by Finian Blake
“Could you have Father Cash work this one up? I will put up $10,000 cash and he can let me know if I owe him anything else.” Noah was pumped at the thought of doing all of his business in LA. Not going to Chicago and working with Father Cash would give him 24 to 36 hours to conduct personal business.
“I have all the information. She went to USC. Do you want to piggy back her degree?” Noah nodded his approval. Good that will cut expenses? He should be able to get it done about the same time as the passport.”
“That’s great. I need to take care of some personal business.” Noah rolled $10,000 more out of the belt paying Jeff again for father Cash’s services, and turned to Fran.
“I have known you for 24 hours. May I call you Fran?”
“I haven’t known myself that long.” Francesca laughed. “Of course you may call me Fran. What did he mean piggy back my degree?”
“They take all your grades and all of your other information. They leave your name on the old transcript and create a new transcript with the new name on it. You get to keep everything that you went to school for. Your pilot’s license will have 973 hours of multi-engine jet time on it. For $17,000 you change your name with a complete personal history and keep everything else. You will even be able to pass a Federal security check. The Feds witness protection will not do that. We will set up your banking next.” Noah glanced at his watch. “We have two and a half hours to kill. Let’s take a ride.”
They drove back down to Marina Del Rey. Noah wanted to get next to the ocean. The waves seemed to quiet him. Noah looked at Francesca walking barefoot on the beach. She could be Pat’s sister, if she had one. Pat’s skin tone had an olive cast and so did Francesca. They did not talk. Noah and Fran walked down the beach each contemplating their changing situations. Fran was thinking of Maria the rebel in the jungle. 48 hours ago, she had been in a firefight with Somozan loyalists. She was not sure if she killed one of the soldiers or not. Maria had the crust to do the nasty stuff like shooting the enemy, and yet she was looking down on Noah’s illegal activities with distain. She was still going to shoot him if he stiffed them on the deal. Fran was kicking sand on the beach barefoot in her designer jeans and midriff top carrying her sandals. It seemed like she was on another planet, but there was still one question that nagged her. Why was he doing all this?
Noah was thinking of the personal cost of his wayward actions. He knew that Pat was right. He knew that one day his actions would come home to his family. If they were not the targets they might get in the way. If he wanted to protect them he would have to give them up. Noah wanted to hear Pat’s thoughts first hand before he caved in to her demands believing that she owed him that one thing.
About seven fifteen they headed for Fox Hills Shopping Center. The tailor was pressing the jacket and his wife was bagging the shirts and pants as they walked in the shop. Fran changed into the uniforms to check the work. What a difference she looked crisp, polished and professional. She looked happy and her expression clearly showed it. The uniforms looked like they were made for a woman. Noah and Fran had nothing but compliments for the unbelievably fast work. Fran went in back to change. Noah paid the agreed upon price. He pulled out an extra fifty handing it to the tailor, “Take your wife to dinner. She looks tired.” The tailor thanked him profusely.
They arrived back at the hotel somewhere around a quarter of nine. Noah arranged for the two rooms through the end of the week instead of just the weekend. Noah thought that he would have to go to Chicago to take care of all his business, but Jeff saved him that trip. Maria, now Francesca could go anywhere. The general and his family were solidly in the plan if he did not go crazy with Pat’s letter. Noah desperately needed some sleep.
“Fran, call me in the morning when you get up I have a surprise for you.” Fran gave him a long solid hug and he gave her a brotherly kiss on the cheek.
“Thank you, I have no idea why you did all this.” Fran was at a loss for words. She bounced her forehead on his chest. “Thank you,” Fran spun and walked into her room. He turned to the bed managing to stay awake long enough to undress and climb in between the sheets.
Noah awoke to a light tapping on his door. It was Fran. Slipping on some pants he opened the door. It was eight o’clock Noah had slept for almost nine uninterrupted hours. This was the first time in almost a week that he was able to get prolonged uninterrupted sleep.
