, “I will then tell every gun dealer that I know they need to avoid you. You will not be able to buy a sling shot for a $100 and once you buy it you will have to go pick it up.” That thought did not sit well with Maria. A blow like that would kill the revolution and all the drug dealers that they put out of business would come back looking for revenge.

  “I see no penalty for you. What if you take the money and run?”

  “If I take the money and run. The same thing happens and nobody will deal with me.” Noah was tired of running in circles.

  “Talk it over and tell me what you want to do. As long as I am paid for this load we are good. You will have enough weapons for a small revolution and I will be able to pay my supplier. Then I will pick up the next load and sell it to someone else possibly the drug dealers. Go talk to your husband and your brother in law. You tell me what you would like to do.”

  “How much time do we have?” Maria wanted to ponder her decision.

  “We need day light to fly out of here. When the sun touches the mountains, we are gone.”

  It was two thirty so it was not an unreasonable restriction. The trucks started to show up for their second load. The revolutionaries walked back to the trucks flapping their arms like a flock of sea gulls. Noah reme
mbered the crate that Suki had marked. He opened the crate locating the electronic device and destroying it. Knowing it could be used to locate their camp. The quartet walked around the Ark looking for any damage from their jungle landing. The three rebels were winding down their discussion. The quartet stood under the wing to get out of the sun. Noah walked to the loading ramp to supervise the next push. The first truck arrived back at the Ark and Noah watched the loading begin again. He looked to see what the rebel leaders were doing. They were heading his way and there was another woman with them. She was Juan’s girlfriend Marcel and she looked very much like Maria. All four of the rebels were wearing jungle fatigues with tee shirts and there was no doubt which ones were women.

  Even though they were almost twins, Maria looked completely at home in the jungle. Her tee shirt was soaked with sweat causing it to cling to her breasts. She moved easily through the rough jungle while Marcel pulled at her sweat soaked clothing every time she moved and watched where she placed every step as if she was putting out a cigarette on the floor. Noah had a hard time seeing her as a jungle fighter. Jesus and Juan appeared right at home in their jungle environment. Jesus was the only one to speak.

  “Two Dollars per gram back to us and the first humanitarian load within two weeks,” he hesitated. “Marcel has suggested that my wife Maria needs to go to L.A. with you to monitor our interests. Is there going to be a problem taking her?”

  “No problem, have Maria get her passport.” Noah understood that they wanted a courier of their own after all it was payment up front for the rest of the loads. He also had a thought that this was a test to see if he could in fact deliver on his promises.

  “That will be a problem. Maria is on a list of undesirables. You are smuggling the powder in, so you should be able to smuggle her in too.” Jesus smiled waiting for Noah to try and defeat his logic.

  Maria commented casually. “I cannot get into the U.S. using the normal methods. If I use my passport they will arrest me at immigration. Being a rebel has its problems,” Maria had a definite point.

  “Alright, have her pack her bag. We can work out the details on the way up. Something like this is not a big problem.”

  “Maria, talk to Frank. We need to arrange contacts and radio frequencies.” Noah had to get the second round of offload going. He had to save a few of the crates to load the cocaine in so that it would not be lying loose on the floor when customs came on board in Ontario for their inspection. All that he needed was enough cover to keep the casual eyes off of it.”

  The second round went well. He started dragging the empty pallets to the front of the Ark. Noah set up two pallets with a collection of empty crates on them ready to load. All he needed was the third round to start. When it did, everything went smoothly. The trucks unloaded on one side of the ramp loading the last load of drugs on the other side. He tied and netted the reloaded crates down on the pallet. When they were done, there were two pallets of cocaine loaded in the Ark. He raised the ramp and killed the power inside the bay. When he exited the bay Jesus was kissing his wife goodbye. Noah could see Juan folding Marcel in the back of the truck. I hate to cut things short but it is time to go.” Jesus went down the steps. All Maria had on her were the clothes on her back and whatever things that she had in her pockets. Even in khaki pants, a tee shirt and jungle boots, Maria was a beautiful woman.

  “Make sure that all of the crates burn completely. I don’t want any of that Russian writing to get into the wrong hands. It will cause problems for you.”

  Jesus drove down the road to clear the way. By the time he reached the far end, Frank had all four engines running. Frank started the Ark on a takeoff roll letting the Ark take the full length of the hardened area which was twice as much as he normally needed. He pulled up a few hundred feet from the end and held the Ark level while the copilot put the throttles full. He did not try to gain altitude until the Ark was over the Gulf. The terrain was all downhill anyway so they did not need to use full power after the wheels left the ground. The crew flew between the hills trying to mask the Ark from any radar. When they were out of Nicaraguan air space Frank popped up to 24,000 feet turning south toward Panama after the plane cleared the coast.

  “Aren’t you supposed to go north?” Maria’s face went pale.

