by Finian Blake
“No, I need to get a weight on each pallet. There is an empty crate on top. I need a weight on that too.” Noah wanted a rough idea of what they were sending out the door. Maria appeared just as the first pallet was unloaded.
“Take a seat on the ramp tractor, do not talk to anyone and I’ll be right behind you.”
Maria did as she was told. Hank watched her quietly sit down next to him not saying a word. She was probably another good looking courier in a wet tee shirt. He drove to the scale and waited for Noah. They put an empty crate on the scale taking the weight. They pulled the first pallet to the scale took the weight and did the same for the second. Noah walked to a calculator behind the scale working the numbers subtracting the weight of the crates and the pallets to come up with the weight of the actual produce. The weight of the first pallet was 3300 pounds, the second weighed 3500 pounds and the total was 6800 pounds of produce.
“Holy shit, you said that it was three thousand pounds!” Noah was floored. “You must have meant kilos.”
“What? I thought that…” Maria stopped talking as Noah held up his hand.
“Not here.” Noah walked over to the waiting truck and had a talk with the driver.
After his chat with the driver, he signaled Hank and Bill to load the pallets. Maria was floored by his action. Noah had just sent enough money to finance a small country down the road in a produce truck.
“You are not going to follow them?”
“Like I said you have to trust the people that you work with. You pick good people and you go with them.” Noah motioned her toward the supply room. He pulled a calculator out of the supply locker and started working numbers. After several minutes he turned to Maria.
“Your end is 6.5 million, for the people, and your arms are in the other deal.” Her knees started to buckle. Noah steadied her as he said, “At the price of seven dollars, after covered expenses, there is a very nice profit. The direct benefit to your cause will be somewhere around 12 million between arms, supplies and cash. Everything else is an expense that has to be paid. It sounds like a lot, but there are many people to pay and the risk is long.” Noah wanted her to understand that they were not being cheated. It was illegal, but it was still a business with expenses, transportation and product costs.
“I thought that street price was higher,” Maria was under the impression that he would get something closer to street price.
“That much dope out there will drive the price down, so I may have to take less. I cannot stand out on the street corner selling this stuff a gram at a time. I sell it all to a wholesaler and he sells it to retailers. It works just like any other sales system. Remember that in the jungle it is just so much white powder and the closer it gets to market the more the value increases.” Noah felt compelled to point out the business aspects of what they were dealing with. “In 24 hours I’ll know more.”
Noah was getting ready to shepherd her out of the room. She only had the clothes on her back and he suspected that she had no ID or money either. It was one o’clock in the morning. “What are your plans?”
“I’ll call a friend. She should be home,” she absently said.
“I tell you what. I will get two rooms at the motel down the road and you can call your friend in the morning.”
“Are you looking to get laid or are you trying to be a decent human being, remember, I went to school here in the States.”
“I am just trying to be decent human is optional,” he smiled at her barb. “All I want right now is sleep.”
“Sounds like a winner. I’m right behind you.” Maria followed Noah out of the supply room. He suddenly remembered that his truck was in storage. Noah looked for Hank. “Hank, how much longer are you going to work?”
“About 15 minutes, I have to lock up.”
“Could you give us a ride to the hotel? Noah knew the trip was too long. He did not make mistakes like this. “Maria, I hope that you don’t mind waiting.” Hank will not be long.
“You’re still my best option.” Maria took a seat in the office.
Noah picked up the company line dialing a fifteen-digit number. 8,000 miles away Susan picked up the phone. “Hello, this is Everywhere Air, can I help you?”
“I am sure you can,” Noah’s voice came through. “I’m looking for someone to clean my pipes.”
“Oh my God,” She squealed.
“How are you,” Noah asked quietly.