“I am going down to breakfast will you join me?” Fran looked fresh and happy.
“Give me fifteen minutes. Do you want to meet me down at the restaurant or would you like to go someplace else?”
“Downstairs is fine. I will see you down there.” Noah watched her walk away through the crack in the door with her hips producing a sway that demanded attention. He did a quick shower hustling down to the restaurant finding Fran seated at a table in the middle of the dining area with more than a few of the diners checking her out.
“Have you ordered yet?”
“No, I ordered some coffee, but that’s all.” After ordering breakfast Fran asked, “So what is my surprise? You covered so much territory yesterday. I was wondering, how you could surprise me today?” Curiosity was eating her up.
“I decided to hook you up with what you came up here for.” Noah said off handedly. “I did make a promise of humanitarian supplies to your group or you could take them the cash.”
“You are going to do this today? I thought you wanted to talk to your wife.” She was puzzled.
“I told Bob to get Sean a professional buyer that we know, and he will arrange everything that you need. Please try to keep it under a million.” Noah enjoyed the look of amazement.
“A million,” she squealed. “How are we going to work this?”
Noah put a finger to his lips, “Keep it down,” Noah said not wanting the attention. “I have a friend that will help you get the right prices on the things you want. Sean will pay for everything and then I will pay him.”
“And when am I going to do this?” The plates were being laid on the table.
“After we eat,” Noah smiled as Fran’s eyes took on a special fire.
“Shut up and eat,” She grabbed the waitress’s arm, “Bring the check to my friend.”
After a hurried breakfast Fran and Noah rushed over to Everywhere Air. Fran raced out of the truck, up the stairs bursting into the office startling Bob.
“Noah is behind me. Is Sean here yet?” She didn’t see the thin 40 year old man behind the glass door.
“I am right here. Bob and I were wondering when you were going to arrive.”
“We are here,” Noah said as he walked through the door. “Fran meet Sean.” They adjourned to the lunchroom where Noah explained what they were looking for in general. Sean had some ideas and after a few phone calls Noah gave his instructions to Sean.
“Keep it under a million or what will fit on a on a L100-30. That’s 30,000 pounds.” Sean gave him thumbs up as he was being dragged out the door. Noah went up front to get the key for the secure phone. When he returned Noah settled down with the secure phone calling Tony first.
“Tony do you have good news?”
“Yes. After weighing it out, the actual weight of the produce is 6932. You based your figures on a weight of 6800. I want the 132 pounds for getting you eleven and I will take my commission in produce.”
“Done,” Tony worked a miracle for him and Noah was not going to deny Tony his bonus or his profit. Noah was running fat on this deal and Tony was both a benefactor and mentor from the early days.
“Your end is 33 million. 11 million every ten days, the first installment is in the bank so in twenty days we will be square. I have your account number and Father Cash will make the rest of the disbursements, so with that I believe we have finished this part of our transaction.”
“Always a pleasure,” Noah broke the connection without saying goodbye. He was hoping to clear 300,000 out of the deal and with luck he would pull five million after expenses. The bonus money would
come out to $375,000 per person for the three runs.
Noah called the bank next. He set up an account for Fran moving 2 million into it. Noah ordered a draft for 250,000 Pounds Sterling and 4.5 million in cash, leaving 4 million in the account. The draft and the cash would be delivered here tonight.
The last call was to Pat. “Pat baby this is Tom. Bob gave me your letter. We need to talk.”
“There is nothing to talk about,” was her cold reply.
“Tell me to my face you owe me that much.” Noah knew that he must see her at least once more.
“Ok when?” She was struggling with the answer.
“Let’s do it quickly we need to get this thing over with. It is hurting both of us.” Noah gave her the number of the hotel, along with the room number. “How soon can you make it?”
“Can I bring my brothers?”
