by Finian Blake
“Noah when I go back to my regular runs, I am going to have to do this myself.”
“It is all part of the service.” Noah was trying to keep things light.
The Ark was airborne at zero seven hundred. Fran and the relief were deep in conversation when Noah called them back in the bay.
“I want to go through a rehearsal before we go too far.” Noah opened the box. There were medical supplies inside. Noah told Fran to be out next to the pallet when they started to break it down. They went through the drill once smooth as silk. Noah made them repeat the drill again and when they were all satisfied, they returned to the flight deck. Noah gave the pilot a sequence for dropping the pallets. He gave the copilot a sixteen-millimeter camera giving Frank very specific shooting instructions. Noah wanted to be sure that he did not steady the camera against anything which would insure some shaky footage. He told the relief to be standing by in the bay to release Fran from the box. Noah was very clear about leaving number three and four engines idling to create a dust screen for his actions. He did not want to depend on the APU. When the ramp was up they were to fire up all the engines, and departing at full throttle not lifting off until the last minute.
The Ark was on approach by noon making the landing as planned. The pilot kept the plane as far left on the road as he could with the wingtip barely missing the trees on the side of the road by a few feet. Two hundred yards before the turn around, he gave Noah the first green light. Noah launched the pallet with the Red Cross boxes on it. After the pallet was gone, Frank took the Ark all the way down to the end of the roadway doing a wide turnaround, keeping as far to the opposite side of the runway as possible while Noah launched the other four pallets as close together as possible. They stopped the plane with the cockpit window across from the first pallet. The copilot broke the sixteen-millimeter camera out and started filming.
Maria was supervising the unloading of the pallet. Marcel and Jesus walked up to her giving her a kiss. The pallet was quickly emptied with the empty boxes being left next to the pallet while the unloading operation moved to the other four pallets. Jesus and Marcel moved to the back of the aircraft. Maria looked around dropped her pants squatting down. Noah walked up behind her. Pulling out a revolver, he pushed her to the ground with his foot, shooting twice. As he picked her up, her tee shirt rose to her armpits, exposing her bra. Noah laid her in the box and as he did Noah helped Fran set the wig after which he stood up firing once more next to the box, replacing the lid. The relief came out and helped carry the box back in the Ark. The copilot stopped filming when they disappeared.
Noah and Frank set the box down well inside of the Ark, so that it was just in the dark area of the cargo bay. No sooner than they set the box down than Jesus and Marcel came up the ramp. Noah removed the lid. They looked inside to see Maria lying in the box blood was oozing from the head wound, and the wound in her breast with excrement in her fatigue pants which were around Fran’s ankles. They could barely stand the smell. Marcel calmly produced a camera and took several pictures.
“She shit herself.” Marcel laughed. They turned and started to walk out of the Ark. Noah could hear the woman say, “You call that a .38 caliber divorce. Noah did you a favor.” Noah came very close to using the remaining rounds in his thirty-eight on her. This bitch was as cold as he pretended to be. Jesus put an arm around her waist and they walked out of the cargo bay with Jesus giving her a kiss as they stepped off of the loading ramp. The only thing that stopped Noah was the necessity of having the kill confirmed.
As soon as their feet hit the ground Noah raised the ramp while the pilot started the other two engines. Noah ran forward looking in the box he saw that Maria was curled up in the box crying. He helped her out and removed the special effects helping her to rinse with a five-gallon container of water that he had stashed earlier. She waited to step out of the box to keep the mess contained. Fran felt the need to strip her clothes off, removing her clothes prior to stepping out of the box. Noah picked up the bay placing everything adding the two C 4 charges along with the case that they were delivered in, so that the ark would be clean for the fuel stop.
“Go with her Frank. She will need some help.” Noah could feel the Ark surge forward holding on to the floor as they rotated and leveled the Ark out almost instantly. When they were level again Noah rolled the box back to the ramp and got on the intercom.
“Let me know when we clear the coast. I need to drop something. Please be sure not to use the radio until I give you the all clear. The C-4 charge is remote detonated.” Noah activated the remote and waited for the green light. When they flew out over the water at last, he lowered the ramp and watched the box as it was sucked out of the cargo bay. When it was clear he triggered the remote watching the impressive explosion behind the Ark throwing the trigger out before closing the ramp. Noah could feel the empty plane surge as it climbed to altitude. When he could, Noah moved forward finding that Fran was a mess. She was curled in a ball crying uncontrollably. Frank was holding her not saying a word. Noah went up to the flight deck.
“Is she alright?” The crew was deeply concerned.
“It will be a while before she is. That little stunt was as brutal as it gets. The relief will stay with her.” Noah intentionally left out any comment about Marcel and Jesus. They turned the Ark north for a fuel stop in Cancun since the Ark was empty there would be no problem with Customs.
It was a short flight to Cancun. Fran found a shower to clean up while the Ark took on fuel. When she returned Fran was in uniform and reasonably cleaned up. It was evident that she was totally pissed off. When the Ark leveled off she screamed out a long string of Spanish curse words. The Engineer who understood Spanish cringed as Fran switched over to English to explain.