“Suki and Terri are coming along, but Milo has not been seen since you left. We were going to take Frank my driver back over to Terri’s place this afternoon to do some clean up. We are kind of worried on that one. Lynn went around the bend and thinks that they are coming for her, and I’m not too confident myself. Angie’s husband Frank beat her bloody when she got back to her hotel and we are completely up in the air about her. Lynn, Suki and Terri went down to the hospital to see Angie. Other than that the world is rosy. What can I do for you?”
“Say hello to the girls for me. I’m sorry that there is a mess back there. I’ll be back in five days. With all this upset I shouldn’t ask a favor.”
“Don’t be silly. We can always do a friend a favor.”
“Would you research a name for me? It should not raise any flags. Check as many agencies as you can include Europe and as many communist bloc countries as you can too.”
“That will be easy. What name do you want me to check?”
“Francesca Garcia. Check Spain especially. I am making an ID and don’t want to pick a name that is on the wanted list.’
“Who is Francesca Garcia?” Maria asked.
“In six days you will be,” Noah said smiling at her. Hank interrupted their conversation.
“Are you two ready? I’ve got to get out of here before momma kicks my ass.” Hank had the keys in his hand and they were out the door in a heartbeat.
Hank dropped them off at the hotel and sped off before Noah could thank him. He checked them into two adjoining rooms seeing Maria to her door first.
“Good night Maria see you in the morning.” He went to his room and fell into bed alone not bothering to get undressed unable to close the drapes before he fell into bed. When the morning light woke Noah up he checked his watch to find out that it was five thirty. He climbed out of bed and undressed. He turned on the water as hot as he could stand it. Noah let the water run over his body. The warm water started to revitalize him. He just stood with his hands against the wall trying to remember the name of the hotel. Noah picked up the wash cloth and finished cleaning up switching the water to cold. The razor scraped across his beard as if his beard was made out of steel wool and the tooth brush seemed to be loaded with grit. Noah opened his bag for fresh clothes. He dressed in a knit shirt and wash pants thankful that Terri had someone wash his clothes.
A light tapping at the adjoining door caught his attention and he opened it. Maria was standing there in a towel. Noah walked over to his bag pulling out a clean shirt tossing it to her.
“This might work better.” With the difference in size the shirt looked more like a short dress on her. Noah reached into the side pocket and pulled out a fist full of panties. He laid them on the bed. “See if any of these are clean enough to wear.” Maria started sorting through the panties.
“These are expensive. The shirt is ordinary, but I like your choice of underwear.” She selected a pair slipping them up under the shirt.
“Some friends thought it would be funny. Why don’t you keep those? I am going down to the desk. Some of these places have washing machines. I’ll checkout the situation.” He picked up the phone and called the desk. As luck would have it, they did have a coin laundry. He gathered up everything that needed washing, including the clothes that Maria wore on the flight up to LA.
Maria picked up the phone and called room service ordering four breakfasts. She went into the bathroom borrowing Noah’s shaving kit. While she was in the bathroom, Maria started the hospitality coffee pot going back into her bath doing the same there. Ma
ria found a lacy thong that he missed. She tied her hair back into a ponytail and arranged it so that it did not look like underwear. When the key rattled in the door she was as presentable as possible.
When Noah opened the door, she was bending over the small table pouring a cup of coffee. Her raven black hair and full hips reminded him of Pat. Pat’s raven hair was the asset that first caught his attention. He forced himself to remember that this was Maria.
“You remind me of my wife.”
“That is good, men should remember that they are married,” she smiled warmly handing him a cup of coffee. “I do this for my husband and this is as much of a wife that I plan on being for you.”
“You have a deal. The coffee is all I want right now.” Noah held up the cup. “Thank you.”
Maria was surprised that Noah would do common chores, “You don’t mind doing laundry?”
“I do what is necessary when it is necessary. There is no woman’s work, there is no man’s work, it is just work.” He shrugged and finished his coffee.
A light tap on the room door interrupted them, “Room service, for Mister Body.”