“Yes, if they wait in the restaurant,” Noah knew that Cyrus and Phil would not be a threat. They lived across the road with their mother. He pulled some strings and was able to get both of their IBEW union cards transferred out to LA when the family moved out from Chicago. You need support, but we need to talk alone.” He did not want her to drive in her state of mind, “When?”
“How soon can you get there?”
“Let’s make it an hour from now,” her voice seemed hollow.
“See you then.” By the sound of her voice he knew that there was not much hope of working things out, but he had to hear it for himself. Noah locked up the phone, and went up front to see Bob.
“Here is the key. There will be a delivery here for me at five o’clock. Could you call the Franks and see if they can bring the Ark down here tonight say about four? I have a humanitarian run for the following day. I know that it is short notice but it is a surprise to me too.”
“Noah, you look like you just went fifteen rounds. What’s wrong?”
“My wife hit me up for a divorce while I was on this last run. Do me a favor and see if Sean can drop Fran off at the hotel.”
“You’ve got it is there anything else I can do?” It was a sincere offer.
“No, I have to work through it.” Noah had only been up for less than an hour and he was exhausted. “Bob if you could talk the Franks into a humanitarian run it would be huge. Sean had a line on a surplus deal at the Material Disposal Depot. You should be getting at least a semi load of goodies in the doors somewhere around one.”
“I’ll get on it there will be no more than five pallets. Do you have a back haul?”
“No, we will be coming back clean. Use old pallets. This will be a speed drop.” On a speed drop, they would roll the pallets off the Ark while it was still on the ground doing a slow roll. Once the last pallet was rolled off, the Ark would power up and takeoff without stopping. They would be on the ground no more than five minutes if that long.
“That is expensive. We are looking at $2,000 a pallet.”
“You might as well set up 20 pallets. I think that we will do four speed drops. I will cover that tonight. I believe that ought to be forty thousand.” Noah thought about the call. Forty thousand dollars against getting caught on the ground delivering contraband was a good deal. Getting caught in a foreign country was purely nasty, so it was an excellent deal. After two minutes of positive conversation, Noah’s energy levels were restored. “Let me know what you have setup tonight. See you about five.”
Noah drove over to the storage lockers finding that his locker was about the size of a one-car garage. It was about a third full. He rummaged around until he found a large beat up ammo can. When he shook it, the loose rounds made a rattling sound. He opened the can looking inside there were several rounds filling the can half way. Noah dumped the ammo on the floor with a fat manila envelope falling out onto the floor. He proceeded to check the contents and was relieved to see that it held 400, one hundred dollar bills. This was his run money in case things went bad on a run. He locked the storage locker once again waving to the manager as he left. Noah stopped at Vons on the way back picking out a few small bags of chips, and some other deli items. Noah triple sacked his purchases to get some extra grocery bags and he was back in the room with twenty minutes to spare. Noah was ready for his showdown with Pat.
Noah left the door open a crack. Pat entered without knocking sitting down silently. She was visibly upset her red and puffy eyes betrayed her before she spoke.
“Noah, you promised that you were done with this shit. You leave for a delivery and I get that bullshit call. You promised you bastard. What are you going to do? Wait until someone comes to the door to kill us? You have a contract out on you now. You cannot just live quietly. You are an adrenaline junkie and cannot live without your fix. I do love you, but I cannot live with this. I want a divorce,” She burst into tears.
“I thought I was clear of it,” Noah started. “I really thought that I was clear. One thing led to another and I am up to my eyeballs in things. I was back doing things on automatic. I saw a chance to pay off all our debts and have a few years reserve. One run and we are fixed for life. Well four runs there will be just two humanitarian runs.”
“Do you believe your bullshit? You are like a junkie.” There was a steady stream of tears running down her cheeks. “Sometimes I wish that it was drugs. I might be able to deal with that.”
“We can work this out. These last…” Noah stopped talking. “You’re right. What do you want?”