“The bitch with the camera is Marcel. She is supposed to be my brother in law’s fiancée and that bitch is the contact. My asshole husband went along with having me killed, so he could be with her while he betrayed his brother. He is Catholic and he will not divorce me, but he will kill me! The stupid asshole son of a bitch I will kill him!”
“He won’t live that long.” Fran gave Noah a blank look. “Juan will find out that Jesus is screwing his fiancée. One will kill the other, or they will kill each other. With no strong leadership the revolution will fall flat. Do you want to bet on who Marcel works for?”
“Somoza,” Fran was developing a dangerous look. She was way beyond pissed.
“Fran, Buck was right. Killing you killed the revolution. It will be years before someone gets strong enough.”
“Frank, escort Francesca down to the crew cabin and don’t let her drink anything. She is listed as crew.” They crossed over the Texas coast line just after five PM and they would be in Ontario before seven. The Ark should not be needed for another run because the revolution was dead. There was no further reason for another run to Nicaragua. They were cleared to the spot by Everywhere Air.
The customs van was waiting with three people in the van. When the Ark stopped Noah opened the door. A customs supervisor was standing with the inspector.
“Noah, my supervisor wants to inspect the Ark personally.”
“Whatever you want, do you want us to stick around? We are kind of tired. It has been a long trip.” Noah was not worried, since he cleaned the Ark in DC and everything went overboard after Nicaragua, the plane could stand a close inspection.
“I will stick around and the crew can hit the hotel. I have to clean up anyway.” The supervisor checked everybody’s passport and cleared everyone personally. The crew went to the hotel, but Noah did not want to leave the inspector on his own. He decided to push back. He did a circle of the supervisor.
“I want to see if you have anything on you. I know this plane is clean, I know the crew is clean and I know I am clean. If you find anything, it is a plant. I want to see what you have before you walk around. Why would a supervisor do a personal late evening inspection?” He looked at the inspector. “This man has at least ten year
s on the job do you think he is on the take. Maybe you think he is incompetent, or is it possible that somebody named Frank called from the Tehran Embassy. You know Frank the child molester at the Tehran Embassy. You know the one on all of those posters, the one that drew ten thousand protesters. Did you get a call from someone like that?” He could tell that a call came from somewhere and it was not difficult to tell that the inspector was holding something back.
“Well, Frank was killed in the UK trying to rape a woman.” Noah could sense discomfort in the inspector with the last statement.
The supervisor said, “I think we can forego things this time.”
“You are here. You might as well do your inspection. I will walk with you. I have always dealt with inspectors, but I have never dealt with a supervisor for a routine inspection. I would like to see the difference between a supervisor’s inspection and an inspector’s inspection. Start where ever you would like, please lead the way.” The supervisor walked around the Ark for fifteen minutes looking here and there declaring the aircraft cleared and left.
“He will be a supervisor at the Tijuana crossing tomorrow. Do you want to be a supervisor?” Noah whispered in the inspector’s ear.
Noah walked in the building straight for the secure phone. He dialed Bucks number.
“Buck is busy can I help you?” It was a female voice.
“Yes, tell him Hermes is calling and this is a ‘Mercury Black Authority’.”
“He will call you back.”
“You didn’t tell him did you? If you want to be employed in the morning tell him now.” Less than a minute later Buck was on the phone.
“What is going on? Why the Mercury tag?” Noah quickly explained what happened and where it came from.
“I want him inspecting piñatas on the Tijuana crossing.” He gave Buck the name of the attending inspector. “I want him to be a supervisor at the Tijuana crossing.”
“I don’t know if I can do…”
“Buck, did you get your confirmation yet? Is the job done? Your bitch contact took several pictures and we have film. Your revolution is dead, so we won’t need any more runs.”
“Son of a bitch will be inspecting piñatas tomorrow and that other guy is a supervisor. How did you do it?”
“It’s on the sixteen millimeter. I’ll send it out by courier. We took off with the body on board and I put it out over the Gulf. If we didn’t that shit bird supervisor would have had a real surprise. You were supposed to take care of this shit. That supervisor better be checking piñatas tomorrow! I am not joking. I’m glad this was the last run.”
“I need one more run.” Buck insisted. “You have to understand that there is a larger picture.”
“This run was a dyed in the wool cluster fuck due to screw ups on your end. The latest one being this deal that we just discussed. You made me a promise. If you prove up, we can discuss another run.”
“Noah we have to have that run.”
“Look at the film and tell me if you want to disappoint me.” Noah took the film out of the camera and put it in a metal container, slipping the container in an envelope and addressing it. The courier’s office was at the other end of the airport, so he dropped it off on the way back to the hotel.
Noah went to the hotel, renting a hospitality suite and calling everybody down for a quick meeting.
“They want another run and we still need to retrieve the General. That is one side of the equation on which they did not fail us. There is two million that we have not paid the government yet. We can all claim a double bonus for the last run we did.”
“We still get our bonus for this run, right? The next would be the same?” Frank asked.
“Unless we double it,” Noah laid the bait out.