“We cannot go to breakfast looking like this.” Maria held up her arms and did a pirouette in the shirt and panties. Between the clean clothes and the shower, she no longer smelled like the jungle. Maria walked to the door and invited the waiter in. Noah could tell the waiter was watching her ass instead of what he was doing, so Noah tapped him on the shoulder inviting him out. He stuffed a tip in the waiter’s pocket and closed the door.
“Please have a chair,” he seated her. “What were you planning to do? You had no papers, no money, no clothes just a whole lot of guts and those fatigue pants you were wearing. Did you have anything in those pants besides a great ass?”
“We have supporters here in LA and I can find them. I will get by. We cannot miss this opportunity to help our people so I had to see what you were going to do.” Noah waved his hand over the table.
“I tell you what I am not going to do.” He started lifting the covers off the breakfasts. “I am not going to let all of this food get cold. While we are eating you can tell me a story about how you came up with that East LA accent?”
“My mother and father are not peasants, poppa owns several businesses and owns a Lear Jet. They sent me up to UCLA for a U.S education. Poppa flew me up in his jet. This is how I picked up my multi engine jet rating. I was picking up my hours five at a time. Through four years of college I managed to pick up a little over four hundred hours. In my last year at college I met Jesus. He was not in college he just hung around campus. The classes were so big that no one knew that he did not belong. He wanted an education and did not care about the degree. We got married up here which is when my parents disowned me. My brother is a colonel in Somoza’s Nicaraguan Army. You North Americans think that everybody speaking Spanish is a peon. We have a large number of rich well-educated people there and not everyone is a peon.”
“Jesus really wants to improve the people’s life. That’s why your offer of humanitarian supplies hooked him. Everybody else wants to peddle arms, but he actually cares about the people. You are the first to bring medical supplies with the weapons.”
“Hold that thought. I need to check the laundry.” Noah started out the door. Maria broke out laughing.
“Big bad arms dealer running out the door, so that the laundry does not get wrinkled.”
“I try not to let them smell me coming,” he could still hear the laughter after the door closed.
Noah was back in five minutes. He checked his watch noting it was seven forty-five, in another half hour Maria could get dressed and they would be mobile. His to do list was getting longer by the minute. When he walked back in the room Maria was stacking the dishes on the service cart.
“What do you mean Francesca Garcia? What is wrong with my name?” Maria was sounding annoyed.
“Your name is way too popular. You need to be able to get around. Do you have a problem with the name? It is not too late to change. It takes five days to complete a passport. I am going to be telling a lot of stories, so when I tell a lie I must caution you not to say anything until we are alone.”
“Why do you want to help me?” She definitely was confused.
“I think you’re worth it.” He talked so quietly that she could barely hear him. “It is easier to pick out the people that I don’t trust. Your brother in law Juan for instance. I wouldn’t trust him with something as valuable as a dog turd. If I were to pick out anyone that were going to betray me, it would be Juan.”
“What do you mean? That is my husband’s brother! He is family. You have to trust family.” Maria was more than a little upset.
“Have you heard the story of Cain and Able?” All Maria could do was glare at him. “The bible is full of stories of brother betraying brother. It seems to be a popular theme. When we met I told you I didn’t speak Spanish?”
“That is what you told them.” Maria’s voice had a decided chill in it.
“It was the truth. Two of my flight crew, do speak Spanish and they heard Juan agreeing with your husband to his face and when he was with the others Juan was running around telling everybody that Jesus was going to ruin the movement.” He could still see the look of distrust, but her attention had shifted.
“That two faced bastard, I’ll cut his balls off! I can’t count the number of times that Jesus has saved his ass. Juan was wounded twice with Jesus pulling his ass to safety.” Maria’s olive skin face was showing red blotches. She was pissed off and it was time for a break.
Noah excused himself and left the room. He walked down to the hotel gift shop picking up enough toiletries to get her through the morning. After which he went to the laundry and retrieved the laundered clothes. Some pieces were still damp but they were dry enough.