  Noah chuckled, “We have to go to Panama City to refuel. It will be a gas and go. After we fuel we will swing out over the Pacific and arrive in Ontario about six hours from now.”

  “Stay up here in one of the bunks while we are refueling. When we get off the ground again we will start figuring out what we need to do in Ontario.”

  Maria was clearly nervous, “Should I hide?”

  “No, Panama City should be no problem. In Ontario I think that we should be able to get away with something simple.”

  The Panama City fuel stop went smoothly only the fueler came on board and they took off for Ontario within a half an hour. Right after takeoff Frank called for the highest altitude he could get. Noah went below and put on a pot of coffee. He broke out the last of the sandwiches, giving his to Maria.

  “Don’t you want a lower altitude? Everybody will see you.” Maria was thinking of not being seen.

  “We are a regular commercial flight. We want to be up high at 24,000 feet, where everybody can see us. The people who fly low have something to hide and that is where they look for the bad people.” Noah’s left her uncertain of the wisdom, but she was on for the ride and had no choice.

  Maria told Frank that she was a pilot. The copilot got up offering Maria a seat. Frank wanted to see if she was in fact a pilot. As she slipped into the copilot’s seat her face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. After some checks, Frank offered to let Maria take the controls. Maria adjusted the seat testing the control yolk and when she was comfortable Frank let her take the controls. It was nowhere as responsive as the Lear Jets that she was used to flying, but it was quite manageable.

  “Frank, this feels heavy. I am used to flying my father’s Lear Jet.”

  “It’s the difference between a sports car and a truck. Just don’t try quick turns yet and you will do alright.”

  Maria kept the seat for the rest of the flight this was the largest plane that she had ever flown. The copilot slipped in to the crew bunk for a siesta. Maria started talking with the pilot. When Frank was comfortable with her touch, he relaxed letting Maria do the flying talking about her experience.

  Noah slipped into the cargo bay, starting his checks. Making sure that the crates were nailed shut he tightened the netting and made sure that there were no spills around the crates. When he went back into the crew cabin Noah pulled a manual typewriter out of the storage bin and started making out the International manifest for his cargo. They kept one on board because there was not always an office in which to work. After he was finished Noah took $2,000 out of his stash splitting it between two envelopes. He took the manifest and the envelopes and put them in the DOC box. Before he went to sleep, Noah looked up to see what was happening on the flight deck. Frank and Maria were chatting away casually like coworkers. He settled into one of the recliners and nodded off.

  Noah was awakened by a change in pitch from the props for their landing in Ontario. He called up to see if anybody wanted anything, finally taking an order for coffee. He poured five cups handing them up to the flight deck. The navigators console was open, so he sat down behind Frank. Noah had a clear view of Maria in the copilot’s seat. Her eyes were animated and her hands were firmly on the controls.

  “What do you think Frank, can she be a pro? Will she be Everywhere Air’s first woman pilot?” The question sounded like a jest, but it was not.

  “No, we already have one. I believe Maria would be the second.” Frank looked over his shoulder. “She has the aptitude and Maria says she has a multi-engine jet rating.”

  “Could she reasonably pass for a pro?” Noah wanted to be clear about the answer he was looking for. “Right now could she pass?”

  “With a few
more hours she could do it for pay. Maria has a good touch.”

  “What are you thinking?” The question came from Maria and Frank at the same time.

  “Things are hopeful that was a nice duet.” Noah launched into his idea. He wanted Maria to pose as a pilot and make a run with them. He could get a passport that would work, an ID for Everywhere Air was a sure thing and he would take care of the rest along the way. Noah made a mental note to call Susan from a

  Company phone as soon as they landed.

  6

  BACK IN THE USA

  The aircraft made a smooth landing in Ontario, California taxing to the spot in front of Everywhere Air. A van with a customs officer and agriculture inspector pulled up to the front of the Ark. Two middle aged men got out and walked to the crew door.

  “Noah I hope that you appreciate this. We are up way past our bedtime.” The customs officer said jokingly.

  “I most definitely do. Here are the DOCs and here are the papers for the flight crew. We have light machinery from Panama City. It is coming back for repair. Noah opened the cargo bay and turned on the lights. The three men walked back into the bay. Maria up in the crew bunk thought she was going to go nuts hiding up in the bunk with no way out. Noah had actually asked the inspectors to check the cargo.

  “Here is a copy of your paperwork,” the customs officer passed a copy of the manifest to the agriculture inspector. He felt the envelope wrapped inside of the manifest. Both men cleared the shipment and left without even stepping up to the pallets opening the envelopes out of each other’s view. There was a thousand dollars in each envelope since Everywhere Air was considered a spook airline they knew that this was probably a black ops shipment. They smiled at each other and drove off. Noah called up to the cockpit to have Frank send Maria back while he lowered the loading ramp and started to release the locks. Hank and Bill both worked overtime for this flight.

  “Noah, there is a truck waiting at the door for these pallets. Do you want them straight out?”