The pilot was sniffing the bait, “You did say double. Why do you want a third run? We are back at the finish line.”
“I contracted for three runs and I contracted to get the Russian out, and I do not take contracts lightly. I will put up $336,000 for each person going and $112,000 for any one not going. Tell me what you are going to do. If anybody wants out say so, and we will make plans accordingly.” The vote went around the table. Everybody bought in to the next run. “Good, I need to make arrangements for the funds.” The relief and Fran followed Noah out into the hall.
“We will go for the original offer. We owe you a lot.” They seemed to be occupying one space. Those high stress moments had cemented their relationship. Frank had no idea of what her end was. Noah still owed her six million more.
“Thanks, everybody is in for equal amounts. The money is there. I just pulled it from the government end. Officially we do not exist, the money doesn’t exist, and the guns do not exist. If Buck is going to fall down on his end, we need to adjust.” Frank and Fran walked down the hall to their rooms. The pilot and copilot called Noah back to the hospitality room. “Noah, we just can’t do it. It sounds like a lot of money, but we have families. We will take the $112,000 and call it good. You do have that option still on the table, don’t you?”
“Absolutely, you will get your part two bonus as promised. I ask you to not mention anything about what we have done to anybody or spend any of the money for a week. If anybody asks you have just been hauling new technology oil drilling supplies to Iran so that they can drill deeper. Can you do that much for me?”
Both the pilot and copilot confirmed, “That will not be a problem. We can cover that much. We would be in divorce court, for any number of things that we have done on this trip.”
“In that case I will throw in an extra $10,000 for good will.” Noah did not want to end on a contentious note. “We will get together in the morning about nine. If you will excuse me I need to catch up with the relief.”
Noah went up to Frank’s room. He knocked on the door several times with no response. He walked down the hall to Fran’s room knocking several times with no reply. He went down to the bar finding the two of them at a quiet table in the back. They were holding hands between their chairs looking like a couple of kids who got caught necking in the coat closet, “Noah we thought you turned in for the evening.”
“That was my thought before the pilot and co-pilot changed their minds. They are opting out. We need to come up with at least one more crew member. Frank, do you have any of your Air America buddies that want to earn a large chunk of dough? We need somebody that already works for Everywhere Air.”
“I can think of four. Two of the four might do it. Do you want one or two?”
“One will do. Two would be better. Ask them both and see what we get. I need them in two days. Three days max. See if they will do it for the one twelve.”
“For the one twelve they will sell their first born. I’ll get on it tonight.” Frank was excited at the idea of working with some old friends.
Noah turned to Francesca. “Fran, just because I helped you out does not mean that I am claiming ownership. You and Frank seem to be hitting it off, so don’t think that I am going to be pissed off because you and Frank are getting together. I came up with this elaborate hoax because I don’t kill women and they put me in a box, which pissed me off. All the figures for your end are still good. We are still doing business whether we hold hands or not.” Noah kissed her on the cheek. Frank started to ask a question. Fran blocked him by giving him a long kiss with Noah leaving before they finished.
Noah called Tony in Chicago. He only had one million left out of the first installment. He needed some of the second installment a little early. He went to a pay phone and dialed Tony’s contact number. He left the number of the hotel and the number of the hospitality room to wait for the call. After twenty minutes, the phone rang, “Hermes?”
“Yes.”
“What’s up?”
“I am running short of cash. Is there any way that I can get some of that second payment a few days early?”
“How much are you talking about?”
“Three”
“I owe you 22.8 M. I tell you what. I w
ill put 22.6 M with Father Cash keeping the extra point two and you will pay his commission. With that deposit we are finished, unless you come up with more produce. Are we good?”
“I held 600 pounds back for a foreign dealer. He now wants his end in cash. Can we deal on 600 pounds, at the same price?” There was a moment of silence.
“That would be another three. When can we pick up?”
“Send someone tomorrow morning at seven. Make it the same location. We can go through Father Cash for payment. 25.6 M total.”
“Are we complete?”
“We are. It is always a pleasure Tony”
“As always, Hermes.”
Noah’s next call was to Father Cash’s contact number. He used the pay phone again. He went back to the hospitality room, and within twenty minutes he had a call back.
“This is Father Cash.” Noah explained what he needed. He set up an account for Fran moving six million into it. Finally, he paid his $2.6 M commission to Father Cash. That left 23.6 million in the Roman account. All of the funds were now coming out of established banks. He requested letters of credit for one million pounds, two million dollars, $600,000, and $2.25 million. He then requested a final four million in cash to put on the Ark. This left him $6.15 million in the Roman account.
The requested items would not arrive until late tomorrow afternoon, so it was time for some sleep. Noah hurried back to his room hitting the shower. Before Noah crawled between the sheets, he poured a glass of scotch drinking it while reviewing his requests, hoping to find any mistakes. His retirement would be taken care of with the million pounds. The Russian would be covered by the other letters of credit, and the three million would cover the expenses including the Ark and bonuses. Noah finished his drink, finally crawling between the sheets. It was not long before he was sound asleep.