“You moved us out here. My mother and brothers came with us. I want the ranches, the car and sole custody of Pamela. I need some cash until I can get a job.” Pat spit it out in a burst fearing that she would stall and break down completely.
“Alright the ranch, the car and the cash are acceptable. The other ranch is your mothers so that will not be mentioned. Pam is not.”
“Don’t you understand? I do not want her exposed to this. If you ever get squared away we can rearrange things. Right now I am going to protect her!” Pat was showing her mother protector look.
“Do I have your word that we can adjust things with Pam if the circumstances change?”
“You have my word.”
Noah knew that she would keep her word. “Alright, I picked up some cash. I thought you might need some. Here is forty thousand for now and I can get you some more a little way down the road. Have the papers drawn up as we discussed. I will give you more money than the court will. Beside that you won’t find me anyway. I will agree to full custody and sole parental rights, but she is still my daughter.” He put the envelope in the grocery bag placing two bags of chips on top. Pat wanted to touch him one last time, but she knew that if she did she would never hold it together and she could not risk that. Pat stood up and walked out of the room not stopping until she reached the elevators punching the button disappearing through the sliding doors. Noah sat frozen in his chair knowing that he would not see her again. He did not get up for a few minutes knowing that if he did there was a good chance that he would tackle her, and make a scene. Nothing would change her mind and now the only woman that he ever really loved just walked out of his life, and he was the cause of it. There were many things that he could do, but none of them would have the right effect. He stood up and closed the door. Noah seated himself at the table again and reflected upon his actions for a few hours.
His thoughts were interrupted by the phone. He put the receiver to his ear saying hello. He instantly held the phone away from his ear because Fran was screaming in the phone.
“Noah, come down here right away. We did it. We did it. You won’t believe it. You have to see for yourself. Sean is a genius. He is absolutely amazing. Come down right away.”
Noah climbed in the truck pointing it toward the airport. There was a 40 foot semi-trailer backed up to the dock. He could see Fran jumping up and down in the office through the glass door and Noah could hear her squeals before he opened the office door.
“Sean did it!” She jumped in his arms and wrapped her legs around him. “Thank you for Sean!” Noah was glad
that he did not have sex with her at the hotel the other night. He could visualize the police breaking down the door trying to find out what all the screaming was about. Noah gently placed a hand over her mouth not to silence her, but to spare his ears.
“What did Sean do?” Sean broke in the conversation, rightfully puffed up with pride.
“I filled your Ark. The whole thing with 29,000 pounds of goodies for 80,000 dollars,” there was a swagger in Sean’s voice.
“Where did you go?” Noah was decidedly impressed.
“We went to the Materials Disposal Center. It is where they dispose of unsold government surplus. We bought a mobile field hospital complete with two large tents, cots, bedding, a surgical suite with four operating tables and two large generators. A complete field kitchen complete with a tent, tables, chairs dishes, utensils, several ovens, dish washer, one generator and the kitchen sink. They were disposing of large lots of jungle boots 1,000 pair to a lot. We picked up two lots of those between sizes seven and twelve.” Noah raised an eye brow.
“You said 80,000?”
“Yes, you have to take the whole lot! Everything in the lot goes for a flat price. A buck a pound! Materials Disposal Center is the end of the line. It was all palletized on wooden pallets so the trucks could be loaded quickly for service anywhere in the world. It is a few million dollars’ worth of goodies for a buck a pound the only hitch is that you can’t pick and choose it moves as one item. We found a supplier and bought a thousand pair of fatigue pants and tee shirts. We bought regular clothes, and sandals closing out for the fiscal year, since we took the entire lot including men’s, women’s and children’s clothing they went very low and we topped off with extra medical supplies. We have another four hundred pounds of medicine for $30,000. Finally, we topped off to 30,000 pounds with dried food so $180,000 is today’s total.” Fran’s legs were tightly wrapped around Noah. Her arms were wrapped around his neck. They were literally eye to eye.