Maria let out a squawk of laughter when Noah walked through the door. He was carrying a stack of laundry with the panties piled on top having his chin buried in the stack so that nothing would fall off. Only his eyes showed over the top of the panties.
“I hope that you were able to get the smell out.” Noah picked up on her meaning. He flushed a little and laughed.
“I am an eater not a sniffer,” He freed up the bag he had stuffed under his arm. I bought some toiletries for you. See if you can put any of this to use.” Maria looked in the bag. Most of the basics were there comb, hair brush, hair clips, toothbrush, and even a small bottle of cologne.
“This is a good guess.” She disappeared into her room. When she emerged from her room she looked like a GI Jane pin up. Jungle boots, tee shirt and her full Latin hips filled the fatigue pants to perfection. Her nipples stood out from her well-formed breasts like marbles from under her shirt. Between the tight tee shirt and being braless Maria was captivating. All Noah could do was to stare to at her. I forgot to give you my shirt when I handed you the laundry. I guess I’ll have to go like this.” Noah was frozen in place staring at her.
“Do I still remind you of your wife? Who is not here right now?” She wanted to jog his memory.
“Sorry, you make quite a picture and the answer is yes you do. Right now we have a lot of territory to cover so we will leave immediately,” Noah said motioning toward the door, not wanting to get into a romantic delay that would create too many complications with too much territory left to cover. They went down to the desk to check on the courtesy van. Within 20 minutes they were pulling up in front of Everywhere Air. They waited for the van to drive away before going in the door.
“Do me a favor I am going to introduce you as Francesca. Go along with it. I don’t want anybody to know your real name. You will see why during the course of the day.”
“Ok, I am Francesca.”
Maria did not even blink at the change. They walked into the office to see Bob working the front counter. He couldn’t take his eyes off of the raven haired beauty as she opened the door. Noah waved his hand to break the spell.
“Bob, I have to use a sec
ure phone. Do you still have one?”
Bob broke his gaze, “Yes it is in a locker in the supply room. Here’s the key.” He pulled an envelope out from under the counter. “Some guy that looked like an Arab dropped this off two days after you left. I’ve never seen him before.” Noah nodded and led Francesca to the supply room.
“I am going to be a while. You can come in with me or catch a snack in the lunch room.”
“I think I will hang out with you,” Francesca didn’t want to lose sight of Noah not knowing if she could trust him with that much money. She wanted to hear what he was calling about.
“Keep still when I am on the phone. I can’t have anybody know that you are listening. Don’t utter a sound until I’ve hung up.”
Noah’s first call was to Tony and he dialed a long distance number.
“I need to speak to Tony please, alright?” Noah waited a few minutes.
“Tony: Hermes. Did you get a report?”
“I see. I see. Pure. Very pure! Yes. Seven? Nine? Eleven? We will take eleven and wait. 25 percent. How about a third? Good. Balance? Thirty days tops. We will do eleven. Father Cash. 2 M by four o’clock. 9 M more in five days. Yes, Father Cash. Five percent. Five percent is a big number. Done.” Noah grabbed Francesca, “Eleven. Unbelievable.”
“What were all those numbers and who was that?” Francesca was going crazy with only half the conversation being available to her.
“That was the wholesaler. The normal wholesale price is seven dollars per gram which would come out to 21.7 Mil with cash on the spot. It was very pure, and with that level of purity we are pulling a premium price. If we want full payment immediately the price will be nine dollars per gram. Which would come out to 27.7 Mil because he will have to borrow the money. If we take installments, he will go to eleven that would be 33 M. We will go through the Roman bank. Father Cash will handle the transaction for five percent. That would be, 1.7 mil.” Noah was bouncing off the walls.
“I’ll set up an account for you. You can withdraw from it as needed.” Her face flushed. It wasn’t street price, but 6.2 million was damn good especially since it is wholesale.
